“All advertisments for Guru courses seem to depict people walking along the beach talking on telephones…I always assumed this was becasue they had lost thier house due to margin calls and were sleeping in the dunes.”

Haha NatR, this is too funny!!!
Do you think they’ll be walking along the beach with a chronical [ohno] surprised [ohno2]…[Read more]

Willy, I agree with the others- in fact, I do find it a little inconsiderate of him to ask you for such a big commitment just because he and your sister have plans to get married.

I hope that you can say NO without feeling the slightest bit guilty.

Celivia

Funny, Ronulas and Munjy!

Why do people think tat Nats12’s initial offer was low balling? Low balling is when you significantly offer below the fair market value. I don’t think that Nats12 has done that.

Honestly, how many people here are really usually making just ONE offer on a property- their best offer?

If it had happened to me, I think I…[Read more]

“What can we do to make the difference? Not buy petrol on a particular day? Protest? Be heard? Write an article? Buy more fuel efficient cars? Or just put up with it and work smarter to make more money so it doesn’t affect us at all…”

I think that car sales will increase for the more energy-efficient and lighter cars.
Cars are more affordab…[Read more]

“…why are we so bothered with that property alone where there is so much on offer out there, not short of properties for sale..”

True, Roy, that there are plenty of properties for sale.

But the point of Nats12 I think is, that s/he offered a reasonable price for this property and then was not given a smurfin’ chance to negotiate; so the agent…[Read more]

I just filled it out, Maxwell. I wish you good luck with your study. [grad]

Celivia

I love the looks and style of this house! SO much pretty detail! Don’t you just love windows like this?

What do you think of the asking price?

Celivia

I’m happy for you that it all worked out for you, Learay, despite the unwilling agents.

I am asking myself, what would be in it for the agent to be so negative about renting out your property- don’t they want your business?

The PMs who are looking after my IP are using a system (I think it’s called the Pilling system) in where the interested…[Read more]

[cowboy2] Very funny, love it. [cowboy2]

[cowboy2]Not sure if real stories should be pasted in Forum Frolic, though! Hehe! [biggrin] [cowboy2]

Celivia

Shaztaz, [specool], but why not copy the list in a post here for everyone to read?

I am sure that it will be of great interest and benefit to many forumites!

Celivia

“I have not spoken to the tiler myself yet but my Property Manager has made contact. Apparently the tiler claims that I told him during the phone conversation that doing a patch up job was what I wanted and thus he delivered!!”

The first thing I would do in this case is talk to the tiler myself. If you explain clearly what the problem is, he may…[Read more]

I find it very important for a property manager to have excellent communication skills and a friendly manner- they are the ones who are going to deal with your tenants.
I do think that good property managers are worth their cut.

Some managers have a smaller property portfolio to look after than others and charge a little bit more- you’ll have to…[Read more]

Bill, although Simon has taken the words right out of my mouth, I just want to add that it seems very unrealistic to expect buyers and sellers not to negotiate a price.

There is always at least a 5-8% built into the asking price which can be seen as an area for negotiation, as far as I know.
NATS initially offered a good price for this property-…[Read more]

Alan Jones read a report this morning about the fact that this kind of disaster was predicted by scientists in 2001.
Awww- There was a house in New Orleans…..

Scrooge, just do a search on this forum on Hans Jakobi- in the (recent) past there were some more threads about him and you might find the information you are after.

Celivia

I wonder if these reports may be more reliable in a flat market than in a falling or climbing market, since it takes some time to research and update those valuations.

I think that the findings of these reports can be up to 3 months old.

We may get outdated information if there has been recent change in the market.

What do others think?

Celivia

When my son was in primary school, he had a classmate [cap] called Ty d’Ferrier.

During rollcall, someone called out: “Gimme a rope”.

Awww, poor kid!

Celivia

They should have a little note on every useless consumer item for sale that says “Are you willing to trade the time at work to pay for this item for time with your own child?”

No joking, lifeX, good idea; it would be like a warning on cigarettes- only in this case a little [wail] on the item might make people just stop for a split-second and…[Read more]

Hmmm, hard decision. I had a little cousin who drowned…so I am not so much in favour of backyard pools. Gates are not enough to protect little ones- you need to constantly supervise.

On the other hand, when the kids are old enough for swimming lessons, (I’d enrol them straight away! Perhaps the 7 year old can swim already?) like yours are, it…[Read more]

Here’s my opinion:

I think children today choose to live at home a bit longer than they did years ago not only because moving out is so unaffordable in most cases, and investing is so much more marketed and fashionable, but also because infrastructure and transport etc have improved for kids living a bit further away from their educational…[Read more]