Archive for October, 2009
Witches hat come to mind?
Halloween is nearly upon us. For some this means locking the doors, turning the lights out and hoping the trick-or- treaters pass by quietly. For others it’s a chance to dust off the skeleton suit and perform mischief on homeowners or their property if no treat is given!
The UK is home to some of the most haunted and scary (no we’re not just talking architecture) buildings and sites in the world so we browsed property for sale in near some of these well known haunted sites and found properties that bear an uncanny resemblance to a witches hat – take a look below.
Let us know if you find any more properties that have a similar blueprint.
1. Property near Highgate Cemetery – home to eerie, crooked gravestones and dark overgrown passages
More properties for sale in Highgate
2. Property near Berry Pomeroy Castle, near Totnes – home to the White Lady and the Blue Lady
More properties for sale in Totnes
3. Property near Borley Rectory – ‘The Most Haunted House in England’
More property for sale in Essex
4. Property near Pendle Hill – nearby to Britain’s most famous witch trial
Property for sale in Lancashire
5. Property near Glamis Castle, Angus, Scotland – home to the ghost The Monster of Glammis
6. Property near Llancaiach Fawr Manor, near Caerphilly – the site of a bloody civil war between King and Parliament
Meet the king of buy-to-let – a former maths teacher
This video is currently doing the rounds and was first brought to our attention via The Rat and Mouse; London’s property blog and was first posted on the Renegade Economist blog.
It’s an unintentionally comedic interview with Fergus Wilson – the straight talking king of buy-to-let. There is a queen, but we don’t know where Judith was on this day but the interviewer certainly has his hands full with the straight-talking Fergus.
Here’s a little introduction – back in the 1990′s Fergus and Judith were busy taking maths lessons and writing school reports in Blackheath. They bought a couple of properties and realised that, helped by falling interest rates and banks very willing to lend, the rent more than covered the mortgage. As a result, over the last 10 years he and his wife have built up a buy-to-let portfolio of over 900 homes – all houses – worth an estimated £180m.
We now believe, according to the The Sunday Times, that the Wilsons are looking to sell the portfolio – maybe they’ve fallen foul of the market like other buy-to-let investors recently?
Here are some of his top insights and learnings…
1. “Flats are a lie…where poor people live”
2. “The smaller the house, the greater the increase in value”
3. “A property investor relies on the property going up in value”
4. “February 2010 house prices will go upwards”
We’d like to state that these are his views and not ours! Let us know what you think below.
Zoopla.co.uk shortlisted by Good Web Guide
Looks like we’re on a bit of an awards roll…
We’ve just been told we’ve been shortlisted by the Good Web Guide - the “definitive guide to the best sites on the internet”.
Over 1000 sites were nominated and the folks at the Good Web Guide have been busy screening the sites and have now whittled the list down to a shortlist of 25. We’re now subject to the scrutiny of the experienced judges!
You can help by letting the Good Web Guide know why you think we deserve to win – click here or the banner at the top to leave your feedback.
The winning site will be announced on 3rd November.
Click here to view the full shortlist.
Thanks for your support!
Zoopla.co.uk named as Best UK Property Portal 2009
Back in August we were told by the organisers of the Daily Mail UK Residential Property Awards 2009 that we had won an award in the Best UK Property Portal category. However, we were also told that we’d have to wait until 16th October to find out whether it was to be one of a few four-star award slots or the only top five-star slot.
Thankfully on Friday last week at London’s Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square that long wait came to an end. We were crowned ‘Best UK Property Portal’ at the 2009 Daily Mail UK Residential Property Awards and awarded our shiny, five-star, framed certificate!
As the only top-scoring ‘five-star’ winner, Zoopla.co.uk will be the only UK portal to now compete at the International Property Awards in California, USA against other winning companies from Asia Pacific, Europe & Africa, the Americas and Arabia to find the World’s Best Property Portal.
We are delighted and honoured to have been named as the winner of this prestigious award. It’s been a busy year for us so far and we’re looking forward to representing the UK against the other winning property portals from around the world.
Tony Blair to sell his one time constituency home
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair is to sell his onetime constituency home Myrobella House in Trimdon Colliery, Durham – the county which we recently revealed as the slowest recovering area in Britain, seeing values grow by only 1.1% since March of this year.
According to the Daily Mail, TB paid £30,000 for the property back in 1983 and the four bedroomed detached house is now being marketed for £300,000 through local agents Robinsons.
It appears TB is beating the current market with this property. If we look at the Zoopla! Zed-Index (the average home value in a given area based on current Zoopla! Estimates) for Trimdon Colliery it’s £153,930 for a detached house, which suggests that Blair’s home is likely to be one of the larger, if not largest on that street. Here’s a map view of Trimdon Colliery.
Since stepping down as leader of the Labour party in June 2007 TB has become somewhat of a property collector with a stunning country pad in Buckinghamshire: The South Pavilion in Wotton Underwood which set him back £4m, and the well documented purchase of Connaught Square, Central London which cost £3.6m in 2004 and we now value at £4.6m.
So, when he agrees a sale of Myrobella House we believe he’ll add to his portfolio of stunning properties – maybe an overseas purchase?
Oh and if you were wondering what Myrobella is – it’s a variety of plum.
Market overview for Trimdon Colliery
Market overview for Wotton Underwood
Market overview for Connaught Square, W2
