Posts filed under ‘General’
X Factor: who owns the latest house?
This is a legacy post from the findaproperty.com blog which is now maintained as an archive within the Zoopla blog. Links have been preserved.
The X Factor ‘house’ is fast becoming a national institution as every year another enormous home in North London is revealed as the contestants’ base for the TV talent spotting show.
The latest property to join this illustrious list is Connaught House, a white, six-bedroom detached property to rent in Hertford Heath, just south of Hertford, pictured below.
The house was bought for £5.5 million in 2006 by David and Karina Rickards, at the time both serial entrepreneurs featured in the Sunday Times Rich List after selling their broadband firm Pipex for £55m in 2003. You may remember its rather odd adverts featuring David Hasselhoff.
But the couple, who have disappeared from public view somewhat recently, have been trying to rent the property out since April this year for £12,000 a month.
They may get more than they bargain for. Renting a property out to X Factor can be on the one hand very lucrative (ITV often pay up to £120,000 to get exclusive access to a property during the programme’s four-month run) but there’s downsides too.
That’s because the properties often need heavy modifications to house the wannabe pop stars on the programme and, for example, master bedrooms are turned into dormitories while dining rooms become recording or photographic studios. Also, each property hired out to the programme usually gets heavy wear-and-tear and several of the ‘houses’ – including one in Hampstead two years ago – have had to be expensively refurbished once the programme is over – at the expense of the TV production company.
First-time buyer blog: What you need to know about getting on the ladder
This is a legacy post from the findaproperty.com blog which is now maintained as an archive within the Zoopla blog. Links have been preserved.
In my last blog I wrote about the art of negotiation (or rather the lack of it). We didn’t end up getting the property we liked for the value we felt reflected the condition. Eight weeks from going on the market, it is still there, but we’ve moved on, as you often need to do in this game.
During the past few months house hunting (yes, we are beginning to wonder whether it really should take this long), it has been a huge learning curve. I’ve never read so many books, blogs, articles; watched so many programmes; or responded to as many tweets relating to property before in my life. It’s sucked me in. I’m constantly trying to find out as much information, advice and top-tips.
To make it a little easier for other first-time buyers who’ve just begun their house search, these are a few of my favourite reference points:
1. How to Buy Your First Home by Phil Spencer This has been a little gem. Brilliantly laid out, easy to understand, up to date and rammed full of top tips. Every now and then it’s great to refer back to refresh my memory.
2. Newspaper property sections One I always go back to is the Guardian, today the top story is “Mortgage rates hit record lows, but first time buyers remain squeezed”. It may not be the most uplifting article, but it does give you some indication of the current market.
3. Mortgage comparison websites You may already have your agreement in principle from one lender, but always worth keeping an eye on other options as you are continuing your search. Some lenders have come up with more attractive offers since we have been looking.
4. TV programmes I had watched quite a few Location, Location, Location episodes before we started our house search as I’m quite a fan. It’s entertaining, and sometimes I do wish I had Kirstie and Phil to call the agent with a bunch of cameras pointing at the phone to give added pressure. I got through a few episodes of Help! My House Is Falling Down before it scared me senseless, but it did hammer home the need to check drains and to pay good attention to your survey.
5. Twitter This adds the humour into the proceedings with estate agents, buying agents, sellers and buyers all giving their perspective on the property market. It’s pointed me in the direction of some great blogs, and it’s incredibly interesting to read things from a seller’s and agent’s point of view.
Probably the most information and advice we get is from work colleagues, friends and family who’ve been through the process before. Everyone has a different story to tell. It’s rather exhausting knowing that we’re at the beginning, with a long way to go….
Follow Emma on twitter @polkadotcherry.
Renting blog: Are you the one who always changes the loo roll?
This is a legacy post from the findaproperty.com blog which is now maintained as an archive within the Zoopla blog. Links have been preserved.
In my experience of living with other people (family and exes included), there’s always one person who ends up taking the rubbish out, changing the loo roll, and in our rented house, making sure our abode stays clean.
While I’m in charge of the house account, I don’t see my role (house “prefect” – as one of my housemates calls me) as being the one to mop the kitchen floor or vacuum the lounge. So after an unsuccessful cleaning rota system, the “prefect” decided to get in a cleaner.
I’ve had a bit of bad luck with cleaners – they disappear to France, get ill, cancel on me (on sunny days, usually), so I thought I’d go through an agency who’d promised reliability.
After an initial meeting, our new cleaner Yordanka arrived on Saturday morning. I was excited that she’d actually pitched up, and leaving her with a bucketful of cleaning materials, I let her get on with the task.
Two hours later Yordanka finds me to say the vacuum cleaner isn’t working. We inspect it, pull out a Christmas ribbon tangled in the brush, a coffee receipt and a mangled hairband. Still no luck. We empty it, clean the filter and still it refuses to come on.
Giving up, I say I’ll get hold of the letting agent who hopefully will fix it or replace it. Poor Yordanka does her best with a broom and calls it a day.
As I take out the bin bags she’s piled outside the front door and head out to stock up on toilet paper, I muse that it seems there’s always going to be that one person to fix a vacuum cleaner too.
Partners and properties: The perfect couple
This is a legacy post from the findaproperty.com blog which is now maintained as an archive within the Zoopla blog. Links have been preserved.
Love and property. You might not immediately put the two together, but a new show from the folks at Channel 4 are planning a new documentary that does just that.
The BAFTA award-winning team behind One Born Every Minute and 24 Hours in A&E are working on a new seven part show about love and living together.
Details are a bit sparse at the moment, but what we do know is that the doco will delve into the lives of one couple who’re living together and feature a further six couples in love (of all ages): from first kiss to final farewell. No doubt they’ll be laughs, tears and possibly even a few tense moments over some tricky DIY projects!
Best of all, Channel 4 are on the hunt for a couple to feature in the documentary. If you and your partner are on the cusp of moving in together, then it could be you. Email Anna Dangoor at anna.dangoor@thegardenproductions.tv or call 020 3465 9060 to find out more.
Amy Winehouse home to become charity HQ
This is a legacy post from the findaproperty.com blog which is now maintained as an archive within the Zoopla blog. Links have been preserved.
As news emerges that the former home of Amy Winehouse will be used as the headquarters for a rehab charity in her memory, it’s reminded us of other houses once touched by fame which are no longer lived in, but offer something special to the public.
Since Winehouse’s tragic death last month, speculation has been mounting about what the star’s parents will do with their late daughter’s £2.5 million three-storey Camden home (pictured below).
It turns out the home is now to become the HQ for a new rehab charity called The Amy Winehouse Foundation being launched by her parents and funded by profits from a new single Winehouse recorded with legendary crooner Tony Bennett in March.
The Back to Black singer’s father Mitch hopes the foundation will teach kids about the dangers of taking drugs and also support causes close to his daughter’s heart such as helping troubled children and those in hospices.
The Winehouse family’s decision to use the home for the good of the community follows a long tradition. Here are some other homes of famous figures that now have alternative uses, many of which play an important role in capturing history or giving something back.
Charles Dickens
Dickens lived in Bloomsbury, London, between 1837 – 1839, where he penned Oliver Twist. His former home is now the Charles Dickens Museum and has beautifully restored rooms, letters, pictures, first editions and memorabilia.
William Shakespeare
Shakespeare’s home town of Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire is awash with thespian followers. The two most famous homes – both open to the public – are the house he was born in and Anne Hathaway’s Cottage (pictured below), where Shakespeare courted his future bride..
Elvis Presley
Fans of the rock n’ roll experience can visit Presley’s famous Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tennessee and indulge in all things Elvis – from the costumes – to the cars.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Schwarzenegger has only recently agreed for his childhood flat in Austria to be opened as a memorabilia museum to the actor turned politician.
John Keats
The country’s favourite romantic poet lived in his Hampstead home (pictured below) between 1818 – 1820. It’s now a museum and open to the public who can see paintings, prints and relics belonging to the poet.
The Bronte Sisters
The Bronte sisters grew up at the Parsonage in Haworth, West Yorkshire which is now open to the public and a shrine to the literary family and houses their original furniture and possessions.
Charles Darwin
Visitors to Darwin’s house in Downe, Kent, can enjoy rare collections of animals, see where he wrote the Origin of Species and meander the extensive gardens which the naturalist called his “outdoor laboratory”.
Anne Frank
The Diary of Anne Frank records the tragic experiences of a young Jewish girl and her family during World War II who hid from the Nazis in a secret annex in the house in Amsterdam (below). The home was restored to its original form in he 1950s and is now a popular museum in Amsterdam where it commemorates Frank’s indominatable spirit.
Mark Twain
The timber house that American author Twain and his wife designed and built in Hartford, Connecticut is now a museum for people to learn more about the writer. He wrote some of his best work from this house including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Michael Jackson
Another talented pop star who had an untimely death, the King of Pop’s famous Neverland Ranch in California is rumoured to be eventually opened to the public.
