House hunt

Two houses today in Canterbury, different parts of town, but with things in common. For starters, both too expensive really at 250k each. If the market really is tumbling we might be able to make a cheeky offer on just about anything we see now though I suppose. Also, they were both currently let, and we'd be seeing them with the tenants in situ. Also, both sets of tenants were entirely unprepared for our visits; the first were hastily tidying up, the place was a proper studenty sprawl with bottles and things scattered everywhere, and also what appeared to be a rolled up ten dollar bill left on a mirror, probably some sort of crazy art installation. It was a nice interesting characterful house in a nice old part of town, three big bedrooms, two cellar rooms and two knocked through reception rooms with just the raw brickwork of the chimney left standing in the middle of the property. It needed decorating, but the thing that makes it no good for us is the kitchen, which was too small. If it wasn't at the top of our budget we could have thought about rearranging things, maybe moving the kitchen or extending a bit, but we'd have no money left over for that.



Property two within the city walls is in the ideal location for us, right by The Dolphin. The tenants this time were even less prepared for our visit, they didn't want to let the agent in, they heard nothing from their landlord. We offered to come back next week but in the end they were unhappy but convinced, and the viewing continued. Surprisingly large three bedroom property, all of the downstairs was one big open plan space including the kitchen. I liked this, but it might need some thought. What would it be like living in a house where you can't close the kitchen off from the living room? At a squeeze we might even fit the pool table in this one, if we lived all around it. No garden, and being where it is no parking, but it's on a quiet street so stopping outside for deliveries and removals wouldn't be a problem. There are residents parking spaces right next door, but we know from previous enquiries that there's a waiting list for a permit. There is a small patio out the back, with the river adjacent. It's very shallow at this point, not even really deep enough for the ducks and moorhens to swim in, and is not quite as lovely as it sounds, but I liked it. Clare is less convinced, and at this credit crunching stage in the national economy I don't think we're going to be taking any risks on a place we don't absolutely love. I wouldn't mind seeing this one again though.



Some quick stats, ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of todays properties were being offloaded by professional landlords. Possibly in a hurry. If that doesn't tell you the property market is plummetting I don't know what will.

Lunch was at Boho, my first time of eating there and it was lovely, I recommend it. Tea was at Escondido for the first time in ages. Nice, but as with the last several visits they got my order wrong. They recovered quickly, so unfortunately we had no reason to demand a discount. I think that place is a bit expensive now really, but it was full again, I guess there is very little competition in the area. As it was Jen's birthday, we went on for drinks in The Sandgate Hotel for a change, nice but didn't feel all that welcoming. We made our excuses and left before closing time, but the party continued back at Dean's house until 4am apparently.

Nice day today, got our shopping out of the way early so are having a lazy afternoon. Midsomer Murders and chilli later, GREAT!

2008 :: Comment / reply

That book that people keep ebaying at £400

Another copy just started at ten pounds!

This book, that someone keeps trying to sell at around the four hundred quid mark, someone's just put a copy on at only ten pounds. That's Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Tales, illustrated by Harry Clarke. Not my Harry, this Harry.

Comment / reply

REM tickets going for a hundred pounds a go or so...

pauly :: 11 May :: 2003 :: Comment / reply