Media pimped homes for sale - monitor thread

fc123

princeofpounds wrote: »

Not directly relevant to some of the issues being currently discussed in this thread, but thought I'd share with you a recent experience concerning fighting against media pimping of homes for sale.

Metro newspaper regularly prints sycophantic sections extolling the joys of flat ownership (preferably shared ownership!). It illustrates these with lots of smug people very happy about their purchases in various new developments. Entirely coincidentally, the developers of the exact same properties are advertisers in the same paper, usually only a page or two later.

One time, I was so fed up with one set of articles that were really stretching the truth in certain respects, so I decided to complain to the Advertising Standards Authority on the basis that these were not proper journalism but 'advertorials' and so should be marked as such. I read the instructions on the ASA website and submitted my complaint.

I received a letter a few weeks later saying that they were declining my complaint, not due to its merit, but because I hadn't supplied them with a copy of the advert. And yet on the ASA's own website it stated that it was not necessary to supply a copy as long as you could correctly reference it (and I did, with date, page and publication). All the articles were right there on the web and all newspapers keep back copy. And god knows how they expect people to complain about TV or poster adverts if a copy is required!

I can only assume that the ASA were just trying to avoid the work. I should have chased it up, but didn't have the energy... maybe I'll try again at some point.

Advertorials are everywhere esp in my industry. In fact, I would say that there is hardly any impartial fashion product placement in the mainstream fashion press at all now. It's had a great indirect consequence though......you can pull on a look and max it out and no-one knows....so then it's doesn't get ''Primarked'' (copied off) ...which kills off the look stone dead in a few weeks.

Daisy Waugh's columns don't seem like advertorial though as she slates many of the properties she reviews.

fc123

It was then bought by a Mr.Morris, presumably in 2006/2007. Seems he wants a significant premium for the Ronaldo factor.

Mr Morris said: “Parts of the house are unchanged since Ronaldo’s time here, such as the curtains and kitchen and there’s some great and unusual evidence of Ronaldo’s time here.

A shattered window from a kicked football still exists, dart holes dent the back of the office door from Ronaldo playing darts, and broken parts from TVs are sprinkled around the cherry blossom tree from where Ronaldo would shoot footballs at TVs for target practice.”

Anyone else selling a house with broken panes, bits of old telly scattered around the garden and dart holes in the doors would have a bit of a problem...not this guy...seems the broken /tatty bits are now A Celebrity Selling Feature. An A* for this Pimp my House I think

dopester

Manchester Evening News
Ronaldo's former home for sale
July 15, 2009

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fc123 wrote: »

Anyone else selling a house with broken panes, bits of old telly scattered around the garden and dart holes in the doors would have a bit of a problem...not this guy...seems the broken /tatty bits are now A Celebrity Selling Feature. An A* for this Pimp my House I think

For £1.25 million pounds you'd expect it fitted out in top-notch condition. Not a shrine of broken stuff.

Also I recall Ronaldo pointing out the window he cracked with a football at the rear of the house. He took the MTV Cribs team around that house. (Just found a video source to confirm it, but the actual interview itself has been overwritten by music).



The house was sold in year 2000. Unless the previous owners sold it on to a holding company they controlled, or something similar which seems on the unlikely side - it doesn't seem to tally with the same family renting it out to MUFC. The source I had was good though. There is something more to it with the renting thing - but perhaps with another property they had. Unless they rented it for 1 year in 1999, before selling it to the club in 2000. Nvm - it's irrelevant anyway.

Two major downside for me to that area... that house is practically opposite the entrance to a major oil terminal/depot. I don't really know the full risks of that, but even 10 years ago, before that major Total oil depot explosion a couple of years ago, I would pass there and have a wild imagination moment of a firey mushroom cloud blasting into the sky. A busy road outside. Used to have many of those HGVs pulling those large fuel loads too. The type delivered to petrol stations - always coming and going. More than once warned to be very careful on our bikes in that area because they were considered by some to drive around too fast without much care.

Perhaps less of a troubling factor, it also backs on to BAE Systems Woodford - which, as has been threatened many times, is scheduled again to close down in a few years. (precise Google satellite map location link to see house, scroll out to see Oil Depot and it's entrance, and BAE Systems/the runways ect at rear of Ronaldo's old home.)

2 news articles (see prev post) told us the name of the current owner, and his line of work (mortgage broker). I already knew the road name. A search brings a tallying house-number result for his details and address from the FSA. (= 351)

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/register/firmBasicDetails.do;jsess

Thus:
Houseprices.co.uk for SK7_1QQ (for no.351)

Sales Date
31/10/2000
Price
£435,000

Sales Date
03/11/2006
Price
£750,000

The second transaction date ties in with story when current seller bought this house.

According to both the Manchester Evening News (July 2009), and other link in a previous post... the seller was/is hoping to get £1,250,000 pounds. The other article saying this asking price was about £300K over market valuation of the time.

Listing details: Not yet found - standby.
Sales details: No new transaction recorded yet.
Other info: 2 other homes for sale on that road on RM - forcing a reality check value comparison? At £649,950 and Offers in Region of £850,000... although Ronaldo's old MUFC/rented house has larger plot of garden which spans around one side of house too.
Standby for possible update info.

silvercar

Ronaldo's house looks like it was once nice then someone decided to put a giant turret in front of it and merge it in, but not very well - ugliest porch I've seen and the turret upstairs windows don't match the rest of the house.

lostinrates

silvercar wrote: »

Ronaldo's house looks like it was once nice then someone decided to put a giant turret in front of it and merge it in, but not very well - ugliest porch I've seen and the turret upstairs windows don't match the rest of the house.

I sort of like it. :oI'd resite the door to be on the front of it though, and think the roof is wrong on it. I ike that it looks a bit weird though...funny.

dopester

A bit tricky this one. House pictured is the one she's bought, or plans to buy, once she's sold her existing home (not pictured).

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Daily Mail:
Surrey vs Cheshire: The sale of the supermansions
By Zoe Dare Hall
Last updated at 2:07 PM on 21st December 2009

Jenny Weiss, who runs interior design company Hill House, and her husband Graham, MD of the housebuilders Octagon, will be moving into a spectacular £8million house on St George's Hill in Weybridge as soon as the finishing touches are complete.

Their neighbours will include Theo Paphitis of TV's Dragons' Den and and Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty. The house has a mirrored and black snake-print bar with leather floor, a bathroom with velvet zebra-print wallpaper and Swarovski crystals on the ceiling, and a 1,500 sq ft master bedroom.

'Instead of eight or nine bedrooms we have gone for five big bedrooms designed like hotel suites,' says Jenny, who is selling her chic seven-bedroom house in Walton-on-Thames for £2.95 million through Curchods.

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Difficult one. Curchods has two houses listed in W-o-T at £2.95m. Neither listed as 7 bedrooms as per article (5 bed and 6 bed). Trying to narrow further. She has references in other articles to homes, because of the interior design stuff.. also done stuff for Octagon; how convenient.

I'll check again to see if a 7-bed comes available, or perhaps it was an exaggeration in the article. For the moment I'm going to list both the 6 and 5 bedders. Both built buy Octagon as it happens - 'niche luxury build operator', so I've just read.

Rightmove link (Curchods), 6 bed: £2,950,000
Rightmove link (Curchods), 5 bed: £2,950,000

Also their £8m 'upsizing' mansion pictured, (supposedly awaiting finishing touches) - not found listed for sale. Found one very similar, from Octagon, but says it's sold. It first went to market at £6.5m. Octagon website link.

End part of the article. Can you take this airhead shopping opportunities / Harvey Nicks solicitor drooler, with his eyes only seeing so much wealth around Cheshire/Hale 'small-pond', back to London. Thanks.

One former London divorce lawyer who moved ten years ago to Hale in Cheshire to a £3.3million house says: 'Cheshire is a small pond. It's old textile family money, locally-grown business people or footballers.

'It may not be the best place to teach your children basic values - given the huge numbers of Porsches and Lamborghinis - but it's a great place to raise a family, with fantastic countryside.

'The footballers give the area its character in a funny way and have brought better shopping opportunities.

'When I first arrived, the only department store in Manchester was like Are You Being Served? Now we have Harvey Nicks.'

fc123

mmmmmm....nishe.....:o

Their neighbours will include Theo Paphitis of TV's Dragons' Den and and Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty. The house has a mirrored and black snake-print bar with leather floor, a bathroom with velvet zebra-print wallpaper and Swarovski crystals on the ceiling, and a 1,500 sq ft master bedroom.

fc123

Surrey vs Cheshire: The sale of the supermansions
By Zoe Dare Hall
Last updated at 2:07 PM on 21st December 2009

I liked this article...it's a skill to be a bit rude and judgemental whilst sounding really nice an polite.

dopester

Quite a few properties look to have sold or been withdrawn, since I last posted on this thread.

I've followed up quite a few changes (not all). Not any drastic price changes to get that excited about.

Although I've since found a few come back on Rightmove, relisted, including.

a: 'Why Can't I Sell My Home' woman.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=27610749&postcount=39

b) Cheryl Baker, making her mind up to sell her house, again, this time with a lower asking price. Incredibly it seems Ightham is experiencing price falls despite low stock levels and being highly sought after place to live. From first wanting £1.75 million for the house, her husband Steve looks like he's having to kiss the blade from a previous, non-budging, position.

''Ightham is a highly sought-after village and stock levels here are very low,' he says. 'That prevents prices from spiralling downwards, but it also means there haven't been many sales to compare with and this house is hard to value because of an unusually large garden.

In nearby Borough Green prices have fallen by an average 18 per cent since the peak, but Ightham has better homes and schools.

'Enquiries are higher now than this time last year, but this is mainly because vendors have been realistic, so I would advise a cautious guide price.'

Steve doesn't want to sell the house below a price the couple received when they had a remortgage valuation in mid-2006. He maintains that prices would have risen since that time and then fallen back down towards it.

'The last time we sold we didn't budge on price,' he says. 'We were lucky - the buyers didn't quibble because they liked the property. This house is in one of the largest plots in the area and I think it is impressive from all angles. If someone wants to make an offer we'll consider it, but we won't market it for less.'

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=27682931&postcount=83

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New entries.
IG9 5UA
Daily Mail: How Sven-Goran Eriksson helped to build my £2million mansion on the hill

By Sebastian O'kelly
Last updated at 3:59 PM on 08th February 2010
Bellgrove House, Epping New Road, Buckhurst Hill

Going for a song: Session singer and serial entrepreneur Martin Bell built Bellgrove House as a family home, but is now hoping to sell it for £1,975,000

Bellgrove House is the handiwork of session singer and serial entrepreneur Martin Bell, 39, who built it as a family home for himself, his wife Nicola, 36, and their children, Persia, five, and Cash, one.

But he also built it to make some money, which he will do if he manages to sell for anywhere close to the £1,975,000 asking price.

Rightmove link: Guide Price £1,975,000

PB Main Info:
30 January 2010: Price changed: from 'Guide Price £2,100,000' to 'Guide Price £1,975,000'
24 October 2009: Initial entry found.
Update 30th May 2010: New Rightmove link: £1,850,000

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Daily Mail: How we went through the mill

By Maggie Mallon
Last updated at 5:45 PM on 01st February 2010
PH16 5EL

To most people it looked like an untidy pile of stones with a run-down water wheel, but when Brian and Margo Grieve viewed Moulin Mill they saw their dream home.

In April 2005, the couple set about turning the derelict 380-year-old flour mill in the heart of the Scottish Highlands into their perfect home.

The project took nearly two years and cost £350,000, but Brian, a 42-year-old corporate banker turned finance consultant, says: 'It's been worth it to get exactly what we wanted, down to the last detail.'

Moulin Mill, a B-listed building near Pitlochry in Perthshire, was the couple's first renovation. They have since completed four more and a further two are in the pipeline.

Rightmove link: Guide Price £440,000

PB Main Info:
02 January 2010: Initial entry found.

fc123

OK I will tag this onfo onto DS's pimped thread as it was mentioned a few pages back.

I am now really fighting with my inner self and the deadly sin ''Thou Shalt Not Covet''....and I mean really fighting cos I WANT THIS HOUSE. I WANT I WANT I WANT ...and cannot afford it in a million years.

The dead (lovely, spiritual, actually a real white witch) neighbour's house is going to auction next month.

There are 3 houses for sale in the street at the moment all 1 million +..and all unsold.

Next door is a dream .....total dream (well fits into my dream) and, yes, it needs work but the plot is to die for. In fact, derelict rental needs far more work than next door and I manage to exist in it.


Now, I did do my nosy neighbour impression today as I have resisted going outside whenever I see a couple of bad suits wandering around...as has happened the past week......and lovely same sex couple are thinking of buying it....and I confess...I AM SOOOOO JEALOUS. But, as I am nice I let them come into mine to see the view from the back..as that is what you are paying for.

The reserve is £430k.


I now wanna make some £££ so badly and this forum is a blackboard sometimes for my inner self and I am not ashamed with being in touch with my materialistic, shallow, coveting side...oh no.

What's it going to go for? I have no idea.....but I am drinking a red and feeling so 'bottom of the pond' right now....which I know I should be totally ashamed of as I have a good life and an OK house already in grotty London suburb.....but......I can't help it.