Media pimped homes for sale - monitor thread

Cleaver

Maths and / or proof reading doesn't seem the strong point of The Mail:

Stumped by house price slump: Ashes hero Freddie Flintoff slashes £1.5m off mansion he has never lived in

The Ashes star originally put the six-bedroom mansion up for sale almost a year ago for the princely sum of £5m.

But the house has languished on the market for more than 10 months forcing Flintoff, 32, to bring down his asking price by a 10 per cent.

It is now on the market for £4.49m the hope of attracting a fresh wave of millionaire property hunters.

dopester

Cleaver wrote: »

Maths and / or proof reading doesn't seem the strong point of The Mail:

My source tells me he already has a house in nearby Hale, and a property (house/apartment in Belgravia London). Also my source tells me the former home of Mark Hughes (who I used to see a few times nipping into bookmakers in South Manchester upto year 2000), when it was his home, had a lot of money spent on it creating underground gym - sports workout place. Replaced now by this new house.

I suspect this was always an investment property for Flintoff. The motif of the wickets (ashes) are a bit corn-nnnnnny. I doubt he was serious about moving into the place as a full time home (could be wrong) but planned to sell on to the next richer person, or accessing every more massive mortgages, in the mcmansions-identikit-characterless, keep-on-trebling in-value every 10 years paradigm. The article says "bought the property in October 2007 for £1,85m from Mark Hughes." So most likely this one:

Date: 01/10/2007. Price £1,850,000
The Spinney, Withinlee Road, Mottram St Andrew, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK10 4AU
http://www.houseprices.co.uk/withinlee-road-mottram-st-andrew-macclesfield-sk10/

HIP link http://propertyreportsassociates.co.uk/index.php?option=com_sobi2&sobi2Task=sobi2Details&catid=68&sobi2Id=705&Itemid=34

Rightmove link: (2nd pic shows front of house matching Daily Mail's pic) Guide Price £4,495,000

dopester

Daily Mail
From period house to the picket line: BBC presenter Penny Bustin works up to a £1m mansion... but can't cut her union roots

By Sebastian O'kelly
Last updated at 4:00 PM on 15th November 2010

Period houses are a passion she shares with her architect husband Martin York, 49, and together they have restored seven houses since 1981

Her climb up the property ladder should help cushion possible shortfalls in her BBC pension.

But the choice of Heath and Wakefield is a strange one for a member of the Leeds TV chatterati - and even worse for Martin, whose office is in Manchester, where he spends most of the week. A village around elegant Harrogate would be a more conventional choice, but after Martin came across Dower House for sale for £750,00 in 2003, the couple were smitten.

In total, they reckon they have spent £250,000 on renovations.

The downside to the property, which is priced at £1.25 million - down from £1.4 million when the couple tried to sell it in 2004 - is that it is attached to the servants' quarters, which have been turned into a separate house.

'All these big properties will have a compromise, and being attached is this one,' says James Clarke, of selling agents Dacre, Son & Hartley. 'But it is in no way overlooked and I did not value it down for that. 'Someone will fall for this house, possibly employed in the Leeds financial services sector.

Rightmove link: £1,250,000
PB info: (not operational atm)

dopester

Daily Mail
Waking the dead: How TV screenwriter turned his hand to a period drama with this dilapidated Elizabethan pile
By Ruth Bloomfield
Last updated at 11:48 AM on 8th November 2010
GL5 5BU

Stephen and Jane, both 60, have spent more than 20 years working on the Grange, which is near Stroud, but have just put it on the market for £1.75million.

With their two daughters Zoe, 23, and Natalie, 20, now grown up, the time has come to downsize.

With Jane having a career in the cosmetics industry, the couple paid £71,000 for a house in Notting Hill, West London, in 1981 - at the time considered a rather edgy area.

Six years later (1987) they sold for £345,000 to move to the country, which allowed them to buy Bownham Grange for £225,000 and spend £100,000 on essential repairs.

The couple now find themselves rattling around in Bownham with its eight bedrooms and four reception rooms. They have decided against remaining in the Cotswolds on the grounds that after Bownham Grange anything else would seem a let down - and want to live in Italy.

Rightmove link: Guide Price £1,750,000
PB info: (not operational atm)

dopester

Daily Mail
Paralympic champion Danny Nobbs completes dream home to get over shock of divorce

By Mark Anstead
Last updated at 1:22 PM on 15th November 2010

..last year (2009) began looking for a larger home to start a family. Danny found a repossessed bungalow in Great Hockham set in one acre with four double bedrooms.

But the house was a shell – even the kitchen units had been removed. Danny bought it by sealed bid for just £233,000.

But after Danny sold his previous home for £130,000, Tracey told him she wanted a divorce. She moved out and Danny moved back in with his parents, who also live in Attleborough.

‘Still, I felt we had bought the bungalow at just the right time – you don’t see many repossessions around here. I knew the house had sold for £350,000 18 months earlier, so we got it at a really good price.’

At £399,950, his is among the more expensive bungalows in the area. But estate agent Donna Kissinger says: ‘It will be snapped up by a family or a retired couple wanting to enjoy the garden.’

Rightmove link: £395,000

dopester

Daily Mail
Absolutely prefabulous! Smart timber-framed homes offer hassle-free projects for DIY builders

By Sebastian O Kelly
Last updated at 4:24 PM on 22nd November 2010


Haus proud: Phil and Natalie Anders and their £2.95million Dorset Huf Haus

• The Haus, overlooking glitzy Sandbanks with views over Poole Harbour in Dorset, is now on the market for £2.95million

• The obvious downside is that you need a lot of money to build one like this. Phil and Natalie bought their plot, which had an old bungalow on it, in 2003 and then could not agree with an architect how to build on it and so looked at other options.

• Their build started in January 2007 and finished in July, which meant it was completed when sterling was worth €1.45. It would be 20 per cent more expensive today.

• Phil and Natalie have slashed theirs by a staggering £1million - a quarter of the asking price. 'We will lose a bit when we sell,' says Phil. 'Unfortunately, the recession means I need the money for my businesses. An alternative would be to rent it out at £7,500 a month. It would be a good rentable property, because what can a tenant do to a Huf Haus?'

• Christopher Bailey, at Knight Frank, who is selling the Huf Haus, says local agents have taken too long to slash prices on Sandbanks. 'The 30 per cent premium waterfront properties had in 2007 has gone,' he says. 'The price of the Huf was too high. It's right now.'

• Prefab houses have huge attractions, but prefab profits are another matter entirely.

--
Rightmove link 1 (Knight Frank): Guide Price £2,950,000
Rightmove link 2 (YOU Home): Guide Price £2,950,000

PB Info: For both listings above, first found by PB in early April 2010, at Guide Price £3,250,000

dopester

Daily Mail
'Cool' doesn't suit my lifestyle: The £1million loft that the Piano Man can't live in

By Mark Anstead
Last updated at 1:29 PM on 22nd November 2010

When film composer Michael Nyman bought his converted warehouse flat in London seven years ago he had visions of turning it into the perfect bohemian loft space.

He opened up the interior and made all the necessary improvements, but is now selling up without having actually lived there.

Michael says he thinks his spacious loft in Bermondsey is cool, but the open-plan living space he designed has never suited his lifestyle.

Six years ago he let it to a tenant, but now that tenant has quit he still doesn't think he can move in.

He first saw his apartment in Borough when he was invited to a party in a neighbouring flat seven years ago. Deciding he liked the idea of living among the artisans occupying live-work units on the other side of the gated courtyard, he snapped one up for £640,000.

Even though Michael has had the property on the market since March this year at £1.15 million there have been no takers.

'In many ways I prefer this area to Islington and I would love to live here,' he says. 'But a space like this isn't made for lots of shelves and clutter – the brickwork between the windows should be used for hanging pictures, not cluttering with books.

'But I just think I need to hold on for the right kind of buyer. You can't find many loft apartments in London like this and it would be perfect for someone who wants something that is spacious and with some appealing architectural features.'

--
Rightmove link: standby
Google Street View link.

dopester

This thread is a lot less fun than I thought it was going to be, when I started it nearly a full 12 months ago.

Few meaty cuts in asking price (apart from occasional ones at the super-upper end, and Cheryl Bucks Fizz one reduced despite saying they wouldn't lower it), and quite a number which have gone on to sell at only slightly under asking.

Other pimped houses just hanging on the market doing very little, but still wanting the same big money.

Bring on the reality gap shocker. It has got to hit soon.

silvercar

You may think its less fun, but I'm enjoying it.

Appreciate your efforts.

lostinrates

silvercar wrote: »

You may think its less fun, but I'm enjoying it.

Appreciate your efforts.

I second this.