Nice people thread part 7 - a thread in its prime

misskool

silvercar wrote: »

DS1 did some work (unpaid) for his professor while he was at uni. He was given a lovely reference and the professor offered to be a referee on future job applications. Now that time has come and DS1 gets back in touch, through the uni, only to find that the professor has been dismissed for gross misconduct and no-one is in touch with him. So the dilemma is whether he should use the reference now or not? (Reference was supplied at the time, "to whom it may concern...."

Not his fault but if applying for anything academic related then absolutely not. Sorry, we scrutinise references scrupulously. If any other job, then should be ok. Just remember that anyone is just as likely to google/internet search for the person writing the reference.

Generali

zagubov wrote: »

Last night I saw Brian Cox talking about Paramecia. Why? He's a cosmologist and should stick with stuff you see through a telescope not a microscope.


I could have done the show for a considerable discount. And I would have mentioned that Paramecia have 11 sexes. Did he mention that? No he did not! :mad:

Oh and hello aliasojo!

I live within about 30 miles of Herts. And lived in Scotland too. Some of the others down south here have lived up there as well. There are NPs in far-flung places, too.:)

I wouldn't. I would have done the show for full whack.

To any TV bods reading, I am happy to appear to talk about any topic but not on the cheap

lostinrates

misskool wrote: »

Not his fault but if applying for anything academic related then absolutely not. Sorry, we scrutinise references scrupulously. If any other job, then should be ok. Just remember that anyone is just as likely to google/internet search for the person writing the reference.

I don't think 'any' other job would make the reference 'safe'. Fwiw I also know of employers who chek Facebook etc pages of short listed candidates and one employer who randomly 'checks' the facebook pages of the thousands of employees they have.

lostinrates

Vet visit today for old horse who has horrid snotty cough. Please wish her luck.....our usual vet is on holiday and I imagine a vet seeing her for the first time might be.....alarmed.

bugslet

LydiaJ wrote: »

Really? I've no idea about the falling ill abroad thing, but the pension thing in this country I do know at least a tiny bit about. When I claimed my widow's pension from LNE's pension scheme, every piece of paper I saw said "spouse or civil partner". I thought the whole point of civil partnerships were that they were supposed to give gay couples exactly the same rights to things like pensions as straight couples have. Is that really not the case?

I have a friend who is gay that is in favour of marriage for what he calls practical and financial reasons. Of course he may be wrong, maybe he would change his mind if that's the case.

I live in the north west but I have an office in Herts.
My OH's ex wife's father was Jewish.

Hope that's good enough!:rotfl:

zagubov

Quick query for all West of England/SW England NPs. Anybody know of a reliable and reasonably priced coach hire or better minibus hire company able to handle party of about 13-14 plus luggage between Surrey and Exmoor area? Or Exmoor and any closer major transport hub? Can you please PM me if you have any ideas?

Many thanks

zag

BertieUK

GDB2222 wrote: »

I don't like sole agencies. I would want two agencies, or maybe three. Preferably, one from the local town/area, and one from a bit further afield.

I don't think there's much point in marketing at much above the price you are expecting to achieve, but I know people will disagree with that.

Maybe my old brain is a little out of touch but I always came to the conclusion that if I saw several EA's boards outside of a property it was a sure sign of the owner finding it difficult to make a sale for whatever reason, price too high always sprang to mind or property needing a great deal of work doing etc. A sure sign that our first impressions could be totally wrong.

Now my good Lady and I will be trying to clear our thoughts and hopefully making the best choice in which EA to sell our home. We will be looking at past threads on MSE to help us decide.

We are looking to get a fair realistic price that will get a sale in the near future and let us move onto the next chapter.

We will be thinking about having a try at negotiating a better commission percentage more nearer 1% which we consider to be realistic and fair. Thank's for your comments.:)

aliasojo

LydiaJ wrote: »

Welcome aliasojo. :hello:

Are you a scientist of any kind?

Thank you.

Morning all.

Sadly no, the closest I could come to that lofty height would be a 'domestic scientist'.

silvercar

Thank you for your (united) opinions on DS's referee. It appears he is appealing his sacking, so maybe he could be usable after all. The alleged misconduct was apparently totally unconnected to his academic work, does that make a difference?

GDB2222

BertieUK wrote: »

Maybe my old brain is a little out of touch but I always came to the conclusion that if I saw several EA's boards outside of a property it was a sure sign of the owner finding it difficult to make a sale for whatever reason, price too high always sprang to mind or property needing a great deal of work doing etc. A sure sign that our first impressions could be totally wrong.

Now my good Lady and I will be trying to clear our thoughts and hopefully making the best choice in which EA to sell our home. We will be looking at past threads on MSE to help us decide.

We are looking to get a fair realistic price that will get a sale in the near future and let us move onto the next chapter.

We will be thinking about having a try at negotiating a better commission percentage more nearer 1% which we consider to be realistic and fair. Thank's for your comments.:)

I agree that a whole forest of EA signs outside a property is very off-putting, but two would certainly not put me off. I grew up in an era where multi-agency was absolutely the norm. Possibly now, with the advent of Rightmove, there's less need to do that in order to get a good geographical spread of agents. I fortunately have not had to move since 1998, so I may be behind the times.

The trouble with a sole agent is that his interests are not the same as your interests. Once he has found a potential buyer, he will not want to do any more work marketing the property. Even if the buyer is just stringing you along, the EA won't be that worried. He'd rather see how it works out than expend any more effort on the off-chance of getting his commission a month earlier.

On the other hand, as soon as you have two agents involved, nobody can rest on their laurels. The EA who has found a buyer first knows that the other agent is just itching to steal the sale off him, given half a chance. This means that the first EA won't urge you to accept a low-ish offer, as he knows the second agent will tell you what he thinks and may well find it easy to get a second buyer who offers significantly more. I appreciate that you are not looking for top dollar, but you don't wan't to give the place away either. The buyer is also aware that, if he mucks you around, the other agent will be more than happy to recommend a replacement buyer. So, you are less likely to be gazundered at the last minute.

Round here, you generally pay 0.5% more for multi-agency commission, which provides an incentive to the agents to take your property seriously. I can't prove it, but I suspect that in most cases you'll get value for money for the 0.5% either in terms of a higher price or a speedier, more certain sale.