Nice People Thread Part 9 - and so it continues

vivatifosi

As a lot of NPs live under the path of the storm, I wanted to wish you all a safe and secure day tomorrow.

I also have a question... for those people who are due to go to work, what alternative arrangements are you making? The reason I ask is that normally I leave earlier during bad weather, but if I do that, then the weather is forecast to be worse than when I normally leave. Not quite sure of best cause of action.

lostinrates

If its really bad then DH will have to work from home, and hope communications are up viva.

michaels

quite glad that it is currently due a couple of hours earlier as hopefully if the trains break it will be before I am on them.

silvercar

Generali wrote: »

Selling the land would be simple and changing access would really be a case of knocking a couple of trees over and (preferably) getting permission from the local government to gain access which is unlikely to be a problem. Otherwise there's another access point which I'd own which would take a long weekend to clear for use.

Putting another floor on is common over here so plenty of builders do it. If you use a local builder then they also know what will and won't get past council for DA (our planning permission).

If you were in the UK, getting permission to change access would be unpredictable and we would say, if it was that easy why didn't the seller do it?

Do you have to check that the current foundations are strong enough to support another floor?

Doozergirl

I'm worried about DH. He needs to leave for London by about 5am. I like to be pragmatic about these things but I'm not good at anything at 5am. He's not the type to be persuaded out of things.

silvercar

I was meant to be driving to Cardiff Monday morning. Not sure that I want to drive through the post-storm rain and risk being delayed by fallen trees etc.

Option b is to drive today or I could get the train, but getting to Paddington is such a faff.

lostinrates

Doozergirl wrote: »

I'm worried about DH. He needs to leave for London by about 5am. I like to be pragmatic about these things but I'm not good at anything at 5am. He's not the type to be persuaded out of things.

We usually do 5:30am latest on Mondays. ( this year has been later mainly) One year we had 4:45 am departs for a short while when I was house / horse business sitting in Luton and he could leave mon am for a nine am Milan start.m. On Mondays.

The thing is that doozer should be more sensible. Cannot he go this afternoon and stay with an old friend?

Generali

silvercar wrote: »

If you were in the UK, getting permission to change access would be unpredictable and we would say, if it was that easy why didn't the seller do it?

Do you have to check that the current foundations are strong enough to support another floor?

Changing access isn't necessary, just slightly nicer.

Over here there isn't the same mindset about maximising value on sale beyond tidying up a bit and charging as much as you think you can get away with. I'm not sure why. You often see houses in the posh bit of town with 20 year old kitchen and bathroom and think that if they did the place up a bit they'd sell for a lot more.

Stamp duty and EA fees are such that it isn't worth doing for a living (about 10% between them) for most although a friend is in the army and so gets stamp and EA fees paid each time he gets moved: they do up houses as they move round the country.

PasturesNew

Generali wrote: »

Over here there isn't the same mindset about maximising value on sale beyond tidying up a bit and charging as much as you think you can get away with. I'm not sure why. You often see houses in the posh bit of town with 20 year old kitchen and bathroom and think that if they did the place up a bit they'd sell for a lot more.

It never used to be important here.... until the likes of Homes under the Hammer, Kirsty and Beeny got TV programmes. It's a new thing.

20 years ago not many people ever got a new kitchen. You bought a house for what it was first..... and lived in it.

Generali

PasturesNew wrote: »

It never used to be important here.... until the likes of Homes under the Hammer, Kirsty and Beeny got TV programmes. It's a new thing.

20 years ago not many people ever got a new kitchen. You bought a house for what it was first..... and lived in it.

I remember a period in about 2004 or 2005 when a run down place would often sell for more than a decent one as you could clearly make a fortune by doing it up.

My recollection in the Olden Days was that the way you'd make money from houses was to be a builder and do all the work yourself on the cheap and on the side.