cheers

Another semi with a good price.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-17482296.html

cheers

I like this one.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-29589190.html

cheers

While looking around the listings in Somerset I've seen a lot of listings for a converted hospital to residences so I looked up Mendips Hospital because it was a big hospital and it said it was a lunatic asylum. I don't like the idea of buying a place there because of the vibes it would have. It is probably the place I belong though.

County Asylum for Pauper Lunatics (1848 - c.1880)

bandrui

Those markers never mark the house... just the postal code. It's on W. Compton Lane West of Winters Hill Ln, in the Western section of that group of houses. Lovely area.

cheers

You are probably the best person on here to answer this question........What are those garden rollers used for? I seem to remember them being used to roll the lawn. yes/no. Never any seen this side. If they are used to roll the lawn what effect do they have?
I notice some lawns on RM look immaculate and some look rough???

nethead

I think that's a good price, but needs some updating (for me personally). I like Shepton Mallet it's a got a nice high street and some good amenities, but it's not as gentrified as surrounding towns/cities, like Wells and Bath.

bandrui

They are indeed used to roll a lawn and are particularly useful when putting in a lawn, i.e. you dig an area over, level it with a rake then roll it to create a level surface that won't be a headache to mow (unlike mine ). They do have them here too.
Personally I do not go for the extremely manicured look, on lawns or gardens. I prefer the country cottage garden and it seems much more natural to me.
I would use one of those rollers though if I had one.

Re: the house you posted: the outside was really nice but I was disappointed with the interior at that price. Might be interesting to keep an eye on it and see what it sells for... if it sells!

aries

It has just occurred to me that Shepton Mallet was featured in the TV series Turn Back Time. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00v7p71 A fascinating series, certainly reflecting that shopping changes a lot over time.

bandrui

Wish I had that Iplayer! When I have more time I'll see if I can get expat shield to work.

mikelincs

When they were closed a few years ago many of those places were converted to apartments, or knocked down and replaced by 'affordable housing' and blocks of apartments for the 'over 55s'. In some places they had to leave the originalfacade of the building, but what is behind is totally new.

bandrui

I was intending to find out more about Shepton Mallett when I came across an entry for the Shepton Mallett prison in Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepton_Mallet_(HM_Prison)

The prison which has a fascinating but macabre history including many hangings and firing squads, noted in the wiki entry along with the sordid crime.

It is still in use as a "lifer-only" prison .

As at June 2010, the prison held 174 prisoners serving a life sentence and 14 serving indeterminate sentences for public protection (IPP). 108 had committed offences categorised as violence against the person (including murder), 74 were classified as sexual offenders, whilst six were in prison for other offences. 26 prisoners were aged between 60 and 69, and four were seventy years old or more. 149 had been at Shepton Mallet for a year or more, and 58 for four years or more.

That rules out Shepton Mallett for me.

On the lighter side, a few entries on escapes :

November 1765 – prisoner Jeffreys, imprisoned for sheep-stealing. Recaptured after 10 days at Lyme Regis.

(I think we can learn something from some of the places these escapees chose to go to, other than Lyme Regis (above), Bath, Shaftesbury, Taunton, Bridgwater, Bristol.)

- prisoner George M,[15] a professional safe-cracker, was found to be missing at morning roll call.

- 17 August 1966 – a convict, in prison for larceny and burglary, escaped whilst engaged in repairing prison staff accommodation. He was found later the same day having a drink in The King William Inn in the town.

- February 1985 – a prisoner who set fire to his bedding in the hospital wing and pretended to be unconscious was taken to the Royal United Hospital, Bath. However, when there he changed his mind and decided not to escape. In court he pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal damage.

and the classic :

- 7 May 1987 – three men sawed through their cell window's bars, climbed on to the roof and escaped over the wall using a rope of knotted sheets.

Pistolpete2

Yep pretty creepy what went on in that prison and the number of escapes. You need a decent night's sleep.

Pistolpete2

Today's propaganda:

Owning and buying:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/e...ecovering.html

Note that to justify the article, they suddenly seem to have forgotten inflation, which they previously used to come up with steep declines in real terms.

Renting:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2...ents-mortgages

10% actually predicted by 1 in 7!

First time buyers:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/...dy-claims.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/...me-buyers.html

For prospective landlords:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/housing-ne...rs?INTCMP=SRCH

bandrui

In a couple of these, I wondered if they had considered the gradual decrease in living baby boomers? - a longer term phenomenon but if, as they say, Britain will become a nation of renters in one generation, who is going to be owning the houses?

I was a little nervous about the potential 10% increase in rent in the next year. I think they are high enough as it is and this will affect a lot of people (including me ). Interesting stat that 46% of landlords had to deal with rent in arrears this last month. It will be a lot higher if rents do go up.

I still feel that it is all up in the year with "experts" disagreeing about what will happen in the housing market.

I was hearing on the news tonight that the situation is basically the same in Canada... slow economic growth, bank not raising interest rates until fall at soonest, etc.

I think we will have an interesting year ahead!

Pistolpete2

Exactly my reaction yesterday! I think that we are going to possibly see more opportunities for canny buy-to-let landlords who are able to get better financing arrangements than are individuals. The problem is that we could next get a buy-to-let bubble.

However,

I am more concerned by the chance of tenant arrears and default and resultant voids and the impact it could have on a landlord's ability to service their debt.

In spite of some newspapers' positives, in the short-run I am not confident that the rewards from ownership or letting out as a BTL landlord warrant the risks but that is based upon my own personal investment choices.

I am personally aware of a husband and wife team in the UK (The Wilsons - He is Fergus Wilson) who own over 500 properties in Kent. They are former maths teachers who bought in the early 90s on the premise that in the long run property prices will always rise. In 2007 they were very close to default as an increasing number of their tenants were in arrears and they were in the process of refinancing at what would have been much higher interest rates.

Fortunately for them, the Lehman Brothers debacle came along and interest rates plunged or they were goners as Fergus himself admitted.