Property News from Times Online en-uk Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:37:29 GMT Copyright 2007 Times Newspapers Ltd. custserv@timesonline.co.uk http://www.timesonline.co.uk Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:13:00 GMT Newspapers 144 21 http://www.timesonline.co.uk http://images.thetimes.co.uk/TGD/picture/0,,116979,00.gif Greg Gordon Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:20:00 GMT 2009-12-04T05:26:08Z Andy Coyle will remember this year with fondness. After years spent working in banking, the 35-year-old decided to retrain for a career in the media. This summer, he gained a first-class degree and landed the job he wanted with a broadcaster. He also plans to marry his fiancée, Michelle, a teacher. He has achieved a great deal, but the one thing he is unlikely to do is buy a new home. David Smith: Home Economics Sun, 06 Dec 2009 00:00:46 GMT 2009-12-04T07:18:46Z With some people arguing that we have not yet got through the bust, thoughts are already turning to how to stop the next house-price boom. Adam Posen, a member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee, argued last week that interest rates alone would not be enough to stop prices from getting out of hand in the future. Tony Juniper Sun, 06 Dec 2009 00:00:32 GMT 2009-12-06T01:36:08Z During the many years that I worked at Friends of the Earth, one of the most frequently asked questions from supporters and the public was about Christmas trees. Is an artificial tree a good idea, or is it better to get a real one? On the one hand, artificial trees are made of metal and plastic and therefore entail pollution and the use of non-renewable resources in their manufacture; they also raise environmental questions when the time comes to get rid of them. On the other, live trees require land to be grown and have to be cut down or dug up so they can be draped in tinsel in our homes. Rosie Millard Sun, 06 Dec 2009 00:00:18 GMT 2009-12-04T07:50:44Z You want to put your house on the market, but can’t stand the idea of a drip, drip, drip of viewings over the next three months, or however long it now takes to sell a house. The threat that you might suddenly be called on to vacuum the stairs with 20 minutes’ notice, tidy away the children’s toys or start baking to create that all-important welcoming aroma can all be a bit much. The alternative is to hold an open day. Emma Wells Sun, 06 Dec 2009 00:00:17 GMT 2009-12-03T11:01:22Z The overseas adviser Katrina Burroughs and Emma Wells Sun, 06 Dec 2009 00:00:12 GMT 2009-12-05T03:18:11Z How are you feeling this Christmas? A combination of twitchy and hopeful about covers it for us. We know from Mervyn King’s cheery inflation report last month that we mustn’t “hang out the bunting” just yet, but prepare ourselves for a “long and hard” climb out of recession next year. Trouble is, we really, really fancy a bit of bunting. There’s a new decade about to begin and a whiff of economic recovery in the air. Surely we can open up the coffers a crack? Just as long as we spend as wisely as three wise men in a sagacity competition? Daisy Waugh Sun, 06 Dec 2009 00:00:07 GMT 2009-12-05T03:27:31Z Men might like to know right away that this week’s property is an abnormally superior one, that it has recently had its price reduced by half a million, that it’s an astonishing bargain and that it should be snapped up right away. The estate agent’s number can be found in the usual box at the bottom of the page. And now, gentlemen, you can turn away. Because, this week, Beyond the Brochure will be delving far Beyond the Comfort Zone. We’ll be talking about our emotions. Actually, I’m not sure I can leave that last sentence in without barfing. But I shall try. Emma Wells Sun, 06 Dec 2009 00:00:03 GMT 2009-12-05T10:06:14Z Zara Phillips is standing on a damp Portuguese hillside, calf-high in bracken, clover and outsize fungi, surveying a set of posts that demarcate the footprint of what will, eventually, be her first holiday home. As she pores over the laminated plans provided by her architect, and looks over acres of vineyards in an effort to get her bearings, it is clear this isn’t her natural milieu. “It’s only when the walls go up next spring that I’ll actually be able to visualise what it’s going to look like inside and out,” she says. The appearance of a white thoroughbred from the nearby riding school, out for a valley ride, which she happily goes to stroke, makes her visibly relax. Stephen Anderton Sat, 05 Dec 2009 00:01:00 GMT 2009-12-03T03:40:53Z When is a hedge not a hedge? Probably when it’s a screen, a looser, less geometric affair that can wave in the wind, something not quite so dense. A bamboo curtain, perhaps. Stephen Anderton Sat, 05 Dec 2009 00:01:00 GMT 2009-12-03T03:40:50Z If you like flowers to pick in winter, look out for the dark form of the Algerian Iris unguicularis called ‘Mary Barnard’, which usually starts before Christmas. This year mine has been in flower for weeks already. Cally Law Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:52:14 GMT 2009-12-04T07:55:07Z For years, Sarah Piper had to bulk-buy Christmas trees. With four holiday lets on the go, by early December the Cornish farmer’s wife turned property developer would be flat out, draping holly over four fireplaces, carting in four loads of logs and baking four batches of welcoming mince pies. “I had help,” she says, “but it was hard work, especially on top of Christmas itself.” Mark Loveday Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:01:52 GMT 2009-12-03T01:34:46Z Question Anne Ashworth Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:01:49 GMT 2009-12-04T05:16:48Z Click here to view annual house price growth during the Noughties PDF Anne Ashworth, Judith Heywood and Lucy Alexander Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:01:36 GMT 2009-12-04T06:21:43Z Click here to view national house price growth over the last 50 years Laura Dixon Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:01:01 GMT 2009-12-03T01:24:47Z RICS Lettings Survey Valerie Elliott Countryside Editor Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:01:00 GMT 2009-12-03T08:56:24Z The merits of the Buff Orpington or Light Sussex are as likely these days to be discussed over garden fences in Hampstead as they are in the Cotswolds, with thousands of urbanites rearing their own hens. Chris Smyth Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:01:00 GMT 2009-12-01T11:37:33Z Savills, the estate agent, apologised in court yesterday to a businessman who accused it of tricking him into selling his house for millions less than it was worth. Barry McKay, 54, accepted an undisclosed settlement from Savills, from which he had been claiming up to £9 million. Daisy Waugh Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT 2009-11-28T03:01:43Z I first got to know one of my closest friends while we were both working on a half-baked weekly newspaper for children, which came to grief shortly afterwards. In the time I worked there, we never once succeeded in publishing a crossword where the clues and grid matched. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons they closed us down. One of many, I suspect. I’m proud to say I was its “deputy editor” as well as agony aunt. Most significantly, I was her boss. Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT 2009-11-26T09:45:00Z THE ESTATE AGENT Interview by Rachel Devine Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT 2009-11-27T12:07:34Z When I first set eyes on Bridge House, it was a semi-derelict building on the esplanade of South Queensferry, looking out to the Forth Bridge. It was a historic house, built by one of the guys who designed the bridge and he lived there while it was being built, until it was finished in 1890.