BRFR Cake Stop 'breaking news' miscellany

[briantrumpet]

Careful! You'll get me started on poetry again and Brian will be prosaically annoyed

I might be prosaically annoyed
But I think that you might well be buoyed
As you know, I like Rime
And a jolly good time
Iron Maiden can fill up the void.

 

[CXRAndy]

View: https://x.com/i/status/2029187307438301588

 

[Pross]

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2...-day-iron-maiden-english-literature-pop-music

I object to Iron Maiden being called pop, otherwise, I also discovered The Rime of the Ancient Mariner via their Powerslave album.

It certainly helped me out when we were studying the poem in school.

 

[briantrumpet]

Looks rather like they learned some useful lessons from the covid contracts awarded under the UK's 'VIP lane' system.

 

[briantrumpet]

For "unsellable" try 'overpriced'. There, that's fixed it. (Gift link below, if you want to read of their distress.)

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/4bee99fdc09063c1

 

[Pblakeney]

For "unsellable" try 'overpriced'. There, that's fixed it. (Gift link below, if you want to read of their distress.)

View attachment 13620

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/4bee99fdc09063c1

A tale of the ages. Any item is only worth what a buyer will pay.

 

[icowden]

For "unsellable" try 'overpriced'. There, that's fixed it. (Gift link below, if you want to read of their distress.)

Journalism at it's finest:-

At €850,000 (£744,404), the Attridges’ house is significantly more expensive than other similar four-bedroom properties in the area, which are typically marketed between €150,000 and €500,000.

Maybe that's because according to the agent:

Designed from scratch and built in 2004, with the owners' use in mind, the home is built upon 3 levels and boasts a total of 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, an open plan kitchen with dining area and amazing veranda with panoramic views, a spacious lounge, a private garage for several cars and store rooms. It is connected to mains electricity and water and in addition benefits from renewable energy by solar panels. It has central underfloor heating throughout and the impressive swimming pool can also be heated

But yes, you can buy similar sized houses for significantly less. In fact you can currently buy a licensed 11 bedroom hotel with pool and 12 acres of land for £705,429. Or a 6 bed detached house with pool for E500k, and loads of 5 beds with pool for <E485,000

 

[Pross]

I can never workout if those things are deliberate rage bait or if The Telegraph genuinely expects people to feel sympathy for these idiots.

 

[CXRAndy]

Many expats are trying to use UK pricing on lower priced European properties.

France and Spain have always been dirt cheap. Don't expect massive return if any.

A mate has a property in Slovenia. Had it 20+ years. Selling it for roughly thr same price they paid for it.

My inlaw is selling his French house for £10k more than he paid, despite spending a small fortune bringing it up to decent living standards.

Locals will not pay the inflated prices over the odds of the general market cap.

 

[Beebo]

I have friend who did exactly the same thing in Spain.
early noughties they bought a cheap bit of land in an unfashionable area away from the coast. Built a massive house with pool that was far too large for their needs.
Sadly Brexit and Covid scuppered their business and they went bankrupt and are now divorced.
The house was a huge millstone and they admit that got carried away with the fact that their money went much further so built something they didn’t need and ultimately couldn’t sell.

 

[briantrumpet]

I have friend who did exactly the same thing in Spain.
early noughties they bought a cheap bit of land in an unfashionable area away from the coast. Built a massive house with pool that was far too large for their needs.
Sadly Brexit and Covid scuppered their business and they went bankrupt and are now divorced.
The house was a huge millstone and they admit that got carried away with the fact that their money went much further so built something they didn’t need and ultimately couldn’t sell.

I guess that the 'unfashionable' bit should have been a clue, even if they couldn't have foreseen Brexit and covid.

 

[BoldonLad]

I guess that the 'unfashionable' bit should have been a clue, even if they couldn't have foreseen Brexit and covid.

Quite. People seem to forget that “location, location, location” applies in Europe, as well as UK. I could post links to properties in UK for less than £40k, but, I wager no-one on here would want to live there.

 

[Beebo]

Quite. People seem to forget that “location, location, location” applies in Europe, as well as UK. I could post links to properties in UK for less than £40k, but, I wager no-one on here would want to live there.

People forget that places like Spain and France are huge compared to England. There are areas where no one lives and there isn’t much employment. People can’t afford to buy expensive houses. And anyone who can has loads of choices, often in better places.

 

[briantrumpet]

People forget that places like Spain and France are huge compared to England. There are areas where no one lives and there isn’t much employment. People can’t afford to buy expensive houses. And anyone who can has loads of choices, often in better places.

Exactly this. Also in France you have to factor in the large taxes when houses are sold (c.10% of purchase price). And potential capital gains tax imposed by France on non-nationals. And local inheritance laws. (I know someone affected by the last category: they had started the process of selling, but the husband died unexpectedly, and now the widow is caught up in a legal minefield bringing everything to a standstill, and having to involve a stepson who'd been disinherited in the UK, but who *must* receive his share of the French house proceeeds.)

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

I never really thought of it until reading the above, but I guess there is a large element of cultural difference in relation to how people view property. In the UK we have become slightly obsessed with houses as an asset and see them more as an investment/retirement fund. Whereas it seems that in many other countries a house is viewed as a home to live in first and foremost which is as it should be IMO.