Tales from the Front Line
Westminster chatter won’t change the weather
by
Craig Jordan
on March 8, 2010 in
Country Search
Whether it is Gordon Brown impersonating Gordon Ramsay with his staff or David Cameron’s bank roll by a billionaire non-dom, the Sunday broadsheets claim a storm is brewing and a change is in the air. However, the weather has had more effect on the property market at the start of 2010 than any election year will. Traditionally the market gathers pace pre-election due to its rather frustrating nature of taking place in the heart of the Spring market, but powers far beyond the control of any government have prevented that this year and in truth affected us all. With now two days of sunshine (and as I write nearly three) the Cotswolds has been transformed. A buzz is in the air, Spring is showing its strength and with this the market will follow. Vendors who were always planning to sell in the early part of 2010 desperately needed key photographs to present their property in the best light. The sunshine and lighter days will cause the chain reaction that we have all desperately needed in the country. Let’s all look to the skies instead of our illustrious leaders to predict our market.
I, like many millions, was eager to ogle at the power of Google and take a virtual tour down My Street and have a nose from the confines of my lazy chair, but the cold truth is that property viewing is not virtual but actual. You instantly know the next family home not by sight alone, but by the feelings given by all your senses combined. Walking over the gravel driveway, the smell of the neighbouring rape fields and with the out take of breath, you just simply know it is home. Until Google gives our senses, a real thrill I will get back in my car and report a genuine point of view.
Slow Down for Horses…
by
Craig Jordan
on May 19, 2009 in
Country Search
How many city folk I wonder have already blasted past an ambling mare this morning, late for a viewing, reciting the London rant “traffic was shocking”? In these times of short supply are these jolly hackers an untapped source of information? I passed two charming ladies this morning who were only too happy to not only guess where I come from (a reminder to leave mud on the car), but indeed going to, stated without prompting “the farm is next left, past the suicide bend, next to the treatment hut on the right which packs up every year, by the way, causing a terrible smell, usually at Christmas”.
Chuckling as they trotted off, I for one will crawl past my new found friends next time.