The Good the Bad and the Ugly

Who, or what, am I talking about you must wonder? Well I have to say that it's not the various odd personalties that lurk the streets of Portsmouth but it's the many Portsmouth Estate Agents I have encountered over the past few weeks of house hunting. They come in all shapes, sizes and ages (and varying degrees of intelligence) and fortunately, the majority are neither bad nor ugly. Sadly, there are though the odd exceptions who are both bad, ugly and I'm sad to say, lacking in the necessary foresight to see that the current financial woes on the property market are here to stay for quite sometime to come. I have decided only to trust those Estate Agents who are over 45 and not wearing white socks as I am not willing to take financial advice from an oik who would be better placed selling dodgy designer clothes at a car boot sale.

So here we are at the end of October almost like a pair of vultures looking for the right house at the right price in the right place and we are still astonished at the number of sellers who are trying to convince themselves (and us) that housing market will recover in the next year and be back where it was in 2007 - I don't think so! We have looked at an extensive list of houses (preferred), Bungalows (not sure about) and Flats (a resounding NO now) and found a couple that would be perfect only if they were slightly cheaper, in the right location and we felt we would be able to negotiate the spiral staircase with our zimmer frames in years to come.

Another sad thing we have seen is the apparent ease with which a seller will allow you into their house when they have clearly not cleaned for a decade and the last weeks dirty thongs (yes, thongs) have been left on top of the recently slept in and not made bed! We have negotiated clutter, dirt and filth that would put most normal people to shame and left us outside in the car using one of those special hand-wash things that people buy these days when they visit an NHS Hospital in an effort to make sure you don't bring C-Diff or MRSA back home with you!

The prize for least appealing Estate Agent of the Year (I could be wrong here as it is only October after all... ) must go to the gobby git in the grubby black suit - all THREE buttons done up - who attempted to sell us the concept of the following,

1. The advantages of living directly opposite a pub
2. "All you need to do is add a french door here"
3. "there is some updating needed"- (like a complete rebuild)
4. "You can extend the kitchen into the garden" - the jungle clearing he meant
   
5. "You wont be able to find a home come the spring because off all the parents moving to Portsmouth to take up places at the schools" (where did that one come from?)

Then the little wag came up with "well if you are not prepared to pay the prices in Southsea you had best look elsewhere after all you have to pay the asking prices here to get what you want" He took no account of the fact that the housing stock is largely rental in the many areas he suggested and was to say the least, in a neglected state housing mainly students. All these not so helpful hints were addressed to me as he called me "Sir" at least 40 times in a somewhat sneering and patronising manner. At this point, with me biting my tounge, we slipped away only to be caught out by him whilst cursing him loudly in the street. I don't think we will have a future rosy relationship with Mr X of XXXXXXXX Estate Agents of Southsea. The main point he seems oblivious too is that we are a cash buyer with nothing to sell and no mortgage requirements and he's let us go, we are off his hook, he has lost our cash and.... his commision on a sale he could have made - in a word he's an IDIOT.

Stop Press!!

Harry Redknapp has gone to Tottenham Hotspurs!!!

The end of the world is nigh... what will happen to Pompey?

What will happen to Spurs?

I had this brief thought after I heard the news, will his leaving be akin to the ravens departing the Tower of London? The thought was very brief and the answer? No! For a moment I feared I had become a football fan...don't worry, the world is safe.

Right, it's back to Ebay for me as I am having a selling frenzy so keep reading and add yoru comments and also promote my Blog to anyone and everyone you can please.