Come the end of January - all being well - we will be back in the UK, living in our daughter's empty (and for sale) house. (It's a nice little house, but not in the right area for us)
We will be looking for somewhere to buy for ourselves in the range of an asking price of no more than £100K. As you can tell from that budget, this is in an unfashionable area of the country, but needs must.
From research it is obvious that there are still a lot of optimistic sellers listing their homes at silly prices - or is it just esatate agents giving duff advice to acquire the listing?
Anyway, there are quite a few we have houses seen on Rightmove - yes I know it's not the same as actually visiting them - but we have short list of a dozen or so houses to think about if they remain unsold when we start our search.
We have been hit hard on our selling price, but the Spanish market is even worse than that in the UK: we want to reflect some of our financial pain on someone else (nicely of course), As cash buyers with no chain, we should be in a decent position to apply the screws, just as has been done to us.
This brings me to the question - how much UNDER the asking price should we offer in today's market?
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Entirely depends on how desperate the seller is, how unsaleable the house is, how long its been on the market.
Now I assume you are a cash buyer? YOu have no plans to sell up and move on?
If that is the case, then target houses that people cant get mortgages on.
Those that have had subsidence but been underpinned, those built of non standard construction, absentee freeholders, unadopted roads... you get the idea.
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There is a program on Iplayer about house auctions it is a very good programme to watch to get an idea of how to get bargains.
Also different parts of the country things have suffered worse. Where I live prices have just stayed static but they have not fallen.
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I shall correct my spelling before Mr Pedant arrives.
Programme.
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"target houses that people cant get mortgages on"
Good advice, but in my daughter's recent experience I'm surprised anyone can get a mortgage - she was looking for about 3 x salary (NHS), has no bad history, and not many offers were forthcoming.
Should be a good time to be buying in that price range, if you can find the right place.
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Some people can't afford to sell a house for less so they don't. They just wait it out.
Repossessions are a good source of bargains but you have to be prepared to be inconvenienced by have services switched back on and being hounded for ages by various people looking for the previous owners.
It just depends on how desperate they are and whether the price it is reflects what is available that is similar. Estate agents in this market generally will advertise a price that they want to sell it at but there is the problem that even realistically priced houses aren't selling because the banks won't lend. People want to buy but they can't. Lots of chains are falling through because of this and surveyors often down value just to be a pain. If someone has offered a price and the seller accepted then it is worth that much. Some surveyors seem to forget what 'market value' actually means. There are always over priced properties and under priced ones in any market.
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We got our house about 10% cheaper than others in the street because in needed decorating and the kitchen was 25 years old. Outside was tatty too which helped put people off.
Essentially though, these are cosmetic things, but many buyers are quite fickle about apperances.
Its also worth seeking out something near a railway line. Not next to it but within say 70ft of it because there is a perception they are noisey. Actually roads are far noiser generally. We have maybe two trains an hour go past us, sounding like either a plane or a grumbly lorry, but the sound last no more than 15 seconds and its not that loud.
This makes houses cheaper and without good reason.
Last edited by: stunorthants29 on Sun 19 Dec 10 at 17:13
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But note that some railway routes are used 24 hours a day, 18 for passengers and the other 6 for freight!
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and a goods train is a noisy old thing that takes a minute or more to lumber by, not 15 seconds!
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Obviously its worth checking what line it is. Maybe its because Im not near a station they are genereally going quick when they pass.
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...how much UNDER the asking price should we offer in today's market?...
Not much, in my limited experience.
No one will give their house away, so if it's advertised for £100,000, there's certainly no point in offering £75,000.
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If your a cash buyer, and you have 100k to buy with, go for a house at 110k and wave the cash under their noses.
If its priced at 100k wave 95 grand under their noses, they wont bite at 90k unless they are really desperate.
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The problem is that (most?) houses on the market are currently overpriced - they are not selling.
However sellers are still generally reluctant to take an offer of less than 90% of the asking price.
If I were you and it is possible I would sit tight in your daughter's house for as long as possible until a degree of realism enters the housing market and sellers start adjusting their price downwards.
Alternatively make an offer somewhere around 80% preparing to come up to 85% making a big play of the fact that you are a cash buyer. Be prepared for a lot of outright rejections though and don't get too hung up on a particular house. Sooner or later you will come to a desperate seller
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Why not target local estate agents in the area in which you are interested - point out that you are a cash buyer, capable of buying quickly if they have a chain that breaks. If you can find an agent who has a multi property chain on his books he will do almost anything to save his other commissions.
He may even ripple thro some of the discount to keep it all going, meaning that all parties take a share of the pain. The trouble is you will probably need to be dealing with the 'principal' , not some spotty 17 yr old 'negotiator' who does not see the big picture.
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Last time I bought a house in the UK was 1994, coming out of the last recession. The owner had already moved out and according to the estate agent had taken out a bridging loan to finance his new place. I offered 25% less than the asking price, expecting this to be the starting point for negotiations. Unbelievably the seller accepted the offer within the hour.
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I'm not pushing you to say on here but it's interesting to think what area you're looking in and what your property needs are. £100k approx is tight but I see for that budget near Durham you could have a brand new 3-bed link detached (attached at garage) house with D/G and GCH. In Gloucester you could buy a lovely looking victorian semi in the town. Not so far from us in a Cambs village with easy access to the A1/A14 there are established 2 Bed modern homes with gardens/parking for under £100k asking. So it will be possible to do something even without wickedly low offers.
We bought the place we're in now at the depths of the last property recession and had to sell one for a relative a few months into this recession.
As cash buyers we thought we'd be God's gift to agents/sellers but in truth it wasn't quite like that. In seeking a bargain you were operating in the dregs of the market and many of the places were absolute junk. Anywhere that was any good often went swiftly to a builder/developer/landlord friend of the agents so you never had a look in on the best. Also we found offering low meant you lost so many places when someone went just that little bit more. I self-surveyed but if we'd been paying for surveys we'd have a lost a fair bit on them with places we lost.
As sellers at the start of this recession we were prepared to take a fair low price but anyone who came in very low was soon shown the door.... it's just a human nature thing as it is somewhat insulting to a place you have known as a home. One couple really wanted the place but came the *we're cash buyers* rather too much then made two stupid low offers in a row and we refused to have any more dealings with them... but we did sell it at the level of their top offer a few weks later to a nicer couple we liked.
Of course there are forced sales such as reposessions and job moves but our experience with people locally is once they think the offers are getting too low they just pull off the market to see what might happen in another 6mths or so.
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Despite some of the well-meaning advice to play hard ball, I think the OP is in a precarious position.
He and his wife are both in their 70s and on a limited and fixed budget.
Property prices seem to be static or rising slightly.
If the market takes off, the OP could quickly be left behind.
The £100K could end up being insufficient to buy anything suitable.
My message would be to find a house sooner rather than later and get it bought.
Too easy to be distracted by trying to find deals and bargains - you can't live in a deal.
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Why buy bricks & mortar at your age? - rent your daughters place and invest the money in Russian hybrid cars.
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Best of luck with the purchase. We sold in December 2009 (accepted about 3.5% less than asking price) and bought in May 2010 (paid about 3.5% less than asking price.... there was no chain so that was good for us).
I still think it is a sellers market for some despite what is said. Around our way at least there is more demand than there are houses for sale. I've kept looking out of curiosity and if we'd not bought this one we'd still be looking!
Also some houses have mortgages so they cannot accept ridiculously low offers. They have to fund their move. Repossessions on the other hand might offer up a bargain. My brother bought a house a few weeks ago for less than 50% of the price the previous owners paid (this is the States mind) because of mortgage foreclosure.
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>> Why buy bricks & mortar at your age? - rent your daughters place and invest the money in Russian hybrid cars.
Not a bad idea if the house is good and in an area you can live. It will go up in price so will sell for more in future. She gets cash now and you get a home. £100k will pay for a few years rent.
I suppose at £100k the costs of selling/purchasing are relatively low. Our selling/buying was a fair old chunk to some - paying 3% stamp duty was something I wish we didn't have to but we did. Well we could have avoided in I suppose and not got the house we wanted.
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If I had all the stamp duty (TAX) money I've paid out on buying 8 properties over the years,
I'd be able to afford to run a well shod M-Class!
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Nah...you'r have spent it all on scrumpy !
Ted
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We can't afford rent and if we have money in the bank we won't get any council tax benefit, either!
Last edited by: landsker on Mon 20 Dec 10 at 09:04
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>>We can't afford rent and if we have money in the bank we won't get any council tax benefit, either<<
Yes, I can understand that - Good Luck! anyway ole Son, pity you can't return in the warmer weather though.
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>> (It's a nice little
>> house, but not in the right area for us)
Location, location, location is a major factor.
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With his budget of 100k, the OP is in a better negotiating position than he would be if he was looking for a more expensive property. It's first time buyer territory, and regrettably, there are so few people around who are able to raise the necessary deposit, let alone secure a mortgage.
It's important, of course, that sellers know that he's a cash buyer, but I wouldn't push that too far.
If it was the OP's flat we saw at the other place, it looked very nice.
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>> With his budget of 100k, the OP is in a better negotiating position than he
>> would be if he was looking for a more expensive property. It's first time buyer
>> territory, and regrettably, there are so few people around who are able to raise the
>> necessary deposit, let alone secure a mortgage.
Surprisingly not that true. With no first time buyers, to bottom feed the market, nothing is moving in the next few levels up.
It much easier to sell, surprisingly, in the million pound plus bracket, and the tens of million pound market in London is quite buoyant. Funnily this mega million pound market is all cash buyers.
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I paid cash for our house which was £130k. The house had already had an offer accepted with a buyer who had a morgage offer. We turned up, said we want it, we have cash ready to go, they dropped the other buyer just like that. That kinda power can go to your head...
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I paid cash for our last 6 properties, I have a 'certain way' with sellers - I don't lie, cheat, or swindle but, I act totally disinterested when I view the place - because I've already checked it out via Googly, streetview, etc., etc. and know its 'the one'
Just as I'm about to leave I'll say "I've got a few other properties to view but can you tell me what you would take for yours. like,
I've had some surprising results from that one :)
It might only work for me though, being ASD, ADD, ADHD, OCD, AC/DC, people don't know how to weigh me up, like.
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>> People don't know how to weigh me up, like.
>>
9st 2lbs
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>>9st 2lbs<<
You're getting warm :)
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Home.co.uk is a better site than rightmove IMHO.
It has dates when originally for sale, his price history tab etc so you can gauge more than just the more basic details on rightmove.
Of course somebody could be trying to sell for 2 years have withdrawn for 6 months and started again but then again you would not have gleaned that from rightmove.
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>> With no first time buyers, to bottom feed the market, nothing is moving in the next few levels up.
Most people buying in the lower end of the market in my area are investors peeved with the return they have been getting on their capital over the last year or so. And divorcees, apparently.
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Have you thought of re-possessions or ex-local authority stuff ?
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Munching me toast watching Homes Under the Hammer - thought of auctions ?
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Lansker. If you see something you like and you need an opinion on matters Construction, a few digi pics sent here will elicit an opinion. If this could help don't hesitate.
Good luck,
Martin.
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In London it's a sellers market. Zone 1 prices are up 20% on mid 2007. And developers are expecting them to be a further 20-30% up in two years time. I'm deadly serious. Free money (0% interest rates making money free, and giving zero return on savings) have driven prices higher and higher.
In the rest of the country I think the loss of civil service jobs will still let prices drift lower in the obvious deprived places. If you can cope with the winters, try Co. Durham, or Wales. Maybe Kent seaside towns.
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>> It's important, of course, that sellers know that he's a cash buyer, but I wouldn't push that too far.
We were cash buyers and kept having to tell the selling agent and even our solicitor. I think sometimes they forget or don't understand that we really did have the cash in the bank. So do make it clear. I am sure we got our offer accepted because the sellers were not going to be messed around.
The exchange of contracts on our sale was delayed a day or so when the bottom of the chain (there were only our buyer and their buyer) took longer to pay the 10% deposit hence delaying the deposit on our house.
Best of luck finding something. Might be worth signing up to rightmove email alerts for a particular area/price range. And then if you wonder what houses might go for in an area use something like the prices sold area on RightMove site or mouseprice.com estimates prices.
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...Might be worth signing up to rightmove email alerts for a particular area/price range...
Another reason to buy a netbook rather than a smartphone with a tiny screen.
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@MartinDevon.
Thank you for that offer - I might well take you up on it.
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>> This brings me to the question - how much UNDER the asking price should we
>> offer in today's market?
At this figure (£100,000) - 20% - perhaps adjust the figure depending upon factors such as how much you want it, what needs doing, etc., etc.
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>> >> This brings me to the question - how much UNDER the asking price should
>> we
>> >> offer in today's market?
>>
>> At this figure (£100,000) - 20% - perhaps adjust the figure depending upon factors such
>> as how much you want it, what needs doing, etc., etc.
20 grand off? LOL, no chance sunshine.
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There is ALWAYS a chance. Unlikely, but always worth a shot. You can go up, but after you've revealed your hand you can't go down.
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>>but after you've revealed your hand you can't go down.<<
You can, if the survey comes up with summit semi-bad.
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For a while we've been looking at the possibility of moving locally nearer to the girls school.... or to a different area 100mls away for a work move.... so we've been looking at Rightmove for a year or so in both areas. Some may think it is a buyers market but that is only true for specific forced sales.
The biggest problem we've found is the lack of places on the market in any particular location, property type or price range. One large local village that usually has 25 places for sale at any one time currently has just 2.
Having said that if we were in the market for a 3 storey place on a local new township there are about 50 for sale in one price range... but it's not what we want.
All depends very much on what and where landsker wants.
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...All depends very much on what and where landsker wants...
East Midlands is what he said in another thread.
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Can get some nice, well modernised, 2 up 2 down EOT houses, walking distance for an oldie to the town centre, in Newark for under 100 grand
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 20 Dec 10 at 13:06
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How about a terraced in Levenshulme for a month's take home pay?
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I am currently buying a house, the survey has been done, and the solicitors are doing what solicitors do, whatever that is. Down south prices have risen slowly over the last year, but go north and prices have fallen, and may well continue to fall. I was looking for over a year and I noticed certain things. At the moment most houses are going on the market at astronomical prices. Within a week or two most drop in price by ~10%, which still leaves them sky high. Down here there is a shortage of nice detached properties. Semi and terraced properties are easier to get. One nice place went on at £350K. Soon it was at £325K. I said I might be interested at £300K as a no chain buyer. I thought what the hell. They were very keen! But it was not right, I think it did sell at ~£300K. I made an offer of £290K on one house on the market at £310K. They said no. I said okay thanks. A day or two later they rang back and said okay. But I cancelled the sale when I found out the large oak tree in the small garden had a tree protection order on it. An oak is not a tree for a small garden. Quite a few house sales have fallen through, and they tend to come back on the market at a more realistic price, often because the seller needs to sell quick. I think a lot of houses, but not all, are going for 10% less than the asking price. I offered £20K less on such a property whose sale had fallen through (which was originally on the market at £30K more than the current asking price) and it was refused. I waited 3 or 4 days, heard nothing, so offered £10K less and it was accepted. You cannot lose by making a low offer. Then wait at least a few days to see if they nibble, preferably longer, though you risk it selling. Then come back and offer a bit more. The worst that can happen is that they fall over laughing their heads off. Also places that need complete refurbishment, although probably clean and respectable, usually go for a lot less than the same property minus the cost of professional kitchen and bathroom replacement. Conversely really nicely done up places tend to go for more than perhaps they are worth. But a gaudy kitchen and nasty colour walls can hit the sale price. Probate sales are often good because the people want the money, so they are prepared to negotiate. Not always, as we were prepared to wait when mum popped off, and her house went on the market. Use rightmove and street view. Use www.houseprices.co.uk to find out what other similar houses go for.
Last edited by: Leif on Mon 20 Dec 10 at 13:37
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All good advice. Valuing professionally today is mostly a case of ten minutes in and around the house and then spending up to half an hour on Street View, Google Maps, Right move etc etc.
I reckon I can get to within 5% of a houses value without leaving my office. The condition and recent extensions are the things that make me change my opinion.
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We put an offer in for a house which needed completely renovating. We withdrew it when we found out it was underpinned previously and had the front rebuilt off new foundations too. It was a sale after probate and the sellers initially tried to hide it. And then we got half truths. If the seller was around to offer all info it might have been different but there was enough to make us say no and not offer for it.
It would have also cost at least £50-60k to change it how we'd want it including extending the kitchen etc. And putting in a kitchen (it barely had one anyway!).
The likes of Rightmove and Google Earth/StreetView should help work out where you might want to live. Best of luck.
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Zoopla do a nice little iphone app that lets you see what's for sale around you, so if you find yourself in a nice part of the country you can see what's available without hunting down "for sale" boards up back alleys.
Similarly, if you do see a house for sale you like the look of, fire up Zoopla and with luck you can see the asking price there and then.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Mon 20 Dec 10 at 15:06
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Rightmove does the same !
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I have Rightmove Desktop installed as well as receiving their email alerts; plus the Firefox add-on, Property Bee tool-bar. Zoopla is on my bookmarks, as is Mouseprice.
Google Street view is nearly worn out (!) from my looking at every property which might appeal.
While looking at houses for "up to" 100K, , more realistically I think, 85 to 90K is going to be our maximum, as we have to fully furnish a purchase, keep a few bob in reserve & pay conveyancing costs.
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>> Why buy bricks & mortar at your age?
>>more realistically I think, 85 to 90K is going to be our maximum...
It might be worth looking at local authority housing for the over 55's in your chosen area.
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Why this strong advice against buying a house that has been underpinned ? Subsidence typically effects a geographical area and not just one house. The underpinned one is the one that has been fixed - I'd be worried about the neighbouring houses which might be ready to move.
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>>Why this strong advice against buying a house that has been underpinned ?
My main concern would be how difficult it might be (or not) to sell on in the future.
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...My main concern would be how difficult it might be (or not) to sell on in the future...
The proposed buyers of the house are both in their 70s.
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>>The proposed buyers of the house are both in their 70s.
All the more reason for them to have a hassle free move in the future if they need to relocate to sheltered accommodation, for example.
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>>Why this strong advice against buying a house that has been underpinned ?<<
How right you are D/E,
The very first house I bought in St. Leonards on Sea, when we moved out of the smoke in 1987, was underpinned, the whole road had subsidence to some extent, I sold it on in 92 with no difficulty whatsoever.
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>> I sold it on in 92 with no difficulty whatsoever.
we are 18 years down the line, not the same market at all at the moment.
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The problem with an underpinned house is that you will have a tough job getting House insurance to cover it. Without house insurance to cover it you WONT get a mortgage.
No Mortgage - no sale.
There are ways round it, you can take out specialist insurance that has a high excess for subsidence claims, but with mortgage companies refusing to lend for the slightest reason at all you are in trouble selling in today's market.
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Thanks to all who have contributed to this thread - I have found it interesting and helpful.
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Zero, with the house we looked at that had the front built off new foundations (and party wall underpinned and the front of the neighbour also underpinned)... I phoned around insurance and some would cover and many would not even consider it. Wind forward a few years and you might have a problem.
The selling agent pointed out the current insurer had an obligation to insure it but going with a particular company means you are at their mercy in terms of prices. I tend to move insurance companies to get a good deal (with well known companies I'd add). You often get discounts.
I know the logic is the problem is solved so why worry - but what if there are future problems. In the case of the house we looked at there was the remains of a huge tree in the back garden which probably caused the problem. Diameter of tree trunk about 30 inches and about 3 foot from the back of the house. Another alarm bell in hindsight was why was the side wall also rendered... what was under it? And when we got presented with the list of works done by the council (extensive) and there was no engineering paperwork etc... we ran. But I do wonder if the new occupants know any of this.
The thing I learned from the experience was before paying for a survey, going to the local council planning department meant you could search building regulation documents and planning permission for houses. The house I mention above had details of the work and to the neighbour. But we only found out initially after the surveyor spotted the evidence.
Doing the search in this way, I could find no planning permission or building regs on another house we considered buying. I wonder if they assumed even building reg checks were not needed?
Last edited by: rtj70 on Tue 21 Dec 10 at 11:09
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100% agree about being very wary looking at underpinned houses. In the fens sinking houses are common and those that have been underpinned seem blighted from then on. Yes you will get a mortgage and insurance but both may be on special terms which will make purchase now and a future sale much harder.
I would only conside an underpinned house if it was a once in a lifetime place at a very low price and I had plenty of savings/spending power to resolve any future issues.
Comments about the OP being 70 as if it doesn't matter what happens to his house are daft. I know from experience circumstances can change quickly as you get older and an easily saleable house should your plans change is a huge advantage.
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tinyurl.com/2bdlgua
Is this what you mean by a scruffy exterior? :=)
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No, that's described as having "no kerb appeal"
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That looks OK, considering the surrounding area a bit of tittivating would work wonders. There's room for an extension, but it probably wouldn't "make". The downstairs bathroom is the big issue. However, it's a better bet than some "tidy" houses close by.
Actually, has it got a downstairs bathroom? Also, has an upstairs room been subdivided to get 3 from 2?
Last edited by: FotheringtonTomas on Wed 22 Dec 10 at 21:27
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Next door seems in reasonable nick, they're probably aching for decent neighbours to spend a bit on the place !
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According to Mouseprice it hasn't changed hands in the last few years.
The oldest purchase shown for a comparable place in that road was around £42K, in
1990 something, probably under the right-to buy rules.
Even at its listed price, I think it is overpriced: oddly enough it is marketed by an out of area agency.
Last edited by: landsker on Wed 22 Dec 10 at 23:36
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>> Even at its listed price, I think it is overpriced: oddly enough it is marketed by an out of area agency.
And the agency cannot type/spell either. Not that far away though in terms of location though.
I suppose price wise it's location location as usual. That price range is cheap for a reason?
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Most E.A.'s advertisements seem to be composed and written by semi-literate people!
One thing which always raises mean thoughts in my mind is when there are only external photographs.
Is the house so awful inside that they dare not show possible purchasers vile decoration and horrible condition?
I actually contacted, by email, an agent regarding a specific house, with only a very nice kitchen shown. The agent freely admitted (on the 'phone) the reason that only the one interior picture was shown was because the majority of the WALLS were covered in Artex, the carpets were nasty and there was a horrid stone fireplace!
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Landsker, I know what you mean about not showing photos. Because if you were interested you'd have to see the inside at some point. I'm not sure I go with the logic of the agents but we saw this a lot.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Thu 23 Dec 10 at 08:32
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Having had a quick look at the streeet on google earth this house looks the worst in the street which makes it a quite reasonable buying proposition if the price is right. Am sure the interior is a tip but probably nothing that £10,000 won't sort out. If I were looking around for a cheap property this is exactly the sort of place I would be making a very low offer on.
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As CG says, on the face of it, (being streetview) the immediate area looks tidy (ex LA into private ownership?) and that is the worse. Nice size plot on the side. Should be a good buy, if you have 10k to spend on it.,
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Yes, all originally a big L.A. Estate, mostly now in private hands.
The roads are all named after literary figutres, hence its local name - "The Poet's Estate".
This type & style of house is usually well built with decent sized rooms.
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...yes, all originally a big L.A. Estate, mostly now in private hands...
Looks a bit of a ropey neighbourhood to me, although someone said the rest of the street looks better.
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>> Is the house so awful inside that they dare not show possible purchasers vile decoration
>> and horrible condition?
The clue was in the description
"Requiring some Basic Modernisation"
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That's E.A. speak for "Oh, God it's a shocker"!
OTH, with the right price, a good few quid (I reckon around £15K, to include the driveway) it is one I will look at if it's unsold when we get to the U.K.
We are/will be also looking the in North Derbyshire & South Sheffield areas.
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It's exactly the sort of house that will drive 95% of buyers away so they won't be getting too many offers. A cash offer even on the low side would be extremely tempting I suspect.
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>> It's exactly the sort of house that will drive 95% of buyers away so they
>> won't be getting too many offers.
I don't know about that. It looks fine from what I can see, not too much wrong with the house or the area. There is always a good market for houses like this which people may consider have value.
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Possibly but there are a very large number of 3 bed houses in Worksop for sale at around 80,000 that most people would look at first.
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Yes - there are, but most of those are in an area which is, shall we say, not desirable.
It's a shame, as there are some nice houses in that particular area, which is an ex-mining "village" where two, at least, generations have never worked and where not only is the drug culture very visible, but also if you are not from there, the locals will not be welcoming or even down-right unwelcoming.
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That looks tidy compared to some places in Slough. The difference in price between the north and the south is absurd. You'd pay £200K down here (outside London).
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I never understand agents who don't show pictures of interiors even if it is a disaster. Anybody buying this will be brave; he wants to know just how brave from teh safety of his desk rather than having to visit.
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There were a mere 30,000 mortgage applications accepted last month. A cash buyer must seem like a water bottle to a drowning man at the moment.
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...A cash buyer must seem like a water bottle to a drowning man at the moment...
Eh?
Can't quite get your metaphor, old bean.
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or even a thirsty man. (DOH)
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He means like a life belt to man dying of thirst
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...He means like a life belt to man dying of thirst...
But would his life assurance pay out?
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Yeah, its someone else fault they must fix it or pay. I'll sue the farmer first.
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...I'll sue the farmer first...
If you did that, as a man of local influence, he would pull strings to get permission to build a cowshed next to your house, thereby reducing its value to, er, zero. :)
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Are the last 2 posts mis-threaded, or am I cracking up!
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...or am I cracking up!...
No, but me and Zero have already.
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Zero and iffy seem to be crossthreaded.
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Who's got the corkscrew whatsit, and who the left-hand thread?
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Buying a house! - Zero
