That's it from the Rat and Mouse until Monday December 29... unless, of course, something extraordinary happens... like a giant freeze-up in credit, or a major investment bank collapsing, or the property market entering free-fall. But what are the chances of something like that happening?

In the meantime, I'd like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and Happy Holidays. I don't say if often enough, but I appreciate you visiting. In the course of the year, we've watched Rat and Mouse traffic break through the 200,000 pages a month mark... not a giant deal to News International, perhaps, but something of an achievement for a two-man band. I've enjoyed your comments and (most of) your emails. Please keep them coming in 2009, and don't be shy about suggesting things you'd like to read or see on the page.

Finally, a big thanks to our sponsor, Primelocation.com, who provide the search box above and to the right. Use it... it's good. And visit the site. Read all their great stuff too.

[photo by Caro's Lines]

Technorati Tags: property, real estate, theRatandMouse

Take, for instance, a £2.5 million house in W11. A 20% discount to reflect the reality of the current market brings the asking price down to £2 million. But the pound has lost almost 30% against the dollar in a year. The W11 townhouse that would have cost $5.125 million in December 2007 looks something like $2.96 million now.

Our publisher looks at exchange rates and bricks-and-mortar, in his weekly guest column for Citywire.

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Primelocation offers buyers and sellers an international reach, and its portal is a mine of useful information, including useful guides for homeowners, landlords and movers. It features property from 4,000 leading estate agency firms, and the voice of Terence Stamp in its ads... which makes me happy. The Rat and Mouse needs the support of forward-looking organisations like Primelocation if it's to continue bringing you your daily dish of property news and gossip, so we hope you'll support them in return, by using the search box in the top right hand corner.

If your firm is interested in advertising on the Rat and Mouse (stop press: 205,000 page impressions in November), contact me here for more information.

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Duncan Smith’s rationale is that the combination of benefit traps and social housing has resulted in a ghetto effect; crime, violence, hopelessness hotspots in which young people grow up without knowing anybody in work. Few would quibble with the diagnosis. The suggested cure is unproven.

Our publisher tackles the Duncan Smith report, in his weekly guest column for Citywire.

Technorati Tags: property, real estate, theRatandMouse

Primelocation offers buyers and sellers an international reach, and its portal is a mine of useful information, including useful guides for homeowners, landlords and movers. It features property from 4,000 leading estate agency firms, and the voice of Terence Stamp in its ads... which makes me happy. The Rat and Mouse needs the support of forward-looking organisations like Primelocation if it's to continue bringing you your daily dish of property news and gossip, so we hope you'll support them in return, by using the search box in the top right hand corner.

If your firm is interested in advertising on the Rat and Mouse (stop press: 205,000 page impressions in November), contact me here for more information.

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According to the message, “this December presents a wealth of opportunities… sale properties in Dubai are currently quoted at low prices… even luxury projects taking shape in Palm, Jebel Ali have their prices slashed down to 40%... [but] for expats who have just stepped into Dubai, it would be especially wiser to tread carefully”. No kidding. The property market might not be too pretty over here, but it’s looking positively ugly in Dubai.

Our publisher turns down an offer he knows he has to refuse, in his weekly guest column for Citywire.

Technorati Tags: development, property, real estate, theRatandMouse

Personally, as one of the taxpayers who recently contributed to the banking system, I don’t think there’s much to be said for forcing banks to borrow at the Libor rate and lend at 0%. That feels like bad business and I don’t want to buy a bad business.

Our publisher looks at the relationship between the banks and the Government and asks, which is worse... politician or banker?

Technorati Tags: property, real estate

Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed a few changes to our front page. We're thrilled and delighted to welcome leading property portal Primelocation on board, not only as sponsors, but as search partners, too. Primelocation offers buyers and sellers an international reach, and its portal is a mine of useful information, including useful guides for homeowners, landlords and movers. It features property from 4,000 leading estate agency firms, and the voice of Terence Stamp in its ads... which makes me happy. The Rat and Mouse needs the support of forward-looking organisations like Primelocation if it's to continue bringing you your daily dish of property news and gossip, so we hope you'll support them in return, by using the search box in the top right hand corner.

If your firm is interested in advertising on the Rat and Mouse (stop press: 200,000 page impressions in October), contact me here for more information.

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The first spasms of a market in recovery? Or just a property market Braxton Hicks? Who knows? But it’s probably fair to say that the US property market might have moved into a new phase.

Our publisher looks to the States for the first signs of property market recovery, in his weekly column for Citywire.

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Furthermore, according to Steve Cox, operations director at Spicerhaart Financial Services and, for the purposes of this column, the man with the interesting, contrarian statistic, buy-to-let’s been picking up in recent weeks. Monitoring mortgage activity through the brokerage, he’s seen a 58% rise in buy-to-let mortgage business in September, the biggest increase in over 12 months. Should we be surprised by this? The buy-to-let sector comes with a built-in hedge. When house prices fall, yields rise.

Our publisher examines a contrary view of buy-to-let, in his weekly guest column for Citywire.

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When I bought my house, the vendor threw in a ride-on lawnmower. In comparison Hill’s Lamborghini looks a little more incentivising. But now that the market’s in decline a 13% discount on the asking price (and the associated reduction in stamp duty) might be more attractive than a second-hand car.

Our publisher asks "when's an incentive an incentive, and when's it a cashback?"... in his regular guest column for Citywire.

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In high-foreclosure areas, agents are desperate to differentiate their auctioned property from the one next to it. The Greener Grass Co. sprays brown grass and weeds with a vivid green dye, which lasts three or four months.

Our publisher looks at who's profiting from the crunch, in his weekly column for Citywire.

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If you believe the wider media, the credit crunch is directly responsible for this novel approach to property sales, and behind the Wilshaws of Devon and the Bawtrees of Cheltenham are hundreds, maybe even thousands, of desperate vendors, with barely a sniff of a viewing to show for months on the market, kneeling on the lounge floor, hugging each other and cutting lottery tickets.

But, the property raffle wasn’t invented during the credit crunch. Over at the Rat and Mouse property blog, we watched with interest as several schemes, came, talked the talk (‘a house for a fiver’, ‘a really great way for first-time buyers to get a foot on the rung’… really!), failed to sell enough tickets to meet the minimum figure necessary to release the deeds (always check the small print), and went… a portion of the takings handed over to the winner, the rest pocketed to cover ‘expenses’.

Our publisher tackles the numerical and legal uncertainties of the property raffle, in his guest column over at Citywire.

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Completingchain.com encourages multiple estate agents to bring together buyers and sellers to form links in a chain that will be sustained and nurtured by everybody involved. Assuming (correctly) that it’s often the very bottom of the chain that causes its demise, the system will make life easier for credit-limited first-time buyers by encouraging everybody further up to discount a little to help subsidise that first-rung purchase. The higher up the chain, the less (proportionally) it will cost to keep things moving. The longer the chain, the more the burden’s shared. It’s clever, but it will depend on agents signing up.

Our publisher, on some ingenious chain management systems, in his weekly guest column for Citywire.

Technorati Tags: estate agents, property, real estate, real estate agents, theRatandMouse

So when will the market 'bounce back'? And what will it look like? Will house prices necessarily rise; or will a simple return to buying-and-selling be enough? In recent weeks there have been some eye-catching statements by men and women way better qualified than me to offer predictions. The problem is that expecting an analyst to extract clues from a market in which pretty much nothing is happening is like asking a football manager to choose a team by watching an empty pitch.

Our publisher asks what the new buyers will look like, and decides they'll be wearing Blue Harbour, in his weekly guest column for Citywire.

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate, theRatandMouse

As house prices fall, Savills expects the current slowdown in the divorce rate to steepen in its decline. Why? Is it because warring partners suddenly feel a need to support their loved ones during what might turn out to be challenging times? To build a modest nest and rediscover the pleasures of an honest and fulfilling human relationship while the futility of placing faith in status and lucre is painted across the markets? No.

Our publisher examines divorce and the credit crunch, in his weekly guest column, for Citywire.

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So all is good in real estate’s Second Life at least? Not necessarily. In an eerie anticipation of offline troubles, Second Life began 2008 with a bank run. Enterprising individuals had established banks in Second Life, luring players to deposit money in virtual accounts in exchange for promises of rates to beat those in the real world. When many failed to make good, Linden Labs responded to complaints by shutting the entire banking sector down. Virtual queues formed outside virtual banks, virtual 'no-withdrawal' notices were posted on virtual ATMs. Real money – and nobody seems at all sure as yet how much – has really been lost.

Our publishers looks at property in Second Life, in his weekly guest column for Citywire.

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Recently news of a property portal launch, scheduled for autumn and masterminded by none other than the National Association of Estate Agents, has not only dented Rightmove’s share price but the confidence of an entire sector. But with Web 2.0 technology cheap and the Google-mapping experience tested on numerous other property search sites, wasn’t something like this inevitable? Weren’t our wily estate agents always going to opt for their own, free solution rather than pay for somebody else’s?

Our publisher, on Rightmove, the National Association of Estate Agents, and the rest of the competition for clicks, in his weekly guest column, over at Citywire.

Technorati Tags: property, real estate, theRatandMouse, Web, Web2, web2.0

As you're probably aware, traffic costs, and right here is where the Rat and Mouse continues paying. Which is why we're encouraging advertisers who feel they might have something to gain from seeing their brand served up to homeowners, renters, landlords, movers, media shakers on around 4,000 pages a day. As part of the deal, you'll get a heartfelt thank you each and every week, which is why, tonight, we're saying thanks to...

... LandlordNanny, an innovative, hi-tech, but simple-to-use, drag-and-drop online organiser for everything a landlord needs to remember, whether managing a single property or a giant portfolio. As well as providing a useful directory of recommended letting-sector professionals (accountants, mortgage providers, HIPs providers etc), they're a registered letting agent, which means that customers get to advertise properties on the large property portals, including Primelocation.com and Propertyfinder.com. Use of the basic service is free. Upgrade to a premium account (£99.95, but £49.95 during the current introductory offer) and you get access to legal documents, automated invoicing, web-based accounting software and more. In other words, the kind of things that would cost a great deal more than £99.95 if you handed them over to a lettings agent.

A toot on our own trumpet [June 9, 2008]
Why advertise with the Rat and Mouse?

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Not much to smile about, especially if you're working in the property industry, you'd think. And yet, over the past month, the media has been peppered with some surprising, some outrageous, examples of bullishness in the face of adversity.

There’s a neurological function – a release of endorphins – that causes a person otherwise under stress and pain to experience a kind of euphoria. Long distance runners know it. They call it “runner’s high”. Japanese Kamikaze pilots knew it. It was what got them out of bed on the morning of a raid, helped them eat their breakfasts and (somewhat illogically) put on their crash helmets. Call me a cynic, but I see a correlation, here.

Our publisher puts a damper on things, in his weekly guest column, over at Citywire.

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As you're probably aware, traffic costs, and right here is where the Rat and Mouse continues paying. Which is why we're encouraging advertisers who feel they might have something to gain from seeing their brand served up to homeowners, renters, landlords, movers, media shakers on around 4,000 pages a day. As part of the deal, you'll get a heartfelt thank you each and every week, which is why, tonight, we're saying thanks to...

... LandlordNanny, an innovative, hi-tech, but simple-to-use, drag-and-drop online organiser for everything a landlord needs to remember, whether managing a single property or a giant portfolio. As well as providing a useful directory of recommended letting-sector professionals (accountants, mortgage providers, HIPs providers etc), they're a registered letting agent, which means that customers get to advertise properties on the large property portals, including Primelocation.com and Propertyfinder.com. Use of the basic service is free. Upgrade to a premium account (£99.95, but £49.95 during the current introductory offer) and you get access to legal documents, automated invoicing, web-based accounting software and more. In other words, the kind of things that would cost a great deal more than £99.95 if you handed them over to a lettings agent.

A toot on our own trumpet [June 9, 2008]
Why advertise with the Rat and Mouse?

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We are, apparently.

The Daddy of UK property blogs. Author Ben Brandt has been keeping Londoners up to date on the property market since mid 2005. Essentially a commentary on UK property news with links to the original sources; the author does a great job of highlighting the peculiarities of the market.

Thanks to My Property Guide for the kind words. Check out its list of other UK property blogs, and its range of useful resources for buyers, sellers, letters and renters.

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Bake bread, said the Traditionalists. The aroma of warm dough will subconsciously remind them that this is a home, not just a house, and homes sell at a premium. The Developers advised neutral colours; a blank canvas on which a buyer could paint their own picture, because there's nothing more disastrous than trying to impose your taste on somebody else. The Theatricals disagreed. The fine art of home staging demanded character, darling; you should see your house as a theatre set, where a supreme lifestyle performance will so move the audience they'll turn immediately to the agent and make an extravagant offer. They were, back then, all correct. In a frenzied bull market, you could hang a portrait of Hitler above the fireplace and - if the property were in the right location and south-facing - you'd get an offer.

Our publisher tackles the fine art of selling a home in a bear market, in his weekly guest column for Citywire, here.

Technorati Tags: theRatandMouse

As you're probably aware, traffic costs, and right here is where the Rat and Mouse continues paying. Which is why we're encouraging advertisers who feel they might have something to gain from seeing their brand served up to homeowners, renters, landlords, movers, media shakers on around 4,000 pages a day. As part of the deal, you'll get a heartfelt thank you each and every week, which is why, tonight, we're saying thanks to...

... LandlordNanny, an innovative, hi-tech, but simple-to-use, drag-and-drop online organiser for everything a landlord needs to remember, whether managing a single property or a giant portfolio. As well as providing a useful directory of recommended letting-sector professionals (accountants, mortgage providers, HIPs providers etc), they're a registered letting agent, which means that customers get to advertise properties on the large property portals, including Primelocation.com and Propertyfinder.com. Use of the basic service is free. Upgrade to a premium account (£99.95, but £49.95 during the current introductory offer) and you get access to legal documents, automated invoicing, web-based accounting software and more. In other words, the kind of things that would cost a great deal more than £99.95 if you handed them over to a lettings agent.

A toot on our own trumpet [June 9, 2008]
Why advertise with the Rat and Mouse?

Estate agents might find themselves entering a period of enforced downtime, but for the repo man it’s work, work, work.

Our publisher, on the rights, wrongs and pitfalls of buying a repo, in his weekly guest column for Citywire.

Basically, I'm not here. I know it looks as if I am... you're reading this, and everything... but that's the magic of technology. I'm on vacation, and (in what has become an annual tradition at the Rat and Mouse) I'm leaving you with a little festival of property, as recommended over the last couple of weeks by readers and agents. What's different this year is that you might also be reading some additional content courtesy of guest blogger Poppy Dinsey.

If you're an estate agent and you're upset that I've used one of your images... email me here, and I'll remove it the first opportunity I get.

As you're probably aware, traffic costs, and right here is where the Rat and Mouse continues paying. Which is why we're encouraging advertisers who feel they might have something to gain from seeing their brand served up to homeowners, renters, landlords, movers, media shakers on around 4,000 pages a day. As part of the deal, you'll get a heartfelt thank you each and every week, which is why, tonight, we're saying thanks to...

... LandlordNanny, an innovative, hi-tech, but simple-to-use, drag-and-drop online organiser for everything a landlord needs to remember, whether managing a single property or a giant portfolio. As well as providing a useful directory of recommended letting-sector professionals (accountants, mortgage providers, HIPs providers etc), they're a registered letting agent, which means that customers get to advertise properties on the large property portals, including Primelocation.com and Propertyfinder.com. Use of the basic service is free. Upgrade to a premium account (£99.95, but £49.95 during the current introductory offer) and you get access to legal documents, automated invoicing, web-based accounting software and more. In other words, the kind of things that would cost a great deal more than £99.95 if you handed them over to a lettings agent.

A toot on our own trumpet [June 9, 2008]
Why advertise with the Rat and Mouse?

During the early 1990s, Emmanuel 'Toto' Constant was the feared and ruthless leader of the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti, or 'FRAPH' to its friends. He’s widely accused of killing, raping, maiming supporters of the overthrown former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Now, he’s based in Queens, New York, and the good news is that he’s finally facing trial – except not for war crimes, or mass murder or mayhem. He’s facing trial for stealing money from institutional lenders by inflating the value of property. In other words, he’s on trial for mortgage fraud, the crime du jour.

Our publisher finds mortgage fraud everywhere, in his weekly guest column for Citywire.

Basically, I'm not here. I know it looks as if I am... you're reading this, and everything... but that's the magic of technology. I'm on vacation, and (in what has become an annual tradition at the Rat and Mouse) I'm leaving you with a little festival of property, as recommended over the last couple of weeks by readers and agents. What's different this year is that you might also be reading some additional content courtesy of guest blogger Poppy Dinsey.

If you're an estate agent and you're upset that I've used one of your images... email me here, and I'll remove it the first opportunity I get.

As I mentioned recently, I'm about to head off for a short holiday. So now seems a good time to introduce the Rat and Mouse's new guest blogger, Poppy Dinsey. Not only is she a great blogger, she has an academic background in Eastern European economics and real estate (so she actually knows what she's talking about), she lives in east London, works in product development and blogs for innovative property search engine Zoomf. And - she tells me - she's a massive fan of cheesecake. I'm delighted, excited and grateful that she's agreed to drop by occasionally and add her expertise to London's property blog. Stay tuned.

Technorati Tags: theRatandMouse

As you're probably aware, traffic costs, and right here is where the Rat and Mouse continues paying. Which is why we're encouraging advertisers who feel they might have something to gain from seeing their brand served up to homeowners, renters, landlords, movers, media shakers on around 4,000 pages a day. As part of the deal, you'll get a heartfelt thank you each and every week, which is why, tonight, we're saying thanks to...

... LandlordNanny, an innovative, hi-tech, but simple-to-use, drag-and-drop online organiser for everything a landlord needs to remember, whether managing a single property or a giant portfolio. As well as providing a useful directory of recommended letting-sector professionals (accountants, mortgage providers, HIPs providers etc), they're a registered letting agent, which means that customers get to advertise properties on the large property portals, including Primelocation.com and Propertyfinder.com. Use of the basic service is free. Upgrade to a premium account (£99.95, but £49.95 during the current introductory offer) and you get access to legal documents, automated invoicing, web-based accounting software and more. In other words, the kind of things that would cost a great deal more than £99.95 if you handed them over to a lettings agent.

A toot on our own trumpet [June 9, 2008]
Why advertise with the Rat and Mouse?

Technorati Tags: theRatandMouse

Depending on what figures you subscribe to, it’s possible that, in the time it takes to research, write and submit this column, I’m losing more from the value of my home than I’m earning at the keyboard. Should I be bothered?

Our publisher, getting poorer, in his guest column for Citywire.

Technorati Tags: property, real estate, theRatandMouse

As you're probably aware, traffic costs, and right here is where the Rat and Mouse continues paying. Which is why we're encouraging advertisers who feel they might have something to gain from seeing their brand served up to homeowners, renters, landlords, movers, media shakers on around 4,000 pages a day. As part of the deal, you'll get a heartfelt thank you each and every week, which is why, tonight, we're saying thanks to...

... LandlordNanny, an innovative, hi-tech, but simple-to-use, drag-and-drop online organiser for everything a landlord needs to remember, whether managing a single property or a giant portfolio. As well as providing a useful directory of recommended letting-sector professionals (accountants, mortgage providers, HIPs providers etc), they're a registered letting agent, which means that customers get to advertise properties on the large property portals, including Primelocation.com and Propertyfinder.com. Use of the basic service is free. Upgrade to a premium account (£99.95, but £49.95 during the current introductory offer) and you get access to legal documents, automated invoicing, web-based accounting software and more. In other words, the kind of things that would cost a great deal more than £99.95 if you handed them over to a lettings agent.

A toot on our own trumpet [June 9, 2008]
Why advertise with the Rat and Mouse?

Technorati Tags: theRatandMouse

Apologies for the continued technical glitches... we're working on it, and normal service should be restored very shortly. Cheers, Ben

Thanks for the emails. I couldn't post a response because... well... of technical difficulties. Normal service resumes now...

Technorati Tags: theRatandMouse

According to the more bullish estate agents, it will all be over by Christmas. Perhaps. In a brand new Abbey survey 61% of agents believed the property price slowdown would end within a year; only 7% thought it would last more than three years. But if there’s one thing certain about an estate agent’s smile during a downturn it’s that, like Smokey Robinson’s, it’s only there trying to fool the public… It takes a brave property investor to buy British at a time like this. Elsewhere? It’s a mixed and very confusing picture...

Our editor tackles overseas property in his Citywire guest column.

On opportunities for self-build [July 9, 2008]

Technorati Tags: property, real estate, theRatandMouse

As you're probably aware, traffic costs, and right here is where the Rat and Mouse continues paying. Which is why we're encouraging advertisers who feel they might have something to gain from seeing their brand served up to homeowners, renters, landlords, movers, media shakers on around 4,000 pages a day. As part of the deal, you'll get a heartfelt thank you each and every week, which is why, tonight, we're saying thanks to...

... LandlordNanny, an innovative, hi-tech, but simple-to-use, drag-and-drop online organiser for everything a landlord needs to remember, whether managing a single property or a giant portfolio. As well as providing a useful directory of recommended letting-sector professionals (accountants, mortgage providers, HIPs providers etc), they're a registered letting agent, which means that customers get to advertise properties on the large property portals, including Primelocation.com and Propertyfinder.com. Use of the basic service is free. Upgrade to a premium account (£99.95, but £49.95 during the current introductory offer) and you get access to legal documents, automated invoicing, web-based accounting software and more. In other words, the kind of things that would cost a great deal more than £99.95 if you handed them over to a lettings agent.

A toot on our own trumpet [June 9, 2008]
Why advertise with the Rat and Mouse?

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It's that time of year again. Regular Rat and Mouse readers might remember that, each summer, I like to leave home for a couple of weeks and go somewhere else to enjoy what my family calls a "holiday", or "vacation". Traditionally, I throw the blog open to readers... enthusiasts, estate agents, addicts, weirdos... and publish ten days of London property that's interesting, notable or just plain eye-candy, and that's currently on the market. In the past, it's gone very well, attracting the kind of traffic and emails that suggests it's been popular with readers and tipsters alike. This year we've an extra catagory... the price drop. So... let's see 'em. Whether you're a reader a vendor or an agent, we don't care, we just want your property suggestions... London properties with a good story, a good kitchen, a good location, a good price. Start emailing us links to the particulars now (the deadline: July 22), and look forward to a ten-day festival of extraordinary London property. Thanks, Ben.

Technorati Tags: London, property, real estate, theRatandMouse

While the bottom drops out of the residential property market in what might or might not turn out to be the most ugly and undignified economic prolapse ever suffered by the great middle classes' hearthside economy, the self-builders, the frontiers-people of the housing market, the men and the women with a dream... these people are finding themselves in an uncharacteristically privileged position. After decades of being treated like wacky longhairs, suddenly they're getting the best tables and being offered the specials. Why? They don't need to turn a profit. Their profit's built into the build.

Our publisher, in his weekly guest column, for Citywire.

Technorati Tags: property, real estate, theRatandMouse

The problem with the Games is that, as well as being excruciatingly boring, they’re an expensive gift that keeps on costing. In better economic times, the usual rules of property development apply. What isn’t recouped in kind by social intangibles (status, the tourist economy) can theoretically be snatched back in post-event sales and letting, if the project’s managed skillfully. But take away the skilful management and normal market conditions and you have… well… the 2012 Olympics: a financial crisis with a graffito logo.

Our publisher, in his guest column, over at Citywire.

Technorati Tags: London, Olympics, property, real estate, theRatandMouse

As you're probably aware, traffic costs, and right here is where the Rat and Mouse continues paying. Which is why we're encouraging advertisers who feel they might have something to gain from seeing their brand served up to homeowners, renters, landlords, movers, media shakers on around 4,000 pages a day. As part of the deal, you'll get a heartfelt thank you each and every week, which is why, tonight, we're saying thanks to...

... LandlordNanny, an innovative, hi-tech, but simple-to-use, drag-and-drop online organiser for everything a landlord needs to remember, whether managing a single property or a giant portfolio. As well as providing a useful directory of recommended letting-sector professionals (accountants, mortgage providers, HIPs providers etc), they're a registered letting agent, which means that customers get to advertise properties on the large property portals, including Primelocation.com and Propertyfinder.com. Use of the basic service is free. Upgrade to a premium account (£99.95, but £49.95 during the current introductory offer) and you get access to legal documents, automated invoicing, web-based accounting software and more. In other words, the kind of things that would cost a great deal more than £99.95 if you handed them over to a lettings agent.

A toot on our own trumpet [June 9, 2008]
Why advertise with the Rat and Mouse?

Technorati Tags: theRatandMouse

My favourite Private Eye cartoon of recent weeks shows a woman reading a newspaper at the breakfast table. It has a headline is about falling house prices. 'I can’t believe', she says, 'that just last week we were worrying about global warming'. Soon, we’ll begin to see whether the green domestic revolution – windmills on houses, low-energy kettles – has the resilience to withstand new and chillier economic winds; or whether it was an aspect of the good times… a way for a consumer generation, which has learnt to express itself by buying things, to show appreciation for effortlessly increasing property wealth, and give something back.

Our publisher, and his guest column, for Citywire.

Technorati Tags: property, real estate, theRatandMouse

Eagle-eyed Rat and Mouse readers might have spotted our brand new advertiser. They're called LandlordNanny, and they're an innovative, hi-tech, but simple-to-use, drag-and-drop online organiser for everything a landlord needs to remember, whether managing a single property or a giant portfolio. As well as providing a useful directory of recommended letting-sector professionals (accountants, mortgage providers, HIPs providers etc), they're a registered letting agent, which means that customers get to advertise properties on the large property portals, including Primelocation.com and Propertyfinder.com. Use of the basic service is free. Upgrade to a premium account (£99.95, but £49.95 during the current introductory offer) and you get access to legal documents, automated invoicing, web-based accounting software and more. In other words, the kind of things that would cost a great deal more than £99.95 if you handed them over to a lettings agent.

The Rat and Mouse's traffic is of a scale, now, which necessitates advertising to cover the costs of bandwidth (and for that, readers, we thank you). But we've made a decision to accept only the advertisers we feel have something genuine to offer our visitors. We believe LandlordNanny is an innovative and useful service, and we hope you'll head over and check it out.

A toot on our own trumpet [June 9, 2008]

Why advertise with the Rat and Mouse?

Technorati Tags: theRatandMouse

The Globrix data reveals that 38% of us use the Internet to snoop on our neighbours’ properties. Forty per cent admit to regularly using the Internet to look at houses, 22% surf particulars for expensive fantasy homes, a hardcore 1% admitted to spending more than three and a half hours each week browsing property porn. But wait until it’s put into context. In the same poll, only 31% estimate spending more time on the mighty Facebook than on property websites; and property surfing also beats out holiday surfing, music surfing, and even conventional pornography. This reads like an obsession.

Our publisher, on addiction and property surfing, in his guest column for Citywire.

Technorati Tags: property, real estate, theRatandMouse

It’s arguably a sign of our addiction to the property value game that we just can’t leave it alone, even when the market’s going nowhere. If we can’t move house or crow over theoretical riches brought by property market gains then we need to do something, even if it’s just to keep our hands busy. So the paintbrush acts a little like one of those fake fags. You fiddle with it to satisfy a craving.

Our publisher, on DIY and property values, in his guest column for Citywire.

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Head over to the Sunday Telegraph for a useful list of the 50 Best Property Websites, including:

Perhaps the most informed property enthusiast's website is www.theratandmouse.co.uk, a highly readable mix of fact and irony. It culls papers and magazines twice daily for property gossip, whether it is the latest legal action against a dodgy estate agent or the scoop on Bruce Willis buying in Marylebone.

Thanks for the kind words...

Rat and Mouse in Googlewhack triumph [February 15, 2008]
Times lists Top 25 Property Blogs... Rat and Mouse celebrates [June 29, 2007]

Why advertise with the Rat and Mouse?

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It’s probably safe now to speculate about how shareholders are feeling. Nauseous. As in kneeling over a bucket, clinging to the tattered remains of what – just a year ago – were meaningful investments, while being hard-sold more of the same, at a bargain, knock-down price of only just below market value; shares in an ailing company which they know they’ll nevertheless have to buy if they don’t want to received a kick in the dividends. (That’s if there are any dividends in the immediate future.)

Our publisher, in his guest column over at Citywire.

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The basics of the business are simple. You have managed to mortgage yourself right up to the shoulder. Your fixed term’s come to an end, mortgages aren’t what they once were and now you’re in arrears. The message you’re getting from your lender is on the lines of ‘if this continues, you – and your family – might want to consider packing.’ It’s at such times that the sell-and-rent-back company ‘comes to the rescue’. They will buy your property from you, quickly, in cash – but often at more than 20% less than its market value – and let you stay there at a rent you can afford. You don’t own the place any more but, let’s face it, you didn’t really before. And at least you stay in the property. They get a cheap portfolio and zero void. Cool all round. Except when it isn’t.

Our publisher, on sell-and-rent-back, in his guest column for Citywire.

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Brightsale’s Andy Etches tells me that listings on his website have risen 25% a month since February and that viewing levels are higher than in August 2007. He believes that vendors who would have used Brightsale alongside a traditional agent last year are happier to use the website alone, and even more people are considering adding Brightsale’s services to their high street representation. With low overheads built into the business plan, the company’s well positioned to deal with the current downturn.

Our publisher on estate agency 2.0, in his guest column for Citywire.

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Would the landlords – over-mortgaged into negative equity – start dumping properties on the market en masse, precipitating the crash of all crashes while they squealed like pigs drowning in a rough sea of schadenfreude? Plenty of tenants, sections of the media, and simply greed-repulsed bystanders have been lining up to wave at them on their way down. But, as yet, there’s little sign of a storm. Or is there?

Our publisher, and buy-to-let, in his guest column at Citywire.

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2007 was the year the ‘lifestyle farmers’ bought more land than actual raised-on-the-dirt farmers. If you read the Sunday supplements you know the type, migrating London fops inspired by Blur’s Alex James to add a little country rosiness to their families’ cheeks without going the whole ruddy, tractor-face mile. Then and bigger City investors with bonuses to burn who – apparently – tend to make their country purchases on the hush-hush. Lifestyle farmers grow vegetables and chop wood for their stoves, but allow local farmers to raise animals on their land while they stay out of the rain and knit chickens.

Our publisher, on the one property sector still booming, in his guest column for Citywire.

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‘Gazunder.’ He did his best Simon Callow impression. ‘That’s a quaint word.’ I explained, there’s nothing quaint about its meaning 1) n. a pot for lazy Brummies to pee into when it’s too cold to get out of bed 2) v. pretty much the same practice, aimed at a vendor during an ailing housing market. For the purposes of this column, we’re discussing the second. And gazundering is back.

Our publisher, on gazundering, in his weekly column for Citywire.

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The story of the UK housing market – the real story, the bit with the heroes and the villains – is, like the market’s indices and headlines, in a state of constant flux.

It’s a complex piece of drama, too; each twist and turn of the plot reflecting the players in a slightly different light; a whodunit in which few of us are wholly certain of the ‘it’, let alone the ‘who’.

Newcomers to the genre make the mistake of leaping to conclusions. Remember – the first suspect’s ultimately rarely guilty. The villains don’t wear black anymore, or ride the black horses.

Our publisher... in his guest column... over at Citywire.

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Welcome aboard the Foreclosure Bus Tour. According to local news reports in the US, the big orange bus has been spotted in Orlando, Phoenix, Detroit, Kansas City, Jacksonville, Pismo Beach, and Sacramento; and according to Foreclosure Bus Tours, there are scheduled stops planned for New Haven, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Ft Lauderdale and a host of other crisis housing markets.

The service is advertised as a way of finding ‘the pick of the litter’ - the best-tended, most lovingly cared-for homes, conveniently rid of down-on-their-luck owners (a few of whom might have been tempted into reckless debt before the crunch hit; a few of whom might have been forced to remortgage to pay medical bills or other unforeseen expenses) and now available to cash investors at fire sale prices.

Our publisher, and his guest column, over at Citywire.

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Owning a second home in the UK is a bit like owning fur. It’s perfectly legal, but not something you’d necessarily volunteer among thinking people. And yet in recent weeks, the customary reticence of the country or coastal cottage weekender has been replaced by a certain amount of public bleating on the letters pages. These are the letters that begin with the declaration that the correspondent’s own second home is ‘modest’, ‘tiny’ even, or was rescued and restored from Stig Of The Dump dilapidation, to the amazement and applause of grateful local straw-chewers. ‘We’re not hurting anybody,’ is the sub-text. ‘Please don’t hate us.’

Our publisher suggests they've little to complain about, in his guest column, over at Citywire.

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For every method of skinning a cat, there are 20 ways of measuring residential property prices. Few of them will relate, much, to your house.

The publisher's column, over at Citywire.

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That's it from me until Tuesday. Have a great extended weekend. Just don't go anywhere.

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Our publisher, on sell-to-rent, over at Citywire:

Last September, my adventurous, high-achieving friend Kate (not her real name, just in case she Googles her name "+high-achieving") sold her period, three-bedroom house on the right street in Clapham. It was – she’s positive – the top of the market. She hasn’t bought another home yet. When she does, she’d like it to be a period, three-bedroom house on the right street in Clapham. Her ideal home is the one she recently sold. Except cheaper.

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Why are we so bad at this? How have we managed to manoeuvre ourselves into an economic Catch-22, in which the giant price-drop necessary to guarantee affordable homes for our children will mean our own economic ruin when we reach pension age?

... our publisher's column, over at Citywire.

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The Rat and Mouse's publisher begins a new series of columns for investment news website Citywire today... which is fresh and beautiful from an exciting expansion and redesign. Check out the site, and read about interest rates, lenders, borrowers, Mervyn King and Dale Winton here.

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My favourite email to the Rat and Mouse so far this year:

Hi There, Just wanted to let you know that your site contains a Googlewhack (i.e. only one web result
returned when you enter the words shambolic degentrification into google).

Thanks, John. You've made me absurdly proud.

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Apologies for the technical difficulties this morning. Our extreme popularity was our undoing. Normal business will resume shortly.

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It's such a long time since I spoke with Gawker Media's lively NY-based travel blog, Gridskipper, about the least favourite London buildings, that I'd almost forgotten what I'd nominated. Quite out of the blue, the piece has appeared, and it's a fun read, with contributions by Sam Jacob, Ali Mangera, Tom Holbrook and Patrick Lynch.

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Thanks to Harvey at Renthusiast, for this opportunity to explain a little bit about the background to the Rat and Mouse.

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An interesting email to the Rat and Mouse, headed "List of Top 100 Property Owners in London". Turns out it's not a list, it's a question:

I was just wondering whether there's such a list available. My guess is that the top 100 owners in London own nearly than 1000000 beds. My research has been vain until now and there appears to be no data available in the public domain. Thanks for your help guys in helping me crack the code.

That's a great question, and I'm damned if I know the answer. Surely that data exists somewhere. If you know... please drop me a line and I'll pass on all information to my correspondent.

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The Rat and Mouse will be taking a break now until December 27, when we'll be back with the lead-up to the traditional and very exciting New Year's property price predictions. Until then, wishing you all a very Merry Christmas... Ben

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I've received a number of emails asking me whether I'm Ben Burnside, as well as Ben Brandt. Why? It started when, in an idle moment of web browsing, a HousePriceCrash blogger plugged in HousePriceRise.co.uk... and was rewarded with this:

Why would the Bank of England buy or use that domain name? They wouldn't, of course. Commenters on the thread have traced the address to a Ben Burnside. The plot thickens. His motivations are pretty hard to fathom, but I can assure anybody who's emailed me... not guilty.

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The Rat and Mouse comes to you live from office floor today. Yesterday, I was poleaxed by a slipped disc. It's just fortunate the Rat and Mouse central offices have a full typing pool today, so I can at least dictate copy from the lush and expensive carpet.

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