Miss Thrifty

Following my round-up of property raffles a few weeks ago, this blog has received oodles of hits from people in the UK searching for home hooplas. So thanks to Miss Thrifty reader Sima for alerting me to the news that the draw for that lovely 11.5 acre fishing estate in Devon, which was due to take place today, has been postponed pending a Gambling Commission investigation.

The issue appears to revolve around the difficulty level of the question that all entrants had to answer correctly before they could purchase a ticket. The couple who have organised the raffle did clear the question (”What is the cost of an adult full season coarse fishing license for 2008/2009?”) with the Gambling Commission before launching their house raffle sale, so fingers crossed that the draw goes ahead. If worst comes to worst, they have pledged to give everyone their money back.

I have copied their statement below, in full.

Apparently the last-minute flurry of interest from the powers-that-be has been sparked by the growing numbers of house raffle sales around the country. Here’s an update on the others: (more…)

I’ve been thinking about writing a will for a while now. It’s not like we have much to give away, but we own a house, we don’t want to make things difficult for anyone left behind, and reading c jane’s and Nie Nie’s blogs brings home the truth that anything can happen, at any time.

Ashley at Wide Open Wallet has been writing about her will recently, and this has finally inspired me to action.

To anyone who hasn’t made a will before, I will say this: it’s a lot quicker and easier than you think it will be! My husband and I went to a very sweet solicitor on Monday, to go through the finer points. Wills for the pair of us are only going to cost £100, which is less than I was expecting. We took along the forms that our solicitor gave us to fill out with details of any pensions and stocks (ha ha ha), who we wanted as our executors and guardians of children, plus details of any legacies that we wanted to leave.

Filling out these forms makes one very morbidly-minded. We chose one of our in-laws as the first executor, on the grounds of his Teutonic efficiency. But then fell to thinking, what if he dies? So we added my brother as the second executor, just in case. (more…)

Is it just me, or are door-to-door salesmen multiplying like those half-Orcs in Lord of the Rings? Working from home, I’m finding that the interruptions are suddenly coming thick and fast. Already this week I’ve had a man from Scottish Electricity and a man from E.ON - another UK energy firm - trying to persuade me to change provider.

Of course, their noble efforts were doomed to failure - I have already snapped up the cheapest deal. Although my current provider must be getting cold feet too, in the current climate. They sent me two energy-saving lightbulbs yesterday - to keep me sweet, I’m sure.

I feel mean turning the men away, because it’s a tough way to earn a living in my opinion, but I know that I’ll find the best deals on www.uswitch.com, rather than on my doorstep.

Oh, and I also had a grubby-looking boy turn up on my doorstep, wanting to buy any scrap metal.

I can’t remember having so many knocks at the door. Who is next, I wonder? A dishcloth salesman? A gent shifting encyclopaedias? (more…)

As the world economy lurches from one crushing disaster to another, and house prices continue to slide, UK homeowners are resorting to unconventional selling methods. They have given up on securing their (admittedly ambitious) asking prices via the usual routes, and are raffling off their homes instead.

I’ve come across three house raffles this week.  The first home is rather swanky; it was featured on Channel 4’s Grand Designs, which is the Holy Grail for housebuilders.

It’s a three bedroom house in Cheltenham (very la-di-da!) and is a memorable Grand Design because most of it was built underground. If I remember rightly, there (more…)

I rolled my eyes at a piece in the Daily Mail at the weekend. The headline: Heartbreak Home: One woman’s blow by blow account of what it’s like trying to sell a house in the credit crunch.

This is how it begins:

It was reported yesterday that house prices are falling at their fastest rate since the 1990s property crash. There are already a million unsold homes in Britain  -  with a tale of misery behind each one. Here, Femail charts the agonising diary of one family’s attempts to sell up. Karen Green from Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, is a 38-year-old widow with four children. She works full-time as a dental receptionist. Her children are Michael, 18, Nicky, 16, Charlotte, 13, and Sophie, eight. Her three youngest children attend a private day school.

This lady’s “tale of misery” revolves around her decision to sell her large £575,000 home in Worcestershire and buy a £400,000 home, so that she can pay off debts and spend the surplus capital on her children’s school fees. The value of her home drops to £470,000 as the months pass, and the tale ends with her buyer pulling out at the last minute.

I know I should feel sorry for her - her husband died eight years ago and she is struggling to support her young family - but I can’t help thinking that her priorities are bonkers. (more…)