Out There Blog

The Real Estate Newsblog has reported that an estate agent in Miami Beach has recorded a rap song to sell property, apparently with success:

Phyllis D. Huguenin has written and recorded the first rap single designed to help sell real estate property. Utilizing a sound engineer and rap producer, the project took several months and in the end the tracks had to be relaid but the product is authentic and so catchy as one industry insider put it "you can definitely groove to it." Hugunien raps along with a professional singer who does background.

Posted by Bronwyn at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Flatmates can really get on people's nerves, so much so that someone has created a blog with the sole intention of posting a daily entry describing her flatmate's annoying habits.

My flatmate has the tendency to take excessively long showers.. I'm not talking about 20 minute or 30 minute showers. I'm talking lengths of upto 45 minutes. Perhaps because she showers so infrequently she thinks it's ok to take showers of this length because her daily average is still within reasonable limits. Other than the fact she is being extremely wasteful with a finite resource, it means that subsequent persons using the shower get only cold water.

Check out Things I hate about my flatmate Warning: contains strong language.

Posted by at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Bronwyn at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You may have got a bit of a laugh from our weird flatmate posts and here are the latest - oh the joys of living with people!

I came back from a big night out, left my contact lenses in a glass in the kitchen cos couldn't find their container...  my very clumsy flatmate got up in the morning thirsty (and still very under the weather) and "drank" my contacts thinking it was a glass of water... aaarghh... Elena, Greater London

One of my flatmates used to stick clumps of her hair that came out in the shower, on the shower cubicle wall. It was disgusting! Rachael, North West

One guy, had the hairiest back in the world and used to sleep in the lounge in only his boxers, very unpleasant..... He tried to use removal cream on it once and had to ask one of the other flatties to scrap all the cream off.... Grossamatosa. Jessica, East Anglia

My weird flatmate used knickers for face flannels and she cooked chips at 2am. Tamara, South West

I live with germalina!! Blows his nose and leaves the tissues all over the carpet one day there were about 20 - in fact there are remnants of tissues all over the house - drives me mad as he is  school teacher and in contact with so many germs.  I am not at a neurotically tidy girl, but you know there are limitations!!  Eats yoghurt and puts the spoon thats been in his mouth on the carpet, shelf, tv, etc, together with his banana skins, apple cores, etc, rank!  Never makes sure the loo's flushed properly, and then puts the seat down - so there's a shock when I lift it up! Oh to have a place of my own!! Emma, East Anglia

Oh, don't get me started on weird flatmates. I did a placement in Scandinavia in about 1997 and stayed for three months in a bedroom owned by this couple of about 90-100 years old. Anyway, they turned out to be voyeurs although I was too naive to realise this at the time. I did wonder why I heard lots of noises from their room if ever my Swedish girlfriend came over to visit - this was the sounds of two people getting up and opening their wardrobe which I found out about a week before I left was wired up with a hidden camera. Dave, Midlands

They described themselves as a "Breathairian". They only drank fruit juice. Never food. Andrew, South East 

There were also some weird things flatemates had kept in the fridge....

Hes prosthetic arm. Blodwyn, South West

I guess that would be me. I had to euthanise a sick goldfish, and the kindest way is to put it in a pot with some water and freeze it. Rachel, Greater London

Some savings in an envelope! Melinda, Wales 

Little mice that he bought for a friend that he was visiting on the weekend and who had a snake that he wanted to feed. Lala, West Mildands

A pet rat that had died. Iain, Scotland

Urine Sample! YUCK! Bella, North West

A bee's nest. Charlie, Northern Ireland 

A maggot-y apple that she was going to take back to the shop and demand a refund on, only she never had time to get to the shop and she refused to throw it out. Gena, North West

 

Posted by Bronwyn at 09:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Have you moved into your dream house only to find everything was not as it seemed in the neighbourhood? Is your life being made hell by Boundary Disputes, Noise Pollution, Harassment, Unsightly Mess or any other Neighbourly Disagreement?

Mentorn are making a brand new primetime programme about stressful neighbourly conflicts. The aim of the show is to save the neighbours involved months of stress and thousands of pounds by resolving the disputes before they go to court. No matter how large or small the dispute they want to hear from you.

The deadline is 21st November 2005. for more information please call 0207 258 6763 or email pjessen@mentorn.tv.  You may well be competing with these people below who emailed us their experience.

Alfresco butchery working out of neighbour's yard
I live in Brum but I'm not saying where for obvious reasons. We moved into what we thought was our dream home just under a year ago into an area 10mins walk from my work with great schools and excellent facilities all round. However, it wasn't long before we realised we'd made a big mistake. Our neighbours have re-defined the term 'unhygienic'. They have a toilet that constantly leaks urine etc. down the side of their house opposite our kitchen, their garden looks like a refuse tip, they smoke so much dope that it seeps into my son's bedroom and our bedroom and recently they were operating their own alfresco butchery.

 Their front garden is constantly heaving with rubbish and they love to throw their empty beer cans into my front garden. They are rude, abusive and constantly shout rather than talk. We are now looking to move a.s.a.p. and are frantically decorating to get the property ready for sale. God knows what price we'll get for it now. Are there any neighbours worse than this? Garrie, Birmingham

Neighbours live double life as noisy zookeepers
My neighbours are council scroungers who never do a days work but have always got nice clothes on, they always play drum and bass music to early hours of the morning and have loads of pets which include ducks, rabbits, dog, lizards, birds and god knows what else. The back garden stinks to high heaven of pooh, and they never cut their front hedge and if you try to talk to them you get a load of abuse, which is not nice. We have tried to sell, but once the estate agent sees next door's garden they say you might have to bring your price down a bit because of the sight and smell, which I feel is wrong. If you complain to the council and environmental health about this, you legally have to advise anyone who wishes to purchase your house that you have done so, even if the last complaint is less than two years old. Rachel, Essex

Caravan hell
I have been trying to sell my property for 8 months now. We live in a nice cul de sac of only five houses, approached by a through road. The main road in has semi-detached properties of which all are quite well presented and all in all, it looks like a nice area. Moving from the road to the grove, properties change to detached houses and bungalows. The problem I have is that buyers seem not to like driving through the road to get to our property in the grove, which is the only way in and out. Two of my neighbours insist on placing their caravans on the roadside or on their lawns. They are quite new and expensive caravans but just spoil the whole view of my house and the approach to my house. They also spoil the view from my lounge window. I do not want to look at these so why would any prospective buyer? Jo, York

Country neighbours creating a bad smell
My husband and I are both retired and longed to move away to the country, and finding our dream home was not a problem. However, we have been trying to sell our property since last Christmas and people who come to view the house loved it, but there is a big 'BUT'.

The young couple next door have a baby and I believe they get rid of the diapers by throwing them down the toilet. The drains are constantly blocked and this causes a massive flood in the back where we park our cars. We dread it when it rains! We are house proud and also feel it is important what the outside looks like. Rebecca

Related stories

Nightmare neighbours can devalue your property
Kerb appeal matters 

Posted by Bronwyn at 06:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Have you got any advice or experience to share about buying or selling property? Channel 5 is looking for couples or pairs who think they can make a mint developing or selling property for it's new series "How to be a property developer".  Tell us about your experiences....

If you want to participate in the programme email pr@propertyfinder.com 

Posted by at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In my first year of University I lived with, quite possibly, the skankiest girl you'll ever meet. She was allergic to all forms of tidying up and cleaning to the extent that our cleaners refused to even enter the flat. Her room was waist high in rubbish and she had no compunction about using other people's crockery as makeshift ashtrays. One night , one of the boys was sick on her sheets. She slept on them the whole night then bundled them up and stuck them in her wardrobe where they remained- for the rest of the year! Fiona

I lived with a guy that had OCD. In the morning it became such a mission to get in the bathroom as he'd have to do his daily ritual of repeated things (opening, closing the dorr 10 times etc)- not good when your in a rush!! I ended up having to plan the time i'd get into the bathroom the night before with him so i wouldn't be late for my appointments the next day!! Leon

Posted by at 05:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)