Negotiation, Negotiation, Negotiation

Happy15th Birthday, AutomatedHome.co.uk

Published on 2011-05-26 04:11:40

If, like me, you are into both property and technology in the UK, there is a high chance you’ll have come across AutomatedHome.co.uk, Mark McCall’s excellent website. I’ve been involved with the UK HA scene since 1997, co-founded (and sold) two installation companies along the way, and been a Director of one of the UK’s [...]

Divorce and the Property Investor – article on money.co.uk

Published on 2011-01-13 14:08:19

One of my consultancy clients had, while back, wanted some advice on prenups for investors – sadly, this isn’t an area where I have any experience, and had to direct him to a lawyer. Today, however, I came across an article on money.co.uk today entitled “What Divorce Means for your Mortgage.” The article isn’t particular [...]

Why do people rent rather than buy at the high end?

Published on 2011-01-12 15:50:06

On Quora, the question “Why do people pay $10,000 to $100,000+ per month rent instead of buying a place?” was asked. My answer was, obviously aimed at the high-end, but most of the points relate to the whole of the market: There are various reasons people choose to rent rather than buy. Many of these [...]

How do I buy property with no money down – the 30 second answer

Published on 2011-01-10 14:30:07

An answer I gave to a question on Quora asking how to buy property with no money down. My answer on Quora was related to the US market – this version is slightly tweaked for the UK.   Option 1: Vendor finance. You get the people selling you the property to lend you the shortfall [...]

Chinese Property Prices

Published on 2011-01-09 07:00:12

My reply to a question on Quora about Chinese Property Prices over the last few years. The question was in two parts – firstly, why have they risen so much, and secondly, will they continue to rise in the same way. There are three factors which I believe were instrumental in the growth in prices.  [...]

The Singularity … will it happen in our lifetime?

Published on 2011-01-08 14:24:01

“The Singularity” is a term bandied about to talk about a point, maybe as soon as the mid 21st Century, when the combination of increases in computing power, and brain-computer interfacing will mean that “hybrid human-machine” intelligences will emerge that, among other things, lead to a massive surge forward in the development of… machine/human hybrid [...]

Why are British housing-developer houses so boring?

Published on 2011-01-08 08:45:00

Another answer I gave to a question from Quora. This question was about why developers neither follow local styles, nor embrace modern design, but instead build bland boxes. My short answer is “because experience has taught them that that is what sells, and is cheapest to build, and they can get approval for.” In terms [...]

Should I buy near a school or not?

Published on 2011-01-08 08:27:05

I recently joined Quora, which is the new kid on the block for Internet questions and answers. One of the questions I tried to answer was whether someone should buy one of two properties in Silicon Valley. Now, I’m no expert in the different areas of the Valley, but the question basically boiled down to [...]

ebooks vs. paper books

Published on 2011-01-05 15:50:18

Let me start with a confession: try as I might, I can’t bring myself to be rational on the subject of book formats. I am a bibliophile as well as a lectoholic. I’m wrestling (again) with the question of how I should consume books. Let me think as a reader first, and I’ll come back [...]

The antilibrary

Published on 2011-01-04 12:35:37

In my Top Gadgets 2010 post, I made reference to my antilibrary. The anti-library is another concept invented by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (who also came up with the concept of the Black Swan). It was, according to Taleb, influenced by the personal library of Umberto Eco. Professor Eco has, it would appear, about 30,000 books. [...]