Positive news?

I am by nature a positive person - I must be otherwise I wouldn't be self employed!

I was reading the news this morning and found this titbit :-

"Looking forward, 29 percent more surveyors thought prices would fall in the next three months than rise, down from 41 percent in November.
Heavy snowfall in December kept transaction volumes subdued but surveyors were hopeful turnover would pick up in the spring. Eight percent more surveyors expected sales to increase over the coming three months than decrease, up from six percent in November.
"Surveyor sentiment does appear more positive for the coming months," said RICS spokesman Jeremy Leaf."

Now that to me is fantastic - surveyors are feeling more positive and thinking that the turnover will pick up in the spring. January has always been a quiet time but if we see increases in Feb, March and April the optimisim and movement within the market will encourage more vendors to put their properties on the market and hopefully work can pick up for everyone.

But the most negative part of it is summed up nicely with this comment :-

"The key issue now is mortgage finance. However, with commentators suggesting lending constraints are unlikely to be eased, it is hard to envisage a meaningful increase in sales levels in the near term."

We desperately need lending constraints to be eased up to start the market flowing again.
Its alot of ifs but and hopefullys but what have you got if you haven't got hope!

I can't

Its been a very different Thursday. It started off when I woke up feeling very very cold, checked thermostat and it was reading 10 degrees, felt radiators and they were icy cold. Then the panic set in - I have a combi condensing boiler (I practice what I preach) and no heating also means no hot water! 3 children to bath and washing to do, 3 children at home and no heating?????
So there I was 6am outside in the old toilet where the boiler lives, in pyjamas, dressing gown and wellies trying frantically to make the boiler work - I defrosted the external condensing pipe, did a restart, switched it off, everything that I could think of but still no boiler, no heat and the only thing turning the air blue was my language!

In the end I was talked through how to fix it by a kind friend who is a plumber but it still took the majority of the morning.

Its been snowing here now on and off for the past week, nothing substantial and not enough to close the schools so I have been carrying on going to work - just factoring in more time and being careful on the roads. I do wish that my area would just get some proper snow like everywhere else in the country seems to be getting so we knew what we were doing.

In light of the weather I am now with just over 24hrs to go still unsure if I am going to my husbands mess do tomorrow night - I don't want to drive down there if its bad and according to the other half at the moment there is over 6" of snow around him. It is a shame as I was really looking forward to the night out!

What is playing on my mind at the minute is some of the people I know. There is one of them that has been given the worst run of luck for the past 5 years, her father was very ill and passed away and now her grandma (who is her last relative) is very ill. She is slightly younger than me and is facing all these problems with a show of determination and bravery that makes me so proud to know her. Another friend is one of the "I can't" brigade - although she and all her family have their health, everything to her is a problem. Not a day goes by at the moment when she isn't sending 15 odd texts asking for help and advice on the silliest of things, she expects an awful lot of hand holding. I feel incredibly frustrated when I get one of these texts and am resisting the temptation to tell her some "home truths".
I suppose the whole morale of the above situation is that you never know what is going to come your way and there isn't a whole lot you can do to alter destiny/fate but what you CAN always do is manage the way you handle problems. There are lots of occasions when I want to sit on the floor and have a tantrum like my 3 year old would but I try to do something positive instead.

Anyone can do an EPC?

"Now everyone can do an 'EPC' thanks to new phone app

Friday 27th August 2010
In what sounds like bad news for the already beleaguered energy assessor industry, a new phone app is being launched which will give everyone the ability to audit and generate an A to G rating on any home.
A London firm called Qreative Medias is behind the application ‘Home Energy Performance’ which is available on the iPhone and iPad in the Apple Stores.It is thought users will be home owners, buyers, estate agents, letting agents and builders.The app not only delivers an energy rating but also recommendations and advice, with a pdf report.The report indicates the EPC score, including the A to G graph required under the EU directive. The app is available worldwide and in several different languages.
However, a spokesman for Qreative Media said that whilst the app generates an EPC, exactly as a survey would do and in conformity with guidelines, it would not count as the 'real' thing in terms of requirements for selling or renting a property, as it is generated by the iPhone user and not by a registered and accredited Domestic Energy Assessor.

http://home-energy-performance.mobi"

The above story comes from http://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/News/Story/?storyid=3468&title=Now_everyone_can_do_an_'EPC'_thanks_to_new_phone_app&type=news_features.

It may seem like an absolutely awful idea and the final death blow to all those people who spent their life savings/remortgaged their houses to become a fully trained accredited Domestic Energy Assessor but even the creaters of the software Qreative Media said that the app generates an EPC it DOES NOT count as the real thing. Plus in my mind unless the person who is using the app understands exactly what a DEA looks for and assesses then there is a large possibility of the data being collected incorrectly, entered incorrectly etc so it can never be a substitute for a real EPC. There is of course the possibility that the app may be used by some people to try and get away with not having a correctly done EPC by an accredited and trained DEA.

On the plus side if it gets people interested in EPCs and the fact that they can save money and energy that has to be counted as a positive.