Abingdon did well

Wow! What a weekend.

This is the beautifully restored County Hall of Abingdon with one of the Jubilee Beacons alight on the roof on Monday 4th June.

Whatever people say about Abingdon itself, the people here really know how to put on a good party! The weather was damp but buns were thrown, food was shared and neighbours chatted. What's not to like?

Abingdon Expects

Abingdon is red, white and blue; blue, white and red and white with red and blue bits.

Our office is in Stert Street and we have bunting, window displays and flags up and down the street all in readiness for the celebrations over the weekend then the second or third most exciting thing ever to happen in Abingdon....... the quick passage of Olympic torch at the crack of dawn on 10th July. It isn't literally the crack of dawn which is at about 4am but 7am feels much like dawn in the BlueDoor office!

Feast your eyes on all this colour:

Just around the corner is the Market Square which is similarly bedecked and the museum is looking particularly fantastic now that it has been cleaned and restored.

Oh and James May of TopGear was in town yesterday too. I don't think he was in the queue for Sami's Kebabs but he might have had one before he went back to his bat/man cave.

Could you be a BlueDoor Landlord?

Oops! We've let all the properties we had to let in Abingdon, Oxford and Kidlington. Lots of happy tenants and happy landlords but who else wants to take advantage of our fantastic service?

If you are tired of your agent charging you a percentage of your rent and adding fees for renewing a tenancy to the same tenant they moved into your property six months ago, perhaps it's time you looked at BlueDoor.

The Independent re Abingdon Hot Spot! By Robert Liebman

Hot Spot: Abingdon, Oxfordshire

The wilds of Oxfordshire? Hardly. This is one satellite town that can claim few drawbacks but all the benefits of country living. Such as history, rural amenities, great schools

By Robert Liebman

Saturday, 14 April 2001

The wilds of Oxfordshire? Hardly. This is one satellite town that can claim few drawbacks but all the benefits of country living. Such as history, rural amenities, great schools

Low down

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They might be the offspring of Oxford University, a spate of first-rate schools in the university town itself and in Abingdon barely 10 miles south. Although Abingdon these days seems to be a satellite town of its famous academic neighbour, it has its own venerable history, not to mention the remains of a seventh-century abbey. This Oxfordshire community of 35,000, in the Vale of the Horse, may also be England's most continuously inhabited town. Like Oxford, Abingdon's housing stock is approximately one-fourth Victorian and 60 per cent modern. Property prices in both are higher than the national average, but Abingdon's six per cent of private renters is lower than Oxford's 14 per cent, while its property values are rising at a higher rate: 28 per cent versus 20 per cent.
Many people discover Abingdon only after being scared away by the high prices or abysmal traffic in the university town. "People in Oxford know about Abingdon but Londoners are probably unaware of it," says Jenny O'Sullivan of Allen & Harris estate agents. "We are surrounded by lovely villages and golf courses, and there are plans to open a large sports complex. We also have a great amateur opera and dramatic society, and a monthly farmers' market." There is also a local employment base, much of it concentrated in Abingdon Science Park, Abingdon Business Park and several other business parks.
"The lettings market is good, especially for first-time buyers looking to get onto the ladder. There is a bus route between Abingdon and Oxford, and we get overspill from Oxford," says Ms O'Sullivan. "Many of our buyers are families attracted to the many highly regarded schools here and in Oxford such as Josca's Preparatory, Abingdon, St Helen's, St Katherine's, Our Lady's Convent and the European School at Culham," she adds. "We also sell to many first-timers, investors and older retirees moving from a village back to town to be nearer amenities. Sellers tend to be upsizers or downsizers moving around within the local area."
Disenchanted Londoners comprise much of Hampton's customer base: "We have a niche market in which most of our clients are motivated by their children's education," says Gavin West. "Many of them are from Fulham, Kensington and Wimbledon, that sort of place, looking for the better quality of life associated with rural living. They also want a better quality of education to be available, but combined with the ease of being able to commute into London."

Low-Down

Transport
Didcot to Paddington is 40 minutes, but many commute between Abingdon and Oxford and London by bus. The A34 skirts the eastern edge of Abingdon and connects to the M4 10 miles south.
Prices
Prices start at less than £100,000 for studio flats and extend to seven figures for country estates. But a three-bed terrace can cost £125,000 in one part of town, and twice that in another. Cheaper houses are in mass-built modern estates north and south of the town. "The market was manic at some points last year, but it is quite balanced at the moment and we have a steady flow of sales," says Ms O'Sullivan.
Properties
Allen & Harris are selling a diverse range of mostly modern flats and houses, but their list includes a two-bed town centre cottage overlooking the Thames for £119,950, and a barn conversion in Frilford four miles from Abingdon for £525,000. Retirement Homesearch has homes for the over-sixties, from £105,000. Call 0870 6005560.
Heady homes
The erstwhile Morland brewery in the town centre near the River Ock is now Berkeley's The Brewery, 130 new and renovated units, including cottages, houses, townhouses and apartments when completed. The malt house, brewery and other outbuildings have been refurbished; £157,500 and £384,500 (01235 530816).
Auction
John D Wood is auctioning Dee Cottage on 9 May (unless sold previously), either as a whole (in excess of £500,000) or in two lots: £425,000 to £450,000 for the cottage, and up to £60,000 for the potential building plot. Dee Cottage is a five-bed house on 0.33 acres in Headington Hill.
Still prancing
The Uffington White Horse and 16 other figures are carved into the chalk downlands near Abingdon. The Horse has been there since at least 1084.
New
Oxford has greater choice for new homes. Near the Oxford Canal in North Oxford are Berkeley's Waterways (from £232,000; 01865 513555), and Laing's Canal Walk (townhouses from £325,000, houses from £700,000; 01865 514229 or selling agent Thomas Merrifield, 01865 515000). The same developers are building outside the city centre in Summertown. Westbury is building townhouses from £295,000.
Estate Agents
Allen & Harris, 01793 513224; Hamptons, 01865 240240; John D Wood, 01865 311522.
Blue Door Sales 01235 524800.

Are the stars mis-aligned?

Everybody looks but no-one makes offers. No-one can commit right now and they have to have a think about it.

What is going on? Whatever happened to "I like it/it will do to keep my stuff from getting wet/I like the look of that fridge"?

All the properties we have available right now have something special about them. Either the location, the period features, the views.... they are all waiting for someone to love them or at least want to shack up with them for a year then see how it goes. We even have an office available to save a marriage from a miserable entrepreneur working from home and drinking too much coffee.

Have a look at our listings on rightmove and tell me which one you would rent.

Where is the board shepherd when you need him?

Here is another lonely lost board. Keeping very poor company too.

This one is lost near Rivy Field on the path that runs from the crossing by the junction of Audlett Drive and Thames View all the way to the Nature Reserve. If you are a driver and not a walker you wouldn't even know that this path exists. It is a mostly leafy and green alternative to walking along Audlett Drive or Radley Road which is much more pleasant than breathing in traffic fumes.

Most towns have their paths which can make getting about on foot easier than driving and Abingdon is no exception. It took me years to understand how Peachcroft was connected to Radley Road or Appleford Drive and I still can't quite believe that it can be so much quicker to walk from A to B than drive despite Mrs Simpson's assurances.

On a different note, this week's tenant Problem of the Week is mildew. Not Toxic Mold as found on US websites but just ordinary mouldy mildew caused by having the heating on too high, taking long hot showers, drying clothes indoors and not opening the windows enough. We have dehumidifiers out in 3 flats at the moment and have been giving tenants information on ventilation and wiping off mildew with a solution of white vinegar on a cloth.

Modern folk like to be hot and expect to be able to wear t-shirts and shorts indoors even in winter. To do that comfortably you need to have your heating on at about 25 degrees which will play havoc with the cold spots in your house and moisture levels in the air.

I'm not that old as you know but I am an avid wearer of lambswool jumpers in winter and very happy to keep one on indoors and keep the heating low. My dear wife is also a fan of wool and our younger two are big fans of layering but our older kids are hard as nails and only wear a coat when its snowing. I feel cold just looking at them.

My tips to prevent mildew are: keep a window open a crack during the day to keep air circulating, think about how to keep your body warm and not the air around you, fit curtains over your doors and windows to keep heat in, open the bathroom window after having a shower to let the moisture escape and lastly, turn the heating down and invest in some jumpers!

Good things in Abingdon

We have been looking down on the street out of our window and seen some friends who have taken a while to see that we are calling them from above, not along the street! We have had some folks bold enough to ring our bell and come up and sit in our comfy chairs for a cup of tea too, which has been nice.

Over on the Abingdon blog it seems that some people think the town is going to the dogs. Whatever next! We do bemoan the lack of this and that here but it is after all a little town close to a big town so you can't complain too much. As for it looking derelict take a look at this:


What could be more idyllic? Roll on Summer.

In other business we have been looking around the internet to see what other agents are up to and finding some new lettings heads poking up above the parapet. That my friends is a sign of the sales market hitting the fan; when the market slows down they all turn to lettings for a bit of monthly income.

Some new businesses have also appeared no doubt after reading the property pages in the broadsheets saying that everyone will be renting for the foreseeable future as no-one will be able to afford a house or get a mortgage for one. One such new business declares itself to be 'Revolutionary' We make no such claims, as you know. All we do is make it simple, which is unusual.

What do you think about doing Market Appraisals on a Sunday, transparent fixed fees and being left like the un-sporty kid on the sidelines when the team is picked? The 'winning' agents refused to go out on a Sunday, charge a percentage and all sorts of add-ons, advertise with one picture and wear shiny suits. What gives? Maybe they thought I was too honest and that didn't fit with the stereotype.

It's not all bad though, as we have got a gorgeous flat on in Waddesdon just close to the Manor there which I have to say is much more in keeping with the high standard of property Blue Door - and our tenants like.

One of our long-standing landlords is cashing in his nest egg and looking to travel the world so has put his rental house up for sale. He instructed some agents who duly came and took measurements and pictures but he contacted us to say that he is really disappointed with how they are advertising his property as we did a much better job when we let it. Come on chaps! You've all got swanky digital cameras so take some more pictures and make houses look good! (It takes next to no time to upload them if you hold down the ctrl key as you select from your folders)

We are in the market for buying ourselves now that the small people are growing larger and larger but my missus is getting a bit picky about what we bother going to see if they aren't many pictures as she is a bit suspicious of what the agents might be hiding!

Wow! Blog readers!

Welcome to all our new readers who have found us via ThisAbingdon blog. We were quite surprised to see that so many people had hit our blog on Wednesday after Backstreeter's post about us.

If you are a careful checker of photos you will have noticed that one of the To Let signs he was talking about getting larger is in fact on the wall of our new office! David and Mark over at Meeson Williams will be surprised at their new found infamy!

We have had some lovely potential tenants viewing properties this week including Kathy who emailed us last week to say "I saw a few advertisements of yours on rightmove and liked your ethos and humourous approach! Please let us know if you think you have anything that would suit us. Thank you very much."

She was really pleased to see me on Saturday and find that I wasn't another greasy youth dressed in a shiny suit who didn't know anything about the property they were viewing. I rarely wear a suit nowadays or even a tie. I do wear shirts though and most of them are double-cuff if that makes any difference! I also know a lot about our properties and our service which is apparently tricky information to find out from many agents on a Saturday.

I started as a Saturday viewings lad back in the early 90s but I can assure you that I was almost as attentive to detail back then as I am now. I had very good teachers though which I think is what is missing from the business nowadays; anyone can start up an estate agents or lettings business and although many of them do a good job it isn't always a good thing.

Anyhow, I am glad that people feel that they know something about us from reading our adverts as we have always tried to set ourselves apart from the other agents in more ways than just price. If you are a landlord or a tenant give us a ring to see why we are the Unusual Agents. New office, same phone: 01235 524800

Where did July go?

Yikes its August! How did that happen?

We have met so many new landlords, let so many rand moved in so many tenants over the last month that we haven't had time to sit still other than to do more paperwork and eat!

Of course the biggest news has been the torrential rain followed by flooding in Abingdon and other places around the county. This is Ock Street in Abingdon on that wet Friday.

This is a picture taken on Sunday of the river rising under the bridge a few yards away from my office. The boat is one the river but it it supposed to be next to the footpath! You can usually walk under the bridge through the narrow arch but it was well underwater and impassable for a couple of days.

Sky news parked up there for a couple of days and talked up the threat of flood inch by inch which had all our landlords ringing to find out if their properties were safe and if we were ok in the office. We had dry feet but we did have some leaking through the ceiling which set of the fire alarm and I collected a bowlful of rainwater which came throught the top of my window.

The council brought us sandbags just in case but thankfully we didn't need them.

Our door is looking terrible but with number 25, the Police Station and the Old Gaol up for sale no-one but me and my neighbours Peter and Deane seem to care about it at all. We have become quite attached to our little offices and will be sad to be moved - if and when someone makes a decision about its future. Apparently this is the only building along Bridge Street which isn't at least Grade II listed so it can be knocked down without many people shedding a tear or getting agitated about it which is a real shame.

Here you can see my window in the middle of the top floor, the Old Gaol boarded up behind to the left and the Police Station to the right. We'll see how it all looks in a couple of years' time.

I had my five minutes of fame being interviewed by BBC Radio Oxford becuase I was doing a viewing for an Abingdon lady and her family who needed to rent somewhere to live as they ahd had to leave their house due to the flooding. I don't know how many people heard me becuase it was broadcast early on the breakfast show - I certainly didn't catch it live!

We also had a new banner ad on the front page of the Property Weekly yet again announcing our fixed price of £65+VAT. Thanks to Seb and Tony for that!

One of our landords has been in the Oxford Mail too as coach of ice dance champions Katie and Josh.

Much to my wife's shock and my children's delight, I found an albino rat roaming Audlett Drive one day on my way to work and managed stop it biting my shoe and bring it home. We called the RSPCA to come and collect it but they dsay they called at about 6am the next day and it would have to be the house falling down to wake anyone up in our house at that time of themorning! They said they would not call again so we rang a few petshops to see if they would have him; none would but one told us not to ring **** Pet Shop as they would have it and feed it to their snakes! We made some Lost Rat notices and put them up round and about but no-one called.

So we kept it in our recycling box to feed it up a bit...... with my wife still protesting that we absolutely didn't need a rodent as a pet - not after our experience with Snowy the hamster who we inherited from a childminder years ago, (don't ask) - then it escaped...only to be found hiding under the wendy house in the garden.

By this time we had been informed by a friend that we shouldn't call it an 'it', we should find out if it was a he or a she. None of us wanted to pick it up and see but we are reliably informed that if it was a male there would be plenty between the back legs to distinguish it without needing to pick it up sooo it is a 'she'.

Here she is on the day I found her. I can assure you that she is much more chubby and smiley now but we haven't been able to see her for long enough to get the camera out!
We carried on putting food out for her and now she has made herself a little entrance under the shed from the back garden and a little exit from the other side of the shed out to the front garden. She seems happy to live in the garden and has escaped the jaws of the neighbourhood cats for 4 weeks now so we do have a semi-pet rodent now and it is my wife who feeds her. She is kind- hearted really!

I think we're all caught up now but if it carries on like this I'll be ready to retire soon and after watching the Red Bull Air Race I think I might just retrain and become a pilot :)

Managed or Non-Managed?

Nice big rubbish bin, green recycling box, doormat and lawn neatly mown by our gardener?

Or unkempt front lawn and no bin?

We can show your tenants that you are a nice landlord in lots of ways. If you are nice to them they are nice to you and we are nice to everybody. Smile!