We’ve been asking our users what makes a home?

As you probably know, pretty much everyone in Ireland lives in either a castle or a cottage, so to celebrate this undisputed fact, here are some castles you can currently buy there.

Most of them are of Norman provenance, and they obviously weren’t big on floor-to-ceiling windows, the Normans.

But if security was your main concern, and you’d always wanted a balcony from which you could pour boiling oil on marauding locals, they were the lads to go to.

Grand Designs: it was very different back then!

Click the pics for full details

Thanks to our research team for this week’s graph, which comes from MyHomeLife, their regular consumer survey.

It’s based on responses from 1,000 visitors to Primelocation.com and FindaProperty.com, and it’s fairly self-explanatory.

Most people think the market will bottom out before, or by, autumn of this year.

Do you agree? - send us your views using the Comments link below.

La la la la la!  Three weeks on from our emotional house move and home life has improved heaps.

The house itself seems to have accepted me and is now allowing me unimpeded access as opposed to its previous No Entry stance.

Inside, the box-to-floor-space ratio has decreased massively, so much so that we’ve even had some complimentary comments about our now-visible floorboards.

It’s taken us this long to unpack because – for the first time in about five years – we’re actually sorting through all of our boxes rather than just shoving them, contents intact, into any old place that’s big enough.

The amount of downsizing we’ve done is unbelievable; several local charity shops are bursting at the seams as are the nearest recycling bins.

But it’s been worth all the effort, as it really is a lovely house, and well on the way to becoming our new home sweet home.

However, this doesn’t mean that we’ve mentally discarded our former adored abode which we both still miss immensely.

So, imagine how chuffed we were to hear from our old landlords – who we’ve never met – earlier in the week, inviting us round for a glass of wine once they’ve settled back in.  How sweet is that?

Just need to make sure I keep my emotions under control when we go and not create a scene or scare them off.  Otherwise we’ll never get re-invited and I’ll be back to staring wistfully at the house from a (safe) distance…

The folks over at Park Let have just emailed us a link to a new tool on their website. Type in a postcode and it will calculate how much you could make per month renting out your parking space.

Apparently, I’d be able to make between £87-106 per month. Or at least I would be if I had a parking space to rent out!

Still, it’s a clever little gizmo and worth checking out at Park Let Rental Price Guide.

Oh lordy, it’s all beginning to sound a bit medieval. Numis Securities, a City investment bank, have been making like Nostradamus as far as the housing market goes.

Lo, they say unto us, a veritable plague cometh and there will be much wailing, gnashing of teeth, and a really big fire sale in the buy-to-let sector.

The country could go bankrupt too. And the moon will fall into the sun and create a world of perpetual darkness.

The Daily Mail and The Telegraph, to cite just two, are loving this, and report breathlessly that “house prices could slump by another 55 per cent. The Numis report predicts that price falls will accelerate in coming months as amateur buy-to-let investors begin to ‘panic sell’ their portfolios.”

Now leaving aside the fact that City investment banks haven’t exactly covered themselves in glory recently, the source of this prediction begs a few questions.

Numis produce market reports for various sectors of the economy, and this melodramatic forecast comes from their Financials Team – who have, shall we say, a vested interest in promoting equities and the stock market.

Numis, interestingly, also have a Building & Property Team. So what do they think? I called Chris Millington, from this division, and he said:

“Our central projection is 30 per cent peak-to-trough. The market has actually improved recently, housebuilders have had a good start to the year and activity is on the rise. The downturn is past its middle point. Things are looking a lot more interesting.”

I know who I think is right on this one. I leave you to draw your own conclusions.

In the meantime, let’s all hope that the Finance and Property teams over at Numis don’t get stuck in a lift together or it could all kick off.

We’re big fans of Video Jug here at Winging It. And we also like glove puppets.

So we really loved this video.

Check it out … it’s guaranteed to put a smile on your face!

Pest Control:How To Catch Mice With Peanut Butter

The latest survey from The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) reveals that there are plenty of hungry buyers out there circling the market, but very few are actually taking a bite.

But with prices still falling, and rates low it’s surely only a matter of time before all that interest translates into sales. Isn’t it? Your views, please on when the stand-off will end.

If you’ve seen the new FindaProperty.com Rental Index, but haven’t had the time to skim through its unique overview of the UK lettings market, then you can now watch our Head of Research, Andrew Smith, talking to Cantos about the Index and giving you all the juicy bits:

Thanks to Jess over at Primelocation’s blog for alerting us to the fact that London agent Marsh & Parsons have started vlogging (video blogging).

Here’s their first from MD Peter Rollings – they’re keen to have feedback, so let them know what you think.

I’ve spoken to Peter many times in the past and he really is hugely knowledgeable about London’s micro markets and their various property types, so I’d suggest something along those lines – he told us all sorts of interesting  things last year about garden squares.

I am a home owner! It is official.

Well, trying not to get too excited as I know these things can fall through at any time but what the hell, got to celebrate and I’m allowed to be excited!

I went to see a place last week (2-bed flat) and although it was not what I thought I would go for (a purpose built) there was just something about it that I really liked and I feel that I have got myself a bargain.

But as I have always said, it’s not about the money, it’s about finding somewhere to put my mark on and have my own place – though it is, of course, comforting that it could be a good investment.

It is in a great location and in a very well kept building and I was really pleased that I went to see it again at a different time.

Being there at 6.30pm gave me a chance to see the sort of people coming and going and there were a few professionals about my age which was positive and made me even more keen on it.

Knowing that there are people my age living there is good in terms of resale. And it’s got a balcony – outside space – bliss! And a brand new bathroom!

I put the offer in four days ago and have only just heard so have been sweating out the waiting game all weekend. I called them this morning and they said that they hadn’t been able to get hold of the vendor at all.

After my last experience I was thinking that no news was definitely bad news but I was wrong.

I still can’t believe it! I am in shock and have no idea what I need to do next. I keep thinking about colour schemes and a new kitchen but I really need to focus on speaking to the bank, the solicitor and doing some sums.

The BBC is going to be most upset that they missed that call – the shock on my face and then a teary eye would have made good telly!

I am off to calm down and think seriously about what I need to do to make this happen.