The guys from the Beeb came down last weekend and filmed me doing some embarrassing strolling along the beach, followed by some embarrassing staring out to sea (which I do before every viewing!).

But they were very lovely so I was happy to help out, smile while freezing, and enjoy my five minutes of fame!

Hopefully FindaProperty.com will get a decent mention.

After the “here’s Jane wandering in the Laines trying to look natural” bit the cameras tagged along for a spot of “here’s Jane viewing a lower ground floor flat” bit. Oh the glamour!

LGFs:  I’m not really a fan, which I confirmed this weekend, so that is something I now absolutely know and will keep in mind when short-listing properties to view in future.

The second flat we viewed is in a great location and is on at a great price but it had a very strange open-plan lounge/kitchen, so no second viewings for either of them.

That was that – though the producers foolishly left me with a camera to record random house-hunting thoughts… must resist temptation to press record if red wine has been consumed…

Since then I’ve seen something quite interesting. It’s been online for months and I haven’t really taken much notice of it as it’s under offer, but agent advises me that there’s still time to put in an offer before contracts are exchanged (bet the buyer will love to hear that!)

I rushed out in my lunch hour to see a 2-bed with a small open-plan kitchen/lounge which is nicely done out. Brilliant location too. But it is on the ‘compact’ side – ie:  v. v. small indeed.

I really want a place to fall in love with and somewhere I can enjoy (and swing a cat!) So while this place looks like a complete bargain and a really good investment it’s probably best to leave it to the cash buyers and start being ruled by my heart again, not my head.

I do have to live there after all.

Have got another flat to see which is top of my price range … and then some! I’ve only seen it on the site, but it’s ticking a lot of boxes so must do some big sums before I fall for it…

Oh, and must not feel pressurised into buying just to make good telly … unless, of course, the Beeb wants to make a mega donation to my deposit. Not likely!

Excluding us, obviously, and the blogs produced by our sister company Primelocation.com…

Here, in no particular order, are the ones I have hard-wired into my Google Reader.

1. Royals of Rent: Clever, engaging, and visually pleasing blog about renting in London.

2. Agent’s Diary: Wonderfully morose musings from 40-something London agent facing the downturn surrounded by “cretinous idiots”.

3. Theratandmouse: Short, sharp and witty: micro-blogging long before Twitter from the UK’s most successful property blogger.

4.  RenterGirl: Sparky, award-winning reflections on life as a renter in Manchester (now writing for The Guardian as well – respect!)

5.  Realestalker: Listen up children as Yo Mama delivers barbed kitchen-sink homilies about sleb props on the market.

6.  Letting Focus: Sensible, knowledgeable and opinionated posts from David Lawrenson, author of the UK’s best-selling buy-to-let book.

7.  Landlord Law: As the name suggests: Tessa Shepperson’s site and blog has a wealth of useful legal info for investors. Also very useful for tenants.

8.  House 2.0: Seriously brainy stuff from Mark Brinkely, author of Housebuilder’s Bible. Not too technical? His Eco Bollocks Awards should keep you amused.

9.  4Homes Blog: Multi-authored blog on various aspects of the housing market from the people who bring you Phil & Kirstie, Kevin McCloud, etc.

10: Brickonomics: Well informed, no nonsense blogging from Brian Green about trends in construction, property and housing.

Have we missed any? If so, send us your recommendations.

We’re currently running an advertising campaign featuring real people talking about their idea of home … we’d love to know what it means to you, so please visit the main site’s What makes a home? page and post your views.

In the meantime … welcome to the big, fun, Winging It “What Makes A Home?” Quiz … specially designed by our team of quiz masters to tickle your cerebral cortex in a way it’s never been tickled before…

Ok, so this week we have something a bit different: mad German musician feeds stock market results into Microsoft’s Songsmith program and generates graphs set to music …

True, it all sounds horribly cheerful and cheesy but maybe that’s the point: if I was a stockbroker, this infuriating muzak would be enough to push me over the edge … though I hate to think what the diabolical contraption would play if it was fed a graph of my plunging descent to the pavement.

“Crisis sounds so cool!”, says composer Johannes Kreidlerc of his “melodien aus Aktienkurven, arrangiert mit der Microsoft Komponiersoftware ‘Songsmith’.

To which the only sane reply is: come back Kraftwerk, all is forgiven…

Thanks to Metro’s always amusing Ridiculant blog for this one.

Ok, look, I’m not completely mad – I do know that finance is a big issue at the moment, and that many people are concerned about job security. But it’s not all doom and gloom.

Lenders are beginning to loosen up just a smidgen – and if you have the money to hand, the market is starting to look enticing.

So – drum roll please! – here are my 10 bad-ass reasons for buying now:

1. Prices are falling within reach – they’re down £35,000 on average since last year, says the Nationwide.

2. Lenders are beginning to loosen up – more are now offering LTVs at 80-90 per cent.

3. Affordability has improved significantly and is close to its long-term trend.

4. You’ll get poor returns on savings at the moment so your deposit isn’t going to grow much.

5. Interest rates are at an all-time low – and mortgage rates, already historically low, are edging down too.

6. Buyers are relatively thin on the ground so there’s less competition out there. Vendors are keen to do a deal – there’s an average of 12 per cent currently being haggled off asking prices.

7. There’s a growing consensus that prices are beginning to bottom out – and not just among agents. Capital Economics thinks this will happen in H2 2009. So the window of opportunity is narrowing.

8. Market activity could pick up (albeit modestly) if mortgage backed securities free up lending – a scheme will be launched in April. Also talk of the post office and local authorities offering mortgages.

9. The increase of the stamp duty threshold to £175,000 has cut cost of entry to market.

10. Better to buy before the bottom than end up on the wrong side of a rising market – and things could pick up quite quickly as falling prices and increased lending draw in more buyers.

Completely mad? If you’re waiting on the sidelines, when do you think will be the right time to buy?

View of St Nicholas’ Church from the FindaProperty.com Brighton office

An army of snowmen snowpeople!

Slip sliding away

The old Dyke Road Workhouse

SEO gurus don’t do hats

Got any snowy pics that you’d like to share? Send them to editorial@findaproperty.com and we’ll put the best up on the blog.

Ok people, there’s maybe four or five inches of snow out there and the country has come to a standstill. But the Government never sleeps.

I’ve just had a press release from the DCLG explaining that the snow is a great opportunity to help meet the Government’s housing targets.

Housing minister Margaret Beckett says:

“Snow is the ultimate eco-friendly material and the large quantities of it currently blanketing the country can be put to good use.

“So today we are announcing a new initiative to create a series of genuine eco friendly snow-based communities across the country.

“Igloo-towns will be at least 5-20,000 homes. They are intended to exploit the potential to create a complete new settlement and achieve zero carbon development using the best design and architecture.”

Dan Cruickshank has been enlisted to produce a special Government video explaining how to get off your ass and help yourself by making a house out of snow.

Here’s whispering Dan in action paying homage to “the celestial dome, symbol of the sun in this icy land.”

I didn’t get the flat and I’m heartbroken (bit dramatic but there were tears!).

I know there will be others but I loved that flat and I had set my heart on it being mine.

Need to erase it from my mind, burn all pictures of it and move on. It wasn’t ‘the one’.

It all fell apart like this: I put in another offer based on the estimate of what the vendor was going to have to pay to extend the lease.

That was matched by the investor (boo!) and I knew her situation was always going to more appealing than mine, so I upped my offer and waited…and waited.

No news is good news, I kept telling myself, but the agent went very quiet – not something they’re famous for!

The investor, damn it, then put in a better offer without requiring the lease extension, and the fact that they didn’t need a mortgage valuation meant that it was snapped up.

I didn’t really stand a chance did I?

Would I have been this upset if it was another first-time buyer that had piped me to the post? Who knows?

I bet the other owners in the building would have preferred a hard working, quiet-ish buyer rather than the gamble of tenants. I wish that played a part in the decision making process.

Anyway, it’s gone and I need to get back out there. I am determined to find something even better.

And, it looks like I am going to have some viewing help in the form of a BBC camera crew who want to follow me around on my first-time buying journey – which is very exciting!

Will I become a reality TV star? Maybe I can negotiate with the big boss a nice little bonus based on the number of FindaProperty.com mentions I can get in?

That will certainly help with the deposit…

I’ll let you know how I get on.

Took a ramble over to readersheds.co.uk a few days ago, and my how they’ve grown!

What began as a bit of fun at the end of the garden has mushroomed into an internet phenomenon with forums, blogs, celebrity involvement, merchandising, flickr groups, and, I kid you not, TV shedcasts (yea!)

Uncle Wilco, the man behind the site, has just issued a call to all sheddies to enter 2009’s Shed of the Year competition …  if you love your shed, all you have to do is visit the site, upload two pics and you’re in.

Last year’s winner, Tim’s octagonal pub-in-a-shed extravaganza, provoked a great deal of drooling shed envy – as, of course, do the various Tardis sheds currently on the site (pic below).

But maybe you have something better at the end of your garden?

If so, you’ll have to convince this year’s judges: Sarah “there aren’t enough sheds in the world” Beeny; Trevor “I invented the wind-up radio in my shed” Bayliss, and, err, Chris “I have shed loads of money” Evans.

While you’re over at the site check out the shedblog, where you can read all about a man who buried his father under the garden shed … but not before he’d dressed the dearly departed as a sheikh. As you do.

Shedfolk. Gotta love em!

From the latest Hometrack report … while they rightly caution against calling the bottom of the market, this is an interesting trend: