Things you have recently learnt

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  • surrey_commuter
    surrey_commuter Posts: 18,866
    Ben6899 said:

    rjsterry said:

    Ben6899 said:

    It's a 2005 apartment that friends of ours are trying to buy. The lender did indeed cite "non-traditional" construction and "PRC" when refusing to offer them a mortgage.

    I suspected - as you both point out - that's a slightly reactionary stance and I'd bet that a 2005 building has been constructed with all the lessons borne in mind.

    Still, no dice.

    I think there are specialist lenders for this kind of property.

    https://www.gocompare.com/mortgages/unusual-construction/

    https://www.onlinemortgageadvisor.co.uk/property-types/concrete-construction/

    Brilliant, thanks!
    not sure how old you are Ben but selling these sorts of properties in a boom is fine but in a downturn you could be stuck with it for a decade or taking a 20-25% hit. In an uncertain market there will be fewer if any lender so you will be limited to cash buyers.

    I would run away
  • Ben6899
    Ben6899 Posts: 9,686
    surrey_commuter said:

    Ben6899 said:

    rjsterry said:

    Ben6899 said:

    It's a 2005 apartment that friends of ours are trying to buy. The lender did indeed cite "non-traditional" construction and "PRC" when refusing to offer them a mortgage.

    I suspected - as you both point out - that's a slightly reactionary stance and I'd bet that a 2005 building has been constructed with all the lessons borne in mind.

    Still, no dice.

    I think there are specialist lenders for this kind of property.

    https://www.gocompare.com/mortgages/unusual-construction/

    https://www.onlinemortgageadvisor.co.uk/property-types/concrete-construction/

    Brilliant, thanks!
    not sure how old you are Ben but selling these sorts of properties in a boom is fine but in a downturn you could be stuck with it for a decade or taking a 20-25% hit. In an uncertain market there will be fewer if any lender so you will be limited to cash buyers.

    I would run away

    Thanks SC. It's a place that friends (a couple of years younger than me, but in the ballpark) are looking at, and their long term plan is to not live there, but rent it out for infinity. It's in London.

    I would indeed run away, for the exact reasons you cite. Buying and selling property is difficult enough without voluntarily taking on additional risk.
    Ben

    Bikes: Donhou DSS4 Custom | Condor Italia RC | Gios Megalite | Dolan Preffisio | Giant Bowery '76
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ben_h_ppcc/
    Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/143173475@N05/
  • surrey_commuter
    surrey_commuter Posts: 18,866
    Ben6899 said:

    surrey_commuter said:

    Ben6899 said:

    rjsterry said:

    Ben6899 said:

    It's a 2005 apartment that friends of ours are trying to buy. The lender did indeed cite "non-traditional" construction and "PRC" when refusing to offer them a mortgage.

    I suspected - as you both point out - that's a slightly reactionary stance and I'd bet that a 2005 building has been constructed with all the lessons borne in mind.

    Still, no dice.

    I think there are specialist lenders for this kind of property.

    https://www.gocompare.com/mortgages/unusual-construction/

    https://www.onlinemortgageadvisor.co.uk/property-types/concrete-construction/

    Brilliant, thanks!
    not sure how old you are Ben but selling these sorts of properties in a boom is fine but in a downturn you could be stuck with it for a decade or taking a 20-25% hit. In an uncertain market there will be fewer if any lender so you will be limited to cash buyers.

    I would run away

    Thanks SC. It's a place that friends (a couple of years younger than me, but in the ballpark) are looking at, and their long term plan is to not live there, but rent it out for infinity. It's in London.

    I would indeed run away, for the exact reasons you cite. Buying and selling property is difficult enough without voluntarily taking on additional risk.
    the last good property crash was in the early 90s so a growing body of people have no exposure to it.

    Get them to check sold prices as sometimes these can fluctuate wildly and give them an idea of future difficulties and obviously try and screw the sellers on the way in.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,557
    Ben6899 said:

    It's a 2005 apartment that friends of ours are trying to buy. The lender did indeed cite "non-traditional" construction and "PRC" when refusing to offer them a mortgage.

    I suspected - as you both point out - that's a slightly reactionary stance and I'd bet that a 2005 building has been constructed with all the lessons borne in mind.

    Still, no dice.

    Certainly seems over the top for a building of that age that would have been through full building regs approval. It makes you wonder how commercial properties get funded!
  • monkimark
    monkimark Posts: 1,535
    Ben6899 said:

    This Civil Engineer has just learnt that most mortgage lenders won't entertain properties in Precast Reinforced Concrete (PRC) buildings.

    Maybe @rjsterry can tell us if this is the case for all PRC buildings or just those built with insufficient rebar cover that were popular in the 1970s?

    That is particularly strange given that most of the large residential towers that I've worked on in London over the last 20 years have had at least some element of precast - generally the cores/shear walls, so pretty critical to keeping the building standing.
  • lesfirth
    lesfirth Posts: 1,382
    surrey_commuter said:

    Ben6899 said:

    surrey_commuter said:

    Ben6899 said:

    rjsterry said:

    Ben6899 said:

    It's a 2005 apartment that friends of ours are trying to buy. The lender did indeed cite "non-traditional" construction and "PRC" when refusing to offer them a mortgage.

    I suspected - as you both point out - that's a slightly reactionary stance and I'd bet that a 2005 building has been constructed with all the lessons borne in mind.

    Still, no dice.

    I think there are specialist lenders for this kind of property.

    https://www.gocompare.com/mortgages/unusual-construction/

    https://www.onlinemortgageadvisor.co.uk/property-types/concrete-construction/

    Brilliant, thanks!
    not sure how old you are Ben but selling these sorts of properties in a boom is fine but in a downturn you could be stuck with it for a decade or taking a 20-25% hit. In an uncertain market there will be fewer if any lender so you will be limited to cash buyers.

    I would run away

    Thanks SC. It's a place that friends (a couple of years younger than me, but in the ballpark) are looking at, and their long term plan is to not live there, but rent it out for infinity. It's in London.

    I would indeed run away, for the exact reasons you cite. Buying and selling property is difficult enough without voluntarily taking on additional risk.
    the last good property crash was in the early 90s so a growing body of people have no exposure to it.

    Get them to check sold prices as sometimes these can fluctuate wildly and give them an idea of future difficulties and obviously try and screw the sellers on the way in.
    It is obvious you are not a Manchester commuter. Adjusting for inflation the average UK house price not yet reached its pre 2007 level. Early 90s was a slight pause compared to the disaster of 2007.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,557
    monkimark said:

    Ben6899 said:

    This Civil Engineer has just learnt that most mortgage lenders won't entertain properties in Precast Reinforced Concrete (PRC) buildings.

    Maybe @rjsterry can tell us if this is the case for all PRC buildings or just those built with insufficient rebar cover that were popular in the 1970s?

    That is particularly strange given that most of the large residential towers that I've worked on in London over the last 20 years have had at least some element of precast - generally the cores/shear walls, so pretty critical to keeping the building standing.
    Surely the benefit of precast is also that it can be manufactured in more closely controlled environments to ensure better quality control as well? You would think it would be a safer option that insitu RC where there'll be voids in a few years once the dead bodies thrown in by gangsters start to decompose.
  • dennisn
    dennisn Posts: 10,601
    I've learned that the Amish people here in the U.S. aren't affected or worried about coronavirus because they don't have TV's. Smart.
  • webboo
    webboo Posts: 6,087
    dennisn said:

    I've learned that the Amish people here in the U.S. aren't affected or worried about coronavirus because they don't have TV's. Smart.

    So no cases or deaths from C19 in their communities?
  • orraloon
    orraloon Posts: 12,690
    Is it smart TVs that are causing the 'rona? Thought it was 5G mobile masts.
  • dennisn
    dennisn Posts: 10,601
    webboo said:

    dennisn said:

    I've learned that the Amish people here in the U.S. aren't affected or worried about coronavirus because they don't have TV's. Smart.

    So no cases or deaths from C19 in their communities?
    Bad choice of words. When I said affected I meant they aren't paranoid about the whole thing like the rest of civilization. Don't know about actual cases from them. It's more of a slam or joke about journalists and news media.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,557
    I would have thought the risk of viruses entering a closed community are pretty small anyway.
  • pinno
    pinno Posts: 51,349
    orraloon said:

    morstar said:

    Ben6899 said:

    Yesterday, I learnt that there's a beauty salon at the Archway end of the Junction Road, called... "Stasi".

    I'm not letting those people anywhere near my fingernails.

    Probably one of those scenarios where somebody just thought it sounded exotic.

    I think it is the Aussie sitcom Cath and Kim where they try to come up with an exotic name for a child and one of them suggests Chlamydia.
    Isn't that the name of Rees-Smug's sister?
    If at anytime Rees Mogg is mentioned, all it does is remind me of this:
    [Which is a good thing]


    seanoconn - gruagach craic!
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 26,255
    That this is a name:

  • Ben6899
    Ben6899 Posts: 9,686
    Wow. "Todger". And wow. "Strunk".
    Ben

    Bikes: Donhou DSS4 Custom | Condor Italia RC | Gios Megalite | Dolan Preffisio | Giant Bowery '76
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ben_h_ppcc/
    Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/143173475@N05/
  • briantrumpet
    briantrumpet Posts: 17,916
    Ben6899 said:

    Wow. "Todger". And wow. "Strunk".


    'Strunk' is a well-known name to music students. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Strunks-Source-Readings-Music-History/dp/0393966992/
    https://www.facebook.com/unanglaisendiois
  • orraloon
    orraloon Posts: 12,690
    Todger is also a well known name.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,557
    That feels like the sort of name Ben Stiller would call a character in one of his films.
  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 27,671
    Talking of odd names I stumbled across the writer Crescent Dragonwagon the other day.
    1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
    Pinnacle Monzonite

    Part of the anti-growth coalition
  • briantrumpet
    briantrumpet Posts: 17,916
    That it's physically impossible for me to play a B minor chord on a ukulele.
    https://www.facebook.com/unanglaisendiois
  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 27,671
    briantrumpet said:

    That it's physically impossible for me to play a B minor chord on a ukulele.

    Not sure whether Slayer are to your taste, but...

    https://youtu.be/cRdlY_usbiA

    >:)
    1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
    Pinnacle Monzonite

    Part of the anti-growth coalition
  • briantrumpet
    briantrumpet Posts: 17,916
    rjsterry said:

    briantrumpet said:

    That it's physically impossible for me to play a B minor chord on a ukulele.

    Not sure whether Slayer are to your taste, but...

    https://youtu.be/cRdlY_usbiA

    >:)

    Haha! Well, well, my attempt at Rocking Around The Christmas Tree would have probably ended up sounding more like that, given how far away from B minor I was.
    https://www.facebook.com/unanglaisendiois
  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 27,671
    briantrumpet said:

    rjsterry said:

    briantrumpet said:

    That it's physically impossible for me to play a B minor chord on a ukulele.

    Not sure whether Slayer are to your taste, but...

    https://youtu.be/cRdlY_usbiA

    >:)

    Haha! Well, well, my attempt at Rocking Around The Christmas Tree would have probably ended up sounding more like that, given how far away from B minor I was.
    The same chap - Rob Scallon - has done a series of quite in depth videos on unusual instruments including one of an enormous church organ and various forerunners of the guitar. And some more silly stuff - shovel guitar, etc.
    1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
    Pinnacle Monzonite

    Part of the anti-growth coalition
  • Stevo_666
    Stevo_666 Posts: 58,515
    Ben6899 said:

    Wow. "Todger". And wow. "Strunk".

    Well at least his surname wasn't 'Shrunk'.
    "I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]
  • brundonbianchi
    brundonbianchi Posts: 689
    edited December 2020
    veronese68 said:



    Chris Bass wrote:


    briantrumpet wrote:

    That I've been mispronouncing the musical term 'adagio' all my musical life: an Italian speaker told me that the 'i' merely softens the 'g', so that the pronunciation is "adajjo", not "adajjeo".


    is this always the case in Italian? so would the footballer Roberto Baggio be pronounced Roberto Bajjo - If so I have been saying his name wrong my whole life - not that I have said it that often in fairness!

    Yes, also in Italian an h after a c hardens the c sound so it is like a ck in English.
    [/quote]

    Hence Bianchi is pronounced like ‘Bee-an-key’ not ‘Bee-an-she’ ( which it is by far too many people I’ve heard) and the Lamborghini Countach, should be pronounced ‘Coon-tack’ not ‘Coon-Tash’ ( although it hardly ever is by most people )


  • briantrumpet
    briantrumpet Posts: 17,916
    edited December 2020
    ...
    https://www.facebook.com/unanglaisendiois
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,557
    Just rewatched Trading Places for the first time in many years. I discovered it's set in Philadelphia, I'd always assumed it was New York.
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 25,776
    Pross said:

    Just rewatched Trading Places for the first time in many years. I discovered it's set in Philadelphia, I'd always assumed it was New York.

    You didn't know that the Fresh Prince was from Philly? 😉
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,557
    pblakeney said:

    Pross said:

    Just rewatched Trading Places for the first time in many years. I discovered it's set in Philadelphia, I'd always assumed it was New York.

    You didn't know that the Fresh Prince was from Philly? 😉
    I'm now about to learn something else - what's the link between Fresh Prince and Trading Places or am I missing something?
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 25,776
    Pross said:

    pblakeney said:

    Pross said:

    Just rewatched Trading Places for the first time in many years. I discovered it's set in Philadelphia, I'd always assumed it was New York.

    You didn't know that the Fresh Prince was from Philly? 😉
    I'm now about to learn something else - what's the link between Fresh Prince and Trading Places or am I missing something?
    Egg nog kicked in a bit early. My bad. 🤬
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.

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