Owning your own home

Have you got a citation for the emissions comparison? Genuinely interested.

Not when I can help it :)

When I do get a taxi I tend to end up in a Toyota Prius more often than not, which is a long way from a farty old diesel engine. I know buses are bad for particulates (I used to live on a bus route, was forever cleaning the windows and the particles actually used to get into my flat, yuck) but they are presumably a lot better than driving a car and also there's a degree of necessity (getting around if you don't ride a bike).

The thing with wood burning stove is that proven, less polluting and more efficient ways of heating your house are available such as modern gas boilers. They don't have the lifestyle points but 10% of air pollution in London in winter is now estimated to be from wood burning stoves.

10% is a scarily high number. Thought it would be negligible to be honest.

This is is worth a browse
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/environment/12175306/Is-my-wood-burning-stove-really-killing-me-What-happened-when-I-monitored-my-exposure-to-pollution.html

Joining in the stove porn fun, seeing as I've just lit mine (not killing me afaik):

Interesting read; thanks.

My stove is defra approved clean burn model - I've no idea how much difference that makes but as I now know that going on the Victoria line is likely to be 3x worse for me than sitting in front of my stove, and burning toast is 10x worse than that, looks like cycling plus divorce are the best options for me.

Do the "clean burn" models actually produce fewer particulates or are they better at venting them up the flue rather than into the room?

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/wood-burning-stove-brings-authenticity-to-middle-class-mans-life-2013110180842

Fuk it

My understanding is that they burn more of the particulates - they have an air re-circulation thing so that the overall burn is cleaner and less stuff comes out of the flue.

When mine has warmed up, you usually can't see anything coming out of the chimney (yes, realise that what's visible is not a valid test etc).

Very different to when I occasionally light an open fire... I will accept that is not a great thing to do so don't do it often, do use "smokeless" fuel and when I get the chance I will probably replace the open fire with a stove.

On a slight tangent, Mrs Hammer and I would like to make an offer on a property with a wood burner - what's the best way to do this? Over the phone? By email? I'm also not sure on the etiquette of making offers. Is it fine to offer ~15% under asking on a cash-pending-sale-of-house basis, then switch to mortgage based offer if they won't take >8% under asking? This is in a market where houses aren't selling quickly and lots of stuff has multiple reductions...

https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/files/12227807/Atmospheric_Environment.pdf

Quite technical but the introduction is worth reading. Re: London specifically (not a problem for you anymore!) the most interesting line from the abstract (IMO) is:

"To put this in a policy context, this PM10 from wood burning is considerably greater than the citywide mean PM10 reduction of 0.17 mg m3 predicted from the first two phases of the London Low Emission Zone which was introduced to reduce PM from traffic sources."

PM10 are the nasty particulates that do bad stuff (as they're small enough to enter the lungs).

(The graphical abstract is great by the way, top academic lols).

Don't get me wrong, I'm not expecting anyone to rip out or stop using their stoves. Maybe just don't go too mad, and if anyone is thinking about getting one consider the environmental impact. I don't know how much better the clean burning stoves are.

I literally just got back from a trip to the tip waste reuse and recycling centre. I did it in a hired Zipcar Ford Fiesta but still - sorry world :(

Send them a link to that research and explain that the stove is devaluing the property so naturally your offer will reflect this?

(Call the estate agent and make an offer over the phone, they will then ring the client. You can offer what you like but bear in mind if they think your offer is bare jokes it might reduce your chances of a successful outcome. It's totally OK - and worth doing - to explain the thinking behind your bid to the agent so they can relay that too).

Do people take it that personally? If someone offered us that much less I would take it as a negotiating point.

Interesting - thanks.

Regards the LLEZ, would another way of looking at this be "the LLEZ is not predicted to reduce air pollution from vehicle emissions by very much"?

Two wrongs don't make a right, I realise...

Christ, yeah. Remember the vendors have almost certainly selected the estate agent who said they'd get the highest price, so have already started house hunting for their next place with that figure firmly in their minds. If someone offers way below that, i.e. more than 15-20% of the asking price, then they take offence as their dreams of their new home at the top of their budget, recede into the distance.

I suppose that makes sense, although we're budgeting for worst-case scenario and I assumed everyone else would too.

Some folk love their houses like they love their children so telling them it's 15% shitter than they think it is could well upset them.

But do you care?

The whole cash v mortgage thing is meaningless unless the cash sale means the purchaser isn't going to be getting intrusive and time consuming surveys done on the property before purchase, and time is of the essence. Otherwise why would I, as the vendor, give a monkeys toss whether the purchase monies came out of your bank account or whether you were using a mortgage advance?

Of the properties I have purchased over the past 5 years, I have always made relatively aggressive offers from the outset, but have justified myself in doing so, I.e you want x, but we will need to do y which will cost z. Doing this on the current house saved me 12k when the agent swore blind on the phone that the vendor wouldn't entertain any offers as the house had already been reduced. So if you don't ask you have no chance of getting, but my approach is bargain hard but be prepared to justify why you are offering what you are, otherwise the vendor will just think you are a chancer trying to kick him in the nuts.

Otherwise why would I, as the vendor, give a monkeys toss whether the purchase monies came out of your bank account or whether you were using a mortgage advance?

I would assume because it's quicker and less likely to hit a stumbling block but I don't really know. Lots of online advice says it's a plus but also not to buy without surveys...

Given the selling advice we've had from estate agents and my research on similar properties, I think they've priced it right at the top of the market with room to reduce later. Plus there are things that would bring it down from that theoretical height anyway - no real garden/windows need re-doing/on a busy road/etc.

Not enough to pay over the odds by £50k +

Is your property currently on the market?

I'm expecting it to go live tonight or Monday at the latest.

Until you are on the market and under offer you are not proceedable so at the moment your offer isn't going to be attractive to the vendor.

Ok thanks, that makes sense. Will hold off for now then.

proceedable

Management speak thread, but otherwise I agree.

Don't bother formally offering on anything until you have a buyer on your house, you're in no position to negotiate until you do.

But it wouldn't hurt to tell the agent you're potentially keen and will probably make an offer once you've sold but that it will be well under the price. They'll then be warmed up to the idea and can warm the owner up too. The agent could well agree with your valuation and might use the feedback to prove it to the seller.

Then once you do have a buyer email the offer with the justification you've used above, the agent can then forward it on verbatim.