Staying put in the wet

It’s being one of those days today when not having a deadline is very handy. The weather has been torrential, and as we had a bit of a broken night, we decided to stay put for another day, rather than tackle Braunston Locks.

I’m not sure why it was such a bad night, but the bilge pump running in the wee sma’ hours didn’t help. On investigation this morning, the stern gland was dripping merrily; unusually, in my experience, from the back of the gland rather than the front where the adjustment is. Nonetheless, tightening up the gland and then greasing it stopped the drip, so I’ll just have to keep an eye on it.

As I recall, Sanity needed the same treatment in her early days; I guess the packing has to bed in for the first few months. The new mini sucky thing, aka a one litre oil extractor, did a good job of removing most of the water the pump had left, and I’ve popped that great stand-by, a budget disposable nappy, down there to soak up the rest.

It turned into a bit of a pottering morning, having started in on minor maintenance. I hung the calendar in the study, and checked the pressure in the cold water system accumulator. Sheila has been exploring the possibilities of Zopa as an investment system. This is a scheme of peer to peer lending, a way for people to access credit without going through one of the banks.

We’re making a cautious start, and will see how it goes.

I promised a while back to give a mature view about the performance of ABNB, and this seems a good time to do it. First off, they undoubtedly delivered what they promised, in that they sold Sanity, to a buyer with the credit to pay for her, at a price within the range predicted.

Other positives were the effective advertising and the glossy brochure, and flexibility about our location as we first showed round her at Poynton, and then moved her towards Crick. Having put her on the market in January, we had a slow two months (hardly surprising) but then plenty of interest in March and a sale in April.

What they weren’t so good at was communication. Silly mistakes were made in confirmatory emails to prospective purchasers, and we weren’t warned about the paperwork which would accompany the final sale.

For example, as well as signing (and having witnessed) a bill of sale (as we expected), they also use an exchange of contracts, like a house sale, and those have to be witnessed as well. In addition, they sent an enquiry form to Braidbar.

All of this has the effect of giving confidence to the buyer, and I can understand why they do it, but giving the client an information sheet explaining it all would be a good idea. I also found one of their staff distinctly patronising in manner, but that may just be my sensitivity!

The charge is 6% of the first £60,000, then 2% of the balance, plus VAT. As a proportion of the sale price, this is a lot more than an estate agent would expect for essentially the same service, but in absolute terms, it comes out much the same. 1.5% of £200,000 is £3,000, as is 6% of £50,000.

Would we use them again? I think so, assuming no change in comparative rates or reputation, of course.

Not that we plan to sell Sanity Again in the foreseeable future.