House-buying fun part three - it's all over and I live to tell the tale

Well at long last we have moved into our new home and what a delight it is. It was a long and tortuous journey to reach this point largely due to the incompetence of the banks, solicitors and estate agents involved. So what lessons could be learnt from the saga? For a start the country’s largest mortgage lender certainly needs to tighten up its systems and training. Also, solicitors need to learn to communicate with each other, and their clients, more efficiently. As for estate agents, well it's best left unsaid...

House-buying fun part two – lawyers, surveyors, house prices and interest rates

I'm a great fan of Charles Dickens's Bleak House, and in particular the recent BBC TV adaptation. Among other things it is a searing indictment of 'lawyering'. In this profession a job that ordinary folk would imagine should take a few days to sort out somehow seems to take an age, and the lawyer's fees pile up accordingly. The more things change the more they stay the same...

House-buying fun part one – estate agents from hell

Estate agents, don’t we just love ’em. They are such an open and transparent bunch, and they always have the interests of buyers and sellers close to their hearts. Yeah right, close to their wallets more like. In truth they are the most hated profession in Britain and now I know why, as if I didn't already.