After a much needed vacation we’re glad to say we’re back, refreshed and ready to go again. We spent our time in the beautiful island resort of Kuramathi in the Maldives. To celebrate our arrival back I thought I’d generate a photo album front cover that captures the real essence of the place and our time there. Maldivian Dreaming in a Maldivian Paradise.

This is my traveling counterpart Zoe doing the modeling for us at Sunset while looking up at the moon. It was a special moment in a special place. How I wish I was still there…

Now we’re back we have big plans for The Floating Frog so stay tuned and watch this space

It’s my little (well she’s hardly little anymore) girl’s 6th birthday on the 1st June and I’m wading through ideas on what to get her for her birthday. The Dialogue went something like this…

Daddy: So it’s your big birthday next week, your a big 6! Want to tell me what you want as a present?

Katy: Nothing Daddy, just you and a box full of kisses.

Daddy: Oh baby! That’s so sweet. So a box full of kisses and what else?

Katy: A box full of hugs AND kisses daddy.

Daddy: hahaha Katy, you can have that anytime. I was meaning what kind of present do you want, you know from a shop?

Katy: Nothing Daddy.

Daddy: Right! Are you sure? Absolutely nothing at all? No big presents covered in wrapping paper?

Katy: No thank you Daddy, can I go play now?

Daddy: Sure sweetie, you go play.

Confusion

When I was a kid I had manners and never asked for anything. When I opened my presents I always said thank you and cleared the wrapping paper into the bin liner. I used to prey for certain things, like Micro Machines, Nun-chucka play sets, He-Man Figures but never asked. Has Katy picked up the same habits as I had as a kid? I wonder because I really want to treat her this year because previous years have been really tight and she has been doing amazingly well at school. Question is what?

Her likes

Katy loves books and reads to me all the time. I think she has now read more books than I have. She also likes being outside on her bike, gardening, getting muddy, doing practical jokes. She isn’t into things like Hanna Montana or …. ‘other stuff’, that other kids seem to be into. She also like drawing and making things. She does the best cat drawing, I love it… all 100 of them

Ideas

Well I need ideas. I completely stumped. What do you give a girl for her birthday who says she doesn’t want anything?

Why do consumers buy into niche brands? Is it because they can’t get the product anywhere else? Is it the cost – usually higher than the high street – that makes it feel exclusive? Or is it the personal touch? It’s the middle of the credit crunch and according to the news, consumers are tightening their belts. So why the increased interest in handmade, artisanal, personal products despite the expense involved?

Etsy

Etsy is probably the greatest internet success story when it comes to the power of personal. Launched in 2005, hundreds of thousands of products are bought through the store each month. Handmade goods coupled with a fun shopping interface are a marriage made in heaven – it’s no wonder it’s been called the most ‘feel-good way to shop’.

The devil is in the detail, and the detail keeps consumers coming back. Etsy sellers enthuse about their products; they write their own descriptions and take their own pictures; they package their creations in tissue paper and shiny boxes; they write little thank you notes for you to read; they make each customer feel like a friend. Etsy is a fantastic platform, but it’s the interaction with sellers that makes each purchase special – that feeling is something you can’t get on the high street.

Abel & Cole

It’s not just the world of handicrafts where personal gives you an edge – niche brands have made inroads into food shopping too. Abel & Cole sell organic vegetable boxes and other organic goods – they’re not cheap and you can get organic food anywhere, so why are they successful? Is it because they know people work and hide the box in your garden, or because they include a recipe sheet each week, or because they tell you about the farmers? The whole buying experience is personal and that’s what gives it a feel-good factor.

Graze

Over the last few weeks discount codes for Graze boxes have appeared on Twitter – just like Abel & Cole this product is organic and expensive, yet it seems to have really taken off. You can choose which foods go into your box and create your own product, but that’s not the really personal bit. By marketing through Twitter Graze have utilised people you know – an endorsement from a trusted friend makes a product more personal than an endorsement from a shiny celebrity. The handmade look, the pictures of fields, the Twitter friends saying they love it – it doesn’t get much more personal than that.

What can the high street learn?

The high street can always compete on price but for many consumers that’s not the deciding factor. A handmade, special product and a personal, friendly shopping experience make those extra few pounds worthwhile. It’s funny to think that 50 years ago a personal service was the only service – we should take a leaf out of history’s book and try to recapture that connection. Whether it’s a human on the end of the phone, a way to customise your product or an endorsement from a friend, the power of personal is here to stay.

Bethemiddleman.com is a project we’re currently working on to provide the housing market a FREE option when selling and buying. Read more about it here.

Currently the project is in full flow and it looking fantastic. Whilst we wait patiently for it’s arrival, we have launched a new holding page to enable users to pre-register and get FREE access to the site and all it’s features.

The new page gives an immediate look and feel as to how bethemiddleman.com will look like. Features on the page include:

Member signup

I simple signup form that will alert users once the site goes live.

Beta users signup

To enable a bug free, feature rich website we want beta users to signup and help us make bethemiddleman.com to best it can be.

Press signup

We are encouraging any press interest to contact us directly about the project with this signup.

Information

Simple targeted ‘thickbox style’ popups details what the service offers to the different user groups.

Twitter feed

Bethemiddleman.com is twittering updates on the project and related news with the latest twitter featured on the page.
Simple targeted ‘thickbox style’ popups details what the service offers to the different user groups.

Commission saving calculator

A simple calculator that shows you roughly how much commission you’ll save with bethemiddleman.com by not paying estate agent fees.

Screenshot

While at the bank the other day discussing options for my mortgage with one of the banks advisors, we hit upon a ‘grey-area’. I wanted to Let my property but either needed to switch to a Buy-to-Let mortgage or sign a Consent-to-Lease. A Buy-to-Let mortgage wasn’t viable due to the lack of equity in the house so my only option was to talk the bank into allowing what’s called a Consent-to-Lease. A Consent-to-Lease is a legal document that a Lender co-signs with you that says you can let out your property while adhering to the mortgage code. Unfortunately for me it wasn’t that simple…

Background

I used to live in sunny Scarborough, on the East Coast of the UK. I lived there right up until two years ago when I took a new job as Senior Web Designer at 9xb in Harrogate. I own a property on the outskirts of the town in a small village called Staxton, approximately 50 miles away from Harrogate. For the first year in my new role I commuted to and from work on a daily basis and covered over 500 miles a week. In that one year of traveling I owned three different cars…

Car 1

A Vauxhall Corsa – Written off!

In short I got side swiped my another motorist at about 50mph, causing an immediate head-on with another car traveling towards me from the other direction.

Well I lived, just, and after having three weeks off returned to work.

Car 2

A Ford Fiesta – Sold!

Once I received a payout from the first accident I bought a economical Diesel Fiesta. Unfortunately after doing 17000 miles in under half a year I ran it into the ground.

Car 3

A Ford Mondeo Sport TDCi

Which I still own, a brilliant long distance cruiser.

Obviously after the year I had it wasn’t sustainable to commit to long distance commuting anymore so I made the decision to move to Harrogate and Let out my house.

Lets have a meeting

I moved to Harrogate and Let the house out to a lovely couple who were both Radio presenters. A year later they moved out, right at the same time my Tracker mortgage deal had ran out. So I decided to go into the bank to check out the latest deals. Which is where the fun began, and conversation went something like this…

Me: I need to Let out my house. I want the best possible deal for my mortgage so my repayments are as small as possible. I understand I can’t have a Buy-to-Let mortgage because I don’t own enough Equity but I was told I could stay on my current deal and sign a Consent-to-Lease form to enable me to Let it out.

Mortgage advisor: Unfortunately since your last meeting with us things have changed in the housing market and our offerings. For us to allow a Consent-to-Lease on a property you need a minimum of 15% Equity in your house (85% LTV). Our house price indexing system currently values your house at a lower price than last year resulting your LTV being over the 85% minimum. We are unable to offer you permission to Let your house out. To fall back under the LTV minimum you would need to put down £*****.00.

In short the bank weren’t allowing me to Let my property out now because of the down turn in the housing market. Now as you can imagine I was a little annoyed and disputed a few things. Firstly their so called ‘property valuation indexing system’. They valued my house at £*****.00 less than a valuation I had from a local estate agent so I told them they were wrong.

Mortgage advisor: You can dispute this automated valuation and pay £***.00 to get it revalued by one of our registered valuers.

Me: £***.00 is too much, surely there’s another way to solve this?

Mortgage advisor: Ok sir our acceptance limit is 85% LTV if you are on one of our products (a fixed mortgage deal for example)

Me: Currently I’m not on one of your products, my Tracker deal has just ended and I’m now on a standard Variable Rate. Does this 85% LTV limit apply?

Mortgage advisor: Oh I’m not sure, I’ve never come across this before. There’s no information on the system about this. I can’t call our usual help department anymore as they have blocked incoming calls so I can only email them for an answer. Unfortunately I doubt we’ll get a response today so we can’t proceed.

I waited a week and finally got a call from the mortgage advisor saying…

Mortgage advisor: Hello Mr Hartley. It seems we hit a bit of a grey-area in our Consent-to-Lease offering. Our 85% LTV limit only applies to our products, Fixed and Tracker deals for example, but you aren’t on a product so we feel we can’t stop you from completing a Consent-to-Lease form on this reason. Using our discretion we are happy to authenticate a Consent-to-Lease on your mortgage if you wish to commence?

Me: F*** Yes I do, I’ll return the form ASAP…

In Summary

In summary, to Let out a property where you still have a mortgage on it you need your banks permission or else you’ll be breaking your mortgage terms and they could take your property off you. A Consent-to-Lease is an option but with the current economical climate hitting a rocky patch and with house prices plummeting most lenders are capping the minimum LTV acceptance to 85%. Now as I discovered with my Lender they may not have applied the same limited on Variable mortgages as you aren’t technically on a Mortgage Product. So if you find yourself in the same scenario there may be a loop hole you can jump through.

Christmas 2008 is nearly upon us, and with this nifty countdown timer we can count down the days one at a time.

See the dedication Frog has to his job and his clients after he abandoned his car 2 miles away from work and battled through 6 inches of snow in a gale for 30 minutes to get to work.

Hmm snow! Best defrost the car

A shot from the car

We abandoned the car and trekked along The Stray

Poor Zoe

Harrogate FC

Gridlock on Wetherby road

A car loses control and mounts a verge

Arrived, just one in I see

Work? Nah, snowman? Yes indeedy

The Antarctic trek to work, with soggy feet and a cold red nose I was glad to make it. Gradually half the team got in one by one, the other half quite sensibly stayed at home.

Other shots from friends from today

David Naylor

Patrick Altoft

WOW what a weekend! I traveled through to Scarborough to see my little girl as usual this weekend and was ecstatic to be greeted by 6 inches of snow to play in. Weirdly on the way I didn’t see a single flake until I hit Malton, about 15 miles outside of Scarborough. The fields slowly started to gradiate from green to white as I drove further and further into the wintery wonderland. I thought I’d share some snaps for those who weren’t lucky enough to see any snow.

What a lovely weekend, the snow is worth the wait, especially when it comes in such a quantity

I have just discovered that there is an 87% chance that my pussy cat is trying to kill me.

If you don’t hear from me for a while send in the hounds. In the meantime click on the picture to see whether you need to be afraid and read the background about this threat here.

Hi faithful blog fans.

Nothing much to report – busy with the kitchen, have replaced the rotten joists (read: door frames, grrr!) and laid new laminate. On with the new units now

Oh, and upgraded to Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex, seamlessly as always – it’s such a great operating system, please ditch Windows for a day and try it – just burn the live CD and give it a go, you don’t even have to remove windows to use the live CD. Plus, you can ‘install’ it into Windows if you try it with Wubi.