Australian real estate agency Toop & Toop may have enjoyed a little more internet traffic than usual this week, after a unique property listing went viral. From the outside, 10 Melory Crescent, Magill, South Australia, looks like a perfectly normal – indeed impressively large – house.
As you cycle through the pictures, you can spot that a bit of modernisation wouldn’t go amiss – but so far, so unexceptional. You keep clicking then, bang, it hits you: Halloween has come early in a horror room full of mannequins, clown dolls and giant hanging spiders. Even more frightening: a framed Manchester United shirt above a fireplace. “Mystic House” Toop & Toop call it, adding: “Guarantee you will remember this property.
Mystery and intrigue, OMG beats anything you will ever see, it’s at every turn! History, excitement. Challenge your senses. If you are a scaredy cat, don’t come… Watch the cobwebs, and don’t wear a suit. Agents note: brave people only, leave the kids at home or keep them supervised.” It’s up for auction on 25 September – bid, if you dare…
Now that’s a title
When EG met up with Paris-born entrepreneur PY Gerbeau (check out our retail supplement this week for the interview) we expected plenty of remarkable tales from his many years in the leisure industry, and boy, did he deliver.
In between various topics, Gerbeau shared one particular anecdote from his time with X-Leisure that stood out. Observing that “the Brits” are unusually fond of adding FRICS and various other acronyms to business cards, Gerbeau decided to add a formidable new qualification to his own: MFIC. It took a year before a non-exec director noticed it and brought it up at the next board meeting.
“I got told off so badly by the board,” Gerbeau lamented, before mimicking their complaint: “PY, we’re a plc; we have 19 institutional and two private equity investors. You cannot walk around with a card that swears…” In case you’re not quite there yet, the IC in MFIC stands for “in charge”.
Thin on the ground
If the spooky Aussie property left you wide-eyed, this one should have the opposite effect – it’s believed to be one of the narrowest detached homes in the country, and it’s just been sold by SDL Auctions.
At a mere 4m wide – less than the car struggling to park outside it – the two-bedroom property in Goldhill Road, Leicester, may well fail the traditional cat-swinging test (animal-friendly Diary certainly hopes that nobody has tried). But that didn’t stop it selling for £155,000, £5,000 more than the guide price. Far from being narrow-minded, the lucky bidder could clearly see potential.
When the stars align
We’re not sure how the folks at Sellhousefast.uk sell houses so fast when they are so busy carrying out vital property research for the good of the nation. Not content with three of their surveys catching Diary’s eye in the past year, they are back with potentially life-changing information.
We’ll let the email subject speak for itself: “REVEALED: When to move in together based on your zodiac sign.” Revealed – at last! Apparently, gung-ho Scorpios are ready to move in with their partner after just two months, while more cautious Sagittarians need six years before making such a commitment. Lest you think this is all nonsense, the email explains: “The housing agents at Sellhousefast.uk had a look at the personality traits of each zodiac sign and revealed after how long they should be moving in with their partners, and also what kind of property would suit their personalities most.”
For any Scorpio out there in the first blush of romance with a seemingly incompatible Sagittarian, it helpfully adds that “the most dominant partner will probably end up getting their way”, and that the best way to interpret the numbers is to calculate the average for both zodiac signs. As for the best properties for each sign, Librans would be happy living in a studio flat, Cancerians are at home in a bungalow, and Arians a detached house. As for those “live fast” Scorpios, they would splurge on a mansion.
World War Z
Parliamentary chaos over Brexit has, it seems, not put young people off our nation’s capital, as London has triumphed in a global fight to be named the best city for Generation Z – those just entering the world of work. Nestpick carried out a study to find the “best international cities that support Generation Z’s values and vision by using data relating to advocacy, digitalisation, liveability and business opportunities”.
And London claimed top spot with its “overall compatibility with Gen Z principles, ability to meet educational needs and strong business opportunities”. Stockholm came second (ranking high for digital payment and banking, environmental action and the right to protest) and Los Angeles (esports and education) ranked third. Berlin might be a sound option for thrifty Gen Z-ers – it’s the only city in Nestpick’s top 10 that isn’t also in the top 50 worldwide for cost of living.
Ömer Kücükdere, founder and chief executive of Nestpick.com, said: “Adding on to the advantages of a weakening pound, London has shown how it is at the forefront of digitalisation, advocacy, entertainment and business. Brexit or not, London has the foundations to continue magnetising Generation Z in the long term.” Good to know.
