Ask any of our clients, buyers or sellers, and they'll say we tell it how it is.

Anyone who knows me well will tell you I'm always looking for a positive out of any situation. They'll also tell you I'm not a 'told you so' kind of person.

Well, I'm still ever the optimist, but I did 'tell you so'.

Search engines like Google, Msn and Yahoo are increasingly the preferred method to look for anything on the Internet these days, including property.

It used to be that one large property portal would do in terms of finding a suitable home but with more and more agents leaving sites like Rightmove can you really be sure any one portal has 'everything in one place'.

Portal sites are great for browsing, but if you're really searching for the perfect home try it next time.

For example 'property in Ipswich' or 'property in Kesgrave' will bring up a host of portals and agents ensuring you get the chance to really see what's out there.

The Bank Of England has just announced a 1.5% cut in the base rate to 3%!!

Waahaay!! I hear you cry. (that's if you're a borrower, not a saver)

This could, potentially, be great news for the housing market. I say 'potentially' as apparently over half the country's banks and lenders have yet to pass on the last reduction!

We know lenders are not legally obliged to pass on any reductions at all, but surely 1.5% in one fell swoop looks to me like the BoE saying ''just try not passing on all or some of that''!!!

After all , us good old taxpayers have just bailed out a lot of them, time for a bit of payback I say!!

It will be interesting to see if the govt/us owned Northern Rock lead the way!

Can't wait to see what happens next.

Online conveyancing costs have come of age and with the credit crunch biting sharply, there are some great deals to be had with conveyancing fees greatly reduced.

As you know house sales have pretty much dried up, but if you are in the market right now you can get fabulous deals from online solicitors, who are really pulling out all the stops to get your business

I've been banging on about this for more years than I care to remember but my words have always fallen on deaf ears.

Now, it's not just me.

Estate Agent Today is a site, funnily enough, for the estate agency trade.  A place for us agents to blow off steam once in a while.

An article - Agents pull out of newspaper advertising - tells us what we, the agents have known for a while, papers don't work.  But it's the comments to the article which you really should take a look at.

If you were ever under the illusion that getting your house advertised in the paper was the way to go then these comments will stop you in your tracks.

You'll know - straight from the horses mouth - newspaper advertising was only ever about 1 thing - getting new sellers, not finding buyers.

At last, now maybe you can stop being hoodwinked by the crap the big agents are peddling and realise you're paying higher fees so 'they' can get more sellers.

-End of Rant.