When it comes to selling a property, make it look good from the outside and you’re at least halfway there. You ignore the ‘8 second’ rule at your peril!

Industry figures show home buyers take an average of 8 seconds to decide to buy, and the approach to the house is a crucial part of those 8 seconds. Any signs that time and money needs to be spent on the exterior could kill the chance of a deal before they’ve even ventured in.

Take Sarah Beeny’s word for it

And don’t just take our word for it. TV’s Sarah Beeny, queen of all things property, told the Daily Telegraph in 2009 that “First impressions count for a lot. A bad appearance can do a lot of damage” (and you don’t argue with the Beenster).

For much of the UK, the property market hit rock bottom in 2009 and has recovered somewhat since (although plenty of areas haven’t seen any recovery at all), but kerb appeal remains as important as ever.

So what are the 10 best things you can do to the exterior of your home to ensure potential buyers love it before they’ve even gone through the front door?

Replace or paint the front door

A good paint job on an old front door, involving properly sanding down the wood and cleaning any glass, is well worth the effort. If the door is ugly and unfashionable (especially if it’s UPVC), it’s probably untreatable and you should buy a new one (around £300 to £500, or less if second hand).

Repaint the house and clean up brickwork

A freshly painted house in a neutral pastel shade or elegant stronger colour (depending on the age and style of the property) can work wonders. Scrubbing brickwork to remove stains and discolouration from pollution will also help hugely. Repoint the brickwork too if necessary (crumbling bricks can set off alarm bells in buyers’ minds).

Fit quality door ‘furniture’

Don’t buy cheap, it’ll look it. It’s amazing how fancy door knockers, quality keyhole fittings and numbering, a new footplate and doorbell, can dramatically improve the external appearance of a home.

Paint and repair windows and surrounds

Again, one of the major elements of making the outside of a home look good are improving the windows, and brick and wood work surrounding them. Fill cracks, rub down and paint (white usually, or a neutral shade).

Clean up pathways, gates and front walls

Brush and thoroughly scrub with whatever cleaning fluid your local DIY store recommends for the type of material which covers your path. Weed any borders and paint your front gate and wall. If you don’t have one, and your home opens directly onto the street, then take it upon yourself to brush, scrub and clean the pavement.

Install lighting

Fit attractive carriage lamps, lanterns, or general door lights to create a classy frontage (ensure you make them symmetrical – so one on either side of the door please!). If you have a front garden, soft lighting in trees and bushes can look great at night or in the early evening. Check out this video for some nifty lighting tips.

Plants, flowers and greenery

Position hanging flower baskets, potted plants, window boxes and trailing creepers pretty much anywhere; almost any greenery will make your home more attractive.

Clean up the nightmare neighbours!

Even if your neighbours are horrific, Rottweiler-breeding lunatics, they still probably won’t say no if you offer to spruce up the front of their homes too. Hedge trimming, mowing, cleaning – just a couple of hours work can make a great deal of difference.

Wash those windows

Even if you’ve made the rest of the front look great, dirty windows will spoil the effect. This is one of the key tips in our top ten. Gleaming, clean windows are extremely important.

Careful with curtains

Shabby drapes and filthy curtains can destroy the ‘look’ of your windows, and therefore home (to corrupt a common expression, your home’s windows are the eyes to your soul).

Want to know more… scroll on for our Top Five Most Precariously Positioned Houses in the World list:

Up A Tree In Laos

If you want to get away from it all and live in a canopy tree-house, then you’re probably taking the eco-tourism trend a little too far. The Gibbon Experience in Laos offers just that. Noble though the cause may be, climbing up rickety wooden ladders, to sleep in a hut, up a tree seems a little too much; not to mention your dangerous proximity to creepy crawlies and cheeky monkeys. Maybe start up a monthly donation to the World Wildlife Fund instead?

The Wise Man Built His House Upon The Rock

Evidently that rock wasn’t a cliff in Norfolk, where residents find themselves edging closer and closer to the North Sea. These pictures show just how quickly cliff erosion happens. Scary. I’d think twice about setting up a permanent base there, it might not be around long enough to enjoy. Whilst I do feel sorry for these poor people who are fighting a losing battle for their homes, it does make you wonder if they were paying attention in geography lessons.

Anywhere on a Fault Line!

It just seems to make sense for us relatively scary-weather-free Brits – don’t build your house where earthquakes are most likely to happen. San Francisco is a beautiful cosmopolitan city, but just look at the damage regularly caused by earthquakes. This is the city that gave us free love, Levis, Cisco Systems and has the highest college degree density in America. They’re a clever bunch. You’d think one of them might pipe up about the imminent danger of their fair city?

Under A Volcano?

It erupted as recently as 2008, and yet the blithe Sicilians casually go about their business, living in the volcano’s shadow. Why?? Yes, it’s pretty, and I suppose the fireworks are nice… until they start oozing into your house and melting the cat. We learnt about Pompeii in school, and I distinctly recall that being the moment I decided not to live under a volcano. I was eleven. Perhaps they don’t teach Roman history in Italian schools?

Somewhere No-one Can Get To

The most ridiculous property on earth provides fine dining for thrill seeking adrenaline junkies only. This restaurant (ok, ok, it’s not technically a home, but we couldn’t leave this one out) is atop the sacred Huashan Mountain in China. Little is known about it, presumably because not that many people have the stomach (pun intended) to get there, or don’t make it back alive. This link will show you a step-by-step guide for the most vertiginous journey for extreme banqueting … ever.

The Old Distraction Technique

You go and meet someone from Gumtree to buy an iPhone, you check it over, it’s a brand new 4S. Nice. You ask Siri what the weather will be like tomorrow and he tells you! If you don’t know much about iPhones, trust us, that means it works well.

You part ways with your hard earned cash and boom… a pretty lady walks past and flashes you the brightest smile you’ve ever seen. Your attention is, understandably, diverted.

Meanwhile the shiny new phone is switched for an old dud, the seller makes a hasty retreat and you’re none the wiser until you sit there trying to ask an old brick of a phone what went wrong. Take a friend along next time, and meet in a public place with CCTV.

Fake Landlord Scam

Now, we’ve dealt with dodgy landlords in another article, so I won’t go over old ground. Suffice to say, this is the old “send me a deposit and bank details for you and everyone you’ve ever met”.

Oh, and here’s some nice pictures of a house that I’ve never been in, let alone own…

Here is a great e-conversation between a scammer and someone who’s wise to the scam…

Jobseekers beware!

A fake job advert, an advance wages cheque sent to you in the post, but what’s this, they’ve paid too much and ask for you to pay the excess back into their bank via Western Union.

Suddenly you’ve paid out and they’ve cancelled their initial payment. You’re out of pocket and that job doesn’t even exist. Our advice? Don’t pay out money to ‘employers/recruitment agents’ on Gumtree or similar sites.

Background Checks

This could be for a babysitting job or renting a house and usually sounds reasonable.

DON’T send any personal information to these people, or money to cover these checks. No real job offer would require any of this to happen online with no personal meetings.

Free stuff!

No really, it’s free. Yeah right. The daughter of a recently evicted tenant decided to exact comeuppance on the landlord by posting his details online and inviting his house to be stripped bare as it was ‘up for sale’.

“Free stuff” could be offloading of stolen goods, so best to check things out. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

Aw, it’s so fluffy!

No this isn’t just an excuse to post a picture of a really cute dog. There are unscrupulous people in the world who will take in a rescue dog one day only to post it on Gumtree the next asking for a ‘rehoming’ fee.

The RSPCA, Battersea Dog’s Home or your local rescue centre are far better places to seek your furry companion.

The Real Horror Story

Now this really is an extreme case, of course, but we wouldn’t be doing our civic duty if we didn’t tell you that this can and does happen.

A man in London went to meet the poster of a perfectly legitimate looking car ad, with a large bag of money. He was met by two very unsavoury characters who robbed and stabbed him.

We can’t say this enough – don’t go to a meeting alone with a large amount of cash. Read more about it here.

Beautiful Lady Wants to be Your Girlfriend!

… it’s just that she’s going through a slight cash flow problem at the moment and can’t meet you until you send her some money.

It sounds like the sort of thing no-one would fall for, but many an otherwise-rational man has fallen for the charms of an online beauty.

Now, Gumtree officially closed its ‘dating and encounters’ free ads section a while back, but they’re still lurking on other sections and other websites, like Craigslist.

Just remember … real ladies don’t ask for money.

Gumtree’s advice on using their site safely can be found here.

The on-going global financial crisis coupled with recent military conflicts and increasing number of extreme weather events appear to have triggered a general fear in society, both conscious and subconscious, that the human race could be facing ‘end times’.

This is reflected in a huge surge in the number of books, films, magazine articles, TV programmes and other media focusing on disasters, wars, viral epidemics, death cults and global social and economic collapse.

Zombie-proofing your home

Whatever the reasons behind this morbid fascination, it’s also being reflected in the number of homes people are building, adapting and buying which have special features to protect their inhabitants.

Here are 15 such homes (some perhaps more realistic than others!) but all which never the less show just how intent humans are on protecting themselves against threats, both real and imagined.

Which you would feel most secure in?

1. Home’s a concrete box, sometimes

Image courtesy of www.home-designing.com

Architects KWK Promes in Poland, experts in creating secure residential homes, have designed this modern monster, offering 6,100 square feet of incredibly secure living space. It’s located on the outskirts of Warsaw, Poland.

The house can be closed off and turned into an impenetrable concrete cube at the touch of a button.

Concrete and steel reinforced shutters slide shut on each window with no jutting edges and a huge steel barrier drops down the front of the house.

2. You’re safe above water

Image courtesy of www.myzombiegear.com

These rusting hulks are reportedly being converted into safe houses with boat-only access. That should stop the zombies climbing up.

3. Spitbank Fort

Image courtesy of Flickr

This fantastic private home in Portsmouth Harbour sold for £1million in 2009. Being out in quite deep waters, its shape and the difficulties intruders would have actually clambering up onto the structure, makes it incredibly secure.

Sir Francis Drake would have been proud.

4. The White House

Image courtesy of www.waymarking.com

The American President’s residence in Washington DC is one of the most highly protected buildings in the world, with missile systems on the roof and incredibly complex security systems and round the clock military and secret service protection.

5. Number 10 Downing Street

Image courtesy of www.Yourrightmove.co.uk

Even up until the 1980s people could stroll past the very front of the UK Prime Minister’s house. Then, due to the threat from the IRA, gates were placed at either end of the street.

No. 10 is now extremely secure, and there are tunnels underneath through which ministers can escape if necessary.

6. US Embassy in Baghdad

Image courtesy of www.dipity.com

Built on the site of Saddam Hussein’s old palace, the US embassy in the Iraq capital is ringed with roads with concrete defences to prevent suicide bomb attacks.

Huge walls circle the giant building and protect staff and soldiers, along with sophisticated surveillance systems, tanks, missile systems, armed soldiers and police; you name, it’s protecting it.

7. Mobile safe house

Image courtesy of www.inventorspot.com

Ok, so this is the only entry that isn’t real. But it’s a great idea, and as it’s on an inventor’s list of ‘things to do’, it might one day.

The idea here is that the post-apocalypse family will have to be mobile. The giant vehicle is bomb and shock proof, has a gardening area capable of growing food, an air and water filtration system and extendable ‘wings’ which would help capture moisture to provide drinking water.

8. ‘Apocalypse’ house in the Adirondack State Park, Upper State New York

This amazing, apocalypse-proof home was recently for sale at $1.75million.

Upstairs is 2,000 square feet of living space, but enter the ‘basement’ through the huge, impenetrable steel blast-proof doors and there’s a further 2,300 square feet below ground, including a huge underground storage tower for foodstuffs and bottled water.

9. Pump station safe house, Jefferson, Louisiana

Image courtesy of www.gibbsconstruction.com

This project was commissioned by the local council to help protect local citizens in case of environmental disaster. The drill shafts contain self-supporting living units to house humans.

The converted pump house itself can withstand winds of up to 250 miles an hour (Louisiana suffers from huge tornadoes).

10. Hever Castle, Kent

Image courtesy of www.destination360.com

It’s said an Englishman’s home is his castle. This is literally the case when it comes to the private residence of Hever Castle in Kent.

Built to withstand all types of invaders, the huge stone walls and, in particular, moat with drawbridge, keeps the owners extremely safe.

11. Head for the trees!

Image courtesy of www.blueforest.com

Height, combined with difficult access, automatically gives protection and advantage over invaders.

These brand new, state of the art tree houses are built to order and can include fingerprint recognition technology and bespoke video security. Built by luxury tree house designers Blue Forest, a number were recently on sale from £250,000.

12. Build your own safe room

Image courtesy of www.al.com

Safe rooms are all the rage among the rich and famous, but you could build your own reasonably cheaply, creating a secure space in the home to lock yourself into if you feel the need.

In the United States, FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, even provides guidance on how to do it yourself. Take a look here.

13. Move to Switzerland

Image courtesy of www.switzerland-trips.com

The Swiss seem obsessed with creating a nation filled with incredibly secure homes. Government rules state that every new home built must have a nuclear bunker where the owners can live in times of crisis.

It’s estimated the country now has over 270,000 such bunkers, which can accommodate the entire population of 7.8million if necessary.

14. Safest mobile ‘home’ in the world

Image courtesy of www.worldrec.info

A fair few people have to live in a car at some stage in their lives (they might lose their job and house, for example). So if you’re going to do so, why not do it in the safest car in the world?

Specifically made to protect the President of the USA, Cadillac One as it’s known, has 8 inch thick explosive-proof doors made of military grade armour plating, it’s own oxygen supply, tear gas, shotguns hidden away, and bullet proof glass.

15. Cave house in Arizona

Image courtesy of www.inhabitat.com

Plenty of survivalist nut jobs and apocalypse believers head to Arizona to live as you can get away from people; there’s simply not much around apart from nature.

This house was built into a cave in Arizona, caves being one of the safest environments for mankind since we began to walk hundreds of thousands of years ago.

It looks like a simple, small cabin from the outside, but is in fact a huge cavern going straight into a mountain. The home is 3,000 square feet in total and the entrance could be easily blocked off or protected against most potential threats if necessary.

We thought we’d put together some of the ugliest rooms we could find from homes around the world. Some of these rooms are so ugly they might actually be classed as trendy by some, but we’ll reserve judgement on that one!

Do you actually like any of them? Share your thoughts in the comments below. This is just based on our opinion, so if you own any of these rooms we’re very sorry!

Flower power

Could anyone really like this room? OK so it might be outdated now but I struggle to imagine that it was ever tasteful.

http://fabfeb.com/en/index.php

It was all yellow…and orange

Too orange, yellow, cluttered, too much…. You might need sunglasses to sit in this room.

http://www.semissourian.com/story/1538249.html

Fancy a headache?

This one could be classed as retro I guess but it’s pretty horrible. Would you really want to sit in a room like that? I think it would give me a migraine!

http://designblocks.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/retro-fun/

You’d need to absolutely love tartan

I can’t help thinking the wall paper on this one is one of those magic eye games where there’s is an image hidden in it. Tartan overkill I think.

http://designblocks.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/retro-fun/

Just dreary

I do feel a bit bad classing this as one of the ugliest rooms in the world. I can imagine there are lots like this but the carpet, the wallpaper and the sofa are just wrong in my opinion.

Again though this is just out dated and could have been classed as stylish in it’s time. I think…..

http://uglyhousephotos.com/wordpress/?cat=112

Too much

Where to start with this one? It’s just too much, although to be fair they did make an effort, maybe too much effort.

http://uglyhousephotos.com/wordpress/?cat=87

Barking up the wrong tree

Check out the picture of the dog in the suit. That’s the best thing about the room.

http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?/weblog/posts/ugliest_room_in_the_world/

Loving the curtains

I don’t think bright red and white work well together in this context!

http://uglyhousephotos.com/wordpress/?p=13426

Green everywhere

Too many lime green tiles, it looks quite depressing actually.

http://www.sheknows.com/holidays-and-seasons/home-decor-interior-design-photos-gallery/ugliest-bathroom-is-it-time-for-a-makeover/over-the-top-theme

Too much clutter

There’s just nothing nice about this room. It seems like the owner has tried to mix about 20 different styles of furniture into one room. Definitely doesn’t work.

http://www.sheknows.com/holidays-and-seasons/home-decor-interior-design-photos-gallery/ugliest-bathroom-is-it-time-for-a-makeover/over-the-top-theme

Here are ten tips for how to make it the envy of your neighbours without spending a great deal.

1. Books, info and gardening gear

There’s no need to go out and spend tens of pounds on fancy gardening manuals and hundreds on equipment.

There’s lots of free information out there on the web. The BBC has a great gardening sectionas does the Royal Horticultural Society, YouTube has plenty of ‘How to…’ videos, or simply visit your local library!

You can beg and borrow tools off neighbours and friends, or get down to your nearest car boot sale where you’ll find bargains galore or check out Freecycle.

2. Quick win – remove everything ‘brown’!

Dead leaves from the winter, muddy and moss covered paths, dead plants and wildly out of control shrubs and trees all make a garden look untidy and ugly.

Once you’ve put some elbow grease into scrubbing paving stones and trimming, weeding, raking and brushing, you’ll be amazed at how much better your garden looks.

3. Artificial grass to cover ugly concreting and paving

Many gardens these days are simply large expanses of concrete or ugly paving stones, and you might think there’s not much you can do without expensively digging it up.

However, modern artificial grass has undergone a revolution over the last decade. It now looks (and often feels) great and can instantly transform a garden.

Have a look at what can be achieved at relatively low cost at Evergreens UK and the Artificial Lawn Company, both leading experts.

4. Grow your own

You don’t need to buy expensive seedlings and part-grown (or fully-grown even!) plants at your nearest garden centre. Growing from seeds is much, much cheaper.

With packs from as little as 30p, you can have arrays of everything from flowers to herbs, vegetables and shrubs with a little watering. You’ll find cheap seeds for sale on eBay, at your supermarket and DIY store.

5. Poor fencing and walls

Correcting broken fences and walls can be costly, and while a lick of paint or creosote can help, if they’re really damaged, it’s always going to look ugly.

However, for the price of a few bamboo canes, some twine and seeds, you can cover them up with glorious geometric shapes and colour.

Simply place the canes firmly in soil next to the offending areas (vertically or in traditional ‘wigwam’ shapes is popular), plant the seeds at the base, following instructions on the packets, and as the plants grow up the canes, secure the stems with the twine.

Come the late spring and summer months you’ll have glorious arrays of flowers such as sweat-pea and vegetables which could include tomatoes and beans covering the offending areas.

6. Evergreen shrubs

Shaped, potted shrubs might come in at the top end of your budget, but they’re well worth it for instantly adding a touch of class to a tidied up garden.

See examples at Shrubs Direct. They start at around £22, but could be worth spending a chunk of your budget on.

7. Lighting

Well placed lighting and mirrors can do wonders for creating a sense of space and wonder in a garden.

Lighting, such as fairy lights, wrapped around a tree or artfully placed lanterns don’t cost much and can look very pretty on a grey day or in a shady corner.

8. DIY compost

One of the biggest garden expenses is the amount of compost needed to keep the soil healthy and fertile on a yearly basis.

If you have the patience, make sure you keep all the garden waste you can in a composter of some sort, and include some household food waste too. A superb ‘How to…’ guide can be found at Recyclenow.

9. Garden furniture

Attractive outdoor tables, chairs and umbrellas can look great and, if you intend to ‘live’ more outside (now your garden’s so attractive!), are important additions. They don’t have to cost the earth from a garden centre, or B&Q and Wickes etc.

Freecycle UK has people giving the stuff away. Also check out gumtree.com and eBay for bargains. Or in fact nicely varnished logs for seating and an upturned chest can look great too!

10. Cutting future costs

Keep seedling cuttings for future planting; take seeds from existing plants and dry and keep them in a safe place, and save on new bulb costs by cutting off existing bulb seed heads and feeding and watering them.

Useful links and information sources:

BBC Gardening
The RHS
Freecycle UK
Artificial Lawn
Recycle Now
Ebay

There are a large number of ways to light a living room; here are a few tips for how to get the best results:

Shielded lights

These cast light back onto the wall with a resulting ‘splash’ effect. It can give something of a relaxed, sundown feel.

Floor lighting

Generally always combined with some down lighting, and placed in hard floors, recessed floor lights can create mixed moods, with an unusual touch.

Light directly projected onto and down walls

This creates a feeling of being surrounded by light; with the central areas of the room remaining shaded – a calming effect – and can make walls seem more expansive than they are.

Remember any light projected onto walls will reflect the colour of the wall (so if your walls are painted a shade of green, the room will then have a green tinge!).

Light directly projected up walls

The results can be even more spectacular than lighting ‘up’ walls. Shadows are created which ‘stretch’ the room’s sides, increasing the feeling of size. It can give a warm feeling, but perhaps is not an effect for everyone as it could be perceived as a little spooky!

High mounted lighting

This projects light onto a ceiling from high up the edges of walls, either from recessed spots or mounted fittings. It can create a wonderful, uplifting, and ‘sky’ effect.

Chandeliers

A good-looking chandelier can finish a room off and be a striking piece of ‘furniture’ in its own right.

Be careful with brightness however, as often the bulbs are more exposed than with more ordinary fixtures, so a dimmer switch is vital.

Lamps – floor standing and coffee table

With a lamp the emphasis can be on the shade and lamp design (floor standing lamps are great for the art-deco look), or its lighting effect, or both.

They’re versatile as they can obviously be moved around and changed with the room. They bring light to corners and are good for reading. Consider whether you prefer switches just under the bulb, or those on the electric cord, or a slide dimmer perhaps.

Ceiling rose

If your ceiling has a ceiling rose, but no light fitting in it, the space can look unbalanced and strange. Dress the rose with an interesting shade or chandelier.

Ceiling roses are ideal for making a really spectacular lighting statement in.

Electric/gas fires

People forget fires can be great for casting light.

A Victorian or Edwardian mantle surround, with gold or silver and black castings, perhaps with coloured tiles, will reflect the light from the ‘fire’ and glint, creating a warm, cosy, romanticised atmosphere.

Picture lights

Picture lights are generally used to illuminate photographs, antiques, small collections, books etc. They create striking points within a room, but be careful they don’t dominate.

Up is better than down, as these lights tend to be bright and you don’t want overspill into the natural line of vision.

A word on dimmer switches

It’s simple; whatever you do, fit as many as possible! This is especially true for wall mounted lighting.

Useful links and information

A really good video guide on YouTube

In-depth lighting guide from everyone’s favourite, John Lewis.

Beautiful living room lighting – pictures to give you ideas

More good ideas in pictures

Forewarned is forearmed

But while actually wandering around somewhere can tell you a great deal about the ‘feel’ of an area – the type of people that live there, housing stock and amenities – it won’t give you the full picture.

Fortunately, a lot of the extra information you need, from the quality of local schools to crime statistics and building developments, is now available online.

Here are a number of online sites and phone apps to help you:

House prices (current and historical)

The UK’s most visited property site, Rightmove, has a great iphone app and one for Android which lets you check out what’s for sale by map on your phone, and what properties sold for on any street too.

Crime stats

The safety of an area is certainly a high priority for most movers.

The recently upgraded national police force site is now so sophisticated you can find out how many crimes have occurred on a given street and of what nature.

Air pollution

Quality of life is closely associated with quality of environment for many people, and this Government site lets you check how polluted many areas are – perhaps especially important to those with children, or those thinking of having them.

Noise pollution

Of course, an area might have great air quality, but if you can’t sleep at night, it’s not much of a consolation.

With potential neighbours it’s mainly a case of knocking on doors and saying hello to find out what they’re like, but traffic and other noise can be extremely irritating.

This DEFRA site has a noise pollution map so you can enter a postcode and see how close a home might be to noise hotspots in major urban areas.

Neighbourhood stats (general)

This government site is quite basic, but once you put in a postcode, it gives you an in-depth summary list of reports concerning everything from crime to pollution, health and wellbeing.

Very much a site for the stats nerd who really wants to drill down!

Flooding

More and more areas in the UK are becoming prone to flooding as climate change creates more frequent extreme weather events.

Whether you’re buying or renting a home, it’s useful to know if you should be prepared (especially if you can’t swim perhaps). Use this site to see how prone your area is to flooding.

Building development

You wouldn’t want to buy a home only to find a few months later that they’re building a burger bar next door, or flattening the houses opposite to erect a multi-storey car park, would you?

If you’re smart, you’d most definitely try to find out if anything is planned that you won’t like. This Government planning site ensures you can.

Schools

The quality of local schooling is vital for many families, and checking it out before moving to an area could save your children from a nightmare start in life.

OFSTED, the Government body which grades UK schools, allows you to sort the good from the bad and compare school performance.

Restaurants and bars

On a lighter note – but equally important to some – the quality, type and number of local bars, restaurants and pubs can be an influencing factor. This app from Squaremeal.co.uk helps you check the quality of those places.

A vibrant local eating and drinking scene can be a sign of an area that’s relaxed and content with itself, or possibly a noise and anti-social behaviour threat, depending on your perspective!

Squaremeal.co.uk is one of the UK’s most popular and useful sites for checking out the bar and restaurant scene, reading reviews and finding deals.

After 24th March 2012 Stamp Duty will revert back to 1% of the property purchase price for properties between £125,000 and £250,000. Above £250,000 it jumps to 3% and below £125,000 there is no Stamp Duty.

Large savings can be made

So for someone buying a property that is worth £250,000, that is £2500 that would be added to the cost of buying the property, along with all the other fees that first time buyers pay (see our infographic for a detailed run through of the costs of buying your first home).

It was predicted that as the end of the Stamp Duty holiday loomed, there would be a rush of first time buyers on to the market. This has proved to be the case with more market activity at this time of the year than there usually is.

Don’t rush in to buying

Of course making a good saving on the tax on a property is a good thing for any first time buyer, but buyers need to be careful not to rush in to buying a property just so they can beat the stamp duty holiday.

That is where mistakes can be made. By being in a rush to get in there quick, buyers might miss out on crucial details to do with the lease, or the border of the property, the area where they are buying, or any number of things.

Of course some of these things will be highlighted by the buyers Solicitor, but by getting to that stage they will already owe Solicitors fees, so that will be an extra cost anyway.

It’s amazing how little time we spend making a decision about the biggest purchase of our lives. A look around the property with an estate agent once or twice, before committing hundreds of thousands of pounds is the norm for most people in the UK. So don’t make that process even riskier by rushing to avoid stamp duty.

It’s likely that over time, the value of your first property investment will become worth significantly more than you paid for it and the stamp duty you originally put down will be covered.

From the iconic images of Steve McQueen racing a Mustang GT 390 around San Francisco in Bullitt, to the Blues Brothers’ Bluesmobile, film history is full of great cars, car chases, and car wrecks.

The story lines might be fantasy but the cars, and costs, are real. When you watch Bond’s top-of-the-range Aston Martin explode, or Thelma and Louise drive their highly collectible 1966 Thunderbird off a cliff, somebody has to pay.

Pity the poor insurers!

Here are the films involving the most famous car damage in movie history, with the types of vehicles involved and the value of insurance claims arising from what happened on set.

Many were made some years ago, so we’ve updated the figures to show what the cost to an insurer would be if the films were re-made today. The films are listed in order of claim value:

1. Ferris Beuller’s Day Off (1986)

http://the-grayline.com/2010/03/30/ferrari-250-gt-from-ferris-buellers-day-off-for-sale/

• Car: 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spider
• Claim value in today’s terms: Up to $11million (£7.5million)

Ferris convinces Cameron to borrow his father’s 1961 Ferrari GT California Spider for the day, and at the end of the film it gets written off.

The car was too rare and costly to destroy (there were only 100 ever made), so a reproduction model took the hit. Nevertheless, the real version was insured while on set for its full value.

At the time the film was made, the car was worth around $350,000 (£225,000), but subsequently became even more collectible. At auction in 2008 one sold for $11million (£7.5million), and is one of the top ten most expensive cars ever bought.

2. Fast and Furious (2001)

http://www.seriouswheels.com/

• Cars: 1970 Dodge Charger plus an estimated 200 other cars wrecked
• Claim value in today’s terms: $4.8million (£3.2million)

This Vin Diesel ‘classic’ was never going to be kind to cars when it involved cops infiltrating the underworld subculture of Los Angeles street racers.

The red hot 1970 Dodge Charger that Diesel drove in the movie was just one of 200 cars that were destroyed during filming.

We’ve taken an average cost of an American car, $24,000 (source: Autoblog.com) and simply multiplied by 200 to reach our insurance claim figure. In reality the cost was no doubt much higher.

3. Christine (1983)

Warner-Columbia Film

• Cars: 24 1958 Plymouth Furies
• Claim value in today’s terms: $1.5million (£1million)

Christine was a car that disliked the people that clambered into her so much that she killed them. And no matter how much damage she underwent in the process, always looked brand spanking new in the morning.

24 Furies were reportedly destroyed during filming, which in today’s terms equates to an insurance claim of £1million (they now cost around £35,000 each).

The success of the film created a great demand for the car and today they’re a collector’s item.

4. Casino Royale (2006 remake)

http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/Video/Search-Results/Video/cars-in-movies/Aston-Martin-DBS—Casino-Royale/

• Car: Aston Martin DBS V12
• Claim value in today’s terms: $900,000 (£600,000)

Such is the cache of product placement in the Bond films that the 3 Aston Martin DBS V12’s which were destroyed during the filming of this remake of the 1967 original were reportedly donated by Aston Martin itself.

They probably didn’t even bother to insure them (they probably couldn’t have anyway, knowing what was going to happen to them).

5. The Italian Job (1969 original)

http://www.wheels-near-u.co.uk/gallery2/v/movie-motors/italian_job69_minis.jpg.html

• Cars (and a bus): 3 sports Mini Coopers, 2 E-type series Jaguars and a bus
• Claim value in today’s terms: £170,000

Lead character Charlie takes on the Mafia in Italy to steal its gold using 3 mini coopers, 2 E-type Jaguars and a bus. Pretty much all of them are destroyed.

Today a sporty version of the Mini Cooper would set you back £20,000. An original in 1961 cost £2,097 (source: The Independent), now £40,000 when adjusted for inflation. And a bus? About £30,000.

6. Blues brothers (1980)

http://chillopedia.com/interesting/top-6-outrageous-hollywood-car-crashes/

• Cars: 1974 Dodge Monaco Sedan plus an estimated 70 old police cars
• Claim value in today’s terms: $196,000 (£131,000)

The famous ‘Bluesmobile’ was a 1974 Dodge Monaco Sedan, mocked up to look like an Illinois State police car. Dan Akroyd famously said they’d paid the Chicago police department $700 per car, which equates to $2,800 (£1860) in today’s money.

7. Gone in 60 Seconds (2000 re-make)

http://humordistrict.com/tag/gone-in-60-seconds/

• Car: 1967 Shelby Mustang GT500
• Claim value in today’s terms: $151,000 (£100,000)

According to many film fans, the re-make of the original 1974 film isn’t as good, but it did use a much more valuable car in the ‘lead’ role.

Of the 50 cars Nicolas Cage had to steal in the film, this was by far the most valuable (even if only replicas were destroyed on set, Cage drives an original for many scenes and this would have had to be insured for its full value).

8. Bullitt (1968)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullitt

• Car: 1968 Highland Green 390 G.T. V8 Ford Mustang
• Claim value in today’s terms: $32,000 (£22,000)

Two modified versions of the Mustangs were used in San Francisco during the chase scenes in this Steve McQueen classic. Only one was reportedly written off.

Auction site Conceptcarz.com shows that if the film were made today, and the makers bought the best model sold last year, they’d have had to insure it for $250,000 (£170,000).

9. The French Connection (1971)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/mar/14/greatest-movie-scenes-psycho

• Car: 1971 Pontiac LeMans
• Claim value in today’s terms: $31,000 (£20,500)

The famous chase scene was filmed without permission in the busy streets of New York, and you felt like you were actually in the car with detective Popeye Doyle.

Conceptcarz.com quotes the average sale price last year for a ’71 Pontiac LeMans as $31,000 (£20,500). The car wasn’t written off in the film, but if it had been damaged (and it’s amazing it wasn’t), the claim would be for the full amount.

10. Thelma and Louise (1991)

http://fossilcars.com/blog/collectible-cars/10-of-the-most-famous-cars-in-movies/

• Car: 1966 Thunderbird
• Claim value in today’s terms: $28,000 (£19,000)

According to film industry bible, IMDB.com, one of the three 1966 Thunderbirds used for filming road scenes was destroyed as it famously plunges over the edge of the Grand Canyon.

The best models now sell for upwards of $90,000 (£60,000).