First-time buyers urged to claim up to £3,000 of ‘free’ money before deadline
Banks and building societies are reporting a last-minute surge in applications for a government savings scheme offering people up to £3,000 of “free” money.
The help-to-buy Isa, which helps people save towards a deposit on their first home, closes to new savers at midnight on Saturday 30 November.
Continue reading...Through careful planning, a commitment to energy-efficient design and sometimes necessity, these Australians have embraced life off the grid
Kathy Menzel says she used to be completely oblivious to power bills, “just running along in the hamster wheel like everybody else, you know, busy, busy, busy, spend, spend, spend”. She and her husband Bob, both IT professionals, did have an inkling they wanted something different though, yearning for a serene country lifestyle with no neighbours.
When they finally found their dream block in the Adelaide Hills, reality hit home. “We’d been looking for five years for this great piece of land in the middle of nowhere but still easy to commute to the city,” she says. “But it was going to cost $450,000 to get on to the grid.” The cost of connecting was far more than the $238,000 for the 10 acre block, which was only 1.5km from a main road.
Continue reading...Through careful planning, a commitment to energy-efficient design and sometimes necessity, these Australians have embraced life off the grid
Kathy Menzel says she used to be completely oblivious to power bills, “just running along in the hamster wheel like everybody else, you know, busy, busy, busy, spend, spend, spend”. She and her husband Bob, both IT professionals, did have an inkling they wanted something different though, yearning for a serene country lifestyle with no neighbours.
When they finally found their dream block in the Adelaide Hills, reality hit home. “We’d been looking for five years for this great piece of land in the middle of nowhere but still easy to commute to the city,” she says. “But it was going to cost $450,000 to get on to the grid.” The cost of connecting was far more than the $238,000 for the 10 acre block, which was only 1.5km from a main road.
Continue reading...One in three people in Cleveland and surrounds live in a food desert. But the desperation for healthy food has kicked off one of the biggest urban farming movements in the US
Autumn foliage signals the end of the growing season across the rust belt states as farmers wind down for the winter chill.
Yet in Cleveland’s bleak “forgotten triangle”, bountiful crops of rainbow chard, collard greens and plump purple aubergines are blooming at one of the city’s urban farms.
Continue reading...Properties are becoming more affordable but economic uncertainty is still putting buyers off, say experts
House price growth in the UK has picked up despite continued economic and political uncertainty, but remains far below the levels seen before the EU referendum.
The average price of a home rose by 0.5% in November to £215,734, according to Nationwide building society. This is the biggest monthly rise since July 2018, and up from 0.2% in October. The annual growth rate picked up to 0.8% from 0.4%, the highest since April.
Continue reading...One in three people in Cleveland and surrounds live in a food desert. But the desperation for healthy food has kicked off one of the biggest urban farming movements in the US
Autumn foliage signals the end of the growing season across the rust belt states as farmers wind down for the winter chill.
Yet in Cleveland’s bleak “forgotten triangle”, bountiful crops of rainbow chard, collard greens and plump purple aubergines are blooming at one of the city’s urban farms.
Continue reading...