Robert Liebman Journalism |
"The Full Vermonty" |
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Spring Grove, West London |
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(photo Jack Affleck)
(photo: Robert Liebman) | Robert wrote nearly 400 weekly columns for The Independent, starting in 1998 with his "Hot Spot" column, which identified locations likely to outperform the average in a rising property market. This column ran until January 2005, when the market cooled and the new harsher economic realities heralded a shift to a new column, "More For Your Money." It ran until 2007. Robert also writes feature articles for The Independent, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Observer, Financial Times, Sunday Times and other newspapers, magazines and websites, such as www.propertysecrets.net and whathouse.co.uk. These links point to some recent - and a few pre-internet - articles: Should You Buy a US Home?, Daily Mail, 8 June 2007 Hidden Florida: The Indian River, Daily Mail, 9 March 2007 Happiness in the Florida Keys, Daily Telegraph, 27 January 2007 Seriously Outdoors: Skiing in Beaver Creek, Colorado, Daily Telegraph, 27 January 2007
Tofino: British Columbia's Property Hot Spot, The Independent, 22 November 2006 Skiing USA (Killington, Vermont), The Independent, 1 November 2006 U.S.A.: Living a High Life (Stowe, Vermont), Daily Telegraph, 21 October 2006 "Where Life's One Long Beach After Another" (Vero Beach and the Indian River, Florida), Daily Telegraph, 9 September 2006. "Blowin' in the Wind: The American Naples" (Florida's Gulf Coast), The Independent, 23 August 2006. "Three Bites of the Apple" (three New York City neighbourhoods), Daily Telegraph, 13 June 2006. "Trial or Error" (rent before you buy), Sunday Telegraph, 11 July 2001. "Survey the Scene for a Good Surveyor," The Observer, 9 April 2000. "The nasty snags that are swept under the carpet," Financial Times, 6-7 September 1997. |
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Radio PodcastsThe Buy Association provides impartial advice and information on property and other consumer sectors. Robert was a panellist on several Buy Association radio programmes and podcasts.
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Television: Ask the Property Experts |
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Some "More for Your Money" columns in the Independent
* Spring Grove, West London * Cuckoo Estate, Hanwell Community Centre, Cuckoo Estate, Hanwell Photos: Robert Liebman |
Monmouth, Wales - 14 March 2007 Saltash, Cornwall - 10 January 2007 Olney, Bucks - 1 November 2006 Ham, Surrey - 25 October 2006 St Albans, Herts - 11 October 2006 Penge, SE20 - 13 September 2006 Cockfosters, EN4 - 6 September 2006 Gospel Oak, NW3 - 23 August 2006 Rectory Field, SE3 - 2 August 2006 Inwood Park, Hounslow, TW3 - 7 June 2006 Wanstead, E11 - 31 May 2005 Streatham, SW2 - 22 April 2006 Noel Park and the Scotch Estate, N22 - 8 March 2006 Merton Park, SW19 - 1 March 2006
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Some "Hot Spot" columns in the IndependentRobert wrote more than 315 weekly 'Hot Spot' columns beginning in 1998. When the UK property market finally cooled, he started (January 2005) writing 'More for Your Money,' identifying areas with attractive and affordable properties. |
Highbury, North London - 26 January 2005 St Austell, Cornwall - 17 February 2004 Darlington - 16 July 2003 Paris, France - 18 January 2002 |
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The rustic rock'n'rollerOzzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath"When an audience member tossed a bat on stage at one performance, Ozzy promptly bit its head off. He dished out similar treatment to a dove." He had to live somewhere! Was it a cave, a dungeon or other dismal abode suitable for bat eaters? In fact, early in his career Ozzy lived in a normal country house. "When Ozzy lived here his first wife hid his clothes so he couldn't go to the pub. So he wore her dress instead." Ozzy Osbourne's Country House, Mail on Sunday, Complete article |
(The next best thing to) Manhattan
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The rustic novelist
Mail on Sunday, Complete article |
The Underground Rabbi"With the help of an architect and a sympathetic gas supplier, they dug up the entire garden and built Undermill, a three-bedroom, three-bathroom house featuring lavatories that flush using rainwater, pumps that remove ground water and the Blacks’ personal petrol station. As owners of an experimental car powered by natural gas, they filled up from a hose near the front door."
The Black family—a rabbi, his wife and their two children—lived in a below-ground home in a London suburb before moving into an above-ground house in the land down under. "Dig Deep to Enjoy Living in the London Underground," Mail on Sunday. |
Homage to the Twin Towers
"The latest arrivals are members of café latte society, and the bodegas and empty lots now have chic restaurants and boutiques for neighbours. Not long ago many buildings in Alphabet Soup were torched by junkies eager to snatch abandoned plumbing fixtures, or by landlords seeking an insurance payout. Today, six-figure sums are changing hands for flats in buildings that were worthless a few years ago." Financial Times, Complete article |
Sporting Estate anyone? I'll take one, said Mrs Guy Ritchie, aka Madonna
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Buy a house...enter the traumatic world of property conveyancing...and use that trauma to become a property specialist. In late 1992, Robert Liebman was in hot pursuit of a house and a mortgage. Apparently stunned by the appearance of an actual customer, several building societies couldn't, or wouldn't, arrange a loan. During the housebuying process, Robert's surveyor agreed that he could be present during the inspection but, in the event, it occurred behind his back. Then Robert's solicitor took a holiday at a critical stage, and the fill-in solicitor made a basic mathematical error that almost upset the completion. Despite these professionals, the house did change owners on schedule, and because of them, Robert started writing about property. He began with his diary of the rollercoaster ride of his house purchase, which was published in four parts by What Mortgage magazine and, in adapted form, is reproduced in www.propertywithoutpain.com |
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Best-selling author of The Other Boleyn Girl, Queen's Fool, Virgin Lover and Constant Princess, Philippa Gregory opted for the countryside and put her Hartlepool mansion on the market. 
