Property porn
I need help. I've got an addiction. It's reading property magazines and newspaper supplements and watching property programmes on television. I'm not looking for a new flat or house to buy so there's really no excuse for this timeconsuming passion. The compulsion started some two years ago when I was looking for a flat to buy. So, like many addictions, mine started through necessity but has grown into something uncontrollable. It took me more than six months to find my flat (on the internet) and in that time I had become an expert on reading floorplans, unravelling estate-agent-speak and knowing the minimum square footage I could live in. I should have stopped reading and watching programmes about property there and then but those six months were long enough to hook me completely and I fear I have been feeding my habit remorselessly ever since.
Because I'm really only interested in London property, the best day of the week is Wednesday, when the Evening Standard's Homes and Property supplement is published. Friday's Times brings Bricks and Mortar, which covers the whole country, so not my read of choice but nonetheless worth a quick flick through. It has a tendency to have features on 'abroad', though and, as my addiction has not yet reached that far, I can just say no and quickly turn the page. The Sunday Times's Home supplement also features foreign properties and — what a waste of space — gardening articles, with the result that the content is somewhat diluted and not completely satisfying; the Sunday Telegraph's Home & Living is pretty thin, too, on actual houses and flats. My appetite for a regular fa, though, is fed on an almost daily basis by the trickle of freesheets and magazines that come through the letterbox: Area, Properly Square, the Hill, Primelocation et al.
My wellbeing would take a dive without a weekly dose of Channel 4's Kirstie and Phil (Location, Location, Location) and thank you, too, More4, for ensuring regular repeat prescriptions of Ms Allsopp and Mr Spencer. I have a great fondness for Kevin McCloud and his Grand Designs (Channel 4) but I fear I am becoming a touch too dependent on Sarah Beeny's Properly Ladder.
At present I can't see any way of conquering my addiction — in fact, I think I can now justify my habit again. My sister has told me she is thinking of moving and I can't not help her, can I?
Liz Anderson
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