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Written by rosalind renshaw

It’s little more than a cross between a very dull sand dune and an old people’s care village.

Not a lot happens in this suburb, most of the houses look exactly the same (they’re pretending to be ships) and the plots are tiny. The views are so-so, providing you can actually see anything through the driving rain. The beach is a let-down.

The neighbours include ’Arry Redknapp, which is a double-edged sword – he’s brought the average age of the residents down by several years, but there again, football isn’t exactly exclusive like, for example, polo.

Nevertheless, that doesn’t stop Sandbanks being one of the world’s most expensive places to live and, we presume, making Taylor Made Estate Agents one of the most successful property firms on the planet.

Hence, one of their latest instructions (we thought this would cheer you up) is for a house on the seafront. Okay, it has a sauna, media room, indoor swimming pool and library. Or at least it will have, as it’s not due to be finished until next April. There’s also a triple garage and a double carport.

But the garden is minuscule (indeed, it’s not even described as a ‘garden’ in the particulars’ but as 2,800 sq ft of living space), even by Sandbanks’ standards, and there are only five bedrooms, which aren’t even all ensuite.

And the cost? A cool £8m.

Grahame Pettit, managing director of builders Amiri Construction, says his firm is building for “high net worth individuals who demand excellence in the build quality”.

Roughly translated, we think this means: “Rich old geezers with vastly more money than taste, and absolutely no hobbies.”

www.124panorama.co.uk

Comments

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    What happens if there is a storm surge? Do they have to pump the water out of their underground garages?

    • 21 July 2011 10:30 AM
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    Dont they know that there is a resesion on and prices are going to crash through the floor and nobody can get a mortgage and interest rates will be 15% by the end of the year and double dip and crash and crunch and and and.....

    Ill offer 'em £250,000 cash cos no ones going to buy above the 3% stamp duty.

    Tell em its cash and they wont find another buyer like me.

    • 20 July 2011 15:49 PM
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    Anonymous Coward, you must work in Huddersfield

    • 20 July 2011 14:36 PM
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    I wish I had a secretary :-(

    • 20 July 2011 14:02 PM
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    @wardy

    Shhh - don't give the game away.

    There is an agent in my town that starts EVERY property description with "XXX agents are pleased to bring this house to the market".

    There is another that starts EVERY description with "A chance to acquire".

    You would think they would get bored of writing it, or that their secretary would go crazy ape bonkers and assasinate them for making them type the same mindless drivel on every set of details.

    But it does me no harm at all - carry on chaps!

    PS: apologies to any secretaries that might be offended by my comments - we love you

    • 20 July 2011 13:25 PM
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    I had another look.

    'Modernist architecture inspired by the
    nautical designs of the transatlantic
    liners of the 1920s and 1930s.'

    Now thats how you write a lead paragraph. These people are my hero's. Sounds better than 'we are pleased to offer'

    • 20 July 2011 11:12 AM
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    Incredulous! Not the value of the house...but the ill-informed comments about Sandbanks.

    It's a bit like saying that you don't understand why people want to live in Mayfair or on the Champs Elysee or in Manhatten etc. etc...

    • 20 July 2011 10:48 AM
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    I can only assume that whoever wrote this article has either never been to Sandbanks or lives in the Maldives!
    We have worked for many clients looking for beach front properties and, unless you are prepared to drive to Devon, the "let down beaches" of Sandbanks and neighbouring Studland are, undoubtedly, the best on the south coast.

    As for view of Poole Harbour, with the sun setting over Brownsea Island and the Purbeck hills - I can think of many adjectives, including magical and stunning, but never "so-so".

    The asking prices do seem excessive, and every location has its negatives, but when it comes to ticking the most boxes on a waterside buyer's wish list, nowhere else in the UK comes close.

    • 20 July 2011 10:32 AM
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    Go for it Wardy - it's a buyers' market ; )

    • 20 July 2011 10:14 AM
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    Stunning, Thats a bit of me that is. Only £7,999,990 away. Will they take an offer?

    • 20 July 2011 09:39 AM
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    Now come on, be honest - you never really expected this particular readership to appreciate an article like that, did you. I mean, wot's wrong wiv loadsawonga and no taste? You an elitest or sumfink?

    • 20 July 2011 09:38 AM
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    Extremely biased article. I'm surprised that EAT would publish it.

    • 20 July 2011 09:01 AM
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    It looks gorgeous and the location... Wow!

    8 million squiddlies though?

    I would love to, I really would, but to justify it I would have to be earning a lot more than I do at the moment (sobs into rice crispies).

    And, if the global warming mob are right, give it 20 years and that pool will be fresh seawater!

    • 20 July 2011 08:57 AM
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    I'd imagine whoever wrote this article has never been to Sandbanks and the surrounding area. How he/she can say the views are so-so and the beach is a let-down is beyond me - both are great. I've spent many days / weekends in the area since my childhood (and that is many years!) and have very fond memories, past and recent. The fact that it is allegedly the fourth most expensive place to live on the planet is surely an endorsement as to its attraction. Location, location, location!

    • 20 July 2011 08:52 AM
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    This article is not accurate

    The best place to live in England is Barnsley

    You could get that house for £45,000 a baaaarggiinn

    • 20 July 2011 08:47 AM
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    Bitter the only word that comes across!

    What a bad piece of writting, probably written from your dingy studio apartment.

    Why knock others success, if you were retired and money was no object you too would probably look at buying in Sandbanks.

    • 20 July 2011 08:28 AM
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    I assume this article is either written tongue in cheek or out of jealousy. It certainly isn't written on the basis of any knowledge as to why residents pay so much to live there because that word is totally omitted - the word is "exclusive". I'm not that far from Sandbanks but my life is a million miles from it - but it's a very nice place bellssed with above average weather.

    This summer alone that has to be worth a fortune!!

    No riff raff - who wouldn't pay £8M if they had it to guarantee privacy

    And who, pray, has ever heard of a multi millionaire who wanted to spend their time grovelling about like the rest of us weeding borders and mowing the lawn? These people spend their leaisure time in their hot tub, or home cinema, or on the Cote d'Azur not worrying about how their tomatoes are growing!!!

    • 20 July 2011 08:19 AM
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