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styleandsin · 7 years ago

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ok this is pretty random but do you have any really good fluffy fics you could recommend ?

fluffy fic rec

ever since by letsjustsee (10k)

Louis once again went to leave, but before he could reach the door he heard Barkley jumping off the bed behind him. The giant dog accosted Louis before he could get through, nudging Louis’ legs with all his weight and making him stumble, and Louis had to grab the doorframe to steady himself.

“What the heck, Barkley?” Louis was mostly talking to himself, aware that Barkley couldn’t actually understand him, but he had never witnessed the dog acting so oddly.

He turned around when he heard a quiet murmur coming from the bed.“What?” He hadn’t been able to make out what Harry said, but at Louis’ question he sat up in bed, hair already wild from the pillow, eyes heavy, and Louis’ stomach gave a little flip.

“He wants you to stay.”

Or, a very fluffy AU where Louis finds a lost dog that he wishes he could keep - until he meets his owner, who he wishes he could keep more.

if tomorrow never comes (we had last night) by fallinglikethis & rearviewdreamer (14k)

Louis accepts the call without bothering to look at the caller ID. Only Zayn would be a big enough asshole to call him at two in the morning. This fucking better be important.“This fucking better be important,” Louis greets.

On the other end of the line comes a soft giggle. “Li, you don’t usually curse. I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but I like it.”

Yeah, that’s not Zayn. Louis sighs, his anger melting into resignation when he realizes that it’s some poor bastard probably drunk dialing his ex or something. “Sorry, mate. Think you’ve got the wrong number.”

‘til i tasted you by kiwikero (14k)

Louis is Harry Styles’ biggest fan. It doesn’t matter that Harry is famous for being a food blogger and Louis can’t cook to save his life.

At least, until Harry offers to give Louis a cooking lesson. Then it matters just a teensy bit.

what do you mean he’s coming? by mediawhore (15k)

When Harry accepted to be his sister’s Maid of Honour, despite how non-traditional of a choice he was, he didn’t think writing a speech for the wedding reception would be this hard. Now, not only does he have less than two weeks left to find something moving and inspirational to say, but Gemma just confided in him that her old childhood best friend is going to be in attendance. The one who moved to LA and they haven’t seen in fifteen years because he was too busy becoming an Academy Awards winner. But hey, no pressure. It’s just Louis Fucking Tomlinson.

Harry is screwed.

the edge of the stars by casuallyhl (16k)

Louis laughed. “You think you can convince some random guy to want to go out with me?”

“Oh baby,” Jay chuckled. “I can convince all of the UK to want to go out with you.”

Or, a Meet the Parents AU where Harry is the man of Louis’ dreams, and it’s up to Jay to convince him to date her son.

outside is just a blur by daggerandtherose (18k)

Louis’ son might just be a technology genius as he has quite a knack for calling strangers up on Louis’ phone. Repeatedly.

i don’t want you to leave, will you hold my hand? by kikikryslee (19k)

“I’m so close to making heads roll it’s ridiculous,“ Louis snarled.

He took a few calming breaths before looking at the terrified-looking employee at the counter.

“Welcome to Pinkberry,” he greeted timidly. “Can I help you?”Louis sighed before slowly approaching.“Hi, um…” he read the name tag he wore on his apron, “Harry. Sorry you had to see that.”

After breaking up with his boyfriend and going on one too many pap walks, Louis starts to consider moving home to London for a fresh start. Pinkberry employee and all-around good listener Harry makes him maybe not want to.

Featuring Liam as Louis’ agent, Niall as Louis’ voice of reason and a whole lot of strange orders at Pinkberry.

then we talk slow by letsjustsee (20k)

The picture showed Harry smiling widely (with a fucking dimple) at the camera, his glossy brown curls situated artfully around his shoulders. Louis couldn’t see his whole outfit, but it seemed to consist of a pink, floral button-up with most of the buttons undone. Louis could also detect the dark outlines of tattoos on his chest, although he couldn’t quite make out what they were underneath the shirt.What he could make out was that his own heartrate seemed to have picked up significantly.

Shit.

This was so not good. Not only had Louis drunkenly sent messages in a deliberate attempt to interact with this man, he was now insanely attracted to him without ever having met him in person.Maybe Liam was right – drunk tweeting really was a horrible, rotten idea.

A famous/non-famous AU in which Louis banters back and forth with his new record company on Twitter, only to find out that Harry is the man behind the tweets.

twist a little closer, now by fackinglouis (20k)

“Dance team is shit,” Louis tells Harry for the millionth time.

Harry leans closer for a moment, like he’s about to tell Louis a super serious secret and Louis’ throat closes up. He can smell the cologne Harry used this morning before school and the shampoo he washed his hair with last night; Louis feels lightheaded. “Yeah, only cause you’re not on it.”

Or the one where Harry signs up for a dance class that Louis teaches. Incidentally, the class is for six year olds.

hearts don’t break around here by sincewewereeighteen (26k)

“Another car has stopped at the beginning of the carpet. People are going to collapse any time soon, and Louis knows why.Harry Styles has just arrived. And Louis. Well. Louis is a grown man. He curses himself a hundred times for even letting his heart race in his chest. He knew they were bound to meet tonight.What the hell is wrong with him?”

Or: the one in which Harry’s having his big movie debut and Louis sings on it’s soundtrack.

never shut us down by togetherwecouldbealright (32k)

Tumblr!AU.

Louis is an insecure mess and he hides behind his blog. Harry’s a boy with a personality too bright and he’s everything Louis thought he would hate. They end up falling in love.

all along, my heart was beating for you by harryswhale (36k)

Louis’ raptors are having babies. Harry’s called in to help.

k-9′s and blue eyes by lhstylinson (36k)

Harry runs the police station’s K-9 unit and Louis is a single father to a newborn and has a few things to figure out.Or Harry and Louis with puppies and babies.

these sweet thoughts by adelagia (40k)

When Louis has the worst day of his life, it’s only because Harry hasn’t accidentally walked into it yet.

Featuring Louis as Ariel in a production of The Tempest, Harry as a happily overworked pastry chef, Niall their cheerleader, Zayn their less vocal but equally enthusiastic cheerleader, Kinder Surprises, stiff peaks, and someone getting punched by mistake.

for you i saved the love (i never knew how to give) by pinky_heaven19 (42k)

Harry’s face completely changed. “Oh, is that a child?” He sounded almost hopeful.

“Yeah, that’s my daughter, Lillian,” he said, unable to contain the pride in his voice and stepped aside.

Harry peeked inside and grinned. “Can I meet her?”

Louis blinked. “Yeah, sure. Come in,” he said and the man followed him inside.

His daughter was looking at him curiously. Her face was red and wet from her tears, but she had calmed down to silent sniffles.

“This is our neighboor, Harry. Come say hi to him.”

The little girl looked at Harry and gave him a shy smile. He kneeled in front of the armchair and held out his hand. “I’m Harry, what’s your name?”

“Lilly,” she replied, softly. She looked at his hand and took it in her own small ones. Louis’ eyes widened.

“Like the flower?” Harry asked and she nodded, happily. “It’s very nice to meet you, Lilly,” he shook her hand up and down as far as her arms could go, and all her bad mood was gone in an instant, dissolved in a big smile.

OR the one where Louis moves to a small town with his young daughter and has a gorgeous neighbor. Harry loves children and Louis also likes him a little bit. Lots of fluff.

tangled up in you by missandrogyny (45k)

Harry blinks once. And blinks again. And says, his voice dangerous: “Niall, did you get me a mail-order bride?”

Because what the actual fuck. It kind of looks like Niall’s just purchased a person. For Harry.

Niall blinks back at him for a few moments, before throwing his head back and howling with laughter. Harry throws a pillow at him. Hard. “No, what the fuck, Harry.”

“A prostitute then?” Harry also doesn’t want a prostitute.

“Of course not!”

“A stripper?”

“No!”

Damn, he’s running out of ideas. He settles for launching another pillow at Niall’s head. Niall bats it away easily, still laughing. “Stop!”

“What did you get me, then?!” Niall must hear the tinge of hysteria in his voice, because he’s pulling himself together, trying to stop himself from laughing.

There’s still a big grin on his face, though, when he says, “I got you a professional cuddler.”

A professional…what. “What?”

a life that we share (i owe it all to you) by rearviewdreamer (50k)

When Harry’s son came home from school crying he didn’t think things could get any worse. Lucky for them, things were just about to change for the best.

Harry’s son get bullied until Louis’ son shows up :)

put the stars in our eyes by crybaby (53k)

Louis goes to bed having ordered a nineteen year-old husband.

Louis is set to inherit the family farm after the death of his father, but after finding out that he needs to be married in order to do so, purchasing a nineteen year-old, mail-order husband named Harry Styles seems to be the easiest answer.

all the right moves by cherrystreet (53k)

This is the third game in a row that Harry has been distracted by the noisy boy in the stands, five rows back.

There’s really no reason that he should feel compelled to stare into the audience as frequently as he is, but he can’t help it. This boy is a nuisance. And he’s loud. Even from basketball court with nine other players running by him, shoes squeaking on the shiny hardwood floor, and thousands of cheering college students, Harry can hear this boy nearly shrieking, his laugh more like a cackle than anything.

It’s seriously obnoxious.

with your love we could breathe underwater by luminescents (62k)

Harry’s brow furrows, a look of confusion spreading over his face. “But I am real. I exist, see,” he says, raising a hand out of the water and wiggling his fingers at Louis.

Louis finds himself relaxing a bit. Harry seems harmless really. And he’s quite cute, for something that’s not supposed to exist. If Louis is indeed having a hallucination right now, at least it’s a cute one.

AU where Harry is a mermaid, Louis is a human, and they both discover a lot more than they anticipated.

i need home (our tangled bones) by togetherwecouldbealright (68k)

Louis runs a record label and Harry is his daughter’s new nanny. Over the course of a year, Harry helps Louis learn what it really is to be a father and somehow they find an unexpected home in each other.

Or, the kid fic where Louis wants to make Harry a star, Zayn just needs everyone to stop being stupid, Niall laughs his arse off at everything, Liam attempts to keep things in order and Harry takes a chance.

let’s fall in love in a place you want to stay by embro (134k)

A George of the Jungle / Tarzan AU where Louis is a model who meets Wild Man Harry in the Congo. He was raised by apes and barely speaks a word of English and turns Louis’ life upside down.

all too human by gotthisniallthang (166k)

Louis has a 3 year old son and works at a daycare while getting his education degree.

Harry’s a fresh face Popstar with the world in his hands.

They meet over applesauce and hide n’ go seek.

bloodline by banana_louis (177k)

Louis doesn’t know how to feel when his best friend, Liam, finds out about a brother that he never knew, who was placed for adoption before he was born and is bursting into his life at twenty-four years old.

Louis is very wary of the man who might replace him. He has always thought of Liam as his own brother.

What if Liam doesn’t need him anymore? What if there’s no room for Louis? After all, blood runs thicker than water.

Louis doesn’t like Liam’s new brother and he doesn’t even know him. That’s irrelevant, though.

He doesn’t like him. He doesn’t trust him. He doesn’t want him hanging around. He doesn’t want anything to do with him.

That is, until he meets him.

relief next to me by dolce_piccante (333k)

AU. What happens when a baker and a graphic designer meet via a very specific Craigslist post? Fate, friendship, food, and maybe more.

#asks #fic rec #fic rec asks #Anonymous

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rebeccahpedersen · 7 years ago

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Is The Grass Greener Down Under?

TorontoRealtyBlog

After seeing a multitude of freehold homes with “offer dates” set for next week end up selling via bully offer this past weekend, a few of my clients have expressed frustration with our system of selling properties, or lack thereof.

Once again, I was asked about the concept a true auction format here in Toronto.

I’ve written about this many times before, but as I’m sure the posts are buried somewhere in the TRB archives, let’s take a look at what happened in Australia this past weekend on something they call “Super Saturday.”

I’ve never been to Australia, and while there are literally thousands of places about which a person might quip, “I’d love to go there,” Australia is one that is near the top of my list.

Venice? Meh.

Rome? Enh.

Paris? Maybe. But is their tower really better than our tower?

I’ve been a few places of interest.

I climbed to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa. I’ve been to base camp at Mount Everest in Nepal/Tibet.

But when push comes to shove, I’d honestly rather rest at our family’s modest vacation home in Idaho than see the sites in Germany, Argentina, or Greece.

Perhaps that makes me boring. A little lazy even.

But for some reason, if I were to plan a true “trip,” as opposed to my prefered Idahoian “vacation,” I think Australia would be an awesome place to explore.

Call me crazy, but I feel a connection to Australia, as I do with the United Kingdom, because they’re part of the Commonwealth. I know that’s bizarre, and that the Commonwealth isn’t really a “thing” anymore, or at least not of any importance. But I feel as though the Brits and the Aussies are like us in many ways, and perhaps it all stems from the same origin.

I also had a huge crush on Poppy Montgomery back when “Without A Trace” was a hit show. Maybe that factors into my soft spot for Australia…

There are over 200 countries in the world, and when I look outside of our borders to see how other people live, breathe, and work, I often find myself looking at the United Kingdom and Australia first, and strangely, that’s before I look at our neighbours to the south. We’re just in really different places right now, although that’s a topic for another day.

So when I look at international real estate, steering clear of the click-bait in the Monaco’s of the world, of course, I look at the UK and Australia for comparisons.

If you haven’t heard about how real estate is sold in England, you’d better catch up – fast!

In 2015, I wrote an article on TRB called: “Gazumped!”

Perhaps not the most search-engine-friendly title, but the article went on to explain what exactly “gazumping” is, and how it wreaks havoc in the UK’s real estate market.

Read the article if you have time, but perhaps a quick example is warranted.

If I sell a house tonight to buyers for $1,450,000, with a May 31st closing date, then they would provide a deposit cheque – say $75,000, and that cheque would be held in trust as “consideration” for the transaction, up until the closing date, and the balance would be paid to the seller on that date. The deal is “firm,” and thus neither buyer or seller can change his or her mind, and/or get out of the transaction, short of some sort of fraudulent misrepresentation or act of God.

Now let’s say on May 29th, a would-be buyer for the home says, “Damn, I can’t believe I missed that house! I wasn’t in the market back in March when the house first sold!”

What if that buyer could offer $1,451,000, and somehow steal the property from the buyer who had contracted to purchase it two months earlier?

GAZUMPED!

True story, no exaggeration.

And that is how the British real estate market works.

The entire market is a set of dominoes. One person gets gazumped, and it sets off a chain reaction of buyers and sellers, trying to get in or out of other deals.

Oh, and it bears mentioning that in England, they only have multiple representation!

That’s right. Here in Ontario, we’ve heard rumblings about potentially doing away with multiple representation and/or dual agency. But in the UK market, you MUST buy your home through the listing brokerage via multiple representation.

I suppose any system, in any country, is going to have its pros and cons, right?

As I said at the onset, many people in Toronto are frustrated with the current “system,” if you could call it that.

The bully offers taking down properties on Saturday night at 11pm are not ideal for buyers.

And what do we make of houses listed for $999,900, sitting on the market for 14 days, where the seller won’t actually entertain anything under $1,200,000? Isn’t that false advertising?

In times like this, buyers look outside our system to see how other people are doing it, and as the saying goes, the grass is often greener on the other side.

The UK model doesn’t work, so let’s not even go there.

But the argument often goes toward the Australian “model,” whereby houses are sold via auction.

Auctions aren’t unique to Australia, by the way. HERE is a 2013 blog post I wrote about an auction for a house in Victor, Idaho, but the auction comes with more catches than Kevin Pillar…

But when the words “real estate” and “auction” are strung together, people get warm and fuzzy like the koala bears that Australians keep as pets.

First and foremost, have a look at this website:

https://www.realestate.com.au/auction-results/nsw

We here in Toronto are waiting for TREB to allow us to publish sold data, and in Australia, you have a site like this one which publishes the results of all the auctions in the country.

That link goes to the results for Sydney & New South Wales, but you can click on the other areas below.

“Super Saturday” in Australia refers to a date when a slew of properties are up for auction, and presumably, sell.

Posted on Sunday morning are the “clearance rates” for all the properties available at auction, like the following:

Now what does this terminology mean?

“Sold prior to auction” obviously refers to properties that were listed for sale, whereby the seller was provided with an offer, or offers, and decided to forego the auction.

“Sold at auction” needs no explanation, but keep in mind that these auctions come with a reserve price, so the bidding must meet or exceed that price for the property to sell.

“Sold after auction” refers to properties that either didn’t get bids, or did, but were “passed in,” and a deal was worked out.

“Withdrawn” refers to properties taken off the market by the seller.

“Passed in” is where things get interesting. This is where a property receives bids, but the high bid at the end of the auction fails to meet the seller’s reserve price. The property is then “passed in” to negotiations between the seller and the high bidder, overseen by an agent.

The “Clearance Rate” above is the sum of all the properties sold, withdrawn, or passed in. Only properties remaining on the market for sale are “not cleared.”

The acceptable Clearance Rate varies by area, and of course, current market conditions.

By way of comparison, Australian Capital Territory (ACT) had a 74% clearance rate last weekend, but Western Australia had only a 29% clearance rate.

Another two very important statistics would be:

1) Percentage of Properties Sold at Auction 2) Percentage of Properties Passed In

The entire goal of an auction is to sell properties at that auction.

Sure, properties sold both before and after the auction are important as well, and perhaps you could add those to the “sold at auction” for a total sales number. But if the idea behind the auction is to sell properties with a gavel, then I like the “sold at auction” number.

Secondly, the percentage of properties “passed in” is tremendously important. This is a good measure of whether buyers are willing to meet sellers’ expectations.

A further useful statistic would be the percentage of passed-in properties that end up sold, but I’m guessing that data isn’t available. This would also help provide insight into the market, specifically whether or not sellers, and their unmet expectations, become more reasonable.

So let’s look at the above stats for Sydney and New South Wales.

Their “Clearance Rate” is 74%, but is that really important to us, or is that just the auction house making up a number? Considering that they’re “clearning” properties that are withdrawn, I don’t think it’s something to brag about, so I’d rather come up with my own analysis.

233 of the 1,602 properties sold prior to auction, so that leaves 1,369 that went to auction.

529 of 1,369 properties were sold at auction. That’s 38.6%.

291 of 1,369 properties were passed in. That’s 21.3%.

So roughly 60% of properties are getting significant action.

But what do you make of the fact that 21.3% properties – one in five, results in a final bid price that’s below the seller’s reserve price?

Again, we don’t really know how to evaluate that number, so let’s see how Sydney & NSW compares to Victoria:

The clearance rate is 2% higher, so we’re working within the same band.

199 of the 2,202 properties sold prior to auction, so that leaves 2,003 that went to auction.

977 of 2,003 properties were sold at auction. That’s 48.8%.

550 of 2,003 properties were passed in. That’s 27.5%.

Roughly 76% of properties in Victoria are getting significant action, and across the board, the numbers are higher.

And when it comes to those properties withdrawn – only 1.5% of the 2,202 came off the market, compared to 8.3% in Sydney & New South Wales.

I figure you’d have to analyze data for every area in the country to draw conclusions on what are percentages of sales at auction, properties withdrawn, and properties passed-in are “acceptable.”

Now as for the website itself – http://www.realestate.com.au, you can scroll down and see every property and its corresponding status, sorted by suburb.

And you even know the result for each property. Which sold at auction, which was withdrawn, which sold before or after the auction, and which was passed-in. So as a buyer, you know which properties are tied up, which are gone for good, and which might come back into play.

As for the auction itself, well, this is where things get VERY interesting.

Auctions are conducted in person, in front of the house, and the streets throughout the country look like this on Saturday:

We could spend a whole week’s worth of blog posts looking at how to bid, what happens before and after the auction, qualifications, etc.

And logistics is another topic altogether.

But let’s consider that auctions are not exactly government-mandated in Australia, but rather they’re borne out of desire. The market participants are accustomed to it, and take it as given, just as the British accept “gazumping” as an every-day part of their market, and as we here in Toronto accept bully offers.

I’m sure if time was infinite, we could all sit down and figure out how to take the best parts of all three “systems,” and perhaps a few others, and put together a structure that would work best for all here in Toronto.

But you know what?

Even then, there would be those opposed.

Call it pessimistic, but you can’t call it untrue: the grass is ALWAYS greener on the other side…

The post Is The Grass Greener Down Under? appeared first on Toronto Real Estate Property Sales & Investments | Toronto Realty Blog by David Fleming.

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