As if life for family OTW isn't complicated enough with the new baby due soon and with trying to buy a new house in california we have also decided to buy a new home here in England as well. At least buying a house here should be an easier proposition considering building/refurbishing and renovating houses has been my main job for the last 20 years. The main reason for moving here is the fact that our present home has finally reached the state of completion that leaves me looking around longingly at other more neglected and delapidated homes. Castle OTW a large neo gothic Victorian was in rather bad shape when bought, complete with dry rot,leaking roof,flooded basement and general decay....just how I like them! Now I am looking for something a little more rural with a barn or coach house and preferably a build date of pre 1750 as I have not worked on a house of that age before and I want to expand my knowledge and skills base. Whatever I end up with I'm pretty sure that it will be rather different than the pseudo Tuscan and modern hacienda style houses I have been looking at in California. There is so much talk at the moment of prices still having x% to fall that deciding to enter the market is fraught with worries that upon purchase that perhaps a better price could have been negotiated. For me the right house is the major consideration and even though I wish to strike a good deal it is the quality of the house and the hopefully interesting work therein that I am interested in...so here we go!
Monday, 30 March 2009
Double Trouble.
As if life for family OTW isn't complicated enough with the new baby due soon and with trying to buy a new house in california we have also decided to buy a new home here in England as well. At least buying a house here should be an easier proposition considering building/refurbishing and renovating houses has been my main job for the last 20 years. The main reason for moving here is the fact that our present home has finally reached the state of completion that leaves me looking around longingly at other more neglected and delapidated homes. Castle OTW a large neo gothic Victorian was in rather bad shape when bought, complete with dry rot,leaking roof,flooded basement and general decay....just how I like them! Now I am looking for something a little more rural with a barn or coach house and preferably a build date of pre 1750 as I have not worked on a house of that age before and I want to expand my knowledge and skills base. Whatever I end up with I'm pretty sure that it will be rather different than the pseudo Tuscan and modern hacienda style houses I have been looking at in California. There is so much talk at the moment of prices still having x% to fall that deciding to enter the market is fraught with worries that upon purchase that perhaps a better price could have been negotiated. For me the right house is the major consideration and even though I wish to strike a good deal it is the quality of the house and the hopefully interesting work therein that I am interested in...so here we go!
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8 comments:
Even though I no longer have the stamina and strength for a good restoration, you have just made my knees weak with old house lust. It is absolutely lovely!
I can certainly appreciate your longing to work on a house of serious age and history. If one were to emerge, I would have to lengthen my short bucket list by that one item. An acquaintance in the post and beam trade went over to Scotland to help restore a stunning old Medieval estate - rarely am I envious but that certainly was one occasion.
Won't find much in Wirral all the big houses have been bought up and the gardens filled with houses and the houses turned into flats,me I would like to move to Cardigan myself but saying that Willaston seems to have a few nice houses up for sale
anon...I'd like to stay on the Wirral but as you say the type of houses I like have gardens full of badly built bungalows.
Hey, son i'm impressed, where in gods name did you learn all this stuff, not the lad i went to skool with ...Can you help us with a leaky radiator?
Tim
Good luck with the house hunting we just went through that with the condo. It is a tough decision to make and only you know how the lay of the land is where you are in Cal. With the experience you have renovating you do know what trouble spots to look for. Bonne Chance
Thud - I must ask why you are flying the O'Coileain sigil. Are we of the same clan, sir? I saw a comment on Bloody Scott is all and wondered is all.
A dream home by the look of it.
Thud, have you looked on local authority buildings at risk registers (cross referencing interesting properties with Land Registry produces owners' details who may be interested in selling)? Or you could join, if you are not already a member, SPAB which has a list of buildings for sale:
http://www.spab.org.uk/html/publications/the-property-list/?PHPSESSID=51ac0863093adde42bcf01605178c82e
They also run very good restoration courses. Good luck with the search.
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