We're moving. Mad, or what?

TTony

So, it seems that we're moving house.

4 weeks ago, we put our house on the market.  2 weeks later, it had sold.  

To a cash buyer. 

Brexit!

A week ago, we saw something we quite liked, and today we agreed to buy it.

Our current house - we saw it being built, we talked to the people building it, we've lived in it for the last 16 years, it's solid (not built like a traditional modern house), it's well insulated and reasonably cheap to run, it's totally reliable, there are no issues with it.  Safe, easy, comfortable, no risk.  Easy.  Lovely.  Paid for.  Ours.  It's home.  I'm happy.

Our next house (if all goes to plan) was built in 16-something (yes, 500-odd years ago), listed, we know nothing about it other than how it feels (right, very right), it's thatched, it has "private drainage", and it'll take us at least 2 years to sort out the electrics, the plumbing, the heating, the drainage and the roof.  All of which have been neglected for the last 20-odd years.  And we'll have to live in it whilst we're doing all of that.  And we need to go through (listed building) planning to get permissions for the extension.  It has 9 acres, barns (plural), outbuildings, and we can probably add a lot of value to it (and the pension fund).  

If all goes well.

Or it could all go horribly wrong.

Mad, or what?



Better to regret something that you've done, rather than something you've not done?

Alnico

Sounds exciting !

Best of luck to all of you.
Have you changed the surroundings much or are you still rural?

TTony

Alnico said:

Have you changed the surroundings much or are you still rural?

We'd be moving from rural.

To *very* rural

octatonic

TTony said:

Alnico said:

Have you changed the surroundings much or are you still rural?

We'd be moving from rural.

To *very* rural

Awesome news- congratulations.
You know we need some pics.

Alnico

Hope it all goes well for you.
Pickfords make it painless.

When you type "Barns", do you really mean future 'Studios'?
Or are they already earmarked as Workshops?

JezWynd

Sounds like a great adventure. Have fun.

ArchtopDave

Sounds lovely, though I believe being Listed can be a bit of a PITA at times.

speshul91

Alnico said:

Hope it all goes well for you.
Pickfords make it painless.

When you type "Barns", do you really mean future 'Studios'?
Or are they already earmarked as Workshops?

Surely if there is more than one he can have both?

TTony

octatonic said:

Awesome news- congratulations.
You know we need some pics.

Pics tomorrow.

Alnico said:

When you type "Barns", do you really mean future 'Studios'?
Or are they already earmarked as Workshops?

There are enough.

richardhomer

If schooling didn't dictate remaining in the hipster 'paradise' that is Chorlton, I'd be off to the country like a shot.

Sounds like a lovely property and a great plan.

Good luck with the move.

Nitefly

TTony said:

Better to regret something that you've done, rather than something you've not done?

Go for it!

rsvmark

Did something similar 4 years ago. Endless projects, empty wallet, job list always increasing....


We dont don't regret it for a minute! Good luck, hope it goes well

TTony

rsvmark said:

Did something similar 4 years ago. Endless projects, empty wallet, job list always increasing....

Project Management is what I do.

If it takes 4 years, I'll sack myself.


I'm already building the plan for the first few days and weeks and getting the trades lined up.  Had the initial discussion with architects and the pre-planning application will be submitted this weekend.  Surveyor is doing his thing next week.  

This first winter will be tough, but from next Spring, we should be on the up ...

ArchtopDave said:

Sounds lovely, though I believe being Listed can be a bit of a PITA at times.

Indeed it can.  I'm expecting first-name terms with out local conservation officer.

richardhomer said:

If schooling didn't dictate remaining in the hipster 'paradise' that is Chorlton, I'd be off to the country like a shot.

Sounds like a lovely property and a great plan.

Good luck with the move.

Strangely, schooling was the main consideration in us choosing to live where we live now.  Catchment area for the "best" state school in Suffolk.  That's no longer a consideration, so we can let someone else have a chance at the schooling (which is exactly why they've bought this place) and go off to try something else.



Of course, this assumes that everything goes through as planned, nothing horrible emerges from the survey, etc, etc, etc ...

monquixote

Good luck you crazy fellow 

Jalapeno

Best of luck. Man Cave(s) FTW !!!!!!!!!

stickyfiddle

Fantastic! Good luck!

Iamnobody

Definitely mad...

It sounds like a great project though and a wonderful place to live.

Can the outbuildings provide an income stream? Holiday lets? Workshops?

TTony

octatonic said:

You know we need some pics.

Some pics ...

The door & windows to the right are a 1960s addition.  One large room under a flat roof.  Horrible.  But wonderful at the same time, as it gives us some options with the planning department to incorporate that into a much more "architecturally interesting" and fitting extension.  Without that addition being there, getting approval for any further work would be more difficult.

Some of the outbuildings

monquixote said:

Good luck you crazy fellow 

You've got to do these things when you're young and adventurous.

But we didn't do it then, so we're doing it now.

I might have just deferred my retirement date by a few years ...

lasermonkey

Good luck!
We're in the process of getting our house ready to sell. Although we are in a fairly rural location, if there's one thing I have learnt, it's that I can't live next door to people! That, and the fact that the Mrs and I have utterly fallen in love with rural Suffolk, means we are planning to relocate somewhere considerably more rural. No definite timeframe, but we're both really excited about it.
Our house is all bought and paid for too, though we will probably need a small mortgage to get what we really want, which is fairly isolated, beautiful surroundings and plenty of land to either build a log cabin studio, or existing outbuildings suitable for the same.

octatonic

Looks great Tony.
Even more of a project than ours is.
Should be lots of fun.

TTony

Most of the ground looks like this, so there's no crown green bowling just yet ...

(that's the roof of another barn that you see half-hidden in the trees)

Iamnobody said:

Can the outbuildings provide an income stream?

They could, but that's not really the plan.  I'd rather keep them for our use.

Then we found this, tucked away on one side ...

... which could help generate some income.