Hi all,
Ive been quiet here lately due to going through the painful experience of moving house! , So there was a house we liked that but felt it was overpriced, it's a gate lodge which is quirky and had been on the market for about a year when we viewed it. We offered what we thought it was worth and they came back a week later to accept at which point I had an offer accepted on another property the wife and I liked...but since then it has sold.
I liked that the nearest neighbor is around 800m away which causes a problem as that neighbor is the large manor house who once owned the gate lodge. I would always have the feeling that I live on the land of the manor house and that I don't really own a separate house if that makes sense, especially as you have to drive through the grand iron gates that lead to the manor house. The lodge comes with 1/3 of acre of land so there's lots of space and I would not have to worry about how loud my tv was or when doing DIY late at night I also loved the design of 1800s building. A few of the other issues was that the lodge sat right next to a fairly busy B road which linked the neighboring village to the A12 or to Kelvdon train station so the traffic would be heavy and you could hear it in the garden obviously, Which also may be an issue when inside your home as the 20 sash windows were only single plain and would be expensive to replace with wooden sash double glazing if the English Heritage allowed it ( its grade 2 listed) the house had been recently refurbished and what annoyed me was it had either been done on the cheap or DIY a few examples were pipe work not straight, cracked window, leaking radiator, old waste pipe hole not repaired, some brickwork repairs still needed, chimney was removed and then ordered to be replaced and was done poorly. it had been converted to open plan and in doing so they squeezed in a tiny box room bedroom which would make a good office but you do not have a separate lounge area. If I did purchase the property I would have played around with the layout sligthly and added a 3rd double size bedroom and use the second bedroom as a lounge.
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-44246480.html?premiumA=true
This is the house that I am currently in the process of buying, its semi detached house built around 1920 in rural location. I liked how much space this offers with a garage, outbuilding, workshop and a shed...the garden is 120ft. I would have preferred a detached house but I would have had to sacrifice on space, its a little bit tired and needs some love kitchen etc. I'm planning on carrying out a loft conversion with a master bedroom and on-suite, if I could put two bedrooms upstairs I will and converting an upstairs bedroom into a bathroom and turning the downstairs bathroom into a utility room and a toilet, and open the kitchen into the rear single story extension etc. Its changed alot since the satelite photos, the field adjactant to the property is now used for keeping horses and the agricultural farm buildings to the rear are now some stables. The biggest problem is the downstairs bathroom. The back up plan would be converting an upstairs bedroom into a bathroom and then making the current downstairs bathroom into a large bedroom and on-suite instead... all depends on how much it will cost and what return I can achieve to what I do...but the house has plenty of options.
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-46191566.html
What do you guys think? if I could I would love to live in France! some of the houses in the country side are perfect for what I want...but not being able to speak french is a slight issue! and also employment! its probley just pre
Ive been quiet here lately due to going through the painful experience of moving house! , So there was a house we liked that but felt it was overpriced, it's a gate lodge which is quirky and had been on the market for about a year when we viewed it. We offered what we thought it was worth and they came back a week later to accept at which point I had an offer accepted on another property the wife and I liked...but since then it has sold.
I liked that the nearest neighbor is around 800m away which causes a problem as that neighbor is the large manor house who once owned the gate lodge. I would always have the feeling that I live on the land of the manor house and that I don't really own a separate house if that makes sense, especially as you have to drive through the grand iron gates that lead to the manor house. The lodge comes with 1/3 of acre of land so there's lots of space and I would not have to worry about how loud my tv was or when doing DIY late at night I also loved the design of 1800s building. A few of the other issues was that the lodge sat right next to a fairly busy B road which linked the neighboring village to the A12 or to Kelvdon train station so the traffic would be heavy and you could hear it in the garden obviously, Which also may be an issue when inside your home as the 20 sash windows were only single plain and would be expensive to replace with wooden sash double glazing if the English Heritage allowed it ( its grade 2 listed) the house had been recently refurbished and what annoyed me was it had either been done on the cheap or DIY a few examples were pipe work not straight, cracked window, leaking radiator, old waste pipe hole not repaired, some brickwork repairs still needed, chimney was removed and then ordered to be replaced and was done poorly. it had been converted to open plan and in doing so they squeezed in a tiny box room bedroom which would make a good office but you do not have a separate lounge area. If I did purchase the property I would have played around with the layout sligthly and added a 3rd double size bedroom and use the second bedroom as a lounge.
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-44246480.html?premiumA=true
This is the house that I am currently in the process of buying, its semi detached house built around 1920 in rural location. I liked how much space this offers with a garage, outbuilding, workshop and a shed...the garden is 120ft. I would have preferred a detached house but I would have had to sacrifice on space, its a little bit tired and needs some love kitchen etc. I'm planning on carrying out a loft conversion with a master bedroom and on-suite, if I could put two bedrooms upstairs I will and converting an upstairs bedroom into a bathroom and turning the downstairs bathroom into a utility room and a toilet, and open the kitchen into the rear single story extension etc. Its changed alot since the satelite photos, the field adjactant to the property is now used for keeping horses and the agricultural farm buildings to the rear are now some stables. The biggest problem is the downstairs bathroom. The back up plan would be converting an upstairs bedroom into a bathroom and then making the current downstairs bathroom into a large bedroom and on-suite instead... all depends on how much it will cost and what return I can achieve to what I do...but the house has plenty of options.
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-46191566.html
What do you guys think? if I could I would love to live in France! some of the houses in the country side are perfect for what I want...but not being able to speak french is a slight issue! and also employment! its probley just pre
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