Moving On

Decided to start another blog page, haven’t yet decided what to call it, maybe Moving On or something similar?

As some of you may know we have recently sold our home of the last 13 or so years, this was a property that I totally remodelled, adding an extension and moving walls to create an individually designed property, described thus by one agent advertising it……………

“Pablo Picasso. Vincent Van Gogh. The owners of this home. The odd one out ? Well actually, there isn''t one. Starting with a blank canvas, they have all created a masterpiece. Quite simply, Reeds Rains are thrilled to advertise on behalf of our clients this stunning and thoughtfully extended/modernised four bedroom semi-detached home. With so many intricate details to note, where do we begin?”

Not a bad job, anyway we move on. We didn’t know what we were going to do once we sold the house, the children have grown and are now living independently away from home and we are again as free as we were when we were teenagers, only this time with life’s experience behind us.

That experience has taught me many things, but to stay on subject it has taught me the best place for cash is in property, so, after a great deal of thought and consideration of our options we have decided to put most of our money back into another house, and another project, (hence this bog) a record of how when and what the hell, from the beginning.

So with one house sold and awaiting completion of the sale we went looking for “another little place”. We needed to stay close to Manchester for work but with transport links reckoned we could look within a 30 mile radius. Having looked everywhere from Middlewich to Halifax and Warrington we stumbles upon a property in Newton le Willows, that I thought a first glance looked about right. From the estate agents pictures I could see it still had the original window to the front with the original stained glass, I’m estimating build date about 1928. still having original windows is usually as sign that it will need internally updating as well, so a rewire, re-plum and possibly new central heating if it actually has any, personally I’d rather it didn’t, blank canvas but again looking at the pictures there are radiators in some rooms.

We did notice from the description there wasn’t a picture of the bathroom, always a worry when they don’t show something on an advert I think.

So next thing to do is arrange a viewing, we visited the area over a weekend and sat outside considering the place and looking around at the surrounding area and property, it wasn’t as big as it looked in the pictures but that wasn’t a bad thing as we didn’t want big, just interesting. I have to admit that at this stage I think I was more interested than Julie; we went around to the agents.

Would you believe they don’t do Sunday viewings and only do during the week between 9 and 5, business must be good? Julie couldn’t get time off work to view until Thursday, when she was finishing early anyway, as we were away on our summer break Thursday evening on the bike, so we made an appointment for Thursday at 4.30 and returned home. Once back at home we chatted further re the possibilities. The agent informed us they had received an offer and it was/is being considered however they were still willing to show us around and maybe take an improved offer, I’m not into bidding wars but was prepared to go to the asking price, cash, quick sale no messin.

Monday morning I phone agent, both lines busy, all morning, property market must be picking up, decide at 11.30 to visit agent in person and see if I could view property during the day before Thursday, long one short, within 10 minutes of walking into the office I was parked outside the house officially viewing. (apparently they weren’t that busy, tattooist up stairs had cut thru phone lines)

FIRST IMPRESSION.

Yes the windows are 90 years old and need replacing, doing that sympathetically would be challenging, but I would have to retain that original leaded glass, all of which seemed to be in tact and good condition. Internally the layout was, well not what I expected but I could work with it, rooms downstairs smaller again than they appeared on the pictures, but for us they would work just fine, the kitchen was a good size and had fairly new units and reasonable appliances that would be staying, again do us for the time being. As suspected it does need a rewire, the consumer unit/fuse box is original though the fuses have been updated they were still some 20 years or so and out of date. The gas boiler had a service stamp of 2008, doesn’t mean it’s not been serviced since but does say it is getting on and again isn’t up to today’s specification, if I was to date the central heating system I would say, fitted early 70’s (boiler is newer than that) so again radiators were not the modern finned efficient types you get now, all this was expected and not a surprise at all.

Upstairs and the reason for the lack of bathroom picture was obvious, it is so small you couldn’t take a picture, I will try and post when we get in. the other rooms upstairs were, three good sized double bedroom and a box bedroom that would just about fit a single bed but that’s it no room for anything else.

So with the internal viewing over we moved outside, this is thru the “anti room”, basically boiler and toilet in a room just about large enough to house them, as we fleetingly passed thru I thought “I’ll have to do something with this waste of space”.

The garden is long and narrow, with a garage to the right side accessed thru an up and over electrically operated door. The agent informed me part of the garden was on a lease from the council but was longstanding and not an issue, note made to check when I got back home, I looked over the fences to either side at the other “leased” portions of neighbours gardens and noted they were not maintained, possibilities.

We went back into the house and I have to say I had a nice feeling about the place, it had obviously been well cared for and maintained without being overly modernised, I would guess the previous owners had lived here a considerable period of time, at a guess maybe 50 years if not longer, the garage door is a sign they didn’t scrimp when it came to replacing items, door would have been replaced when original door became rotten, also the fuse box under the stairs had had all the fuses upgraded, usually you see the ood one or two replaced with modern as most people thought it an unnecessary expense, obviously expense wasn’t considered here, no I had a nice warm feeling about the place, we sat and had a chat, I noted the original hard wood parquet floor at the sides under the rug that filled the dining room and was itching to lift all the furniture out to check and see if it was all intact, I’ll be surprised if it isn’t but not too disappointed.

I made a provisional offer subject to Julie viewing Thursday, this I believe was enough for us to secure the property for a week, Julie I’m sure will love it as much as me and am also sure she will trust me to get it to her desired condition in not too long a time.

And another adventure begins; I can just see a pair of Dragons in that garage as I type.

So, I’ll post on this regular, fewer words and maybe more pictures, wished I’d have blogged my previous projects, but never mind we’re her now, be great to have your company, stick around.

Away on holiday thru France and Italy for a couple of weeks on the bike, when I get back I’ll post that story first, don’t yet do this picture posting on the move from mobile phone thing, too busy enjoying the me time to share, sorry, but will give full story on return, and by which time we should know for sure the property situation, then this blog will move to it’s very own page, obviously Lost For Words will still be here and updated regular as well, just keeping things tidy tis all.

Now to enjoy some wind…………………see you on the road.

Oh and to all my readers across the pond, enjoy your 4^th July celebration

Mick