Lan Sôr in Caerleon, Monmouthshire is one of those houses that just gets me drooling and reaching for my blog to share with you.
Lan Sôr is a fantastic looking house.
Just above the entrance is a chevron, carved in stone between three wolves heads, arms of the Meyrick and James families, who were owners from the 17th century. It is supposed to have a priests hole
A romantic Elizabethan house with mullioned picture windows and leaded lights, historic fireplaces, it should come as no suprise that it’s a listed building.
You can see more pictures here
NP18 1LS
Only listing is called Llansor Mill Cottage so maybe the estate agent have the postcode wrong?
Month: July 2011
Fancy a grotto?
Dewstow House Caerwent is a nice big house that has some very nice formal gardens with grottoes.
It’s one of the first I’ve seen that uses Fine’s new magazine style brochure. It’s a lovely brochure for Dewstow House that’s very beautifully laid out with lots of great pictures of the gardens.
DETACHED COUNTRY HOME
FIVE BEDROOMS, INCLUDING MASTER WITH EN-SUITE
SIX RECEPTION ROOMS
FORMAL GARDENS WITH GROTTOES
ONE-BEDROOM ANNEXE
HEATED SWIMMING POOL
GROUNDS OF APPROXIMATELY FIVE ACRES (STMS)
(What’s STMS? subject to measuring survey?)
The gardens are open to the puhblic at the moment – tourist info here
Finding your forever home
A few thoughts on finding your forever home:
Finding a forever home
First decide on the area. Use Rightmove’s map drawing tool to define the
area. You can zoom in and alter the map as much as you want. Once you’ve
drawn this review it every so often, so if you discount another street or estate
you need to alter your map.
Write your definitive list of everything your forever home should have.
This is where you specify whether you don’t want ex-council, what your
budget it, how many bedrooms, how much outdoor space, whether you want rural
or not.
Make this document as inclusive as possible. Include photos of things you like
from other properties or websites.
Decide whether you want to do work. You might keep looking at properties that
are almost right if only you could alter one or two things. Would you consider
doing work? Do you have the budget or any experience of doing work?
Remember that carpets and wallpaper can be changed, but the neighbourhood can’t!
This is where location comes in. Is it the right location?
Write a list of all the things you do in your daily life that involve you leaving
the house:
– going to work
– taking the kids to school
– going to the gym
– taking the kids swimming
– going to your art class
Mark on a map where these are in your preferred area. Are there are schools
or pools? What’s the commute like? These are important things to consider.
It’s no good if you live in your dream house but everything you do it
an hours drive away.
This redefining of your area and house brings in the compromise. Most of the
people who spend years looking are unable to compromise. You can either wait
for ever for the dream house or try and get one that’s 99% perfect.
If you find you’ve narrowed it down to a small area but nothing is for
sale there, you could try leafleting.
Want to be a on TV show?
I figure if you’re reading this site you’re interested in either moving or houses, or property on TV.
This new TV program is looking for people to take part.
Are you thinking of moving house within Devon, Cornwall or Dorset? Looking for a family house in a seaside resort? A home in a picturesque village? Or a renovation property in the countryside?
New C4 property show is looking for buyers for a new series to be filmed in June and July. Wide range of homes to be featured
Apply via beonscreen
Applications Close 30th July – which is tomorrow so I’m abit late sharing this one!
Worlds most expensive house
This house for sale is supposed to be the world’s most expensive and it only has three bedrooms (It has plenty of other accomodation for staff etc though) . You’d need $175m. It’s on the daily mail website.
It’s in Wyoming which has no state income tax or estate tax.
The ranch is called Jackson Land and Cattle and has it’s own website where you can discover more about the place.
The estate agent listing is here 1,750± acre.There is a three-bedroom home, a four-bedroom guest/bunkhouse and two employee apartments on the property.
Help my house is falling down 28th July 2011
Last night’s episode of Help! My House Is Falling Down
Season 2 Episode 8 of 10
Gypsy Hill in London – Denis fell in love with the two level appartment at the bottom of a house. Slowly after a few years water appeared and caused damp and the electrics to fail. She’s lived in squalor that stinks as it’s probably sewage leaking into her basement flat.
There’s also japanese knotweed in the garden!
The woman has tried to solve the problem but said that all the different workmen gave different answers. Sarah’s structural engineer said the place needed tanking.
When they were investigating they discovered several load bearing walls had to be shored up too.
The tanking company agreed to do the work at a knockdown price, presumably because they were on TV. How annoyed will they have been to see she could afford to do up her kitchen and lounge! So much for skint!
Her budget was originally £20,000 but was upped after a family loan of £5000 when they structural issue was revealed.
I was suprised to not hear them say they were going to stop the leak of sewage. Or had I fallen asleep during the monotony of the program which now follows a set routine.
Whilst tanking will stop the ingress of water it won’t stop the water which surely will continue to soak through bricks and undermine the building if the pump fails.
The example demonstration was on the Spitbank fort which is being turned into a holiday destination. This consisted of them spraying some water at a plastic bobbly sheet.
It was horrific to see what this woman was living in – and surprising she wasn’t ill. She had however not let any friends in for several years.
Police Maps update
I looked at these when they first came out. I’ve gone back to look again and see what’s changed in the last few months. You can view the crime data for previous months!
You can also click on the types of crime and it highlights these.
This means you can look back at an area over time and build up an idea of what problems there are. It will help you avoid areas. They are a bit vague where they put the numbers though as to protect the identity of particular people, but they are fairly close.
Loft conversions not always useful
Many people dream of opening up their loft as extra space. Sometimes it just doesn’t work though.
This house here has an office in the roof space. However it’s mostly suitable for limbo dancers.
This loft conversion is described as stunning. But when the TV sits on the floor is it really stunning?
This one still looks like it’s got a loft hatch!
Always check a loft conversion has been done properly with building regulations followed. As well as potentially making the entire property unstable you could find it’s not actually a very usable room unless it’s got the right insulation done, right stair access and enough room to stand up in!
Wotton Underwood house to rent – next to the Blairs
Wotton Underwood is where the Blair’s bought a house. This has caused some issues with neighbours.
Sell your house without an estate agent?
How easy is it to sell your house without an estate agent?
HouseWeb is one site that lets you sell your house without an estate agent. The biggest and first direct sales company! So what advantages are there? You will save massively on fees for starters! Even if you negotiate estate agent fees you could end up paying many thousands of pounds to the estate agent! With houseweb prices start at £47 so you can see the huge potential for saving there too.
So what does an estate agent do and can you do it instead?
You would want to provide the same information as an estate agent. That is room dimensions, information about the property and photos. The photos should be taken to make the property look good and clearly show the house. Decluttering is an essential first step before even thinking about getting a camera out! Something some estate agents don’t tell you – but when you’re in control you can re-take the photos if you decide you don’t like them, or declutter more! Sometimes it’s hard to be objective – we’d be happy to look at your photos or house listing and make suggestions on how you can improve the look!
There are three packagaes on houseweb. The cheapest allows only one photo, the next level up allows 6 and the most expensive allows up to 25.
You could decide which option to go for by making a list of all the rooms you think would be worth having a photo of.
Why exclude some rooms? If you can’t get a good photo of a room even though it looks fine, then it might be worth not including a photo of that room. Sometimes you need a wide angle lens on a camera to get a good photo of a smaller room. If the lighting is difficult then you can also find it easier to not include a photo!
For a house that needs a lot of work you might put some people off by showing every last room.
You can add extra photos, EPC (That’s an energy performance certificate), various other options, but the most important one we think is a for sale board! Whilst you could just stick a notice in your window or make your own, then the professional one you’d get from houseweb is worth the money.
You should take your time taking the photos and writing the listing. Get someone else to look it over first to give you a second opinion.
I’ve often seen photos selling a house that have been taken on a rainy day and it just makes me feel sad – 99% of houses and gardens look better when the sun is out! Wait another day to take a photo if it’s rained!
Houseweb is definitely worth a look if you want to avoid huge estate agent fees.