Mystery House for sale

unmapped propertyI don’t like this style of advert. It doesn’t list the property – just telling you there’s an expensive house somewhere that you might like to buy if you have more than £3.5M to spend.
This mystery house is in DT6. That’s your only clue. OK you are told it’s got 8 bedroms.

Tenure: Freehold
• A Period 8 bedroom Country House offering in excess of 10,000 sqft of accommodation.
• A range of 1 to 4 bedroom secondary accommodation suitable for staff or to generate secondary income.
• A large barn suitable for storage.
• The property sits within 5 acres of gardens and woodland.
• Located edge of village and within walking distance of the local beach and coastline.

Whilst I respect that some people might not want the nosey world looking at their house – I really don’t like this bit: PLEASE NOTE: To purchase a property through this company an agency fee will be incurred by the buyer.

I’ve just had a thought as to which house it might be. You could describe it on the edge of the village and within walking distance of the sea. Although it’s not in woodland…

Is it your dream house?

Perfect House?

I worry when I see people say they’ve found their dream house. They describe it as perfect and say they love it!

Don’t buy a house with emotions! I know you need hard cash and a level head.

You need to establish whether it is indeed your perfect house or whether you’ve just fallen for the style of the house, the furniture or even the smell!

Step back. View some others. Write a list of what you like about the house. Do a score card.

Do not make an offer on a house in the first moments of falling in love with it. It’s a guaranteed way of paying too much and maybe even missing some of the glaringly obvious faults.

Do a second viewing with a sensible friend. Get their opinion on it. Let them look at it objectively. They’ll spot the leaky gutters, the problem with the kitchen and the small third bedroom size!

Get a good survey done and take notice of any issues on it. Don’t gloss over them just because you like the house a lot.

Buying a house is a serious business and whilst it’s nice to find a house that seems to tick all your boxes you have to make sure it really does!

Glynn in Cornwall

farmhouse is Grade II ListedHoliday complex for sale. They’re making a lot of money from these holiday lets so I was suprised to see they didn’t list very much information about them. A little detective work found me this though – it’d said In total 13 acres which is confirmed on this website Glynn Barton Holiday cottages is a set of eight stunning 18th Century child, toddler & baby Friendly holiday cottages set in 13 acres.
It’s very pretty indeed!
I’m not sure running a holiday cottage complex appeaks to everyone though and it’s a very busy one – hence the high levels of income but if you were looking for a career change and can get some serious money from the bank then it’s only £2.5M!

Swimming pool and tennis court and some beautiful buildings does it for me although it’s not very close to the sea!

Help! My House Is Falling Down

Series 2 -Episode 9 – Help! My House Is Falling Down
Thursday 04 August 8PM Channel 4
Hull Garden Village house episode of Help My house is falling down on 4oD.

The TV blurb says:
In Hull’s Garden Village, Sarah Beeny revisits a Victorian house that was under attack from tree roots.

Dave, Sharon and their two children were forced out of their handsome five-bedroom Victorian house in Hull when massive cracks started ripping through their newly decorated walls, causing their doorways and windows to get badly bent out of shape. Sarah and her team discovered that huge trees surrounding the house were the likely culprits for the damage. However, the local council did not want them cut down.

A year on, Sarah revisits the family to see what progress they have made

This episode runs as all the other episodes have: a family have bought a house and there’s something wrong with it. This couple bought this house on impulse at auction without a survey. It makes me wonder if they looked at it. Hull’s Garden Suberb was built in 1907 so the houses are over 100 years old and listed.
The windows are metal framed small squares and many of these are broken or cracked and let huge amounts of drafts in. Replacements are not only expensive – it’ll cost about £20k to do the lot, but have to be approved by the council.
Sarah’s suvreying team get to work on the house and look at the bay window leaning away, as well as the drains. The cause of the cracking in the house is the large number of trees nearby. These have sucked up vast amounts of water from under the foundations and the house is sinking which in turn is pulling it apart. Some of the cracks are big enough to put your hand in!
There’s also woodworm upstairs which is dealt with by spraying all the affected wood and removing anything beyond saving.
A smoke test reveals just how leaky the windows are and Sarah recommends some flexible sealer for a temporary repair. After 18 months the windows still haven’t been replaced as they are still in discussions with the council.
The trees have a tree preservation order on them and as such need to have permission granted by the council before they can be removed. Sarah’s surveyors prepare a report which is sent to the council. It takes longer than expected to get an answer but they are given permission to remove some of the trees.

When the trees are removed the ground under the house will start to hydrate again and correct the previous movement. This needs to be measured and cracks filled that form during this process.
Sarah’s building experiment shows the family that a brick built house is able to withstand huge strains and won’t fall down just because of a few trees.

The first visit back is after 6 months and the family have had the drains entirely replaced deep enough not to have root issues again. The house has been rendered and the inside remodelled. It looks like they have a new kitchen and a new bathroom as well as redecoration. This episode unlike the others doesn’t bang on about how little money they have. They did buy the house for a bargain price at auction though.

Sarah encourages them to plant a tree – but one that won’t be a water hog.
Sarah returns after a further year and sees that the grounds outside now have been done and the land level has risen so that the previously exposed manhole is now level with the grass. It’s impressive to see!

A minor point: The TV Blurb says it’s a Victorian house. But the Garden Suberb in Hull was built in 1907 – for workers at Reckitt’s chemical works. This means the house isn’t Victorian.The reign of Queen Victoria was 1837—1901 – so these houses are built after then and are as such would be Edwardian.

It says they bought it for £80 at auction.

Not a house but a road to look at

It’s not going to be often I stray off the houses on here, but this is still sort of related. Google maps is great. It shows you all sorts of things. What the area looked like a couple of years ago, the shocked look on people’s faces as they see the google car go by, and this. A wall. Yes a wall right across the road.

It’ll take a moment to load the image properly, but what’s that all about?
One side of the wall is M21 and other other is M16. I know there has to be an imaginary boundary somewhere but putting a wall up is a bit strange.

Would it put you off buying a house next to it? I’d imagine anyone who really wanted to would just leap over it!

Is this the only one in the country or are there others that I need to know about?

Herons Reach at Newton Ferrers, South Devon

Newton Ferrers, South DevonHerons Reach at Newton Ferrers, South Devon is a five bedroom house with lovely views.
The view with the boats is simply stunning. I could imagine sitting there painting the ever changing scenery.
It’s a detached house on the banks of the river Yealm.
With 4-5 Bedrooms (3 En-Suite) and 2-3 Reception Rooms
It comes with 2.5 Acres Approx.
The views are brilliant due to the waterfrontage With Quay
And it also has a double Garage & Drive

It’s not an old house, it was only built in the early 1980’s by its then Architect owner.
The location is great, but it is a bungalow and very expensive at £2.5M

Bevere Lane in Worcestershire

White Lodge at BevereThis is a lovely house – it’s on with two agents but I think I like the pictures better on this one. Bevere Lane is a lovely quiet looking area.
The house is called White Lodge and it’s on the edge of the pretty and prestigious village of Bevere which forms part of a Conservation Area.
It’s Georgian Grade II Listed and has a tennis court and an orchard. It’s got 6 bedrooms. It’s a lovely house with additional accomodation and office space as well as plenty of garages. It is on for £1.25M though.
Council tax band – White Lodge – G Bevere Cottage – A.

Knotweed – a mortgage issue

You might not get a mortgage on a property if a surveyor spots knotweed in the garden.
Japanese Knotweed is an invasive plant that needs specialist treatment to get rid of it. You can treat it yourself but it takes care, time and patience. And a lot of hard work. You can’t take the plant material off site either, so you’ll have to burn the stems and roots you dig up.

If the property you are looking at is next to open ground then consider spending some time looking at that land for this tricky problem. Whilst it might not be in your garden when you buy, it travels fast and might be in your garden eating at your foundations within a few years. Check the council’s website to see what plans they have for eradiacating it on open space.
Whilst some people consider it a minor nuisance it can actually grow through concrete and has been found growing through the floor in someone’s lounge!