The Kingston Estate

The Kingston Estate looks amazing. It’s not just a house it’s a whole business which is the only thing that puts me off. I’m afraid I’d want to swan around the place on my own not have to run it as a business.
It’s an 8 bedroom house for sale
With a Guide Price of £2,750,000
The Kingston Estate is in Staverton, Totnes, Devon

Whilst mooching around I found their official website which mentions it’s been on the Hotel Inspector! So I’m going to watch it now and see if it’s as lovely as the photos look

It’s a show I watch sometimes but I don’t remember this one.
First broadcast at 21:00 26 Aug 2010

Available until 22:00 26 Aug 2011

Grand Designs – the very first one

If you’re a fan you might have already seen the very first one back in 1998.
It’s a great show where the budget is so reasonable you’ll be shocked!
Grand Designs Series 1 episode 1 – A couple in Newhaven face a race against time as they build their dream home on windswept cliff-top site in time for the birth of their baby.
Plot costs them about £80,000 and they spend another £80000 building the house.
It’s a kit build and sticks mostly to schedule!

Well worth watching just so you can be wowed at how little they spend. It’s not the most grand of designs but it’s still a pretty nice house!

Enough bedrooms – 13!

Tidwell manorHow many bedrooms is enough? 13 would be plenty for most families I think. If you’ve got £1.35M then this wonderful house could be yours. It’s not got a huge amount of land with it, only two acres, but it’s a massive house!
Tidwell Manor – Budleigh Salterton, EX9

Elegant, three storey, early Georgian former manor house.
Listed as being of architectural or historical interest Grade II* and stated as being “a medieval manor, but the house completely rebuilt, probably on new site, in 1725”.
Built of Flemish bond brick with sash windows beneath a slate roof with parapet, typical of the architectural period.

Don’t want to buy a house that needs an arrow

Red arrow

I don’t want to buy a house which needs an arrow pointing out which one or which bit it is. I want the next house I buy to be individual enough in location to stand out.
Is there anything wrong with that?

When an estate agent takes a photo of a terrace he can usually do it so as to ensure you know which house is for sale. It worries me when estate agents can’t manage to take an indentifying photo.
Sometimes they seem to pick strange angles to stand at which means they capture the whole of the building even if you’ll only be buying a part. Are red arrows really pointers to the estate agent not taking the right photos?

LHA by postcode

How much help with your housing costs can you get? It used to be called housing benefit but now it’s called local housing allowance.
You can work it out here – you need to know the number of bedrooms you’re entitled to, and where the property is.
LHA by postcode

Remember if a property says DSS welcome – they mean LHA – and you shouldn’t be paying more than the LHA levels either! Remember a negotiated rent reduction might mean it’s easier for you when you start work!

LHA bedroom calculator

How many people live in your household? Total
How many couples are in your household?
How many single people aged 16 or over live in the household (don’t include
anyone in a couple)?
How many children aged between 10 and 15 (inclusive) live in your household?
How many children aged under 10 live in your household?

Noise from neighbours in semi or terraces?

One reason why you should visit the property you’re looking at buying several times, at different times of the day is to ensure you pick up on any potential for noise from the neighbours. Visit during the day whilst everyone is at work and you’ll not hear the kids next door running up and down stairs, slamming doors and screaming.

Viewing doesn’t always have to mean inside. There’s nothing wrong with walking past a couple of times in the evening. Although if the house is in a quiet cul-de-sac you will be noticed.

If you only view once then you’re risking missing picking up on something. View several times. Knock on at the neighbours – sometimes one or two doors away can bring out revealing news.

Ask what the neighbours are like.
Ask your solicitor to ask about noise nuisance.
If noise from neighbours is an issue then you could ask the surveyor about how much sound insulation there is between you and then and ask for advice on improving it.

Harden Grange in Bingley

Harden Grange Estate,Harden Grange is an amazing house set in over 100 acres of gardens, grassland and woodland.

The main house is an impressive country house dating from the mid 19th Century. The estate as a whole offers a total of 4 dwellings.

The house dates from the mid 19th Century and has some wonderful features including some stone dogs and wonderful ceilings and fireplaces.
Impressive house set in lots of lovely countryside.