Yesterday we were supposed to go and see the property that we'd looked at a few days before. It didn't pan out so we ended up going out there today after picking Nic up from work. Since it'd been rainy and the dogs had been inside mostly, they were itching to romp - especially Sierra and I opted to take her along with me as she adores going for rides. As it turns out I'd left my round/barrel brush in the car on the back seat and when she got out, I noticed she had a "tail". Closer inspection revealed the brush was thoroughly caught and had to be scissored (*cringes*) out carefully. Hope thought this was a great new toy though and had a good chew on the end sticking out. It occurs to me this isn't something that happens to normal people!
At any rate, we got to go see the property again and I walked all over the land, up the bushy bit, down the backlot, around the pasture, and then carefully through the house. The first time I'd been there I hadn't really got a good sense of the lay of the land since it was rather rushed. While Nic was talking to Joe (aka Real Estate Dude) I wandered off and spent a moment just sitting and absorbing the place. I picked up a few leaves, a rock, a feather and a flower and dipped my fingers in the little springs of water in the fairy grove, mentally asking the house and land if it was the right place for us and wanted us to buy it and if so then helping us to do so. I have this feeling like such old places have a sense of life of their own, their own energy and echos of the people who have lived there... all of it adding up to a unique feel of the place or however you want to put it, that we need to respect for it to really be a home.
While wandered I also got a good idea of what would need replacing and was doing a mental tally in my head of what it'll cost to repair, restore and refurbish. I'm conservatively estimating an easy $40K but I expect I'll see that raise a good bit higher. Still... it is a nice property, pretty views, more grazable land than I'd originally thought (it's got 15 years of overgrown jungle, so it's hard to tell!) and a lot of rather charming rockwork and major structures in place that I think I could make this a real showpiece garden... something you'd see in a magazine! (Albeit it'd take a LOT of work to get it to reveal it's full potential.) We opted to leave a verbal offer for the owners putting the electricity in and doing so underground -and- pending a positive outcome of a Archicenter inspection, pest inspection and termite inspection. I fully expect they'll turn the offer we made tonight down and we'll work up to maybe $510-515 or so. The other good bit is that, electricity aside, since they haven't been living there in 15+ years, once we get in an industrial cleaning team (eep!) they wouldn't have a settlement date of their own, so we could move straight in rather than having to rent!
At any rate, we got to go see the property again and I walked all over the land, up the bushy bit, down the backlot, around the pasture, and then carefully through the house. The first time I'd been there I hadn't really got a good sense of the lay of the land since it was rather rushed. While Nic was talking to Joe (aka Real Estate Dude) I wandered off and spent a moment just sitting and absorbing the place. I picked up a few leaves, a rock, a feather and a flower and dipped my fingers in the little springs of water in the fairy grove, mentally asking the house and land if it was the right place for us and wanted us to buy it and if so then helping us to do so. I have this feeling like such old places have a sense of life of their own, their own energy and echos of the people who have lived there... all of it adding up to a unique feel of the place or however you want to put it, that we need to respect for it to really be a home.
While wandered I also got a good idea of what would need replacing and was doing a mental tally in my head of what it'll cost to repair, restore and refurbish. I'm conservatively estimating an easy $40K but I expect I'll see that raise a good bit higher. Still... it is a nice property, pretty views, more grazable land than I'd originally thought (it's got 15 years of overgrown jungle, so it's hard to tell!) and a lot of rather charming rockwork and major structures in place that I think I could make this a real showpiece garden... something you'd see in a magazine! (Albeit it'd take a LOT of work to get it to reveal it's full potential.) We opted to leave a verbal offer for the owners putting the electricity in and doing so underground -and- pending a positive outcome of a Archicenter inspection, pest inspection and termite inspection. I fully expect they'll turn the offer we made tonight down and we'll work up to maybe $510-515 or so. The other good bit is that, electricity aside, since they haven't been living there in 15+ years, once we get in an industrial cleaning team (eep!) they wouldn't have a settlement date of their own, so we could move straight in rather than having to rent!
So... all in all I'm allowing myself to feel cautiously optimistic!
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