Very poor condition

That's what the Surveyor reckons, but we didn't need to spend £600 to be told that! It's no suprise to find that there's rising damp, falling damp and condensation (floating around damp?) as well. But hey, it's an old house that needs a load of work on it.

The Surveyor's report isn't the most positive document I've ever read, but then that's the whole point after all, to advise you of all the problems so that you can back out of the sale if you didn't expect to find any problems, or if they're worse than expected. Nothing that the survey has identified is a big suprise to us so we're still up for the challenge.

Meanwhile, we've been able to pacify the Bank that we don't need yet another survey (Well done C!), and we've got hold of copies of guarantees for the damp proof and timber works that were done ten years ago. Both of these come with 30 year guarantees so we can get the company back in to rectify the faulty damp course.

Other than packing things up in the Loft the main thing left to do now is chase the Solicitor to push things through in the next couple of weeks...

High on a hill....

It's all gone quiet. Not suprising really for a 'conventional' house purchase though.

The Surveyor should be doing the survey tomorrow and is due to report back at the end of the week. Hopefully the solicitor is also doing his stuff with searches etc. After the rush to see the place a couple of times and the excitement of the offer/rejection/offer process it's a bit of an anti-climax to now be sitting around waiting for something to happen. And unlike the auction process, where contracts are exchanged on the stroke of the gavel, we're into good old English gazumping territory where we can't be 100% sure if we'll end up with this house. But I'm trying not to be pessimistic...

Meanwhile it gives us time to think about Christmas and get some shopping in before we're packing up once more and buying essentials for the house - like a washing machine, curtains and a lock/handle for the back door!

H'side

After losing out at the auction we scoured the various agent's websites who specialise in renovation/land, and found a couple of vague possibilities. We visited them, more out of desperation than anything else, but with them both being at the top end of the budget and not needing much work we didn't take them any further.

So it was a pleasant suprise when C stumbled across H'side whilst flicking through the property pages of a friend's newspaper. Described as 'needing modernising' and with a good sized garden it looked slightly promising, so worth a visit if not only to rule it out.

Windows local (how did we manage without it or Google Earth?) showed that it's in a great end of village location with a south facing garden. So we arranged a viewing last Saturday, on a drab drizzly and cold afternoon. And yes, it needs modernising and a good clean! But with some work, and possibly an extension (subject to us pacifying the planners) it could be great. Thanks to the south facing garden, all 0.25 of an acre, we could also do some (if not all) of the environmental things we want to do.

With this in mind we made a second visit on Wednesday and made an offer. After a small negotiation we agreed on a price, without any of the auction stress, and it's now off the market!

So out with the new-build and all it's embedded energy, and in with renovation and extension of a 100 year old cottage with plenty of environmentally sustainable measures. It should be great, assuming the next few weeks go smoothly with the survey, solicitors etc...

And no, we don't want to keep the goat.