Saturday 8^th September 2007

Despite being in Southampton rather than Worcestershire we decided to view some more properties. It made for a very long day but it’s fun to push it to the limit some times. Unlike the first lot of houses we viewed there were actually some that we might consider in this bunch. Before booking these viewings we made sure that we had done our homework. After sifting though about 200 sets of details we decided on five that we would like to see.

The first property on our list was a lovely looking black and white cottage called Applewick Cottage. It was a little north of Tewksbury and stood in a fair side bit of ground. It was certainly very pretty but the inside really let it down. The ground floor was nice but the upper floor appeared to have something wrong with the floor. There was exceedingly cheap laminate flooring over a good portion of it and lino and carpet over the rest. Some of the windows were failing and there was a little damp. All in all it wasn’t worth the money they were asking.

We both felt that Applewick Cottage was probably the closest we were going to get for a match to Dean Croft but we went off to view a few other places first. We stopped off in Tewksbury to grab some lunch and got the best deal ever: two large sausage rolls for a pound. I’ve never felt like I’ve wanted to pay extra for something from a shop before.

The other places we viewed were nice but and there was one that almost turned Hazels head away from Dean Croft. It was a huge, modern, five bed house out near the Welsh border. There was no doubt it would fulfil all our needs but I felt that it didn’t have the character of Dean Croft. The only problem with it was that it was a long commute to Gloucester each day; probably about an hour.

Our last viewing of the day was Dean Croft. It was time to crawl all over the house with a fine tooth comb. The owner was away on holiday so we could spend as long as we wanted there. In the end we took nearly two hours going over every last inch of the house. The snapped purlin is indeed a substantial problem as the beam is nearly a 30cm square. It looks like it has been broken for a very long time though and it is supported but another beam. One thing is for sure – it needs a structural engineer to come in and look at it.

There is also evidence of a little damp in the ceiling of the second bedroom although it appears dry. I think there was probably a leak at some point. The only other problem I could see was a damp beam in the cellar which I think is probably due to the coal hatch being filled in.

I am a little nervous at this point, it feels like an awfully large amount of work to be undertaking at a time when the housing market is stumbling. I don’t think we will make a loss but there is a little voice in my head asking me whether we will be able to make all out money back. It’s going to be such an adventure though that part of me doesn’t really care.

We placed an offer of £410,000 at the end of viewing the property. Hazel was starting to get tired towards the end and had doubts about whether we could make it work. Neither of us think that our offer is going to be accepted.

On the way home we talked about Dean Croft and the outbuildings. We have come to the conclusion that we will try and let out the two larger, purpose built workshops to generate income. Once we have done the studio flat up we will let that out too. Between them they won’t cover the mortgage but they will serious help out with it. We don’t know whether we have permission to let out the workshops but I am seriously inclined to just do it and not ask. The most interesting thing to come from that discussion though was the idea that we would be able to use the workshops as a pension scheme. If we could let them for around a £1000 a month that would provide us with an income when we are old and grey. We would, of course, also save up so that we would have a regular pension as well.