No, not THIS house, but another for sale, I think I have mentioned it in other recent threads. Writing this 'cos I don't have any IRL friends to talk to/sound off.
The Man found an old house for sale online, whilst looking for some details on another property we have seen on the highway near our town. The one on the highway is RIGHT ON the highway, which neither of us like, so not really sure why he bothered to look at it online. But, by doing so, had to go beyond the usual real estate websites and go directly to the realtor's site. Then, in turn, looking through the site more in depth, found the old house. And another in the same area, which would be suitable for his Dad and step Mum. Perhaps more on that house later.
The old house is REALLY old. It has the original store of the the area as part of it, and was built, from what I can gather, in 1890. And the original store is still original. It has all the shelves and benches in it, as well as a brick lined cellar, which they used before refrigeration. Apparently the house has five bedrooms, bathroom and ensuite, and a large lounge, plus sunroom. The man who owns the house is away on holidays until the 4 April, and has not given the real estate a key, so we need to wait until he gets back so that we may actually get into it to have a look. On Monday we get to walk around the outside with the agent, and also get to inspect the inside of the other small house.
I think the old store/house is now called Storehaven. Cute. It's weatherboard, and pine daddo lined inside. From the outside, it looks really big, but doesn't have a whole lot of windows. It does have some heating and cooling, thank fully. A downside, it is pretty much right on the edge of the dirt road, but it doesn't seem busy at all. There is a row of only five houses I think in that part of the road, all on the same side, with paddocks as far as the eye can see on the other, with the highway just visible (when you drive along the highway, you can just see this really old place). Further up the road is a vineyard, but I don't think they do any processing there. There are a few sheds, but nothing to suggest bottling, so hopefully it only gets busy at picking season with trucks going past for picking up the grapes. There is also a train line right next to the property, which is maybe an acre or so, but there are only three trains per day I think. Cool. Many years ago there used to be a station and platform, but they have since been removed.
Storehaven is located in the local lakes area, but I don't think it has ever flooded, even with recent years' flooding, I can't find anything suggesting it has. I must get into the local historical societies to see if there are any photos of the place, way back when. It is less than a kilometre from a couple of lakes, which have good fishing, and at least one of them has duck shooting (not our thing, but the fishing would be right up the Man and his Dad's alley)
It is closer to another major town than the one we are in now, but I have asked DD's school if she could still attend if we moved away, and happily the answer is yes. She would just have to catch a bus, but it would be with the Boy, who goes to the high school here, it wouldn't be one of the "town" buses.
Lol, the Man is teasing me about the "thesis" that I am typing, because it's so long! Love him.
We both love this old place, we are so not modern house people, and we can only imagine the condition of the inside of Storehaven for it's listed price. We're both hand's on people, so would love to do as much to the place ourselves as possible. Obviously, we would have to get in the professionals for things like rewiring and plumbing, but one of the Man's friends is a carpenter, and has offered to teach the Man a lot about what he might need. I think that is also lovely. There are a number of sheds on the property, some which have definitely seen better days.
We're looking forward to getting in to look at Storehaven, it would be somewhere that we can see ourselves living for a long time. So fingers crossed that it will be okay, and further that it can be ours! If you got this far, thanks for reading. Just wanted to tell someone.
Ohhh I love real estate window shopping- so thanks for the thesis!!
It sounds glorious! I'm picturing wonderful gardens, making use of those sheds for seedlings etc, chickens, goats, bees, a little orchard and your own cold storage for pumpkins, apples, ferments and making your own cheese. Bliss!!
Sounds wonderful hun, i hope it's everything you like & more once you get a chance to have a look inside.
We are right on the side of a pretty busy road and it's not as bad as we thought it would be, but we are very similar in that you can basically see rolling hills & paddocks from here and a few houses on the hills etc
How exciting!
Sounds like a huge amount of hard work that will leave you with an incredible house at the end of it all. If you've got the skills it can be so rewarding to know that YOU did that, and YOU did that when you look around your home. I would love to live in an old restored farmhouse but married too much of a city boy.
I hope it gives you lots of hope when you wander around it, and that you get to see inside really soon.
Everyone; thank you, we hope its all that when we can get in there!
Meow; I'm hoping for some wonderful gardens too. We don't have water restrictions to contend with, and there is two sources of water (lake and rain). Not sure if I will get much in the way of shed space for gardening, might have to wortk on building a greenhouse from scratch.... But, if we got the other house as well for the inlaws, there are, I think, already some vege beds laid out, and chook yards, etc. I am definitely thinking of the cellar for food storage, would love to do my own pickling and preserving too, we'll see what we can do when we get in to have a look. I would hope we could have our own chickens though.
We (the Man and I) always see the potential in things, and how it could be restored. I have seen from the few photos that the kitchen sink is very small (remember the old square and tiny sinks) with one draining board, but that doesn't bother me. I have lived with these sinks before, and whatever doesn't fit in to be washed certainly fits into the laundry trough! The listing also says it has a wood burning stove in the kitchen! I'm pretty easy when it comes to how I can live, so am not too worried about living in the midst of renovations. My brother and I did it with my Mum over a number of years (she didn't have an oven or real stove for two years, cooked on a companion camp stove!). As long as there is still something usable!
The whole place has so much potential for us. There is no undercover area outside, so we can do our own thing there, and inthe style of tue house. It's only a fairly short drive on the dirt to the house from the highway, so any nice car or bike won't get too badly blasted, too quickly. And in the time that we hung around there the other day having a look from the road and driving around, not one other vehicle was on the same road too.
Before you get to excited talk to the local council and see if there will be any restrictions if you want to do any work on the property or house. If they say no get it in writing so they cannot slap bans on any work you start.
Old buildings are beautiful but if on any list are then a pain re remodeling.
If no restrictions the property sound just what you have been looking for. Hope you can get a feel for the place when you have a look at the outside next week
Rivlas; Thanks for the reminder. Haven't found either property to be on any list so far. Usually they come up in online searches, as I have found in the past. I *think* it will be okay for us to do pretty much what we want, as nothing that we have in mind (so far) alters the appearance from the street at all. But, having said that, would be looking into it before anything commenced. It seems rather like a bit of a forgotten building if it is not on any lists...
The other house, which incidentally is right next door (with the rail way line dividing the two!), and looks very much like it is an old station master's house. That property is even harder to come by any information. That house (let's call it the Stationmaster's house?), has been tidied up, has new floor coverings, new paint, air cond, heating, two bedrooms, sunroom, detached bungalow with bathroom, and a big garage. Plus a big avairy (sp), and another shed or something with maybe a vege garden behind it. It's very tidy.
Sounds amazing! We have an old house, it was just rubbish when we got here and after lots of hard and I mean hard work we have the land looking good. The house is next and it will be a labour of love the countryside is awesome and I think living out of town is just the best!
At 12.30 today we will be looking at the inside of Storehaven. Yay.
We looked at the outside, all around the yard, on Monday. One of the sheds would be good for firewood and nothing more, another, you would *very carefully* stack things in there that you weren't going to need in a hurry, and the other was closed and locked, but is better I think (fits two cars in it maybe). There is a back "paddock" (not overly huge, but a reasonable size, the whole block is about 5500m2), but it's full of three corner jack weed! (If you have never seen these devil things, they are far FAR worse than bindis.... It doesn't matter what side they sit on, there is always a dirty great big sharp thorn pointing directly upwards! Ready to stick in the bottom of all unsuspecting bare feet, shoes, tyres, and even hard pram wheels. They are truly awful things!). But, the area that would be most used as a back yard, has beautifully kept grass (looks three corner jack-free!)! There is even the original water tank tower (no water tank anymore), outdoor loo, and some nice plants. *Heaps* of space for a big garage for all our toys (which would be further back than this 'nice' area), vege patches, a cubby house, shaded 'entertaining' area, and just kicking a ball around! Even space for a pool if we wanted... And there is a couple of good climbing trees!
The roofline (and what a roofline it has!) all looks straight, if not in need of new guttering, so that is positive.
I'm guessing that my post later on after the inside inspection will be likely one of the following:
1. (And the most unlikely) OMG! Totally fabulous, and ready to move straight in!
2. Better get ready to do some HARD work (amongst re-wiring, sanding and painting, and building cupboards/wardrobes to suit).
3. EXTRA amounts of hard work that I was hoping we wouldn't have to do! (like foundation work or termites). A costly exercise, worth it in the end, but, oh dear in the mean time...
4. (The one I'm hoping for the LEAST!) OMG! Waaaaay beyond us! Totally heartbroken!
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So there's this house we like...
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