When I watched the Extended Edition version of Fellowship with Bilbo pottering around Bag End, I thought someone could build a number of B&B’s in New Zealand somewhere and make a killing.
Permanent homes? I think they look beautiful and I wouldn’t mind living in one, but I bet, yeah, somebody’s gonna lose money on this.
What I’m wondering… Yeah, these places look nice, and all (at least, if you go for the artificially-superficially-cute thing), but I’ve seen a lot of houses built for looks and novelty value. Almost universally, once you get just slightly below the surface, the quality of the construction is terrible. I actually saw one place once (advertised at something like $7000/month rent) where they were literally unable to finish painting it: By the time they finished painting the fourth wall, the first one was already peeling off. So I’m not wondering what the value of these houses will be, 40 years down the line: I’m wondering if any of them will still be standing.
Well, there are a lot of Storybooks still standing.
Sorry, Late Numenorean is more my style. A nice little lodge outside Annuminas, on Lake Evendim, would suit.
That’s what I’m wondering. Rumbling around in my head is the vague notion that PVC and UV don’t get along with one another, but i can’t say for certain if that’s true or not. If it is, then the roofing could be rather short-lived.
In that area? Well, most of the houses near there are probably around $500k… but they’re on quarter-acre lots. The shire looks to have basically non-existent yards, so you’re basically paying for the house itself. Just down the street from there, I’ve seen brand-new, large-ish houses with postage-stamp-sized yards going for around $300k.
The Shire probably has more amenities, but they won’t have the all-important location aspect that other houses around that price range enjoy. The Shire is in the unfashionable east side - no view, flat land, and it’s only about a mile from the parkway. I suspect they’re going to have a very hard time selling these houses- for the same amount of money, you could buy a smaller mansion up on Awbrey Butte, and get a much larger yard in addition to the best view in town. Prices on the $600k-plus properties are teetering on the edge right now- it’s predicted that houses in that range will soon start losing value. The days of $600k houses selling within hours 'round these parts passed earlier on this year- there are a lot of “for sale” signs in Bend right now.
Here are some pictures I took yesterday afternoon, if anyone wants to see 'em. As you can see, there’s not really a lot to look at.
Has anybody looked at the floor-plans for these houses? They are kind of bizarre for that price range. The Butterfly House you enter directly to the kitchen. The Quail cottage you enter into the Family room. The Quail Cottage entry is directly into the living room. These homes seem to have extremely poor flow, I would think resale would be very low.
Preview is your friend, the second Quail cottage should have been Holly.
Heck, I live in a “modern” (30s era) English Cottage style house in Toronto (Kingsway neighbourhood). 
Admittedly the smallest house in the neighbourhood … but here it is:
Others in the area are a lot larger and nicer, though:
Views up the Humber are nice:
