I need some advice before I plunge head-long into what might be either:
a: The best purchase/decision I have ever made, or
b: The worst…
Long story short, The Bloke and I have been seriously considering a move to a more rural environment for some time now. Family, work and other circumstances have encouraged us to look more seriously of late, and this weekend we spent in northern Victoria checking out houses and properties.
We found one in a small country town (it’s got a General Store, a Pub and a wheat silo, population about 500 or so) and the little old miner’s cottage is on 1/2 acre of land. It’s remarkably cheap (and has been on the market for over a year so the vendor will probably drop even further I presume when we come to make an ‘offer’).
But the cottage is in really serious need of really serious renovation. It’s possibly liveable at the moment, just, but needs a lot of time and effort (and of course, $) to bring it up to what most people would like to call ‘home’.
The Bloke is a pretty good handyman, but I’m completely useless except to pass up tools and exclaim what a wonderful job has been done. All going according to plan, we will have enough $ to employ REAL tradies to do the serious construction/electrical/plumbing works needed…but I still worry that the task of renovating a ‘should be bulldozed’ property might be beyond us, emotionally if not physically and financially. Aaaaanyway, what have been your experiences with tarting up ‘renovator’s dreams’ type houses?? Give me all your horror stories (and the successes) so that I can slap myself into reality.
Many years ago, we bought an inner-city (Sydney) house. It had charm, original fireplaces and coloured glass. It was m’husbands preference. I wanted the place that had less charm but more floorboards.
The place we got had:
no room with walls floors and ceilings.
rising damp
fallling damp
no foundations (didn’t find that one out till later when trying to fix the rising damp on one side of the house!)
an assortment of insect pests that got the man from Flick all excited (he kept popping up from beneath the floor or out of the ceiliing to announce his latest find with glee)
no hot running water
external dunny only
M’husband said he would do the hard work. …
I can now lay a floor, mitre corners, tile a floor, sand and polish a wooden floor, landscape a garden, remove kalsomine from walls and wallpaper from ceilings, and paint walls and patterned plaster ceilings. At one point I had no kitchen or sink, but I did have a Sunbeam frypan in the bathroom and a moveable dishwasher connected to the yard tap. (I don’t do dishes . And my training for this? I did embroidery at school!
I did have to get tradies to plumb and wire, replace a ceiling that was to broken to save and to extend the back and move the function of the wet rooms.
The rest you can do with commonsense and a disregard of manicures.
Yes, we lived in the technically non-habitable place. Yes, it was tough on the relationship, particularly as it wasn’t the place I preferred and he didn’t do the repairs as he said he would.
But you don’t have to have everything at once. I would put a bathroom ahead of a kitchen - you can always use a BBQ, but going outside at night to the loo gets old fast.
The question is - do you both want this move and this house??
I say go for it. The wonderful stuff that you will find! I helped a friend renovate an old farmhouse and we found the biggest honey comb hive in the laundry wall - we took a picture of it, and it was eventually published in Australian Geographic. The house sounds like a challenge, but I think the key is to take your time and treat it like a fun challenge rather than a chore. And you’ll have an amazing country retreat as well. However, living in the northern Mallee, all I can say is that you get it extensively checked for termites as they love the Mallee soil. Now I’m curious - it sounds like St. Arnaud. 500 is too many for Werrimull? Also, I can highly recommend some amazing tradies - and you shouldn’t have any trouble getting them to travel because of the building downturn. Good luck - we need pix!
In the shorter term (according to The Plan), I’ll be ‘commuting’ from Melbourne (staying in town four days a week) until I find some work nearby. It may or may not be difficult to find work, I’m not sure yet.
Oh, DellieM, it ain’t the Mallee, although that is where The Bloke grew up and has much of an affinity towards.
Think Yarrawonga and southern environs, like, oh, Tungamah??
Oh wow! Totally envious! Lots of huge old redgums, and as flat as a billiard table! Fantastic! I work for an MP, so I can give you lots of resources, as I have contacts there. Don’t hesitate to send me a message to give you a hand up.
It’s flat alright. Except for the wheat silo there ain’t nothing much on the horizon except more blue sky. Apparently the wheat was sown a few weeks back so the paddocks are the most brilliant green that it almost looks like it’s been photoshopped.
So, you have contacts hmmm? What’s the Planning Permit department like and how rabid are they about stuff etc?? Just arsking and all.
Maaaaatttteee! I’ll bring the esky! We’re almost neighbours! (Well, in the Doper world anyway!) Regarding permits and stuff, sure I can hook you up with excellent local government contacts! I’m actually involved with the Municipal Association Board of Victoria with an active role in river municipalities. I’m in Mildura. Where usually it never rains, but there’s weird wet shit falling from the sky right now, so hopefully good falls for our cropping farmers.
Good falls for the croppers means they’ll still be whingeing because there’ll be a glut of good grain. There’s never pleasing some folk sometimes, particularly farmers. Gotta love 'em but…they DO feed us.
Rain in Mildura is pretty weird though. What’s your total annual wet-stuff, around 10 inches or so? Lets hope it rains enough to flood the Coorong eh. Fingers crossed.
I will email you soonly (as soon as we have finalised the purchase etc) regarding contacts and bribes and other ways and means. All tongue in cheek folks, nothing to see here, move along…
Well, you’re just greedy fuckers aren’t you. Not content with ‘just enough’ you want to suck up all the precipitious allocation for the rest of the continent as well, eh?
I might add our dams have just reached 40% after being down to 19% full. We should just build a dam over Melbourne.
And when we had that storm I almost did drown. I knew we were in trouble when the wheel barrow floated up the back stairs. I had to rescue the cat off the roof of the less than 12 month old car.
population about 500 or so) and the little old miner’s cottage is on 1/2 acre of land. It’s remarkably cheap (and has been on the market for over a year so the vendor will probably drop even further I presume when we come to make an ‘offer’).
. And my training for this? I did embroidery at school!