New Life Project - Wrap up

Our real estate agent emailed to us the results of his calculations in valuing the property. The range confirmed our own estimates.

If we were to purchase the property that we viewed up north it would mean contributing money about 30%) out of our savings in order to built a simple house that took advantage of the spectacular view. And that would be if the vendors were prepared to sell at our valuation of their property.

The building of a new house would mean that the illegal original house could be rented out providing a small income to justify the expenditure on a second house. But this does not overcome the problem of having a very large and useful shed located no where near either house. There is little doubt this would drive us mad after a short period.

The decision then is to (for the moment) stay where we are. The likelihood of another property coming on the market with the attributes we desire and in the price range we could afford is small.

That then brings us to Plan B i.e. the improvements to HHF we documented earlier. Most of these revolve around reducing the amount of work performing tasks which regular and needed. The first item to tackle is watering.

Since the agent examined HHF we have been taking things a bit easy spending more time reading. This has been a way of getting away from the regular demands of HHF. Now after a period of rest and confirmation that a move was not imminent  we got back into the tasks.

We had moved away from the automatic watering of the fruit trees with the system installed when the trees were planted. initially to reduce the volume of water required at each watering as well as encourage the trees to dig deeper for water. This has worked well for the last few years as we only applied water to a tree when it showed distinct stress over a period of days.

This last 6 months has been a an exception with the prolonged dry spell putting most of the trees under severe stress resulting in us watering almost every tree. There are some exceptions such as the olives and macadamias.

The first item on the Plan B list was to fix and test the old watering system in the orchard. That has taken most of the day. Some better spray nozzles have been utilised and any trees not requiring regular watering have been turned off but left in the system in case. There were lots of breaks to be repaired where trees had grown and damaged the pipe. Some of these underground breaks required a lot of digging to find and repair. By the end of the day the system was working well.

All that needs to be finished is to bury the new sections installed to replace damaged pipes. The system tested extremely well with the modifications, very good pressure to all the nominated trees and a good fine spray pattern.

Plan B consists of quite a few more irrigation jobs but the orchard was by far the biggest single item.

A sense of achievement at the end of a long hot day.

New Life Project - Pricing your own property

Our real estate agent popped in for coffee this morning and we walked around the house and the 25 acres looking at what was potentially for sale. He had done some homework and had a list of properties that had sold in our area over the last few years.

He will perform three assessments before getting back to us with a suggested sale value. The first obviously is the comparative value of the other properties that have sold with some adjustment for the rising or falling market. The second is adding up the value of all the structures including fencing and dams and the land. The third method is the price paid for the original property plus expenditure on improvements.

This is not an exact science but generally it is pretty accurate.

This will provide us with a budget for any future purchase - should we then choose to keep looking.

New Life Project – Decision Time

On the two and a half hour return journey from viewing our potentially new property we talked about what we had seen and our impressions of its suitability.

The location was excellent. Only a short section of dirt road to manoeuvre, a social rural community, Access to plenty of facilities in nearby towns and villages as well as an active community hall.

The soil on the property was something we dream about. The access to one of the finest creeks ensuring limitless water. It looked pretty good after an extended dry spell.

The house was liveable although we would be silly to place any value on it when compiling a property value. Not having council approval for construction carries many repercussions. When it was constructed more than 20 years ago the compliance requirements were fewer than now. Every year new issues are raised and the standards altered. The rabbit warren design would create many irritations but as with all things time will force adaptation. Storage space was in shortage which would result in some pruning of possessions within arms reach. There were a lot of minor problems (such as the laundry on the veranda) but nothing that couldn't be addressed in time.

The workshop, a very large shed with full facilities including a composting toilet was very handy. The fact that it was a couple of hundred metres from the house a major inconvenience. Especially since the only vehicle access required leaving the property driving up the public road and re-entering the property. I'm sure this would drive us mad after a while. The agent mentions the building cost. It is very high as it was constructed as a commercial building not a farm workshop. The value to any new owner is far less.

The most serious problem is the existence of the spectacular vista from the unused building site another couple of hundred meters from the large workshop and even further from the house. We felt that we could live there without wanting to build a house on that site. This is the part of property searching that is intangible. The gut feel you get when standing in a place that makes you feel good. This was the what we were looking for in a property.

So we slept on it and discussed the dilemma many times over the next 24 hours. More comparisons to HHF and its short comings and strategies to rectify those.

One final question was would we be able to afford to buy and then within a couple of years build a small dwelling on the preferred site and possibly rent out the old house as a source of income.

Our real estate agent (and friend) comes tomorrow to perform an appraisal.

New Life Project - Inspection Report

We were both excited about inspecting the property. I was up at 4 am to work on the wine making and set everything up for our extended absence. Pumping up water and giving the gardens a light soaking then across the river to move the cows and calves and set up both irrigators for new runs.

The joint decision was an early departure in order to spend some time looking at the area around the proposed new property. The nearest towns and their services. What we were trying to compare was what we do now and how we interact with our community and adjacent villages and towns with how all these activities would change if we moved. Being a list type person there were pages of lists for consideration.

Spending a couple of hours walking around the townships looking comparing services and facilities was a good investment. We talked constantly. It wasn't a straight comparison exercise but more about how would we fit in to this place and the way it functions.

In the end our needs were simple. We want easy access to a community pool for regular swims and exercise. Jean is keen on Zumba as well and classes were available in the local community hall. So that is pretty much it as everything else is doable irrespective of which town you look at. Not a demanding list.

Then onto the property. It was two properties.

The first was dismissed immediately. Too difficult to access, a very badly built home, no view and badly overgrown with everything let go.  Not even attractive if you were in your twenties and starting out.

The second property the one that really had our attention had some attractions. Access was fine. A little bit of dirt road but at least council maintained. The house was an illegal construction but interesting. A Hobbity house as Jean named it. Lots of rooms upstairs and downstairs. But you could live with it. Not much of a garden so that's good a clean slate. A few citrus trees established but needing attention. Various garages and sheds and close to a very good water supply in the nearby creek. Native trees crowded the house. Pretty much the house was in a gulley reducing the effects of any breezes.

Then there was the big shed. This was my interest. Very well constructed, huge with toilet, shower and a large upstairs office space. A dream for the handyman. Two ways to get to it from the house. Go out onto the public road and drive the couple of hundred metres to it or take a walk through the bush via a steep gulley. Not just a bit inconvenient but nothing dismissed yet.

Of course the agent (a word to describe cunning) then blew us away. We drove up from the big shed another couple of hundred metres to a large clearing. A track had been slashed through the thickly growing Sataria. Pretty exceptional growth for mid Summer with almost no rain. And we turned to see the view. North and north west was a massive vista stretching forever. It was as if you were up in the sky looking down on the world. What a spot. The HHF view but with the soils we desire.

New Life Project - First Property Inspection

Today we will drive two and a half hours north to meet the real estate agent and inspect the two properties. Only one property has our real interest now. The telephone discussion with the agent yielded a lot of information. Namely both properties are cheap because both have illegal houses i.e. no council approval. The property of least (no) interest has a house that is very badly built with structural timbers well under minimum standards as well as second hand roofing iron with nail holes un-patched. The property of interest although not council approved at least has been build a lot better.

Neither of these house could be brought to council compliance levels without a substantial and unknown investment.

Hence their value in a property sale is nil? But do the vendors accept this reality.

We have been actively thinking and talking about this project and writing down our thoughts. In particular making notes about the alternative of not moving. If we don't move to a clean slate property we have discussed some radical modifications to the garden to make it more readily maintained.

When you are faced with a radical change in life many radical ideas come to mind about your existing situation. The idea of a relocation has a large amount of pain involved and so staying where you are allows you to accept a greater level of pain. This project has opened many options previously not entertained as worth the effort.

These changes include eliminating one permanent bed to provide some space to build an enclosure for protection against birds etc. The concrete blocks from that bed would be used to increase the height of the existing beds and provide deeper soil. We would modify the remaining beds substantially some would be lengthened to make four beds of equal size and because they are long beds they would be broken into two sections to facilitate movement between beds. These are major infrastructure changes should make a huge difference to the operation.

There are a number of other changes which include extending the irrigation to parts of the garden that are now hand watered - including pots. The elimination of some pots or at least their relocation to reduce the obstacle course which is our yard. Replace the leaking concrete pond with a fibreglass base - a major landscaping job. And potentially eliminate a long concrete block bed on the south side and use that area to congregate the large pots we use for Artichokes, Eggplant and Capsicums in Summer. At the moment these are spread through the yard and create a slalom for the mower. 

There you are we have two options for the future. Will we fall in love with the new property and find it meets all our needs?

New Life Project - First Steps i.e. Looking at alternative properties

The first steps towards change occurred today. Being a Sunday they were very much baby steps.

We left a voice mail message with the real estate agent in Wingham expressing interest in the two properties at Bobin. The best timing for an inspection was the coming Wednesday. Another long day driving north and back again. Just to make sure everything stays on schedule we also confirmed with an email to the same person.

One way of confirming mentally whether something is just a romantic ideal or truly a desire for change is to document or make some lists.

Things to Assess: This is a long list in our case about 25 items at the moment. It contains all the things that need to be examined in the target properties. Such things as water sources, soil, heating and cooling, buildings, fences trees, views, waste disposal and lots more. The point of this is not so much to compare current against future but to incorporate everything that may be an additional cost should it not exist and need to be added, purchased, built or lived without.

Services: Another long list of items that need thought. Postal, Library, Dental, Medical, Milk, Motor Vehicle Repair, Animal Feed etc. All just little things that in themselves are not deal breakers but important to be thought about in advance. This is a no surprises project.

Capital Works Budgets:  The beginnings of an itemised spread sheet that will contain all the key projects that may need investment And which will be key in assessing the change over cost.



Our Sale Price  minus Purchase Price plus Cost of Improvements to equal Zero

 

Pros and Cons:  The fully documented thought about and discussed decision making document including an examination of emotional reasons. We also discussed and documented one very important point i.e. What is the worst thing that can happen? Answering this question is the most important. It converts a challenging and frightening future to either a "relax and forget because it isn't going to happen" or an "adventure" or the deal breaking "It is just too risky".


If Moving:
A checklist of jobs that will need to be completed to be able to show HHF to potential buyers as well as all the tasks and their sequence that will make the transition a trouble free relocation.

If Not Moving: 
What are we going to do to improve around HHF. What were the reasons for us considering a move and what can be done to address those reasons without changing properties.

Thoughts of a new life

Preface

Every now and then we talk about moving from HHF to somewhere else. In the past the talk has been about moving to a property which has rich deep soil not the rock pile that is HHF. Another attraction of moving is to have a blank (or semi blank) slate with which we could incorporate many of the ideas that seem impossible to do at HHF. Hot weather always gets Jean talking about a better climate i.e. Tasmania or NZ. Its not just the recent bout of hot weather but every Summer raises this issue.

There are some positive attractions about moving:

• Choosing a property with better attributes now that we have clearly established our requirements
• A chance to create an environment and layout that better suits our interests and needs
• The excitement of a new beginning
• Take the time to plan and develop unlike what happened at HHF

The downside:

• Going into the unknown
• Leaving behind many things
• The pain of moving all our stuff
• The first year will be turmoil as we observe, plan and interact
• The challenge of establishing in a new community

There are many other things to consider but that's a good start.

Now the Good/Bad News

Yesterday we took a day off to visit some old friends a couple of hours drive north in a valley next to the one where we had owned a property 20 years ago. This valley for what ever reason has lusher soils than our previous property and always seems perpetually green.

We try to see these  friends at least once each year or so. As part of our catch-up we inquire about friends and neighbours in their area whom we may have had some contact. Once such couple resided next door. To our surprise their property was on the market for what seemed a very attractive price. It had many of the attributes that we sought and so suddenly our interest sparked. We talked briefly about the property and the local community with our friends and then moved on to other topics.

So now we have a problem. Having talked about moving suddenly we have an opportunity. On the trip home we talked at length about the pros and cons of moving, discussed things we would miss, things that would have to be done, opportunities that would arise and some pretty drastic changes to the way we live.

After arriving home at 10.30 at night we immediately looked up the property. The price was more than what had been mentioned which dampened our excitement a little but still possibly quite achievable. The shock was that there was a second almost identical property only a kilometre away but with a far more attractive price.

A dilemma. We both in our different ways and for different reasons are attracted to moving. Out of the blue we are presented with two unique properties.

Well at least we have a plan:

1.  Organise a property inspection on both and establish whether either or both have the attributes we want and if they feel right
2. Have our own property valued to see if we can make the changeover
3. Prepare a detailed list of positives and negatives and rate each to see if there are any overwhelming issues
4. Prepare a detailed financial budget - if we move we have to give up our part time work and fully retire
5. Buy the property and sell ours

Pretty simple. Each step must be resolved before the next is undertaken. No resolution to a step and the decision is made.

Any words of advice?