the daydream fund challenge thread

Rummer

Kaschow I hadn't realised how close you were to me! At least the weather is holding for you at the minute, it would be great if you were in in time for xmas!

kazschow

It's nice and dry just now, but about to break, back to typical west of scotland weather by the looks of it Rummer! If I'm not in by christmas, i'm going to evict the builders and move into one of their houses heheheee See if they fancy mid winter in the !!!!! van

rozeepozee

Hi All, we had the first frost yesterday too. Very crunchy grass. I love that.

We are finding that realising the daydream is more problematic than we expected. Looking on the internet at potential properties is entirely differently to being on the ground in a place (obviously, doh! Some might say :rotfl:). There are loads of average properties with no land or grounds to speak of, lots of cheap land inland, but then we want to be near the coast (the microclimate is much better too), lots of sellers with unrealistic expectations of what their house can achieve but also there's the occasional buyer from outside the area who will see a house that seems so cheap compared to the sort of prices they're used to in their area and pay the asking price or thereabouts when a local (or someone who'd been watching the local market) would realise that it's not really such a bargain after all. And although a southerner or easterner may be able to easily purchase a property around here, once they've moved to live here, they aren't earning southern or eastern incomes, so how do you survive day to day? Hmmmm....

I've begun to see some asking prices come down by 10% or more in the last two months, some by 25% over the last year. If you look at a search engine like Rightmove, this makes the sellers who've stuck it out at their original asking price seem wildly overpriced... Why would you buy a 3 bedroomed farmhouse with a few acres for £499,000 when you can buy a grand residence for £550K? In the last few weeks, we've seen a few properties that were sold subject to contract or under offer come back on the market. Sales seem to be fallng through on a very regular basis.

For those of you who are living the dream, I hope I'm not boring you with all the talk of house prices, but in order to have those chickens, I need to buy somewhere to put them

rozeepozee

Davesnave wrote: »

I think it was about 8C outside today, but I was warm enough, digging. Inside, the woodburner didn't quite go out, so reasonably cosy.

We can shut half of the bungalow off, which is one of the few really helpful & practical aspects of the place. Last week there were 4 of us and now there's only me, so just 3 rooms being used.

Because 'the man' comes to service and light the Aga this week, you can probably bank on some unseasonal sub-tropical weather for mid November. We argue about this, but I feel we're still a bit early for expensive 24/7 heat.

No real news on the foundations yet, but one end of the house is looking good and the original bit is deeper than expected. I'm down 3' and I haven't found the footings on that side yet. I hope there are some....

On my last house, the foundations ended roughly 10"-12" below ground level! :eek:

Our house in the North has no foundations. It is built on the clay. Incredible seeing as it is a very substantial three storey stone structure... We've experienced superficial cracks in the paint and plasterwork if the clay shrinks over a dry Summer like the one we just had.

lostinrates

rozeepozee wrote: »

For those of you who are living the dream, I hope I'm not boring you with all the talk of house prices, but in order to have those chickens, I need to buy somewhere to put them

not at all, you should join us in the Houseprice forum

Today I whizzed out with my dad, over past Davesnave's old city, and pointed at all the things along the way that had been for sale at least since we lived here. My parents have been on the market unsuccesfully for over a year, and they are going to have to take a huge decrease to sell IMO. Sadly they are separating and as mortgage free they don't feel inclined to drop, so they are sitting it out atm, and I don't think they have appreciated what a long game it is they might be playing.


regarding foundations, some bits of our house have them others do not, we are rectifying that next year I hope!


Its so cold and I have loads of roses in bud, I'm wondering if I should go and pick them all to enjoy them in the house or whether they will get a chance to bloom out there?

RAS

lostinrates wrote: »

Its so cold and I have loads of roses in bud, I'm wondering if I should go and pick them all to enjoy them in the house or whether they will get a chance to bloom out there?

I would cut the ones nearest opening and take them in. Leave the others.

IME some are more frost resistant than others, but you should have a supply through to Christmas as long as you do not have weather like last December. I often have a few on the Christmas dinner table, though that is a bit westward.

lostinrates

RAS wrote: »

I would cut the ones nearest opening and take them in. Leave the others.

IME some are more frost resistant than others, but you should have a supply through to Christmas as long as you do not have weather like last December. I often have a few on the Christmas dinner table, though that is a bit westward.

wow, thanks RAS. I'll do this tomorrow then

RAS

Ohh - and they last a whole lot longer if you put them somewhere cool - not a problem I appreciate but if you have the stove going, pop them somewhere else for the evening.

Had some last three weeks last year, the odd one dropping off after the first week but most standing firm.

lostinrates

RAS wrote: »

Ohh - and they last a whole lot longer if you put them somewhere cool - not a problem I appreciate but if you have the stove going, pop them somewhere else for the evening.

Had some last three weeks last year, the odd one dropping off after the first week but most standing firm.

you are such a mine of information, always!

Do you ever put anything in the water? I rarely do...though I have loads of the sachets from cut flowers (If I buy flowers I buy a few of those supermarket bunches for one vase and don't use all the ''stuff'' to make them last longer). The problem with so many of the oldfashioned and english roses is they don't last in a vast very long. I love the slightly gone over look...like a natura morte in the flesh, but I know others hate it:o

RAS

lostinrates wrote: »

Do you ever put anything in the water?

No - just cut the stems again if they start to look less than bright. I am sure that supermarket stuff does work, but you can add a little bit of sugar,; that was the traditional remedy.