the daydream fund challenge thread

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Davesnave wrote: »

I know this is a daydream thread, but if you are going for achievable then surely mortgageability comes into it? I'm not sure that Nant Hir would make it on that score! When you look at the whole smallholding thing, there's also the cost of decent outbuildings to factor in as well, so cutting down on acreage and boosting the quality of the buildings would be more realistic, I think.

Your budget is a tough one, but here's one that is mortgageable. I know it isn't in your area. It doesn't have much in the way of outbuildings, though you'd save on not needing to do up the house. Someone would get this for about £225k

http://www.dezrez.com/DRApp/Search.ASP?WCI=Particular&WCE=00828271

If you press 'go' on the map, you get a decent large map/aerial view, though the marker goes to the wrong place. The property is actually next to the pub car park on the B road corner/crossroads, and that's the down-side. (there's always one!) However, the pub is a failed business and is also for sale, so it may go the way of many rural pubs!

In a way, I agree with Mrsmcawber, in that animals are a rather expensive luxury. I don't mean chickens, or even the odd pig or goat, but the sort of animals that have you needing more than about an acre. Go much above that size and the price starts creeping up.

Davesnave you are totally right in reality, to go for a property like Nant Hir, you need the money sitting in your bank account, plus a load more to sympathetically restore not only the farmhouse but hte land and hte outbuildings.

I feel like a smallholder stalker..lol... as we went to go and have a nose yesturday afternoon, and took some pics






when we turned aroung to go back, the converted barn that used to be part of the farm, there was a guy outside, which hubby knows ( works with him) and he was saying that loads of people have been going to have a look,

it was originally part of a 100acre farm, and the old lady died about a year 18 months ago, she used to live there with her brother and sister none of them ever married.

tonight i think i need a reality check and sit down and work out how much i need to earn/save etc,

I have allway dreamed of an old fashioned farmhouse with the flagstone floor with basic furniture and very rusty, and un- modernised, and all for the grand total of a few grand..lol...

not asking/looking for much am i:rotfl::eek:

Davesnave

I know only too well how hard it is CTC. Week before last DW and I found a 'dream' property, just within budget if we offered 5% less than asking.

Somebody wrote our car off for us on the way home, so it was a few days before we were mobile again, courtesy of their insurance company. We contacted the agent and found that, in the meantime, the property had already received an asking price offer.

We could go a bit higher, but the place needs some TLC and one has to be brutally realistic.....

We will probably walk away.

However, every place viewed is part of the learning curve. I see you are putting time in at that. It costs nowt to look!

Rummer

No, no no try not to be too brutally realistic. Better to tighten your belts and get your dream property than to let it go!

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Davesnave wrote: »

I know only too well how hard it is CTC. Week before last DW and I found a 'dream' property, just within budget if we offered 5% less than asking.

Somebody wrote our car off for us on the way home, so it was a few days before we were mobile again, courtesy of their insurance company. We contacted the agent and found that, in the meantime, the property had already received an asking price offer.

We could go a bit higher, but the place needs some TLC and one has to be brutally realistic.....

We will probably walk away.

However, every place viewed is part of the learning curve. I see you are putting time in at that. It costs nowt to look!

ooooo Dave you must have been gutted, with the car AND especially with your dream property.

and as you say its a learning curve, and it cost nothing to window shop:D

your 'dream property' waht was it like? a discription would be lovely to hear.

you never know maybe the offer may fall through

Davesnave

Rummer wrote: »

No, no no try not to be too brutally realistic. Better to tighten your belts and get your dream property than to let it go!

Not if it means losing it a year or two down the line instead!

Rummer

True, it would just be such a shame for you to lose your dream. I hope that you find another one soon.

Davesnave

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

ooooo Dave you must have been gutted, with the car AND especially with your dream property.

and as you say its a learning curve, and it cost nothing to window shop:D

your 'dream property' waht was it like? a discription would be lovely to hear.

you never know maybe the offer may fall through

DW and I have been rear-ended while waiting at junctions before. It's the other party's insurers who pay out, and it's quite nice having the loan of brand new cars for a while, but we'd prefer to just let our own older vehicles see out their days naturally. We also own a 3.5 tonne van with a heavy-duty tow unit on the rear, but nobody ever runs into that!

We'll consider another visit to the 'dream' property, depending on how well placed the other bidder is, or whether more come into the picture. The seller hasn't accepted the offer yet. We're cash buyers & living in rented, so that aspect is fine, but we can't run ourselves too short as we know we'll not make a fortune on a smallholding. As they say in Asda, when it's gone, it's gone.

Our plan is to buy something that will give us one family-friendly holiday let. The rest really depends on the land, but we'd want to be self-sufficient in veg and eggs, with maybe a secondary animal interest, like sheep or alpacas. I've an interest in woodland management, so I wouldn't mind renting out surplus grazing, at least to begin with. There's very little money in that though. As West Wales has enough ordinary plant nurseries, I might try growing & supplying a range of trees & see how that goes.

The smallholding we're keen on is in West Wales, between the coast & mountains. It has around 20 acres of very well managed land, a modest-sized house and a converted barn. We have often found soil to be a bit of a let-down, but this one has free-draining fields with an open aspect to the south and it is sheltered. There's enough woodland to have independent fuel supplies and also free water for the polytunnel.

Altogether, most boxes are ticked, but the house & barn both need some work and there are no outbuildings. I can do simple building though.;)

Davesnave

Rummer wrote: »

True, it would just be such a shame for you to lose your dream. I hope that you find another one soon.

Thanks. Because we've been at this for a while now, we know there will be others. We lost one years ago when the owners suddenly withdrew it, and we also failed to sell our house in time to get the next. Then there were lots of complications like kids sitting exams, parents needing care etc and we couldn't think of moving for a couple of years. But we kept watching.

That's why we've sold up and gone into rented! No complications now, except old age creeping up, unfortunately.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

my fingers are still crossed for you Dave, and as you say you have no commitments to sell a property etc, and you are cash buyers, which in this current climate is an ACE up your sleeve.

there are some beautifull properties down west wales, but sadly from my point of view they are being snapped up by people like yourself moving down from England. which has now bumped the prices up,

fingers crossed that it will go through for you, as wales is a beautifull place to live, and one day you will get your Alpacas.


today i have cashed out £16 on virgin bingo, all free money:D

and i withdrew £50 from paypal last night so £66 to be added to my total

MRSMCAWBER

Morning all

Another glorious start to the day here again :j


Yesterday I was busy :-

• potting up leeks :eek:like blades of grass -so it took a while -but now they can stay in that pot until they are fat enough to put in their final place
• Set the other courgette and squash varieties I have -the first ones have come through really strong :T
• moved the cucumbers -I know they don't like being disturbed so I got gravy granule tubs(the card ones) cut the bottom out and poked holes in the lid and turned upside down.. 1/2 filled with compost and then the cucumber and original compost dropped on top with no disturbance;)-so when they go outside I can just pop the bottom off and drop the whole thing into the hole -it will also mean that I won't get water on the stem when Im watering once they are out as they don't like the stems getting wet;)
• hubby got busy wiring my canes in place ready for my tomatoes

so we got quite a bit done :j
Today Im going to finally get all the peas/sugar snaps set in loo rolls -that just leaves lots of bean varieties to do -which can wait another week..

Hopefully we will get to nip to fetch the last of the compost today and I have seen some strawberry plants on offer at 50c each so will pick some of those up... then I "think" that I should be done spending for this year :j
hope everyone is making the most of this lovely weather:D