I'm not sure if I have mentioned this before, but we are very keen on moving out of town and on to a plot to get away from the mad city life and to have some breathing space. We also want to become self-sufficient and to have as many animals as we can possibly afford! So we have been looking for some time now, and even went as far as to make an offer on a five-hectare plot on the outskirts of Brakwater, a good twenty kilometres out of town.
That was plot 170, and it was five hectares, had a riverbed which was great, a borehole, a natural spring that we never actually saw, and four or five little "shacks", of which there was only one liveable and it had no ceiling, no hot water, and no kitchen. It was three tiny rooms with no cupboards or counters in, and the guy wanted 2.3 million for it.
We put in an offer of 2 million at that point, based on the sale of the house here in town. We put in a lower offer as the place needed so much work and there wasn't even a fence around the property, or burglar bars, so there would have been no security whatsoever.
By that point, as it took us a little while to put the offer in, the owner had already upped his price to 2.5 million, and so he immediately refused our offer which was OK with us, as if it wasn't meant to be then it wasn't meant to be and we moved on, thinking we could take a break from rushing to complete this house and go a bit slower.
Then, two weeks ago I found a 25 hectare plot for 2.8 million, which we thought was because it was so mountainous. We went to look at it, and really do like it. It is very mountainous, but we can make a plan with that. It has two very funny little igloos on it; they are literally made by blowing up bubbles and then spraying them with concrete, and you can add on as much as you please to make your house as big as you like.
This one to the left is the back of the small one; as I said there are two. Both are one-bedrooms, but the bigger one has an enormous bathroom, a medium-sized lounge and a massive kitchen which is just fantastic.
The smaller one has a lounge, a bedroom, and a bathroom and isn't huge but a nice size. Joani has agreed to move into it and rent it should we actually get the place and it all goes through.
We will then put a fence between the two so that she can also have her animals there and we can only hope that they leave my cats in one piece ...
They both have fire places, which will be great in winter, and when we walked in we were shocked at how cool it is inside. The day was a good 26 degrees and we have the aircon in the car on, but it was almost cold inside. Hopefully they'll be just as cool in summer than they are in winter!
Although, I have already said that should we move in, I will be buying a porta-pool (how do you spell it??) whilst we fix up the little places and maybe put a nicer pool in. We will have to put a new teeny kitchen in the small one, and maybe new bathrooms in as the current ones are a bit grotty.
It's definitely more liveable than plot 170, and with a good clean to sort out the muck and grime the local farrier who lives there has left, it will be fine to live in until we can sell the Swakop house and use that money to build a big house for ourselves.
Apparently there is a borehole that hasn't been used in fifteen years, so we are hoping that it still works and has water in, as currently you are not allowed to drill boreholes and have to use the municipal water, unless there is an existing one already on the property.
Thank goodness there's one there already!!
The views are beautiful, and whilst it is hilly and not ideal for planting or animals, we can work around it on the smaller areas that are flat. We can plant lucerne trees for the animals as they require minimal water and can live in rougher conditions, and work on smaller projects around the 25 hectares.
Goats are easy to look after and also require less work than sheep, so that will also be an option to look at.
The agent that is selling the plot, Frankie, is a fabulous woman from the UK that has been out here for many years.
We have a lot of the same interests, and on Thursday I went to sign the formal offer. Her own plot is just behind Plot 69, a 3 km drive which is great. We spent over an hour chatting, whilst she showed me her three beautiful horses. She says that her neighbour, Debbie, has a horse that she needs to find a home for, so I will most likely score him too for free, as well as taking on the SPCA horses that need looking after til they're re-homed.
This will also mean that Joani will be kept busy working with the horses, and it will be great to be able to ride out in the mornings.
We then also discovered that we both have a love of writing, so spent ages chatting about that too. The entire area seems like a really nice crowd, and Frankie kept saying to me that they want someone like-minded to move in.
She gave me a hug goodbye and said that as she is the only agent that is showing it, our chances are good. It is selling for below evaluation which is fantastic for us, and so the only thing that is delaying us is this house. Time is against us this time, and not money, as with the sale of both houses we will afford it and have some cash to renovate and clean up with.
It all looks good; let's hope that we can keep it together and that we're lucky enough to win this one! It would be a fantastic opportunity for us, and although we aren't trying to get excited about it we are. If we lose this one we will be upset, unlike we were with the other plot.
