Tuesday 22 May 2012

Negotiations

The negotiations for the property is going reasonably well.

We have a meeting with the seller and the estate agent over the weekend to find a way to make this work. Apparently he freaked when he heard what it was going to cost him to get plans drawn and passed, BUT, that happens to be the business my Hubcap is in. So here is the deal..... we will offer him what he asking for the property, but we want the furnishings thrown in. Also, the sale is valid for as long as the lady at town planning thinks it is going to take to get the legalities sorted out. So if she estimates 3 months, the agreement will be valid for that long. So, looks like it may all be happening.

In the meantime I have started fixing up some old furniture that I want to sell. Running a guesthouse means a lot of work in the morning, a lot of work later in the afternoon and quiet in the middle. So I thought I would indulge my hobby of DOING THINGS to earn a bit of extra income. I will post some "after" pictures as soon as I am finished with the first stuff.
This is a table made from reclaimed wood. It has plenty layers of paint on it. I cannot decide whether to strip it completely to expose the Oregon pine, or leave some of the paint for a shabby chic effect.
I found a shopfitting company that was closing down and bought some stunning old stuff. I got 2 old tool boxes and these cute little trays that held nails of different sizes. Will see how they end up.

Renovating things is so satisfying.

Sunday 20 May 2012

Let's start at the beginning......

This whole blog may be a bit premature. Let me start at the beginning......
The Hubcap and I have been married for 34 years. We had our ups and downs, raised our kids and are now approaching retirement.Living in a big city is not my idea of fun, so the plan is to retire to Zululand, open a Bed & Breakfast, and live off that while in retirement.

We have found the property we want, but it is hugely problematic. It has five bedrooms, each with a full bathroom and kitchenette. There is also five garages that can be converted into extra rooms.It has a borehole so the cost of services will be much cheaper. The problem is that none of this has been built to approved plans. So step number one is to get the present owner to get the plans passed. Their is no way we can get financing without that.

so, lets see what happens from here.