Hello all ..... good news .. but first I am sooo sorry we haven't posted for far to long .... sorry to my dear friend 'H' who's been watching and waiting ..... so hears my explanation;
We had a buyer for the house in June / July last year so hopes were raised and we were thinking that we would be in CZ by the end of 2008 but alas, the credit crunch was looming and despite even putting in an offer for our buyers buyer's property it all fell through and the property values continued to fall ... things were not looking good. Our buyer had to withdraw their offer which left us back at square one. We had a few viewings but no real interest until, finally, after months of waiting and wondering if we were ever going to sell our original buyer came back to us with an offer but at a significantly reduced amount than before which meant that we would have to find a property at a price which would still give us the capital required to do the work to the house at Mirkovice, and so the house hunting began. Not only has the housing market suffered but also business including my own work which meant additional time away from home and a new posting in Singapore leaving my wife to do ALL the work sorting things out. In total Shelley must have seen in the region of 30 properties before settling on what turned out to be a bargain at the price and would give us what we needed. The idea was to get everything completed by October during my first home leave but as is the way with these things there were further delays with mortgage offers and lawyers not doing anything, (not ours) and we didn't complete. Finally, a completion date was set for 3rd Nov only for our buyers buyer to transfer funds late and the completion not going through despite Shelley having packed up and then having to stay with relatives with a loaded lorry parked in the driveway until everything finally cleared 2 days later. So on 5th Nov 2008 we finally sold and moved to a smaller house in the UK that will be our base for now and also a place for my son to live when Shelley and I finally make the move full time to Krumlov. I didn't return from Singapore until the 11th December.
Since getting back we have managed to get over to Krumlov to see friends and catch up with things. We had the Xmas week there which was sooo good. It is such a relaxing place to be, we had plenty of walks but unfortunately no time for skiing although a huge dump of snow put a dampner on things as we were driving across the Czech border from Germany and meant a detour via Linz. Our friends inform us that we need snow tyres as its against the law not to have them as well as giving you that all essential grip you need which we didn't have when it was needed. Trouble is I have low profile motorway tyres on our Vectra and they can't be changed that easily. I will look to buy new wheels so that I can just change them when we get over, meantime I bought a set of snow chains just in case.
We had a meeting with our chosen builder and also pulled up some of the flooring to explore concerns about wood rot and beetle infestations. Thankfully things look okay. We are anticipating challenges like this so will let you know what else we find as things progress. We have already treated most of the wood work as well as removing some of the damaged beams. It looks like all the stuff that's a couple of hundred years old is fine ..its the stuff that was done in the 70's / 80's that isn't so good. The plans have all been done including the solar heating, plumbing and electricity .. we are just waiting to get the building engineers stamp that is required before they can be submitted to the planning office. We have been told it can take anything from 10 days to 3 months to get plans approved .... I'll keep you posted on that one. As soon as we get the go ahead we can get the builders in to start work installing windows and the solar heating system as well as the internal frame for new walls for the proposed 4 bedrooms with en suites.
Of course the 'new' house in the UK has needed some work including new boilers, carpets and a new kitchen. This has not been without its own challenges after flooded bathrooms after the plumbers apprentice forgot to shut the radiator bleed valves properly but good to his word the plumber has had the offending ceiling repaired and the new vinyl is being done on Monday. Shelley and I have been tiling the kitchen today...we make a good team and are honing our renovation skills ready for the big move to CZ once the plans are approved.
So .. that's how things are .., the main thing being we can now go ahead with what we've wanted to do for so long and that's to live full time in Krumlov.
Back with more news soon ... take care all,
Tim and Shelley x
We had a buyer for the house in June / July last year so hopes were raised and we were thinking that we would be in CZ by the end of 2008 but alas, the credit crunch was looming and despite even putting in an offer for our buyers buyer's property it all fell through and the property values continued to fall ... things were not looking good. Our buyer had to withdraw their offer which left us back at square one. We had a few viewings but no real interest until, finally, after months of waiting and wondering if we were ever going to sell our original buyer came back to us with an offer but at a significantly reduced amount than before which meant that we would have to find a property at a price which would still give us the capital required to do the work to the house at Mirkovice, and so the house hunting began. Not only has the housing market suffered but also business including my own work which meant additional time away from home and a new posting in Singapore leaving my wife to do ALL the work sorting things out. In total Shelley must have seen in the region of 30 properties before settling on what turned out to be a bargain at the price and would give us what we needed. The idea was to get everything completed by October during my first home leave but as is the way with these things there were further delays with mortgage offers and lawyers not doing anything, (not ours) and we didn't complete. Finally, a completion date was set for 3rd Nov only for our buyers buyer to transfer funds late and the completion not going through despite Shelley having packed up and then having to stay with relatives with a loaded lorry parked in the driveway until everything finally cleared 2 days later. So on 5th Nov 2008 we finally sold and moved to a smaller house in the UK that will be our base for now and also a place for my son to live when Shelley and I finally make the move full time to Krumlov. I didn't return from Singapore until the 11th December.
Since getting back we have managed to get over to Krumlov to see friends and catch up with things. We had the Xmas week there which was sooo good. It is such a relaxing place to be, we had plenty of walks but unfortunately no time for skiing although a huge dump of snow put a dampner on things as we were driving across the Czech border from Germany and meant a detour via Linz. Our friends inform us that we need snow tyres as its against the law not to have them as well as giving you that all essential grip you need which we didn't have when it was needed. Trouble is I have low profile motorway tyres on our Vectra and they can't be changed that easily. I will look to buy new wheels so that I can just change them when we get over, meantime I bought a set of snow chains just in case.
We had a meeting with our chosen builder and also pulled up some of the flooring to explore concerns about wood rot and beetle infestations. Thankfully things look okay. We are anticipating challenges like this so will let you know what else we find as things progress. We have already treated most of the wood work as well as removing some of the damaged beams. It looks like all the stuff that's a couple of hundred years old is fine ..its the stuff that was done in the 70's / 80's that isn't so good. The plans have all been done including the solar heating, plumbing and electricity .. we are just waiting to get the building engineers stamp that is required before they can be submitted to the planning office. We have been told it can take anything from 10 days to 3 months to get plans approved .... I'll keep you posted on that one. As soon as we get the go ahead we can get the builders in to start work installing windows and the solar heating system as well as the internal frame for new walls for the proposed 4 bedrooms with en suites.
Of course the 'new' house in the UK has needed some work including new boilers, carpets and a new kitchen. This has not been without its own challenges after flooded bathrooms after the plumbers apprentice forgot to shut the radiator bleed valves properly but good to his word the plumber has had the offending ceiling repaired and the new vinyl is being done on Monday. Shelley and I have been tiling the kitchen today...we make a good team and are honing our renovation skills ready for the big move to CZ once the plans are approved.
So .. that's how things are .., the main thing being we can now go ahead with what we've wanted to do for so long and that's to live full time in Krumlov.
Back with more news soon ... take care all,
Tim and Shelley x
