June 2022
By this time we were doing a daily property search online. Liz had saved Galbraith on the favourites tab along with On The Market and Hebrides Property Finder It was only taking 20-30 minutes each day and we each had our own approach. Having told Liz multiple times that he would not be dragged to live on an island, John was searching in locations he thought more suitable by using the map view of On The Market. This meant he could click on properties at the edges of lochs or in the national parks on the mainland, whilst easily ignoring anything in a town. Liz was searching only 'new to market' properties and then selecting ones with lots of green on the photos, with the strategy that every single property in the whole of Scotland (on those three websites) had been vetted. Each day was throwing up half a dozen properties that were worth a bit more time spent on them, and sometimes a discussion (maybe one or two per day), and occasionally some deeper research (perhaps one every 2nd or 3rd day). Liz was sneakily still checking on the Outer Hebrides daily but John rejected any houses every time. The Islands were too remote and he wouldn't hack the isolation. We were slowly turning property hunting into a science!
Location, Location, Location. Craigmalloch was the first property to catch our eye in Dumfries and Galloway, and we were still in the post Loch Droma haze (Liz in mourning, John in shock) but either way, with a closing date of 30th March, we'd missed the boat. But, it was reassuring to us that there was more than one property, potentially in our price bracket, that could give us something very different to what we could get elsewhere in the UK. And it gave us hope that something would come up, meant just for us, and before too long.
Craigmalloch is a three bedroom house, in beautiful condition, smart, modern, good sized rooms. It had been run as an outdoor pursuit centre so there were outbuildings that might have been useful, or for removing, and a slipway down into the water, along with 0.7 acres. The view is over Loch Doon, and the Galloway Forest Park is a designated Dark Sky Park. The house is at the end of the road too. We hope you agree - where else could you get this sort of property in the UK or the world for that matter? Beautiful, serene, stunning!
Although perhaps less obvious as a place to move to in Scotland, on the face of it it represents better value for money than more popular Highland and Island locations. We didn't visit the property (as it was already under offer), but our research of the area around here showed it was a lovely part of the Galloway Forest Park, so if future properties came up here we would be interested.
We still don't know what Craigmalloch sold for (and at the time of writing, 5 months on from going under offer, it's still not showing as sold) but starting bids were offers over £250,000. As we've highlighted before - what does that exactly mean? It completely depends but let's imagine a 30% premium, similar to Loch Droma, then at under £330k it was an amazing opportunity for someone.
Widening the search area to Dumfries and Galloway is, in our opinion, worth it to throw up some other potential lifestyle properties. Wee Knockinaam, near Stranraer, is at the most Westerly part of the county, so potentially a bit 'boxed in' but for 'sensible money' you can get 7 acres with a stream, a beautiful wood, a 2 bed house with an additional one bed chalet in the garden and, not only a sea view but, ownership of some rugged coastline with caves. Using the bottom corners of the photo below, if you imagine a triangle with the house at the top point, then everything inside that triangle comes with the house. What's not to love?
It's also next to a 5 star hotel (seen at the left of the above picture), so the neighbours aren't riff raff either. It was also at the end of a single track road approximately half a mile long, meaning you won't get boy racers revving up outside at midnight. John got quite invested in this property and would have put a bid in based on the Westerly view for watching the sunsets over the Irish sea, elevated position and reduced distance and drive from family and friends in England.
Wee Knockinaam went quickly (2 weeks max) to 'closing date' (indicating that at least one good offer had been placed) and in due course, we'll research what 'offers over' translated into for this unique proposition. For this property offers were required over £295,000. By now we know that this was almost certainly out of our price bracket, but back then we would have been naive enough to stick in a bid, say £320,000, only for it to be rejected as a joke.
Why didn't we put a bid in? Liz says: for me the view wasn't big enough. The house was in a small dip, despite being high up, and trees obscured the sea view too much. I absolutely loved the wooded area, and the pond, and the fact that you owned shoreline. But the house did not appeal to me. It has a large conservatory making up a big proportion of the living area, which I don't want, and a large part of the building had a flat roof - another liability for ongoing maintenance. It just had too many negative points that I didn't think could be changed. And, the biggest thing was that I would have found that coastline a disappointment. I was still holding out for white sandy beaches and crystal clear green water, and anything less would be a compromise too far. In reality though, I realise I was still comparing all houses with Loch Droma Cottage, and finding them wanting - for a while, nothing was going to be as good as that first love for me. But, I know we were right not to pursue this one.
So lessons learnt so far:
1. Look every day or at least every week - properties that are unique are moving to either a closing date or under offer in a matter of weeks and, if you want to view before bidding, and live 500 miles away, every day's notice makes a difference
2. Don't under estimate how long you should invest in Google trying to find out, remotely, about the specific location and surrounding area (more on that with Salmonhall Cottages later!)
3. Scotland is a massive country - we have the luxury of being able to consider all locations, but maybe it would benefit you to think about whether that applies to you, or if you need to be more selective about location before you start
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