Trading My Miami Villa For Cozy Irish Home | Location, Location, Location | Abode

foreign It's Tricky moving to a new Street a real headache moving to a new city can you imagine how difficult it is to move to an entirely new country this week Kirsty and I are helping Yvonne Fisher who after 40 years living under the sunshine in Miami has decided to upsticks and return to the country of her birth she's starting a new life where they make the real stuff in Northern Ireland she is we're professional House Hunters and our job is to make sure the buyer gets the best possible property for the best possible price whether it's a loft in the city or a little place in the country over the coming weeks we'll be finding properties for people who have to move but need a little help but with only one long weekend to find them the home of their dreams it's a race against the clock our task is to find Trevon a house with hint of Irish charm and bags of modern convenience not easy in a market booming now that permanent peace is on the horizon in Northern Ireland but with only a few days to get the job done we've really got to get going Yvonne sold her three-bedroom house with swimming pool in Miami one year ago and she's presently renting a detached Bungalow in ballymur she really loves it where she is but she feels the need to put down permanent roofs this is one of the very very top things on my agenda for my house it's it needs to have a beautiful garden it needs to have its privacy and it needs to have some lovely space to work with Yvonne's big passion is watercolor painting and so she stressed the need for plenty of space and plenty of light to indulge her hobby oddly enough when I was in Miami all of my work was Landscapes of Ireland now that I'm in Ireland all my work is tropical flowers from Miami my dream home of course would be a big studio just a big barn converted to a wonderful Studio but to be practical I really do need a three-bedroom hopefully a two bath house or a Tulu house so with a maximum budget of seventy thousand and knowing that Yvonne likes her modern conveniences we've got a tricky job ahead of us owing to recent Ive process property values in Northern Ireland have started to rise and in the last seven years alone house prices have doubled properties in hot areas like Belfast are expected to rise in value by up to 50 over the next five years Northern Ireland is going through something of a Renaissance presently and with more than its fair share of domestic new build this could be the best solution for Yvonne so how would you begin if you were looking for a home in an area or even a country you didn't know that well we're going to make a start surfing the web in this internet cafe in America the World Wide Web has completely transformed the way people buy and sell property 98 of homes for sale can be found on the web in Britain the popularity of the internet is beginning to change our own Market you can search from the comfort of your own home from work if the boss isn't watching or from an internet cafe like this one go to a particular estate agent site or possibly a property search engine that gathers information from all sorts of others most of them include color photographs and you can search via a combination of area price or numbers of rooms Fantastic look at this property to go and see I'm not sure all of them will be the right thing but there are times yeah but there's so much to look at I'm really excited I really want to get going can we go now yeah absolutely let's do it [Applause] so armed with all the internet properties we found we decided to show everyone a three-bed semi-detached house with garden and a large guard in ballyclare [Music] first impression from outside [Music] why is there a cage on this fireplace I don't I don't want to know but this is a good sized window it's a very good yeah it's a nice window and the space is probably big enough to do some artwork we're really in the land of the twitching curtain mind be fantastic it would be it would be dual aspect it would lead onto the garden you'd see the garden it would be light add lights from both sides yes yeah and you'd have a really good open space I think they're talking about rsjs and refurbishment it's already on the market at 72 and a half it's not gonna happen uh oh Big Time problem here que pasa Chico thinks about that uh I bet you 10 pounds for the expense so that it's the shower tray from the shower because look it says in the details bathroom shower room and I bet you the shower room is the in the center here and the bedrooms are on either side is this it well if it's a shower then oh sorry Phil got apart with a pound oh yeah yeah look it's clearly not sealed and it's clearly been sealed and resealed in an effort to make it so that's another expense yeah millview Drive certainly has the space with three bedrooms and a large garage unfortunately it's semi-detached and she doesn't particularly like it so we move on since Ivan is looking for convenience at a reasonable price we recommend looking at new build property and first on the list is the Village Hill housing estate where we were met by Nigel site number 19 is the one we're here to look at selling very well we released a few this morning and the people queuing all night for them so what do you mean they're queuing all night well if they come and stand out here and wait they started and wait you're selling tickets well they'll then they know they can get the house they want site number 19 is the one we're here to look at it's a three-bedroom detached property at a set price of 72 950 pounds this requires a bit of vision but this is this is a challenge but it's kind of interesting to see it this way because then I can really enjoy the roof space up there yeah which I'd never see in the other houses see this kitchen's got a lovely view because there's not going to be anything built here is there no no oh yes so you can see that you can see into your garden but also out to the Hills this is the master bedroom I can tell you right now it isn't big enough you see the difference is if you're on a two bedrooms you just take the center of all done the center wall between those two okay yes you put your master bedroom beside your bathroom right right right again you can do that yes so you know what's going to happen Nigel if I buy a house like this it's going to be redesigning the whole floor plan that wall must go that wall must Everything Must Go Yvonne's right if you catch properties early enough in the development you can get a bespoke home be one of the first of your developments and you can secure the best plot of land secondly before the hash is completed you can still move the walls around which will give you the layout you want and finally you get to choose your style of paints and papers it's a very Posh estate no and it's in a lovely situation she said to uh I want it bigger and cheaper the two will not go meet around the bush does she overall the general feeling was that Village Hall was a sensible idea but all the bargains had gone and so it was off to the next house Old Coach Road was in the local paper and described as idyllic without an appointment we decided to drive by and take a look [Applause] that is useful look at that traffic down this road will be going very fast yeah it's a beautiful Road look at it I don't think this is going to work Kirsty nothing looks accessible I don't understand this property so what do you reckon cast we've got a lot of things here that Yvonne's actually really looking for I know I mean I'm I'm amazed that she wouldn't even get out the car this is the most staggering view it's absolutely beautiful it could be the marriage of the Miami modern and the period we've got a big Garden getting harder to please this is getting really tough we have shown Evonne several properties and to be honest I'm getting a bit desperate I think she's in too much of a Miami mindset and although she's been here since June which is nearly a year ago she hasn't come to terms with the restrictions of her budget and the type of property you get in this area her breath was really quite flexible but every time we take him into a property she's tightened it up yeah and it's making it pretty difficult Moss Cottage is 100 years old with two bedrooms a landscape rear Garden double glazed windows and masses of original features priced at 75 000. check this out oh I love this isn't this lovely and look at look at the fireplace the cast iron and the parquet floors I love the parquet floors and the windows not new no no they are new glazed yeah oh excellent excellent I think you probably want double glasses well yeah it's quite bleak it's quite remote isn't it yes it is it seems like it would be a cold place in the winter for sure you could just have that top path open and you can look out on that view oh yeah Phil get out of the way it's not you we're trying to look at it's beautiful look at this oh my God oh it's just gorgeous look at the floor look at the size room and the floor stenciled oh this is a huge bathroom and an electric shower tiles to the ceiling which is a really good thing yep really nice tiles too I love this space Oh yes look at the size of this bedroom it's huge yes so that whole Space this would take so much of my furniture it would so do my furniture and check it out I've got a fireplace in my bedroom so lovely look at that this house makes me very happy does it yes very happy most Cottage is charming and has all the modern conveniences Yvonne searching for but with only two bedrooms and more importantly isolated at 45 minutes drive from Belfast we think it needs more thoughts it's a lovely house yeah but it's not all right for fun what makes you so sure she'll never buy it can you imagine moving out of Miami where you can dial a pizza and pot Bell and see all your friends to come and live here well we'll see but I think you're wrong yeah do you want to bet money on it I do okay about your Tanner 50. no no way Phil you're not sure Sportsman's bat Sportsman's best okay but it would still find out who's right in the second half and join us for more properties of the week how much did I bet you Phil I think I knew you had a bet [Music] oh foreign 's got 70 000 to spend on a house near Belfast she likes Moss Cottage and she's enlisted her aunt to help her decide if she should proceed with it that's Bellinger from yeah that's 12 miles to Belfast and this is where Clyde Mills is yeah I mean that's I can't let you do it alone I can't let you go three times as long three times the trip be honest as you have to leave in 7 15 you'd be getting up in the dark you'd be leaving home when it was just getting light but it would still be um difficult yeah how much did I bet you feel I think I knew you had a bet you did oh you stinkers I love that so with moss Cottage eliminated the next property is a large modern semi-detached house in Castle green offers over 74 950. good size kitchen no covered doors but cupboard doors are very easy to put on are they I'm so glad I have all my tools with me I'm gonna need them all what worries me is when I see cracks in the walls question the construction lenders and insurers are still wary about lending in areas affected by subsidence so it's important to assess any damage before you make an offer silence is caused by the ground moving away from the underside of the foundations of a property and can be spotted relatively easily Telltale cracks appear on the building especially near windows and doorways windows and doors may be difficult to open or even close but to be sure ask a neighbor what their experience has been if your neighbors have treated their houses you should follow suit however if no one has done anything chances are the buildings have settled down so leave well alone [Music] it's hard just it's hard to imagine the space here with everything kind of blanketed off it is but it is good having that Archway clearly goes through together can we open that up and see what happens yeah let's do it exactly so there's been a couple of houses now that we've wanted to knock an arch in right to make this room dual aspect they've got that nice Cove thing going on on the ceiling which is quite a different feel to that front room doesn't it yes yes much nicer much nicer and of course I'd leave that open most all the time okay the thing that I wanted to make a note of is there are so far there are no closets in any of the bedrooms there's no built-in closets there's a bath here is it a is it a walk through bath no this is a separate yeah it's an onset so you've got two that's good from an investment point of view if you ever went back to uh America and wanted to rent this house out because it's got two bathrooms better ramp for better about this now this is the one for sure everyone just to put you onto a little bit of pressure we've got a couple more to see supposing none of those were suitable can you put yourself buying this house probably probably 75 probably 75 but it's market price of 74 950 puts it at the very limit of Yvonne's finances and it's semi-detached with no garage the next house we've got to look at has a very strange story attached but first check out this week's properties of the week in The Sensational converted Royal Navy hospital in Great Yarmouth you could buy a bit of History a three-bedroom house here with a private Garden is for sale at 72 500 pounds how about a Riverside Cottage in the Lake District national park on the banks of the Gowan it's a two-bedroomed house with two public rooms and it could be yours for only 69 950 pounds given the weather we've been having recently how about heading off to the Sun to song Sayers in Majorca right in the heart of the island we could build the house of your dream the land will cost you seventy four thousand pounds how about buying in the heart of birmingham's old jewelry quarter this interior designed one-bedroom apartment is urban living at its finest and it could be yours for eighty thousand pounds finally why not travel to the 18th century castle house in Wiltshire here you can buy a two-bedroom apartment for 77 500 pounds Yvonne just remind us which road we're on I think this is Toby Downey Avenue the reason Yvonne knows the name of this street is because she rents a house at the end of it to stand there and there's a funny story attached to the house we're about to go and see last night we were all having a well-deserved drink at the end of a long day and Karen who's the cousin of our cameraman Jewels came up to see him because he lives in England and she lives here in Northern Ireland and they were having a chat and she was introduced to Yvonne and she said oh you're the lady who lives at the end of my road with the pink flamingos of the gardens so I was like yeah that's me and Karen is selling her house so it turns out that there may be a house that is three four doors away that's for sale yes we're gonna go and see it and it's all down to our cameraman Jewels yes Coby Danny Avenue is a detached three-bedroom Bungalow with many modern conveniences and is not yet on the market with an estate agent so this looks good that will have to be moved to Von moved or patented but what is it do we know it's the oil tank I suspect monster come on okay this is the last one it's one of the smaller kitchens that we've seen But actually it the layout really works yes okay no gas there's no gas here at all but I think they're they're running yeah you can have Calor Gas which is Bottle Gas yes yeah excellent idea this is a huge yes Facebook yes this is what I was talking about it is so spacious and it's exactly the same size as my house that I'm renting and I have I have yes and I have my my drafting board and easels and everything right here in front of the window which really works for me fireplace is very unusual the facade of the fireplace isn't it lots and lots of things exactly like down the road exactly like Miami so I think this is exactly what you want I don't like it much myself what's your gut feeling about this house I think that it's well exactly the floor plan I I've been living with so I know it's workable for me I know that's going to take me a good long time to put my stamp on it and taking up and replacing carpets and everything but the main rooms that I'm going to be using which is the living room and this bedroom are we're there almost I mean it's very little I have to do to those two rooms it sounds like she loves it it's exactly what she's looking for and I've got a nasty suspicion it's going to be just out of budget I don't know I'd say 82 85 Grand somewhere there tobadani could be the perfect home it's got three bedrooms and all mod cons it's comparable to Von's rented home and her old house in Miami but that oil tank is an eyesore we've got to call the valuer and find out what price big number here very important what are we praying for well I you know I can I can really love this place for 70. 70. because I know moving the oil tank and replacing that unit big bucks sure okay you can love it for 70. you can think about it for 72. Beyond 17 75 I'd rather do the other one I'm thinking about this because the other one I don't have a lot to do yeah that's good but that's good great with only half a day to go the pressure was on so we raced back to Castle green for a second viewing and put a call in to see if Toby Downing had been valued yet hello Karen it's Phil I work with with your cousin Jules on location hi we're wondering or looking for an update have you heard back from uh last night's valuation yet yes we have and as you come back to you with a figure what might that be and hopefully to get sort of like the early 80s for it right that was his opinion and today I phoned and asked another one to come out this evening again to give me a second opinion yeah I'm standing here with Yvonne now yeah I think that'll probably have on out of the game she does really like your your Bungalow if we're able to do a deal off Market because the house hasn't gone on with an estate agent yeah would you be willing to um to negotiate oh absolutely yes okay even saving the one or two percent of State agents fee for doing a deal without them still meant Tober Downey may be too rich forever bye bye-bye Phil what I want to do is kind of through the house and make to-do notes so I get a rough idea of what kind of money I have to spend once I'm in here I have to buy Yvonne is being very practical remembering to include the costs of all key electrical appliances and any decorative alterations she needs to make within her overall budget it's so easy to be carried away in the buying of a property but it's crucial to be realistic if you need to buy things then you need to buy them and you've got to take the cost into account now you've got a list the list of things that you need to do well yeah I've got a list I still have the Tober Downey thing in my head but I can get it out of my head because it's not where I want we need to go back and constantly that's the next thing to do I hate to agree with Phil but this is definitely the one [Music] after working with the figures we all came to the same conclusion it had to be Castle green Catherine hi it's Kirsty from the location program hi Kirsten hi um I wanted to make an offer on 16 Castle green all right okay everyone really doesn't want to spend any more than what is effectively 75 it's it's the 74 950. now I know it's sad because Yvonne only has 75 000 we have to be smart with her money we know that we're offering less than some previous offers but we're making it clear that there are no time restrictions Yvonne can wait and apparently the other purchases can't it's risky but money isn't always the only issue and if you haven't got enough you just have to be a bit more inventive when trying to do the deal well she basically said she'd Put It Forward you know obviously it she was hoping for an offer of a bit more she's had an offer 77.78 but the fact that you're prepared to wait is a big thing in your advantage [Laughter] it'll be good oh God it's really scary okay bye well it was a Gamble and it hasn't paid off the vendors decided that she can afford the time to wait for a better offer now Yvonne could probably clinch the deal if she increased from 75 000 but she knows her limits and there is a rule of house hunting know your limits and stick to them the right house will come along [Music] join us next week when once again we're on the hunt for the perfect home and finding new ways of getting more space for less money not always an easy task

Channel: Abode

Views: 43,665

Keywords: Abode, DIY home projects, contemporary design, cozy home, eco-friendly living, garden transformation, gardening tips, home decor ideas, home security measures, house flipping, interior design, landscaping ideas, modern interiors, outdoor living, property investment, relocation advice, relocation journey, suburban lifestyle, sustainable design, traditional home, tranquil environment

Id: 3KOXv-bmMnI

Length: 24min 13sec (1453 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 20 2022