If you need an explanation: when you reach our age, everyone around is planning their eventual retirement and thus looking for "an acre in the middle of nowhere" so they can spend the rest of their life in abject leisure, preferably "off the grid".
Thus, because I was jaunting up in Far North Queensland, I was asked by a friend to look at various acres for sale in tropical climes priced at around A$500,000. She had two she'd read about and she particularly asked me to look at those. These are they!
PLOT ONE
Riverside house on one acre
in bushland.
The term "riverside" may be true but it's hardly apt because you can't see the river through the dense bushland. And don't think you can cut down most of this bush in order to see the river because, well, most of this land is swampy, crocodile-ridden and unusable, and, once you've done it, you'll discover the river isn't really worth looking at. Plus the house is rotting and feels kinda creepy - like something out of the film "Deliverance" - thus is a definite immediate tear-down, but there's hardly enough land on solid ground to build a bigger one!
PLOT TWO
Riverside house on three acres
in bushland.
This one is far better value, but again you can't actually see the river, which isn't a problem because again it isn't worth looking at either. The house is exactly the type you're planning to build and you can see they've put a pool into the courtyard, which is a nice idea.
However, because Del lives nearby and is a canny investor who always knows her stuff, I dropped by for a cuppa and a chat. Neither is worth the price, according to Del, because both are forever going underwater during the Monsoons and remain swampy and mosquito-ridden for several months after.
And then, sneaky money-maker that she is, she told me about another plot of land that isn't yet on the market. It's the same price as these other two places, but is sensational value. A friend of hers is in the throes of a nasty divorce and thus deal is a definite one-off bargain however she strongly feels she can't take advantage of her friend's misery ... but since I don't know Gizelle there is no reason why I can't.
So this is a special off-the-books deal that you should immediately get into. Same price as the other two, but VALUE PLUS.
PLOT THREE
Ten acres in the hinterlands,
with four bedroom house, two sheds
and a pool.
It's very isolated, but here's looking at the land from the road:
It's the hill there,
right down to the river.
The land starts at the bridge:
Town water and electricity so you're not "off the grid", but it has a nice rustic feel since that's what you're after:
The road up the hill to the house.
We did it without a four-wheel drive,
but apparently that's not possible in The Wet.
The views are pretty but not spectacular and here's what you see from North, East, South and West, in order, when standing on the not-nearly-big-enough back verandah:
Only photo I took of the place
from the outside, sorry.
However, you can see the
not-nearly-big-enough back veranda.
It's a very nice house, with a lovely almost-rustic feel.
And here's the pool:
And here's the pool:
Slightly down the hill from the house.
And absolutely the best part would have to be the kitchen:
Currently being painted,
but you can make it out
under the drop-clothes.
This is only half the size
and it has a huge pantry too.
I'd buy it for the kitchen alone. You can have an entire cooking party in there and you'd never bump into each other. Really, really nice.
So there you go. House-hunting in Far North Queensland. I included the real estate agents posters in the first two so hopefully you can make out the names and phone numbers, however for the third place, which isn't yet on the market, if you want to make an early bid, you'll have to ask me to put you in touch with the parties concerned.
And here are the shots I took of all the relevant real-estate signs:
And now they're here I can delete your entire folder of photos. Yayyyy!
And here are the shots I took of all the relevant real-estate signs:
And now they're here I can delete your entire folder of photos. Yayyyy!
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