Sadly it’s a bit too early but this looks like a great place to rent for our first year on Lewis. Funnily enough we looked at this property (from the road) when we were up there in 2005. It had been converted and was for sale but didn’t look as good as this. The new owner has made a pretty good job of it. Maybe it will be let on just a one year lease and will be back on the market by the time we want it!
Talking about houses, the one I mentioned in an earlier blog that was put on the market at a ridiculous ‘offers over £135,000′ had its price reduced a week later to ‘offers in the region of £125,000′. Either the vendor reigned in the estate agent or the the other way round. Whichever, sense seems to have prevailed over greed.
Tags: church, conversion, house prices, Lewis, rent
February 7th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Nice place, looks ideal for you guys, the prices, hmm wondering how that will go, and more to the point have we reached the point where the price silliness is at an end. Bring back the days of buying a house to be a home and no an investment.
February 7th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Couldn’t agree more. I’d tax all second homes/investment purchases with something like 60% of the profits made on sale and/or force such homes to be tenanted at rents set by local councils.
February 7th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
I wonder if that old church is all that great to live in, if I’m being brutally honest, Les. Its location is very exposed (at the top end of Barvas) for one thing, and churches were not built to live in.
Leaving that to one side, I’m glad the era of skyrocketing house prices is coming to an end; particularly in this neck of the woods, where the average income is lower than elsewhere in the country.
February 7th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Seems to me you might be living in the soft, sheltered part of the island Guido! Nothing wrong with a bit of exposure!
Mind you I sure as hell wouldn’t live there if I could see wind turbines out of every window.
February 9th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
We are prospective neighbours! We are moving to Lower Barvas in 2 weeks time, and seriously thought about renting the church. It looks stunning and we eventually decided against it in fear that we might fall in love with it and not be able to buy it. Hope you are happy there.
February 9th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
Jenny, tis but a dream at the moment as we can’t get up to Lewis until 2010. If you are still around then I’ll try and find you!
February 10th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
Damn, I missed saying ‘happy only eighteen months to go’, so a belated ‘happy only eighteen months to go’!!! 4x, don’t worry, Les and co are hardy, they have survived the national tent flying contest so far, exposed kirks would be as nowt, cheerie.
February 10th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
I wouldn’t rent this property if it was the last house to let on Lewis.
There are tiles missing from the roof, and I suspect it will have some damp problems too as the bell tower is open to the elements. It will be expensive to heat too, and as it is in an exposed location at Barvas that is something that a prospective lessee ought to take well into account.
I see no evidence of rocketing prices lowering in these parts. The island estate agents still have highly inflated ideas of a property values. I’m looking to buy right now, but I’d rather rent until prices are more sensible; I made it clear to one agent (they’re all pretty useless frankly) that if they wanted a sale then I was ready to buy, but arguments that island property values are not affected by what is going on the mainland had me laughing my way out of the door saying ‘get real and when you do, call me’.
And don’t get me started on the quality of properties available to rent. Grrrr!
February 10th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Well the photo looks nice!
You can rest assured that nothing will be rented/bought without thorough inspection first!
February 10th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Ahem!! and the approval of cetain t;internet forums also!!!
April 16th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Hi, I know I am late to this post but had to comment on the property you wanted to rent. We have looked at this from the road for 5 years now as we drive past and always thought it would be a fantastic place to live. Somewhere a bit different, and you can cope with the idiosyncrases of houses if you love them. When we moved into our property here it looked derelict (although it was occupied) and when we look back at photos now we wonder what on earth we were thinking, but all has turned out well. Also, although this house is alledgedly off the market we have heard (through the Lewis grapevine) that the owner would still sell. Good luck.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Hi. I believe the church has now been sold and as I go past it twicw a day it is nice to see it being tidied up. I wonder if it is you that’s the new occupier. We have been up here for three years now and love living here - would never live anywhere else by choice now. We bought an empty derelict house with more water inside than out and are slowly doing it up ourselves. Would love to hear how you are getting on. Good luck. Please post soon.
August 30th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
No, it’s not us! We are still languishing in middle England with not much news to share. Original plan was to be in Lewis by the end of July next year but we are hoping to get there before then. Currently busy doing up the house to get it on the market October time. From there it just depends on how quickly it sells. As soon as we have a buyer we will be on our way!
August 30th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Sorry to hear its not you but when the time is right you will find the right place at the right price and everything will slot into place. A few years ago I decided that by the time I was 50 I wouold be living on Lewis even though everything at the time seemed to be preventing my move. i managed to buy a house (with help from ex-hubby) to have as a holiday home. I then met someone, who had never been to Lewis although he is a Scot, he liked Lewis. Ex then decoded he wanted his share of the money back that he’ld put into the house so I had to sell. Dream disappeared away as i couldnt afford prices by myself then. New man and I were idly surfing the net and found a derelict looking house, viewed it, put in an offer which was accepted in the October, got married in the November, I then got a job at the school and we moved up in the December. So we were here 8 months before my 50th birthday. Everything comes in the most unexpected ways so you will achieve your dream of being up here before too long. hope this will help your vision of being here. Keep posting. C