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Hot Picks & News Clips Every Few Days

Welcome to the newer, slimline, internet-friendly Unique Property Bulletin. We will be adding unusual buildings for sale directly onto this front page every few days. Also worth keeping an eye on our social media pages: Facebook & Twitter for extra news + posts. Our editor adds extra properties onto his timeline, so you may like to check that out to avoid missing any special items: click here.

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Unique Property Bulletin – Latest Addition: 12th June 2018

Towering Island Castle For Sale

On The Isle of Man

Harold Tower, Douglas, The Isle of Man

“When I win the lottery I will buy that unique home for my family”.

…here at Unique Property Bulletin our rejoinder to that comment is believe the phrase to be horse manure.

At 14,000,000  to  1  odds on the jackpot, forget the lottery. If we can reboot these unique property club adventures – and as UPS members know, produce fun and surplus funds for everyone involved, then we recommend you dump the lottery and consider going pro-active yourself.

Unique Property Manual. Forget The Lottery: Life Is Too Short To Wait For A Win.

So our point for this interlude in the middle of Harold Tower coverage?

We invite U.P.S., members to study Harold Tower and consider the logic we have applied to earlier unique property club outings.

If you come up with some interesting numbers for Harold Tower, please email UPSHQ with your considered view and precis. Bon chance.

Please can the wider 70,000+ readership of Unique Property Bulletin please note the club list is temporarily closed to new members until we get the new offices bought and open, along with employed staff members in post to help our core group of six volunteers deal with the significant peak email enquiry demand when we feature something that gets 10,000 views within one hour (eg: here). Best wishes from the Unique Property Bulletin Team.

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Now, back to this wonderful island castle tower with some more photographs and narrative…

 

There is aerial drone video footage of Harold Tower available: Click Here.

For guidance, there are also some floorplans. Please do not scale these. Higher resolution can be obtained from the estate agency website.

Please remember this site, Unique Property Bulletin is a not-for-profit publication run by volunteers. We are not an estate agency. Just a group of friends who get into a lot of property mischief and are determined to lead you astray as well: in a good way! We simply share details of amazing places to live, whether a £10,000 off-grid nuclear bunker, or something more exotic such as this tower castle.

Also included in this island castle sale is a separate house…

The Isle of Man is a British Crown Dependency located almost equidistant between England and Ireland in the Irish Sea. It is known as a business location with a sophisticated financial services sector and e-commerce + aerospace + bio-tech and manufacturing base. Ideal for those wanting to develop a flying wallet that can be cloned in a laboratory.

Location: Harold Tower, Fort Anne Road, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 5BN

Click Here

Archived Information: Click Here

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Unique Property Bulletin – Earlier Addition: 7th June 2018

Derelict Lighthouse Homes For Sale

On Ailsa Craig Island

Guide Price: £175,000.

This listing comes with financial and legal health warnings.

Ailsa Craig Island & Lighthouse Cottages In The Far Distance.

Picture courtesy (c) 2018 of Sea Kayak Photos

What should be a unique set of properties that we would normally wax lyrical about and support in a positive way, now comes with an adverse financial health warning. 

We recommend our readers do NOT bid, NOR buy these derelict lighthouse cottages via Future Property Auctions.

With heartfelt sadness we cannot support the auction house that the current owner has chosen as his method of sale.

The founder of this website bought these very lighthouse buildings around 1999. The Ailsa Craig lighthouse compound formed part of a wonderful adventure. Our friend sold the lighthouse properties to the current owner, Mr Muktar Sandhu in 2001.

Muktar had plans to transform Ailsa Craig into a Richard Branson style, Necker Island on the river Clyde. But after 17 years, all that has happened is the buildings Mr Sandhu does own on Ailsa Craig Island have deteriorated to a derelict state.

Former Lighthouse Keepers’ Cottages, Ailsa Craig Island, KA26 9DF.

Picture courtesy (c) 2018 of Ian Johnston

Controversially, and with public opprobrium from former clients of the auction house aplenty, the auctioneers refuse to accept offers, or negotiations without would-be buyers handing over their bank card details and security code on the back. In many review sites, such as Trustpilot and All-The-Agents appear live and unchallenged complaints from buyers at having money taken from their accounts against their wishes.

Worse: when proper title cannot be delivered by the auction house and the sale collapses, the auctioneers still hang onto their “buyer’s premium” circa £2,000 AND the deposit is kept.

Does this fill you with confidence?

Derelict Lighthouse Keepers’ Cottages, Ailsa Craig Island, KA26 9DF.

Heartbreaking to see 17 years of inactivity result in a ruinous set of island cottages

The nut cruncher for us is the fact that “Future Property Auctions” have been so incompetent as to misdescribe what they are selling by including buildings their clients do NOT own.

The auction house advertise on their website a picture with the red-line title boundary showing the inclusion of additional buildings such as the Engine House and Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) retained accommodation which the auction house has NO legal claim over, and are NOT entitled to sell…

Future Property Auctions Advertise The Engine House & Related Buildings

But their client does NOT own these.

To be absolutely clear, the above extract is the exact red outline of what Future Property Auctions state you are being offered at their sale – for a guide price of £175,000.

Future Property Auctions are very WRONG on this matter.

Future Property Auctions Red Line Includes Buildings Their Client Does NOT Own

It is a basic function of estate agency/auctioneers to describe precisely what they are selling.

This is a de facto breach of the relevant estate agency/auctioneer statutes and regulations. After reading the various complaints from many former FPA cutomers of their bank accounts being raided by the auctioneers – before any bids from buyers are allowed, and we then witnessed first hand, the eye watering incompetence from Future Property Auctions trying to sell Northern Lighthouse Board buildings that they have no right to market and are not for sale, we have only two sentences…

Please do not bid to buy these derelict lighthouse buildings via Future Property Auctions. Wait until the owner, Mr Sandhu employs a more reputable and competent estate agent/auctioneer to sell his former lighthouse keepers’ homes.

Also, you should make absolutely sure about what you buy and have title to. The Northern Lighthouse Board will be none to impressed if you rock up and think you own their lighthouse tower!

You are actually buying this…

Derelict Lighthouse Keepers’ Cottages, Ailsa Craig Island.

Heartbreaking and Glassbreaking.

There is no doubt that with the right buyer, properly informed and exercising forensic due diligence, plus a decent and appropriate budget to renovate these buildings, this set of former lighthouse keepers’ cottages have the potential to be a spectacular home or holiday letting business.

But the current auction sale effort is such a cack-handed mess, that we just balk at featuring it in Unique Property Bulletin.

Even getting on and off the island has immense challenges. Not least but the pier likely needs rebuilt. But others have managed such challenges…

Spitbank Fort: A Similar Island Type Challenge To Ailsa Craig Island 

Our good friends over at Amazing Venues can overcome similar island access logistics by constructing a highly functional docking system…

Spitbank Fort: Ingenious Landing Stage Provides Incredibly Good Access

Photo Copyright(c) 2018 Caters News Agency & Amazing Venues/Clarenco

…and renovate their unique venues to a first class state that the buildings actually earn their keep. They are maintained to an incredibly high standard.

Our hope is that Muktar Sandhu employs a new estate agent with less “adverse history” than Future Property Auctions (or FPA get their act together), and as a result, someone with the drive, vision and funding can buy these wonderful buildings on Ailsa Craig Island and renovate them back to the condition they should be in: NLB high standard.

Former Lighthouse Keepers’ Cottages, Ailsa Craig Island.

Photo (c) 2001 Kind permission from Argyll Group plc

Click Here

For further details of the derelict lighthouse buildings on Ailsa Craig Island.

Only The Derelict Rear Building Is For Sale (Outlined In Red Ink)

NOT The Northern Lighthouse Board Property At The Front

You can tell the difference. The newly painted white buildings in good condition adjoining the lighthouse tower belong to the NLB, whilst the old derelict buildings at the rear, outlined in red ink, are the ones being sold by Future Property Auctions. But PLEASE be careful and make absolutely sure you let the auctioneers know, you know their sale documentation is WRONG and they are NOT entitled to sell the Northern Lighthouse Board section of this compound. 

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New Television Series

Unique People Renovating Unique Property Sought

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Unique Property Bulletin – Latest Addition: 5th June 2018

Stable Building With Plans For Sale

Cheshire Smile, Cheshire Barn. Bargain.

Price Guide: Was £450,000. Now £350,000.

Fal & Friend. Horse Not Included.

We Love This Photo of Two Pals Having A Laugh.

Our good friend, David Falat, pictured above, noticed this amazing Stable Block for sale. The property has planning permission to convert it into THREE homes and is set on around half an acre of beautiful Cheshire countryside.

The Old Stables, Firs Barn Farm, Cholmondeston, Nantwich, Cheshire, CW7 4DR

Since February 2018, the price has been reduced from…

£450,000

down to…

£350,000.

Maybe a cheeky offer of £299,000 might secure this equine gem?

Original Sale Brochure: £450,000. Now For Sale At £350,000. What Would You Offer?

The Old Stables, Firs Bank Farm, Cholmondeston, Cheshire, CW7 4DR

The old stables have planning permission to convert into THREE homes. Set in approximately 0.55 of an acre and idyllic surroundings.

The Old Stables – Ideal Equestrian Area For Riding Out.

An impressive set of plans for the three house conversion…

The Old Stables – Three Houses From One Large Equestrian Building

Planning Permission Details: Click Here.

The Old Stables. A Lot of Work, But Imagine The Results.

Location: The Old Stables, Firs Bank Farm, Winsford Road, Cholmondeston, Nantwich, Cheshire, CW7 4DR.

Click Here

Archived Information: Click Here

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Unique Property Bulletin – Latest Addition: 25th May 2018

Lighthouse TOWER For Sale

In Somerset: An incredibly rare 7 storey high lighthouse tower for sale

Price Guide: £525,000

Burnham High Lighthouse Tower, Somerset.

We are delighted to feature this pretty impressive former lighthouse tower for sale.

It has been owned by the same person for around 19 years. There has been considerable work undertaken to make the building suitable for holiday lettings.

Burnham High Lighthouse Tower, Somerset.

Top of the world and views to match.

The current holidaymaker occupancy rates exceed 90%. For those seeking to become an owner occupier, this would make a remarkable home – subject to planning permission for change of use (holiday to domestic residential dwelling).

Burnham High Lighthouse Tower, Somerset.

You Are Likely To Save A Small Fortune In Gym Membership

Burnham High Lighthouse Tower, Somerset.

Burnham High Lighthouse Tower, Berrow Road, Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset
TA8 2HN, 

Click Here

For further details + floorplan drawings + contact information.

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Want To Know A Secret?

Do you fancy finding a tasty unique building in your area?

Click Here 

For Our Special Feature Article

Something like this water tower: guided at just £4,000.

Though made a lot later on…

This is just one of many unusual buildings we find.

Now you can use some of our techniques to find your favourite flavour of amazing building AND for sale in  our location NEAR TO YOU.

Here at the Unique Property Bulletin “Secrets” article, you can read up on techniques to find unusual buildings for sale in your area of the country. Maybe worth spending a modest £3.65 to read the article. This can be done via our pay-per-view service (that helps this not-for-profit website)…

Click Here For Some of Our Secrets.

Special Feature Article

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Can You Help A Television Program?

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Unique Property Bulletin – Earlier Listing: 20th May 2018

Island Hospital Gets Well

A 2 bedroom apartment for sale on the Isle of Wight

From this… 

To this…

A luxury two bedroom apartment on a beautiful island at the South Coast of England.

Price Guide: £250,000

Click Here

For the Isle of Wight former hospital conversion to apartment details

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Unique Property Bulletin – Earlier Addition: 13th May 2018

High Mill – Price Drop

From £425,000 to £360,000. Maybe further to drop. Haggle Time?

Legbourne Mill, Mill Lane, Louth, Lincolnshire, LN11 8LT

Unique Property Bulletin keeps an eye on older editions in our quest to get readers into mischief.

We just discovered that Legbourne Mill has had…

 £65,000 deducted off of the price.

It is a Grade II listed structure that has been  refurbished by the new owners.

…and from the internal photographs (here) would appear to have had a lot of refurbishment work completed.

Legbourne Mill – Modernised Interior.

However, given that the current owners paid £84,000 for the old unmodernised mill in April 2013, there MIGHT be room for a bit of a haggle at the current £360,000 price tag. Especially as it is evident there is wriggle room on how many fivers you will need to cough up. 

If we were buying, then a cheeky bid of £295,000 would go in and we would see what happened (pending RICS survey etc). Especially as the new price tag on this Lincolnshire wonder has music to this Scotsman’s ear: “offers in the region of“. Oh the ecstasy of a bargain.

Not sure if this tower home is your cup of tea, but when this marvellous mill came up for sale last year at £425,000 we know several of our readers were interested, but the price was just too handsome. Now with the potential to negotiate the price down to low three hundreds or less, if you love this style of building and the location is to your liking…

Legbourne Mill – Location – Courtesy of Google Maps

…then maybe it’s time for you to hop into the car, or onto the train and pop across to Lincolnshire for a look-see at Legbourne Mill. Please let us know how you get on?

As almost a postscript, we love reviewing these amazing buildings. Just take a quick look at the history of how the exterior of Legbourne Mill has changed over the past 170 years (have realised Legbourne Mill is just 2 year older than our new Unique Property Bulletin HQ: here). Anyways, here are some of the pictures illustrating the photographic history of Legbourne Mill Tower…

Legbourne Mill – How Many Years After The 1847 Construction?

This could be you sitting on that wall, 170 years later.

We would love to see the sails back on.

Legbourne Mill – The White Tower Years

Legbourne Mill – Tired White Paint Stripped Off & Back To Brick

Legbourne Mill – Brick Looks Good, But The Tree Growing Atop Not So Much

Legbourne Mill – Neat In Black, But We Like The Brickwork Look of Yesteryear

What say you? White paint, or black, perhaps au naturale?

Mill of Many Stairs and floors.

Back to the search for a new owner of Legbourne Mill: most recent re-entry to the sale list – on 27th October 2017 Legbourne Windmill featured in Unique Property Bulletin at £425,000 (here).

Current price quotes at May 2018: £360,000

Click Here For Windmill Details.

Archive: here

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Unique Property Bulletin – Earlier Addition: 12th May 2018

UKWMO Nuclear Bunker For Sale

Guide: £10,000 Freehold

Approximately 125 miles from London: A 2.5 hour drive.

Curious? Further information can be obtained…

Click Here To Find Out About This UKWMO Nuclear Bunker For Sale.

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Unique Property Bulletin – Earlier Addition: 10th May 2018

Devine By Bard

Former Baptist Church For Sale

Auction Guide £125,000.

Former Baptist Church, Temple Grafton, Alcester, Warwickshire, B49 6NS

This handsome little detached property is located in a pretty village not too far from Shakespeare’s birthplace at  Stratford Upon Avon..

If you are wishing to explore the village: re-pleat with thatched cottages by this former church property…

Click Here For Google 3D Exploration

The former church has many interesting features within the structure. Though if you wanted to convert the property from a place of worship to a residential house, you would need both planning permission to change the use and listed buildings consent.

Former Baptist Church, Temple Grafton, Alcester, Warwickshire, B49 6NS

The reason this caught our attention is that the previous price quoted was £150,000. Click Here. The other appealing aspect are the “comparable” prices of other property within this village. Half a million pound homes are quite common, so there may be significant scope to add value to this old church.

Click Here For The Auction Page

Now it has been reduced to a guide of £125,000 and set for AUCTION at Barnard Marcus in London on 22nd May 2018 – unless sold prior. Always check by telephone if a building has sold – before you set off for a long journey to the auction hall to make sure you are not wasting your time because a pre-auction bid has been accepted.

Location of Former Baptist Church, Alcester, Warwickshire, B49 6NS

Guide: £125,000

Further details, please contact Barnard Marcus Auctions directly on:

Telephone: 020 8741 9990 or 020 8741 9001

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Unique Property Bulletin – Earlier Addition: 5th May 2018

A Former Dr Who Dwelling?

For Sale

Penllyn Castle: Guided At £1,000,000.

FAO Unique Property Club Members, we count 12 possible bedrooms: that equates to £83,333 each.

How are the surplus club funds doing? Over half a million at the last count so for those syndicateers who love castles, this may hold potential!

Penllyn Castle. One For The “Set Jet” Folk

This magnificent castle in Wales, with 8 bedrooms is set in approximately 70 acres. We actually count a possible 12 bedrooms which is important if the future of this building is to be secured. It needs to be able to pay it’s way. That included a refurbishment and an annual budget to keep the place maintained.

Penllyn Castle: Currently 8 Bedrooms. But there is “The Tower” and “The Stables”!

Floorplan with kind thanks to ehouse (here)

As an asides, Penllyn Castle may be one for the Unique Property Club, so if any of our 363 members think this should be UPS26, please get in touch and we shall run the numbers in a little more depth.

Penllyn Castle was featured in a Dr Who episode. Though the edit suite tend to mix and match locations – especially interior and exterior shots. So the connection to the popular UK television Time Lord may be a little tenuous.

Dr Who In The Form of David Tennant Meets Penlynn Castle

In past editions of Unique Property Bulletin when we have featured actual Dr Who Tardis police boxes for sale (here), the number of folk visiting the dedicated page doubles and trebles. The sight of a Tardis seems to send some folk into another dimension…

Unique Property Bulletin Has Featured The Real Article For Sale: Here

But if you can’t wait for another actual police box to come along, you can always build your own.

The fact that one of these bizarre blue boxes has visited Penllyn Castle makes for sufficient interest as to hit the BBC (here). The castle has several beautiful rooms above stairs, but at the rear of the building in particular, a lot of remedial work is required. Dealing with the listed buildings folk can be a bit hit or miss. There are rooms designated as UNSAFE and therefore not surveyed. This will impact adversely upon what the owner’s hope to obtain on sale of the castle.

The fine parts are genuinely impressive.

Penllyn Castle, Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan

Given the onerous nature of building works at the rear of Penllyn Castle, and the fact that the listing authority are likely to start pressure for repairs to the UNSAFE parts, we reckon an offer nearer to…

£750,000

…would be closer to the value this property is worth. But that is only our opinion.

Penllyn Castle, Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan

Penllyn Castle, Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan

Penllyn Castle, Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan

Penllyn Castle, Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan

David Tennant’s Room

Penllyn Castle – Approximately 70 Acres Into The Bargain

Penllyn Castle, Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan

Location Map – Courtesy of Google

Price Sought For Penllyn Castle…

£1,000,000.

Further Information…

Contact Knight Frank Estate Agents: 029 2243 0365.

Click Here For Online Brochure.

Archive Click Here

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Unique Property Bulletin – Earlier Addition: 4th May 2018

Star Wars Day

May The 4th Be With You.

Do You Fancy Owning A Bit of Star Wars Location?

Dr Watson & Sherlock Holmes: Sleuths Extraordinaire. But Could They Locate Unique Property?

This Unique Property Bulletin segment for May 4th, has us challenging our readers on what has become Star Wars day – to see if you can find out whether the Greenham Common set backdrop for Millennium Falcon, well half of a flappy falcon, plus a Star Wars X-Wing fighter craft into the bargain – is a bargain? By that we mean is this land and the buildings on it for sale? To find out we give you some clues, but the final result is in your hands.

Star Wars Location Filming At Greenham Common. Photo Courtesy of Matthew Myatt & Airbourne Aviation

The prop-makers are genuine artists in their own right…

The Millennium Falcon.

Clearly not real, but in the imagination of millions, this seems to exist with profound reality. 

Vast numbers of the human race find their pulse racing when this pile of old wood + glue + perspex + plywood transform into a feast for the imagination. A rip-roaring genuine iconic piece of cinematographic history…

Hamburgers Will Never Seem The Same?

So when the secret filming locations become publicly known, there can be a fascination for these places that spawn an entire industry of “Set Jetters”. Folk who enjoy visiting various locations of their favourite films. When these sites then come up for sale, we find our own Unique Property Bulletin page-view numbers jump somewhat.

However, rather than wait for a “for sale” sign to go up, why not channel your inner Sherlock Holmes into something along the lines of beloved actors…

The Star Wars Film Franchise Has Been A Touchstone In The Lives of Many Readers Here. Alex B?

Over the past 25 years that Unique Property Bulletin has been on the go, we have seen around 15% to 20% of buildings bought by our readers who follow an important mantra we bang on about…

Be Proactive In Your Unique Property Search

This means getting down and dirty with the detective skills. All made a lot easier with the advent of the internet. Much can be found, or rather deduced dear Watson, by a few keystroke clicks and a good broadband connection. Back in the day, when we were all wearing junior sized gumboots plodding about, we were still managing to secure about 10% of unusual building purchases by proactively tracking down the properties that were in our top ten list. Nowadays, and especially with rebooting the Unique Property Club, we have over 25% of buildings acquired when transmogrify into a modern day Sherlock Holmes and start following up leads and clues. Possibly something to do with a dim and distant vocation worked at by the founder of this publication…

Russ McLean Arresting A Friend on The Island of Islay 30 Years Ago 

It is a genuinely odd thought to consider that Strathclyde Police training has resulted in this website helping hundreds of folk secure their own unique home.

Whether or not the interest in RAF Greenham Common transforms into a fresh bid to buy some parts is another story. Possibly a seed is planted in these words. Stranger things have happened.

For sure, at the time this Star Wars movie sequence was being filmed, there were aficionados of the movie taking to the air in planes to capture some photographs to find out more…

This is a close up of the strange bomb proof structures at Greenham Common. There is a possibility they will demolished to make way for new housing. But there is always the chance some eccentric will come along and buy a slice from whomsoever won the bid back in the day when Carter Jonas were selling off the whole site.

What many folk don’t realise is that it takes years to progress a planning permission application on such a large site as Greenham Common air base. The current owners will be spending large amounts of money over extended periods. So if some enterprising Unique Property Bulletin reader managed to track down the owner and offered to buy a small corner of this vast base, they may just meet with a positive response.

If you don’t ask you don’t get!

So with all the skills of the internet,plus…

You have an address,

You have the name of the estate agent,

You have a public land registry (here) and even better…

You have a public planning application portal: here.

A favourite rejoinder we have at this point is “go get ’em tiger.”

Set designers and prop makers – Fletch. Awesome talent, just awesome…

The core of the original sale was/is the Air Control Tower…

Greenham Common Air Control Tower

The earlier sale was handled by Carter Jonas estate agents. News report and investigative leads: here.

In a galaxy far, far away… who would think that could be genteel olde English village of Newbury in Berkshire!

Location Map – Courtesy of Google

For Further Information…

DIY Unique Property Location By Your Own Means.

Click Here For A Lead Inspector Clouseau.

If Greenham Common doesn’t suit, how about Luke Skywalker’s Island: here.

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Want More Unique Property?

Extra Unique Property and unusual items appear on the Bulletin editors Facebook page…

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… and “follow” or send a “friend” request to avoid missing anything.

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Offsite Adventures To Help Onsite Seekers

Unique Property Bulletin is a free resource run by volunteers. We do this  for you, our readers. The team here are in the process of purchasing a lighthouse compound. One part will be used as an office. Another will be rented out and those funds used as a secure means to pay staff. This is so that the huge increase in our readership numbers over the past 25 years can be addressed by paid helpers to assist the small group of friends who run the website. Creating a new business structure to pay for this in perpetuity is a monumental task. But it is the best way we can come up with to remedy what has become the accidental success that is: Unique Property Bulletin.

Real Life Efforts To Help Our Virtual World Endeavours

We ask that our readers bear with us during this incredibly busy period. It may not seem like much is happening – onsite, but offsite we are going like the clappers. Seriously, the swan analogy is nothing on what we have. This is case of demented ducks overdosing on Duracells! These offsite adventures are so that we will be able to help thousands of unique property seekers onsite, instead of a dozen here or there each month.

Our aim is to have the new Unique Property Bulletin relaunched by the end of the year – 2018. Until that time, we have a far more gentle volume of properties appearing on these pages. Very best wishes, The Unique Property Team.

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Previous Listings

To read about, and study earlier unique property listings, please…

Click Here