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Unique Property Bulletin 31 May 2015

This Edition’s Unique Property Feature:-

In At The Deep End?

Also Room For A Gentle Toe Dip In The Water

UPS 19 Tower Room Candidate 2

A Room With A View.

Buy A Floor In This Unique Tower For Around £6,000*

Or The Whole Tower In The Region of £24,000*

*Tower Now Sold: Similar Properties Listed Soon.

Since the last edition we have been beavering away answering emails about the latest Unique Property Bulletin members’ building purchase adventure – Rattray Head Lighthouse Compound. That one is looking good, even though for some readers it may feel like jumping in at the deep end. Notwithstanding the Rattray Head project, we have also been receiving quite a few emails from website members, readers and visitors asking about dipping their toe in the water at a lighter level. The Rattray Head Lighthouses unique property adventure entry point starts at £79,000, which is certainly better than the £490,000 overall price tag on that one. Though for many emailing in, £79,000 is quite a high watermark to experience what is a new thing.

So this Bulletin we add another – much more modest – unique property adventure that folk can look to being part of.

But you might ask: What would I do with a room in a tower? Even if it just costs £6,000 to buy! Unless my name was Romeo or Juliet and I had a thing for Shakespeare!

Answers to this can be found by studying our previous 18 Unique Property Syndicates. They have established a tried and tested process. This has resulted in much enjoyment, and also a significant financial surplus on many of these ventures. As for the unique towering structure photographed above? We answer the question about what you might do with a room in that unusual structure in our Bulletin feature below.

Feature details at the foot of this page.

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Rare Air Control Tower For Sale

The Air Traffic Control Tower Winkleigh North Devon - Ant Basterfield

Air Traffic Control Tower & Land, Winkleigh Airfield, Devon
Photograph Courtesy of Ant Basterfield

Regular readers of Unique Property Bulletin will know how rare these old, iconic World War II buildings are. This one has come up for sale via unfortunate circumstances of a previous owner – a receivership – and the auctioneer has now priced it to sell.

Description: A two storey detached former RAF Air Control Tower and land extending to approximately 9.5 acres, along with a further range of disused outbuildings and shelters.

Historical Note: The control tower is a former RAF watch tower that was part of a night fighter station during the Second World War and we understand that this building is listed by English Heritage as a Scheduled Monument. External viewing only. Any internal viewing is at VISITORS RISK.

Some research, insight and plenty of interesting photographs…

http://jackiefreemanphotography.com/raf_winkleigh.htm

http://www.controltowers.co.uk/W-Z/Winkleigh.htm

Guide: £35,000. TEMPORARILY WITHDRAWN

UPDATE – NOW BACK FOR SALE – CHECK BULLETIN CLICK HERE

Location: Air Control Tower, Winkleigh Airfield, Winkleigh, Devon. EX19 8EZ.

Further Details: Click Here.

Contact – Emson Auctions Tel: 01392 366555 – Scott Gray or Katie Semmens.

Winkleigh Air Control Tower - TLC Needed ASAP

Air Traffic Control Tower Interior: TLC Needed ASAP

Air Control Tower,  Winkleigh Airfield

Air Traffic Control Tower & Land, Winkleigh Airfield, Devon

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Hot Church – Cool Price

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Former Congregational Church, High Street, Dover.

Auctioneer’s Narrative: Applicants may view the lot externally only. A visually prominent former church in the gothic style, located on the south west side of the High Street at the junction with Priory Hill.

This former church has suffered fire damage, however may be suitable for conversion or re-development, subject to all necessary consents being obtainable. Interested applicants are advised to make their own enquiries with the Local Planning Authority (details in the auctioneer’s weblink below). Planning Permission was granted by Dover District Council, under ref: DOV/05/00089, dated 18th May 2005, for conversion of the church to eight self-contained flats, subject to conditions (oddly for this Bulletin we have TWO former churches with lapsed planning permission for 8 flats).

Guide: £55,000.

Location: The Former Congregational Church, High Street, Dover, Kent. CT16 1DP.

Further Details: Click Here.

Contact Emson Auctions Tel: 01622 608400 – Kevin Gilbert or Dave Henwood.

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WE LOVE OUR READERS

Unique Property Bulletin Fundraiser: Not-For-Profit Website

Our annual fundraiser for the website hosting fees – which are now several hundred pounds – went online four weeks ago.

With Readers’ Generous Support We Are Now At 100% of The Target.

The annual webhosting fees are now fully paid. Thanks to an overwhelming level of support from Unique Property Bulletin readers. There are still some small costs for this voluntary website – we just had a new computer installed to replace the 8 year old digital heirloom. Apparently in computer years being 8 is the equivalent of a human reaching 96! So if you missed the main fundraiser, and would still like to help, perhaps pop a £2 donation across. £5 would help get the website from internet dark-ages, and £10 would make you a star in our books. As for the 3 Bulletin readers who each sent £25 across – this just knocked us six foot sideways – in a good way. Genuine heartfelt thanks for that. Just press our “Donate” button and the Paypal system will take you through the rest…




 

THANK YOU

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Almost Paradise

Rattray Head MAIN

Former Lighthouse Keeper’s Houses For Sale (to the top left of the picture) 

Plus Views of Turquoise Sea, Sand Dunes & 11 Miles of Beach Walks

International Airport & Good Transport Links Just 42 Miles Away

Lighthouse Keepers’ Houses Starting At £79,000 To Buy

Click Here To Read More

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Magnificent Organ

Former Chapel, Dora Street, Bank Place, Porthmadog, Gwynedd, LL49 9AA Organ

One of This Former Chapel’s Prime Features: A Magnificent Organ

Not just a beautiful church organ and a building full of character, but this property HAD planning permission for conversion into 8 residential units. There are no guarantees that the lapsed 2006 permission will be reinstated, but with a fair wind, especially bellowing through those old organ pipes, the likelihood of resurrecting the old planning consent should be a reasonable prospect. Interested buyers should contact the planning authority via the link below for the requisite “comforts”.

Former Chapel, Dora Street, Bank Place, Porthmadog, Gwynedd, LL49 9AA a

Former Chapel, Dora Street, Porthmadog, Gwynedd

Auctioneer’s Narrative: Grade II Listed former chapel with lapsed planning consent for conversion into 8 residential units sold with vacant possession. Further information and copies of planning documents and associated plans from the application can be found within the legal pack.

Location: Former Chapel, Dora Street, Bank Place, Porthmadog, Gwynedd, LL49 9AA

Guide: £110,000

Further Details: Click Here

Contact: Pugh Auctions Tel: 0844 2 722444.

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EMAIL ALERTS

If you would like a reminder email each fortnight once each new Unique Property Bulletin goes online, please feel free to join our ALERT list. Just…

Click Here For Email Alert’s

…fill in the brief form typing the Subject Header with the simple word “ALERT” and we will do the rest 🙂

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Fishing In The Bulletin Archives 

Today’s Catch: A Windmill & Much More

Stow Mill, Stow Hill, Paston, Norfolk, NR28 9TG. Christine Matthews

Stow Mill, Stow Hill, Paston, Norfolk, NR28 9TG (c) Christine Matthews

We first featured Stow Windmill in our Unique Property Bulletin of 17 March 2013. It is now just over 2 years since the first appearance on this website and the mill still remains unsold. Perhaps time to chat with the owners to see how much flexibility there may be “flexibility” in the price. If this is your style, further information can be seen half way down the original webpage: Click Here.

We know that there are still a few older gems lurking for sale in our Unique Property Bulletin Archive website: Click Here.

In addition, some “sold” properties do come back up for sale. So it is worth going on a fishing trip to the Bulletin Archives every now and then to see what your personal researching might uncover.

As far as Stow Windmill goes, one thing we do know is there is a lot of interesting elements contained within this unique property for sale. Well worth studying if windmills do it for you. Stow Windmill offers:-

Mill + House + Shop + Business

Unique Life + Unique Lifestyle

Location: Stow Mill, Stow Hill, Paston, Norfolk, NR28 9TG.

Guide: OIRO £495,000 – After 2 years for sale, perhaps time for a modest haggle.

Contact Stow Windmill Owners Direct: Click Here.

Online Brochure & Photos: Click Here.

 

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Chapel With Charm & Plans 

St Matthews Chapel, Holbeach, Spalding, Lincolnshire

St Matthews Chapel, Holbeach, Spalding, Lincolnshire.

This is a picturesque property with much potential. Planning permission has been granted for conversion from a chapel and into a home Located near to the villages of Holbeach Bank and Holbeach St Marks. Each village has a primary school and public house, with the latter also having a Village Hall and Church. Although rural, the property is located approximately 6 miles in distance from Holbeach Town Centre, which offers a range of banking, commercial, educational, leisure and shopping facilities. Holbeach is also conveniently located to the South of the A17 arterial road.

Location: St Matthews Chapel, Holbeach St. Matthews Spalding, Lincolnshire, PE12 8EQ.

Tenure: Freehold.

Guide: £175,000

Further Details: Click Here

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Gadget Man TV House

Price Dropped By £2,000,000
Now Just £1,500,000

Richard Ayoade At Gadget Television Man House

Richard Ayoade At The Gadget Man House
For Sale At £1,500,000 – The House, Not Mr Ayoade!

A quick update as in relation to the television base of the Channel 4 television Gadget Man series. The asking price has now been dropped by a further substantial amount. Also worth noting the industrial structure from which this genuinely unique home was created from – an obscure old waterwork building…

AAA  Limeworks, Faversham Road, Kent,

The Original “Before” Photograph of The Lime Works, Norton, Faversham, Kent

If you would like to see more details and photographs, please:-

Click Here For Further Details

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Unique Property Competition

Total Prize Fund £220

We have been moved, almost beyond words at the generosity of our annual fundraising effort for the Bulletin’s burgeoning webhosting fees. But recently one of our regular readers has said we need to boost the competition prize from a measly £20. She has taken out a photo-box-ad for a year on the condition we put those funds towards a more handsome prize. So here goes with the new enhanced Unique Property Bulletin competition.

For May + June 2015, the Unique Property Bulletin competition prize is different than normal. First we have a modest prize of:-

Twenty Pound Note Prize

A £20 Prize For The Winner Who Identifies This Waterside Location...

Unique Property Bulletin May and June Competition ID

Wet Wreck or Waterside Winner?

A second, and additional separate prize draw of £200 To The Winner Who Identifies The Owner of this derelict utilitarian structure -with a lot of potential subject to planning permission and a magician of an architect. C’mon, get your property sleuthing brain into gear…

Prize £200 For May To June Bulletin Competition

The winner of either/both prizes is the first drawn from our Competition Box on 30th June 2015.

Competition Hint

“An Iconic View – But Not Too Far

We are hoping to encourage the property sleuthing abilities each and every reader has with this edition’s competition. Best wishes and good luck from the Unique Property Bulletin Team

Email free entries to Unique Property Bulletin:-

Click Here For Competition Entry Contact Page

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Land & Water Home

Taggs Island, Hampton, Middlesex, TW12 2HA

Unique Home At Tagg’s Island, Hampton.

Here we have a home afloat with mooring included. An impressive floating home, which has over 3,000 square feet of internal accommodation, was designed by MAA Architects . Located at Taggs Island, close to Hampton Court Palace.

The houseboat comes with a rare freehold mooring of approximately 125 ft river frontage and beautiful landscaped gardens of approximately half an acre as well as a garage and summerhouse.

Accommodation is arranged over two floors. The ground floor is entered via an impressive timber front doors that leads into a reception hall. To the right of the hall is a kitchen / dining space (with glazed doors that lead out onto a deck), a utility room and a WC/shower room. To the left of the hall is a space that was originally intended as an art gallery but could be used as bedroom(s), studio or any other purpose. Next to this is a self contained annexe, complete with bedroom, shower room and kitchen area.

Guide: £1,850,000

Location: The Houseboat, Tagg’s Island, Hampton, Middlesex, TW12 2HA.

Further Details: Click Here

Contact – The Modern House Company Tel: 020 7704 3504

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Architecturally Unique

Please note, each edition we feature the work of a unique architect. These properties are usually NOT currently for sale, but are included to help inspire readers as to the talent that abounds when a good architect’s mind meets the imagination of a unique property person, and something that little bit special is created by the synergy – though this edition we have a unique architect designed house that IS for sale.

Unique Architecture

Eco House

1 Eco Vale, Wood Lane, London, SE23 2NE By Chance de Silva
House 1, Eco Vale, Wood Vale, London, SE23 2NE
This one (left of the three) IS available for sale: £599,950

The photographs are for illustrative purposes only, and do not depict the individual house being sold.

This edition of Unique Property Bulletin we have a unique architect designed house which is for sale. A two-bedroom end-of-terrace eco house. It forms part of a group of three known as Eco Vale, with a shared landscaped courtyard and two private west-facing decks. Eco House 1 is the largest of the three, and is situated on the northern end. It has extra natural light thanks to glass bricks on the ground floor, and an additional window on the first floor which offers views of the London City skyline.

Sale Details Please Click Here

So Our Top & Commended Architects For This Unique Property Bulletin Are:-

Chance de Silva

 Architect’s Main Website Portal: Click Here

Architect’s Journal Feature:

To Read Article Please Click Here

Chance de Silva Architects, Studio 14, Blackstock Mews, London N4 2BT. Tel: 0207 704 2575

Congratulations on a really nice piece of architecture that inspires the mind.

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Try Before You Buy

The property included within the try-before-you-buy section of the Unique Property Bulletin – is NOT for sale. Our endeavour is to provide a sample, and actual experience of what it would be like to live in any particular genre of unusual abode. This specific listing is for a short-stay break. Our offering for this edition are the:-

Lynton Lighthouse Cottage Holidays

Lighthouse Keepers’ Cottages, Lynton, Devon (c) 2015 Don Cload

Lighthouse Keepers’ Cottages, Lynton, Devon (c) 2015 Don Cload

We just received a very nice email from our friends at the National Trust who own the former lighthouse keeper’s cottages at Lynton Lighthouse. They are updating their website systems, and asked if we could alert our readers that the link for the holiday accommodation at Lynton in Devon has been changed to a new link…

Http://www.nationaltrustholidays.org.uk/holiday-cottage/the-lighthouse-keepers-cottage-lynton-devon/

We are more than happy to oblige.

Lighthouse Keepers’ Cottages, Lynton, Devon - National  Trust

Lighthouse Keepers’ Cottages, Lynton, Devon (c) National Trust

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This Edition’s Unique Property Feature:-

In At The Deep End?

But First – Room For Gentle Toe Dip In The Water

UPS 19 Tower Room Candidate

A Room With A View.

Buy A Floor In This Unique Tower For Just £6,000*

*Tower Now Sold: Similar Properties Listed Soon.

Last Bulletin’s Unique Property Syndicate 19 candidate properties are, for some, jumping in at the deep end with the Rattray Head Lighthouse Compound. Fortunately the Rattray project is well under way(though still with some room for folk to join in).

However, in reply to the emails seeking a more modest, toe-dipping, entry level we present a splendid tower – as the above photograph illustrates for consideration. There are FOUR floors in it. If bought via syndicate process, each floor is for sale at £6,000. The price being sought by the owner is £28,000, but as a Unique Property Syndicate, we are looking to make an offer a little light of this.

UPS 19 Tower Room Candidate 3 VIEW FROM

And What A View. This Tower Is Built High Up A Hill & Has Beautiful Views

If you are curious about how Unique Property Syndicates have worked in the past, here is a summary: Each previous syndicate has had a group of friends and colleagues from the Bulletin join together for a unique property adventure and buy an unusual candidate property.

UPS 19 Tower Room Candidate 4 Steel Door Entrance

The Tower Entrance

This has kind of evolved into a Plan A or Plan B way of going forward. Plan A is to buy the unique building, and immediately upon purchase, market the property extensively for resale, but with a passion. In the majority of cases there has been a resale at a significant uplift in price. Something to do with the dynamic of buying and selling at the right prices, along with each unique property being a bit of a mainstream media publicity eye-catcher. For an idea of the sort of price uplift past Unique Property Syndicates have resulted in, please check out the solicitor’s statements of account: Click Here.

Annual gross profits of £133,500 and £125,172 have previously been shared amongst syndicate members by the syndicate solicitor. Not too bad for a hobby!

Plan B was, and is, what we originally had as the main objective – to have some fun with a given unique building. Whether as a home, holiday retreat, or investment. But for some reason lost in the mists of time, we tried the Plan A, Plan B process, and just kept on growing our original £6,000 stake (same as the original first Unique Property Syndicate stake amounts back in 1999). Increasing this stake, for example, until we had amassed sufficient funds and realise an ultimate dream in buying – for cash – a private island lighthouse compound at Ailsa Craig. For now, that is a whole other story.

UPS 19 Tower Room Candidate 6 Stairs

The Tower Staircase

For this current candidate, a fabulous tower, what would you need to do?

Relatively simple. Study the property, check out the syndicate solicitor’s statement of previous accounts, read some of the previous Unique Property Syndicate adventures (Click Here), and if you like the sounds of it, ask any questions: Click This Link For Contact Page.

Then if you are comfortable, there is a formal mandate to fill in for the solicitor. This ensures that any funds you send direct to the solicitor are protected and can only go in one of two directions. (1) To purchase the building and warrant that you will receive the title deeds for your part of that property specified, or (2) any funds you send to the solicitor are returned in full, directly to you, and without deduction. We pay any solicitor/marketing/auctioneer costs if the syndicate purchase does not proceed to completion.

UPS 19 Tower Room Candidate 7

A Tower Room

What happens next? You can either come out to play with the property – or just let a well maintained syndicate process progress to a marketing campaign for the full four storey structure and look to see if we can ensure a new buyer in excess of the price paid by the Unique Property Syndicate.

If no sale results, you then own a room in a pretty unusual property. However, for the vast majority our syndicates (17 of 18 so far), the candidate property usually gets sold, so don’t get too excited about becoming ensconced in a pretty impressive tower just yet.

Guide: £6,000 For One Room/Floor – (£24,000 for the whole tower).

Location: Privately available to readers & Bulletin members. Discretion here as the last Unique Property Syndicate got gazumped.

Contact: Click Here.

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Also, please don’t forget, we do still have a larger Unique Property Syndicate, especially for those who have already dipped their toe in the water on these adventures.

Rattray Head Lighthouse Buildings For Sale Picture 1

Rattray Head Lighthouse Compound – A Larger Syndicate In Play

Individual Lighthouse Keepers’ Homes Start At £79,000

Whether you are looking for a beautifully located retreat to live in, or possibly an investment property (holiday letting) that you can stay at when it is not let out, please consider taking a look at Rattray Head Lighthouse Compound:-

Click Here To Read About Rattray Head Lighthouse Station Syndicate Purchase

Please Note: If you would like to consider buying one of the Rattray Head Lighthouse Keepers’ Houses as an  investment property, we are arranging for onsite management facilities. This means for a modest honorarium, the property can be managed and made ready for regular guests without too much hassle for you, from wherever you may reside, whether it be near or far.

Also worth noting that the Rattray Head Lighthouse Station is less than ONE HOUR from a major international airport, so connectivity is very good.

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Previously on Unique Property Bulletin

 Click Here To Read The Preceding Bulletin

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