Mistakes and Mishaps when choosing a house to buy

There are a few absolute must dos when choosing what holiday home to purchase. I have renovated hundreds of houses and one of the things to consider is access another detail is to look for treasures that are often built into the building.

Is the house down tiny country lane with no access for a delivery truck? This happened on a wonderful renovation in Co.Clare where all the neighbours helped while the furniture delivery men carried all of the items down the lane to the house.

Liscannor slate is a stunning material that covers the old roof tops of stone cottages in Co.Clare, this slate came from 3 nearby slate mines and locals can tell which mine their roof slates came from based on the colour tones in the material. If you are fortunate enough to purchase one of these houses, the roof alone can be a stunning asset.

Wicklow granite can be found in the window sills and door steps of some cottages in Co. Wicklow and even during renovations these beautiful local heritage pieces are always protected and restored.

The Architectural Archive in Dublin 2 is a fascinating place to discover details about old and historic houses and if you purchase a house with interesting features it will be documented in this archive. A morning spent perusing these documents is certainly time well spent.