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A short "history" of Fairhurst
The house was substantially enlarged and renovated in 1991, with numerous additional improvements since then. (Approved plans are available for all additions.) The Cottage and Loft are both modern.
The property was purchased by Dr Tony Heher and his wife Jenny in 2000 . It was the intention that it would be a "property for life" where we could retire as moving into a retirement home was not an option for us as we had a handicapped child who would always be coming home for holidays etc.
In 2011, realizing that the main house would be too big for us when we got older, we built the cottage as a "retirement home" for us, Building for ourselves, I applied all that I had learned about "green design" while living in California (and learnt since) and designed a low energy off-grid house. We were really looking forward to moving in when the time came.
However, my wife's health deteriorated and in 2016, realizing she needed virtually full time care, we added the loft for an additional live-in caregiver. The loft was also built with the same green, low energy design, However, after my wife and son passed away, the house is not needed - hence the sale. (I am now 81 and following major back surgery, am not able to do the maintenance and upgrades on the house that I used to enjoy doing.
Maintenance required:
The house has been well maintained with regards to regular painting, waterproofing, irrigation system, solar system, water supply, etc, etc. Making the house resilient in face of load-shedding was a challenge - but it was achieved. In addition, in the course of the last two years the irrigation pump, pool pump, pool filter and borehole pump have all been replaced, so they are good for many years of use.
All known defects are listed in the Mandatory Disclosure document which is required as part of the Offer to Purchase. The following is a summary of some of the key issues which may need attention:
Minimum for occupation:
Painting inside (most of the outside was painted recently)
House carpets (some are new, but most are around 8-10 years old. )
Cottage laminate flooring (some areas scratched and worn)
Flooring of outside studio if used for a yoga studio or the like. (Can be left concrete if used as a a workshop)
Needed to "modernise" the house:
Bathroom upgrades? See also the notes in Fairhurst page about adding additional en suite bathrooms.
Kitchen upgrade? (counters marked in places)
Some BICs are "old fashioned" and possibly need an upgrade.
The glass panels in the roof of the sun room have cracked from hardening of the fixing epoxy and heat stress. Because this is laminated glass, they are still waterproof, but may need to be replaced from an aesthetic point of view. Three successive tenants have said they don't notice the cracks and don't need the glass replaced, so they have been left.
There is of course a grey area between modernisation (minor improvements) and more substantial changes. The house lends itself to either move-in virtually "as is " with only a minor clean up, or to major renovations. Your choice!
Zoning and land use would also permit a second floor to be added, virtually doubling the size of the house, but that's beyond the scope of this document to speculate on those possibilities. See the Development Potential page for more on that,
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