Yes, you've read that correctly and no, you're not seeing things.
We're moving a house.
After many weeks of back and forth, weighing up our options and not having all the information needed to make an informed decision, we bit the bullet and bought a house to be relocated.
The most common response from friends when this somewhat strange piece of information is revealed looks like this: "Really?! I didn't even know you could DO that!" or "What? Like, moving an entire building?!" or "How the hell did you find a house to MOVE? Was it just sitting on the side of the road?!"
Actually, the very clever Marcus stumbled upon the idea via Trading Post, way back when we were looking at modular, eco housing. Thinking there must be something along these lines sitting somewhere waiting for us to find it he started trawling ads for ownerless houses. About this time he found many houses (alas not the made to be moved kind) that really were waiting for us to find them.
When you consider the pros and cons the list looks something like this:
Pros
Cost - is approximately a third to a quarter of the cost of new modular housing. BARGAIN!
Sustainability - you're essentially recycling a pre-existing home otherwise destined for demolition.
Time - modular housing built on site is quick, but this is even quicker!
Character - rather than a brand new place devoid of personality, these homes often have period features and design, much more in keeping with a country farm house.
Cons
Risk - granted, a wall could fall out during transport or the whole thing could fall apart but it is highly unlikely and company guarantees and insurance largely cover us for any such risk.
So the decision is clear, really.
After inspecting just two such houses we made a purchase. Here are some snaps of our new pride and joy! Hopefully we'll have some much nicer ones very soon!