If you have dreams of purchasing a property abroad, you’ve hopefully come to the right place. We are selling our fully renovated Istrian stone house, with a unique and contemporary interior and beautifully designed exterior. Close to the borders with Italy and Slovenia, and conveniently located for the international airport in Pula, we invite you to take a tour of our home and get in touch if you think Istria, in northern Croatia, is what you are looking for…
Escape to Istria…
Do you dream about moving abroad? To somewhere where you’re guaranteed sunshine, a slower pace of life, a different life? We did – always. Every time we went on holiday we imagined what it would be like to stay, and carve out a new life. But, of course, we never did because you just don’t do that. Or, do you?
In 2016, after a holiday in Croatia, we returned home to Manchester, and as we usually did, we went online and looked at all of the beautiful properties which were for sale and imagined buying one of them.
Which we did. Yes, that’s right – we actually did what we had been dreaming about!
To cut a long story short – the longer version will be in the book (yes, honestly) – we flew back out to Croatia, saw the house, fell in love with it, met the couple selling it (who have now become friends), put our West Didsbury house on the market, sold it and bought our Istrian stone house. Family and friends thought we were mad. And maybe, we were, a bit, but that little streak of madness propelled us into a life that we could only dream of. When family and friends visit now, we don’t think they think we are mad anymore, because they too have fallen in love with Istria. This is what they think now.
Two and a half years later, we’ve almost completed the renovation (on the left, the bedroom then, the right, now). It’s not been the easiest of journeys, but with determination, we think we’ve cracked how to forge a new life in a new country. Whilst no two countries are the same, we think that we have amassed some gems of knowledge that may help you, if you are considering doing something similar. Through this website, we will share what we have learned and hopefully inspire you to realise that yes, dreams can come true, however mad they seem.
But, we’re not sitting back and resting on our laurels. Now that we feel more confident with the Istrian way of things, we’re almost ready to embark on our second project. We did not move here with the intention of buying a doer-upper and moving on as soon as it was completed. But, it’s strange how things work out and sometimes you just have to go with the flow.
For over two years we’ve driven past a neglected building, which has been up for sale as long as we’ve been here. A property which we suddenly realised had Grand Designs potential, which gave us the same feeling we had when we viewed our stone house.
So, here we are again, hoping to realise our next dream. Maybe you will realise yours, too…
Property For Sale in Istria on Facebook
Latest updates on the house are here.
Anyone potentially interested in our property for sale in Istria, might also be interested to know that we've tackled a BIG issue, so new owners won't need to for quite some time.
Look away now if you'll feel a bit gippy. We've had the septic tank cleared out...
www.wearelifestyles.com/its-a-filthy-job-but-someones-go-to-do-it
We were *so* delighted when we took the photo on the left in March 2017. We thought we'd sorted the outside of the house.
Fast forward three years. Our new owners will certainly inherit a much nicer entrance to the house...
* well relocated
* a painted palette is now in place, to prevent accidents, and planted up
* platform & steps power-washed and now painted a beautiful soft grey
* new lighting
* all external woodwork repainted in pale blue satinwood & shutters repaired
www.propertyforsaleinistria.com
Although none of our bedrooms are currently en-suite, there is definite potential for creating rooms like this :
* Our main bedroom is very large, and definitely has the space for an-suite to be installed. As it is next to the upstairs bathroom, the plumbing would not be problematic.
* If The Snug was converted into a bedroom (which again is spacious enough for an en-suite of its own), what we call Bedroom 3 upstairs, could be converted into a larger bathroom & the current bathroom could become a very useful walk-in storage space. We did consider this - as well as moving the new boiler up from the cellar - but at the point of considering it, we were a bit renovated-out 😉
However, if you bought our home and decided you didn't want to do much beyond a lick of paint, then we do have two beautifully renovated bathrooms. The upstairs one has a full size bath and the downstairs one has a concrete-style tiled wet-room shower (with underfloor heating). All sanitary ware is new.
So, perfect whether you want a new house/holiday home ready to move into, or whether you fancy a bit of a project.
www.propertyforsaleinistria.com
That's right. The new owners of our house for sale will actually bag themselves TWO properties. When we put the main house up for sale we were still in the process of purchasing the little abandoned house, to the rear. (And, although we call it "little" - because it is in relation to the main renovated property - it has MASSIVE potential). We've now purchased the little house - BUT the overall selling price has not increased. Although it has cost us money to purchase it, we know that whoever takes ownership next, will need to do work to it - whether that be renovating it or having it demolished and creating a private garden/courtyard.
We have tried to be as fair as possible here. The property, all told, including also fees, legal boundary establishment & taxes, has cost in the region of 11k euros, but we don't feel it would be right or proper, to add this to the overall selling price.
So, whilst it's not quite a BOGOF offer, we do think someone out there will get an additional bonus...
So, we survived our first Istrian Christmas! Like most people we're sure, we didn't stray very far at all, but we did make sure that our home was cosy and warm and filled with light and happiness. It is such a cosy winter home, and it was all the more special over Xmas, as the two woodburners roared away, and the tree lights twinkled. We decided to go a bit full on with the decorations, so each room had a string of lights and various bits and pieces of festive fun. We're normally a bit "Less is More", but decided this Xmas we'd indulge.
It's now over and the decorations are down. The potted Norwegian Spruce we had lit up outside, is now sitting in our mini-orchard, with the cherry tree, apple trees and potted roses. We've planted spring bulbs all along the side of the house and around the base of the walnut tree. The car parking area has withstood a fair bit of rain and is still looking very smart. And, we no longer walk red Istrian mud into the house!
So, despite the setbacks that continue because of the pandemic, we're looking forward to spring, with much positivity. We have two sets of viewers waiting to travel to Istria to view the house - but in the meantime, it's still very much for sale. Since we put it up for sale, we have done a lot of work, meaning it's very much a house which is loved and constantly looked after. And, don't forget, it's two houses for the price of one 🙂 See next post...
This year we are spending Christmas at home - hoping that we get snow again. It's super pretty outside when it snows here, and hugely cosy indoors, so its a win-win, in our House For All Seasons.
But if snow's not your thing, don't worry, by March it'll be starting to warm up...