Active demand for old Hutsul houses

Almost all, without exception, owners of real estate agencies have recently noted an unprecedented demand for old wooden houses. Ukrainians, as if by agreement, rushed en masse to buy old houses that were built by the Hutsuls. Occasionally, such buildings can still be found in mountain villages located far from the rapidly developing civilization.

But what is the explanation for such an incredible demand for Hutsul houses? Firstly, they are extremely durable. Old Hutsul huts can easily serve for two centuries. Secondly, they are very easy to fold and just as easy to unfold in a new place. Sort of portable transformers. And, in addition to everything, the cost of such buildings is an order of magnitude lower than square meters purchased in a modern house.

According to ethnographers, in the old days in the Hutsul region it was not customary to build houses from stone. Both residential buildings and churches - everything without exception was built from natural wood. Quite recently, most of the old Hutsul houses were not in demand. Hundreds of houses were forgotten by their owners and were of no interest to buyers.

More and more Hutsuls deviated from the traditions of their ancestors, left their family nests and built modern houses from brick. They either tore down the old wooden huts, which was more common, or used them for household needs - as barns for cattle or granaries. Those Hutsul houses that have survived to this day served until the very end as housing for very, very old local residents.

In the last ten years, these old huts have become the main target for modern real estate agencies. According to statistics, the demand for old Hutsul houses has long exceeded the supply on the market, and buyers are doing everything possible to get an old Hutsul house. The trend is so significant that almost all realtors have noticed how much the demand for new square meters in modern houses being built in the Carpathians has fallen.

It has been replaced by demand for wooden Hutsul houses, and the efforts of all real estate agencies are now aimed at finding and subsequently reselling them.

The main buyers of old buildings are very wealthy people, including:
-actors and showmen;
-deputies;
-owners of large companies and enterprises;
-Kyiv, Odessa and Dnepropetrovsk politicians.

This information was provided to us by an employee of one of the leading real estate agencies in Kiev. Some of the above categories of citizens purchase old Hutsul houses for personal use, and some, for the arrangement of innovative and stylish hotel complexes. Often, buyers leave requests to purchase several houses at once.
In the absence of an offer to purchase old Hutsul houses, wealthy buyers can also pay attention to new wooden houses.

But, at the same time, they put forward one mandatory condition. The wood for the construction of the house should be brought from ecologically clean regions of the Carpathian Mountains, remote from industry and civilization.

According to Ms. Vasilyeva, buyers are not unfounded and many of them check the level of contamination of the wood with the help of special ultra-modern devices. If we are talking about purchasing secondary market buildings - old houses, then the spiritual purity of the aura of the house is also very important for buyers.

To do this, employees of real estate agencies are forced to conduct a kind of detective investigation. As part of their implementation, agents must find out the following:

-have there been any cases of manifestation of any "evil spirits" in the old houses;
-have there been any murders in the house;
-were the owners of the house people who have a bad reputation in the area.
Often, in order to be on the safe side and cleanse the house of the remaining negative energy, the house is consecrated before its dismantling.

In Verkhovyna there is a famous master who is engaged in dismantling and transporting old Hutsul houses. His name is Vasyl Kikinchukiv. He says that in ancient times, houses in the Hutsul region were built conscientiously. Only the highest quality wood was used in -construction:
-resinous spruce;
-fir.
This wood has amazing performance qualities - it does not let water through at all, and in winter it can withstand large masses of snow. The tree intended for building a house was cut down only in winter or at the very beginning of spring. At this time, all the sap of the tree is in the roots and the wood itself is dry.

After cutting down, the tree was immediately sawed into separate logs and sent for natural drying - dried in the sun for several years in a row. Only after this, the craftsmen allowed these logs to be used for construction. This technology allowed one hundred percent confidence that the walls of the built house would not begin to shrink or crack.
During dismantling the house, the craftsmen carefully monitor the sequence of all stages and number each board and log in order to correctly fold the Hutsul hut in a new location.
The starting price of such old Hutsul houses is $ 2,000 US. If you managed to find a house in good, habitable condition, its price will range from $ 8,000 to $ 15,000 US. The transportation of the house and its assembly at the new location will cost an additional $2,000. You must admit that for such money in our time it is simply impossible to find decent and, moreover, environmentally friendly housing in a large city.
Realtors often compare a Hutsul wooden hut with a full-fledged two-room apartment. The 100 m2 house has:
-a corridor;
-a storage room;
-two large isolated rooms on both sides of the corridor.

Despite the fact that the presence of a kitchen and a bathroom in a newly acquired house seems significant for many residents of modern megacities, it is not at all difficult to equip them in a disassembled and fully assembled old Hutsul house. Reconstruction with the installation of the necessary modern communications takes place quite quickly, all branches, junctions, pipes and other technical details are easily hidden behind wooden panels, without distorting the external interior of the house at all.

When transporting old Hutsul houses, many customers immediately arrange for the replacement of the floor and ceiling. Often, in most cases, it is these components of the house that do not have a marketable appearance that is appropriate for the buyer. True, in order to implement all the innovations and make the house more modern and “cultured”, another approximately 5,000 - 6,000 US dollars of capital investment will be needed.
But, as they say, there is no limit to perfection and this amount cannot be considered final at all. In addition, it is no secret that at the request of the customer, folk craftsmen - craftsmen can build a new house using old Hutsul technologies “from scratch”. The starting cost of such a building is 10,000 US dollars.