Property Snakes and Ladders; 2009

PasturesNew

Thetford
October 2007

Sue hopes they might find the original trap door and the ladder under the floorboards.

It will be a large 2-bed house aimed at a small family or retired couple. Beeny says it is

Beeny says there is a need for flats there and asked her if she'd thought about doing flats. Flat next door sold for over £130k (1-bed).

Sue: "the minute you start carving up historic buildings you lose some of that appearance."

Beeny thinks as this part is the only part that hasn't been sliced up, it would make more sense to turn it into 2 flats.

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Broadstairs
Knocking stuff down inside.

None of the locals thought it was a good spot.

Beeny took them to London to see another development that had created privacy by putting gates up at the end of their alleyway.

Beeny says top priority is pursuing the freehold and put the gates in, even if they have to pay for the gates entirely themselves.

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Thetford

Sue is gutting it herself.
Beeny: "In this market, not hiring in help could be a major false economy"

Beeny is still convinced flats would be best.

Sue: "This is a beautiful building and it will sell much better as a house".

Beeny took her to look at local places and did some maths. Beeny thinks it could add £60k to the target sale price. Sue thinks the upstairs flat will be cramped.

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Broadstairs

Owner of the alley will sell the freehold for £10k, but they're hesitating.

They want a big kitchen, Beeny thinks it should go against the wall in a recessed area. Beeny thinks their most likely buyer will be a 2nd home owner, who will want to relax and not see the kitchen. They started to be convinced.

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Thetford
Definitely keeping it as a house.

She is concentrating on the main house first, not the extension. It's another 2 months before she starts dismantling the old outhouse brick by brick. 5 months in, estimated 6 months so way behind.

Sue thinks it will be finished in 6 months.

March 2008, in the 5 months house prices have dropped in the area.
Beeny thinks she could finish it in 6-8 weeks if she tried.
Been challenged her timescale and Sue will try to do it in 12 weeks.

She hired in two labourers to help clear the old dungeon.

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Half way through 6 month build - bang on schedule.

"Really does need this signature piece" ... stairs.
£100k for the one he was looking at on the programme

PasturesNew

misskool wrote: »

Thanks for the details and ending. Massive drama at Victoria station today and just got home.

pfft ... wrong type of rain and London grinds to a halt

You wait until the Thames Barrier fails.

PasturesNew

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Broadstairs
Going well, but spending is a big issue.
She said: Increasing from £4k to £20k for the stairs to achieve the look Neil wants.

Beeny agrees it needs a great staircase, but getting the freehold alley and gates is a better way to spend the money. She says an absolute £10k top whack spend on the stairs ... and took them to see a staircase in budget.

He is happy to go with Beeny's stairs if he likes them.

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3 months on and walls of new extension are only just going up. Budget is healthy, schedule is behind.

She embarks upon a 600 mile round trip to Dartmoor to buy a cell door for the upstairs bedroom.

Cue Beeny off on another jolly - to a jail converted to a hotel.

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Broadstairs, April 2008

Ideas are spot on. Ultra modern kitchen is being installed. Stairs are going up.
Neil and Alison are worried about the market.

They have decided to hold onto it as a holiday let because the market is unstable and there's media hype about prices going down and a recession, so ultimately now is not a good time to sell.

Beeny tries to point out that they're wrong. "Look at the reality of the situation right now". "The only true way to gauge prices is to look on the LR website.... In Broadstairs prices are still static."

It is tremendously over-specified for a holiday let.
Beeny said most people that come are families with kids.

He thinks his target are: A young professional couple.

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Thetford

Pver a year since she started. Still a huge amount of work to be done connecting the extension to the house, then there's the plastering and decorating.

18 months since she started. It's a long way from being finished.

Beeny: "It's all a bit creepy being in a dungeon with shackles"
Beeny still thinks she should have turned it into flats.

Sue thinks it's worth £155k now.

Agents: £160k, £160k.

Sue will develop it into a holiday let.
Beeny says you need a 10-year plan in this market, not a 1-2 year plan.

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Broadstairs

Coming to the end of their development. They will be selling it. They are hoping to get even more than their original £180k. He thinks £230-245k is what it's worth now "because of its architectural merit"

PasturesNew

Broadstairs, May 2008

Finished, bang on schedule
Outside with big feature windows and decked area is good - but the alley's still !!!!!!. The alley they could have bought for just £10k.

He reckons alley + gate = £20k and it didn't stack up. Beeny thinks total of £15k. Beeny would have the alleyway to transform it.

Fantastic inside - a temple of high design.

Spent £8,500 on the stairs.

Total spend: £90k

He thinks he could have done it for £65k but they upped their game as they went along.

He thinks it will be worth in excess of £200k.
She said: In our wildest dreams around £245k would be good. He'd be happy at the £230k mark.

Agents May 2008: £210k, £225k, £225k. £49-60k profit.

They will put it on the market for £230k. Beeny would go in at £220k to generate interest. They said they'd put it on at £220k then.

They put it on for £225k and 4 months later accepted an offer of £210k.

I checked LR, it completed: http://www.houseprices.co.uk/e.php?q=deck+broadstairs+CT10+1LF&n=100

John_Pierpoint

BettiePage wrote: »

Hate the [Broadstairs] one, looks like it should be a dodgy bedsit and the fella comes cross as a knob too.

I thought what a strange "Metro" accent - then I realised it must be Ken Livingstone's younger brother.:rotfl:

However he did take Beeny's advice on everything except buying the yard and putting up gates - I was with her 100% on that.
If nothing else would you want your posh car exposed to the pub drunks looking for a leak on their stagger home down the back street?

Made a profit, that is the acid test.

kennyboy66_2

Added 1 house to the nations housing stock in Broadstairs, were hardly out competing first time buyers, seemed like nice enough people and made a profit.


Must have made all the jealous, bitter people a bit sick

Mozette

Good on the Broadstairs couple - still can't believe they didn't buy the alleyway even if they didn't put gates on - but he was going to spend £20,000 on the stairs, so he presumably could have got the £10,000 for the parking.

Still, £49,000 - very well done. Lime green's not my thing mind....

ss70

kennyboy66 can you provide a link forUS housing: it's not a bubble Moneyweek, December 2005

Snooze

Bloke in Broadstairs was pretty sound. Took most of Beeny's advice and was open to suggestions and advice. Should have gated it off though. It would have appealed to me if he had as I like secluded private properties like that, although not at that price.

Thetford woman was just mad. I want to know how many people she's had holidaying there since it was finished. I reckon the answer to that is zero. I mean, who goes to Thetford for a holiday anyway? :rotfl: Off her rocker. :rotfl:

Rob

misskool

PasturesNew wrote: »

pfft ... wrong type of rain and London grinds to a halt

You wait until the Thames Barrier fails.

:rotfl: it was a swamp at victoria last night