Yahoo News Bucknall mid-terrace with 'loads of potential' leaves property pro 'deflated'
An experienced property developer was left feeling "deflated" after he was forced to step away from a project to transform a three-bed mid-terrace in Stoke-on-Trent. Multi-skilled tradesman Cos explained that he had poured his "heart and soul" into renovating the Bucknall. property during this morning's episode of Homes Under the Hammer.
Former Premier League star Dion Dublin, who is one of the presenters on the hit BBC daytime show, described the house as having "loads of potential" and "loads of space to play with". However, he pointed out that it would involve a "full refurb from top to bottom" and there was no off-street parking which could be an issue.
Standing outside the property before heading inside, Dion told viewers: "If this house had a school report then it would say 'must try harder' because it's not the best looking house as it is at the moment." He was impressed with the "nice high ceilings" in the good-sized front room, but a new front door was needed to insulate the property and drown out the noise of the busy road.
The big window let in a lot of light but Dion described it as dated. The second living room in the property, which had a guide price at auction of £85,000, had a big old-fashioned fireplace which the host said needed to come out.
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The door into the galley kitchen was on the low side, with Dion having to duck down to get through. But it was a decent size and there was even space for a utility room, toilet or shower room at the end of it. There was a back yard and a decent-sized garden which needed clearing.
"It's worth putting the effort in, because, you know what, this could be a valuable part of family life," Dion said of the garden's potential. Upstairs there was a double and single bedroom.
Down the corridor there was a "massive" family bathroom but the door was jammed. Then Dion came to the third and final bedroom, where he suggested the new owner would need to take everything out and see if the walls needed to be skimmed.
That new owner was Cos and he managed to bag himself a very tidy deal by snapping up the house for £75,000, making a number of offers before it even went to auction. It meant he was already ahead of the game after saving himself £10,000 before even starting the renovation work.
Cos told Dion he was going to be on site every day through the renovation, just getting some help in for stripping things back. Explaining how he started doing house renovations, he told Dion: "I started off in loft conversions. It was originally carpentry but then I fell off the roof three times. I was as tall as you, almost, initially.
"Telescoped a bit. Joking aside, so after four years I branched off into doing kitchens and bathrooms." Emma Brookes, from the Butters John Bee auction house, estimated the property to have a monthly rental value of £650 to £675 per calendar month and a resale price of between £110,000 and £120,000.
Cos told the show he had more than 30 years experience of renovating homes for clients, but this was his first project for himself. His plan was to create an open plan living and dining area downstairs and to create a laundry room next to the kitchen.
He also told Dion he planned to deck the back area of the garden. Cos also wanted to knock out a chimney breast in the single bedroom to make three double bedrooms.
A budget of around £25,000 was set and Cos reckoned the project would take up to three months. The BBC cameras returned eight months later and it was clear not all had gone to plan.
While the clear out had begun, the renovation was still very much in the early stages. Cos explained he hadn't been able to work on the project five days a week as he had been looking after his elderly parents.
He had stripped the walls back to the brick ready to renovate. Cos then revealed he would be unable to continue the project for personal reasons, having already bought materials to carry out the renovation.
Asked if it was a tough decision to step away, he said: "It was, yes, because I'd set my heart and soul into doing this. So, like I say, I'd already bought the bathroom suites and spent a lot of time choosing what I wanted and measuring up and seeing how that was all going to work out.
"Yeah, I was a bit deflated when I had to make the decision to let it go rather than hold on to it. So, I'm just hoping that, with the next project, I can see it through to fruition."
Cos did all the stripping out himself, making the labour costs zero. He found a buyer for the property, saying he had spent about £3,500 on skips and bathroom suites.
The fact that the kitchen was stripped out meant potential buyers wouldn't be able to get a mortgage on it, limiting it to cash buyers only, according to Emma from the Butters John Bee auction house on her return visit. The estimated property value was now between £70,000 and £75,000, she added.
However, Cos revealed he had already sold it for £78,000 meaning that he had, at the very least, recouped most of his investment. And he said that, despite all the setbacks, it had not put him off trying again in future.
