Couple who've bought FIVE houses by age 28 transform '70s' terrace into dream home... adding £140,000 value

There are many perks to buying older properties. Not only can you usually buy them at much lower prices than newer homes - with the opportunity to increase their value - but their unique character and charm goes unmatched.

Many homeowners who decide to take on a period home often do so with the intention to retain its original features, whilst bringing the house back up to a modern-day standard. Savvy DIY couple James and Charis recently did a full 'back-to-brick' renovation on their '70s style' terrace in Gee Cross, Tameside - and have added an impressive sum to its value after turning it into their dream home.

James, 28, from Stockport spoke to the Manchester Evening News as part of our Where I Live series, in which we chat to a different homeowner about their buying and renovation journey, whilst looking inside their home to see how it has been transformed.

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James bought his first house with partner Charis in lockdown. After making a profit on it, it sparked their desire to buy, renovate and sell more properties.

"I started off working as a DJ and then, when Covid hit and the clubs closed, I had no work. Me and Charis bought our first house in the first lockdown, we lived in it for a year and although we didn't do too much to it, we managed to make decent money on it," James told the Manchester Evening News.

"We then realised that there was good money in property and we were both interested in buying more. So we thought why not give it a go." In the years following, the couple bought three more 'doer-upper' houses which they renovated and sold after increasing their value.

But, when it came to buying their fifth house, James and Charis decided that they wanted this to be their own home that they would live in for years to come. "We bought our next house with the intention of living in it long term," said James.

The couple chose to look in the area of Gee Cross, a village and suburb of Hyde within Tameside. "We wanted to live in a quieter area, somewhere near to the countryside but also close enough to get into the city centre," he said. "Gee Cross is nice, green and hilly, and doesn't take too long to get into town."

James and Charis have only ever bought period properties, so their requirement was no different when it came to searching for their own home. "We wanted an old house because we like the character of them and how you can really make them your own," James said.

The pair had an offer accepted on a different house before coming across their ideal project - a 1900s end-terrace. "We were in the middle of buying another house but then this came on the market. We saw it the first day that it went up for sale, but when we enquired they said they weren’t doing any more viewings because so many people had booked to view it that week," said James.

"We ended up getting a viewing and, as soon as we looked around, we knew that we wanted it. But as this row of houses don't come on the market that often, and because so many people wanted it, we had to put our best offer in as our opening bid. We were lucky that we were the ones who actually managed to get it."

The couple bought the two-bed house in August 2021 for £235,000. "It was built in 1901 and hadn’t been touched in 40-odd years so it had everything you would have seen back in the 70s, but that’s what we wanted because it had character," said James.

He and Charis got started on their renovation right away, and lived at Charis' parents whilst undertaking the work. James said: "As soon as we bought it we pretty much knew how we wanted it to look. There were certain things that we had to change or compromise because we were limited by our budget, but from the start we had a vision. We couldn't live in the house whilst renovating because of the extent of it."

James, who does gardening and landscaping when he doesn't have a renovation project on the go, explained: "We took everything back to brick and started from scratch. We’ve taken walls out, taken a chimney breast out which spread across three floors, and added an extension.

"The biggest job was swapping around the kitchen and dining room. We did this because the original dining room was bigger so it made more sense for the layout of the kitchen to change them around. The kitchen would have been right at the back of the house as well which we didn't want. We opened up the kitchen and the dining room so it’s one big space."

James added: "We also split the second bedroom into two rooms to make a bigger bathroom and an extra bedroom, which is now a dressing room. So technically the house is now three bedrooms."

The couple did the majority of work on the house themselves and spent £40,000 on it in total. "Pretty much all of the house we’ve done DIY, except for the electrics, the boiler and roof," James said. "That’s been the case in all of the houses that we’ve done, we do all the work ourselves apart from the things that need certifying.

"A lot of it is self taught, but my dad is an electrician and Charis’ dad did a lot of DIY and worked in engineering so they’ve given us advice. It's just about asking people and learning bits along the way. As we’ve worked up to our own house, by this point we pretty much knew how to do everything."

James added: "Doing DIY has massively helped cut costs. We wouldn’t have been able to afford this house if we had paid people to do all the work in all of our other properties along the way."

It took two years for the pair to complete the renovation on their home. "We wanted to take our time and do everything properly so that we could get at least 10 years out of it and not have to touch anything within that time," James said. "It feels amazing and a massive relief to now be living in it, because we weren’t selling this one, we couldn’t see it as a job, so we both worked full-time alongside doing it up ourselves, which was tough."

James said that the interior style of their home is 'neutral, clean and minimalistic'. "We wanted to keep a lot of the traditional features to give the house a classic look. We’ve kept all the original coving and cornice throughout the house," he said.

"We’ve designed the kitchen so that we’ve not got to have everything out on the side, we’ve got a big larder cupboard that has got our toaster, coffee machine etc all hidden away inside so there’s nothing out on the surfaces."

Giving us a tour of their home, James said: "When you come through the front door there’s a little entrance porch leading into the hallway with the stairs right in front of you. The first room on your left is the lounge with a bay window. The second room would have been the dining room but has now been swapped into the kitchen.

"Off the kitchen is the garage which I’ve turned into my music studio. At the back of the dining room I also built an extension which is now our utility room where we keep our washer, dryer, toilet etc."

James continued: "At the top of the stairs straight ahead there is a spare bedroom which used to be the box room and a bathroom but we turned that into one big bedroom. As you turn left at the top of the stairs there’s a bathroom which is an entirely new room as well as the dressing room on the right, which used to be one big room but it’s now two. Then at the front is our master bedroom which is just a bed, chair and mirror."

The couple recently had their house valued at £375,000, which, after taking away their renovation costs, means they've made £100,000 profit. "Essentially we've designed the house so that we never have to move from here, it's got everything that we need and it’s big enough as well," James said. "But we’ve done it with the mindset that if we wanted to sell at any point then someone could walk straight in, buy it and not have to do anything to it."

James added: "We’re looking out for another project again now, however the market is tricky at the moment. We are going travelling at the end of this year for a year, so I am looking for another quick one to do up which we could rent whilst we’re away or do a quick sale."