3 - Golcar Huddersfield

House 3 - Golcar 

I was not going to buy another one until house 2 was sold - but it was finished and confidence of a quick sale was high on my behalf and house 3 was just too good of an opportunity to miss out on - a private sale down the road from where the last one was  - the home made sign had only just gone up that day.
It was the vendor's uncle that lived here  - eventually too old and not mobile enough to get around, he ended up living in the basement and abandoning the rest of the house. He lived this way for some time - pretty grim some may say but at least he still had his independence.

The market was well and truly rock bottom round here, and bargains were to be had. Theye'd had it valued for auction and was told offers around 40,000 which they thought was a bit low so tried to sell it themselves for 57,000. They managed to squeeze 49,000 out of me  - it was a fair price
- I had enough for the deposit and a bit more to get me started and tide me over until house 2 was sold.
Unfortunately for me house 2 did not sell so quickly and when I did get a sale it fell through twice leaving me close to financial ruin.
Fortunately I managed to scrape by, by the skin of my teeth thanks to selling items on Ebay like my surfboard quiver which broke my heart and it  slowed down the whole process of doing up house 3 which should have been finished 2 months ago.
I got my sale of 2 and it was time to get back down to spending some money on the things that mattered (new surfboard for one). My initial thoughts were to convert the basement into a good sized kitchen - which is done a lot round here, but it was going to cost more than the rest of the house put together and very labour intensive, not to mention building control approval and all the other  necessary paperwork.
The living room was still huge so opted for a kitchen fitted in the living room open plan.
The main bedroom was also huge so we've made a bathroom up there too as before all there was was a bath in the basement with a pull down worktop over it and a downstairs toilet.
Then the usual re-wiring, central heating, plastering, and  it was here I met my new decorator - Alan Hirst - another one now joined the team of trades. there was also a bit of work to do on the roof  - the slates were Westmorland so opted to keep them and just have it repaired where needed. Then the carpets and a new front door.
I decided to use a local agent from down the road in Milnsbridge - Holroyd and Co.  who did a great job of selling it for me with a big thanks to Mandy. 

Here are some photos of when it was bought.

basement - where the old guy lived

basement - bath with integrated pull down work top toilet through doorway.

living room

living room

 Where those step ladders are is now where the end of the bath comes to

bedroom 1

bedroom 2

Photos after  - sold for 79,950

2 - Golcar Huddersfield

House 2 - Golcar

Photos Before

bought for 61,000

Finding the right one was a journey in itself. I kept skipping past this one on rightmove whilst trawling through the web pages of potential properties.
I was too fixated in finding an old house with old interior/exterior that clearly needed renovating. This one didn't look like it needed much work doing to it and so there didn't seem to be much scope for a profit. The location was good -  in the centre of the village complete with a garden and off road parking to the front. Upon inspection it became apparent why no one had bought it yet.
The house was owned by a couple who's relationship  had broken down -  just like everything else in the place and it was now stood empty run down and un loved.
The place really was in a bad state  - no electric supply from outside (underground fault in cable), clapped out boiler halfway up the stairs hanging on to the cracked gable end wall by the pipework.
Leaking roof, damp patches here there and everywhere, mould, the smell of animal wee,  and to top it off the kitchen was a very difficult one to work out on what to do next it was just plain awkward.

The original layout of the kitchen

The original layout plan

The main problem with this kitchen was the layout - the bottom of the stairs were the first obstacle as you had to  swerve round the stairs and kitchen units, the next being having to go around the corner to the cellar door  where it was also dingy.
This was not a  functioning  kitchen space and it put a lot of people off.
Walking round it was a real head scratcher but then after looking at the plan it was simple.


New layout

 

By creating a new entrance to the kitchen from the living room there is more space and  a flow through to the cellar, open plan to the living room and the additional hall area to the bottom of the stairs from the door.
* another way would have been to knock down the entire load bearing wall and install an RSJ or similar - this would have required  a lot more work + money! + solicitors / valuers etc would have been asking questions.

This was my first real project - after my own. I put a lot into this  - time + money.  The outcome was a great job however, for all the extra work on things like restoring original features like the fireplace which  I got one or two nice compliments for, it did not put any extra value on the property.

My Mum Jen helped design the kitchen and bathroom  with my Dad - Cliff, being a plumber by trade he also did the central heating  - and did a great job of fitting the kitchen too.
 It was through one of Jayne's Dad's (Mick Lodge of Lodge Timber) associates that I acquired some of my local trades that I still use today. Frank Shaw the plasterer / renderer from Slawit, Wayne Baker from the Carpet Remnant Centre Crosland Moor Linthwaite who put me on to  Barrie Holmes Joinery,  Simon christopher did the garden  - all did a great job and continue to do so on all my other properties to this day, and likewise  Alison Withington (then of Armitage Sykes, now at Holroyd and co) for conveyancing.

The house took a bit longer than i would have liked but it was the first one and after 5 months it was finished in February. I went with a local agent - William H Brown and after a slow start with only one viewing then a price drop of 10k and some nicer spring weather  it sold for the new asking price, then it fell through because the buyer’s couldn't arrange the finance to get a mortgage, so it went on again, then same thing happened again with someone else, 3rd time lucky with 3 people all in the running. I went with the one with the biggest deposit  - A local girl who seemed very nice and really loved the place. It turned out her father  who's name is Ivan Moorhouse had other ideas though. Called himself a surveyor and tried to gazunder me claiming the house was unfit to live in  - He would come round every other day with his 2 pronged damp meter peppering every single wall, then concocted his own  report condemning the place saying it needed surveys for this surveys for that and it wanted thousands knocking off the price. I told them his report wasn’t valid as her bank had already sent a surveyor and the mortgage had been approved, and gave them an ultimatum either she buys  it or it goes back on the market. She bought it  and lived happily ever after in the house that her father said wasn't fit to live in.    

Photos after

1 - Starting Out - Appleby

House 1 - Appleby 

My name's Robin Curley,  I come from Appleby, Cumbria where I lived and worked as a self employed electrician - under the name  Appleby Electrical -  still operating today  under the same company name - only now living in Holmfirth West Yorkshire.
   I started doing up houses in 2012 with my own first house in Appleby -  House 1. The plan was to fix it up and sell it, pay off the mortgage, then move down to Holmfirth to live with my partner Jayne and buy another house to renovate and sell down there,  giving me a second source of income whilst my electrical business became established - an exciting new venture.
I'd been living in  house 1 for nearly 10 years  and there had been a few comments about the state of the place  - with chases up and down the walls, a large hole in the kitchen ceiling, amongst other things - notably the bathroom - a right bodge job by the previous owner, but none of which really bothered me as I'd had the place re wired and  central heating installed just not cosmetically finished. It was always my intention to change the bathroom when i had the funds. The existing fitted kitchen was OK  so all that was really needed was a new bathroom, plastering here and there, re decorating and some new floor coverings. For the plastering I used local builder Stephen Closs, for the plumbing J. Ford and for the flooring Craig Sowerby, I also roped in my friend Dave Longrigg for some pointing in payment for a surfboard. It only took 4 or 5 weeks to get the house into a good condition then I put it on the market with Cumbrian Properties. No viewings for about 2 months then just one and luckily for me it was the right person that  wanted it at the right time and so I got a good price for it.
  I bought the house for  69,950  back in 2003 and in 2012 sold it for 120,000, paid off the mortgage and after the solicitors, estate agents  fees was left with 60,000.  This was just enough to get me started on the new venture.