House 7 - Milnsbridge
The agent did not do a good job of selling this house - for a start she didn't want to set foot in the place - ok so there was a bit of a pong and the walls were a bit brown with nicotine, the carpets were a bit sticky but I've viewed a lot worse. Then she proceeded to tell me about how I couldn't do anything with the layout upstairs and that no one wanted a house with a downstairs bathroom - and the cellar - oh no not the cellar - that damp dark foisty hole with the large manhole cover and mucky tidemarks around the cellar floor - I couldn't believe my luck - someone had already been here and fitted a sump pump, complete with DPC, timber treatment and paperwork to go with it. This house - a through terrace was in my favourite place in Milnsbridge - Armitage Road and even closer to the shops than before.
Photos before
The house belonged to a woman called Maureen who lived on her own, she had a thing about ambulance drivers, they were always coming round by all accounts. She started seeing one then started seeing the other, the last one she ended up marrying - moved into his and put this up for sale. It went on at 70k and after a few weeks and no offers she accepted my offer of 60 cash no surveys.
A change of tact this time - no more mortgages with all the associated fees - it was a cash purchase. I'd just sold 5 and 6 within a short space of time so just had enough to buy outright and the funds to renovate would be done this time from a supermarket bank loan. Best move I ever made in this business.
I couldn't wait to get stuck into this job, and with lump hammer and crowbar to hand I set about stripping out the upstairs. After 1 day and sleeping on it I decided not to put any kind of bathroom / wash facility upstairs and keep it where it was on the ground floor, so had to re-build a partition and door frame on the landing - a costly mistake damn - it's easy to get carried away and knock seven bells out of a house when you first get the keys. The rest of it all went pretty smoothly - and 3 months later a transformation. Frank Shaw did an amazing job on restoring the dilapidated out building too, along with all the other plastering.
New plumber on the scene too - Chris Wood did a great job of the bathroom, Barrie Holmes Joinery got plenty of work on this job, Simon Christopher blitzed the garden big style again and enter Roy Kaye my new Kitchen fitter.
Put it on with Holroyd and co down the road then 3 weeks later it was sold - a new personal best record @ 95,000
New plumber on the scene too - Chris Wood did a great job of the bathroom, Barrie Holmes Joinery got plenty of work on this job, Simon Christopher blitzed the garden big style again and enter Roy Kaye my new Kitchen fitter.
Put it on with Holroyd and co down the road then 3 weeks later it was sold - a new personal best record @ 95,000
Photos after
