Property development, I have learnt, is now a business where
you need a hell of a lot of money upfront. But once you are in, it’s rather
addictive. My first investment was intended for myself – a two double bedroom ex
council flat in Bethnal green. It is temptingly located between a fantastic
restaurant (Bistroteque), the canal (which leads to a food market, a pie and
mash shop and Canary Warf), is near my friends and is within walking distance
of Shoreditch, Hackney and Bethnal Green tube station.
Property number two is a repossession property located in
Catford, which is also very well located. This place had a rough start under
our supervision, but now it is gutted and we are slowly reconstructing a beautiful
living space on top of what I strongly suspect was a squatted party house. But,
with new wooden flooring, a complete re-wire, new kitchen and an additional
bathroom, there is little that I would say was not tempting about this
beautiful three bedroom house.
But, I could not do this without trustworthy builders, who
just so happen to be my boyfriend and his friends. It would be an impossible
task if there was no trust and I would never have taken on a project of this
scale. But now that we are in the deep end I am truly excited about the
finished product. Houses in the area are going quickly and we should be done in
time for the Christmas shut down. So, hopefully when the New Year arrives we
will be inundated with requests for viewings.
What have we learned so far? Well, everyone has their own
signature style. Landlords with less money to invest will not go the whole hog
but those who do will produce a nice finish at a slightly higher price. What
you have to look at is whether or not it’s worth the investment and this
largely comes down to how you plan to profit from the property and who your
target market are. For Catford, we are looking for a sale so we want the
property to be at its finest and ready to be moved into. However, for Bethnal
Green it’s a rental with some unusual assets that include a large garden and a
shed.
So, although it is in fairly good nick and had a
redecoration before the tenant moved in, it could in my view, be better. But if
you look at the returns on installing a new bathroom and a new kitchen, as I do
in fact plan to do, there isn’t much financial justification for going ahead
with the renovation. Yet the money is available and I have a good tenant in at
the moment so I am happy to go ahead. If you can improve your product and
service, people will come back. I would like for it to be someone’s home, not
just somewhere that they live. I dislike bad service, so I wouldn’t force it on
to other people.
Useful resources:
4Homes
Emoov
Property Earth
Tepilo
House Simple
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