Opportunities abound to those who stay alert and are not afraid to chat with anyone. One of our tradesmen, who himself admits he can sometimes be a chatterbox, got talking with the owner of the flat below our property which he was renovating. It transpired the owner was considering a sale of their property and were actually getting it ready for the market. Our decorator, who’d done a couple of projects and fully understood our model suggested to the neighbour that we may be interested in purchasing the flat.

Once we got wind of this, we promptly made enquiries and managed to get hold of the vendor (the owner) who confirmed he was in the process of marketing the property for sale. Following a short negotiation, we agreed an offer as he considered selling directly to us was more beneficial to him, since this meant he wouldn’t have to incur the sales and marketing costs related to disposing the property.

We completed the purchase shortly afterwards, picked up the keys and got to work straightaway. Our plan was to turn around the property within 4 weeks but experienced a significant setback due to problems with the electrics. This triggered additional costs we didn’t budget for but we took it in stride and pushed through the rest of the refurb.The project was completed with a 2 weeks delay but the property was modernised, with a brand new heating system, flooring and bathroom installed. The bathroom layout was altered to make better use of space and create a more modern look. We again reused as much material as possible, rather than ripping everything out and starting from scratch. Not only is this strategy cost saving, it enables us to make a small contribution towards the current climate crisis, whilst still delivering good quality homes.

Property projects, like any other project don’t always run smoothly and are sometimes bedevilled with unexpected setbacks. Nevertheless, we experience unexpected opportunities as well and it’s prudent to accept both. But, mission accomplished, and we continue in the pursuit of our goal, contributing to tackling the housing shortage in the UK, one family at a time.