UK Landlord Forum / Life

Episode 2.

My God, what an episode. I don't think I've ever been so frustrated while watching Property Ladder. I don't know whether it was coincidence or intentional, but they put on two pairs of mules as far as I was concerned.

Property 1: Croydon
Leanne and Andy are partners in a successful florist business. They've bought a 30 year old 3 bed semi, in the southern London suburb of Croydon, for a rock bottom price; and there's a reason. With both the front terrace and the garage literally sliding off the property, the subsidence issue was a nightmare.






The garage was completely falling apart and suffering from severe subsidence. The garage was connected with the neighbour's garage, and they were relying on their neighbour being able to claim through his insurance to get a valid claim. Had the insurance claim been successful, they would have rebuilt the garage completely. Beeny suggested that they should consider extending the rebuild to the 2nd floor, so they could add an extra room. Her argument was that it wouldn't cost that much more (relatively) to build to the 2nd floor, if they're going to build a new extention anyways. The return on an extra room would have been well worth it. However, they never quite understood what she was saying. I guess Sarah's accent was a bit confusing. Errrr..yeah.

Unfortunately, the claim was denied, which put their plans to a halt, as they couldn't afford the complete rebuild for the garages. Sarah suggested for them to knock it down completely and use the space as a parking bay, but the mules had different plans. We never got to see their plans, but they left the garage standing in a poor state, still suffering from subsidence. At the end, the estate agents said the value of the property would be worth an extra 40k if they knocked the garage down. Doh!

The house also had a slopping garden, which was pretty much good for nothing. The wise Beeny suggested that they used decking for the entire garden to make it one level so it was at least useable. The couple seemed to deny the possibility shapely.  Soon enough, the couple realised they couldn't leave the garden as a huge slope...surprise, surprise; they ended up using decking, which turned out to be extremely successful. And at the end of it, they were discussing how they made a good decision with the decking, as if it was through their own initiative. Well done, guys!!

They paid a bargain basement £210K for this property and reckon they can transform it for a meagre £40K. They plan to sell for £340K and bring in a £90K profit.

They ended up spending 260k in total investment, and got valuations of 300k. When the couple heard the evaulations, the woman's response was, in a snotty voice, "we wouldn't even consider that. 40k profit isn't enough". Yes, that's true, love, but you have a garage suffering from subsidence! Hello?


Property 2: Edgware
From South London to North, Business Manager Milan Patel and his wife Tai have bought a highly unusual 3 bed home in Edgware, built in the early 1900's. In reality they've taken a massive gamble. They've paid out for a property without having any idea whether they can get planning permission to develop it. It's hardly a cautious approach for a pair of first timers.






Mr Patel  made me want to cry, he was a Mr-Know-it-All pompous prick. He was so stubborn and just couldn't admit when he messed up. I felt sorry for his wife, and wondered why she ended up with him.

They purchased a house with the intentions of making huge extensions. However, they never got planning permission, and had no idea whether they would get it. That's a pretty big gamble to take. It was at that point I knew I was going to see a shambles of a display. In personal amusement, the local planning authorities denied their initial proposal. After making changes to their proposal it took them 7 months to get permission before they could start work. They were paying 1.3k every month on a mortgage.

Needless to say, their clumsy start was on par with their budgeting skills. They forecasted a 123k budget, which ended up being 203k. Well, they weren't that far out. No, really!

To top it off, they then made the mother of mistakes. They gave the builders the wrong prints for the extensions, so they ended up with a tiny garage that was fit for a bike. Of course, that didn't faze them one bit; the proud Mr Patel tried his best to cover up the mistake by acting like it was all part of the master plan; that was until Beeny called him out on it.

Since a large portion of their initial plans were screwed up by denied planning permissions and the use of incorrect plans, in order to compensate for the lack of space (compared to what they envisioned), they decided to buy themselves out of trouble. They decided the best way to recoup their money would be to spend ridiculous amounts on expensive fittings E.g a 1k fish tank, and 15k on worktop surfaces.

Milan and Tai bought the property for £400K and were hoping to do all the work, including two extensions, for £125K, including fees. Their target sale price was £600K.

By the end of it, their entire investment cost them £603k, and they got an average evaluation of £720k. Not bad at all, right? They could have made a much greater profit if it wasn't for their incompetence. Additionally, the increase in house properties during the development added an extra 50k. It's just a shame they didn't breakeven. I wouldn't want them to go at a loss; I'm not THAT mean.

It was one of those situations where words would do no justice to the stupidity involved; you would just have to watch it for yourself. Of course, you'll need a high tolerance for idiocy; otherwise it's just not worth the watch.

So, what did you guys think?



More pics of the properties here:
http://www.channel4.com/4homes/ontv/property-ladder/Property-Ladder-Edgware-Croydon-Gallery_image10.html

Wow, I think I got carried away =/

Both where highly annoying . I was going arghhhh at the tv alot of the time .

The fish tank
The worktops
The garage

arghhh

I have more to say on this but its to late to rant I think

Quote from: Fionalouisa on November 07, 2007, 02:06:45 AM
Both where highly annoying . I was going arghhhh at the tv alot of the time .

The fish tank
The worktops
The garage

arghhh

I have more to say on this but its to late to rant I think

ARGGGHHHH! Those things irked me so badly!!! ARGGGHHH!!!

Ok im awake now so I can have a good rant

First of all , Leanne & Andy .............. how annoying was it when sarah had the great/odvouis reason to have decking to sort out the problem of the garden , and they eventually decided to do it , and made out it was there idea arghhhhhhhh

And as for Milan Patel . Where do I even start ?!!
I really disliked him .... when he couldnt just admit he messed up on the garage
Actually i just dislikes him . His wife was nice though , she had alot to put up with.


Im not actually going to stoop to the level I want to , just because of his sheer annoying-ness

IMBERSEALS


And i know its not nice to not want them to make a profit , but it would of been ABIT nice if they didnt get as much 

ahhh I feel abit better now
bad day

haha you said exactly what i said in my rant!

It was such a frustrating episode! Milan was such a smug mr-know-i-tall, it drove me insane!!

Leanne was such a knob, for the reasons already stated!!

lol i know i did . But I needed to type it , so I felt better  !

Do you feel better? We should open a therapy forum for you. As said, I worry about you.

haha why ?

You should really .

Im in a bad mood because I stood on a WASP !! an evil winterwasp ( you know the kind )

But the rant did help abit....... but it could of been chapters if I hadnt of stopped myself