UK Landlord Forum / Life

I thought the series was over, but apparently this is the last episode for this season. Although, they revisted a project that was completed 2 years ago. I had never seen this one though, so it worked out well. Actually, I still haven't seen it; I set it on recording. I'll give my opinion after i've seen it. For now i've just ripped off blurb from the Channel 4 website. Let me know what you guys thought...

Property 1 - Crouch End




Former IT sales manager David Hollingworth has decided that for a better quality of life he should stuff his day job as an IT sales manager and go full-time with his property developing. He's pinning all his hopes (and his career, money and livelihood) on a four bedroom terraced house in Crouch End, north London.




Property 2 - Poole



There's no doubting Rebecca's eye for an excellent layout and her ability to finish a project to the highest possible specifications. Browse before-and-after photos of her two transformations, and marvel at the clever use of space, light and glass in both of her highly successful development projects.

Urghhh...i'm just in the middle of watching it. I'm getting a bit frustrated.

I can't believe David and his wife went on a 2 week holiday just as they started a development. That's so irresponsible. Based on that alone, I hope they lose money on the project. And the way his wife was saying, "bah bah bah there is no way we would give up a holiday for work...etc".

I felt like saying, "shut it, fool. It's an 8 week development, go on holiday after, for fuck's sake" *slap*

In a previous episode this season, another couple did the same thing. Annoyed the fuck out of me.



Rebecca is making a huge mistake with the garage. Can't believe that she thought a £650k house would be acceptable without a proper sized garage. And if someone wanted a garage, they would have no problems with extending the current undersized one. Ridiculous.

But anyways, that house they went into as example was amazing. The view of the sea...amazing.


Right, I haven't finished watching it yet, so i'll finish bitching after.

God, that finish in Crouch End was so bad and cheap looking. Interior design was weak. Beeny was so right- the brass finishing looked so out of date and cheap. They got the market all wrong.

By the way, did David's wife annoy anyone else? She just seemed stuck up!! David came across as nice, though.

I was surprised David was upset by the 450k evaluation. That's a 50k profit, even with the poor finish and lack consideration of the local market.

Their second project was massive, but it was executed with a bit more style. It was a risky decision accepting 1.1m for the property 4 weeks into a 20 week project in a booming market, even if it did mean walking away with a 200k profit. Would you have done the same? I'm not sure what i would have done. I may have waited. I was amused when it was declared that he could have potentially got an extra 50k if he had only waited...oops.

The finish was so much better this time. But I don't know if I would have paid 1.1m for it. The actual property wasn't of my taste.



Rebecca's development was VERY impressive. She did a great job. The finish was great and everything looked so clean. With evaluations averaging at £765k, it would leave her with a 100k profit if she decided to sell.

Her second project was also decent. It was pretty similar to the first one- great finish and the outside looked great. I'm not convinced about the garage though- it didn't look like it was built for it's purpose, more of a show piece. I mean, what kind of garage has tiles on it? I would be scared of getting the tiles dirty with tire tracks.

The garden was great. Loved the way she used steps and created a useable space at the top of the garden was very cool!

She bought a problem house on the cheap and solved the problems. Risky, but great way of making a profit. House was valued at 800k, leaving her with a 95k profit (12% return).


I wonder how these developers are getting on now with the state of the current market?

I loved this epi the first time round.
One of the best in my eyes.  The lady in poole just had what it takes to do a project, she has got bigger balls than me * well almost * but still a good head on her.  Only thing that made me squirm with her, was when she said she would like to do one a year,  this is ok if house prices keep/kept rising, this made me think she didnt have a buisness plan or projection, but hey i love her work.
And the chap, well, he goes for the exact propertys i like Edwardian, you got to love those houses.

Yah, the woman was a wicked developer. I only had a few issues with her, which I already mentioned.

Yeah, one a year might not be enough, especially right now. I wonder how she's getting on...

I actually saw this one.

I thought the woman in Poole screwed up with the garage, but otherwise did a cracking job. But the idea that people who spend £700k on a house wouldn't want somewhere to protect their absurdely expensive car(s) from the winter weather is whacked. I've lived in Poole, I know these people.

The other guy did really well I thought. I missed the start about him going on holiday, and his wife did seem a bit limp, but I thought Beeny was unduly harsh on him. The brass wasn't contemporary, but it didn't look *that* bad and bold modern looks in a period property can also alienate buyers. He took her advice on board at the second house, and did an absolutely cracking job of a development that in some ways is very counterintuitive - flats into one house is not your standard approach atm, so he obviously has balls to follow the reverse trend - yet she still piled on the guilt about him accepting an offer early on and losing 50K. I think he was right to accept the offer - its all very easy to sit there at the end and say he might've made more, but he could equally have lost more had he waited then had the market change on him. Hindsight is always 20/20, and he still made an impressive 20% return.

It'd be nice of Beeny could say something good without feeling compelled to say something bad for a change. The good news-bad news sandwich is supposed to be used on occasion, not every other minute.


V

The woman in Poole was really good ... but with 4 kids and no1 else to help .. I did wonder if she did get afew designers in ... for the front of the house , the interior and the garden , because she did look very laid back about what she had done .
But it was still really impressive .

The other guy. Hmmm he did get the interior so wrong and was abit greedy . But hey . He did ok .

This programme really irritated me! How did a single mother manage to finance that build? Also, all she did was end up living in it herself! Big deal!

cheers

simhar

Web: Properite Landlord Software - http://www.properite.co.uk

They were both driven people with a vision - it's amazing what people like that can achieve.

Power to them both.

Cheerio, FB

Quote from: simhar on March 16, 2008, 04:22:29 PM
This programme really irritated me! How did a single mother manage to finance that build? Also, all she did was end up living in it herself! Big deal!

cheers

simhar

Web: Properite Landlord Software - http://www.properite.co.uk


Is this the house that's now for sale on Rightmove for £850000? Has she lived in it or does anyone know if it was sold and is now for sale again by a new seller? I can't help but wonder how a single woman borrowed the huge amount of money needed for this, and apparently she bought another since. There must be something more that we've not been told.

This episode was repeated again tonight on More4, right?

The woman sold her previous house to fund the project. She was also a dentist, so it was safe to assume she had a lot of capital!

There's no doubting Rebecca's eye for an excellent layout and her ability to finish a project to the highest possible specifications. Browse before-and-after photos of her two transformations, and marvel at the clever use of space, light and glass in both of her highly successful development projects.