"With two properties now fully tenanted, I'm really focusing on the refurbishment of our third HMO - it's actually nice to not be advertising any rooms at the moment!
We went sale agreed in April and were pushing for a quick completion so we could have the property ready to rent by September. This seems to be a very busy time for new people looking to rent.
Everything was fine and the vendor had agreed to move out within four to six weeks. She was living in this four-bedroom detached house on her own and was willing to move in with relatives while she looked for something smaller.
However, our builders were not available to start work until the beginning of July and we didn't want to be in a position where the property would be sat empty with nothing happening. It's just not cost-effective. To keep the vendor happy, we went ahead and exchanged at the end of May. We wanted her to know that we were serious buyers.
We then completed at the end of June and the builders have now been in for a couple of weeks.
It's going to be another lengthy conversion; the property was built in the 1960's and has had little done by way of upgrading the services since it was built. It is also a very awkward property, built on a corner plot, Originally, it was a three-bedroom detached house but over the years this has been added to, with a two storey side extension built at a 45 degree angle to the original plot and a small extension at the back of the existing kitchen.
So we have had some challenges with space and how we were best going to utilise it, which took more planning time than initially anticipated. I also decided to call upon the advice from other Partners in my region.
We sent them our plans and asked for their feedback and as it happens, we've taken a couple of ideas on board and decided to go with them - and it will save us some money too! We now only have to build one extension rather than two.
The network is a huge benefit of being part of PPP. Everybody wants to help if they can and are willing to share advice and not keep their expertise and experience for themselves.
We also asked other Partners their thoughts on making one of the rooms self-contained. Like I said before, one of the rooms is very large and it seemed as if it wouldn't be used to its full potential if it was just a bedroom. But the main points raised were that doing it this way may compromise the overall flow and space available in the room and it will also present some legislative issues, so we've decided to keep it as a lovely large room with an en-suite bathroom.
Having been round there today, I can already see it coming along nicely and the property starting to take shape. There were several vans and workmen on site. The foundations are being dug out for the extension, the inside has been completed gutted ready for the new central heating system and stud walls are going up for the en-suites.
Hopefully the weather will stay dry so we can try and bring forward the completion. It's due to be finished at the end of September at the moment, but ideally, I'd like to be fully tenanted by then.
Regardless, I'm going to start advertising the rooms at the end of August. A lot of tenants look for a month or more ahead anyway.
I really do enjoy the tenanting side of things now, after feeling quite nervous about it at the beginning. On a visit last week to the second property, it was really lovely to see all of them sitting in the lounge watching Mary Berry cooking!
I'm now really excited to get the third property finished so I can sit back and take stock of everything we have achieved. We've still got our eyes open for the fourth HMO, and the care home is still on the market, but we're not in any rush."
