Tuesday 29 September 2015

Last push?

Given the looming contract exchange deadline, the mind (and the boys) should be fully focused on the  finishing line (of phase one).

As you can see below things are moving apace.

- all earth now removed from the actual lower ground area

- 80% of steels now in place

- 95% or cast concrete details ing walls in place

- main house structure now rebuilt where required

But!!!

- contractor is squabbling about bits and bobs to extract more money last minute.

- back garden that's supposed to be lowered as well has not yet been touched!

- entire side return and its roof still needs rebuilding in original stock brick!

It's a race against time and at the moment its looking like time is winning!!

On another note here but: there is something magical about the time the steels come in. It's like the bones or the space matrix is set.

All of a sudden, spaces that were until then only imaginary or only on 1:50 scale, take a 1 to 1 dimension. The spaces actually reveal themselves.

Am particularly happy about the view from the lower ground up through the glass floors/ double height and the glass skylight above into the trees.
It was always going to be the more dramatic space of the scheme, and it looks like its going to work as imagined.

Even if the rest of the shaping up process is going to be in someone else's hand; I managed to get the satisfaction that the bare bone has been set reasonably well.

Small joys.

In the new living room with a double height directly above. 
Still the entire side return to be rebuilt -can still see the trace of its wall and roofline on the back wall. 
View from rear master bedroom -overlooking 2nd light well. -steel frame of above ground extension still to be put in place. 
Under the existing house. View to first light well.
Sliding doors floor to ceiling and a landscaped stepped garden in front leading to main garden above. 
Double height (5.5m) with full size glass roof above. The sky's the limit. 

Saturday 19 September 2015

We fancy a Church!

Since I need to keep my mind distracted; let's call it a "rebound" effect after having to let go the pretty girl (as per analogy used in last post).

It's time for hunting again. Quick check of latest auctions, property sites etc... (More covered on hunting process in previous post)

Anyway, so that beauty came to my attention:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/commercial-property-for-sale/property-36170160.html

And after a quick talk with my friend/co-investor; turns out he likes churches too! 

Here a few pics from the viewing last Saturday. What a beauty!

 .... But it comes with some issues... As we call it internally: "the beauty has hairy legs" 

In fact lots of hair indeed: it has subsidience (the ground is givingway), is far-ish from public transport (17mn walk), has no planning permission to convert to residential yet, and is in a non "up and coming" zone 4 spot... Not the end of the world, but nearly (sorry, sounding a bit like a London snob here!)

But despite all this... Have to admit that even if unshaved... It's a beauty indeed!

A proper entrance!
Stained glass windows - exterior 
Stained glass windows interiors
More interior. Lots of space to divide in flats! 

No comment. 
And here visible hair! 
And here too! 

Thursday 17 September 2015

Letting the beauty go.

I don't want to jinx things, but....  

Happy to announce that a very acceptable offer has been received.... Rejected, increased, still rejected... Increased again and finally accepted.

If all goes to plan, within a couple of week a 50% profit on investment will be crystallized. That's over a 18 months timeframe, so pretty decent when keeping in mind the market grew only 5% or so over the period.

Also to mention is the fact that the sale is for a shell and planning permission only. So the entire phase two of the works is still to be carried out by the purchaser.

Question arising: is it the right time to exit and should one not have carried out the complete project to lock in maximum profits?!

Answer is: not sure! I do actually believe that there is still potentially another 150k at least in the project if carried through to completion ....and since there is currently nothing lined up to reinvest it would be tempting.

But somehow as with any gambling, one should know when to exit the casino.

So purely from an investment perspective it's the safe option, and given that all the eggs are in one basket (and there another investor involved): it feels like the right thing to do.

However from an architects perspective it's like giving a newborn baby for adoption!

Now I know many might say that I should just cash in and be happy....
But I can't help being a "senti" (shortcut my wife uses for "sentimental"). I have gone through the spaces so many times in my head, thought about finishes, details, viewpoints, light angles.... And and and...

Creatively speaking one could argue it's the equivalent of seeing a beautifull girl go off with another guy after a flirtatious night out with her! (Could take the analogy further and make it more graphic but...)

Having to learn to let go... And go hunting again I guess.