My apartment Project log

[Dr House]

Hi.

Now I don't know you, or how much your incomes are, but the above comment is a dangerous one, if you intent to borrow even more.

I assume your income is also factored in on this mortgage?

It is a lovely looking apartment by the way so all the best.

4.5 time is just my wife's income. I have not factored my own income into this which is why we can borrow more if we need to. Also in 3 years my wife's income will triple as she will be a consultant.

My only concern is that you appear to be going very high end in terms of finish, long term you will not see a return on this additional investment. I would personally downscale and eliminate that shortfall.

Will follow with interest

This is true but we plan to live in it for a long time.

 

[PapaLazaru]

4.5 time is just my wife's income. I have not factored my own income into this which is why we can borrow more if we need to. Also in 3 years my wife's income will triple as she will be a consultant.

Very nice.

Really nice looking apartment. Is it is London?

 

[PapaLazaru]

Things have definitely changed since then, although i don't doubt that some lenders may still operate like that.

We used C&G, they were pretty 'safe' lenders. Pity our business and personal lending was not so aggresive, in some small way, I no doubt contributed to the downfall of the bank (LTSB).

 

[Ricochet J]

You broke the cardinal OCUK rule by mentioning your income/outgoing ratio. Shame on you. Shame, shame on you. Nice to see the usual cynics jump on it quickly.

Oh please do shut up.

In almost every thread where finance is involved you write the same statement in different remixes. Yeh, we know, you hate people talking about financial constraints. But do you know what? You can happily ignore it by putting the "usual cynics" on your ignore list. In a project like this finance is something which will be discussed. This is a finance orientated project. This is a discussion forum, where we can discuss anything within the rules - finance is one of them. If the OP didn't want us to know specifics, I'm sure he would have omitted the part where he went into detail about financing the project.

 

[Nexus]

T
Sorry, I had another thread when I bought the space.

Basically we bought the top floor of the building as a shell, ie no floors, no walls or anything else. This is what it looks like now

Yes it’s a 999 year leasehold however before we bought the space we had our solicitor put a clause in the contract to allow us to make the changes to the roof.

That clears it up somewhat.
But why was the whole upstairs space left unfinished?
Did the developer run out of money?
Had the developer not finished yet and you approached them?

 

[PapaLazaru]

Ah I remember that thread. It is slightly wrong to call it an 'apartment'. It is bloody massive!

You got it for a really, really good price I think?

 

[V4NT0M]

I think a lot of people in the start of the thread were confused by you not saying it was the whole top floor and that the property was not completed yet. Really clears it up as now it doesn't seem like some crazy dream project.

Same question as nexus really, how did you arrange the half finished floor? Was it prior to the building or did you find it in that state and say "I'll take it"?

Also, get the walls all CAT5'd up

 

[kwerk]

4.5 time is just my wife's income. I have not factored my own income into this which is why we can borrow more if we need to. Also in 3 years my wife's income will triple as she will be a consultant.



This is true but we plan to live in it for a long time.

Sounds like you're both doctors. Are you concerned a little about all the "austerity" stuff down the road? Hospital near me just cut 100+ staff, although they were mostly admin.

 

[Cr0fty]

Looks like an amazing place to live... The only thing I could possibly change would be the building itself for some older architecture, but I imagine such a task on anything like that would require serious £££

Don't forget to post pics!

 

[Damien.]

I used to be an estate agent and used to love seeing development projects like this unfold.

The plans look/sound amazing, best of luck with it all !

 

[Worthy]

Amazing apartment, should look the bees when it's done. Ignore the haters, good luck with it all.

 

[Jokester]

FOGL's first well was a duster.

 

[DampCat]

Oh please do shut up.

I've mentioned it 3 times. I'm within my rights to laugh at the pedantic posters as much as you are to throw a hissy fit at me. Oh and btw...

But do you know what? You can happily ignore it by putting [me] on your ignore list.

Also as you say, I'm allowed to discuss anything within the rules. i dont see any that state im not allowed to poke fun at you and the rest of the brigade (not that i'd even attributed you to them, but there you go) so uh, well i guess i can continue to do so until they are changed.

Basically... everything you typed is completely contradictory to the bit where you told me to shut up. Did you think before posting it?

Do you want a cuddle?

 

[Ricochet J]

Quite simply: rather than going around in circles posting "LOL finance brigade" etc at every oppertunity, why not join in the discussion? So yeh, I'm moaning at you moaning at me moaning at you moaning at me...

What's the source of the moan? "LOL finance brigade are here, don't post your finances on OcUK" - doesn't really contribute to a thread does it? Do you think before posting it? Do you want a cuddle?


Anyway, OP, like I stated earlier I think this is a cracking project. Do you plan on laying some Cat5 cables?

 

[Dr House]

You got it for a really, really good price I think?

Yes correct we got it really really cheap because the seller wanted some quick money. This is why are LTV ratio is very good, plus we had a huge deposit from the sale of my Prague flat

Really nice looking apartment. Is it is London?

Lol no it is near Sheffield, if it was in london we would not get change of 5 million for it.

I think a lot of people in the start of the thread were confused by you not saying it was the whole top floor and that the property was not completed yet. Really clears it up as now it doesn't seem like some crazy dream project.

Same question as nexus really, how did you arrange the half finished floor? Was it prior to the building or did you find it in that state and say "I'll take it"?

Also, get the walls all CAT5'd up

That clears it up somewhat.

But why was the whole upstairs space left unfinished?
Did the developer run out of money?
Had the developer not finished yet and you approached them?

Ok so this is how it happened, the developer is a local guy, he has build all the apartments to quite a high specification and because its in a very desirable location is trying to charge a huge premium for the flat, the 3 bed we looked at was 455k. At the time he had only managed to sell 2 out of the 20 completed flats. Because of this he did not want to invest more money into the building so he decided not to finish the top floor for the time being.

I was not interested in the 3 bed (it was very nice but at 455k overpriced) but I told him if you decide to sell the top floor as a shell he should give me a call. 5 months later I get an email from him saying he was willing to sell it for xx amount. I was in Prague at the time so I sent my wife to have a look around, she loved it so I offered 70k under his asking price which was rejected. I came back 55k under his asking price and he accepted it.

I still had not seen the flat at this point lol.

We had lots and lots of legal complications so it took us around 11 months to complete but its ours now.

Sounds like you're both doctors. Are you concerned a little about all the "austerity" stuff down the road? Hospital near me just cut 100+ staff, although they were mostly admin.

Im not too worried, if you are a qualified doctor its not hard find a job.

FOGL's first well was a duster.

Yah it was a bit of a shame really, XTA is my big holding as long as they do well I will be fine.


I plan to run lots and lots of cat5 all over the place.

 

[R4z0r]

That looks absolutely incredible, good luck with it all!

Make sure you post pictures as the build progresses.

 

[SithUK]

Interesting project. Do you have previous experience in housing development?

Good luck. Looking forward to pictures.

 

[Dr House]

Small update,


We got the planning permission today to make the changes to the dorma windows. So we will be knocking out the roof / dorma windows at both ends of the living/dining room and replacing them with floor to ceiling folding sliding doors with a Juliet balcony.
We also got permission to knock out the sloping roof in bedroom 4 and replace it with floor to ceiling windows.

We have managed to get most things past the fire regulations officer now; we have had to install a domestic sprinkler system throughout the flat and a automatic opening ventilation system in the roof to vent smoke. We still have some major problems with fireproofing the floor because the developer has only put a single layer of plasterboard on the ceiling underneath so we are trying to arrange something to get around this.

We also have to isolate the mezzanine level from the rest of the house so that in the event of a fire it would not fill with smoke, we are again going to try and use fireproof glass.

We put the tenders out for the plumbing and ventilation/heating system which have just come back in. Things are moving albeit a little slowly.

Budget wise, after talking to the bank we should be able to secure another 70k if we need it, a few bad debts paid up recently also and another company that owes us quite a lot should be paying up soon so the financial side is getting better. However I have lost a lot on the stock market which is not going to help.
The bank of dad will also step in if things really get tight.

On a personal note, we bought this apartment in this area because my wife was going to be made partner in a local GP surgery (family business) however it looks like that is not going to happen due to health problems of the owner so we will probably end up selling the place and moving back down south or out of the uk in the next couple of years.

SithUK, no I have never done anything like this before however I did own part of a company that bought and renovated old apartments in Prague a couple of years ago and learned a few things but not much.

 

[Fuzz]

Good project, reminds me very much of my Ferrari F430 Aquisition Project, I am also £80k short of that as well.

Bwhahahaha.

Only just seen this thread, better catch up with the rest of it once I have stopped laughing


Edit* caught up..
Ahh Great project House.

Looking forward to updates.

 

[Strife212]

Why do anything if you have to move out, just sell it now?