Whoo, bought a credit crunch flat with a difference

[Dr House]

So I finally sold my place in Prague and bought a Flat just outside Chesterfield, a developer (really nice honest sounding chap) has build an nice apartment block and due to the crash he has had problems selling the apartments (priced 300 to 500k).
He did not finish the internal construction on the penthouse so I bought the space at a knocked down rate.

Now unfortunately I can’t get a mortgage on it until it’s complete because it’s a new build apartment that is classed as non habitable at the moment. So I basically will have to sell everything I own to buy it, I have not quite worked out how I am going to pay for the renovation but we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

So this is the floor plan we plan to use.
http://i872.photobucket.com/albums/ab283/nastytooth/ph.jpg

Now to the interesting bit, the gadgets!

This is what I have planned:
Central air con (I will do the ducting now and buy the unit when we can afford it)
Central Vacuum cleaner
A Couple of runs of Cat6 to every room going from the server room
HDMI cables to each point where I plan to put a TV
6000sq ft under floor heating using a air source heat pump (flat comes with the pump)
CCTV in the hallway
lutron grafik eye lighting system for the living room.

So are there any other cool systems or anything else I should think about integrating? I have given myself 14 months to finish the project but chances are if I can get some funding sorted it will only take 4 months.

I am only going to do 1 bathroom now and the rest when we can afford it. This will be our family home and I don't think we will move for a VERY long time so I want to get it right.

Pics on page 3

 

[Dr House]

Integrated speaker systems in some of the rooms maybe? Always wanted one in my bathroom.

I will put the cables in now. I cant afford the system yet.

Also, what exactly is a central vacuum cleaner? :/

http://www.beamvac.co.uk/

Nice! Shame it's in Chesterfield....

lol, well its close to the Surgery my partner will be running but I was told its a nice part of town.

Blimey, over 6,300 sq/ft is huge. Do you have any pictures?

Not yet but will get some over the weekend.

Its going to be a hard few years financially but I think its going to be worth it in the long run. I really have sold everything I own to fund this.

 

[Dr House]

I'm not sure if it would be feasible but once you've made it habitable could you remortgage(probably not the correct term in this case as you've not got a mortgage to start with) some of it to free up some cash

My plan is to do it up and get a mortgage as soon as its finished, I do have a few ideas on how I will finance the construction until then.

Wow, wasn't aware you could pay that much for apartments in Chesterfield. Which end of town is it in?

Holymoorside


EDIT, I did think about making bedroom 4 a little smaller but I dont want to get rid of the room.

 

[Dr House]

Paras - that place is huge! I am not sure people realise just how big 6300sq ft is for a residential property. Your average 3 bed 70's semi is approximately 1000-1200sq ft for reference! My biggest house is not even 2000sq ft. Jealous++!

Yah I know, its going to mean driving around a crap car for a few years and not having expensive holidays but I think its worth it.

Needs an office/study and a library. And maybe a sauna.

Not keen on a Sauna but a Library on the mesonine level would be really nice. We have lots and lots of medical books!

unless you've got a couple of kids already then why bother with 4 bedrooms

Looking at that plan I'd at least get rid of bedroom number 3 so you've got a big lounge - probably want to make the kitchen open plan & open onto the lounge & maybe reduce the size of bedroom suite number 4 too.

Unless you've got plans to use them why not take advantage of the space for a big entertaining area.

The living area is big enough as it is, to give you an idea the living/dining room is 1000s***, I grew up in a 3bed London house which is 950 S***.

Also We plan to have 2 kids and we probably will have quite a few visitors so 4 bedrooms would be very useful.

I will make some sort of Blog as I go along.

 

[Dr House]

more like just pray he doesn't go bankrupt & the block doesn't get seized by his creditors.

That should not happen as the mortgage will only be paid out on completion of the project and its only 30k more then the mortgage that I have been paying on my flat for the last 2 years. Plus my misses is working now so we have a second income coming in. I want to take a interest only mortgage, the payments are working out to be around 25% of combined take home monthly pay. Im not overstretching my self in the long run its just going to be hard for the first 2 years to get it finished and furnished.

Just pray he doesn't sell the flats off cheap to undesirables!

Yep Hope not but he has invested a lot into the place and he lives in the area so I dont think he would do that.

Convert one bedroom to cinema / pool room.

That would be cool but chances are it will not happen, I Plan to put a PJ in the living room with inwall speakers.

A old pinball machine would be nice though.

yup same, i'd have the master bedroom with ensuite and dressing room, the kids bedrooms other end of apartment and lots of open space inbetween. A separate bathroom and dressing room for every kid is just, well, complete overkill. Hell you could if you want to maximise the space you could add an extra bedroom, or two, and then considering selling it for more in the future. Frankly people buying a penthouse are more likely to be smaller richer families and probably want a more open plan "cool" penthouse but who knows.

Its very nice and all but its just 3 messy bathrooms to clean for 3 kids instead of one messy bathroom, I'd also have the living room/lounge open out onto the balcony as it will be the most used area and will get the most light from what I assume is the biggest/brightest windows.

Bedrooms right off the lounge area are likely to be louder aswell, i'd try and seperate the bedrooms from the lounge/living room/kitchen as much as possible.

my thinking behind only putting 4 bedrooms in was that not many people are going to want to buy a flat with more then that, also its difficult to add more rooms because of the windows.

The bedroom being right off the living room is bad but we are planing to put some sound insulation in.

Thanks for the info on the central hoover, I will scrap that idea.

 

[Dr House]

got a few pics

view from the balcony

lift which opens into the flat + hallway number 1

hallway number 2

bedroom 1

bedroom2

bedroom3

dressing room for bedroom 4
http://s872.photobucket.com/albums/ab283/nastytooth/?action=view&current=P1010499.jpg
bathroom for bedroom 4

mesonine (pic taken looking up)

Dining area

living area

Kitchen

 

[Dr House]

that looks huge, although I will have to ask if you plan to do anything with the mezzanine area? Seems a shame to waste all that space.

Looking at bedroom 3 I would be quite concerned about that low window unless it has something outside?

Chances are we will make the mezzanine area in to a small study area or something like that.

bedroom 3 has a small balcony.

 

[Dr House]

http://www.foxtons.co.uk/search?loc...rm=map&search_type=SS&submit_type=search#main

Example of a 6,000 square foot property...i had to look it up as i couldn't understand how big it was just by looking at the numbers.

well my place will not feel that big because its a loft so has the sloping roof.


And I will dump the central vacuum cleaner idea, that will save me a good 1500

 

[Dr House]

That is one huge flat - I think you could fit about 8 of my first flat into there and still have space to walk round in.

At least you will get something you wanted in the end - keep the pics flowing, love a bit of DIY - especially if someone else is doing it

I take it all the water pipes etc are in place already?

no nothing at all, the flat is connected to both but non of the internal pips or cables are in yet.

 

[Dr House]

Has it got AC or will you be fitting AC?

It does not have it but I do plan to fit it if possible.

 

[Dr House]

will have to nip up when it's done mate, I'm only about 15-20 mins away

yep do that, its going to take some time as we only just agreed to buy it last week

 

[Dr House]

Paras, not sure if its too late now but you could have just bought a very very cheap bathroom and kitchen (just the basics) to get the mortgage and then taken it back out again, which would free up your cash to spend on doing it up then.

I had thought about that however the problem is I dont know if the mortgage provider requires a completion certificate from the local council. If they do that would cause a problem with calming back the VAT for the build costs.

But I will investigate it. Thanks very much for the idea.

 

[Dr House]

that house is 9 million quid. The cheapest mortgage calls on interest only payments of 22,000 a month.

Its in a very expensive area, but still crazy money!

 

[Dr House]

Not really sure where the problem here lies wrt the finance. There are a plethora of self build arrears stage payment mortgage products which would suit this project, as well as standard development loan funding from a bank.

I am assuming that you have leverage somewhere else, Paras, secure a development loan on that while construction is completed.

Yep there are lots of self build mortgages around however they will not touch an unfinished FLAT with a barge pole. Trust me I have tried. It would not have been a problem 18 months ago. However there are other finance options available but they are very very expensive. To be honest I am not too worried as I can buy and hold it for a few months until the lending market opens up. I also have a few fall back plans so it should all come together it may just take a little longer then expected.

Huge flat.

If its in a good location, it could be worth megabucks after its been renovated / completed.

No not really, I will not loose money on it however it not going to make huge amounts as there is not much of a market for a flat that size in the north of England, if it was in London that would be a different story.

Had you not thought about splitting it into two fair sized apartments, and selling one.
I would have thought for resale value this would have been best, as I can see there being very little demand for 4 bedroomed apartments.

I did think of this, 1 I would not get planning, 2 This is going to be our home for a VERY long time so I am not looking at it as an investment but more as a place to live.

That alone would not get sign off. Also, Paras may not know this but if its flats, the whole block must be signed off (not just the individual flat) before any mortgage lender or valuer will touch it. This is in the interests of building insurance, which in this case, will be interesting, and NHBC, again, which will be interesting.

Have you looked in to these?

Correct, I cant borrow the money until its finished. However I did not know about the whole block having to be finished, however it must be finished because I think there are people living in it now.

I am not too well informed when it comes to building regs and stuff so I have hired a building consultant to do the due diligence before everything is finalized.

All that space and you're wasting it with 4 en suites. Sorry, but that is fail for me. Two bedrooms can be served quite happily by one main bathroom leaving uber space for more home cinema gadgets and other awesome stuff.

EDIT: Looking at the pics, it's very nice. It may well be 6000 sq ft but actual useable space is much less given the retarded ceiling angles

I'm moving in to my flat shortly. I'm tempteed to put HAL 2000 in there. You should check it out.

Lucero, yes its huge on paper but in real life the usable space is much less, it I would say around 2000 sq ft is wasted however it will make the flat feel really nice and the roof is a cool feature if you do the lighting well.

Thanks for the info on the HAL 2000, I will look it up tomorrow. I was looking at going with a Control 4 system but I am still open to suggestions.

 

[Dr House]

Very wise decision, be cold and calculating until all is certain, then start moving in your stuff mentally.

hi, They guy is charging me 300 quid a day but to be honest I think I will save money in the long run.

BTW, do you remember me? we met around 10 years ago.

 

[Dr House]

ok I will have a look, I did a little bit of reading into HAL last night and it looks to be VERY good.

Thanks for the info

 

[Dr House]

ah nice thanks for the info. We had the an Architect come out to have a look yesterday who gave us some nice ideas. We are going try and put floor to Ceiling windows in both ends of the living room.

 

[Dr House]

So After 11 months of legal problems we finally completed today. Which is not all that bad as I did not have to pay the mortgage (we where luckey to even get a mortgage really) for the last 11 months, also invested the money I planed to pay for the flat and work in the stock market and have done quite well so overall we are off to a good start.


We are aiming to start work in 3 months time. Hopefully everything will be finished within 9 to 12 months total.

I will post a build log as I go along.

 

[Dr House]

Here is what it looks like from the outside, we have the top floor.

Oh one more thing, I got married a month ago so this will be our first home together

 

[Dr House]

That is quite jammy, looks nice and new. You've probably captured most of the stock recovery and hopefully got a good mortgage just in time.
I would suggest a fixed rate is a good idea if you have the opportunity at some point

Yep it worked out very well. I am still investing the money I plan to use for the renovation work, but I will pull that out as soon as we actually start working. We could really do with an extra 50/60k to finish it off to a good standard, I think we should be able to borrow more money should we need it.


unfortunately because I picked the mortgage deal a year ago I got base rate plus 3% but I can change it in 2 years.