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Private Notes
Sarah Beeny goes back to see how Martin Sutherland is coping after he was so convinced he'd found the formula for making money out of developing in Earls Court.
Art deco enthusiasts Craig and Tina Young are determined to renovate a dilapidated example of the style to the highest possible standard. But will anyone in Surrey want to buy it? Meanwhile Michael Gregory and Sally Breeze are taking less of a risk by choosing to extend a family house in Clevedon. But financing it using interest-free credit cards is a nail-biting way to go about it. As the clock ticks by Sarah attempts to speed up the procrastinators, and rein in the perfectionists
Having loads of great design ideas is a good start to a career as a property developer. Trying to cram every single one of them into a tiny terrace in Salisbury is not. Katherine Church has given up a job in computers in favour of a more creative occupation, so is in no mood to have her artistic enthusiasm curbed by Sarah Beeny's sensible advice. In Leeds Sarah has the opposite problem. She needs to persuade budget-conscious ex-financial advisor John Jessop that a little bit of time and money spent on a good finish will help lift his tired bungalow into a different league.
This week Sarah helps two aspiring property developers in London. Trying to make as much money as possible from your property is one thing, but filling a house with rooms till it bursts at the seams is quite another. In Hendon, Shaffi Ahmed is convinced she can maximise her rental income by cramming ten bedrooms into a three-bedroom house, even if that means putting them in the attic, in the garage, or even in the shed at the bottom of the garden. A few miles down the road in Acton Derek Gallimore is also trying to increase his rental income by modernising and adding rooms; but will it make any difference when his house sits right on the busy A40?
Both of this week's developers are taking on listed properties, which are notoriously difficult to renovate. But developed sympathetically they can provide major returns, and this week's developers are chasing the biggest profits ever seen on Property Ladder. In Harlaxton Mark and Tammy Howard want to turn an old bakery into a desirable family home, but with a listed giant baker's oven bang in the middle of their new kitchen, this might prove a gamble too far. Meanwhile, in Dunstable, business partners Dave Hearne and Nick Holmes are also gambling on massive returns when they buy not one, but six listed houses in a ramshackle old terrace. With Sarah's help they think they can make them super modern; but is Dunstable ready for a wet room?
Getting the right location is key to making money from property. So why have two sets of first time developers picked the most awkward locations possible for their first attempts at developing? John Burrows and Jacky Copland believe they can make a really top end luxury family house out of their sprawling, run down, listed property in Bourne, Lincolnshire. They've got the budget, and they've got the vision. But they refuse to listen to Sarah when she tells them that no front door, with access possible only via a commercial car park, is going to severely limit their market. One hundred and eighty-five miles away in Lancashire Simon Gore and Paul Hilton have managed to find a property located on the busiest biker route in the country. When they can make themselves heard above the roar of the traffic, their mission is to convert an 18th-century water mill into a desirable holiday home, even though what they've bought is currently no more than two crumbling rooms and a hole in the ground where the water wheel once stood...
When you've already got a full-time job, taking on a property development is a huge extra commitment and requires nifty job-juggling. This week two sets of developers take on that responsibility, but they each have very different approaches. Julie Thomas and Lee Jones are both scientists with a love of detail so they want to do all their renovation work themselves. But a surfeit of enthusiasm coupled with zero knowledge sees them giving up every single weekend and evening for months on end as they struggle to modernise their tiny two-up, two-down in Bedfordshire. Meanwhile, in Norfolk, Heidi Sutton, the self-proclaimed "most impatient person on the planet" gets the builders in to get her bungalow renovated as quickly as possible. But she hasn't bargained on just how much work project managing alone can involve.
Marigold Charles and Joel Peters want to turn a north London property development opportunity into a profit of £150,000, but they refuse to take any advice from Sarah.
Sarah Beeny continues her mission to share her wisdom, this time with Nottingham couple Damon Marshall and Corinne Ellison, two newcomers to the property business.
Sarah Beeny has got her green hard-hat on, trying to help some aspiring property developers balance their eco philosophies with harsh business realities.
Sarah's got her work cut out helping developers in Poole and London who have given up lucrative careers to launch into property development. Ex-dentist Rebecca Lang is looking for a more flexible lifestyle and has bought a 1970s detached family home in Poole, Dorset. She's hoping to cash in on one of the country's most expensive places to live, but may have seriously underestimated what can be achieved with her budget of £150,000. Former IT sales manager David Hollingworth thinks developing full time is the way to get a better quality of life and is redeveloping a four-bed Victorian terraced house in Crouch End, North London. Sarah has concerns about his choice of finishes clashing with the period style of the property.
Sarah Beeny meets two developers, one in Brighton, the other near Ross-on-Wye, who think their dream locations mean that they've got it made.
Sarah Beeny catches up with Sian Astley in Manchester, who is seemingly unstoppable in her new career. Three years after they first met, Sian is now on her seventh property development.
Sarah Beeny returns to see whether another aspiring developer has managed to move up the Property Ladder. When Jonathan Topps started his first development in Sydenham three years ago, he consistently refused to listen to Sarah's advice about not getting too personal on a tiny budget. Showers and skylights were a particular sticking point so she can't wait to see whether either of these offending items sneak their way into his next project: this time he's trying his luck in Stroud in Gloucestershire. He's hoping to turn a very outdated three-bedroom semi into a luxurious five-bed family home; but it means a lot of work, including a three-storey extension, a loft conversion and a new garage. And just, like in Sydenham, he wants to do a lot of it himself.
Sarah Beeny's back in Felixstowe to see if Mike Horgan can continue his remarkable success story. With sheer hard graft, Mike single-handedly transformed a huge five-bed Victorian house.
Sarah Beeny offers her advice to two couples in Surrey and Clevedon, but will they listen?
