December was an interesting month for Saltbox Living Ltd. …

Firstly a bit of news update from last month…  I told you of my finalist position in the category of ‘Property Investor of the Year’ at the Property Investor Awards. Unfortunately, I did not win the category but I was very pleased and privileged to have been one of the top five in the UK…. you never know maybe I’ll be a winner next year!  

Existing Property update

Project 1 – 6 bed HMO in Darlington – We are now well on our way to completing this by the end of the month.  Decorating is currently being carried out with carpets and furniture being ordered this week.  We will start to advertise this property very soon so we have people lined up to move in as soon as it is ready.  If we wait until it has been completely finished then we will end up with a void period and lost earnings.  It is very important to run all of these tasks alongside each other to make sure maximum earnings can be obtained. 

Project 2 – 6 bed HMO in Ripon – A major conversion of this property is well underway with structural work in both the loft and cellar to maximise the capacity of the building and use every available inch possible.  In order to go into the roof space, we needed to take out the floor, reset the height and put a new one in.

Project 3 – 6 bed HMO in Barnsley.  This is still going through legal at the moment and hopefully will be purchased before the end of January – the property needs a complete refurbishment.

Project 4 – In December we picked up the keys for a flat in Harrogate which will be refurbished and used as a SA /holiday let. We have placed a tenant into this flat for the time being whilst we plan this property into the development schedule.  Sometimes this is necessary when you have numerous projects underway at the same time, controlling the resources is key to maintaining the quality standards

NEW PROPERTY OPPORTUNITIES AND PROJECTS

 The last week of December proved to be a very busy week as we were given an opportunity to purchase a property at a cost significantly under the market value.  In order to do this we had to purchase within the week.  I put the challenge out to my team and everyone committed to achieving the purchase.  The end result is that we took ownership of a 7 bedroomed property in Cumbria.  The property is in need of work and could be turned into either flats or a HMO.  We are currently looking at the possibilities and analysing the best route for this property. I will give you an update in more detail in next month’s newsletter.
 
The end of the year seemed to bring with it plenty of opportunities and we currently have a further six potential opportunities being analysed and appraised. These range from  6 bed HMO to large apartment blocks. Hopefully, some of these will come to fruition in the early part of 2020.