Will do the work to make it work
“There is no way we would have found our property without Tamara! Tamara supported us 100% throughout the process for which we are extremely thankful.” – LB
Pandemic Spacing!
When it seemed every property that would be suitable for this family in the area of their favoured school was over budget, we brought creative thinking to the table to find a way to get the house that would ultimately be perfect. We found the right house – it would just need a second phase when they were ready to do the work. And all in the middle of a pandemic!
The dilemma
I meet this fantastic couple in the middle of Lockdown 2020. Our first meeting was sitting, two meters apart from each other, in a park local to where they lived with their daughter riding her bicycle circles around us. Wild times!
They had a fantastic three-bed flat in Shepherds Bush, an area they fell across and grew to love, had lived in for years and loved the schools their children attended. Their issue was, they had three children and desperately needed both more space internally and needing something of their own, externally. The trouble is the housing market had progressed and the next step was a steep one. It would be a big stretch to find the home they wanted within budget.
How LPM Helped
I suggested they consider heading further out of town for more space. Still within the Greater London Borough with excellent transport links to get the larger house they craved but the schools were so important and they did not want to put their children through a move to a new one. Therefore, it was going to be about finding a property that had compromises others may not accept in the area, but still being a great home and getting it secured super quickly, before a competing bit came in (something that was a frequent occurrence at the time for the best priced homes in London’s outer prime locations like Shepherds Bush).
Initially I found a few great maisonettes (being a flat but with its own front door) with outside space but the pull for their own house and front door was something I fully backed and felt sure, with time, could be found. It did take a bit of time, there was a delay with their sale and, although properties were coming on the market, there was not a flurry of ‘the right houses. As I continued chipping away at the agents, I had a conversation with an agent one morning to hear of a house that was just about to come on. I was the first to preview it and my clients were able to zip over the very same day on their lunch break. The house needed extending (the loft had not yet been converted therefore the price was right and the potential was there). By buying and extending it meant the £40k – £60k saved by coordinating the work themselves allowed the overall home to fall within budget and with the excitement of being able to make it as they wanted (albeit in stages beginning now and finishing in the future).
We secured it without another viewing and an incredibly happy family remained in their beloved She Bu (the local nick name for Shepherds Bush).
If you’d like our help finding your perfect family home please get in touch.
