Why We Bought It… and Sold It Without Doing a Thing

This property came to us in early 2024.

This is a typical deal we would buy.

We bought it for £300,000, then auctioned it; it sold for £347,000 on 26 March 2024.

Because it was probate, we qualified for stamp duty relief, and we did not spend a single pound on refurbishment.

On paper, some people would say:

“Why didn’t you do the work? You left money on the table.”

What happened next is exactly why we didn’t.

What the Next Buyer Did

The buyer who purchased it at £347,000 did what most people think you’re supposed to do:

• Full refurbishment

• Extensive internal works

• Front altered (stone cladding removed, rendered finish)

• Likely spend: £80,000+

• Time taken: around a year

The property then came back to market in early 2025 at:

• £575,000 (initial asking price)

It didn’t sell.

A year later reduced to:

• £525,000

It still hasn’t sold as of early Jan 2026.

Let’s Slow This Down and Look at the Reality

By the time the second buyer finished, their real position likely looked something like this:

• Purchase price: £347,000

• Stamp duty (no probate relief): significant £15,260

• Auction fees & legals £7520

• Refurbishment: £80,000+

• Finance costs (likely bridging) £40,000+

• Holding costs for nearly 2 years, council tax, electricity,

• Time, risk, stress, and exposure to the market

And despite all that…

👉 No buyer at £575,000

👉 No buyer at £525,000

Why This Was Always the Risk

When I viewed the property originally, I said then — not now — that:

• Done up value was £475,000–£500,000

• Stone cladding/rendered finish would hold it back

• Even altered, it wouldn’t feel like an original brick-fronted house

That hasn’t changed.

If this had been original brick frontage, I genuinely believe it would’ve sold by now — or at least been very close at £525,000.

But it isn’t.

And buyers at that level are fussy.

The Bit Most People Miss

Had we decided to do the work:

• We’d have paid stamp duty

• We’d have tied capital up for 12–18 months

• We’d have carried the financial risk

• We’d have been exposed to market sentiment shifting

• And we still wouldn’t have achieved £525,000

So yes — we made £47,000 gross by doing nothing.

But more importantly, we:

• Removed risk

• Freed capital

• Avoided time drag

• Avoided market overreach

• Took certainty over hope

• 
  

This Is Why We Didn’t Sell It “Wrong”

People love talking about GDV.

What actually matters is net outcome, time, and risk.

This wasn’t about being clever after the event.

This was about recognising, at the time, that:

The market would pay more for the problem than it would reward the solution.

And that’s why we sold it exactly when we did.

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