After & Before....

May 2, 2016 by Rob Kahl

After & before

A few weeks ago I wrote an article about the pros and cons of country living. I highlighted a property we had just taken on to the market in Canwedon and how idyllic the setting was in the middle of rolling fields with views over the river Crouch. Well it turns out that much to my surprise people do read my articles!!

A lady popped in to the office and said she had read the article and seen the property featured in the newspaper. It soon became apparent that she wasn’t going to buy the property, so as you can imagine my attention wained. But then she said that she used to live there and I was genuinely interested. I was! Honest!

The property is currently a very large 4 bedroom detached house in 3 acres of manicured gardens with mature trees and is in immaculate condition. Her family had bought the property in the early 1980’s, had completely renovated it and she had been interested in seeing how it was presented now.

When they first bought the property it was still 2 small semi detached cottages which were in such a bad state they were virtually derelict and actually boarded up. The cottages were standing in the middle of a field with a dirt track leading to them. There wasn’t even a clearly defined boundary and the properties were far from habitable.

The family set upon an adventure to transform them and firstly knocked them in to 1 house, they extended the property to the rear and added the detached barn/garage. Internally they modernised from top to bottom with new windows, plumbing, electrics, new kitchen & bathrooms and obviously redecorated throughout. The property itself was brought in to what was then the 20th century, but one of the biggest transformations has to be the garden. Seeing it now you would have thought it was designed and planted hundreds of years ago. Fantastic mature trees, established shrubs, manicured lawns, even the now fruitful orchard was planted from scratch by them. The vision that they must have had to make such changes is amazing. They even put in the driveway and gates and they were so pleased now to be able to see how established it all was.

It is often the case that I sell properties that need lots of work doing to them. People have great plans of extending or modernising and it is great for us to get to see properties at an early stage before they have started and then ultimately, the finished article if we're lucky enough to visit again or re-sell after all the hard work has been done.

This case is the other way round which is highly unusual. We have been and taken a property on the market which is absolutely immaculate inside and out and now we are getting to see what it was like before it was all started. It is fascinating to see how a family took what could easily have become a pile of rubble, turned it into a fantastic family home with stunning gardens and how these things can sometimes take years to complete.

This article is by Rob Kahl at Scott & Stapleton.
Tel 07012 471155

To read all of Rob's previous article's please click the link https://www.leigh-on-sea.com/tag/listing/blog/property