On occasion our visits to see homeowners are about longer term and associated relationships and a meeting in Itchen Abbas earlier this week was one those instances. I am always fascinated by people’s proposals for major projects, in part born out of my deep held interest in architecture from a young age. A tour of the existing house moved on to a detailed discussion and review of the plans they have had drawn up to significantly re-model the house. Increasing the square footage by probably 40% and re-configuring some of the rooms will transform the house. I made a few suggestions, one of which they very much appreciated and will implement in the next round of plan amendments.
My visit was to assess the current likely sale price providing detailed reasoning for our opinion and then considering the effect of the significant works they propose on the ultimate likely sale price once complete. They were clear from the first telephone call that they would only sell now if the numbers weren’t viable. Fortunately for them, my deliberations concluded that they are and their plans will now progress to the next stage comfortable in the knowledge that the current and future likely sale price justify the significant investment they are about to make. They’ll almost certainly spend many years at the house once transformed. Whilst I may still be at The Country House Company when they do sell, the very great likelihood is that I won’t and in the meantime their very evident gratitude might prompt them to talk to friends and neighbours about our no obligation input and that we might benefit because we have offered best advice and not been tempted by short term gain which has never been our ethos.
Patrick Glynn-Jones