Wreck of the Week

Sometimes readers get in touch and tell me their renovation stories . They're always amazing tales - of battles against what lies beneath (the wallpaper, the plasterboard, the floor...); of working until your bones ache; of extraordinary creativity and dogged determination.  And they always - at least in the renovation stories you send me - have happy endings. Your stories inspire me in ways any number of George Clarke TV do-ups never could. So I want to start posting more of them on "Wreck". I'll still concentrate on showing you properties to renovate most weeks, but now and then I'll post a renovation special. Like this one. This is Station House, in Malvern Link, Worcestershire. Back in March 2016, I wrote about a house on a hill and a house at a station . This was the house on the station. At the time, it was on the market for £260k through John Goodwin . A young couple, Chloe and Lee bought it and, a few months ago emailed me: In March 2016 w...

Three properties up for auction to show you - one of which will look familiar...! My first pick is one of two Staffordshire cottages sent to me by reader Jill. Hurst Bank Cottage (above and below) is being sold under the Modern Method of Auction . The MMoA basically makes you pay a large-ish reservation fee (in this example 3.5% of the accepted offer price) to get the property off the market, but doesn't bind you into buying the actual property. Useful if you want to stop anyone else gazumping your bid while you wait for the survey, talk to lenders, etc. Less useful if losing your deposit (for instance if you can't get a mortgage) would be an issue for you. Note that it's a fee on top of everything else, not part of your deposit, and in effect you're paying the seller's fees to the agent. The MMoA is becoming increasingly common, particularly with the new online-only agents and auction houses, and for properties needing substantial renovation. But back to Hu...