A mum-of-five has shown how she made an £18,000 profit on her Cheshire home, despite doing 'nothing to it'. Nikki appeared on BBC's Homes Under the Hammer on Tuesday night (January 31) which saw her buy a three-bed semi-detached home in Crewe at an auction for £215,000.
Described by presenter Jacqui Joseph as 'very, very dated', the house was complete with old-fashioned décor and furniture, as well as a 'unusual, quirky' set up with a strange 'lean-to' at the side with another kitchen.
Nikki initially intended to renovate the entire property with her youngest son Archie, who was excited to start 'destroying walls' with a sledgehammer, but she eventually chose to put it back on the market after doing very little to it.
READ MORE:
Despite spending just £2,000 'doing up' the semi-detached home by tidying up the garden and clearing out the furniture, Nikki sold the house for £235,000 and ended up making a profit of £18,000.
Not only did she benefit financially from the project, but the mum also found a way to help out a woman who had found herself homeless, reports Cheshire Live.
When they first looked at their new property, Nikki and her son had lots of plans to transform it, with Archie knowing exactly what needed doing.
“We're removing the corridor that goes to the utility and then we're going to extend the kitchen out,” he explained, as Nikki added: “Couldn't have said it better myself.”
Nikki explained that she planned to change the layout of the house, redo the décor and add an extension to the back. She was also thinking about adding a separate extension over the garage to create another bedroom and bathroom.
Her budget for the project was £40,000 and she was aiming to complete it within six months.
But four months later when the Homes Under the Hammer team returned, not a lot seemed to have changed. Nikki had taken out all the furniture and her eldest sons Josh and Jacob had cleared out the garden and added new turf.
Nikki then sold it as she was too busy to renovate it, and it sold for £235,000 - £20,000 more than she had bought it for.
Taking into account the £2,000 Nikki had spent on the garden and clearing the house out, that gave her an £18,000 profit.
“It just goes to show, with very little spend, if you buy in the right location, good schools, local amenities, buy at the right price, there is still money to be made on houses, even if you do nothing to them,” she said.
She added: “I'm always looking for properties for sale, I'm always looking at the auction sites. So hopefully I will find another little one very shortly.”
Nikki had been interested in property since a very young age, having built her own house when she was just 18.
She then continued to buy and renovate properties, and by the time her eldest child was 12, he'd already lived in 12 houses.
During her years buying and selling properties Nikki juggled a full time job whilst also raising five kids, but said she had recently resigned from her job and was looking to work full time in property.
Her two eldest sons now run their own landscaping business, and her youngest son Archie also likes helping his mum with various projects.
When asked by Jacqui what his 'forte' is, Archie said: “destroying walls” with a “sledgehammer”.
Nikki pointed out that he would of course wear a hard hat, steel-toe-capped boots and follow all the right health and safety precautions. “He's my little sidekick,” she said. “I'm going to teach him everything that I know, and more. And then hopefully one day he can then take over and carry on what I love doing.”
Nikki said she had started a new job and also had work to do on her own house, so hadn't had time to work on the property. Although when she was clearing out all the furniture, she did find a way to help someone in need.
She offered the items she was taking out for free to people online and was contacted by a woman who had recently been homeless and was moving into her first apartment. So Nikki was more than happy to gift her some furniture to make the woman comfortable in her new home.
Sign up to our free weekly property newsletter by clicking here
READ NEXT:
Our daily blackouts save £2k a year - my kids get sweets for turning lights off
'My £49,000 deposit wouldn't go far in London - so I found my perfect loft apartment in Manchester'
'We're swapping our 3-bed home for 65ft narrowboat - people think we're crazy'
'We took a punt and bought a derelict farmhouse... now it's our dream home'
