Man buys wrecked £41,000 house in 'rough area' and turns it into house of dreams
A dog breeder was faced with a 'house of horrors' when his newly purchased home turned out to be a boarded up 'wreck'. Ryan Whitham was chilling on his sofa one evening when he saw a house listed for just £15,000.
He didn't know much about the property or the area of Grangetown, between Middlesbrough and Redcar in northeast England, but decided to make a bid.
Ryan, who is also a landscape gardener as well as a dog breeder, wasn't bothered about the location. "To me the area, the people is wholly irrelevant. As long as it's got petrol stations, dog shops, hairdressers, groomers and supermarkets [I'm happy]," he said. "The world's a big place and people spend too much time in one little spot."
The copper piping had been ripped off the walls of Ryan's home ((Image: Ryan Whitham))But there was a problem. The house he ended up buying wasn't in the condition that was shown online. "It was sold as a liveable house," he said. "Although it was sold as 'buyer beware' that was a misrepresentation. The windows were boarded up, the house was filled with rubbish and drug bottles. There was no electricity or working hot water."
On top of the terrible conditions, Ryan also had to deal with security issues. People had been regularly breaking into the property to take drugs or vandalise it before Ryan moved in. Faced with the huge challenge of turning the wrecked house into a liveable home, he thinks many people would have given up and sold it - yet, he decided to stay.
London flat for rent for £1,400 a month with bed tucked away in kitchen cupboard
The ex-landscape gardener made room for a bed on the floor with plans to refurbish the house himself. Where once piles of debris lay, shiny new kitchen countertops have been installed, and there's a walk-in shower in a room that used to be full of broken porcelain. These accomplishments weren't achieved without hard work though - from both Ryan and his uncle who helped out.
Ryan told the Express: "We were sleeping on a carpet in the front bedroom, waking up at seven in the morning with the light coming in on us. We'd go 'right, get a coffee, get the drills, let's get that window in today [or] drag those electrics across'.
Ryan Whitham has painstakingly redeveloped his property (Ryan Whitham)"I've just come back from B&Q with two bags of plaster so we can finish the back room. It's just about getting through it bit by bit."
Ryan, who drives a black Porsche 4X4 emblazoned with an advertisement for his dog-breeding business, is a big character neighbours were unlikely to miss. When he first moved in, a council worker visiting advised him to be cautious in the neighbourhood due to issues with drug dealing and crime.
He added: "He'd come round to check nothing dodgy was going on," adding, "He told me 'just be careful round here because it's a rough area for crime. If that's your car I'd be parking it round the back, I wouldn't be trusting them round here because you've got nice things I don't want you to be a target'."
Despite warnings of potential trouble, Ryan has only experienced kindness from his neighbours. "Next door but one lets me have a bath and the man that lives next door put an extension round so I had electricity whilst I was waiting for the services to be put in," he shared.
Ryan admits he prefers life in Grangetown over his original home in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester. "There was a lot of 'keeping up with the Joneses'," he said. "I'd rather be a king among peasants rather than a king competing among kings in Manchester."
Ryan's move to the North East was purely by chance, as he could have ended up in Grimsby or Hull where he'd bid for similarly priced homes.
Once complete, his property will be worth much more than the £41,000 he paid at auction, but he has no plans to move out soon. With a large garage and garden for his dogs, Ryan has built his dream home and wants to enjoy it first.
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