Case study · Liverpool L4
A dilapidated three-storey house in L4, turned into a six-bed HMO
The honest one. This project produced a lower valuation than the others on this page, and Noel says so in the video — fewer bathrooms means less income, and less income means a lower valuation. It is included because a page of only spectacular outcomes would not be much use to anyone.
The numbers
| Purchase costs | £5,000 | |
|---|---|---|
| Refurbishment | £50,000 | |
| Furnishing | £6,000 | |
| Total invested | ~£170,000 | including the purchase |
| Valuation as an HMO | £180,000 | |
| Gross rent | £3,000 / month |
Strategy: Full refurbishment and conversion, four bedrooms to six
What made it work
- Bathrooms drive HMO valuations. This property has three for six bedrooms; the projects on this site that valued far higher have one per room. The conversion is otherwise comparable — the difference in outcome is almost entirely that ratio.
- The basement was flooded, the top floor had cracks wide enough to put a hand through, and the basement stairs had to be replaced. A three-storey building was housing a single person.
- The valuation barely exceeds the money invested, and that is the point of including it. It is a good long-term asset producing £3,000 a month — but it is not a project that returned its capital, and we would rather show one of those than pretend they do not happen.
The full walkthrough, in Noel’s words
Transcribed from the video and edited for readability. One figure is deliberately omitted: the transcript renders the purchase price as "£15,000", which cannot be correct — the same video says the property could not be bought today for less than £140,000. The total investment shown is the figure given in the video description. The purchase price will be added once confirmed.
Hello and welcome to Property Cashflow. My name is Noel Cardona, a property investor, author and entrepreneur with over ten years of experience in property investment.
This property had a great deal of potential when it was bought, and it was in a bad state. I do not have a video of how it was beforehand, but I can describe it.
The basement was flooded. The property was completely outdated and damaged. The top floor had cracks so large you could put your hand through them, so we had to fix that. The basement stairs had to be replaced. The whole property had to be upgraded — there was only one person living in a three-storey building.
It was sold as a four-bedroom and was converted into a six-bedroom, three-bathroom property. Because it does not have as many bathrooms as some of the others we have shown, it does not generate as much income, and so the valuation is lower. But it is a truly remarkable change: a property that was completely dilapidated, full of leaks in the roof, with wasted basement space, turned into the HMO you see now.
The basement was completely flooded. It was changed and modernised entirely. A new double kitchen was installed — excellent space for tenants to live in. The location is L4, which is central and a very good income-generating area.
The numbers: purchasing costs of about £5,000, refurbishment of about £50,000, and £6,000 furnishing the property. The valuation as an HMO, with the rents provided, was £180,000, and the monthly cashflow today is £3,000.
That is very good. It is a strong asset for the investors, and one that is going to last a very long time.
If you want a property that does this, we source and develop them in Liverpool and the Wirral, and manage them afterwards. Or run your own numbers first on the buy-to-let calculator — free, no sign-up.