 news2
|
|
» Corfu Real Estate
» Projects
» Investing in Renovation |
 |
| Investing in Renovation |
In July 2001, the property section of the Daily Telegraph published an article about Luvcorfu director Harry Tsoukalas and his efforts to save Corfu’s villages by selling and renovating old houses. For many people, this was an entirely new concept for the Greek property market, which until then had focused on sales of land for new builds and resales of modern houses.
Four years down the line, after countless thousands of emails and hundreds of sales, the efforts are starting to achieve results. Many houses have been restored to their former glory, with many more in the process of renovation. Buildings that were hardly more than a pile of rubble have been turned into lovely stone villas, collapsing cottages are now pretty homes.
But despite the examples that now exist , there are many people who understandably do not wish to undertake a project that is likely to take several months to create a habitable property. Yes, they’d like a old home full of character, but they’d prefer the hard work to have been done already, perhaps leaving just a kitchen and bathroom to install so that they can input some of their own taste.
However, the market for old houses is so recent that resales in this sector are as yet few and far between.
Now, a British investor, David Smith from Doncaster, has bought three old houses, and with the help of a local team has set the renovation process in motion. David has spent most of his life renovating old properties in the UK, and brings an in-depth knowledge of the required techniques along with his investment in Corfu’s heritage.
Used to new-build constructions, local builders lack knowledge of the materials and the special procedures that must be employed in reconstructing an old house. Usually, they are unaware that much of the fabric of the building can be recovered, features such as timber floors repaired and reused, and details like old stonework retained. Often, the structure is stripped and gutted, before being covered with a shell of perfect squared-off rendering, so that you can’t even guess that a heritage stone property stood there. Sometimes, with great insensitivity - and often illegally - they install red roof tiles instead of the traditional ochre ones, and even uPVC doors and windows
Such mistakes cost the buyers dearly, and not just financially. Expectations too are dashed, the lovely traditional-style home they fell in love with has gone for good.
In contrast, David’s team is highly experienced in the process of reantiquation, and work under the supervision of project managers who fully understand what is required, and what should not be done. His restoration projects, Georgia House and Fig Tree House in the central village of Kastellani and further north at Koukoula House in Skripero, will take into full account the character of the buildings as well of of their traditional surroundings, while providing for contemporary living needs.
Another advantage of buying an old property that has been bought from the original owners and restored is that the titles have been established and the paperwork cleared. Many old properties have no deeds at all, and formal ownership must be established . When many relatives, scattered all over the country and hard to trace, may have a claim, completion of the contract can take months. But when a recent sale has already been gone through, all the paperwork is ready and in the hands of the solicitor. Completion is a matter of days.
A third advantage is that a second sale automatically nullifies all possible claims that may have been missed first time round (though solicitors are very careful), meaning that ownership is absolutely watertight and risk-free.
So the dream shared by David and Luvcorfu Properties is not only saving some more jewels of Old Corfu, but is also fulfilling a demand that the market did not provide for - and facilitating purchase at every level.
David Smith shares his expertise on renovation with Harry Tsoukalas (transcript)
Watch the report and interview on video
(Broadcast from the motor cruiser Audacity)
Harry: I have with me David Smith, from Doncaster in England. David is an expert in restoration work. He’s done it extensively in England. Many, many houses in England.
David: A few, certainly a few. I’ve lost count. Can’t tell you how many.
Harry (to the viewers): Well, what we have done is we visited some old villages with David and looked at some old houses. He talked to us about restoration work.
(Broadcast from an old house in Skripero)
Harry: This is it. A lot of people who come here and see this, you know what they do?
David: They throw up their hands and run away? No, you mustn't run away. You’ve got to look for a solution. It’s obvious here, some of the outside skin of the building has fallen down. You might, if you’re crazy, attempt to put another skin on, but it needs to be demolished to first floor level and rebuilt.
Harry: It can be done?
David: Show me a building where it can’t be. Yes, it can be done. You’ve got to take the roof off anyway, so what’s the difference bringing it down another floor and replacing the gable? It’s no good patching it and bodging it up. You don't want to put your name to something that’s an unsafe structure. You’re supposed to be refurbishing, not bodging. So take the end down and make a proper good job of it. I don't see it's a difficult thing. And while you’re doing that, you can put a proper good-sized window in. It’s no good running away. It’s not a minor problem, but it’s readily fixed.
Harry: Let’s have a look at the inside (They go indoors).Careful here David. Now you’re going to get a real shock.
David: I don't think I’ll get a real shock.
Harry: Well, nothing will shock you I suppose.
David: I get a lot of pleasure going into an old building like this and trying to see what potential it’s got, and how we can achieve to restore and stabilize it. The floor would need to be evacuated and a new floor for modern living (put in).
Harry: Would you put concrete with tiles or stone here?
David: Stone. You need to put stone, to be reasonably level so it can be cleaned, and it would be possible to utilize the new floor slab to give a limited amount of underpinning, or pin your new structure in the new solid concrete floor.
Harry: It seems like the main beam is in good condition. What about the rest of them?
David: If you look at the ceiling, (the room has) obviously been used for some kind of cooking or smoking.
Harry: They would have had an open fire here.
David: Yes, and the smoke would kill the insects. Smoke was used for keeping the insects away, also to keep the insects out of the structure.
Harry: Let’s go upstairs and have a look at the rest of it (They go upstairs) I think this doesn't look too good.
David: We’ll give it a close inspection anyway.
Harry: What do you think about these windows here?
David: Well, you can see that these three windows are in perfectly good condition. We don't like the colour of the paint, and maybe they could do with some cleaning, but there is no real need at all to take this perfectly good sound window out. Leave it. Even the shutters are good.
Harry: Don't forget they are the originals.
David: Yes, they’re the originals. That’s what we’re looking for - to retain the original features.
Harry: Well, when you look at the view from over there, it’s really spectacular... We’re looking at this roof.
David: Don't look at it for too long, because it needs renewed.
Harry: Looks very sorry...
David: And there are some things you can retain, but a roof that’s beyond repair, needs to go. It can be replaced, with some new beams put into it to retain the character. But unfortunately that roof has to go.
Harry: And what about the flooring?
David: Some of the floor can stay. High pressure hose jets can clean it, and you can sand it, but obviously the rotting boards need to be replaced.
Harry: With something second hand?
David: If you put new and old boards together, you’ve spoilt it. You either have to put a new floor or find some similar boards of reclaimed timber.
Harry: Right. What about the plastering?
David: Well, this section here has got the original plaster on that’s in fairly sound condition, apart from a couple of small repairs. I think that if we’re to achieve the original feel of the house, we have to leave as much of the original plaster as we possibly can. It would be quite easy to knock it all off and make it all ultra-modern, but it’s not what we’re trying to achieve. We’re trying to achieve originality.
Harry: So what would you do with the paint? Would you still go with the old traditional ways of using lime?
David: It might be that you put emulsion paints on in colours to suit the customer, or it might be you use some traditional lime, and you can put in some tints and dyes in pastel colours without going away from the original feel of the house.
Harry: Well, let me tell you it’s very cheap here in Greece. You can buy lime and you can make 40 kilos of paint for five euros.
David: Yes, I know.
Harry: 40 kilos!
David: I do the same back in England. You get a dustbin, fill it with water, empty the lime in, go away maybe two days, and you’ve got a dustbin of lime (paint). Very cheap, and it lasts a long time - 200 years.
(Cut back to the Audacity)
Harry: Well, I don't believe this. Nothing scares you, does it?
David: No, not a lot. I’ve seen so many derelict and tumbledown properties, so I’m not put out by seeing these. I think some of them could be restored to beautiful traditional Greek properties again, with a small amount of tender loving care and perhaps some backache to go along with it. But the end result would be very much worthwhile.
Harry: You have seen quite a lot (of houses), not just what we’ve seen now. But you’ve seen others as well. What do you think about the villages in Corfu?
David: I think that to get away from the noisy tourist beaches, from the ice cream and the beer, it would be a very nice thing to do. To move in to the villages and to live with the Greek people. Many of (the villages) have pleasant facilities. Some have shops and buses. They’re not the remote tiny places up on the mountain, where you’re trying to live the life of a hermit - you’re moving in with a Greek community.
Harry: Yes. If you think about it, Corfu is long and skinny. I think Skripero is probably one of the villages that’s right in the centre, and it will take about 15 minutes to get to the nearest beach.
David: Yes, you’re not miles away ever.
Harry: Right. So I think we speak the same language here. We’ve determined we try to use the same materials.
David: Yes, definitely. It would be wrong to take one of these houses and put into it not only the modern facilities that we all enjoy, but to put into it things like modern plastic double glazed windows or anodized aluminium. To make it look good, you need to retain some of the traditions and use natural traditional products. Timber, timber windows, timber doors. People like to see the ceilings with beams and retain these features, not just knock it all out and turn it into a complete modern interior. People like to see stone-flagged floors. OK, we put in some new stone-flagged floors, don't just put vinyl tiles. That would be wrong.
Harry: When you travel around Greece, on the Mainland, or in the islands themselves, even in the Ionian islands, Corfu is the only one that’s retained its original roof tiles, and that’s the ochre (colour).
David: Yes, they look much better if you retain the ochre-coloured tiles. It’s so easy to put a new roof on with the modern red interlocking tiles, but you’ve lost the character of the rest of the village.
Harry: But they also make ochre tiles with the new (interlocking) system as well. You don't have to have the red. You can have the ochre, but in new (style). OK, that’s still not the proper way to do it, but I think it could be acceptable.
David: I think that planning permission should (require) that you should put the traditional tiles on. Like in many places in England, if you want to build in one of the National Parks, let’s say in Derbyshire, you have to build in the traditional way. And it would be nice if that was enforced. Well... we don't want too many rules and regulations, but they should (enforce this).
Harry: But sometimes you need something there. I see what you mean. Well, what I’m trying to say to people is that we don't want Corfu to become like any other place in Greece. We’re unique, we’re different, we have a different character, different colour. Let’s retain it. Let the others put red roof tiles on their roofs and the aluminium windows...
David: ...And the concrete boxes!
Harry: We have something different here. We should keep it. What do you think?
David: Oh, I think so too. It’s very very nice to come back from the day on the beach or wherever you’ve been, to come back to a traditional... home. Coz that’s what it’ll be. It’ll be a home, and it doesn't want to be the concrete box we just spoke about. It wants to be the lovely traditional Greek house that’s not spoiling the rest of the village. It’s there, it’s been renovated from what was perhaps an eyesore - people might say a pile of rubble - but we've restored a Greek house and brought it back for maybe another 200 years.
Harry: Well, it’s not all too bad. You saw the properties that they’ve already been done up to a level where people just have to put (in) their bathrooms and their kitchen. All the hard work is taken away, isn't it?
David: It is. I think the reason for leaving the bathroom and kitchen is there’s more individual choice, so if you did it up completely you would take away that choice. Most of the ladies like to have their little (input), and you have to allow them room to put their mark on the property. It won’t detract from the nice traditional outside, but you have a beautiful bathroom and beautiful kitchen, and let them choose (these).
Harry: Right.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
