Navigating Glamour, Grenades & Glitches: Lexi Carducci - Your Property Personal Shopper

SHES BACK… Lexi Carducci Returns to the Girls in Property Podcast!

Join Lexi & Athena in this unmissable episode as they delve into the world of property finding in London, Lexi's thrilling new venture in television presenting, & essential advice for dealing with incomplete purchases from buyers. Get ready for a lively conversation filled with laughter, friendship, and the long-awaited reveal of what really happened with that grenade found in Lexi's bungalow!

I hope you enjoy this episode, & if you love what you hear, don't forget to download & subscribe so we can bring you even more insightful content. 

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Transcript

0:00

Good morning everyone. How is everybody today? Welcome to Monday's morning episode and today I have the amazing Lexi Carducci on. Woohoo! Thank you so much for having me. I feel like in a really giggly mood, so I feel like this is going to be hopefully a fun one. Oh my God, we are going to have so much fun. I have been wanting to get you back on this podcast for forever because as some of our sort of seasoned listeners would know, you did our first ever podcast, which as I said, G Paul, we came on. Yeah. And it, do you know, it feels obviously Sophie did it originally with you back in the day. But for me, that feels like 10 years ago because. It was before you even did, like, we even did like the original almost episode. And as I said, you hold the record for the most downloaded episodes we've ever had on Girls and Property. Yay! And that makes me really excited. Like, it's just, and I feel like so much has changed since then. Like so much has changed with you, so much has changed with the podcast, so much has changed with what I'm doing. So it's really nice to like come back and revisit everything. Yeah, I love it. And I always think to myself, well, why can't we get people who've been on it before? Because as you said, so much has changed and we've got so much more to talk about as it were. And I just think we're gonna have so much fun. Like your energy is infectious, so. back at you. That's why I feel like this could go on this one. I mean, this could actually go one of two ways. We could either just go off as if we're having dinner together or we could actually talk about property. So, you know. this could go very very off paced very quickly. Okay, well, let's try and keep a structure. If we keep a structure, then we can try and keep on track best we can. So, would you like, before I do the celebrations today, would you first of all like to just do an introduction to yourself for anyone who hasn't met you, for anyone who hasn't sort of listened to the old podcast before? Who is Lexi? What do you do and what are you doing going forward? Yes, okay, so first of all, thank you so much for having me back quickly. And also I love the community that you've built, because I feel like that's why it's so nice to be back, because we are a little community and I feel like we all chat online and you've just made this amazing place. So that was that out of the way, thank you. And then secondly, what I do, so my name is Lexi Carducci. I am predominantly a property finder. Some people might call that like relocation agent, buying agent. Saucer, so I will talk about bit more about that throughout the podcast and then I'm also a property developer property Investor and property content creator and presenters. So basically entire life revolves around property. I don't do anything else it, but you're fabulous at it. So, you know, I love it. Also, you're a dog owner as well. You've got barley. Yeah. got little Charlie on my lap. Say hi, Buzz. Who's that? Who's that? Yay! listeners, Lexi is holding up, Barley. Like Simba. if I go, who's that? Who's that? Like she'll start barking. So I kind of thought that's what was going to happen, but it didn't. Oh, fair enough. Amazing. So before we find out more about sort of this aspect of property finding and everything else, in true fashion, let's talk about things that we are celebrating at the moment. Because in this world, I think, you know, it's so easy to get so bogged down in everything that we're doing on a day to day basis and taking our action steps. And sometimes it's quite a wonderful thing to almost take a pause and to go, well, what am I celebrating at this moment? So what are you celebrating, Lexi? That's such a good question. And I don't know what I should have known you were going to throw this at me and I did not come prepared. But what am I celebrating? I think I'm celebrating change and not a lot of people celebrate change because I feel like it's a big scary thing and people get, it's like a confusing point in people's lives or they're afraid of like moving out of the norm. But I'm celebrating change. I feel like there's a lot of change going on in my life at the minute, just with different things happening, where I'm going. I've moved house recently. My... business structure has changed a little bit, my daily routine has changed a bit. So I'm celebrating that. I quite like a bit of change because I feel like you're moving somewhere and you're going forward. So that's what I'm celebrating. I love that and you know, I'm a big advocate for change because as you said, it's you progressing, it's you moving forward. If you're not changing, then you're just sort of staying still as it were. I love change. I love it. Like sometimes you get to a point in your life where you're like, I need change. Like I need something in my life to change because I'm like waiting for the next thing to happen. I mean, obviously you've got to go out and get it yourself, but you know, you are the catalyst for change, right? Do you know what? I am a slight hypocrite though, just thinking about it when I said that, because some of my friends who listen to the podcast are going to go, she is talking absolute rubbish, aka me, because when I go on holiday, I like to sit at the same table for breakfast every single morning. And if somebody is sat on my, by the way, I haven't reserved the table, I'm just going to call it my table. I'm literally like, how dare they sit at my table at breakfast? So some people are like, yeah, Athena, you like to change, but really you are a creature of habit as well. So. I feel like that's just being human, isn't it? It's like, I get the same. Like if we have a new restaurant, like if my favorite restaurant closes or changes something on the menu, or I'm like, what are you doing? No, I can't handle it. Yeah. So we sort of like change, but sort of like a creature of habit. Love it. Absolutely love it. Right. What am I celebrating? Do you know what's funny? You'd think that I would prepare something as well. Let me think. Oh, actually, I do know what I'm celebrating. So this year, one of my goals is I really want to do a lot more public speaking. That is one of the things. you put it out there. That's, I feel like the first thing to do with anything, right? You're like, I want this, I'm going to tell you about it and keep myself accountable. yeah, how else do you do it? Like, if you've got any tips, like, do let me know. But I feel like in life sometimes you have to put yourself out there. It's almost the law of attraction. Like, I'm going to put myself out there and therefore whatever comes my way is meant to come my way and whatever doesn't doesn't. I'm a big believer in kind of a greater universe, as it were. And... If you don't ask, don't get. I literally live by that rule. Yeah, and like you're obviously incredible at public speaking and you've done so many amazing things. Even the Idle home show which is just like epic, like absolutely epic. It's coming back so your listeners can get£10 tickets by using IHS Lexi. Gonna drop that in there. go, I will be getting a ticket. Like I love that. And that's the thing I really want to do going forward. Like I really enjoy sharing knowledge, but also I really enjoy getting energy from other people. And I just love it. And so many people came up to me from when I did my first one, literally, I think it was this week, and people were like, you literally just look like you've done that a thousand times. And I'm like, no, no. I just enjoy it, you know, and I want to do more of it going forward. So the next one I've got is in March, which is the Developers Network in Kent, which I actually got invited to because it's around International Women's Day. And they're like, will you come and speak for us? And I was like, wow, this is the first time anyone's ever invited me to speak. This is massive. So yeah, of course I said yes. Cool, that's amazing. Developers' Network are amazing as well, so that's fab. Cool. one in Kent by Francesca Berro who's amazing. So really, really exciting. And I hope to do more throughout the year and to get better and to grow and just to go forward. So maybe one day, you know, be at the Ideal Home Show. Who knows? I don't know. do a little duo, that would be so much fun. My biggest bit of advice for that and with anything is just go and ask people. Literally just go and ask people. Because I feel like, A, if you don't put it out there, people don't know that you want it, so go and tell everyone what you want to do. Because you never know when someone goes, oh, hang on, I heard about that opportunity, I didn't want to do it, but Athena's willing to do it, she'll love it. So definitely tell people. And then ask people, because literally what is the worst that can happen? You go, hey, I see you've got this event going on, hearing a couple of ideas of what I might do if I want to talk in it, would you have me as a speaker? Literally the worst they can say is, no, sorry, we've booked everyone. Yeah, do you know what, you speak, yeah exactly, like I'm gonna take those words on board and just say, I'm gonna send some messages out and put it out to the universe and go from there. But yeah, my target is 10, today is February, my target is 10, so I'm gonna do another podcast at the end of the year. I've already done one, I've got another one lined up, so I've got eight to go. I'm not gonna count the girls in property because I can't, do you? in that 100%. Like when you said the other day, you went, what's the other day? When you said just a minute ago, God, when you said just a minute ago that you were like, oh, I did my first in public, like public speaking event the other day. I was like, oh, hello, what about the Girls and Property podcast? Like the retreat. That's, that's mega. Like, and you host the whole day, you basically tie it together. Like if you girls weren't there, it's not happening. Well, yeah, I mean and obviously I've got my one in April. So yeah, so we'll see we'll see but that's what I'm celebrating is is putting myself out there which which is a really scary thing to do as well like, you know, I speak to so many people about this and they say to me you're putting yourself out there like almost on the chopping block Quite a lot and I'm like, yeah, I am. It's very scary thing to do. So yeah, you know a lot of putting together investor packs and I look at this the same way. Like not everyone's going to buy into it. Not everyone's going to be not sold by it, but not everyone's going to be at the right kind of opportune moment to react to something like that. So I feel like you look at what you want to do with public speaking as putting out an investor pack. You're like, boom, boom, boom. These are all the reasons this works for your show or whatever. And you know, it just might not be the right time for that specific show. I mean, there's so much rejection, isn't there? Like in everything, in property, there's so much rejection. There's people telling you, no, all over the place, you get beaten by another offer. Like it's the same game. I literally, my first couple of years were rent to rent. I know rejection. But yeah, you know what? I love what you just said actually is treat it like an investor pack with a bit more flowers and flair as it were. But you know, yeah, but definitely that's the best way to see it. So yeah, long winded answer, but yeah, that's what I'm going to be celebrating. So really exciting. excited for you like what a year come on 2020. Yeah, for both of us, for both of us. Like, I'm just so excited and obviously... Yeah. happening. Whatever you want to do in 2024, it's happening. 2024, we got this, we got this. So, let's see. Right, let's learn more about you. So, can you please tell us first and foremost for anyone who doesn't know, and I'm gonna ask you a bit more questions about your life as a property finder. So first of all, what is a property finder? How does it work? How do you help people? What do you love about it? And yeah, just talk to us about that. Yeah. So property finding is, or I was describing it is I basically do Kirsten and Phil's job on location, location, location. Like that is my job. I help people that are looking for houses, whether they're looking to rent, whether they're looking to buy. I've previously helped people that are looking to invest. Um, but this is when I talked about change earlier, I've slightly changed up what I'm doing just because of a time thing. Um, so I can chat more about that, but yeah, property finding is literally what it says on the tin. I am finding properties for. the people. So I'm not an estate agent. Obviously, I feel like I've worked as an estate agent. And that's one of the biggest misconceptions is that people think estate agents work for them and they're going to help them find a property. Yeah, they're going to help you find a property that's on their books, but that's all they can access. And at the end of the day, they're there to get money for their vendor or landlord. Like you just fill a gap kind of thing. So yeah, I take on that responsibility of helping those people find their dream homes. And I've helped over 700 people in London find their new home. Most of my clients come from abroad, so they don't know the UK system at all. And I literally hold their hands throughout the whole thing, from like picking them up from the airport to handing over keys when they've completed. Wow, that's absolutely incredible. Like you must, you must just feel so fulfilled doing that job as well. Like finding someone their first home, finding someone their first family home, like it must be incredible feeling. I love it. I absolutely love it. And I just, it's so funny because I always think like, why do not, why do more people not use a property finder? Because it, let's face it, it's like the biggest life expense that we're going to spend in our most, for most of us in our life, buying a property or even renting a property is the biggest thing that goes out of your account every month, your rent. Why would you not get professional in to help you with it? You know, I'm not going to stay at home and try and dye my hair myself. I'd go to a professional. Like it's the same for so like, you know, you've got a bad back, you go to a chiropractor. Like I'm not going to sit there and try and like crack my own back. Like, do you know what I mean? So I feel like, I hope not just because it's like my job, but I hope that more people will eventually end up using a property finder. And there's so many newest, like the modern method of a state agency that we're seeing where it's almost like a hybrid agent where they are representing buyers. and they're representing the sellers or the landlords, I feel like they're seeing more and more of that. And that in itself is kind of partially property finding. Absolutely. And you know, I'm going to ask you from a more personal perspective if that's okay, because you're London based, aren't you? So my mum has been looking to move to be near me down south in Bournemouth for about two years now. She's been looking at properties and it has been a real roller coaster for her. And what we're finding is that she either just can't find the right home for her that suits all of her needs. Cause she's been in London for, since I was born basically, you know, God knows how many years and now she wants to move down south. And it's a big move for her. And I'm actually finding that a lot of the agents are, in my opinion, are not actually acting, you know, I get that they're acting for the buyer. So they're not acting in the, sorry, for the seller. So they're not acting in the best interests for my mom almost in certain situations. And I can see that. And that's quite upsetting. And there have been many accounts over the two years of things that have fallen apart and gone wrong. And she's been close to exchange and then it's fallen apart. Like it's been a real roller coaster. And I feel like it's almost put her off now. trying to even keep looking. And I just think to myself, is it best that she should try and find some sort of a property finder to help her, like a Phil and Kirsty, to help her? Personally would particularly if it's a new area like you hire an expert there'll be property finders that are experts in that specific area that she wants to go to and I Personally would particularly when you're living in a different place. It means they can go and preview properties for you they take on the responsibility the time and the hassle of chasing agents of making those calls because you know, we all know if you don't have the best estate agent then then Sometimes not gonna pick up the phone and call you you have to be the one chasing them and being like hey I'm still looking to buy I've or I've got a client that's looking to buy and you know when I've got a search out I will call different agents probably every day to be like what's come on? Is there anything new that's coming up? Is there anything new that you know about and that's how you get access to that off-market stuff rather than just browsing the property portals because you're picking up the phone and almost hassling the agents to a point where they're like, oh my god Let's call Lexi first thing because the leader of our back. it, love it. And do you do the whole thing of like, let's take them some donuts, let's take them some coffee. literally. Like sometimes when I walk down the streets in London or I'm just out shopping or whatever, I'll pop in and say hi to the agents that I know if I happen to be walking past their office. Just because I feel like, you know, we need the agents. Most properties in the UK are still marketed through an estate agent. So you have to work with them, whether you like them or not, to get your home. So there's no point in being rude to them. You need them on the side. And at the end of the day, the majority of them are just nice people doing a job. And I feel like that's another thing that I want to break down in the industry is that so many people think estate agents, they still have this bad reputation of being sly and I get it, they're salespeople, but they're still doing a job at the end of the day. Like so many of us actually work in sales. It doesn't mean we're dickheads. No, absolutely. And I've obviously I speak to agents all the time and they're just they're just lovely people. If you just get to know them, they're just normal people. They're just they're not aliens. They're just normal people. So yes, I'm going to try for 2024, put her back on the course of trying to move down here. So again, that's another goal for this year, trying to move my mum down south to be near me, which would be amazing. Yes, I know. mum is such good friends with your mum. It's so lovely. been two years she's been looking so it's been a journey it's been a long journey so. the thing, like when you don't have the time and almost the local market knowledge to put into your search, it's so frustrating. It's so time consuming. And it would mean that, you know, she'd probably have to be taking days off work or using her weekends to go and view properties. two hours and then and then back. So we're coming up with a new system as it were. But yeah, absolutely. So property finder. them. Yeah, because that like a big part of my job is previewing stuff for clients that aren't in the country. And you know, something comes up, there's no point in them waiting to book a ticket to fly over here to view one thing. I'll go and view it for them, do like a detailed video, send it over to them. And then they can kind of get a feel of, oh, yeah, okay, we need to go and see that property. Like I'd never realistically say to someone like you need to take it from this video, but at least it's a really good way of them whittling it. down whether they are genuinely interested in something or not. Yeah, love that. And what are you doing? You were mentioning just before the podcast, you were mentioning to me about that you're doing something going forward, working with schools, universities. What is it you're sort of, what's your new vision and new goal that you're doing? so I signed one of my big things another thing I'm thankful for and celebrating is that I signed with a TV agent that looks after like a lot of my social media stuff and a lot of things like the goal of mine whilst we're putting stuff out there is to get some kind of property TV show or Yeah, that's like my dream. I'd love to do something like that like location location location a place in the Sun escape to the country I watched them all, I loved them all, and it's basically my job. Anyway, so that's a big goal of mine. So I signed with a TV agent and we're just kind of putting into plan, pitching ideas, putting shows together, brainstorming everything. And a big reason why I started my whole property social media account in the first place was to not educate necessarily, because I don't want to seem like patronizing, but just throw out. fun facts and little tidbits of information to help people whether they're buying, selling or renting. And I feel like a big part of that target market is young people and you know, how are you going to get to them through schools, through universities, which is personally where I feel we should have some form of basic property knowledge. Like when I used to do my property school podcast, I think the first episode I did was what is a mortgage and why do we need one? Like, It's breaking it down like that. And because we're in the industry every day, like we talk to people that are in property. So when I say that to people like, Oh, I'm going to do a bit on what's a mortgage and why we need one. People are like, but people know that. I'm like, they don't, they act like they don't. Even my very first mortgage that I did, which was a buy to let, I think I told the story to Sophie. Um, I got rejected on for stupid reasons because I was 24. I didn't know what I was doing. I just knew that I wanted to. but get on the property ladder and I didn't, I couldn't afford to live where I was living. So I bought something that I could rent out where I could afford to buy. And that was kind of as much as I knew about it. And yeah, I got rejected on my first mortgage and I'm like, I was working in the industry at the time. And if I'm failing it, what like everyone else must be struggling too. Yeah, do you know, we speak about this all the time about schools and even universities and things in regards to, you what you actually learn and then when you actually go out, like what it is that you need, like you even said it, you're like, you sort of just go, right, you finish university now, off you go, go rent somewhere, go buy somewhere, learn as you do, learn as you go. And it's like, well, how are people supposed to get educated and to learn about that, which is so important. And I think, I'm like, I would have loved that. Like we had business studies, of course, but you had to choose to do business studies. You couldn't, you didn't get it. And somebody, you know, I see these memes all the time. They make me laugh so much. They're like, thanks for teaching me about, was it parallelograms? Did you see that one? community -taped frequency graph. Never ever used one of those in my life, but what about my tax return? Yeah, exactly. And what was the other, like, what, what Pythagoras's theory and like some people use it because of, you know, architects and stuff, but you know, the, the, the majority of us, you know, awesome us basic type, we, we don't need that. We just need to know, you know, how do I get a mortgage? How do I, how about let's just take it even further back from that. How do we even know how to have, um, budgeting? you know, even in day to day life, you know, what am I, what's my income? What are my outgoings? Like they just don't teach this stuff. So the fact that, and also you're, you're so incredible with your energy as well. And you make it so much fun that I think that's what's important. Like you would be the perfect person to go into schools, universities, or to create your own TV program to say, Hey guys, this is me. This is what I do. And I'm going to teach you how to do it because they will listen to you. You make it fun. You make it cool. Yeah, that's so kind of you. And I feel like that's a big part of it. Like my whole goal is like, let's make property fun. Cause it should be fun. Like, you know, whether you're renting, whether you're buying, whether you're selling, like that's a journey in itself. Like it's a, I know that not everyone moves for reasons that they necessarily want to. And sometimes they're forced into it, but it's still a new chapter. And I feel like with that should come some form of excitement. Yeah, absolutely. So I'm really excited for that. So I hope we get to see like more of it. I hope we get to see like your progress of you doing it and maybe see you on your own TV show one day, like, which by the way, like, I can literally just see for you. Like it's like, it's just, it's just the correct path for you to go, you know, with everything that you're doing and the fact you speak at all these shows and your social media presence. And basically, I don't really know anyone who doesn't know you in the property world so far. that I've spoken to. So I just feel it's natural progression. See, that's one of those things, like putting yourself out there. You just have to go with it. Like, and I feel like that's a massive thing on social media, isn't it? Like people are like, oh, but I post stuff and it doesn't do very well. Half my posts don't do very well at all, but if you stop posting, they're going to do even worse. Like you just have to keep going and like switch it up and trying different things and trying new things and see what people like and going with the flow and going with the algorithm and just cracking on really and put yourself out there. Yeah, I just love your outfits. I think your outfits are fantastic. You know. I love it. I love a little bit of fashion. In fact, so many people were like, can you please tag everything? And so I must start doing that this year. But so much of my stuff's old. What I'm sat wearing now is from River Island from like four years ago, like pre-COVID, and it's still got the label in it. I have a habit of keeping labels and stuff. I don't know why. I think it's because I think I'm gonna sell it, and then I never do. Fair enough, fair enough, but that's how things go. And also what I'd love the viewers to hear about also, which is really sort of, it's been exciting and interesting at the same time is what has been going on with your bungalow? Because I obviously stopped, like we were just about to speak about it before you came on the podcast and I went, wait, stop, because I want to talk to you about it actually on the podcast. So my understanding and my memory and you tell me like what's changed since then. is that the last Girls and Property retreat, which was in September, you were developing that bungalow and it was, you were going through it, it was developing, you were gonna turn it into, I think, what were you, actually, what was your plan? Yeah. So basically we bought this bungalow on the same street as where we were living. It's like 15 doors up the road. We used to walk past it every day. It was completely derelict. Like the windows were smashed. Um, and it was just sat there not doing anything. So my boyfriend and I were like, right, we really, we like this place. We love living on the road. We could, it's got so much development potential cause it's on a corner plot. It's on quite a big plot. Like whether you put a house on it, whether you put flats on it, like there is something to be done with this site. It's an opportunity. So. We couldn't find any sales details about it at all. We one day kind of shuffled into the garden, not saying that anyone should go trespassing, but you know, and we found an estate agent for sale board. So we called them up, asked about what was happening. The, they long story short, I guess, is that a developer had put an offer on it, subject and it'd been accepted and they kind of bought it, subject to getting planning permission on it. and it had taken them 18 months and they kept getting rejected on planning. So we were like, well, let's just chuck an offer forward then. Like they hadn't exchanged, it was just sat there under offer and no one knew about it. So we were like, well, let's just put an offer forward because we live down the road, we're a couple, you know, we just want to move to something bigger and then think about what we could do with it. And we were going to live in it. So there was no... we didn't have any pressure that we needed to get planning on it because worst case scenario is what we don't get planning on it we just live in it do it up to a good standard and then sell it further down the line um i'm being sorry i've got a really annoying cough because my boyfriend tried to poison me in the shower we'll talk about that later but anyway so back to the bungalow um we'll come back to that back to the bungalow Yeah, so the vendor who was selling it on behalf of his sister who had to go into a home decided to go with our offer, even though it slightly lower than the developers, but we were like ready to move on it. So we had it tied up in just a couple of months. Everything went really smoothly. There was obviously no chain. And then of course, what you get access to is all those plans that you can literally just access online that the developers have been rejected on. So once we gave those to our architect, he could kind of come up with ideas of why they got rejected and what we could do to slightly change it. So initially we just looked at it as a development project we were going to pass or try and get past what the developers were initially trying to do which was to get five flats on it. So we worked on that for six months, made a few changes, reduced the size of it, reduced different things, made it look slightly different so that it fitted in with the surroundings because it's in a conservation area and that took about six months and we got planning on it. We did have to go to planning committee because it got 57 objections because people on the street just didn't like that we were turning this cute little bungalow, which by the way, looked an absolute bit of trash like when we bought it. There were things that you would not want to find in the garden, like disgusting. I think people were living back there. It was not fun. But surely to have a development on it would be, would be better than having about like half lived in smashed windows bungalow. fully overgrown, in my opinion. So we got planning for that. Then we got a little bit greedy because we thought, okay, let's try and get a basement, squeeze some more room out of it. There are other basements on the streets. So there was a precedence that had kind of been set. That got rejected because the precedence, I guess, on our street was all houses. So all the basements were houses. So then we thought, well, look, we've lived here now for a year. We really like it. Why don't we get a house for ourselves that we can get the basement? And then three flats that we, because you're doing the basement on one side, you might as well do a basement on the whole thing. So that did get approved, which was really exciting. And then we made some like minor amendments to it just in terms of rooms. Yeah. And finally got it like the whole thing approved in February last year. So literally a year ago, we had all of it set, ready to go. And the plan was that we were going to build it ourselves because it was going to be a house for us to live in. However, when we got very close to knocking the bungalow down and we had to submit loads of things to the council, we think people had maybe been keeping an eye on it. And then someone just approached us like letter through the door of making an offer to buy it with planning permission. And we'd never thought of this because that wasn't our plan. Like our exit strategy was going to be to refinance and rent the flats out and live in the house. But as we all know, like the things with mortgage rates, like everything shot up, the cost of construction shot up, the cost of materials has shot up, like everything has gone in an upwards direction. So we were already being like squeezed a little bit on what we wanted to do with it, because we didn't really want to sell it all because why build a house for yourself and then not live in it. But things were definitely getting tighter. So when this offer came forward, we were like, you know what? maybe we should look at selling it. So we actually put it on like off market with an agent that just specializes in developments, who just pinged it out to people that he knew. We got 30 people interested in it, that came to look around the site, like insane. And then we were like, okay, we've got a bit of a gem here. Like we can definitely get more than that person had initially offered. So we kind of went back and forth with a few different people. and decided to sell it to someone that was a cash buyer, also a developer. So brilliant, great. They wanted to exchange within five days. Once you've kind of made that decision, like my boyfriend and I are very like, right, once we've made a decision, it's happening. So we were kind of like, let's just do it. Okay, cool. So we exchanged in five days and then completion was set for the 24th of November. Part of the agreement was that we had to knock the bungalow down. that was just part of what they put forward in their offer. So that was fine. It cost us about 15 grand to knock it down. And it took two days to get the whole thing down, which was kind of sad, but hey ho, it's what it is. And it was going to happen anyway, but you know, but you've lived somewhere for like, by that point, like nearly five years. Yeah, it's kind of sad to like not see it standing there anymore, but oh well, that's development for you. Anyway, so the day of completion, they just decided not to complete. I'm see you next time. Hold on, they didn't complete. Yeah, they just didn't complete because they were supposed to be cash buyers. And what it, we've never really got to the bottom of why they didn't complete, but what we, I know what we think they were doing was trying to sell it onto someone else in the background. Because if you looked at the site, it had an, it had first charge on it from shore brooks, the lent like development finance lender. Um, so someone was trying to get finance on it. So we think maybe they were trying to sell it on to. someone else in the background before completion. So have you ever had that happen? Someone... because I don't know how it works in this situation because I've never sold just land and planning. So have they exchanged? Oh, they did exchange. OK. within the five days and then completion was set for like 24th of November, which was maybe six weeks after it was finished. to pay for the exchange? Yes, standard, standard 10%. Yeah. So we, it's interesting, because there's two things that you can do in this situation. So one of them was that we could basically serve them notice to complete. And then if they don't complete, I think it's two weeks or 10 days, if they don't complete within that timeframe, you keep the deposit, you get the property back and you can sell it. But by this point, we were kind of like, well, we don't really want to go back to the market. That's like another three or so months, like, you've kind of lost all that interest from those 30 people before, they've probably bought other stuff. Like, it's just, you know, when you're committed to something, you're like, I kind of just want to see it through. So we could have done that. And our solicitor was like, it's quite an aggressive thing to do to like serve someone notice. In my opinion, it's quite an aggressive thing to tell me to knock my house down and then not buy it. But yeah, so. you'd knock the house down, of course. so we like we moved into a flat down the road. So like you couldn't even stay living in it because it didn't exist anymore. So yeah, and then we were like, oh my god, like the whole thing, we were like panicking about it. Then there was another thing about the sale payment, because basically when they hadn't completed, they said, have you given notice that the development started? And we were like, no, well, no, because we're not doing the development. So then we had this whole back and forth about the SIL payment, which is that community infrastructure levy, which was 92 ,000 pounds. Then basically saying, because we'd knocked it down, we'd started the development and us saying, well, actually, no, you would told us to knock it down like you would a builder. So we actually won on that scenario, thanks to our solicitor, because we'd signed in the contract that it was, we had to knock the bungalow down under their construction. Just like you'd say to a builder, we instruct you to knock this bungalow down, you wouldn't expect them to pay the sill payment. So that was the thing. Oh yes. Oh my goodness. And another thing that we'd, I would never sign again. And I don't know why we didn't pick it up. I think cause it was so rushed through. Um, but it said in the contract, the bungalow must be demolished to the buyer's satisfaction. How ambiguous is that? You could be like, Well, I'm not satisfied. No, that actually wasn't what happened. But when you read the fine print, it's like, like, how was that allowed to be a thing? Because it's so ambiguous. It's mad, isn't it? be like, I don't like this piece of rubble over here. So what happened? What happened? actually happened was we basically did a new agreement. So we had a deal of variation. We all make, we kind of did like another exchange when we signed a new agreement for a new completion date, which we moved to the 16th of January, because that's what, when they were like, okay, we'll be able to do it 16th of January. But again, same buyer. Yep, same buyer. And then they had to pay interest on the remaining amount that so we've also got the holding deposit. But the sorry, it's not holding deposits because I'm working letting so much but you know, deposit. But we that whole bit that remains so like basically the rest of the balance of the property, they have to pay an interest on between the 24th of November and the fifth of December, which is quite high. It's the Bank of England base rate plus I think 4%. So every single day that they basically had messed us around. So that gave us about eight and a half thousand pound extra in that bit. And then our new agreement was that because we'd, by this point, are like pretty annoyed, the money from that property, we'd actually already thought we'd placed somewhere else. So we had an investment opportunity that we wanted to put that money in. So we calculated how much money we think we would have lost by them not completing on time. which gave us an argument to basically ask for in this new contract every day that they didn't complete to give us two and a half thousand pounds. Yeah, which they came back with and we negotiated back and forward on loads of different points, but we did manage to get it every single day. And then they thought they'd complete before Christmas, but they didn't. Then they thought they'd complete the first day after like we all came back from Christmas break and they didn't. And they literally completed the morning of the 16th of January. like the last day and we got 80 grand out of it which was lovely. 80 grand extra or a extra credit strip because of the two and a half thousand a day. So it worked out quite well in the end. grand extra on top of it because they didn't complete when they said they were going to complete that. Okay, I know you went through a lot of stress. I know that and I'm sure it was very traumatic, but my God, like. know it actually worked out quite well. It was one of those things that you're like, it's such a roller coaster. Honestly, like one minute you're like, oh my God, we've lost that investment that we were putting our money into because we didn't have the money. You've knocked down your house. Like you think you're going back to the drawing board. Like then you start questioning yourself and being like, should have we held onto it and done the development and like all this stuff going on. And then it was up, down, up, down, sideways, like upside down. It was honestly. Madness. I'm thought... trust that this developer is going to complete. I've got a couple of questions, if that's okay. Just as you were speaking, I was like, well, first of all, my goodness, like Lexi, this is a story and a half, do you know what I mean? Okay, so my question is, how did you, so they had not agreed to complete, so how did you manage to get them to carry on with it? Because I would assume in that moment, if somebody is like, no I'm not going to complete. They almost ghost you and they almost just evaporate. How did get them to carry on? So from their solicitor's side, it sounded like they still wanted to go ahead with the deal, they just didn't have the money. But they were checked for the money up front, so they obviously had the money at some point. That's why we think they were trying to flip it in between, because they've probably just been able to show that they've got the cash, and then they've put that cash back somewhere else, or they've put it into another investment, because that wasn't their end goal. They were always thinking maybe to flip it. I don't know that for a fact, but. that would kind of make sense in this scenario. So then of course, what I think has happened, and by no means have I said that this is definitely what's happened, but it would, again, it kind of would make sense with the storyline is that the person that was supposed to be buying it through them has pulled out and now they don't have the cash. So that's what I think happened. And that was the kind of story from their solicitor was that we're just trying to get the money. We're waiting for investors to give us the money. So they wanted to keep going with it, which is why. we kind of had them on a hook, because otherwise they'd lose their deposit, which is quite a lot of money, because we sold it for 1 .4, 1 .5 million. So you know, you've got 140 grand that you're going to lose. Yeah, so I've got a couple other questions, but now that you just mentioned the money side of things, so I will ask that first, is I think I saw on your social media, but do you want to just let the listeners know? So what did you buy it for? And with all your costs, and then what did you actually sell it for? I actually write this down because I'm awful at remembering things. No, I didn't. I took a pic. I took a pic of it online. So we bought it for 900 ,000. This was back in 2018. And we lived in it, it was our home and we sold it, well, beginning of this year for, yeah, 1 .415 million. But obviously there's so many, we've lived in it for a while. You've been paying mortgage on it. There was obviously loads of costs in the middle of it as well. So. Like our purchase costs on it was 64 ,000 pounds. We'd calculated at the beginning, the SIL payment, but we didn't obviously end up having to pay that in the end. And it was advertised, like when we advertised it for sale, we advertised it with the SIL payment in it, which is again, why we were like, well, you knew that was going to be there. If they, if we'd done the development, it would have cost nine, we think about 995,000, like just shy of a million to do the whole development. But obviously we didn't have to pay for that. And then your sales costs, um, probably around 20 grand, I'd say probably. So there's obviously costs in the middle that make it not a profit and the length of time that it took to do it. But we did, yeah, it worked out well. It was basically bought for 900 ,000 in 2018, sold for 1 .415 in 2024. amazing without really developing the bungalow at all. If anything, knocking it down. yes, I know, it mad. And that's why I loved when you talk to Ella, land profits, because that's what she does. That is her strategy. And I just think it's genius. And in fact, now that we've done this one, we've got another development site in Acton that we're going to do the same with. We've got planning on it to extend the existing house and put a new additional dwelling, which is a house in the garden. So we're just going to sell that. And then I think it's, I mean, everyone's property strategy is different. Everyone's trying to look for something different out of it. And for us personally, to actually take the risk, do the development, borrow more money. Like I feel like if you've got a cash pot sat there, great, like go for it. But if you're trying to borrow money and then pay a higher return on that, like for us, it just didn't, it wasn't gonna give us the profits that we wanted. So we might as well sell it, take those profits. And for now, we're just gonna stick. you know, if you can get 300 grand, let's say, into someone else's development, because we know loads of other people that are doing developments in the industry, stick that in there as an investment, get 10 % on it, you get 30 grand for doing basically nothing. You know what's brilliant about what you've just said is you've just shown how you have done so many different strategies in line with what the current market is actually doing at the moment. And this is what I always say to people, you don't have to stay and stick with the same strategies going forward. You can adapt and change. And that's exactly what you've done. You know, originally when you came on the podcast with Sophie, you were very much development. You were very much speaking about developing properties. And now we're talking about planning and land profits and... You know, you actually being the investor in someone else's and getting the returns and seeing it on the other side of it. So I think that's brilliant how you've changed. One question I'd like to just go back to in regards to the bungalow, if that's okay, is obviously there are so many, so much detail into the way that you made this work in regards to charging interest rates, in regards to charging an extra two and a half thousand pounds to get that extra 80 and everything. Did that come from you? Was that your idea or did that come from a solicitor or somebody else's advice? So the interest that they had to pay from when they were supposed to complete until the new kind of contract was signed, that's just standard. That would happen like if you were a buyer and you had to, and you pulled out after exchange. Because exchange makes it like legally binding. So if you don't complete after you've exchanged, like you will be, if you're the person that pulls out, you are subject to this, the interest payment, which is standard. So that was standard, that was done. And then the other we just put forward because you almost go back to like a negotiation. So we were like, okay, well, we calculated because we had this investment opportunity where we were going to put the money, what have we lost in that amount of time? And, you know, all the extra solicitors fees, it probably cost us an extra 20 grand in solicitors fees, the fact that they didn't complete and having to go back and forward and back and forward. So we had to cover that. And then... Yeah, it was just adding up all these losses or things that because they'd failed to complete on time were going to affect us, that that's the figure we came to. That's the figure we wanted. And it's kind of take it or leave it. Like by that point, we almost had them backed into a corner. just going to say that at that point do you know what it's never happened to me i've never been in a position before where i hope not like touch wood i really i mean it sounds like you get an extra 80k but quite frankly i'd rather not have gray hair you know i so it must be a very stressful experience and i don't really want to add more stress to my plate so was my thinking before Christmas, because they were saying, oh, we think we'll be able to exchange, like, basically the last working day before Christmas. And my boyfriend was like, oh, I hope they don't, because, you know, between, that's like another 10 days that everyone has off. And he's like, think of the money that we'd get in that 10 days. And I was kind of like, well, I'm kind of done with this now. Like, I just want it gone. You get to the point where you're just like, I don't care about the extra 10 days. I just want it done. Because in my mind, I was like... What if they don't complete on the 16th? And then you've got to go back to the drawing board and I know that you would have earned more money, but then what if they didn't pay that money? Are you then going to have to go through legal to try and get that money? To me, it was so up in the air and I was like, I just would like to complete on this, please. Yeah, do you know what, it actually could have gone a different way almost, which is they, okay, fine, they didn't, they exchanged fine, they didn't complete, but what could have happened is obviously they just continue to not complete, continue to just spin you along and then say, right, well, fine, come after us for all the monies. And then basically dissolve the company. It's got the limited, you know, depending on how the PG on it, they'd have the, you know, the limitation on that. And therefore you'd be like, now what do we do? So it could have gone one of two ways. And I just think getting into like any kind of legal battle is just not what I want to do ever. Because I just feel it's draining. It goes, we know someone that this has happened to before and they did take someone to court and it took like five years to get the money. And I'm just like, that's five years of your life that you stressing about something. Like I'd rather just not deal with that. your bungalow was knocked down it's not like you could just move back in and go again you're like our little bungalow is gone well i have to say do you know what lexie like it is not it is you're never gonna have a boring day in your life are you like you just aren't you know there's just so much going on for you it's just you need to write a book i'm gonna put it out there i'm gonna be the one to tell you you need to write a book okay All the things that could go wrong in property. But I just think at the same time, it is quite exciting because from that experience, like I've learned so much. Like even to recount it to you, I'm like, I have to think about a couple of things because it's not like the normal process. And it really helps me actually to be able to talk to you and the listeners to get their feedback and hear other stories. I just think it's great. Like we can all share our problems. And there are many. Yeah. And I definitely want to do that as part of the podcast and the community aspect. So, you know, when we put out this podcast, guys, which is going to go out on on Monday, as you know, so when you're listening today, please comment, like comment, let us know if you've been in a similar situation. Let us know what your feedback is. Let us know what you maybe would have done differently. Like, let's start a conversation about it and kind of embrace that. I absolutely love that. And in regards to sort of what what originally you were speaking about, which I definitely want to touch on, and I've been dying to talk to you about this, is talk to me about your property disaster of the grenade. What was that? was in the same bungalow. That bungalow, honestly, the dramas it's caused, just, I mean, great for content. So for people who don't know what we're referring to and we're giggling away about a grenade, can you just explain what happened and your property disaster with it? So we got a call from one of our builders one day when they'd started like taking the bungalow apart, they'd got up into the loft space, which we really didn't use, had never really looked around, and they'd found a hand grenade in a water tank. Yeah. he was like, we've basically found a bomb in your property. And I was like, what do you do? What the hell do we do? Do we keep it? Is it a souvenir? Like, I kind of wanted to keep it. I was like, this is quite cool. But I Googled it because what else do you do in 2024? So I literally Googled, what do you do if you find a hand grenade? And it was like, call the police because they have to come and assess it and see if they need to do it. Controlled explosion. And then I was like, oh my God, I better get down to the building site and just make sure like. health and safety boxes and checked before I called the police. Imagine if I called the police out and they found something on site and then shut the whole site down. So I was like, let me just go and make sure everything's good. Everything was good. Everyone's in hard hats. We were all good. Taking the boxes. Then my boyfriend took a selfie with it because why wouldn't you? Terrifying. And then we called the police. Oh, enough. order of things. Checking the health and safety, taking a selfie, calling the police. But they came in literally about three minutes. It was so quick. They came, they roped off the whole street. Everyone had to be evacuated from their houses. Then they had to decide whether they wanted to do a controlled explosion on site or if they were going to take it away. I live on the same street as a couple of well -known presenter celebrities who did not look too happy about being evacuated from their homes. Oh wow! Oh, that's fun! that was quite interesting. But yeah, absolute madness. So they were probably there for about three hours, like whole street shut down, no one could walk past. Even when I, because I was living in a house down the road at the time, even when I kept going out to like go and have a look at what was happening, because it wasn't fenced off to like all the way down to our property. Every time I'd walk out my drive, the police people would be like, go back inside, please. And I was like, but it's my house. Yeah, it's my house. Yeah, but we were joking all the time by being like it too bad but it just go off there because it would have demolished the bungalow for me. Save me some dollar. Imagine. Oh my god, absolute chaos. But they actually took it away and did a controlled explosion on it outside of the area. I just can't believe that that happened in your bungalow that you've been living in for five years. Oh my God, and it was where they found it was literally above the office. And I'm like, it's just terrifying. But when they looked it up, I think it was from 1960 from the French Vietnam War. So how on earth it got here? Like we bought the property off a guy that was obviously selling it on behalf of his sister who was like 90, because she was going into a home, but she bought the property in 1980. So maybe the person that had lived in it before her had just. Brought it back as a souvenir? I don't know. Like, how bizarre? I love that though. What a story. Like that is my favourite one. It really is my favourite one because I just think, what? Like that's crazy. So, love it. such a fun day. I had so many meetings throughout the day and I kept having to like, I was on the Zooms throughout the day with just like people that I was talking to, whether it was clients, whether it was like pictures or whatever. And every now and then I'd have to take a call and be like, sorry, let me just take this call because they found a bomb in my house. Oh yeah, absolutely. I felt like it was a good day. Well, I'm glad you're okay. Like, you know, obviously you're safe, D for us. I'm glad that you're okay. Glad that you're still here. I'm glad that you got your self fee, which is very important to get, but yeah, it sounds beautiful. very very pleased that I didn't find it because honestly when my builder sent me a picture of it like the first thought it's not gonna be like oh yeah it's a bomb like you don't see one of those every day my first thought was like oh it's a nice little blue perfume bottle imagine if I found it and start trying to spritz myself Oh my god, could you imagine? Could you literally imagine? My god. like, I'm the kind of person that like, when my boyfriend picked it up, I was like, I'm not touching it because I'd get it caught on something I was wearing and pull the pin out. Like that's the kind of person I am. do you know what, Lexi? I could literally talk to you for hours as we do. Like literally, it's just so much fun. It's just, it's just energy. Like I've learned something as well by being on this podcast, which is why I do the podcast and I speak to people like you. Like I've now learned, okay, well, what would I do in a situation if I was ever to have an issue with exchange and completion? I'm like, right, that's an idea that I could do. So I love learning and I love your energy and everything that you're doing. I am so... powering through to the universe for you to get this TV gig and you can have your own show. Like I am sending good vibes to the universe for you to have this because I think that you are all about making property fun. It's so important to get women as well, really showing how incredible property can be and we're massive advocates for that. And obviously I'm going to see you at the Girls and Property Retreat as well, which is very exciting. So yeah. And this... so kind. Thank you so much for saying that. And also, like, I feel like, again, I feel like that is the theme in this in today's podcast is just go and ask for what you want. Like, don't be afraid to get knocked down. Like you will get knocked down. Don't get me wrong at some point. But if you literally if you don't ask, don't get I say it to my clients all the time. When they're like, Oh, can I ask for this in the offer? I'm like, yeah, go for it. Like, if we don't ask, we don't get worse. They can say no, but then you know where you stand. You know what, fantastic way to finish this pod. I really, really love that because literally what is the worst that can happen that you're in the same shoes that you are by not asking. So just go for it. That's the takeaway from this podcast is just go for it, believe in yourself, put yourself out there and keep going, keep going, keep going is what we're gonna say. Love that. So. you for making this a space where people can actually share real life stories. Because for me, to share that bungalow story, I'm like, I don't know if I did the right thing. I don't know if that's like, you know, I would really love to hear people's opinions on it because it's a new, that was a brand new experience for me. Still don't know if we did everything right, but I feel happy with the outcome. So. But you know what, that's what it's all about. It doesn't like, nobody is perfect. Nobody is saying that we know the answers to everything. We've never even tried to say that that's the case, any of us. It's the case where we're just like, this is what our experience was. This is what our takings were. If you know a different way of doing it, let us know. Let's all band together. Let's be a community and let's support each other. Let's all lift each other. So important. So Lexi, if people wanna find you and learn more about everything that you're doing. which I'm sure they're already doing, but if any listeners aren't, where can they find you? Yeah, so you can find me at Lexi Carducci, which is L -E -X -I -E -C -A -R -D -U -C-C -I, mostly on Instagram, but it's the same across all socials, but Instagram is definitely my little bread and butter where I put out everything. So tips on buying, renting, selling. Yeah, it's all there for you. And hopefully this year I'll have some new bits up, like different workshops online. Yeah, like you said, big goal of mine is to get into schools and bring workshops to younger people. So yeah. There we go. Love it, perfect, that's all we need. And if you need to find me, I'm Athena Dobson at underscore official. We are girls in property on Instagram and we are girls and property pod at gmail.com. If you wanted to ask any questions or if you wanted to be a guest on the podcast, do a podcast swap, like let me know, please talk to me. Please come say hi, absolutely. And also if you haven't got your tickets left to the girls and property retreat, there is literally only a handful left. We are less than 10 tickets now. And once they're gone, they're gone purely because of venue space more than anything else. So. Grab your ticket and we look forward to seeing you guys there. Enjoy the rest of your Monday. Take care guys. Thanks.