Buy, refurbish, refinance: a real Gloucester case study

BRRR, which stands for buy, refurbish, refinance, rent, is the strategy behind many of the property stories you see online. Most of those stories skip the detail. Here's one of our own projects, with the actual numbers.

The deal

A tired house on Bloomfield Road, Gloucester, bought for £180,000. It needed a full refurbishment, not a cosmetic one. It was the kind of property most homebuyers scroll past, which is exactly why the price was right. It's now let as a four-bedroom HMO.

The refurbishment

The works covered a full internal renovation: new kitchen and bathroom, rewiring where needed, redecoration and flooring throughout. The refurb cost £32,000, taking the total money in to roughly £212,000.

The refinance

Once complete, the property was valued at £285,000. Refinancing at the new value let us pull a large part of the original money back out, which is the engine that makes BRRR work. The value added was around £73,000 against the money put in.

What made it work

• Buying below market value in the first place. The profit is made when you buy, not when you sell.
• Controlling the refurb budget with a tight schedule of works and contractors we trust.
• Knowing the end value before we started, from real local comparables rather than optimism.

What can go wrong

Down-valuations happen, refurbs overrun and mortgage criteria change. BRRR packs several risks into one project, which is why the buying discount and a realistic contingency are non-negotiable. Anyone who tells you BRRR is risk-free is selling something.

The figures in this article relate to specific past projects or typical local ranges and are shown for illustration only. Property values can fall as well as rise. Returns are not guaranteed. Nothing in this article is financial advice. Always do your own due diligence and take independent advice before investing.