Roskov, Book 22 by Geoff Wolak

Author:Geoff Wolak [Wolak, Geoff]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-08-14T22:00:00+00:00

Out from the meeting I headed to the BBC studios, and to the Panorama show, hosted by Paxman, who had gotten his wish – he was now head honcho.

Cup of coffee sipped, make-up done, teeth cleaned, grey suit checked, and on I walked and sat, no audience just two cameras and four crew.

Paxman checked his notes, we were counted down after checking mics, and the music played out. ‘With us tonight is Roskov, only this time acting as the country’s largest property owner and land developer.’

He faced me. ‘You now control a staggering amount of money, more arriving all the time, and the funds under your control could have a significant effect on UK house prices, as well as the general direction of the property market for some time to come. How did it all come about?’

‘When I was a kid … there was an abandoned house in our street, and it was there for as long as I can remember, and when I left school and started work it was still there.

‘And as a kid I always heard the adults complaining about that house, used as a drug den some of the time. So when my charity received the money from the treasure in Sweden I embarked on a small local programme in Leicester … of finding those run-down old houses, buying them and renovating them, and selling them.

‘But the staff at the charity suggested that we hang onto some as an investment and rent them out, so we did. And we were buying up bank repossessed houses for twelve grand, renovating them through Bonza and his uncle, and selling them for thirty grand.’

‘A hell of a profit.’

‘Yes, so there’s a question that you want to ask…’

‘Why the hell did the local council not do that?’

‘Exactly. Why not? They had the money, and they could see that these houses were an eyesore, so why just leave them there for ten years or more?

‘So I bought up all the crap old abandoned houses in Leicester, did them up and either sold them or rented them out. And we found a place called Park Lane oddly enough, but it should have been called Drug Alley.

‘There were six houses on each side, a cul-de-sac, and two were occupied by old ladies, the rest were abandoned and often used by the homeless or the druggies.

‘So we bought them all, and most of them we got for less than ten grand. Bonza did the renovations, and Bonza also turned up with a chainsaw and cut down all the bushes – whether any of the homeowners cared about that or not.

‘The rubbish went, the used syringes, and we sold a few of the houses and rented out the remainder, and today those houses go for forty grand – bought for less than ten.’

‘A hell of a profit,’ he again noted.

‘But the key aspect was not the margin available on abandoned old houses, it was optimism.’

‘Optimism?’

‘Someone said to me … that my efforts in house renovations was not key to house price rises seen in the area, it was the optimism of the homeowners.

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