{"id":820115,"date":"2026-10-31T21:06:37","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T21:06:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/820115\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T21:06:37","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T21:06:37","slug":"what-i-own-our-cardiff-probate-home-was-unliveable-now-its-worth-100000-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/820115\/","title":{"rendered":"What I Own: Our Cardiff probate home was unliveable \u2014 now it’s worth \u00a3100,000 more"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"Paloma
\n\t\tThis week, we\u2019re in Cardiff (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

Welcome back to\u00a0What I Own<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Metro\u2019s property series where we speak to homeowners about getting on the ladder.<\/p>\n

When Christopher Jones and Paloma Quinn Mills picked up the keys to their Victorian home in Cardiff, it was completely unliveable.<\/p>\n

The floorboards were falling through and the bricks were crumbling, but instead of succumbing to despair, they embraced the challenge.<\/p>\n

Being a probate property whose owner had died, they\u2019d managed to get their three-bed with a significant discount, at \u00a3167,000.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve since added more than \u00a3100,000 to the value.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what Chris and Paloma had to say about their property journey\u2026<\/p>\n

Tell us about yourself!<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tReady to start your homebuying journey?\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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Paloma: We\u2019re full-time content creators. We\u2019ve been renovating our house in Cardiff for the last three years. I\u2019m a vet by trade, and Chris is a graphic designer.<\/p>\n

We found ourselves in a house that was pretty much falling down and didn\u2019t have any money to pay anyone to do it, so we started doing it ourselves. We started sharing it online, and somehow, it became our main work, which was a bit of an accident.<\/p>\n

Chris: We had planned to carry on with our jobs to fund the house, but then because we\u2019d moved down to Cardiff, we had a lot of people asking if they could see it. There were a million WhatsApp<\/a> groups, so we thought, we\u2019ll just make an Instagram<\/a> page.<\/p>\n

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Use AI to go deeper into the stories you care about \u2013 powered by Metro and trusted publications.<\/p>\n

Then the first reel went super viral, which we weren\u2019t expecting. I think it got more than 11 million views. We were riding the wave, trying to figure it out.<\/p>\n

About four months into starting Instagram, we were considering starting a YouTube, and it was too much alongside our paid work. We decided to give ourselves six months to see if we were able to survive. The risk paid off.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tChris and Paloma took a risk buying their home, but it paid off (Picture: Alistair Heap)
\nWhat do you love about the area?<\/p>\n

Paloma: I grew up in Cardiff, and my family are still here. We were originally looking at places in Liverpool, and we actually had an offer on a flat that fell through there.<\/p>\n

While we were waiting on that, we spent quite a lot of time in Cardiff and realised it\u2019s now a very different city to when I grew up here. There\u2019s a lot more going on; more green spaces, and quick access to the coast. We\u2019re a 10-minute walk from the city centre.<\/p>\n

We lived in London<\/a> for six years, so being in a small city where everything\u2019s accessible was appealing.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re walking distance to Cardiff Bay, which has a lovely 10K loop, and we have a little community centre close-by.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

When did you move in?<\/p>\n

August 2023.<\/p>\n

How much did you pay for your property?<\/p>\n

Paloma: \u00a3167,000. The house wasn\u2019t mortgageable because it wasn\u2019t classed as liveable.<\/p>\n

There was no kitchen, damp up to head height on the downstairs floors, and no working bathroom. A lot of the stairs were falling through. The upstairs rooms were crumbling with woodworm.<\/p>\n

We couldn\u2019t get insured, and you can\u2019t get a mortgage without typical insurance. We were up against property developers who were going to flip it and sell it on for a profit.<\/p>\n

It had been in the same family for more than 70 years. It was a probate property, so it took longer to go through, but it\u2019s a good way of getting a cheap home.<\/p>\n

We had it revalued before one of the rooms was finished, and we were told it\u2019s worth \u00a3285,000 now. Nothing on this street has ever gone for more than \u00a3290,000 before.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tTheir first post about their home went viral by accident (Picture: Alistair Heap)
\nWhat are your monthly living costs here?<\/p>\n

Chris: That\u2019s a bit tough, as we\u2019ve only installed underfloor heating, but we haven\u2019t turned it on for the year. We\u2019re very confident that\u2019s going to save us money as a heating source, but we haven\u2019t actually tested it out yet.<\/p>\n

We bought our property in cash, so there\u2019s no mortgage.<\/p>\n

What has your renovation journey been like so far? What have you done yourselves?<\/p>\n

Chris: Bar electrics, plumbing, and some of the steels, we\u2019ve pretty much done everything ourselves. We dug the foundations for our extension, we poured all the concrete. We did all the insulation, the laying of every floor, and laid our own underfloor heating.<\/p>\n

We built our own kitchen and an island from scratch, and made backbench seating. One of the biggest things we\u2019ve learned is that Paloma is a bit of a carpenter. I\u2019ve also learnt to plaster, so I did most of that as well.<\/p>\n

We started small, room by room, and figured out how to do the skirting boards and flooring. We moved in within three months, when we didn\u2019t have a bathroom or a kitchen. We just had a pile of bricks with a door on it, next to a camping toilet and our fridge. That was our set-up for two years.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve used YouTube and Reddit to learn a lot of things, and we had a builder that would give us homework, too.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tWhen they bought it, it wasn\u2019t classed as liveable (Picture: Alistair Heap)
\nHow much has the renovation cost you, roughly?<\/p>\n

Chris: Under \u00a3100,000 for the whole house, which includes a fully marbled bathroom, kitchen extension, garden studio, and lofted hallway. <\/p>\n

We were quoted \u00a370,000 for an extension, but it actually ended up costing us \u00a330,000.<\/p>\n

Where did you live before this?<\/p>\n

Paloma: We were in Northern Ireland<\/a>, living in a van and travelling around the world. We got to a point where we wanted a place to decompress after a few months of travelling and have somewhere to call home.<\/p>\n

We were lucky we could both work remotely, so we could build up a bit of a kitty, living in the van.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how we managed to raise the money to buy in cash. We also don\u2019t have any children or dependents, so we saved as much as we could.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tThey used to live in a van, so they were used to living in an unconventional space (Picture: Alistair Heap)
\nWhat\u2019s the inspiration for your interior design?<\/p>\n

Paloma: When we moved in, we didn\u2019t really know what our style was, but we did know we weren\u2019t going to have many tones of grey or beige. We had to figure it out with each room.<\/p>\n

We love colour, and there was something about it being an old property, as it was built in 1867. <\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t have any of its original features, and everything had been stripped, so it was about restoring those elements, too. It\u2019s an accumulation of pieces we love, and we try to tell a story.<\/p>\n

Have you had any problems with the home, outside of the renovation?<\/p>\n

Paloma: The damp. The area was originally marshland, so it\u2019s on water constantly. The entire back wall was also crumbling, so we had to rebuilt that ourselves. <\/p>\n

This area was in the Blitz during World War II, so the house degraded, and you could crumble a lot of the bricks apart on that wall specifically. <\/p>\n

We spent a good eight months with the back of the home open to the elements. We realised we couldn\u2019t use the toilet anymore when I sat down and saw my neighbour in her window.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tThey started small, and learned along the way (Picture: Alistair Heap)
\nDo you have any advice for anyone else undertaking a renovation project?<\/p>\n

Paloma: Start small. Learn things bit by bit and figure out what you\u2019re good at. Expect it to be a long process. Nothing prepares you for the dust, either.<\/p>\n

What are your plans for the future? Do you see this as your forever home?<\/p>\n

Paloma: We definitely didn\u2019t buy the house with a mind to sell it, as we put so much love into it. <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think it would even make sense for us to sell. We want to think about future projects with a bit more land, but we\u2019re not in any rush.<\/p>\n

We want to find a way to take on another project, perhaps through a business venture instead.<\/p>\n

Shall we take a look around?<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tWelcome home (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tThe garden was completely overgrown when they first bought it (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tTheir home was a probate property (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\t\u2026and it\u2019d been in the same family for 70 years (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tThey knew they wanted to stay true to the Victorian heritage (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\t\u2026so they enhanced some of the original features (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tIs that Ercol we spy? (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tIt\u2019s very much been a work in progress (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tWe\u2019re enjoying this piece of artwork (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tFor a time, the back of the property was exposed to the elements (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\t\u2026they knew things had to change, as they\u2019d wave to their neighbours in the morning (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tDoesn\u2019t this look cosy? (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tThey\u2019ve managed to increase the value by more than \u00a3100,000 (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tNothing else on the street has gone for more than \u00a3290,000 (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tSince they bought in cash, they don\u2019t have a mortgage (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tThey\u2019ve since amassed a considerable online following (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tWe\u2019re enjoying this remote working set-up (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tCan we steal that coffee table, please? (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tThere was no bathroom when they first moved in (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tNow this would make a lovely reading nook (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tThey did most of the renovation themselves (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\t\u2026and have sourced a lot of furniture from Facebook Marketplace (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tWe\u2019re enjoying the greenery (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tCoffee, anyone? (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tPaloma discovered her love for carpentry through the renovation (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tThey were originally quoted \u00a370,000 for an extension (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\t\u2026but it ended up costing them \u00a330,000 (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"What
\n\t\tPretty neat, hey? (Picture: Alistair Heap)<\/p>\n

Do you have a story you\u2019d like to share? Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@metro.co.uk<\/p>\n

Arrow
\nMORE: Map reveals the average age of first-time buyers across England<\/a><\/p>\n

Arrow
\nMORE: Phil Spencer says house hunters should try \u201910p test\u2019 at next viewing<\/a><\/p>\n

Arrow
\nMORE: What I Own: I bought a London \u2018shell\u2019 for \u00a3500,000 and created an urban oasis<\/a><\/p>\n


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