Ryan Whitham, 38, swapped his life in Greater Manchester for a bargain home in one of the UK’s cheapest towns – but he got more than he bargained for when he moved in, spending £41,000 altogether
A dog breeder bagged himself a right steal in one of the UK’s cheapest towns, snapping up a doer-upper for just £15k. He stumbled upon the bargain basement price while browsing on his phone late at night.
Without any knowledge of the house’s state or its location in Grangetown, squeezed between Middlesbrough and Redcar in the North East, Ryan Whitham chanced it and threw in an offer.
Whitham wasn’t too bothered about the local scene or who his neighbours might be. Chatting with the Express, he said: “To me the area, the people is wholly irrelevant. As long as it’s got petrol stations, dog shops, hairdressers, groomers and supermarkets [I’m happy].”
The former landscape gardener turned dog breeder added: “The world’s a big place and people spend too much time in one little spot.”
But the gaff wasn’t quite the snug home it was cracked up to be online. Ryan explained: “It was sold as a liveable house, although it was sold as ‘buyer beware’ that was a misrepresentation.”
The pad had boarded-up windows, was littered with rubbish and drugs, and was missing essentials like electricity and hot water.
As if doing up the wreck wasn’t enough of a headache, keeping the place secure became another mission, with junkies breaking in to shoot up and cause trouble. Despite the mountain of work needed to transform the run-down property into something liveable, Ryan kept his eye on the prize.
His reward is now a shiny new kitchen and a swanky shower room, where once there was just a load of rubbish. Him and his uncle beavered away to get the place looking spick and span. Chuffed with the progress, Ryan said: “We were sleeping on a carpet in the front bedroom, waking up at seven in the morning with the light coming in on us.
“We’d go ‘right, get a coffee, get the drills, lets get that window in today [or] drag those electrics across’.
“I’ve just come back from BandQ with two bags of plaster so we can finish the back room. It’s just about getting through it bit by bit.”
Ryan, who zips around in a flashy black Porsche 4X4 was initially greeted by someone from the council warning him about the dodgy crime rate.
“He’d come round to check nothing dodgy was going on,” Ryan said. “He told me ‘just be careful round here because it’s a rough area for crime. If that’s your car I’d be parking it round the back, I wouldn’t be trusting them round here because you’ve got nice things I don’t want you to be a target’.”
Ryan, who ditched his Greater Manchester pad for a new life in Grangetown, has been overwhelmed by the neighbourly love. He shared heartwarming tales of locals lending a hand: “Next door but one lets me have a bath and the man that lives next door put an extension round so I had electricity whilst I was waiting for the services to be put in,” he said.
Ryan added: “There was a lot of ‘keeping up with the Joneses. I’d rather be a king among peasants rather than a king competing among kings in Manchester.”
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