31 Dream Street by Lisa Jewell Read Free Book Online Page A

possessions.
    ‘How many bathrooms do you have?’ said Walter, heading towards Joanne’s room.
    ‘Two,’ said Toby. ‘One on each floor.’
    ‘Good,’ he said. ‘Any en suite?’
    ‘No. I’m afraid not.’
    Toby pushed down on the handle to Joanne’s door and realized with some surprise that it was locked. ‘Ah,’he said, turning to face Walter. ‘Erm, it seems it’s locked.’
    Walter nodded.
    ‘Joanne – very private girl,’ Toby offered, pointlessly.
    Upstairs, Toby showed Walter his own overstuffed room and Gus’s garishly decorated room, apologizing for the smell of elderly cat and explaining that the cat’s owner had recently passed away. By the time he led Walter into the back garden and noticed for the first time the pile of compost that had been sitting on the lawn since the end of last summer and the weeds sprouting forth from every conceivable – and inconceivable – crack and crevice and the old bicycle tyres, the rusty treadmill and the aged fridge stained an unappetizing brown, Toby was feeling thoroughly depressed. There was so much to apologize for, so much to excuse. He couldn’t imagine that Walter would be prepared to put his house on the market for fifty pounds, let alone five hundred thousand pounds.
    He offered him a cup of tea and sat down with him at the kitchen table.
    ‘Well,’ began Walter, ‘it’s a beautiful house.’
    ‘Do you think so?’
    ‘Oh, undoubtedly. But, as you say, there are some maintenance issues. Not to mention some decorative issues and some lifestyle issues.’
    ‘Lifestyle?’
    ‘Yes. Because here’s the bottom line. I could put thisproperty on the market for you tomorrow, as it is, and probably, if we could find a buyer or, more likely, a developer prepared to put in the work, to see beyond the aesthetic problems, we would probably be looking at something in the region of seven hundred and fifty thousand pounds.’
    Toby stopped breathing.
    ‘ But . If you were able to reconfigure the house, to replace the kitchen, the bathrooms, do some basic work in the garden and, more importantly, remove your house-mates and give the place the feel of a proper family home, we could be asking for considerably more.’
    ‘How much more?’
    ‘Oh, I would say that this house, redecorated, modernized, made fit for a family to move straight into, I could put it on the market for around nine hundred thousand pounds. Maybe even a million.’
    ‘ No? ’ Toby blinked. ‘Surely not that much.’
    ‘Oh, yes, definitely. Maybe more depending on the quality of the renovation.’
    ‘Jesus Christ.’ Toby breathed in deeply and tugged at his sideburns.
    ‘This house is unique, Mr Dobbs. There’s nothing else like it in the area. People will pay a premium for unique.’
    ‘So, if I were to put it on the market now, what do you think would happen?’
    ‘I would expect to sell it to a developer. Maybe to be developed into two or three apartments. Or to a family with a fondness for home improvements.’
    ‘And if I were to make the improvements myself and evict my tenants… I mean, friends ?’
    ‘Then you could command a much higher asking price and make a much bigger profit.’
    ‘And what would you do, if you were me?’
    ‘Well, if I had the cash at my disposal, I would go down the latter route. Most definitely.’
    ‘You would?’
    Walter nodded, emphatically. ‘Without a doubt. But you’d need to get cracking on it. The market’s precarious right now. Get your tenants out, get your builders in, get the house on the market. Maximize your profit.’
    ‘Right,’ said Toby, staring through the kitchen window at the wilderness of the back garden and feeling a sense of unbridled panic galloping through his insides. ‘Right. Then, that’s what I’ll do.’
    Toby did something he’d never done before after Walter left. He made a list.
    Suddenly there was so much to consider, so much to do, and he thought that setting it down in writing might somehow make