Episode 1 Best of Homes Under the Hammer

Hello! Welcome to Best Of Homes Under The Hammer.

Now, over the years, we've visited over 1,000 properties.

And we've been asked to pick some of our favourites to show you again.

So here are two of our auction highlights.

This is Cornwall's Wild West,

where this log cabin was waiting to welcome some brave new settlers.

And when I went east to Essex, I met some extraordinary buyers

for this ordinary terraced house.

These are two of our favourite properties from the early days.

Find out what happened to them when they went under the hammer.

Not so long ago, the coastal village of Padstow, in Cornwall,

made its money from the fishing industry,

but, over the last ten years, things have changed.

Who would have thought

that a restaurant could put a place on the map,

but that's certainly what's happened here in north Cornwall.

Padstow has always been a pretty little seaside fishing village,

but when a local chef by the name of Rick Stein became famous,

property prices went through the roof.

Look around carefully, though, and you might just find a bargain,

like the one on a development eight miles out of town.

Well, what you have here is a really interesting

potential investment opportunity,

because what's up for auction is this.

It's a half-finished log cabin

on a development that the locals call no man's land.

That's because this whole area

has been in the process of being developed for over ten years.

The question is, is THIS a good investment opportunity?

Let's take a look inside.

Well, it's certainly pretty big.

But, as I said, only partly finished off, so you've got plaster board on the walls.

Bedroom there, second bedroom there with a nice fitted cupboard.

That's got the pipework in for a bathroom.

Through here into the first living room area.

Fantastic space, kitchen wants to go in there.

Beautiful view out of the windows.

Sliding doors, stick a bit of decking on there.

Fantastic, but I've saved the best bit till last.

Just wait until you see upstairs.

This is the most incredible living space.

Look at it, fantastic views out there.

Huge, great windows to make the most of the view.

Vaulted ceilings, lots of wood.

Not something you see in Britain very often at all.

You expect to see them in Canada or America but not in Cornwall.

Master bedroom there,

en suite.

I mean, fantastic.

But I haven't told you the best bit.

What do you reckon the guide price is? 100? 200?

£49,000. Thank you very much.

Now, there has to be a catch. As it turns out, these are holiday homes.

That means that though they could be a great little earner,

there are various legal and financial restrictions

on the number of weeks you can rent out or live in them.

So, a good deal of homework is required before buying

and, remember, this is a development that has never been completed.

There are no shops or other facilities

and, on this hill, that could be a problem.

Still, I reckon it's a very interesting investment opportunity.

So, let's see who'll put their hand up at the auction.

Lot 8, Hill View, plot 37.

There's been bucket loads of interest in this.

Every man and his dog, and his dog's dog, have been around this one.

It will be a proper, proper scrap for this one.

There was a wave then, 85, 86...

87...88...

89...90...

£90,000 at the back.

91... Thank you, 91.

92...93...94...

95...96...

At 96. First time then.

At 96... 97. Fresh face.

98... 99... Go on, 100...

101. 102. 103.

104. 104.

At 104 then, first time,

at 104, second time,

£104,000. Are you sure? It's right at the back. It will be sold.

At £104,000.

Sir. Well done.

Now, why has that winning bidder been on the phone all the time?

Well, it's because two of the four new owners

couldn't get to the auction.

They are the two Marks, Penny and Sue,

and not forgetting their four daughters.

Mark and Sue, from Shropshire, did the bidding,

but Mark and Penny live in West Yorkshire,

so they have never seen the house.

I wanted to be the one to show them round.

Wow.

-Wow, what? Wow good, wow bad?

-Wow, good, definitely.

Fantastic.

-Listen, you haven't seen the best bit yet.

-No.

-We're going upstairs.

-Right.

It's better than I imagined it.

-Which bit?

-Everything!

Well, I think they're happy with it but it's time to round them all up

and find out how this business venture came about.

It's huge!

What's the relationship between the four of you?

Friends. Friends for ten years.

We met in Turkey about ten years ago and stayed in touch.

Like a holiday friendship that...

THEY LAUGH

Yeah.

Do you carry on each year going away together?

-We come down here all the time.

-Since we had the children.

-When the kids came along...

-Yeah.

In fact, all eight of them and their dog love the area so much

that they decided to club together to buy a holiday home in Cornwall.

What was it about this place that really pushed your buttons?

You've got the countryside,

the beaches are just a stone's throw away.

It's huge, simply fantastic, and we can all fit in very, very comfortably.

Well, it's already looks like the girls have made themselves

at home here but maybe just a little too much for their parents' comfort.

The kids all want to be surfer chicks and grow up and marry surf dudes.

So you have facilitated that by moving them dead close.

Yeah, we should be going the other way, shouldn't we?

Aspirations for your children for them to be surf chicks.

That's what they want to be.

What are the plans, what are you going to do with this?

Get a plan together and work out how...

Get a kitchen in and bathroom.

Get it decorated.

-Split the bedroom upstairs, make it four bedrooms.

-Lots of decking.

Whatever they build, Sue, Penny and the two Marks have set themselves

the next holiday season as a deadline with a £20,000 budget.

They've been friends for ten years

but this project is not going to be a holiday.

Up here in the sunny hills of Cornwall, I'm sure they will be fine

but, just in case, we'll pop back later in the show to find out.

Chingford, on the outskirts of East London

is a prime commuter belt location,

with good rail and bus links.

You could be working or playing in Central London in 25 minutes.

But the prices properties command here are much more affordable.

This is Pretoria Crescent.

It's a lovely, quiet road, there's no through traffic.

This property has got a guide price of £125,000. Three bedrooms.

Now in the catalogue, it says, "An attractive mid-terraced house."

I'm not sure I agree with that! Let's go inside.

Well, it doesn't get that much better in here.

It's quite a dated area,

although these floorboards would come up a treat once sanded.

Now, we've got the first reception room through here,

a lovely original '30s fireplace there.

Lots of light in this room, and that's quite a good size.

A very small kitchen, again, dated.

All the units need to be ripped out, dumped straight into the skip.

And the second reception room.

Now, what I would like to do to make this into a lovely, family, liveable space

would be to knock this wall down

and have a large, open-plan kitchen-diner.

Also, you could put some wonderful French doors here,

so you could look straight out onto that little garden.

Even if it does need some taming, this is really a good-sized space.

-CHUCKLING:

-It also comes with an outside toilet,

which seems to serve no useful purpose at all,

other than to obscure the view from the kitchen window.

Now, I'm not the tallest of people,

but even I bang my head every time I walk up these stairs.

I think the previous owners have tried to extend this bedroom here, by pulling it this way.

This is dangerous, and whoever buys this should seriously get that looked at.

I can see why the small box room was enlarged,

but even so, there will only ever be room for a single bed in here.

The second bedroom, however, isn't a bad size.

The bathroom needs a complete makeover, but the white suite might still have some life in it yet.

And then there's the main bedroom.

Well, this is the largest, and the sunniest, of all the bedrooms.

Now something I have spotted in here is some damp up there.

That is where the flashing has gone, where the bay joins the roof.

But I don't think it's anything to worry about.

One of the things I don't like are these old aluminium windows. I think they've seen better days.

I would really like to change the look of this property and replace them with some new double-glazing.

The state of the windows means new double-glazed ones are a must.

This house may be able to make the cash tills ring

and put the ker-ching back into Chingford.

I would love to see this lifeless terraced house being transformed into a beautiful family home.

Now, there's huge potential here, and there is some room to earn some serious profit as well.

Let's see who's spotted the potential at auction.

So, lot 20.

Who'd like to start off on this?

150?

150. 160.

170.

180.

180 back in. 185. 185 anywhere?

I'll take 181. If not... How much?

I've got it in the room, 181.

182, sitting down.

183. 184.

185.

186.

186 anywhere?

186 on the phones?

If not, 185 standing up. Anyone else?

Sorry, 185 sitting down. 186. 187.

188.

189.

190?

Can't lose it for 1,000!

Eh? 190?

190. 191.

190 standing up. Might be lucky.

191 anywhere?

190 first time. Second time.

Third and last time, are we all done?

Sold, 190. Well done.

And the successful purchasers are work colleagues and friends,

Amanda and Christine.

This three-bedroom terrace in Pretoria Crescent

is their first auction purchase.

How long have you two been friends for?

-Too long!

-Yeah!

-No, years.

-20 years. 20 years we've sort of known each other.

-We have worked together for...

-About nine years.

-..nine years.

So why have you decided to go into the property business together?

-It's an opportunity.

-We have always wanted to do it.

And our partners - mine's a plasterer,

Chrissie's is a plumber and a kitchen-fitter.

A heating engineer. That's his job now, but he's done everything.

You've got to have a go.

-You're laughing all the way to the bank, girls!

-Hopefully we are!

What's your budget for any work here?

I think about 25 grand.

Amanda and Christine have already got some plans

for Pretoria Crescent.

First on the agenda is a bit of structural work -

knocking down that wall between the kitchen and dining area.

Out of the two of you, whose say goes,

who has got the upper hand here,

do you think, out of both of you?

Ah, ah! THEY SHOUT OVER EACH OTHER

Amanda has got the book, and she keeps control of the book.

She's got the notebook, she's ticking it all off she goes along?

-We make notes about everything.

-We'll be in control.

But it's not just Amanda and Christine who need to agree,

it's their families as well.

So now both families are going to start work as soon as possible.

Do you guys all really get on well?

Excellent. Yes, we do.

-Our partners have been friends for...

-Ever. Since schooldays.

And we do, we all get on well.

Yeah. We have fights.

Yeah, we do! We banter and argue and try and be as bossy as each other!

-But there's nothing that's worrying you? Is it something that you are really looking forward to?

-Yeah.

Because, as a first property, there's not too much structural work.

You know, this refurbishment is quite a small one.

And so it's to see how we all get on.

It is, actually. We were happy.

We'll be back in a few months to check on progress at Pretoria Crescent

and to see if the foundations of Christine's and Amanda's friendship

have stood firm or collapsed under the pressure.

So now it's time to go back to those properties.

That's right.

We let our new owners have sufficient time to do their work

-then we went back to check on them.

-And there were stories to tell.

We've returned to Padstow, where the two Marks, Penny and Sue

have bought this holiday home for £104,000.

Seven months later, the gang are in a race against time.

In order to make some cash back, they need to rent the property out during the holiday season,

so they have to be finished before the sun arrives.

They started off with bare walls, chipboard floors and no fixtures or fittings.

Now they've got this...

They've completed the American log-cabin look with simple hard-wearing furnishings

and they've kept the wooden look from outside and continued it inside.

But the centrepiece of this wooden wonderland is the beech floor, imported from France.

Now, remember the upstairs living area?

What could they have done to complement that view?

Well, here's your answer.

And they've been even more inventive in the huge back bedroom.

On one side there's a very cosy double bedroom, and on the other,

there's a welcoming room for the kids.

That's two from one, and there's a very good financial reason for the split.

We made two bedrooms, so it's two upstairs and two downstairs.

You can have a family upstairs and a family downstairs.

We intend renting, so we thought that would be better.

Remember, all this from a completely blank canvas.

With the two bathrooms nearly finished

and the exterior decking well on its way, the work is nearly done.

So, how's their ten-year friendship coped

with the seven-month building project?

I've done everything.

And I've done everything, and the girls have done nothing.

-We've been the paint hands, haven't we?

-Yes.

We've helped with the painting.

Sanding, staining.

Look at the doors - beautiful. About six different colours.

There's definitely been a few moments when it's been,

"Get yourself in gear and get working."

The sun's shining and they want to take the dogs down to the beach.

Get in here, get stuck in.

In the end, it looks like everybody got their fair share of the work done.

The four friends are now just a month from finishing,

and all within their £20,000 budget.

So it looks like the plan of renting it out for the summer is on course.

But remember, the property is part of an incomplete development.

To pull the tourists in, Mark, Mark, Penny and Sue

are reliant on site facilities being built.

Fortunately, it looks like things are starting to happen.

We've got a nine-hole pitch and putt golf course being put in

in the spring, tennis courts and bowling green,

and on a second phase,

we've got an indoor swimming pool with clubhouse and other facilities.

And with the site being so well connected to Newquay, Padstow and the Eden Project,

it looks like the tourists will eventually be passing through.

That should kick-start a regular income.

To find out what that income might be,

I asked along two local estate agents to make their estimates.

It would be just over the £1,000 mark, high season.

When the site is finished, it will be more like £1,200 a week.

And if Mark, Penny, Mark and Sue did sell up straight away,

what could they earn from their £124,000 total investment?

I would think that it's worth in the region of £245,000, £250,000.

-Ker-ching.

-Hopefully.

-Hopefully, yeah.

So, whatever happens in the long term, the outlook is sunny.

# If you keep on the sunny side of life... #

In Chingford, Essex,

first-time property developers Christine and Amanda

had bought a three-bed terraced house for £190,000.

They were going to renovate it with the help of their two families.

Certainly, the house is looking fantastic,

with new windows throughout.

They have also removed a wall to create this great kitchen-diner.

And there's a bright inviting lounge with a brand-new fireplace.

So, the house looks good. But has it been good for Amanda and Christine?

-It's been fabulous.

-Been enjoyable. Been brilliant.

It's been a great social life, and we're going to be lonely if we don't

hurry up and get another property, because we're used to it now.

We're used to working until we drop,

which has made us fitter and stronger.

-Feel better.

-A little tired.

And a little tired, but, you know, we only need a little bit of sleep.

-We only need a fortnight off, don't we, Chris?

-Yeah. In the sun.

-And then we'll go again.

-Yeah.

They definitely deserve that break,

judging by the transformation throughout.

They even seem to have agreed on all the changes.

The wardrobes were nice. And I insisted that they stayed.

All my friends said they should have stayed.

But as soon as they come out...

"Wow. That's better."

I have to agree. There's no doubt

taking out those cupboards opens up the room and makes it feel bigger.

And brightening the small third bedroom has made it much less claustrophobic.

Remember, this was just a part-time project for Amanda and Christine.

They've both got other jobs to go to.

But that eight-week turnaround

just shows what can be done when everybody gets on board and helps.

Not only have they done a great job, but they've had fun doing it.

The other advantage of using family and friends is it's cheap labour.

So has that helped keep that £25,000 budget in check?

-We was doing absolutely fantastic...

-Until the last week.

..and then all of a sudden, like,

fireplace, the carpets, things like that,

and then we didn't even care that we'd gone over.

We wanted to make it nice.

So we've probably spent an extra £2,000.

Do you know what is fantastic?

Is turning a nasty, horrible-looking, dreary and dark,

turning a really horrible house into a really lovely house.

And we think it's lovely, and we'd like to live here, me and Mandy.

Not together, we might fight.

A couple of days, we'd be all right. Well, one.

Yes, perhaps it's best they do sell it.

Working together is one thing but living together...

Well, perhaps things could become a little bit prickly.

So let's see what an estate agent makes of our two tribes' efforts.

They've cared about what they've done, and thought about it.

Amanda and Christine bought Pretoria Crescent for £190,000,

they spent £30,000 on it,

so they'll want a valuation above £220,000.

I would value this property at 265 to 270.

And the estate agent was also right on the money.

We've actually sold this property. We've already sold it for 265.

But we believe, finished completely, once that kitchen's in...

-It's well worth it.

-We'd probably get a bit more

-because we haven't actually shown it to anyone yet.

-No.

And someone will be able to move in here and not do a thing.

But how do they feel about the whole project?

This was a tester for us to see if we could actually all work...

I think we're good at it. We're really good at it.

And I think we all work as a good team and it would be silly to stop.

With the family, everyone has got a very, very good trade, haven't they?

We've got electricians, we've got plasterers,

we've got decorators, so to be quite honest,

if we could do this full time and use the knowledge and experience

that they've all got...

We would love to do it. Let's start again.

Come on, let's celebrate.

Well, not only do Amanda and Christine talk a good game,

they clearly know how to deliver,

and their enthusiasm rubs off on others.

But with at least a £40,000 profit already in the bank,

I think it's time for a little celebration.

# Celebrate good times, come on

# It's a celebration... #

Well, it's been great to take a trip down memory lane

and see those properties again.

I hope you've enjoyed it as much as we have.

We'll have some more gems from the archive for you next time.

-See you then.

-Goodbye.

-Goodbye.