Episode 45 Homes Under the Hammer

Now there are so many different reasons why people buy at auction.

It could be the speedy completion,

the wide variety of properties on offer,

or the chance to bag a bargain.

Well, whatever your motivation, the opportunities are there

when you buy your Home Under The Hammer!

Now, both Lucy and I have bought property at auction and it is an experience like no other.

Absolutely. You know the moment the hammer goes down, you're committed and the real hard work begins.

Let's look at the properties up for auction on today's show.

This cottage in Cheshire is sadly lacking in just one thing.

It's a shame and it's going to take a lot of effort to put it right.

I take a trip to Kent and do some window shopping in the lovely village of Wye.

It just looks great from where I'm standing.

And in Devon, there's a house which seems too cheap to be true.

Now I know prices have dropped down here, but not by that much.

All these properties have been sold at auction

and we'll find out who bought them and what they paid for them when they went under the hammer.

I'm in the county of Cheshire,

on the outskirts of the village

of Higher Poynton.

I'm in Higher Poynton - a pretty little village just outside Macclesfield.

Easy commuting distance from Manchester and Stockport, it's green belt,

there's a golf course over there, it is a very desirable place to live.

The thing I'm here to see sounds fantastic.

It's described in the catalogue as an attractive three bedroom cottage.

Oh, boy. I think I'd have to agree.

The cottage is mainly stone-built and just oozes character.

Nestled into a slope, it has a quirky layout, starting with the front door being at the back.

Well, that's a bit weird, because this is the main entrance,

but it leads you onto the floor with all the bedrooms on.

Downstairs there, to the rest of the house, but OK, well, an

unusual layout for sure, but through here to the first of the bedrooms and

wow, I'm immediately thinking, it's got some of those beautiful traditional features still left.

A few beams hidden away there, look at the windows -

big, deep recesses, all-wooden windowsill.

Fantastic.

That's just the bedroom.

The other two bedrooms in Worth Cottage are also on this floor.

One, a double, again with lovely deep windowsills and exposed timbers,

and this single.

The bathroom isn't that tiny, compared to many cottages,

and like all the rooms it's got great views of the garden.

Along the landing, it's downstairs to the living accommodation.

I'm liking it so far.

There's a great sense of anticipation

with every door that you open in the house.

Well, you've got a little anteroom there, these beautiful old beamed

ceilings, through into what I guess is the main living room of the house.

Lovely little features built in - absolutely gorgeous.

This room itself, a nice size, it's got the open fire, it's got the big door and windows out onto the garden.

Really, really nice room. Obviously, it's in need of some updating,

but what a lot you've got to work with.

Well, continuing through the downstairs of the house to what was I imagine the original kitchen.

No prizes for guessing that, given that it's got this old range.

Beautiful old feature. I'd want to keep that even if you didn't redo this as the kitchen,

because, at some stage in the recent past, somebody actually added on another room to the side of the

property, literally bolted it on here in the 1970s, to create this kitchen.

Now, to my mind, it's far too small for the size of the house,

it's also very shabby, so you would want to replace this and maybe consider extending it in

the future because, at the moment, it does let the house down just a bit.

There's definitely room to extend here.

Off the kitchen, there's an old conservatory and a small enclosed garden.

And there's more.

The cottage is in such a pretty little spot.

The garden stretches all the way down there,

you've got all this woodland around, there's a stream.

I mean, all in all, you've got almost one acre of land

and if you were planning on living here... I mean, what a glorious spot.

It might be a bit tricky mowing some of those slopes though.

But there is a large flat section off the driveway on the other side.

So far, so good, but there's something about this property I'm not happy about.

Something that really, really annoys me.

The house is surrounded by these beautiful York flagstones, but as you can see,

loads of them have actually been stolen, I reckon, about half of them, here.

In total, about 80 square metres.

Now stuff like this costs about £60 a square metre to buy, so that's about five thousand pounds worth

of flagstones that have been stolen, plus all the hassle of putting them back,

if you can actually get them to match.

This happened in between the time of the majority of the viewings on the house and the auction itself.

The trouble is you buy the house in the condition that it is

on the day of the auction, so you've got no redress, because this is how it was when it was actually sold.

But it's a real, real shame and it's going to take a lot of effort to put it right.

Is Worth Cottage worth buying?

I asked a local estate agent how feasible

it would be to get planning permission

to extend.

It shouldn't be too difficult to get planning permission.

There has been a previous extension in the 1970s,

but I suppose that could actually be taken down

and a two-storey extension put in its place,

to create additional bedroom and ground floor accommodation.

If the planners are on your side, would this make a good investment?

What resale value could you achieve with or without an extension?

Three bedroom detached cottage, here in an area such as this,

I would have thought that you're looking in the region of £450,000.

If you extended and fully modernised the property, then you'd be potentially looking

around five to £600,000, depending on the extension and the condition of modernisation.

So you'd probably not lose money if you built an extension here,

but I think you'd have to be careful not to lose any of the character which makes this place so appealing.

Wow, well what is there not to like about this place?

Beautiful location, so much character in the cottage itself. Fantastic.

The million dollar question is what is Worth Cottage actually worth? How much would you pay for it?

Let's find out who bought it at the auction.

Now, Worth Cottage enjoys a delightful rural position surrounded

by established woodland,

about one mile east of Poynton village.

For lot number one, ladies and gentlemen, Worth Cottage, Anson Road, Higher Poynton.

Can we bid? Where are you going to start me?

Come on, how much can we say? Three hundred? Three hundred.

At 300,000, at 300,000, I've got.

And five. At 305. Ten now.

At 310, at 310, at 310.

At 310, 315, at 315.

At three...320, at 320. At £320,000.

It's against you on my right, at 320.

At three...25, at 325, 325, 330, now, 330.

At 330. At 330.

At £330,000, for Worth Cottage.

At £330,000...where?

335, at 335, at 335. 340, now.

At 335. 340, to either of you?

337.5, are you tempting prominence?

340. 338.

At 338. At 388, it's the lady's bid, you're out at the back.

At 338,000, it's the lady's bid on my right,

I'm selling it once, twice,

the third and final time at 338,000, are we all done, quickly?

At £338,000, for Worth Cottage I'm selling to the highest bidder.

GAVEL BANGS

Yours, madam.

The winning bid of 338,000 was made by husband and wife,

Victoria and Guy, who bought Worth Cottage as their new home.

They currently live with Victoria's parents, just a few minutes away,

so they know the area and the cottage very well.

I met Guy, to find out more.

Be careful not to bang your bonce as you come through there.

-But Guy, congratulations.

-Thank you.

-You must be a very happy man.

-Very.

-Very happy.

-It's a fantastic place isn't it?

-Yes.

-Why did you want to buy it?

We were looking for a property. We sold up about six months ago and it just came up and it was

there, available, it was the right time, my wife loved it,

she's from around here, it's a very pretty house.

Yeah. And if she knows the area, she's...

She spent a lot of her young years around here, walking past the house.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-She used to walk past it as a child?

With her grandma, she used to spend a lot of time walking up here.

There's a canal path at the top and she went there with her grandma.

-I've actually found some pictures. Have you seen these?

-Yeah, they're beautiful.

-They were left by the previous owner.

-And what's this?

This is basically an ordnance survey map of the old mines.

They stopped mining probably about 200 years ago, but this lists where

all the mine shafts and the air shafts were in the area.

-It does say air shaft in the garden.

-It was, there was an air shaft.

-Bit of a worry?

-No, not at all.

We know where it is. It's not... As long as you don't jump down it you're fine.

Yes, bottomless pits and property development are not words I like

in the same sentence, but as £338,000 has already been spent,

I reckon the money could drain away here.

-So, here we are, you've bought it.

-Yes.

So, what next? What's the plans?

Next plan is to get the drive sorted and a garage, just to make it easy to use.

-OK.

-And just tidy it up, make the kitchen usable, the bathroom usable.

-In the longer term?

-Long term, extension, additional bedroom,

make the kitchen a bit bigger.

Shall we go outside and take a look at the plans you've got for the bigger picture stuff out there?

-Let's do that.

-OK. After you.

So the plan is for a two-stage refurbishment.

First, make the cottage habitable, with a new drive and move in, then build an extension.

The initial plan is to do the drive and the garage and then just open up

so we've got plenty of space to drive in, turn and drive out.

-OK.

-And then a double garage.

-Plans for a double garage.

-That's some internal pictures.

-That's nice.

So double garage and, hopefully, a kind of a storage room.

-Above?

-Above.

-OK.

-If possible.

-So then, this is what?

-OK, this is going to be the ground floor.

The major thing is the extension on the back, making the kitchen larger.

-Where is the current kitchen?

-The current kitchen is this small section.

-OK.

So we drop the whole lot down to ground level,

-because currently the kitchen is raised up a couple of steps.

-And this is two floors, isn't it?

Yes, and we go up to the first floor, additional bedroom, walk-in wardrobe and an

en suite and keep the current layout - the bedrooms and bathroom. We'll add that.

So why extend out that back rather than just over the, sort of, patio area where we are now?

Going out the back is going to need us to shift a lot of earth and probably quite costly,

but we've got options to come out this end, but we think we're going to ruin the fun aspect

of the building and the character of it by doing that, so we can try and push as much behind as possible.

-That's what we want to try and do.

-Good luck with it all.

-Thank you.

-You've got a great starting point with the location and the house.

-It's beautiful.

# You are so beautiful

# To me... #

Well, what a glorious property Guy and his wife are going to have

as their family home, it really is a nice end to the story.

Not intending to do too much to it to start off with, just making

it liveable in and then enjoy living in this glorious spot.

Find out how they get on later in the show.

I'm in Kent today, the garden of England, and I've come to a very pretty village called Wye.

There's rivers, lush green fields and country pubs everywhere.

It's amazingly picturesque and I really do love it.

# I can't tell you why... #

It just doesn't get much better than this, does it?

Ducks waddling, brooks babbling and a community thriving.

It's a truly special place.

This is Bridge Street, just four miles from Ashford, and I've come to see a commercial property today.

Now originally, it was an agricultural building

and more recently it's been used as a florists.

Well, here it is, it's a substantial double fronted shop and it looks just great from where I'm standing.

# Window shopping

# Just window shopping

# You're only looking around... #

If you wanted to do more than window shop and actually buy the whole shop

the price tag was guided at £130,000 to £140,000.

Wow, this really is an incredible space.

I just love the way these old aged beams sit

next to the new oak joinery in here, and it smells just really lovely.

You've got these beautiful slate floors in here

and this wonderful large double-fronted open window here.

Now, this is great for light, but on the business front,

it's ideal to showcase whatever's going to be in the shop.

I tell you what, this really could suit any business and they could start up almost immediately.

A big thumbs up for this one.

Yes, this really does get my stamp of approval.

It has got bags of character and all the services installed to run a modern business.

And as it's only recently been vacated, it's all in pretty good order.

You also have the bonus of this pretty little garden and, from here,

you can really see how incredible that roof is.

Now it's not a listed building, but it is in a conservation area

and that's probably why this roof has been so well-maintained. That's the good news.

The bad news is if you wanted to change this building in any way you could have problems.

Now, I know that three years ago planning permission was refused

for a new oak framed porch out the front, so anyone taking

this on with alterations in mind, would be wise to make the necessary enquiries before auction day.

I think as it stands this is more suitable as a

commercial property, but I would try and use the garden space, perhaps with a tearoom or cafe, for example.

What does the local estate agent reckon?

I believe it would appeal to a niche market, rather than the broader one.

Also, they're quite small premises,

so I think it would be, perhaps a business that did mail order

or quite a lot of online marketing,

but wanted an attractive base that people can visit.

Michael is dead right. The history here of barbers and florists

suggest it's not the easiest place to set up a commercial venture.

Still, it is in a good part of a vibrant village,

so surely it could attract business and have some value?

The annual rental value for premises such as these

would be in the range of about £7,000 per annum.

The sort of top figure would be eight and a half,

but I would be surprised if you achieved as much as that.

If I was asked to put these premises on the market,

I'd recommend an asking price in the region of £150,000.

At what was a guide price of 130,000, this isn't a property that's going to make you a fortune.

Any profit is more likely to be made from the business that uses these premises.

The commercial unit has a great high street location.

It's also affordable and in a good state of repair.

This property could work for any type of business and so, I think, it's a good one to go for.

Let's see the auction.

Lot 109 is

100 Bridge Street, Wye, near Ashford.

It's a vacant, detached, commercial premises.

And what may I say, £130,000, to start?

120? 120, I have, thank you.

£120,000 is bid, 122, 124,

126?

126.

And 128. And 130?

130 is bid. 132?

£130,000, I am bid, the lady's bid at £130,000.

131, do I see?

Going for the first time, then, at 130,

for the second time at 130,000,

for a third and final time, at 130,000,

the two ladies on my left. Are you all done?

Sold at 130,000. Congratulations.

For right on the guide price of 130,000, the new owners of the

commercial space in Wye are friends Kate and Danni.

Both live locally, in fact Kate's house is just across the road.

They thought this too good an opportunity to miss.

Ladies, congratulations.

You must be so excited?

-Yeah.

-It's fantastic.

Why do you want this?

-Well...

-Good question.

I have always wanted to have my own business and I have been thinking

various ideas for a few months and I'd always thought that a shoe shop

in the village would be great - a children's shoe shop - and then this came up and you...

-I e-mailed you, didn't I?

-Mm.

Saying maybe we could do something together

and then I got back from holiday, to an e-mail from Kate saying,

"Oh, there's a shop", and this was the Tuesday and the auction was on Friday and I said, "Right, OK."

And we went for a run and by the time we'd come back from the run we're going, "Let's go for it."

Kate and Danni have three children each and met through the children going to the same school.

Despite working already, Kate editing a website and Danni in leadership development training,

both were looking for a new challenge.

They've certainly got one here.

So Kate, tell me why a shoe shop.

Well, children's shoes, you can't buy them on the internet,

because you've got to have your children's feet measured and there's a school right next door.

Have you thought of a nice name for the shop?

We have, yes. We're going to call it the Elves and the Shoemaker.

Fantastic.

Kate and Danni seem to have it all worked out, but they are starting a business during a recession,

so they're going to need more than just an enticing name to bring customers into their fairy grotto.

So how will it look internally for little children outside to want to come in and buy their shoes?

Well, we're going to have, hopefully, it's all up in the air, but my plan is,

and, hopefully, Danni's as well, little toadstool stools,

like mushrooms, you know red with white spots on, and sort of make it

an elfin environment, so that it's a beautiful place that people come in and go, "Oh, it's so lovely here."

Now girls, what about something for the yummy mummies?

Because you know how it is, we all buy our children shoes.

You're not the first to say that.

Are you going to have a nice section for the mums?

Yeah, well you're not the first person to ask us that.

It's something we're thinking about.

We're getting research feedback!

I think they will need to keep all their options open.

They're trying to start a retail enterprise at a time when small

businesses are struggling and many going under.

They will need to find as many ways as possible to attract customers,

after all they are dependent on walk-in trade.

How are you going to cope? Busy working mums.

-Yes, we are.

-Six kids between you.

-Yes.

-Yes.

-How's that going to work?

-Well, luckily they all get on...

-Yes.

They all go to school together, so if we're in the shop

one of us could collect them.

One of the benefits of going into business together is that we can share some of the responsibility

and being that we are mums, we also want to be able to have time with our kids.

So what do your children think of your new business venture?

-They're very excited.

-Very excited.

And above all, the girls want pink sparkly shoes.

-Well...

-Not yours.

Your daughter. My daughter's a different kettle of fish.

And how do your partners feel?

Are they completely

-up for this and supportive?

-Yeah absolutely, really...

-Yep.

Really positive about it.

I don't...I wouldn't have done it if my husband wasn't supportive.

So is it about starting up a business or is it about the shoes?

Well, interesting question.

-Both.

-Both. Definitely both.

You're going to have to have fabulous shoes now you work in a shoe shop.

-Yes.

-Of course.

-That's what I keep telling my husband.

It seems that everyone's fully behind Danni and Kate as they step into their new business venture.

There's £10,000 budget to fit out the shop and add some storage space at the back.

They have most things in place to kick-start this former florist

and cobble it into an enchanting pixie paradise.

Buying commercial property next door to a school and turning it into a children's shoe and accessory shop,

well, it's a savvy move, you're guaranteed passing trade.

Now having said that, the girls have taken a lot on with this and they are jumping into the unknown.

Will the tills be ringing when we return?

Well, you can find out later on in the programme.

Coming up, I'm off to the seaside.

Next stop that way is Ireland, but my property quest is taking me that way.

Back in the pretty village of Wye in Kent, has Kate and Danni's shoe shop put its best foot forward?

It's a beautiful place that people come in and go, "Oh, it's so lovely."

First, in Cheshire...

Just as they were finished and we were about to get into the real work

that's when I found out that Sophia was on her way.

I'm selling to the highest bidder...

Earlier in the programme, Guy and Victoria bought this

beautiful 200-year-old cottage in the Cheshire village of Higher Poynton, for 338 grand.

It was going to be their new home, but with one acre, plans for an extension and a new garage,

we've left them 11 months before coming back to see the result.

Well, inside the cottage has been lovingly restored,

with plenty of original character features still in evidence.

It all contrasts very well with the sophisticated new equipment

that's been installed in the bathroom and the kitchen.

And the old saying, 'new house, new baby,'

can't have left Guy much time to put his feet up.

Oh, it's been super busy.

Um, initially we had all the electrics and plumbing done

before we moved in and that took longer than I expected, like most things in this house.

Just as they were finished and we were about to get into the real work

that's when I found out Sophia was on her way.

So then I was, um, well, you were one man down, really.

Yeah, basically I lost my main labourer, so...(!)

So the pressure was on for Guy, as the timescales had shifted.

Although he employed tradespeople for the plumbing,

electrical work and some joinery, he had to get the house ready for Victoria and their new baby.

That meant a change of plan.

The reason why we've not extended, initially, is because of Sophia and we needed to get the house ready

and we don't actually need that extra room.

It's still on the cards, for possible, in the future,

but we're concentrating on getting everywhere functional.

So, which of the rooms is Victoria most pleased with?

Well, I have to say favourite rooms rather than favourite room

because the dining room is something I really love, the old stove

and the space, so we can have lots of people round and entertain.

But the kitchen, I'm really happy with. We had to do it quite quickly, because the baby was on the way

and we've managed to source everything locally and get the granite exactly how we wanted it.

Got my big range cooker, got my Belfast sink and, eventually,

we'll get a herb garden and breakfast area out there.

Combined with the dining room, I think it's going to be a really good

space and something I'm really happy with.

It was Guy and Victoria's decision to delay building the extension,

but it was the planning department who put a stop to their new garage on the grounds of its height.

Guy's currently getting feedback from the council, but one problem has been laid to rest.

When you were here last, we had a lot of the flagstones stolen, so what I've done is

just grouped together everything we had and lugged what was left and then with the stone,

we've utilised it where we could do. With the flagstones, we've had them

filled in with the tarmac, which has made it look pretty well.

We've utilised as much from the site, without bringing in new material.

# Show me the money... #

Good news - environmentally and financially.

A project like this, even without the extension and garage, is never going to be cheap.

Now remember, they paid £338,000 on auction day, so how's the budget holding up?

Money-wise, because it's our home, not a business project,

we haven't kept track of how much we've spent.

-Erm...I honestly don't know.

-No, we don't know.

# Why don't you show me the money?.. #

Well, roughly are we saying 40,000?

-Probably, I don't know.

-With the outside work, it's probably

around that mark, but we didn't, we've done everything we wanted to.

Because Guy's done so much of the work himself,

that reduced the cost.

How will two property experts estimate

the worth of Worth Cottage?

It was a very run-down cottage, very damp

and it needed, obviously, a lot of money spending on it.

Now, it's transformed, really.

They've kept the character, but at the same time improved it and smartened the whole thing up.

What I like about the actual property itself

is you can see this nice combination

of the old character mixed in with the modern.

A lot of properties like this need heaps of work doing on them.

Here it's done. Speaks for itself.

I think they like it.

Guy paid £338,000 and has budgeted around £40,000,

making an approximate £380,000 total spend.

How much would the experts advertise it for if they were selling it?

Bearing in mind the position, the appearance of the property, the quality of the finish, gardens,

I would see a realistic value being in the region of 450.

I guess we'd probably be looking at something in the region of 450,000, at the moment.

£70,000 gross profit. Worth Cottage has been well "worth" the work.

Yeah, that's really good, really good, with the way the market is.

That's, yeah, it's good.

-And what's the plan for the future?

-Well, the plan is to finish, we're only 80%

or 90% complete inside and we've got loads to do outside.

-The next thing will be probably to build a garage...

-Yeah.

..once planning permission comes through.

Something is just the space that we have.

So many people aren't moving, they're extending their houses,

we could extend and extend and still have lots of space.

So many big houses have lost the gardens, the garages, the drives,

and we have all that, which I think is why I love it so much.

# You are so beautiful... #

Love is in the air, here.

I reckon Guy has picked a blooming great property,

worth every penny.

These days, it seems we spend our days just surfing the internet,

but a move to the village of Northam, near Bideford in North Devon,

could see you riding the waves for real.

Welcome to the northwest coast of Devon and a wild and beautiful place it is, indeed.

Next stop that way is Ireland, but my property quest is taking me that way.

After a gentle stroll on the beach, I pass the golf course

and head into town as today's auction property comes into view.

The approach to this property might not be quite as exciting or beautiful as that beach scene

I've just left behind. However, it's all in the eyes of the beholder.

I've done a bit of research and the property that was up for auction

sold a few years ago for £120,000.

Well, it's guide price was 65,000.

That's a 45% reduction.

Now I know prices have dropped around here, but not by that much.

To put it another way, you could almost buy two of these houses now

for the price you would have paid for one two years ago.

OK, it's not the prettiest I've ever come across,

but at £65,000 for a house with sea views, it seems pretty attractive to me.

So, what have we got?

Well, nice surprise, actually.

Look at this, the kitchen looks reasonable new.

Yes, it needs a bit of finishing off,

but overall, it's not a bad start.

This all looks extremely promising.

There's a good size kitchen come diner, that just needs finishing off.

There's a very decent-sized lounge,

although the fireplace plainly needs to go,

but the fire itself could stay.

With the addition of a cloakroom, the downstairs area is really encouraging.

I'm even more heartened when I go upstairs, because someone's been busy here.

All three bedrooms are in good order and there's a perfectly serviceable bathroom.

Then, of course, there are those views.

That really is the icing on the cake.

It's a great little house. I'm struggling to find anything wrong with it.

Yes, the kitchen needs sorting out, you want to have the boiler checked and possibly replaced,

bit of painting here and there, but none of that's going to break the bank.

But am I missing something? Because, quite frankly,

this looks a little too good to be true.

What does the auctioneer who sold it think?

Is there very much to be done here?

It really is minor cosmetics as they say.

Might just play with one of the bedroom walls

to make your back double bedroom a better size,

but it's just stud, you could just slide it over virtually.

You'd have to work hard to spend £2,000-£3,000 in there.

With that low spend, what could this house, guided at only £65,000, be worth?

You'd probably get over £100,000 for it.

So even in today's market this looks fantastic value.

Could it also make its mark on the rental market?

If you worked on £500 per calendar month, you're never going to be too far away

so if you buy it and it stands you in at £75,000, you'll get an 8% return.

That's a good return in anybody's book.

Well, all in all, a great little property and with little work to do

and even less to spend, potentially quite a lucrative one.

If you rent this out, you'll get more than by leaving your money in the bank.

So let's see who spotted it in the auction catalogue.

Lot 47...

So we know that's going to make at least 60-something.

So who's going to say £60,000 just to get it going?

Nobody going to be happy at 60? Thank you sir, fantastic.

60 we've got. 60 in the front row, at 60 we've got, at 60.

At 60,000, front row has it.

61, thank you. 62. That's it, what polite people!

62. That's it. You're not local, are you, sir? I know.

At 62, 62, 63, 63, 64.

At 64. You just talk to him, look, that's fine.

65, 66, 66, 66.

At 66, it's sat.

67, do I have? 67, 68.

At 68.

69, please, 69, 70. At 70, at 70.

70, I've got a fresh lady bidder... Better finish that sentence quickly.

At 71? 71. 72.

73, madam? 73, 74, 74's here. 74.

Keeping in touch as it were, 74. 75.

We've got a six, we've got 76, hear what we're saying, 76, 77. At 77, at...

77.5, 77.5,

78, at 78, 78.5.

78.5 is the chap here, 79?

You've made your decision? 79, 79, 79. At 79 once,

twice, third and last time. Here we go, it's on my right, being sold at £79,000. All done.

Well done. Well done.

'After that hard-fought battle, it appears the new owners

'of the three-bedroomed property in the Devon village of Northam

'are local couple Dave and Jackie.

'Or are they?'

Jackie, Dave, lovely to meet you. Congratulations. This is a great little house.

-We like it.

-Tell me why you wanted to buy it.

It's basically for our daughter and her partner and this will be their first home together.

Aw! So how did you get involved with sort of sorting them out a house?

We came home from St Lucia and my daughter said,

"Oh, I've seen a property that I might like the look of."

We said, "Let's have a look."

So we went and had a look and then we bought it the following day.

We went to the auction and bid.

Right, so are they buying it or are you buying it for them?

Their top budget was £75,000 and we agreed that we'd put anything over and above

that we felt that they could go to so we got it at £79,000.

-So you're...

-So we're paying a little bit for them towards it.

-Just £4,000, nothing else.

-The rest they've saved and got together the money?

Yeah. It's a struggle to get any property for youngsters these days

and it's the right time, the right property, the right place, everything is good about it.

I think they're right.

If you can get over that hurdle of finding the money to buy, property prices are now extremely competitive.

For the first time in years, new buyers can get on that property ladder.

So with these lower prices, there was an opportunity for their daughter Kaylee

and her boyfriend Jay to get their first home together.

Both these trainee accountants had done their sums

and for them buying this place really added up.

-Kaylee, Jay, lovely to meet you both. How do you feel about what's happened here?

-Excited really.

Saw it on the internet, well, Kaylee found it,

came to look at it, the auction was the next day, we were both at work so had to send parents.

So for your first house to buy at auction, what sort of prompted you towards that, Kaylee?

It was just a house that was fairly cheap,

reasonably cheap in comparison to what we'd been looking at.

Flats in Barnstaple were much more expensive,

so a three-bedroomed house at this price was fantastic.

You bought at a good price basically.

Yeah, hopefully sell it at a better price.

That's the accountant speaking for sure.

'In the long term, Kaylee and Jay may see this as a stepping stone

'to buying other houses but it's their short-term plan I'm interested in now.'

Tell me then what you're going to do to it.

Put in new carpets right through, rip out the fire and paint really.

-And who's going to do the work?

-We are.

-Yeah.

-You say that slightly nervously.

-I'm not really a painter and decorator myself but...

-We'll learn.

Yeah. Steep learning curve.

'Kaylee and Jay have given themselves quite a reasonable £5,000 budget.

'That should be fine here I'd have thought.

'Certainly for starters anyway.'

-Where are you going to live in the meantime?

-Here.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah.

We'll move round from room to room, do one room, move into the next.

So when do you actually move in?

-This afternoon. Today.

-Today?

-Yeah, today.

-Oh, fantastic.

-So have you got the bottle of champagne ready?

-It's ready.

-Yeah.

-No fridge to put it in but it's there.

'How exciting, the first night in their new home.

'At just 19, they have a three-bedroomed house with sea views.'

'They've certainly got lots to celebrate.'

Well, what a great story, Kaylee and Jay in their first house

with a bit of help from Mum and Dad and some research on the internet.

They do seem a bit daunted about doing the work

but I think that will be overtaken by the excitement of having their own place.

How are they going to get on? Find out later in the show.

Well, we've given them a while but will it be long enough?

Will we return to super stories of success

-or stress and spiralling budgets?

-Let's find out.

In the picturesque village of Wye in Kent, life takes at a slower, more leisurely pace

but for local ladies Kate and Danni, it's far from business as usual.

They've decided to leap into a new venture by buying a former florist's shop for 130,000.

Why do you want this?

-Well...

-Good question.

I have always wanted to have my own business and I'd always thought a shoe shop in the village

would be great - a children's shoe shop.

-Have you thought of a nice name? What's it going to be called?

-We have, yeah.

-We're going to call it The Elves And The Shoemaker.

-Fantastic.

So a full nine months later, have the elves and pixies been busy and got the place ready for business?

Well, the signs are promising.

The shop is ideally located because it's right next door to a primary school

so children are walking past twice a day, mothers coming to collect their children,

they're going to see beautiful shoes in the window,

lots of fantastic accessories, really changing displays, lights,

there's going to be a lot to look at,

so as they go to and from school, they're going to want to come in.

What will they find once they're inside?

In our experience, shopping for children's shoes can be tedious and the shops aren't very inspiring

so we wanted to move away from that and provide a fun experience for children

so that they'd say "Oh, let's go to that shop where they've got toys

"and they've got writing on the wall and they've got little elves all round the place."

It looks to me as though Kate and Danni have certainly achieved what they set out to do.

They've created a magical but practical space.

So, if you remember, when we bought the property, this was all open plan,

and there was a space in there and what we've done is we've closed it off

and created storage space for all our shoes

and we've got shelves in there and we've also closed off the window so we can have a window display.

And we've got more storage space out the back.

One thing about having a children's shoe shop obviously is that we need space to store all the shoes.

We're pleased with what we've done here

because not only have we created storage space

but we've also maintained a very big space for the shop itself.

Lots of space for children to come in and feel welcome.

'The grand opening is due in a few days' time.

'Danni and Kate pooled their skills and along with a few elves and shoemakers

'have done much more than just cobble something together.

'But with three children each plus other commitments,

'it's been a balancing act to get the shop to this stage.'

I stopped the work that I was doing in order to focus on this

and I live across road so it's been very easy for me to come in when the builder's here

or when the electricians are here and just check up on how things have been going.

I have another business that I run, a training business, which I'm still doing

and so I've been doing some of that and coming home

and working with Kate on the things that we need to do here.

Kate has been the on-site supervisor but kept Danni informed throughout.

A local builder was responsible for most the structural changes.

So who created the overall look?

Kate's more into style, I think, and she has the ideas specifically in terms of the interior of the shop.

She's had lots of the ideas.

And I have a friend who's a graphic designer and she very kindly came up the logo,

she's designed the house we've got in the window

and the tree which is painted on another window,

and the picture at the back of the shop.

But the shoes, the stock, we chose together.

So we went to all the meetings with the suppliers and we discovered

that we have largely very similar taste, which is a good thing, mostly,

provided we have customers who like what we like.

With help from a furniture-maker and family and friends,

they've created the style they were after.

But getting to this point has come at a cost.

When we started out we weren't really sure, you know, what everything cost

so I think we did say around 10,000 but we weren't very clear,

but what we have spent has been 20,000.

But we don't foresee any major costs, that's it now.

We've got a fantastic shop, I think the building is gorgeous, it's in a lovely village.

It looks beautiful, I'm really pleased with how it all looks.

Now we've just got to get the customers.

The £130,000 purchase price and their £20,000 spend

means they have over £150,000 invested here

so Danni and Kate really do need customers to flood in.

But has jumping feet first into a new business venture during a recession been a good step?

What is most appealing about this property,

it's extremely small but it's a character property.

It's in a well sought after village, got good foot-fall past the door

and you're selling a product which I think will be eminently marketable.

What they've created here is quite a comfortable, cosy,

welcoming sort of atmosphere,

which I think is good. I think they've made the most of the character of the shop

so from that point of view I think it's successful.

It's a double-fronted shop with two large windows

and I'm not convinced that using part of the front of the shop

for storage space is really the solution.

I'd normally like to see the storage at the least valuable part of the shop at the back.

Previously is was open-plan so you had a nice double-fronted shop area.

Now they've sort of closed off half of it at the front, which is merely a stock room,

arguably it is sort of less valuable space.

Though they have no plans to rent it out,

currently commercial premises are often more valuable as rental vehicles.

So would that be the case here?

In terms of a rental per annum, I would expect this shop,

which is about 550-odd square feet, to rent at about £10,000 per annum.

In terms of rental valuation, I think we're looking at a maximum of £7,000 per annum.

Even £10,000 a year would mean a yield of only about 6.5%.

So it's all about tickover rates.

With 150,000 invested here, have Danni and Kate added any value to their shop?

If this was placed back on the market as it stands as a retail unit

I would expect it to be marketed at around £125,000.

Nine months ago I put a value in the range of £125,000 to £150,000.

I'd narrow that now down to 125,000 to a maximum 140,000.

So, I suppose that's not bad, current climate.

Well, yes. It hasn't lost as much as it...

-might have done.

-But sad considering all the work and effort we've put in!

Perhaps that IS a little disappointing

but there's always one way of cheering yourself up, isn't there?

# ..I put some new shoes on

# And suddenly everything is right

# I said, hey I put some new shoes on

# And everybody's smiling... #

Maybe the building itself won't make money but it was always about more than that.

It's the whole package. It's a creative project,

it's our partnership, it's, you know, the whole thing.

# ..I'm wearing my brand new shoes

# Oh, hey I put some new shoes on... #

Obviously we need to make money.

We can't just do it for fun but it's got to be fun as well.

# ..Hey, I put some new shoes on,

# And suddenly everything is right

# I said, hey I put some new shoes on

# And everybody's smiling, it's so inviting

# Oh, short on money but long on time

# Slowly strolling in the sweet sunshine

# And I'm running late and I don't need an excuse

# Cos I'm wearing my brand new shoes. #

In the coastal town of Northam in North Devon

was this three-bedroom terraced house with sea views.

Young couple Kaylee and Jay bought it for £79,000 with a little help from Kaylee's parents.

# ..We are young

# Heartache to heartache we stand... #

It's a struggle to get any property for youngsters these days

and it's the right time,

the right property, the right place, everything is good about it.

Hopefully Kaylee's mum was right because these two weren't hanging about.

So when do you actually move in?

-This afternoon. Today.

-Today?!

-Yeah, today.

-Oh, fantastic.

-So have you got the bottle of champagne ready?

-It's ready.

-Yeah.

No fridge to put it in but it's there!

Four months later, we're back to see if there's still plenty

to celebrate or if the new adventure has gone a little flat.

Well, it's definitely looking promising,

with a freshly painted exterior.

The lounge is revamped. Minus the fireplace. Woo-hoo!

And now there's a completely finished kitchen.

I think the main challenge is the fact that we haven't done anything before.

We haven't done any painting, we haven't wallpapered, we haven't tiled, we haven't put up a banister.

# ..We're absolutely beginners... #

And so everything was completely new,

completely different, wasn't it?

Yeah, but we've learned a lot.

As properties go this was a great house to learn on

as some of the rooms were already in pretty good condition when they bought it.

And they haven't had to do it all on their own.

In the last week we've had Jay's brother and his girlfriend,

we've had my mum and dad, my brother, my sister,

a couple of friends just thrown in,

and we've all been painting, glossing, carpet-laying.

Yeah, it's been hard work but it's been fun.

Although the bedrooms still need a bit of work, they've already made it a home from home.

But they haven't turned it into a grand mansion with portico quite yet.

How have Kaylee's parents, Dave and Jackie, found the whole property refurbishment business?

It's been a great learning experience for everybody all round, I think.

Kaylee and Jay have really worked hard to get this far.

I'm really pleased with how it's all turned out.

Once they finish upstairs, they'll have a lovely home.

Perhaps not surprisingly

these two trainee accountants have come in under budget.

They've spent just £4,000, keeping their costs down

by making maximum use of what was already here.

A good example of that is in the kitchen.

We haven't completely changed the kitchen, still some things the same.

New tiles, new wallpaper, new cooker, fridge, washing machine.

We've got a curtain here because we wanted three drawers

and two units to go up there, but they cost £500 altogether

which was a bit much, we thought, to pay just for these little bits.

So we'll cope with a curtain, I think.

In general they've worked with what was in place before

but they did make one major change on the stairs.

Really pleased with the stairs we've done here.

Knocked the wall down, opened it up a bit,

put new banisters in.

Yeah, a bit more work to do!

Clearly there are some finishing touches to do around the house.

All that's left to do after that is furnish it.

'Came with almost nothing.'

We had the bed and the cupboards upstairs but apart from that,

parents bought the washing machine, your dad bought the table and chairs,

Nan and Granddad gave us the sofa from their old house...

And so we just have bits from everywhere, really.

I'm sure that like most of us, over time they'll accumulate

more fixtures and fittings.

But has the house itself accumulated any money?

They paid £79,000 and spent £4,000 on it,

taking them to a total spend of around 83,000.

What do two local property experts think?

The property is nicely freshened up and it's a proper home now.

I think it's been well done, it's tidied up, together,

and a property that would attract attention in today's market.

With a little help from their parents Kaylee and Jay have spent just over £83,000 here.

So has it been a good investment, bearing in mind the current market?

£90,000 would be the cake and anything above that would be icing.

It would hover around 90,000 and maybe with an asking price of 89,950.

That's not a bad potential profit for your first home,

and all at just 19 years of age. What do they think?

-Pleased with that?

-Definitely.

-Yeah.

I expected less, obviously.

-It's more than what we paid, so...

-Yeah. Yeah, can't go wrong really.

# ..Cos you're a dream to me, dream to me... #

I think this has been a dream starter home for Kaylee and Jay.

It's wonderful, it's wonderful for them to actually have left home

and have somewhere like this to start in. It's been fabulous.

I would have loved to have had a start like this.

To be 19 and have your own house, how magical. How magical.

Very pleased, yeah.

-Really pleased with what we've done, aren't we?

-Yeah, definitely.

So they should be because the sum of the parts here

have added up to give Jay and Kaylee a great first home together.

So that brings us to the end of the show

and another set of exciting stories from the auction room.

So join us next time for more homes under the hammer.

-We'll see you then.

-Goodbye.

For more information about Homes Under The Hammer,

including how the programme was made,

visit the website at bbc.co.uk