Episode 83 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello. There are two things every property investor needs.

A bit of cash to get started,

and plenty of vision to see things through.

If you're lucky enough to have both of those,

you can head to the auction

and kick start your dreams under the hammer.

Property auctions happen all year round up and down the country.

Yes, if you've ever fancied giving it a go, why not go along?

It's free and you can see how it all works.

So, let's see who went and bought on today's show.

I do love a mystery,

and this Victorian villa in Derby doesn't disappoint.

What's this?

Hmm.

It needs investigating.

Whoever buys this plot of land in Kent

should have no problem making their mark.

The site is directly next door to a disused chalk quarry.

And in Nottinghamshire, finding space in this house is a bit tricky.

Can't even get in... You can't get into it for all this clutter.

All these properties went to auction and we'll find out who bought them

and what they paid for them when they went under the hammer.

This is the Mickleover district of Derby,

a very desirable place to live.

And even in turbulent property times

prices here have actually stood up very well,

not least because 90% of the houses here are owner-occupied,

which means if you're looking to invest, it's a good place to be.

So what are we here to see?

It's a three-bedroomed mid-terrace with a guide price of 90,000 quid.

Let's take a look.

And the good news doesn't stop there.

The property is near a medical centre,

an excellent range of shops and schools,

and it's surrounded by miles and miles of countryside.

So, the garden needs a bit of TLC, what about the house itself?

Fairly standard layout so far.

Your entrance and then through into the main living room.

One thing I notice is very old light fittings.

Houses of this particular age

are probably nearing the end of their lifetime

in terms of their electrics

and something to bear in mind if you are going to do these places up,

it might need a re-wire.

Someone's obviously put a new fireplace in

and the room itself, not bad.

Then through to the rear of the property.

It's almost like it's a different house when you walk through here.

Crikey!

OK, what could we do with this?

Well, the first thing I'm seeing is let's put some French doors

or patio doors to open it out into the garden.

And then this kitchen,

it just seems totally out of kilter with the rest of the house.

Scrappy old units, nothing on the floor.

Obviously though, this is good news,

because a bit of time and effort spent in here,

you are going to dramatically affect the feel of the house.

A bit of space out the back

and, um...

What's this?

Hmm.

It needs investigating.

That's great, it's a slab,

used for cooling meats and other, sort of, perishable products.

You'd normally find one of those

in a pantry in a Victorian mansion, not in a 1960s terrace.

But actually it's quite nice to have and very practical as well,

so keep it if you can.

But while I'm in here, look at that.

I was right about the electrics. Look at that fuse box.

It uses the old wires and wire fuse.

Not good at all.

That means the electrics definitely, as I suspected, need sorting out.

You'll probably want to have a look at the central heating system while you're at it.

So already the costs are increasing with every room.

So, upstairs, and three bedrooms.

Hang on a minute, before I show you the bedrooms,

there's something much more important here.

Just get my handy tape measure

that no good investor/developer should be without.

Look at the gap between the spindles on this banister rail here.

That is 13cm.

Now, current building regulations state that's got to be 10cm or less.

Think about it, small child falling through there.

Major safety hazard,

if you're buying this house to live in yourself and you have children,

or if you're buying it to rent it out,

that has got to be one of your first jobs to sort out.

That said, what have we got here?

Bathroom looks in reasonable nick,

three good size bedrooms, everything else is fine.

At that guide price of £90,000

you might be confident that with a moderate degree of renovation

there'd be a comfortable profit.

You may even think there seem to be no real problems with this house.

But you'd be wrong.

Now whenever you buy a house on a road,

which has any connection with churches you have to be very careful

about something called chancel repair liability.

Now this is something that will be revealed

in the auction legal pack, which your solicitor should check out.

In olden times all this land would have been owned by the church,

the parishioners and the rector would have been responsible

for the repair of that church.

Over time, obviously, bits of land have been parcelled off and sold

and yet the responsibility for the repair of the local church

still rests with the owners of the land

and in theory they can come to you and say,

"I tell you what, we need a new church roof." Not good news.

However, it's easily rectified

with something called a chancel repair indemnity policy insurance.

Doesn't cost much, about £100, all problems solved.

But you've got to make sure that one of those is in place.

Like the front garden, the back needs taming,

just to see how much space you have.

But a happy discovery is this garage with a shared service road.

If you fancy a bit of the good life,

there are allotments at the rear where you can grow your own.

But does the auctioneer who sold it think it will bear fruit

once planted back on the property market?

The property here, I suppose,

is typical of a three-bedroomed townhouse in Mickleover.

It needs a scheme of upgrading, it's a bit old-fashioned,

it just needs a bit of a modern touch put to it really.

When you've done that it will be very saleable,

it would also rent out very well indeed.

The rental rates of around £500 per calendar month

in this area are healthy.

What about those looking for a quick return on their investment?

Bearing that guide price of £90,000 in mind,

what could this sell for once renovated?

Assuming the job is done well,

I would think this would go on the market

at somewhere around £130,000 to £135,000.

So, a few quirky features and things to look out for,

but intrinsically, this is a good solid little house.

And a few careful improvements, I think you can make a big difference.

A great one to go for. Let's see who bought it at the auction.

Lot 56 is number 60 Vicarage Road, Mickleover.

Very popular, ever popular residential location.

A good opportunity, ladies and gentlemen.

Who's got 90 to start me?

90,000?

90,000 is bid here, thank you.

Opening bid at 90,000, 91 I have in the middle.

91, 92. 93 you've bid, 94.

94, 95, 96.

At £96,000, I'll take £500 if that'll help you.

96, five. 97.

97, five, 98.

98, five, 99.

99, five, 100.

500.

101.

100,500 is bid.

101 quickly.

At 100,000, 101.

for the first time.

Bid's on the second row here, I've taken.

101,000 for the second time, and 500.

102?

101,500.

Once, twice, third time.

Sold at 101,500.

The new owners are father and daughter team, Tony and Alison.

This is their second investment property together.

However, it's been ten years since they did the first.

So I was looking forward to hearing what brought them back for another.

Alison, Tony, lovely to meet you both.

-Thank you.

-Congratulations.

Tell me why you wanted to buy the house.

A few years ago we'd looked at buying a house to rent out

and it just wasn't appropriate at the time, the housing market was so high.

And recently it's come right down, so we thought we'll have a look.

We saw a house that was just a normal house,

but we couldn't buy it because there were issues with the bank...

-Right.

-So we thought, "Right, we'll try the auction."

-So we went to the auction and we bought it.

-Fantastic.

And why this house, Tony?

It seemed a good buy

-and it was within our price bracket which we got funding for.

-Right.

What kind of experience have you two got?

Tell me a bit more about you two.

Yeah, well we've got one.

Well, dad's got a rental house that he rents out

that we bought about eight years ago.

And that's probably why we needed to...

-Well, we thought we'd get another one and have a go.

-Yeah.

-I bought my house at auction 20 years ago.

-Did you?

Yes. I think Alison bought hers...

I bought my house at auction ten years ago.

-Oh, right. These are the houses that you live in?

-Yes.

-Yes.

So, not only do father and daughter have auction experience,

but they've also renovated properties, albeit their own.

But this time they plan to renovate the house as an investment.

So, after ten years, whose decision was that?

Alison is the motivating force.

I would go into retirement,

but Alison pushes me and I'm inclined to be pushed quite happily.

How did you decide to get your dad involved?

I think, well, we're always doing things together,

so I mean, it was quite normal just to get in and do it together.

We tend to work quite well together,

he'll want to do everything on the cheap,

I'll want to do everything expensive

and we'll end up in a good happy medium in the middle so...

-Is that right?

-Yeah.

What kind of things does Alison want to do

that you step in and say, "I don't think so"?

I think she'd go for a top of the range kitchen where I wouldn't.

It would be solid everything.

What does dad try and skimp on though?

-We were talking about lighting...

-Yes.

I was saying it's quite important to get good lighting in

and he was looking at the lighting in there, saying it's probably OK.

-You weren't?

-Yes, oh, yes.

You're going to win on that one I hope.

-I've already won that one.

-Unfortunately I expect she will.

The plan, just clarify exactly what you're going to do to this place.

Well, the whole house needs a complete strip down,

we'll get rid of all the wallpaper, paint it up nicely,

new carpets, or perhaps some laminate through the living room.

The main thing is the kitchen, so obviously it's in a right state,

so we need a brand new kitchen in here.

-We were talking about putting some French doors in.

-Mm-hm.

And at the moment the shape of the kitchen's a bit,

it's kind of linear,

so we're going to block up that door and make it go round,

-so that it's actually kind of a more nice shape.

-OK.

-Any idea how much you're going to spend?

-It's whatever you want.

I was wanting to put some money in

-and he was like "Oh, no it's my house..."

-Yeah.

-The budget is ten grand.

-Right.

And what's your budget?

-Five grand.

-Five grand.

-We'll see.

-I think it will come out at ten if I'm honest.

-Right.

-I think we might pull under ten.

We might end up at seven or something.

Who's going to do the work?

Bit of everybody, so builders to do the French doors

and any full building work,

but stripping the wallpaper,

I'm looking forward to getting my hands dirty,

getting the wallpaper off and painting it up.

-Right.

-My wife's the gardener.

-Right.

-And I think she's coming and gardening this afternoon.

-Great.

-When you've gone.

-Right.

-And a sunny day so...

-Getting the garden sorted will make a big difference, won't it?

-Yes.

They're certainly keen to get cracking

and have a clear idea of what they want to do,

if not exactly how much it will cost.

I was interested to know

how much research they'd done on this property.

There was something unusual with this property -

this thing with the church land and issues around that.

What do you know about that, Tony?

Well, I understand in the 1300s, the church,

individual churches, had a fund, a property fund, for maintaining.

In the 1500s, Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries,

had away with the money,

but left the liabilities with the land,

and this has gone on ever since. It's never been repealed.

Fortunately for us, there was a insurance policy

which the previous owner had taken out, which has indemnified us

against such a charge.

-You've got yourself covered, there's no danger?

-Yes.

The insurance polices aren't expensive, are they?

It was £95 for 25 years, so it wasn't.

Yeah, it's worth having.

So what kind of time scale for getting everything sorted out?

-Possibly about three months, we were thinking.

-Yes.

-Both on agreement on that?

-Yes.

I'm hoping quicker.

We were hoping for quicker but things always get in the way,

you're doing other things,

hopefully we'll get it done in three months.

-To get a return on our capital.

-Congratulations.

Can't wait to see how you get on and good luck with it all.

-Come back and see us again.

-We will.

So, a nice little project for Alison and Tony to take on.

Big question is, will Tony's desire

to keep those 1960s fixtures and fittings win through?

Or will Alison's sense prevail?

You can find out later in the show.

I'm in Strood, one of Kent's Medway towns now reinvented as a commuter hotspot

due to its direct train links to London taking less than an hour.

Now, in less than a mile from the train station, you're on Broomhill Road,

one of the most expensive locations in the area.

It's here I've come to see a piece of land with planning permission for a detached four-bedroomed house

with a guide price of just £70,000 to £75,000.

It's that train station that makes all the difference to house prices round here,

as well as good road links into London.

On a clearer day than this, there are amazing views of the surrounding area.

But what about the place I've come to see?

Now here's some news, I'm told it was the owners of the house next door who originally sold the plot.

Now that explains why the access is via their driveway.

Now my first thoughts are, this plot is a reasonable size, it just needs a lot of clearing

which I think will make it seem so much bigger.

Now the next thing that occurs to me is it's an odd triangular shape

and it sort of tapers away at the top end into a bit of a point.

Now that is a shame because once you've built a good family size home here

I can't see much space left for a good size family garden.

'Somebody's done the hard work of getting the plans passed,

'but it is shared access and there's still a good deal of clearing to be done before the build can begin.

'Let's have a closer look at those plans.'

So here are the plans that have been passed.

Now, I've got mixed feelings about these.

First of all, the plus points, not including the garage,

there's 136 square metres of living space

and each of the four bedrooms are good size doubles, which is fantastic.

There's parking allocated for three cars and there's an integral garage which is always useful.

But now for the negatives.

I think the house is a little top heavy.

Now I might have suggested turning the garage into an extra room,

but the conditions under which the plans were passed states that it must remain as parking.

And I was right, that garden is stingy.

So it's a good size house but I think a large family,

well, they may struggle with the way the space is laid out and I think that may limit its market.

With parking allocated for three vehicles, that doesn't really leave much room for children to play,

which I think is a real shame.

Although the downstairs open-plan living room is a good size,

I think really it could have benefited from another room.

Every developer needs to be sure what type of blank canvas they're working with,

and by that I mean what the ground is actually made of,

particularly as in this case the site is directly next door to a disused chalk quarry.

Now, behind this old line of fencing here, it drops away dramatically.

Now, houses are often built in chalky ground,

even in old quarries themselves, but you need to make sure the chalk is of good quality,

not crumbling, not disturbed, not softened due to water.

Foundations in good solid chalk,

well, they don't need to be anything more than your standard strip foundations,

but there are occasions when foundations need to be piled

and that can only be undertaken by specialist contractors.

Whoever takes this on needs to be sure what sort of build they're embarking on.

Hopefully not one with large amounts of expensive and time-consuming groundworks.

And even if that chalky ground doesn't cause building problems

you're still locating a house very close to the edge of a precipice.

It's down to the developer to take all necessary safety precautions when it comes to the build.

What does a local estate agent make of it all,

especially its location?

This particular road is full of residential properties,

it's a wide road, it has lots of land on it, so the properties here

are the high end of the market.

So the potential for a good return is there.

What about the proposal to build a four-bedroomed house on the site?

Having seen the plans, they seem to have created a large amount of bedrooms in the property.

The garden could be bigger for this type of property.

It's great they've given four double bedrooms but if that were to be full of three children and a couple,

the living space mightn't be big enough for them.

In an ideal world, I would prefer to not build the garage and have that space as the kitchen,

and the living area as just the living area.

That would work better but they're restricted, so there's nothing else they can do regarding that.

So when the house is complete, what could the owner expect to sell it for in the current market?

In this current market, a property with four bedrooms in this area

should achieve between £250,000 and £300,000.

This let is a tricky triangle.

It's next to an old quarry and the living space, well, it isn't ideal.

But the plans have been passed, the house is a good size and it fits into its location.

And for a guide of only £70,000 to £75,000,

well, as long as you weren't expecting an instant return on your money, I think it's worth a punt.

Let's see who agreed at the auction.

Well, it's a busy auction with plenty of people,

but who's looking for this plot of land?

Lot 23 now I go to, which is the land adjoining 64 Broomhill Road in Strood.

Individual development site for four-bedroomed detached house.

Worth what, 250, 300 when it's done? Start me where you will on that one.

By the time this is built the recession will be history, so the price will shoot up.

Trust me, I'm an auctioneer, I know what I'm saying. £70,000 I'm looking for.

70,000, £70,000.

One person trusts me in a room this big. £70,000.

75 now do I see? 70, is that 75 I have?

At £75,000 I've got, 78 I'll take. It's in the room, it's here to be sold,

you're going to miss it and it's good value for money.

£78,000 I want, 78,000 do I see?

If not, I'm going to be selling it at £75,000.

At 75 then, £75,000 I have and I will sell for the first time, £75,000, you're going to miss it,

for the second time, you'll miss it, I'm not playing, third and final time at £75,000. Too late.

I've taken that one. £75,000.

And the number, sir?

'And the successful bidder was Quentin, who's no stranger to housebuilding.

'He's built hundreds in the last 20 years.'

-Quentin, congratulations.

-Thank you.

Tell me why you wanted to buy this plot.

My son's bought the land, I'm going to build the house for them and then we'll share the profit.

Tell me a little bit more about your son.

He races as a professional motorcrosser.

He was second in the world for the last two years,

and now his contract's in the United States and California.

-He hasn't got time for building houses.

-No.

-It's over to Dad.

-Absolutely.

-And are you quite happy to invest his money for him?

Yeah, I had to fly out to California for him about three weeks ago to choose a house out there for him.

He's quite happy for Dad to be spending his money?

He's bought a house from me on the other site I've built

and he's bought a house in California and this plot of land so far.

'So it looks as though, thanks to his son,

'Quentin has a ready supply of cash to hunt for good sites to build on.'

-Did you know much about it prior to the auction?

-Nothing.

-So you went to the auction to buy something?

-To buy two plots that I'd seen in the catalogue.

-And was this one of them?

-This was one of them, yeah.

-How much research had you done into this plot?

-Nothing.

You just turned up on auction day with some money in your pocket to buy a plot that you saw in a catalogue?

-Yeah.

-So you did take a massive gamble here, didn't you?

-I wouldn't call it a gamble.

-Why not?

-They're not building any more land.

-So you think it's worth the money that you've spent?

-Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

'Nothing seems to phase Quentin.

'It's as if he gives no more thought to buying land than he does to doing a bit of food shopping.'

How long will it take you to, from start to finish, get this house up on this plot?

-Um, three months to completion.

-And how much money would something like this cost you to build?

I would have said £40,000 to £50,000.

Wow. That's quite a good budget.

-Yeah.

-And how do you intend on decking out the interiors?

I mean is that something you're really gung ho about?

No, no, I keep it as basic as possible.

Um, if you sort of personalise something, it's to your own taste

which other people probably wouldn't like and it gets no extra value whatsoever.

You could spend £20,000 on the inside and not see £1,000 back.

Now the thing is, on the ground floor you've got another huge area which is the garage,

which you have to keep, which has to be parking,

do you think over time it might be a good idea to think about integrating that into the house?

What we normally do with garages is construct them in a manner with insulation

so it can be used as a room later on.

'Let's not forget the fact this plot is right next to that old quarry.

'Surely he must have given that a lot of thought before bidding on it?'

What did you think when you saw that?

I didn't see it, to be honest.

Do you think there may be some problems with the chalk that it's on,

you may have to think about building really deep foundations, or are you happy with that?

No, because every other house on here is standing.

-Nothing concerns you about the foundations here at all?

-No.

Chalk is probably one of the best surfaces.

'Quentin doesn't appear at all worried. I'm amazed at his optimism.'

How do you feel about building houses in such uncertain times at the moment with the whole economic downturn?

It's a good time to build because labour's a lot cheaper than normal, it's easy to get men on site,

and you can get a real good deal with the materials.

Is it easy finding a buyer at the end of the line, though?

You'll sell anything at the right price.

-Will you sell this off a bit cheaper than you would normally?

-Yeah.

If I can achieve £220,000, I'll be more than happy.

-£220,000?

-Yes.

-Even though the estate agent thinks it's worth over 250?

If you wanted to wait.

And do you have a buyer for this?

Yeah. I've got two people - two different people that want to buy it.

'He seems very sure of himself, even though he hadn't checked this land out before buying it.

'But then, it's the confidence that comes from building houses since he was 18 years old.'

-Nothing's worrying you about this?

-Nothing.

-Well, it'll be interesting to come back and see how it all went.

-Yeah.

-And see this magnificent house standing.

-It won't be long.

-I'll be looking forward to that.

-Me too.

-Really nice to meet you. Well done. Thank you.

-Thanks.

Well, Quentin's confident.

His experience means that this project is no big deal for him,

but I think he needs to take a good hard look over that fence

and consider, well, this may be a bigger job than he thought.

You can find out how it all goes later in the show.

Coming up, there's quite a lot to take in when we visit this five-bedroomed house in Kettering.

What more am I going to find in this extraordinary house?

We'll find out if Quentin has chalked up another build on that plot of land in Rochester, Kent.

But first, it's back to Derby to see how this father and daughter team got on.

Most of the time well, every now and then we have a big row.

Earlier, we met father and daughter developing duo, Tony and Alison,

who bought this three-bedroomed townhouse in Derby at auction for £101,500.

They plan to renovate it and rent it out but have different ideas on how much it would cost.

The budget is ten grand.

Right. And what's your budget?

-Five grand.

-Five grand.

'Five months later, we've returned to see how they've got on with the renovations and each other.

'Any more disagreements?'

-None.

-We did have disagreements.

-We have disagreements on the budget, of course.

They may not have agreed on how much but when it came to transforming this house,

that's something they both said yes to.

It's been nearly a decade since Tony and Alison last renovated a property together.

It's clear they've lost none of their skills, as this renovation shows, starting with the kitchen.

Right, there were two doors, one into a pantry and one into the garden.

We've bricked up the pantry door, retained the door to the garden as an entrance to a utility room

which we'll put a washing machine in, we've plumbed for a washing machine,

and we've retained the pantry at the rear,

which we feel gives a nice utility room, an additional room to the house.

Throughout the house, the standard of renovation is so high

that I was slightly surprised to hear they'd done much of it themselves.

We had the kitchen floor tiled and we found it was...

you got a professional tiler in and we found it quite expensive.

We didn't think it was any better than what we could have done ourselves

so I said, "I'll tile the bathroom myself,"

-and yes, we've done quite well, I think.

-Yeah, I think Alison and husband.

Yeah, me and my husband. He'd get angry if I didn't mention him.

So it's very much a family affair and as is often the case with renovating properties,

you often uncover old family treasures that have been concealed for many years.

While we were cleaning the garden,

we found this fishing reel which is a Grace & Young

and I understand it's a treasured possession among fishermen,

they pass it down from grandfather to grandson

and it's of relative value which ultimately we hope to sell on.

We also found this cup which is very interesting.

It was from the LMS Railway Company in Derby.

It's a football cup from 1943.

The winner won the football league for that area

and it will be nice to return it to its family.

That wasn't all they uncovered in the garden.

There were two apple trees planted when the house was built by the original owner.

One was a cooker and one was an eater.

They're still in the garden and they bear a lot of fruit.

'And it's fair to say that the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree.

'Alison was the driving force behind this renovation,

'but did they establish who was right about those budget predictions?'

I think I was closer because we came in just under £9,000

and I think both of us feel that was actually...

we'd actually got ten grand to spend so we've got a bit spare, haven't we?

-Yeah. We feel that we've done well for our budget.

-Yeah.

'It's great that they've come in on time and on budget.

'But a decade on since their last renovation project, did they enjoy it?'

'I've loved doing this project,'

although if you say, "Should I do another one straightaway?", the answer's no.

But maybe in a year or two I might have another go at one but I've very much enjoyed doing it.

But it takes a lot of time and effort.

I think the overall appearance of everything we've achieved really in a relatively short time,

be it hard work, but I think we've achieved a lot.

They certainly have.

But did they do enough to entice buyers or tenants to this newly renovated house?

After buying at auctions for £101,500, they've spent £9,000 turning it around.

Will two local estate agents agree it's been worthwhile?

First impressions - great.

It's been done to a nice standard.

They've put some nice quality touches in with the floor in the front room

and followed it through with a tiled floor in the kitchen.

I think the standard of work here is really good

and they've put a new kitchen in which is good.

There's double doors downstairs which helps keep things open and it's good.

I think the standard they've brought it up to is absolutely perfect for the type of property.

They've done it to a nice style but it's not, you know, not overspent.

All heartening comments, but what do they mean for the overall value?

The total spend was £110,500 to buy and renovate the house,

so what's it worth on today's market.

If you were to put this property on the open market, I would expect an offer between £120,000 and £125,000.

If I was to put the property on the market,

I'd be expecting to achieve between £120,000 and £125,000.

We weren't planning to sell. We bought at the bottom of the market because of this crash recently.

It's quite low at the moment so we had intended to rent and I think we're going to...

-Yes, we'll continue with the rental.

-Rental, yeah.

What level of rental could they expect for this newly renovated three-bedroomed house in Derby?

If we were to put this property on the market for rental

I would imagine that we could achieve £550 per calendar month.

If I put this property up for rent, I'd expect to achieve £550 per calendar month.

550 sounds quite good.

We originally thought 500 and our agent that we're currently working with has suggested 575

which is what we've advertised it at and we've had a lot of interest at that value.

We've had people knocking on the door while we were doing the alterations,

-asking when it's available.

-We've got viewings tomorrow.

'I get the feeling they won't have any trouble renting this out,

'and this time, father and daughter definitely agree on their verdict.'

-It's been a very good project...

-Yes.

-I think we...

Looking back, it's been enjoyable.

Yeah. Very much enjoyed it and I'm glad we did it.

Today I'm in Northamptonshire in the small town of Desborough, just outside Kettering.

This place is full of Victorian and Edwardian houses that went up during the housing boom in the early 1900s.

The property I've come to see is typical of that era.

I'm here to see something that sounds almost too good to be true -

three-storey, Victorian mid-terrace, five bedrooms, had a guide price of just £48,000. This is it.

Let's see what delights are in store.

I don't know about delights.

More like horrors, I think.

Oh, my word, what is going on in this place?

Bits of building materials all over the place.

You've got stairs up to the bedrooms and other stuff there, I presume.

Walk down the corridor, bits of door sort of hanging off.

Cellar down there, a kitchen...

which I think, well, you CAN'T get into for all this clutter.

And, OK, well, surprise, surprise, it doesn't get any better in the lounge.

Ta-da! I'm the king of a rubbish castle.

Oh, my word.

This is horrendous.

It's a mess all right.

Goodness knows what's been going on here, but that's not our concern.

However, it comes with the purchase, so whoever bought it at auction is responsible for clearing it.

It's almost impossible to see exactly what's here

which makes it very difficult to figure out what work is needed,

however it's a relief to see some original features poking out from under all this clutter.

Through to the back, and there is a garden somewhere underneath all that.

Oh, heaven knows what sort of delights are going to be in store on the next floor.

Well, actually, before I go anywhere else, that is a serious issue.

That's a doorway through to the neighbouring property.

I mean, it's been blocked up but clearly easy access to next door.

This is a separate property to that so that's somebody else's house.

This is what you call a party wall between the properties.

The Party Wall Act says you have to have approval from the neighbouring property

before you can do anything to the party wall, like blocking this up.

The problem is, if that property is not occupied you can't ask anyone for approval,

so that could really delay doing up this house.

And that's on top of all the other problems.

What about the bedrooms on this floor?

More of the same, but judging from the amount of stuff piled in each, they must be a fairly good size.

There's also a bathroom, er, at least I think that's what it is.

You come upstairs in sort of trepidation.

What more am I going to find in this extraordinary house?

But you know what?

Actually it looks like it's OK.

A bedroom I can actually see into there which isn't too bad,

another bedroom there and the final bedroom here.

Well, one thing for sure, the house has a lot of rooms

and at least up here you can see them, and that's the key, isn't it?

The rest of the house is so full you haven't got a clue what you've got,

but start to get rid of some of the clutter

and what's revealing itself, I think, a very interesting property.

I can now begin to understand why this place had such a low guide price of just £48,000.

But there must be some room for profit, even with the inevitable renovation costs,

so I've invited a local estate agent along

to get an opinion of the potential here.

This house was owned as, with the other two houses next door,

and it had been run, I believe, as part of a restaurant premises

which failed some time ago and presumably some time in the recent past

it's been sold off on its own and is about to be sold again.

That may well account for the two boarded up doorways on the ground and first floors.

What about its current condition?

Well, I've seen houses like this that look as though

somebody's done a moonlight flit and it's full of stuff.

It usually happens in houses that have been repossessed.

It looks very sad, it's pretty packed out and there's a lot of clearance to be done.

This house, underneath it all,

could offer somebody a very good family home or a work-home environment.

It's got a new roof on it, chimneys have been rebuilt,

so it looks like it's watertight from the top down which is always a good sign.

But there is a huge amount to do, although with the amount of ground out the back of it,

in this central location, it offers considerable potential.

All done up, what could this house sell for?

Once it's renovated and if it's kept as a house,

then I think the final value

is probably no more than about £115,000, £120,000 at the present time.

What about its rental potential?

If this is a straightforward rental

as one property in this location, given the way the rental market is behaving at the moment,

I think the rental value is probably somewhere around £550 to £600 a month.

Wow! Well, for me, you know what?

The problem with this place is not the amount of rubbish you've got in here.

Five, ten skips to get rid of that.

The big issue is that party wall situation

because that can really put a massive fly in the ointment.

Not one for the unwary. Let's see who bought it at the auction.

Lot number 22 is 15 Station Road, Desborough in Kettering.

It's an exceedingly large five-bedroomed Edwardian house in need of considerable modernisation.

The guide price is 48 plus.

That sounds to me as if it ought to be fetching 60-odd, but let's start at 55.

55? Who's got 50,000?

48 is the guide price. 48?

48 is bid here, thank you.

At £48,000.

At £48,000 bid. 49 somewhere?

49, thank you. 49, 50 at the back.

50,000, 51, 51.

52, a fresh bidder, 53. 53.

54? 54. 55.

55.5. 56 is bid.

56. Five? At £56,000. 56.5?

It's on the market, ladies and gentlemen. At £56,000 we're selling.

56.5, 57 is bid.

57, come again, sir?

57.5, 58, 58.5?

£58,000, against you.

At 58.5, 59, 59.5 I have.

60,000. And 500, 61.

61,500?

Now or not?

At £61,000 on the right, for the first time,

for the second time, third and last opportunity, any higher bid than 61?

Sold to you, sir, at £61,000. Thank you.

'The successful bidder is pizza chef and first-time property developer Pascali.

'I caught up with him and his daughter, Cat, back at their new investment.'

-Cat, Pascali, lovely to meet you both.

-Hello.

-Hi.

-You've got shares in a skip company perhaps?

-No, we don't.

-Be a good thing to have.

-Be cheaper if we did have.

-Yeah.

So why did you want to take on the house?

Never realised it was in such a situation.

-You didn't?

-No.

-You didn't come in?

Had a glance outside but didn't realise how lovely it was inside.

So what did you think when you first came through the door?

What the hell have I done?

I thought it was quite exciting. I thought, "Oh, no problem."

And then we got further in and just thought, "Oh, no."

So tell me about you two, then.

I've got the brains, he's got the money, and we work fine together.

'If she's the brains of the outfit, maybe Cat should have done the bidding,

'after all she's been studying business and economics at college.

'I can't believe that as a first-time buyer Pascali didn't take a close look

'at this property before the auction.'

OK, so why property, then?

Why go into this venture?

We thought, "Money's not worth nothing in the bank and hey presto, buy a house."

If you can call it that just yet.

Why this house?

The spur of the moment.

That's the only explanation I can give you.

How much a spur of the moment was it?

We weren't even looking into the house, he thought, "Ooh!"

looked at the price tag and thought, "Yeah, why not?" And we're not too worried.

-Everyone else is worried.

-Who else is worried?

The rest of the family. My mum.

-So who influenced this decision to go into property?

-Nobody.

-It was just spur of the moment.

-And then once he had the idea...

-I actually came down to see the Ritz next door...

-Right.

And I looked at the tag and I said, "Hey, £48,000, any mug can go for that."

And one did.

In this case, Pascali's potentially serious mistake was not seeing it before he bought it.

Once the house has been cleared, he'll feel better about it,

and he can get on with the renovations.

-So have you ever done anything like this before?

-No.

-Not quite to this extent.

-I've changed a door.

I've plugged a hole up.

But basically that's my knowledge of DIY.

So how much money have you got sort of set aside to do what you need to do to this place?

Well, I allocated £5,000.

-£5,000?

-Yeah.

-That was before I moved in, before I looked around, but obviously five...

-That's not enough for one room, Dad.

I don't five's going to go very far but that's all I had the intention of spending in it.

What about you, Cat? How much do you think it will cost to get it up to scratch.

I'd say ten a floor, at a push.

So if it was ten grand per floor, £30,000 in total, would that be a big problem?

£30,000 would be a big problem, yes.

I'll be satisfied for ten the whole lot.

It's not possible, Dad.

-There's no way.

-Mission impossible.

Oh, dear, oh, dear, things are going from bad to worse.

This house is going to need serious investment to get the most out of it,

but how much depends on what Pascali plans to do with it.

That'll have to be answered later on when I actually see what needs to be done here.

Once it's cleaned and cleared, then I think there'll be more of an idea of what can be done.

In terms of what you sort of think it might be? One house, flats?

We're going to live in it for a while and see how it goes.

-You're going to live in it?

-Try to.

Or rent it, or sell it. Whatever comes first.

-We haven't got a clue.

-We haven't got a clue so we'll play it by ear

and see how far the finances stretch and how deep we get buried in it.

Just, everyone, fingers crossed for us and wish us luck, we'll be all right.

What can you say?

Erm, Cat and Pascali breaking every single rule in the book.

So many challenges facing them, some of which they don't even know about yet

because they haven't even read the legal pack.

But lovely people and, fingers crossed, it will turn out OK.

You can find out later in the show.

Well, the months have gone by and it's time to go back and see how our buyers have got on.

-Will we see a finished masterpiece or a blank canvas?

-Let's find out.

Remember this plot of land in Strood?

There was planning permission to build a four-bedroomed house,

but it was on a precipice right next to a disused quarry.

Builder Quentin bought it at auction for £75,000.

Third and final time, at £75,000.

'He's built hundreds of houses and a sheer drop off the side of this plot didn't seem to worry him at all.'

Every other house on here is standing.

'He was confident he'd have a house on this site within two to three months.

'So let's find out how he's been getting on.

'We returned eight months later to find that Quentin's built a brand new house, just as he said he would.'

Obviously we started clearing the ground, then we dug the footings out, concreted.

We raised the house up 600 mil because we wanted to get the river view from the top windows.

Also we wanted to change the garage into a dining room,

so for those two reasons we had to go back to planning.

'It took 12 weeks for the new plans to be approved, but I think Quentin was right to wait

'as it added another much needed room downstairs.

'But what about that deep drop at the side?'

Yeah, we are next to a quarry but it didn't cause us any problems whatsoever.

All we had to do was get a ground survey report, that was all, and that satisfied building control.

'It's been a nice job to work on.

'We like to go for a good quality finish.'

It's first impressions when a prospective buyer walks in,

so we don't use laminate we use genuine oak flooring,

try to go for nice chrome fittings, decent tiles in the bathrooms.

'What plans does he have for his new house?'

The plan is to put it on the market next week and hopefully sell it.

I had one estate agent come round and value it at 320, 300 to 320,

but I'm actually looking for about £250,000.

The reason I'm putting it on for 250 is because we've got another site of four houses

to move straight onto and with the finances with the banks at the moment

you can't actually borrow any money, so we need to sell this quickly to finance the next project.

Here we have the upstairs.

It's completely as planned, four bedrooms, all good size.

We've got an en suite bathroom there, main bathroom.

There's going to be cupboards in each bedroom which haven't been fitted yet but sliding wardrobes.

The upstairs has come up really nice, we're really pleased with it,

especially the nice contemporary staircase.

It's the first time we've fitted one of that style,

which I'm very pleased with.

With the kitchen we've gone for white high-gloss units

with high-gloss worktops and splash-backs.

All stainless steel appliances, it's got an integrated dishwasher,

washing machine, tumble drier and an American fridge-freezer.

By including all those items in a renovation, Quentin estimates his budget to be £65,000.

Add that to the £75,000 he paid for this land and anything over £140,000 will be a comfortable profit.

'Good size house,'

nice looking house, good location.

It's one of the better roads in Strood.

One of the changes in the planning was to take away the integral garage and replace it with a dining room.

In this instance, I think it was a very good move indeed.

Had the garage been downstairs, the property would be top heavy.

You've lost a garage but you've got off-road parking.

I think it works really well.

Remember, Quentin bought the plot for £75,000

and spent a further £65,000 building this four-bedroomed house on it,

a total outlay of £140,000.

What would it be worth if he sold it in the current market?

I would probably say £275,000.

For a quick sale, you might even take £250,000, keep it just under the stamp-duty threshold.

I'd put the property on the market for £275,000.

He would probably need to take an offer between 250 and 260.

In terms of a rental, you ought to get something like £1,100 a calendar month.

I think with the small garden and the lack of a garage,

you may have to go down to £1,000 per calendar month.

It would achieve a rental of £1,000 a month.

Remember, Quentin didn't do this project for himself, so where's the profit going?

Profit-wise, Tom put up the money so he'd probably get £120,000 profit and I'd just take £10,000.

And I'm sure that will go down very well with Tom.

When buying at auction it's preferable to do your research BEFORE you start to bid,

so you know exactly what you're bidding for

and any potential problems there may be if you're successful.

Otherwise, like Pascali, you could buy a five-bedroomed Victorian villa in Kettering for £61,000

on the spur of the moment and only then take a look inside.

What did you think when you first came through the door?

What the hell have I done?

Not a particularly auspicious start

for what was this father and daughter's first ever renovation project.

However, Pascali was confident this would not be a mistake.

Four months later, we went back to see how things went.

Well, since you were last here not a lot has changed.

We've took a lot of the rubbish away and we've cleaned most of the unnecessary junk

and we're still in the process of cleaning.

In fact it was Pascali's daughter, Cat, and her friends who were responsible for clearing the house.

That took about five skips and several trailer loads,

but at least then he could finally see what he's got for his £61,000.

Well, this room where you couldn't even walk into it at one stage

and now we've sort of managed to get the doors opened, cleared it out, and we've seen what's happening.

Window needs replacing, the floorboards taken up, and a few other little cracks.

The place is not too bad.

Thankfully the structure of the house is in good condition

so there's nothing that will worry Pascali too much.

However, there was a potential problem with access to the property next door,

something he has now sorted out.

I am allowed to block off the entrances in the house

but I'll have to leave a right of way across the back of the garden.

That access will be much easier once the garden is cleared as well.

As Pascali hadn't looked at the property before buying, the £5,000 budget he had in mind

was dwarfed by the amount of work needed.

Four months on, has he figured out how much this will cost to renovate?

I did think we were going to get away with a lot less

and we are going to have to spend but unfortunately that's the way it goes.

So, like the pizzas in his family restaurant,

this renovation is looking more deep-pan than thin-crust and will certainly be a family-sized project.

Pascali would have suffered from indigestion when he came face-to-face with what he bought,

but now he's taken the first few bites out of this property, does it leave a nicer taste in his mouth?

I'm getting happier and happier as the days go by

because you can see that there's not a lot of structural work to be done,

it's just all cosmetic, and once the cosmetic has been done,

then as far as I'm concerned, I have a nice deal.

Pascali is still unsure what he wants to do with this house,

although it's likely his daughter will move in once it's in better condition.

He paid £61,000 for it, so let's see if two local estate agents can help him see the potential

of this five-bedroomed property.

It seems like a completely different property.

I dread to think how many skips would have been used to clear it,

but we can actually get in it now

and see it for what it is, so big improvement.

A lot of work to be done now, but I suspect a lot of hard work's gone in to getting it this far.

I don't think I'd spend too much money on this house.

There's a limit to what you'll get out of it in the long run,

but I think you could completely refit it, completely modernise it.

I don't think I'd go to any great expense, I wouldn't extend, or you won't get your money back.

The best options for the use of this property are perhaps as a family home,

more likely, I still think it's going to appeal to somebody who might want look for planning consent

to run an office from downstairs and have a rather nice apartment upstairs.

I think the location just cries out for that.

Plenty for Pascali to think about there.

But once it's renovated, what kind of rental return could he hope to get in this area?

If you do the minimum on this to make it habitable, then you're probably only looking at about £600 a month.

This property would rent out well. I think you would probably get about £600 per month for it.

What does he think of that?

Wow!

I'm speechless, I'm sorry. Yeah, that's good.

Well, that's certainly put a smile on his face,

but he may need to invest a little more on top of his £61,000 purchase price

to bring this house up to a reasonable standard.

What about selling it, then?

If you were to put it on the market now, as it stands,

you would probably kick off just below 100, with a view to getting 85, £85,000.

Improved on a basic refurb, I'd put it on the market at about £125,000.

That sounds like a good return, but remember Pascali would still have to deduct the cost of renovating this

up to a standard deserving of those valuations.

Is that enough to tempt him?

No, no. I think I'll still keep plodding along, do it up and then look at it that way.

But I like the idea of renting it for 650 sort of thing.

So it seems there's light at the end of the tunnel here.

While he might have had his doubts four months ago when he saw what he'd bought,

things are definitely looking up for him now.

I'm not sorry. It's an investment as far as I'm concerned

and whether it goes up £10,000, £20,000, whether it stays the same, I'm happy.

We hope you've enjoyed today's Homes Under The Hammer.

-We'll see you again soon.

-Goodbye.

-Bye-bye.

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