Episode 27 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello. If you want to buy any kind of property,

the auction room could be just the place for you.

That's right. You must make sure you get your bidding strategy right

so when the hammer falls, you can be victorious.

Let's find out whose strategy paid off on today's show.

There are many options in the auction room.

You can buy a home, an investment flat or even a garage to store your belongings.

And, if spent wisely, your money could still go a very long way.

So, let's see who chose to splash the cash on today's show.

I take a look around this terraced house in Stoke-on-Trent.

Or, at least, try to...

I don't think I'm going to go in there. What a mess!

I've fallen for this 14th century manor house in Kent.

I could spend hours wandering around here.

It's just so special.

And in Bury, Greater Manchester,

I discovered that this three-bedroomed house

is a lot bigger than it might first appear.

Look at the size of this room! Absolutely superb!

All these properties are being sold at auction.

We'll find out who bought them and for how much when they went under the hammer.

Sold...

I'm in Hanley, one of the six towns that make up the city of Stoke-on-Trent.

A traditional back alley here, people with their washing hanging up.

The big question is, will the property I'm here to see be all washed up or will

they be lining up to buy it? The property is really well-located.

The main shopping area is only a short walk away, at the end of the road.

Handy for shopaholics.

I'm here to see a traditional two-bedroomed terraced house

at a guide price of £25,000, which, considering we're in 2009, seems like not a lot of money to me.

You could say once you've seen one of these, you've seen them all.

However, in that case, I've taught you nothing.

You don't know what you're going to find until you go inside.

Good grief!

It's identical to every other property like this I've been in!

However, this one I think has got some horror stories in store.

But basically, straight off the street into your front living room.

It's nice sometimes to put some kind of a porch on there

because it does mean this room could be quite noisy and cold.

Moving through, to the rear room, now, here's a nice little touch.

I like the fact this has actually been opened up.

It gives this room much more of an open-plan feel.

That's good to see. The room itself is obviously in a bit of a state.

It doesn't have double-glazing but it's pretty much what you'd expect.

Through to the kitchen.

Right. OK. In this case, I don't think I'm going to go in there.

What a mess!

It's hard to tell if things in here have been ripped out and left or just fallen off the walls.

But there's a lot of potential.

It's just well hidden.

Which is more than could be said for the upstairs pipe work.

Interesting bit of plumbing going on there with this pipe going across the landing.

At the very least, that should be boxed in.

What have we got? Bedroom at the front here.

It's not a bad size. Then through to the rear bedroom. Now...

the good news is it's a good size.

It needs a lot of work.

But intrinsically it's OK. But I've actually saved the best bit till last

because the great news is that, unusual for this type of property, there's a bathroom upstairs.

It's off this bedroom, which isn't ideal because obviously you've to

get through the bedroom to get to it, but at least it's a good start. Fantastic news!

Not quite. The bathroom itself is actually a complete disaster.

Yep, like the kitchen, the bathroom is unusable.

Cracked windows, bare walls and unconnected plumbing.

It's more of a junkyard than a bathroom.

At a guide price of 25 grand, this place is pretty cheap

but needs a huge amount of work - and not just inside.

At the back is a derelict yard with an old shed, fit only for demolition.

But, like the rest of the house, this space could be turned into something much more functional.

I asked a local estate agent what he thought of the potential here.

First impressions of this property are that it would

be suitable to investors or builders

and it's probably too much for the average first-time buyer to take on.

It is a selling point that the bathroom is on the first floor, however, I would imagine most

people would look to partition the main bedroom to avoid access to the bathroom through the bedroom.

The property is in need of complete renovation.

Obviously from the kitchen, bathroom, heating, windows

and possibly damp proof course, possibly wiring.

Most investors would look to spend between £15,000 and £20,000 on renovation.

If you did spend that top estimate of £20,000 on the work, then added

to the guide price of £25,000, that would be an investment of £45,000.

What could this house achieve on the resale market once renovated?

The ceiling price of this property after renovation would be in the region of £60,000.

For a potential pre-tax profit of around £15,000, it could be worth the effort of renovating.

But what if the buyer decided to let it out?

The average income would be in the region of £350 per calendar month.

So renting it out might be a very attractive option.

As it's so close to town, there should be plenty of tenants interested in moving in.

You certainly can't knock the location of this one, perfectly placed for the city centre.

But no bones about it, there is a lot of work to be done, basically.

A total refurb. But remember that guide price of £25,000.

Let's see who fancied the opportunity when it went under the hammer.

Lot 40. 15, can I say...? 15 I'm bid, thank you.

At £15,000, opening bid. At £15,000.

20, is it? 20 in the aisle.

At £20,000. The bid's in the aisle.

£20,000. 21, can I say?

21?

22. Lady's bid now, £22,000.

23. 24, madam?

24. £24,000. 24 and a half?

25.

Thank you, sir. 25,000 left now.

25,000, Lot number 40. Bid's at 25.

Another half anywhere else?

At £25,000, then, for lot number 40.

I'm selling it...

New bidder. £25,500 at the back.

26. 26. Another half, sir?

26 and a half. 27.

Another half?

27, then. Still seated at £27,000.

Are we all done now? I'm selling it at £27,000. Seated right.

Another half anywhere else? 27,000, then. First time. At £27,000.

Second time.

Third and final time at £27,000.

Bought it, sir, well done.

That successful bid at £27,000 came from Farouk and Imran.

Farouk is a plasterer, whilst Imran used to work in a bank, though he's had to stop working

while he recovers from a spinal injury caused by a road accident.

This is their first property investment together and I met with them to find out their plans.

Imran, Farouk, lovely to meet you both.

Congratulations. 27,000 quid.

Yes. It's a good buy.

Fantastic, isn't it?

Tell me why you wanted to buy it.

Well, it was a venture where we thought that we could do with a little bit of savings

and we thought why not try it in an auction? That's why we're here.

Tell me about the relationship between you two.

Well, me and Farouk, we go a long way down.

We knew each other from childhood.

And he came here and became a builder. A plasterer by trade.

I thought it would be a good thing when we joined together, could do something about it.

Right, so have you done anything like this before?

-Not like... Always with somebody else.

-You've always been working for other people in the past?

-Yes.

-But is this the first one that you've done?

-Yes, it is, yes.

What sort of made you do it now?

Well, just the time and the recession, prices have gone down.

So it was within our budget, it's simple.

I couldn't put it better myself.

It can pay to be adventurous. Yet I reckon this property is going to be a steep learning curve for the boys.

Tell me how you're going to go about sorting the house out.

Everything is going to be ripped apart.

Apart from the brick walls, everything is going to be new.

What about floors? Are you going to replace the joists and things?

We're not, because everything is fine internally.

Only cosmetics are going to be changed.

It requires a lot of electric work.

New plumbing, central heating, new kitchen, bathroom,

plastering, ceiling, painting, decorating, windows, you name it.

It's going to happen, yes.

Right. It's quite a challenge for your first project, isn't it?

You're not taking on something that's, you know, just a quick lick of paint and move on.

Why did you decide to go down the route of buying a place that's quite needy?

We looked at it in a way that

whichever property you bought, you'd have to spend a little bit of money on it.

So we thought that if we make it in a way which we wanted,

then possibly we could get better returns out of it.

The friends have estimated between six and eight weeks for the project

and have set aside £15,000 as their budget.

To me, that sounds a little on the low side for what's needed here.

Imran has found it tough being off work due to his injury.

But overseeing the project whilst Farouk gets involved with the

physical labour is a good way to stay occupied during his recovery.

To buy a house of this calibre,

it's basically... I give it to my injury because if I didn't time and watching TV,

possibly I would not be here.

-You mean our show, I hope?

-Yes, absolutely right, yes.

-We inspired you, did we?

-Yes, you have. In some ways.

-Out of a horrendous situation, obviously,

hopefully has come as a bit of a positive change of life.

Yes, I'll look at things positively rather than negatively these days, yes.

What a wonderful attitude to have and that will be important.

There are many negatives here, like the fact that Farouk and Imran live 65 miles away in Leicester.

So they're relying on local labour for much of the work.

What we're doing is we're finding local traders so we don't have to move up and down every day.

We're just going to project manage it and communicate with them over the

telephone and come here once a week, maybe,

to just see how things are getting along.

Imran's positive spirit seems to be bringing the boys luck.

They've already rented the place out before they've started any work at all.

As soon as I bought the property, I advertised locally in a local newspaper and the council has got

a website where I put this house and I've got a response where three people are already ready.

-You've got three people lined up?

-Yes. They're ready

to take this house at any time, whenever I give them a shout.

Listen, good luck and I hope it turns out well. We look forward to seeing how you get on.

Thank you very much, Martin.

Well, at the back of the property here, you really get a true idea

of the challenge facing Imran and Farouk.

And I'm not sure their £15,000 budget is going to do it.

Especially as they're only project managing

and not doing the work themselves and they live so far away.

Still, I think they made the right decision to get into property investing

and, at the end of the day, they paid £27,000 for this place, which can't be bad.

You can find out how they get on later in the show.

I'm in the small rural village of Shadoxhurst, just 10 minutes drive from Ashford in Kent.

But it could be a world away.

# Come and get a load of sweet country boy love... #

Set in idyllic countryside, I'm here to see a property that I'm just so excited about.

In fact, it used to be the local manor house, dating back from the 14th century.

It's got seven bedrooms, three storeys, just oozing with character

and just look at that Kent peg-tiled roof.

It's got these beautiful leaded windows.

It was guided at 420 to £450,000.

I'm loving it. I'm going to get inside.

This property is grade two listed and has seen many changes throughout the years.

Not only has it been a family home, but at one point it was even a pub.

This room would originally have been the Great Hall, opening up into the big roof space.

Imagine how grand that would have been.

Certainly seen better days. Look at this old panelling here.

Look at it. It's got an inglenook over here.

You've got these beautiful old original beams.

It's no surprise, bearing in mind the age of the house and all these

amazing features, that this property is listed.

In fact, all properties built before 1700 are automatically listed.

And this basically means that this building is protected by law.

You have to get permission to make any changes outside and in which affect the character of the house.

So no ripping out any of the original features and no willy-nilly knocking down walls.

So the renovation is going to have to be carefully planned and the house does need a lot of work.

For a start, in the living room, the floorboards will have to be replaced.

And that kitchen could do with more than just a good sweep.

The house is full of character, though, and down every corridor

there's another room with inspiring possibilities.

Even the downstairs toilet has period wooden features.

And upstairs is a maze of great-sized rooms.

This really is all so higgledy-piggledy upstairs.

Lots of doors and corridors, sloping floors.

Now, this here is the huge tie beam, it would have

been exposed over the Great Hall, it would have arced its way over.

And over here, you've got the brace, which is enormous.

This would have been carved out of a massive piece of timber.

There's actually a matching one on the other side.

I could spend hours wandering around here.

It's just so special.

I've completely fallen in love with his property.

It's beautiful. But not everywhere.

Take a look at what's lurking out back.

# Hey, babe

# Take a walk on the wild side... #

Well, if the house alone isn't enough for you, you also get three acres of land.

There's a paddock, an old orchard, loads of outbuildings and literally

hundreds of old fibreglass baths dumped in the garden, look at them!

If you don't want to be a farmer and you don't want to have horses, what could you do here?

Perhaps you could use this land as a building plot.

But there's an overage clause in the legal pack on the land, which means if somebody wants

to build here, then 30% of the rise in value of the land will go to the original vendor.

So, basically, if you want to build, you'd lose a huge wad of the profit straightaway.

That clause is designed to discourage big development on the land.

So the new owner will have to be careful when building or their potential profit could drain away.

I asked a local estate agent

what he thought of this charming country manor.

It really is a floor to roof restoration.

The issue being, of course,

it's grade two listed and it's in the conservation area.

So it would be very important to get the local parish council involved

and also English Heritage.

I imagine there would be a possibility to convert

some of the outbuildings but, as far as I know, they're also listed grade two.

So again, that would be quite a lengthy process.

But if the work was approved, would it have rental potential?

It could be a very good rental.

And in today's market with

more people renting than actually buying,

you'd probably get in the region of £3,000 to £3,500 a month rent.

With the guide price at between £420,000 to £450,000, how much could it sell for once renovated?

With a good level of a refurbishment, I'd value the property

at between £850,000 and £900,000.

So if bought for around those guide prices you could see a mark up of

between £400,000 and £480,000, minus renovation and other costs.

But there's a whole lot to be done first.

I love this house. It has character and history and it sits on this amazing plot near a lovely village.

But it is a huge project and a listed building,

so renovating this won't be straightforward.

So who had the courage to take Green Farm on?

Let's find out at the auction.

420 I've got, 425 now, if you like.

425, thank you, sir. 425.

And 30. It's against you. 430.

And five. 435. 435.

And 40.

And 40. 440.

Against the original bid. 445.

And 50. 450.

At £445,000, I've got.

450, I'm looking for.

If we're all done then at 445, I'll sell for the first time, £445,000, second time...

450, thank you. And five. 455. 455, you won't find a better one.

455. And 60. 460?

460? All right, at 455, I have on my left-hand side, he's been with me for a long time.

I'll sell for the first time at £455,000. Second time at £455,000.

£455,000 for the third and final time.

You can't need more opportunity than that.

All done. You bought it, sir. Big smile on your face, I hope and the number, please.

And the successful bid of £455,000 came from Mary Ann,

but it was actually her husband who did the bidding.

Mary Ann is a London-based property developer, but this house isn't going to be just another project.

She plans to make her new home.

Mary Ann, I've just got to say congratulations.

-Thank you.

-Now, how did you fall upon this little gem?

Well, I've been having my eye on it for a couple of years.

We heard a rumour that it might be coming on the market and I've been watching it all the time.

-So why did you want to buy this?

-My parents live just up the road.

And they've had the place since I was nine and I spent most of my childhood in the area.

And I got married just up the road, about three and a half years ago, literally diagonally opposite.

So, for years, you must have walked past this house, looking at it fondly.

I always loved the house. Always loved it.

So, as Mary Ann and her husband got married just across the road,

by the sounds of it, this property has found its perfect match.

# When I fall in love

# It will be forever... #

So, now you've managed to buy this at auction, how do you feel?

Very excited. And, actually, the whole feeling is that you can't

believe that something you've really wanted actually happens.

I think it's just fantastic that you have bought it, you're going to live in it.

What are you going to do to it? How are you going to change it?

It's quite interesting, because it's a hard one to come up with what you're going to do, because

you don't want to change it, you want to make the most of the features and bring that out.

And at the same time because it's grade two listed, there's only a certain amount we can do.

So the first thought is we got an architect involved,

and he's coming up with some preliminary plans on Monday.

We're going to sit and chat and go through some of the options of what we think we'll be allowed to do.

My feeling is keeping most of the rooms pretty much the same.

The biggest thing is deciding, seeing if we can move the kitchen,

because for a big building like this, this would quite a small kitchen.

And then using this room and exposing some more detail in the beams.

And having this room perhaps as an office or something.

For me, it's about keeping it very simple

and quite minimalist, but bringing out all the features from the actual building itself.

There's one feature that I hope is going to be completely removed - that strange collection of baths!

# I cry for help and get it fast

# Cos there's a spider in the bath... #

Please tell me, what are you going to do with the baths?

-Luckily...

-I've never seen anything so mad in all my life! You've got a barn full of baths!

Well, I looked and I was getting very frustrated at finding some way of recycling fibreglass baths.

Every time, I kept coming up against a brick wall, but suddenly

I found a company in Brighton that recycle a lot of building products, and he's agreed he'll take them.

So I was really pleased about that, because my stepson wouldn't let me

get away with doing anything other than recycling them.

There could be a never-ending amount of renovation done here,

so how much has Mary Ann set aside as her budget?

I think you'd have to say anything from 100,000 up to 200,000 at least.

-Easily.

-Yes.

-Depending on how far you want to take it.

-Absolutely.

It's really hard to say at this stage.

Although Mary Ann's day-job is property developing,

she won't be applying her usual tight deadlines to this project.

So how does buying this and developing this differ from your day job?

Well, my day job, I'd give myself three months, and I'd be...

On day one of getting the keys, the builders would be in there,

and three months later it would be rented,

and I'd be pushing and pushing all the way to get it all done to schedule, really.

With this, it's just totally different.

If I try and push things to make them happen quickly, I think I'm going to regret that.

I think I need to give it time and do it more gradually and be patient.

I've not taken on a building like this before, where you have to get

so much permission and stuff, so it's going to be more challenging

because I've got to slow down a little bit.

# I need a little time to think it over

# I need a little space just on my own... #

And we catch up with Mary Ann later to see if that thinking time helped with planning great changes.

Coming up, this terraced property in Bury doesn't look very big.

However there are still three bedrooms, so there must be a compromise somewhere.

Back in Kent, it's tough making a medieval manor house energy efficient.

The only way we were going to be able to insulate the roof was to take the roof off.

But first, we return to Stoke, where there's been a nasty surprise.

We realised later on that there was wood rot.

We're back in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, where friends

Imran and Farouk got this two-bedroom terraced property for just £27,000.

It needed a massive amount of renovation, but the boys, undaunted, had big plans.

Everything is going to be ripped apart.

Apart from the brick walls, everything is going to be new.

Four months later, we caught up with them

to see how the work had gone, and it looks like they've been busy.

Although not totally finished yet, they've completely gutted the house and rebuilt almost everything.

All the plaster and woodwork have been redone.

Those old cracked windows have been replaced with cracking new ones.

You'd have been hard pushed to walk in the old kitchen, let alone cook,

but now it's been cleared and fitted with high-spec units and appliances.

Those gas stoves aren't the only source of heat in the house -

a whole new central heating system has been installed,

with radiators throughout. There are still a few finishing touches to do.

Some tiling, a bit of painting, and the carpets to be laid.

The overall look here is simple and clean, and that's all part of Imran and Farouk's masterplan.

We didn't want to put our personal touch on it because we were very open-minded since day one that we

didn't even know what we were going to do with it, rent it or sell it.

So we've kept it simple, completely whitewashed, plain and simple laminate floor.

And we just put a personal touch on the kitchen, but that would be for everybody's use for a family.

They kitted out the kitchen with quality units and appliances to attract tenants,

and it worked, as they have already got a neighbour across the road lined up to rent the place.

But not everything went smoothly.

As work began, they found a huge problem - one that cost

them money and time, pushing the project from about 8 weeks to 16.

We did a survey of the house, opened up the house

a little bit, and we realised later on that there was wood rot in the house.

So that delayed things a little bit.

And there was no electricity supply, there was no gas supply, so we had to wait.

We were in other people's hands, basically.

Wood rot took a little bit of time to sort out

because we need to give proper time for the chemicals to saturate and you can't work at that time.

Although the pair brought in local tradesmen,

it was actually Farouk who did most of the work on the wood rot.

His plastering skills provided a perfect finish.

Every single bit of plaster, we knocked it down.

We took out the floor, we ended up doing double the jobs.

In fact, all the walls in the house had to be stripped back to brick,

so Farouk could re-plaster and re-skim them from scratch.

On top of all that, he still had time to construct this

fabulous modern archway between the living room and back room.

Lots of manpower has gone through and I really put hats off to Farouk,

what he's done, he's put a lot of effort, heart and soul into the property.

But it's not only Farouk who's put in the hard graft.

Imran has had to manage the whole thing from his home, 65 miles away in Leicester.

Project managing is never easy at the best of times, but doing it from such a distance is even tougher.

There was a communication gap. You have to arrange so many things.

So we were being very optimistic at six to eight weeks.

I thought we were pushing our limits over there, honestly speaking.

Deep down in my heart, I thought it would take about 12, but I wanted to keep the

limits to eight, so if it stretched to 12, I was in a winning situation.

But it's taken 16, so...so we've gone beyond it now.

It's expensive to get a survey done before bidding for a property

at auction, especially when you may not even get it.

But not doing so means you're always at risk from hidden problems like wood rot.

How much damage did the extra work do to their budget?

Originally we thought the budget would be around £10,000 to £12,000.

We gave about 20%. We're just around there, we spent nearly 15,000 over here now.

They reckon they'll need to spend another £5,000 to finish it,

so that makes £20,000 for the renovation work.

Added to the £27,000 they paid at auction, that means their total will be about £47,000.

We asked along two local estate agents

to see what they thought the property was worth now.

The parts of the renovation I like are the new kitchen,

the new bathroom and nice and bright.

It's a really high standard of work,

they've put a lot of time and effort in.

The fixtures and fittings are of a really high standard.

So, what could this earn on the rental market?

I would suggest this could achieve around £350 per calendar month.

I would recommend a rental price of £350 per calendar month.

I think the estate agents are quite correct, they know the area well, and we've done our own research as well.

It's spot on, actually.

That rental valuation could mean a solid yield of almost 9%, but what if they were to resell?

I would suggest the resale figure would be somewhere around £55,000 to £60,000.

I would suggest a resale value of £60,000.

If the total spend does hit £47,000, that's still a £13,000 pre-tax profit.

Not bad for their first project.

But what lessons have the two friends learnt that they can take on to the next one?

Patience is the one word.

You've got to be patient with building work, you can't do things within days, or whatever you expect.

It's going to happen within one week, just expect two, basically.

Because you're at the mercy of a lot of other people, who you can't control.

That's what the building trade is all about, and that's what we've learnt.

I'm in Bury, Greater Manchester.

One of Bury's claims to fame is that it was the birthplace of Sir Robert Peel.

A former prime minister, he also founded the Metropolitan Police Force,

or bobbies, as they became known in his honour.

The question is, are prices in Bury criminal or a fair cop?

I'm here to see something that sounds quite appealing.

It's a mid-terrace, three-bedroomed.

A few years ago this sold for £87,000. Guide price?

Just recently, 60 - 65,000.

It's got to be worth a look.

Although there's a motorway at the end of the road,

it's surprisingly quiet round here, and it does mean there are great transport links nearby.

It may look like a typical small terrace,

but I found out there was loads of space inside to whet my appetite.

The moment you walk through the front door, actually,

you get a feeling, this house is bigger than it seems from the outside.

Bearing in mind it's a terrace, it's huge.

Nice, big front sitting room area there,

but look at the size of this room, absolutely superb.

A rear living room area?

I don't know, it's massive. Right.

That doesn't make sense. Look at the kitchen.

In comparison, it's tiny.

It looks in reasonable condition, but straightaway

I'm thinking, why don't you extend the kitchen, or move the kitchen maybe over here,

create a really lovely kitchen/living area/family room,

have that as a utility - that makes much more sense.

Moving those units and redirecting the plumbing should be fairly easy.

Everything would be more accessible, plus you'd get a view of the garden while doing the washing up.

Mind you, I say garden, it's not exactly the Hanging Gardens of Babylon,

though at least it's well-protected.

While this may not look much, upstairs I've discovered something a lot more exciting.

So, why am I so excited about this room? It's a bathroom, but it's big, and it's upstairs.

It's easily big enough to put a shower up here, so that's fantastic news.

Normally you'd expect this to be downstairs,

and if not, you would have expected to lose one of the bedrooms.

However, there are still three bedrooms.

So there must be a compromise somewhere.

This house was built in Victorian times,

when baths were taken in front of the fire, and the toilets were outside.

So I reckon this used to be a bedroom. How has the property retained its three bedrooms?

Well, it's not so much a compromise, more an explanation of how this has been done.

I think this, originally, was one room, and now you've got two.

dividing wall been put in here, and actually it's a stud partition. Yeah, that makes perfect sense.

So I think they've done it really well, because in a house like this,

to have that extra room is really good.

That might only be quite small but it's still that third bedroom,

which, when it comes to rental is going to put you into a different league.

With the other bedroom a decent size as well, this place is perfect for a family in search of a bit of space.

There's bits of works to do here and there, but there's nothing too serious.

So far, so straightforward.

Or is it?

Well, you know how I like my quirks?

Well, I've been trying to find one with this property and I think I might have.

It is actually lease hold.

Nothing too odd about that, it's got a long lease - almost 900 years - so that's fine,

and the ground rent of £1.87 per annum ain't going to hurt anybody.

The issue is that it's got what you call GOOD lease hold, which actually isn't as good as it sounds.

It's not absolute lease hold.

Obviously the Land Registry haven't got all the information they need to grant absolute lease hold,

so there could be some odd things which come up in the future,

some covenants that people haven't noted.

However, you can take out insurance against that, and a mortgage company I don't think would care.

So all in all, it's not a problem, but at least I'm found my quirk.

This is really for your solicitor to examine carefully and you should be aware of it pre-auction.

Yet it sounds more complicated than it actually is.

Overall, I'm impressed with this house. It's a terrace and then a bit more, and it's not in bad condition.

I asked a local estate agent along to see if he agreed.

The property is a bit old-fashioned here and there, a bit tired.

It has got a reasonable kitchen.

Bathroom wants tidying up. A bit of redecorating.

Maybe some work to upgrade wiring, that type of thing,

but, with a little bit of smartening up, it would make a great property.

Good news, then. How much could the buyer rent it out for?

You would be looking at about £350 a month.

With the guide price at 60,000-65,000,

that could mean a healthy yield of between 6% and 6.5%.

But what about the resale market?

If it was tidied up, smartened up, ready to live in,

you would be looking at maybe a value of 75-80 plus.

If bought around the guide price of £60,000-£65,000,

there could be a healthy profit, depending on renovation costs.

Well, this house on Craven Street is clearly a snip at that guide price.

You could rent it out pretty much as it is, or just move in,

and yet there is enough work to do for someone to leave their mark.

Let's find out who fancied it when it went to auction.

So the next lot is... £35,000, 35 here.

Will you give me 40, sir? Yes?

40 I have. 45?

50?

50? Looking for 50. 50 I've got.

55? No. 52 on the phone. 54, sir?

53. 55.

57?

56 I'll take.

59. Is that 60? It is.

I'm looking for 61 on the phone. 61.

62. 64, sir? I've got it. 66? 66?

65. 66, you sir?

No. At 65,000 on the phone. We all finished?

65,000, first time.

Second time at 65,000.

Sold to paddle number 930.

The successful bidder on the other end of the phone was Natalie.

She's a legal secretary, who lives just a few minutes walk from her new house.

She paid £65,000 for the property, bang on the top guide price.

I met her back in that spacious living room to find out more.

Natalie, lovely to meet you. Congratulations. Tell me why you want to buy the house.

To be honest, it's to save some money because I'm renting at the moment.

I thought, well, buy my own property,

get back on the property ladder and save some money each month.

Oh, great. So how much are you paying in rent at the moment?

-About 500.

-How much will the mortgage be?

Including insurance, 250.

So you've cut your outgoings in half AND you've bought a home!

-Yes, exactly.

-So why this home particularly?

As you can see, it's not a bad-sized house, so that's one thing that's going for it.

Might have three bedrooms but I thought I could use one of the bedrooms as a walk-in wardrobe.

A walk-in wardrobe?!

Well, that's at least one room sorted.

What about her plans for the rest of the house?

Just over here I've got a back boiler to a fire,

so that needs coming out, and a combi boiler putting in.

I think that's my first priority because I like having hot water, etc.

I don't want to work off the old thermostat.

So I'm going to do that.

Change the dining room into a dining kitchen.

-How will you do that exactly?

-Well, obviously what I'm hoping for is to have a gas point still

where the gas fire and the boiler is, so I can have a range cooker or something like that there,

and put units round the side.

Change the kitchen, as it is now, into a utility room.

Having rented, and it was a big kitchen in there, I want a big kitchen again.

-So what about upstairs?

-Upstairs, not too bad.

I'm going to put a shower cubicle in the bathroom because I like having a shower better.

Keep the bath, but have a shower cubicle where one of the cupboards is,

so take that out and then put a shower cubicle in there.

-How much have you got set aside for all the work?

-Approximately 10,000.

£10,000 sounds like a very sensible amount for what Natalie hopes to achieve here.

The place is in a liveable state as it is, which is a bonus.

So how long till you move in?

Hopefully a couple of weeks, because I have to give notice on the property where I'm renting

and then the rest of it I'll do it as I go along.

It's great that Natalie can move in so quickly,

as then she won't need to pay rent and mortgage at the same time for long.

She'll certainly have her hands full with the decorating and structural work,

but she's well used to multi-tasking.

I work at a solicitors in Bury.

I work for Bury Football Club and I work behind the bar at a pub.

-Oh, great.

-So I've got three jobs.

-What do you do for the football club?

-Help with the wages and things like that.

-Right.

And also help with the turnstiles, stewards, that kind of things, pay the referees.

-How are Bury doing at the moment?

-They're not doing too bad.

They nearly got promoted last season so, fingers crossed, this season's going to be better.

Well, Bury may have missed out on promotion this season, but Natalie's certainly scored with this house,

and she's got great plans for it,

but the big question is will the restoration will be Premier League or Second Division?

You can find out later in the show.

Well, time has passed, let's see if our buyers have risen to the challenge.

Or will they have that sinking feeling?

Will they be proud of their achievements?

Let's go back and find out.

This grand Manor House in Kent was bought for £455,000 at auction by Mary Ann.

She lives in London now, but actually grew up just down the road.

I spent most of my childhood in the area and I got married just up the road,

about three-and-a-half years ago, literally diagonally opposite.

She is now a property developer and was going to need all her expertise to turn this old farm

into her new dream home.

How did she get on? We caught up with her one year later to find out.

As you can see, it's not exactly finished just yet, but appearances can be deceiving.

In fact, a huge amount of effort has gone into a very sensitive renovation,

mainly on the beautiful woodwork throughout.

We realised that the woodwork on the doors, that was amazing,

we could keep those, we could work with them, and as we cleared up the other elements of the woodwork

you could see the beams, and uncovering those and the beautiful detail in those,

that was really exciting.

As the house is Grade-II listed, Mary Ann has had to liaise closely with the local conservation office.

They have had to approve every single detail of the renovation.

We're using a lot of the traditional lime mortar lathe and plaster materials

where we're repairing works,

and when we have been able to get new...we've gone for local oak as much as possible.

The conservation team do like, if you're actually putting something new in, they do like it to look new.

They don't like you go to reclamation yards

because it confuses the reading of the building.

Mary Ann has also been busy adding en suite bathrooms to some of the bedrooms upstairs

so no need to run down all those stairs in the middle of the night.

The renovation has all been done by a local builder, Charlie.

He's not only done the layout and the wood restoration,

he's also made the house structurally sound, watertight and re-plastered many of the rooms.

He's just amazing. He's passionate about the building

and he really cares and he's got a great team around him and they're all the same.

They'll do whatever it takes.

He certainly had to, as there were a few surprises lurking under those floorboards and behind those walls.

First there was a 40 ft well they uncovered.

Mary Ann plans to tap into this natural resource to provide water for the whole house,

including that new bathroom suite.

Then they uncovered some very rare wood panelling that could date as far back as the 15th century.

It's called feathered edge boarding because of the way the panels feather over the top of each other.

It was originally the end wall of the manor's Great Hall.

It's so unusual that the conservation officer

had never seen such a fine example of it outside a stately home.

We had a specialist company to take it out

because we've had to do some structural repairs.

Ready for it to be repaired and placed back into its original position

which is up there, which is where it interlocks.

It's part of the history, it's grown with the building.

It belongs to the house and that's where it's got to stay

and we've got to do whatever we can to conserve it and preserve it.

The outside of the building has thrown up a few challenges, too.

Mary Ann wants her house to be sustainable and eco-friendly,

so insulating the roof was her top priority.

Though that was a bit trickier than they first expected.

We knew the building had been a re-roofed a while ago.

In fact, I think there was scaffolding up outside for about 15 years, or perhaps a bit less.

So that was the one thing I didn't think I had to do.

But having decided to go the conservation route,

the only way we were going to be able to insulate the roof was to take the roof off.

As we began to take the roof off, we realised we were about 5,000 tiles short

and that they had been spaced out more so that they didn't need so many tiles.

So we had to go to the reclamation yard and get some more Kent pegs

and we had to mix those in so they didn't notice that they were any different.

The floors have been ripped up throughout and insulated with breathable insulation.

Mary Ann was never going to rush this project, but hopes to have all the finishing touches done soon.

Well, we actually bought the place about 12 months ago

and we were hoping to be in by now.

I think we've probably got another four or five months until the property is ready.

This is probably going to be the period when things move really quickly.

I love to be around at the moment because a day will go by, I'll come back in and a bathroom's done.

It's just all starting to come together.

Mary Ann has spent about 200,000 on the work and thinks that the figure

will be around £300,000 by the time she's finished.

That could be a total spend of £750,000.

We asked two local property experts

what they thought the return here could be.

My first impressions of the house is that it's a wonderful property.

Great location. Clearly needs a lot of work doing to it

but I think it'll make a wonderful family home.

The living space is fantastic and there's numerous rooms

that can be used for various different rooms,

drawing rooms, the lounge has got a fantastic feature fireplace it.

It's just very good.

From what I can see here, the builders have really done great attention to detail.

They've restored it to the book and it's turned out brilliantly.

The workmanship, in my eyes, is first class.

The quality of the materials they're using and the workmanship, they're doing a very good job.

All their hard graft so far is getting a glowing report.

Once it's finished, how much could it make if put up for sale?

I think this property will be worth about £950,000 when completed.

I would look in the region of 900,000 to 950,000.

I think that's pretty good.

-Quite pleased with that.

-So, if she does end up spending that full £730,000 on the property,

then that could be a whopping £200,000 grand pre-tax profit if she sold it.

But by the sounds of it she won't be going anywhere soon!

This is my house that I'm going to stay in for the rest of my life.

It's just very special to be moving into something that I've always...

It's a house at the top of the road that I've always loved.

And to be somewhere where I grew is just very, very special to me

and I just can't really wait to move in, really.

Back in Bury, we caught up with Natalie four months after she bought

this three-bedroom terraced house at auction for its guide price of £65,000.

It was deceptively large inside, though they she did have grand plans for that rather pokey kitchen.

What I'm hoping for is to have a gas pipe still over where the gas fire

and the boiler is, so we can have a range a cooker or something like that there.

What an amazing job Natalie's done.

She's actually put in a brand-new kitchen complete with a range

and as I thought, the old kitchen was always going to be

much more suited to being a utility room instead.

I've decided to go for sort of a clean, modern-looking kitchen.

I got my range put in which I'm quite proud of.

Before I could do that, I had to open up the chimney breast

which an RSJ was put in so it had good support on it.

But I'm quite proud of how it's come out, actually.

Obviously the kitchen itself, is nice, clean-looking,

modern and I've got plenty of worktops, as well, which I do like.

Natalie has redecorated throughout and turned this place into a cosy and comfortable home.

She's replaced the window in the second bedroom, which also serves as a fire escape, incidentally.

But the main change upstairs has been in the bathroom.

So, the cupboard came out over that side for the shower cubicle to be fitted.

And also in the other cupboard, I decided to remove the hot-water tank.

With having a combi boiler downstairs there's no point in having the tank in there, as well,

which was taking up storage space.

So now my dad's actually using that to put his fishing rods in.

There's not much chance they'll catch anything in here, but at least the space is getting used.

In fact, Natalie's dad has moved in with her temporarily.

Having him on hand to help her has been very helpful indeed.

A lot of the other jobs have been done by tradesmen Natalie recruited from a very reliable source -

the bar she works in part time.

I work in a pub at the weekends so I know quite a few tradesmen through there. And they've come and helped.

Especially with the rewire...

knocking the chimney breast, putting an RSJ in there.

That's not something I could do myself, I wouldn't even attempt that.

Decorator, again, is a friend of mine.

My dad's helped out a hell of a lot with work.

I've done a little bit but I wouldn't say I've done that much myself!

I'm not a practical person.

Natalie may not be very hands-on herself but she has had to oversee the project.

How did she enjoy that role?

Probably the most difficult part is trying to project manage things so that you fit it in,

where as one job finishes, you can start on the next job.

And also, as well, time.

We're working all day and still having to sort out for people to come in.

It's difficult just to find the time to do things.

Natalie estimates she'll come in on budget at £10,000 for the renovation.

There are still a few things that need to be done and the main room hasn't been touched yet.

Because of this, she has slightly overshot her original target of three months.

The work has actually took longer than I expected, but that's due to working through the day

and trying to fit people in around different jobs that are being done.

Now, I do still want to get the work done within the next sort of four or five weeks.

My next job is actually to move into the front room and finish them room by room.

I want to have things like a fire put in and that kind of thing. But I'm slowly getting there.

Judging by what she's done already, I'm sure it will look great.

We invited along two local property experts to give their verdict on the place so far.

The property is part refurbished.

It's 99% of the way there.

Some of the work has been done very nicely.

Nice new kitchen, bathroom's been refitted, a lot of it's redecorated, it's looking very good.

Actually using the dining room now for a house of this size

isn't very common, so big kitchen with a dining table in there,

separate utility room is a lot more modern and it tends to be what a lot more people want.

The features and fittings seem to be very good.

Again, it needs a bit of finishing off but when it's finished, I'm sure it'll be very nice.

The property is in a market where you'd normally expect a fair volume to be rental accommodation.

It's entry level, young families, single parents, that type of property.

A good market, steady rental all day long.

So the job Natalie's done gets the thumbs-up.

She bought the property for £65,000 and will have done

£10,000 worth of improvements by the time she's finished.

That's a total of £75,000 invested here.

What value might it have on the resale market?

Resale, once finished, £85,000 to £90,000.

Resale valuation, once finished, £85,000 to £90,000.

That's not bad, actually, because I was expecting around £80,000 so it's more than what I expected.

Knowing that she has potentially made a £15,000 pre-tax profit

will certainly make the rest of the project easier to cope with.

It was getting a bit of a nightmare. Coming home to dust each night and constantly cleaning up.

Now I can sort of see a light at the end of the tunnel.

And we wish Natalie a very bright and happy future in her new home.

For more Homes Under The Hammer, join us next time.

-Looking forward to seeing you then.

-Goodbye.

-Goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd