Episode 12 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello, we find property absolutely absorbing.

Yes, in order to do well, you must buy at the right price.

And one way to do that is to buy your next home under the hammer.

You need to do your homework if you buy at auction,

but once it's proved the one for you, you could get a real bargain.

So I wonder if there are any bargains on today's show. Let's find out.

This terraced house in Devon is full of character,

but the kitchen's a bit of a shock.

You're not going to believe it because this... is it.

In London, this house has already had some DIY.

Somebody's done some modern adaptions. Double doors leading through to the lounge.

And this two-bed bungalow in Leeds

has a lounge, a kitchen, plus a paved garden.

What we haven't got is any plaster. That's a bit unusual.

All these went to auction. We'll find out who bought them and what they paid

when they went under the hammer.

And it's sold.

The first property we're looking at today is in Okehampton,

North Devon.

The auction catalogue describes the property as "handsome",

which definitely sets it up for a bit of a fall.

The big question is,

will it be mildly attractive or devilishly good-looking?

Well, from the outside,

I don't think it would stand up that well in a beauty pageant.

Maybe it gets better inside. Let's take a look.

# I am beautiful no matter what they say

# Words can't bring me down... #

With an exterior that's a little rough around the edges,

the house went to auction with a guide price of £125,000.

This conservatory that sits in front of the living room

looks like it's on its last legs.

It certainly needs some attention.

And those upstairs windows don't look too hopeful either.

Let's hope it's better inside.

Nice big hallway.

Er, ooh, look at these floorboards as well. That's a good start.

Ooh, exciting!

It is the simplest things that get me going in a house like this.

For instance, I know that underneath the paint on here

is a gorgeous pine door just waiting to get out.

And things like this, the original skirting boards here.

You don't see this height in modern skirting boards.

Again, strip those back, it'll be lovely.

But look at this. Fantastic old fireplace. And I just wonder...

Oh, look at that. Absolutely beautiful.

Plenty of plusses in the living room,

but there's also a downside.

These doors that lead out onto the ramshackle sun room

don't do the room any favours at all.

It needs to be addressed.

Maybe a stylish conservatory that's an integral part of the room could be built at the front.

But the good news is the character of the house.

What else does the property have to offer?

So, through to the rear of the property, where you would expect to find the kitchen.

But you don't. This is almost like a dining room.

Nice views out of the windows, again, beautiful floorboards.

But the kitchen, well, you're not going to believe it,

because this... is it.

No, really.

And it gets worse.

Because this is the nearest thing to a bathroom that the property has.

Well, they say, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."

If you can't stand the heat in here, you can always hop in the shower.

# If you can't stand the heat Keep out of the kitchen... #

The auction catalogue described this as a three-storey property,

but the third level is not up in the loft, it's down in the basement.

It's a fair-size space down here,

and with natural light coming in,

could be ideal to convert into another room, a utility area, maybe.

Or what about a huge wet room,

as that shower in the kitchen has to go?

It gets even weirder because halfway up the stairs is the loo.

Now, I personally think this is disastrous.

It's dangerous because you've got this very small area outside it, it doesn't work.

It reminds me of that song, Halfway Down The Stairs Is The Stair Where I Sit.

# Halfway down the stairs Is a stair where I sit... #

So what are we going to do about it?

Well, you've got to try and get a bathroom upstairs.

Thankfully, there is a lot of space up here,

and I think with some rejiggling, you could get your bathroom up here.

Frankly, you've got to, haven't you?

There is enough space to do that,

but I'd hate to eat into this lovely landing.

So much light comes in here, making it a great bonus.

The character continues in the three bedrooms.

The largest two have lovely fireplaces,

and the views from the windows are tremendous.

The garden could do with attention, and some grass wouldn't go amiss.

The windows and the wall need some work as well,

and I'd definitely change the colour scheme.

One thing to be aware of is the shared access at the back.

You'd have to get on with your neighbours, as they'll be traipsing through to put out their rubbish.

I've invited a local estate agent

to come and see this Okehampton property.

The location's good, with easy access to the coast and the A30,

but how does the property compare to others locally?

I think it's nice house,

It's got a nice, warm feel about it,

and it's going to make somebody a good family home.

It would need a new kitchen, new bathroom,

and decorating, and just basically upgrading.

OK, let's talk figures. The property went to auction guided at £125,000.

But once it's had some money spent on it,

how much could it be worth if resold?

And what rental income could it generate?

Because it's situated in a nice location,

rental would be quite popular,

and I think it could achieve in the region of £600 per calendar month.

If I was going to re-market this property, I'd put it on the market at £189,950,

with an absolute bottom line figure to achieve £180,000.

Well, such a lot of house for that guide price, and I love it.

It's quirky, it's unusual, beautiful views and a nice area.

Obviously needs sorting out, especially the whole bathroom and toilet situation.

But a great opportunity.

Let's see who fell in love with it

and bought it when it went to the auction.

Character house, Okehampton,

right at the top of the town.

Nice garden, lovely view out the front.

Paddocky bit there. Private lane.

Really, really pretty. Just got something about it.

Who's going to say to us, er, £125,000? It's not a bad shout.

125.

120?

It's a nice house. 110 is as low as... 110. Thank you. At 110.

At 110. 112.

115.

118.

120. 120.

At 120.

122. 124.

124?

126.

At 126. 128. 128.

130.

At 130.

It's a lovely spot. At 130 once.

At 130 twice.

At 130, are you sure and done?

500 will do it, but at 130 it's going to be sold. You're missing one. At 130.

-GAVEL

-That's a nice house.

That final successful bid of £130,000

was made by Andy and his partner Ingrid.

Andy is a carpenter and site manager

while Ingrid's a swimming teacher.

I met them to see if they'd be able to keep their heads above water on this project.

Lovely to meet you. Congratulations. Why did you want to buy the house?

Well, it's, er very nice, um, period features,

and we knew the area, we used to live down the road.

And we'd come back from France recently and saw it

and just fell in love with it.

So have you bought it to live in?

Yeah, it's going to be our home, as well as a project, yeah.

-So tell me more about you two.

-I'm a carpenter and I trained as a site manager as well.

Um, for the last 18 months,

we've taken some time out to do a couple of ski seasons up in the Alps,

and some time out to do a little bit of travelling as well.

When they left, the market was at its peak.

But just 18 months later, a character property like this has become more affordable.

What was it about the house that you particularly loved?

I love the space, it feels really elegant because it's quite big,

and, like Andy said, we've got the period features as well, all the fireplaces.

It's got a nice feel about it.

Just immediately, on walking in, it felt like a really nice house.

Obviously, as Andy explained, we knew the location,

so really positive.

So, I mean, quite a challenge. Is it daunting at all?

Um, no, cos Andrew's a carpenter,

and he's done a lot of renovations before for other people.

So actually, it's quite exciting.

We're looking forward to owning it and being able to do what we want.

What are you planning to do with it?

-I'm planning to add a bathroom downstairs.

-Where?

-In the basement.

And then, create a bathroom downstairs,

and a kitchen in the dining room.

Why the bathroom right at the bottom of the house?

We don't particularly want to break up the bedrooms

because we'll lose space in the bedrooms,

and it sort of loses part of the character of the house as well, which we love.

What about the loo on the stairs?

Really weird, but are you going to keep that?

-Definitely.

-We love it.

-You love the loo on the stairs?

It's a bit quirky, isn't it?

And having the bathroom in the basement, we really need something upstairs.

Especially if we resell it and a family wants to buy it,

the children can go to the toilet at night

without going all the way to the basement.

Whilst the quirky loo location is a feature they can live with,...

Strange place to have a toilet.

..the same definitely can't be said about the shower.

Bit bizarre, to be honest.

Um, having a shower in the kitchen is nothing I've seen ever before.

So that's a bit quirky,

but generally the rest of the house layout is a good layout, I think.

Tell me what you're going to do

to restore some of the original features.

The fireplaces upstairs, we're going to take out and have them sandblasted

so they go back to the metal, and then have them blackened so you can see all the detail.

The fireplace in the living room, we'll clean the tiles on the inside,

the original tiles, and replace the ones on the hearth

with a beautiful emerald green-type colour.

The floorboards, we're going to sand,

just keep them as they are and sand them and give them a lacquer.

And just, yeah, just kind of take it back to its glory, really.

The house has plenty of lovely features and real character.

I get the impression that Andy and Ingrid

are really keen to restore this period property sensitively.

So much so that they plan to spend up to a year on the renovation while they live here.

But it's going to be quite a challenge.

What are you going to do about the front of the house? Cos it's a bit shoddy.

Yeah, we're going to replace all the wood and re-glaze it,

put new panels up on the roof,

just bring out the character of the house.

What money have you set aside for renovations?

Around about £10,000 to put into it,

but we want to work on a tight budget

so we'd like to save some of our money.

A lot of work to do for £10,000. You sure you can do it for that?

I know it sounds a very unrealistic budget,

um, but most of the work will be done ourselves.

And I used to work in this area,

so I've got friends which I can pull in to save the cost,

cos it's usually labour costs which span out instead of materials.

Congratulations. Good luck and look forward to seeing how you get on.

Thanks very much.

So, Andy and Ingrid, truly delighted with their purchase,

and quite right too.

I think they got a great buy at that price.

However, there is a lot of money to spend sorting this place out,

and it could be a money pit.

They'll have to watch their budget.

Find out how they get on later in the show.

I'm in Clapton, East London,

an area which hasn't always been considered the most desirable.

However, with good transport links into the city

and some charming period properties lining the streets,

it could be about to gain a new lease of life.

The property I'm here to see is in Lower Clapton.

It's a Victorian end-of-terrace,

it's got a guide price of £170,000 plus.

Now, a lot of this area looks much like it did

when it was first developed in the second half of the 19th century.

Let's see if there's anything left of the Victorian era in this place.

Well, the exterior is in pretty fair condition

with these lovely sash windows.

The property definitely has some appeal.

So inside, it's quite typical of a Victorian terraced house.

It's not absolutely bursting with features,

but you've got this nice dado rail here

and this lovely curved wall,

and quite an interesting staircase with some nice sort of spindles.

But interestingly, someone's done some modern adaptions.

Look, double doors leading through to the lounge.

And somebody's already knocked through here.

You can see this arch.

So it makes it an incredibly huge entertaining space.

There's no lovely Victorian fireplace

but you have got this beautiful bay window here with gorgeous sashes.

So once you've done this room, it could look quite nice.

I'm just wondering, where's the kitchen?

There's a lot to be done here.

I'd lose this flooring, for a start.

There could be original floorboards underneath, which would be a great feature.

# Tell me That you'll open your eyes... #

A property like this requires you to look at it through developers' eyes

to imagine the potential.

OK, well, apart from this house needing a complete overhaul,...

I mean, look at the state of this kitchen. Frankly, it's a dump.

..I think there is so much space to play with, and it quite excites me, actually.

One thing I'd do would be to knock this wall down here

and have a kitchen-diner,

and I would probably put that wall back up in the lounge area

so you could have this as a lovely big kitchen-dining space.

Though you could get a table and chairs here.

What I really like is that it's got a door and you can go straight out to the back garden.

Sounds promising, let's take a look.

Garden? More like back yard, I think,

which could appeal to a professional couple

with not much time for watering the roses.

As a family home, I think you'd find this outside space a bit restrictive.

It's small. So a bit disappointing on the outside front.

There's another tiny strip of land just to the side of the kitchen,

up to the neighbours' fence, but it's not very big,

and I'm afraid there are no far-reaching views from this garden.

Upstairs in this three-bedroom house that's guided at £170,000,

bedroom two overlooks the yard and is not huge.

But it appears as though the bathroom suite could be salvaged.

Up here, you've got bedroom number two.

Again, you could call it a double. Bit on the small side.

And this is the master bedroom.

Now, pretty impressive.

You've got loads of space here, this beautiful bay window with the sashes.

Needs a bit of work.

All in all, a fair bit of space to play with,

and you've got the potential to go up into the loft.

Loft conversions aren't cheap, so you'd want to add perhaps two bedrooms up there

and I'm not sure if it would be worth it.

But Clapton is attracting a lot of interest, so it might be a favourable time to buy here.

To find out if this area is moving up in the world,

I asked a local estate agent for his assessment.

The street still has a way to go.

There are three or four, a small network of roads round here that are better.

But there's only so many houses on those streets,

so this will move into that category sooner or later.

And what about this house? What's his advice about changing layout? Is it a good idea?

I think you shouldn't mess with these houses too much.

I think you should leave them as they are.

They were designed the way they were because that's the best way.

Most people that buy them really want them to have that period feel.

The more you mess with them, the less desirable they become.

Once this place has had a full refurbishment,

leaving aside any loft conversion,

how much would it be worth?

Once the house is finished to a reasonably good standard,

depending what you do with the house,

you'd be looking at somewhere in the region of £375,000 to £380,000.

Could this be a viable rental?

It is only two double bedrooms.

The third bedroom, I'd call more of a study than anything else.

And whilst it remains to be a study,

you would only be able to rent this for in the region of £330 to £350 a week.

That could mean a monthly rental income of between about £1,300 and £1,400.

So a great house.

A lot of work, but structurally, well there doesn't seem to be anything alarmingly wrong with it.

It just needs a total overhaul.

Let's see who snapped this up at the auction.

Er, Clapton, E5.

Three-bed, end-of-terrace house.

Start 150 on this and go up.

150 down here.

155?

155.

160.

165.

170.

175.

180.

185 with you.

190.

190. 195.

200.

205.

210.

215.

220.

225.

230.

235.

240.

245.

245.

250.

255.

260.

265.

270.

275.

280.

285.

290.

295.

300.

305.

305.

310.

311.

Have a think.

311. New spot.

It's cheap. 312.

312

313.

You can't bid once and that's it.

Er, where am I? 313.

313. 314.

You're back in. 314.

315.

316.

317.

318.

319.

319? 320.

319. First time.

As long as you bid again.

320.

321.

322?

321. First time, second time, third and last time if you're done.

-GAVEL

-Sold. 321. Well done.

Goodness, that's staying power for you.

That final bid of £321,000 came from Phil and Genevieve.

After graduating from art college,

they set up their own spatial design company,

and have lived in nearby Hackney for three years.

Apart from their own home, the couple have renovated two other properties.

They sold one and are currently letting out the other.

I caught up with them at their latest purchase to find out the plans.

-Congratulations, Genevieve, Phil.

-Thank you.

-Well done.

-Yeah, it's exciting.

You paid £321,000. Bit different from the £170,000 guide price.

Yeah, it was. But I think we knew the market,

we know this area very well, we know the market value,

so even though it went quite a bit above what we hoped for,

it's still within an OK range for us to make a profit, hopefully.

Phil, tell me about your background in design.

Well, I have a... I'm a sculptor by trade,

so I began sculpting in bronze and stone.

So, for this project, particularly,

while we'll be designing the house as a whole,

I'll also be doing some stonework.

For example, we'll be reinstating the fireplace, putting in a new fireplace in stone.

So, what are we going to see when we come back?

-You may not see bronze, depending on how things work out.

-On budget.

But you certainly will see some stonework around the place.

Um, Genevieve will be designing a new staircase.

Yeah. A lot of the original features have been ripped out.

We haven't been left with much inside, so lots to play with.

So the staircase when you come in,

well, it's quite rickety and a bit falling apart,

so we'll put in a statement staircase as the initial thing you see when you come in,

then basically open up the living space to get as much light in as possible.

We're going to keep the kitchen separate, with bi-fold doors and a picture window

to get as much light into the kitchen as possible.

Wow. Phil and Genevieve have some inspirational ideas.

Sounds like they're really going to use their design expertise

to put their own, individual stamp on the place.

Does Phil intend to do any of the work himself?

I will be doing some of it.

Er, but for a lot of the work, we'll be getting guys in.

Talk me through what's going to happen upstairs.

The three bedrooms are staying as they are.

We'll take out the mouldy, gross carpet, and sand down the floors.

Interior design is what will happen with them,

whereas the bathroom, we'll shift some of the walls to get more space.

Let's get number-crunching. What's your budget?

Our budget is £30,000.

We'll get a carpenter to make bespoke cabinets for the kitchen

so a lot of the cash will go into the kitchen.

-You're very passionate about this house, aren't you?

-We are.

-What is it that you love?

-We always like to renovate Victorian houses.

When we saw the facade, we just loved it.

So anything that's a complete doer-upper, that we can change the space and redesign,

is something we're interested in.

I shouldn't say this, but I think it's going to look stunning. Good luck.

-I can see you're excited by it. Well done.

-Thank you so much.

-Thanks a million.

-Thanks, Phil.

Genevieve and Phil have got pretty ambitious plans for this place.

If anybody can breathe life into this house and give it the contemporary edge it needs, it's them.

I just hope they don't get carried away and spend more than they should,

even though I am sure this house is going to look fantastic.

Join me later in the programme and see what happens.

Coming up, this bungalow in Leeds has some work to finish off,

but what goes where?

Sitting room? Bedroom, perhaps? Hm.

Back in London, what will this design team create?

We found when we stripped the paint off from 150 years ago,

it was beautiful underneath, so we decided to keep it.

But first in Devon, did skiers Andy and Ingrid find this refurb all downhill?

This house really needed a lot of work.

Time now to return to Okehampton in Devon.

Earlier in the programme,

Andy and Ingrid had paid £125,000 for this unusual mid-terrace.

Apart from a tired old conservatory at the front,

it had a tiny kitchen with a shower in it,

a loo halfway up the stairs, and a cellar.

Andy's a carpenter who's done several refurbishments for other people.

Ingrid's a swimming teacher, and they were certainly about to take the plunge here.

What are you planning to do?

I'm planning to add a bathroom downstairs.

-Where?

-In the basement.

And then create a bathroom downstairs and a kitchen in the dining room.

So why the bathroom right at the bottom of the house?

We don't want to break up the bedrooms

because we'll lose space in the bedrooms,

and it loses part of the character of the house, as well.

Andy and Ingrid plan to take a year for the project,

however they spend the winter working for a ski chalet company in the French Alps,

so it's been a bit stop and start.

16 months later we met up again with the couple,

and congratulations are in order

because since we last saw them, they've tied the knot.

So what's changed, property-wise?

Well, the house has been painted,

and it now blends in far better with the neighbours.

Whilst inside, they've done the sensible thing

and relocated the kitchen to the old dining room,

and kitted it out with all mod cons.

The former kitchen is now a utility room with a new boiler installed,

and yes, the shower has gone.

Upstairs, apart from a few finishing touches,

the bedrooms are almost ready for use.

And the neutral colour scheme

has made these rooms feel fresh and spacious.

So in here, when we took the wallpaper off,

the plaster was coming away, so Andy re-plastered all the walls,

and we've decorated, and the floors have been sanded and lacquered,

and we've sandblasted the fireplaces

and put them back in their original place.

The landing also looks stunning,

with the waxed floorboards and the glossed staircase.

But where's the bathroom?

Well, they've kept that quirky but practical toilet

on the halfway landing,

but the bathroom itself is a bit further away,

and is still work-in-progress.

We decided to put the bathroom in the basement

to avoid cutting into the rooms upstairs.

We also decided we needed to make it special

because people have got to go down an extra level to get to it.

We decided to build a shower like a wet room,

re-use some old roofing slates, which have come up beautifully.

We're really pleased with it.

Andy had to dig down two feet

to maximise the head height down there,

and the walls have had to be tanked as well.

But it's not just the bathroom

that's still going through its makeover.

Back on the ground floor, the hall and living room have been completely replastered

and are just waiting to be redecorated and finished off.

Through those French doors are signs that Andy has put his carpentry skills to good use.

This conservatory, I built last year before going off to the Alps.

The way I styled it was slightly mimicking what was there originally.

With this detailing, what I've done is,

the stop chamfers are the same distance apart from the glazing bars

and just try and basically keep it the same as it was

but in a good condition.

I think it's a good idea to use traditional timbers for their conservatory,

as it gives the frontage a more natural feel.

At the back, the soil that Andy dug out of the cellar

has been used to level out the back garden.

Now it's been laid to lawn, and what a difference.

It's been a big project.

The house has been rewired, new plumbing's gone in,

and there's still lot of work to do, especially down in the cellar.

But how much have they had to spend

on top of the £125,000 they paid at auction?

Have they stuck to their £10,000 budget?

I think what we've put into it material-wise so far

and with the labour as well,

got to be around about the £15,000 mark.

There's not much left to be spent because the major works are done,

and the major things have been bought, like the bathroom suite, which has yet to go in.

So £1,000 to £2,000 should finish it because we'll be doing the work ourselves.

They reckon they've got another £1,000 to £2,000 to spend,

but the finish line is still some way off.

We're heading back to France in six weeks' time,

and we're going to be working the winter out there,

then we'll come back and finish it off before we put it on the market.

Put it on the market?

Well, that's because after all their hard work,

the couple are now considering a more permanent move to France.

So what could they make?

Time to hear some advice from two local estate agents.

Will they like Andy and Ingrid's plans for the cellar

and layout of the house?

Ground floor layout's great. It's very much suited to a family.

It's got the breakfast room table in the kitchen,

the living room's big and has great original features, the fireplace and windows.

The layout's very good now.

Previously there was the bathroom upstairs and the half landing.

Having a big bathroom downstairs now benefits the property.

Retaining the landing toilet, there's access from the bedrooms.

I think the bathroom on the lower ground floor is superb.

It's clearly going to be one of the wow factors.

It's not ready to sell just yet,

but in the current market,

what valuation would the experts put on the house?

Remember, Andy and Ingrid paid £125,000 at the auction,

and anticipate the final budget being £17,000

making a total outlay of £142,000.

So could there be a profit here?

Er, it's my opinion that when the property's completed,

it should fetch between £185,000 to £190,000.

When the property's complete,

I would suggest a retail or marketing value between £190,000 and £200,000.

Well, that spread of valuations from £185,000 to £200,000

would produce a gross profit, before the usual selling expenses,

ranging from £43,000 to £58,000.

That's pretty much what we expected, but it's nice to hear.

Yes, it's reassuring after all the hard work.

Let's hope that the property market gets its strength back

when they come to sell in around six months' time.

So have these newly-weds enjoyed their first renovation together?

Yeah, really proud, actually.

It's really nice to see it in a more finished state

and look at it through other people's eyes.

This house needed a lot of work,

and it's nice to actually see it come together,

and it'll be fantastic to see the house finished and rejuvenated,

and hopefully give a lot of pleasure to the people living in it after us.

I'm in Belle Isle, a large suburb,

three miles to the south of Leeds city centre.

Local development is on the increase around here,

and as far as property goes, it represents value for money,

with a good variety of house styles on offer.

Despite its great connections,

properties on the south side of Leeds are cheaper than in the north.

In fact, 15 to 20 per cent cheaper.

So I'm hoping to find something to suit my developer's pocket.

And in fact, this might be it.

1960s bungalow, two bedrooms,

and a guide price of £55,000 to £75,000.

Let's take a look.

First impressions are promising for this semi-detached bungalow.

The roof appears sound, as do the windows,

and this access ramp is a useful addition.

Let's check out inside.

So what have we got?

Well, er, straight away, what we haven't got is any plaster.

That's a bit unusual. Somebody's done a bit of preparation for you.

Kitchen there, at least I think it is. No units.

Um, in fact, this whole thing could be guess work in terms of what the different rooms are.

Um, reasonably-sized room at the back here,

um, rear sitting room, bedroom perhaps?

Um, don't know.

Um, that, ah, now that looks more like a living room and it's a reasonable size.

Nice fireplace there too.

Bathroom there. At least I know what that is.

They're old and dated so you probably want to take them out,

but I suppose at a push, you could live with it.

And through to the front of the property, where there is, I guess, your second bedroom.

All in all, bit of a guessing game, but it's not a bad property.

# Guessing game

# I don't wanna play no guessing game

# Please don't make me play No guessing game... #

You could argue that since the plaster's been taken off most of the walls,

this house has little to hide.

So the question is, would you bother changing the internal layout around?

Let's look through the options.

This is your rear, well, I guess your bedroom area.

Maybe you think about creating this more as a living area.

Move this wall over, make that a bedroom,

maybe think about knocking that wall

to create more of a sort of kitchen/living room/dining area.

And then, the logical thing to do would be to take that out there,

put a set of double doors onto the garden.

That would create a nice living area at the back with smaller bedrooms at the front.

Maybe. Is it worth doing? The amount of effort, nah.

If you're looking to rent this property out, or sell it on to make a quick return,

I'm not sure restructuring the layout would justify the cost.

Another option worth considering could be to build a conservatory,

as the back garden's a good size,

though it's in need of a good tidy-up.

To find out more about the potential of this bungalow

which went to auction guided at between £55,000 and £75,000,

I asked a local property expert for his opinion.

The superficial, cosmetic condition is-is poor.

There's rooms where there's no plaster on the walls,

the skirtings are missing, the kitchen's been taken out.

But it won't be rocket science

to put this bungalow back in a very nice way.

And it'll be very bonny when it's done.

Once the property's been completely done up and refurbished,

what would he advise is the best course of action?

I think if this property was finished to the sort of standard I have in my mind's eye,

it would let at about £400 a calendar month.

So a good rental potential here.

What could be the resell value once all the work here is done?

I see a very hard ceiling of value for this property, fully done,

at just under £100,000.

Well, there are works to be done,

but I think this could work for somebody's bank balance,

as there are profits to be made.

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

Lot 22, two-bedroom, semi-detached bungalow.

Very sensibly priced to reflect the need for total refurbishment.

Anyone like to start the bidding at £55,000?

55, I have. 55.

57, I'm looking for.

57,000 on my left.

Do I have 59?

£59,000.

61? 61 on my left.

I'm looking for 63.

63 I have. 65, sir?

Take it in ones if you like. 64?

£64,000. 65.

65? Yes, it was a nod.

66, sir? £66,000 I have.

67, thank you. £67,000.

68.

£68,000, sir. At the back on the left, now.

69?

£69,000. 70, sir?

£70,000. Looking for 71.

71?

71. Thank you very much indeed. 72, sir?

£72,000 I'm bid. £73?

Shake of the head. Any further bids?

Selling at £72,000 unless I get a catalogue in the air.

£73,000 at the front. Thank you very much indeed. 73 on my right.

74? Out at 74.

73 at the front here on my right.

It's going for the first time,

it's going for the second.

-GAVEL

-Sold, sir. Congratulations. £73,000.

That final successful bid of £73,000 was made by Andy

who was at the auction with his wife Lynne.

They live in Leeds, and a year ago, sold their IT and project managing training company.

They took a year off to spend more time at their holiday home in Spain.

Andy went on a training course, and is now a qualified electrician.

I met up with him at the bungalow to find out the plans.

-Andy, good to meet you. Congratulations.

-Thank you.

Tell me why you wanted to buy this bungalow.

Basically to find something to do.

I've been very lucky enough to have a year off with my family,

and my wife had got to the point where I was under her feet a little,

and I ought to go out and do something,

so we decided that with our best friends, Dale and Gemma,

-we'd set up a property redevelopment business.

-Oh, great.

Which we did, then went to the auction in Leeds,

decided to buy this place, and here we are today.

-This is numero uno.

-This is numero uno of however many we get to.

How come you got to have a year off?

I used to run a training company in Leeds

with a business partner of mine,

and I sold it last September.

And it put me in the situation where I was fortunate enough

to have a year off with family and my young son, Red.

-What did you do for a year?

-Spent a lot of time on holiday in the sun.

-Great.

-Which was very nice.

But, as I said, it's time to get on and do something else.

So why this property for your first venture?

Well, we looked at probably five or six different auctions,

picked out three or four different properties in each auction,

then really came and had a look at it,

decided that it stood one of the best potentials for making a small amount of money on,

and the experience was what we wanted to get started with.

Part of the work has been done.

Yeah, they've done the easy bit,

which is taking it all down and throwing things away.

They've had the fun bit.

Now we've got to put it all back and make it work.

So tell me what you're going to do to it.

Um, basically, it needs completely rewiring,

I'm going to put gas central heating in it, a new kitchen.

Basically, bring it back up to a decent standard.

-With a view to what?

-Initially with a view to selling it.

But obviously, it depends on what the market's going to be like in six weeks' time.

If we decide it's better to rent it while the market picks up, we'll do that.

Right. And why have you gone into a business venture with a partner?

Um, I've had experience of it before

and I think sometimes one, two, three, four heads

are sometimes better than just one.

Especially when it comes to budgeting with my wife.

You can imagine that I'll put something forward,

and Lynne will say, "We need to cut back, Andrew, we don't need to spend that."

Good to have more than one head.

-You've brought in arbitration.

-We've brought in arbitration, yes.

Well, that arbitration might get called on.

Going into business with friends can be tricky, and doing up houses can be stressful.

With all four of them planning to do the work when they can,

I'm sure tempers could flare occasionally,

even if only about whose turn it is to make the tea.

They only paid £73,000 for the bungalow,

but doing the renovation won't be cheap, bearing in mind the state of the inside.

-So what is the budget?

-£14,200.

-Approximately?

-Well, £14,178 if you want it exactly.

-Have you got it down to the penny or the pound?

-Down to the penny or the pound.

Whether we stick there or not is a different question.

Hopefully we'll do it cheaper.

What are the plans for the business?

Initially, the plans were to attempt ten to 12 properties a year,

but once we started budget plans,

figuring out how long it would take, if we were lucky,

then we had to cut that back.

It depends on how we get on, to be honest.

Right. But in your ideal world?

Well, in my ideal world, in five years' time, I'll be retiring again.

-Congratulations. Well done.

-Thank you very much.

-Look forward to seeing how you get on.

-Look forward to seeing you.

Well, a good property for Andy to begin

the path to his second retirement.

But how will he and the team get on restoring this property?

And will they stick to that £14,178 budget?

What do you think?

You can find out later in the show.

Well, time has passed since we saw those properties.

Do they look any different now?

Has time and money been well spent?

Let's go back and find out.

Earlier in the programme, we were in Clapton, East London,

where Genevieve and Phil had bought this semi-detached for £321,000.

The couple are both art college graduates and have a spatial design company.

This property is the third house they've bought to redesign and then sell.

-You're very passionate about this house, aren't you?

-We are.

-What is it that you love?

-We like renovating Victorian houses,

so when we saw the facade, we just loved it.

So anything that's a complete doer-upper

that we can change the space and redesign, is something we're very interested in.

Three months later, we met up again with Genevieve and Phil

back at the property, to check on the progress.

Outside, the house is looking very smart.

The original features now really stand out.

Once you're through the front door,

you're now met with a wonderful, open living space.

The two original rooms had already been knocked into one,

but removing the walls to the hall really opens the space up,

and makes a real design statement.

At the back, the large kitchen now has sharp, clean lines

and looks stunning.

Patio doors draw your eye through towards the lovely outside courtyard.

Upstairs, the front master bedroom

continues with the subtle colour scheme,

set off by this striking period-style bed.

And the new bathroom also looks very contemporary.

But as Genevieve explains,

it's the ground floor layout where the main changes have taken place.

We kept the original staircase.

We initially were going to take it away,

but when we stripped all the paint off it from 150 years ago,

it was actually beautiful underneath so we decided to keep it.

We fit this oak veneer panelling to clean it up,

make it a bit more modern, streamlined.

We put in quite a dramatic wallpaper

but I felt the space was big enough

to be able to deal with that big, bold print.

And it just kind of zones off this dining area

from the other seating lounge area.

Remember, Phil's a sculptor, and he intended to make a stone fireplace.

So what happened to those plans?

Well, there isn't a fireplace there because

we thought we would just knock back a bit of the wall

and open up this old fireplace.

But we discovered that somebody prior to us

had taken out the entire chimney breast,

so we tried to create something instead of it

by using a concrete shelf with a light underneath.

And Phil has designed a feature in the kitchen.

Not in bronze or stone, but with a different material.

This is the concrete tabletop that I've designed.

It's got three angular points that meet the glass top.

It took a while to design

because there were a number of issues.

I began designing the top and bottom

and then it became on the side and I ended up having to make it thinner.

But in the end, I think it looks well and I'm very pleased with it.

Using their spatial design skills,

the couple have managed to get the most out of every room in this house.

The bathroom upstairs was very, very small,

and the bath ran along one side of the whole wall,

so just by moving the bath round

and incorporating the shower and bath, it feels a lot bigger in there.

And it's not the only loo,

as they've also built a cloakroom under the stairs

and designed it with a very contemporary look.

Once the kitchen had been gutted,

it was ready for Phil and Genevieve to add their design skills,

but as it's a kitchen, you still have to have somewhere to store the food.

We took out a lot of units in the kitchen. They ran both sides.

Because we took that space away,

we've created kind of four big larders

that are made of oak veneer.

So it's just to have a space to put away all the junk.

How much has it all cost?

Did they manage to stick to their £30,000 budget?

Well, we ended up spending more like in the region of £36,000,

so we went over what was planned.

The wiring was a big cost. We've ended up rewiring the whole house.

And it's oak flooring, which was a big cost again.

Time to find out what two local estate agents think

of the refurbishment of this Clapton property.

In terms of the ground floor space,

it's not what you'd expect to find in one of these houses.

It makes the place feel a bit bigger.

The property does feel very contemporary.

It's presented quite nicely.

The kitchen is nice and modern, the bathroom is fully-fitted.

Not much garden at the back,

but I don't think that will take away much from the value.

Selling features, I would say, the kitchen.

It's a great space, they've done a great job, gone very high-end.

The bathroom's a good finish.

Phil and Genevieve plan to sell and move on to their next project.

They paid £321,000 for the house at auction,

and have spent £36,000 on the work,

making a total of £357,000.

How much is it now worth?

I would say this property would sell for around £425,000.

Er, I would consider putting the property on the market for £400,000.

That range of valuations from £400,000 to £425,000

would produce a pre-tax profit of between £43,000 and £68,000.

Is that around what they expected?

We have spoken to a few local agents

who've come around £425,000, £435,000,

so that's kind of what we've been told, so yeah, it's good, positive.

And if it works out like that, we're doing OK.

So it's not too bad.

It's not actually the buying and selling of a house,

it's the blank canvas that we can just go for.

This is the fourth project we've worked on.

We're not crazy. We realise we need to make money out of it.

But for us, the real buzz is that.

So if we can do both, fantastic.

Back now to the Leeds suburb of Belle Isle.

Earlier in the programme,

Andy, his wife, and their two best friends

bought this two-bed bungalow for £73,000.

Refurbishment had already been started previously,

but there was still plenty to do.

After selling their business,

Andy and his wife Lynne had taken a year out of the rat race

to spend more time at their home in Spain.

During that time, Andy studied part-time and qualified as an electrician.

They've now set up a property development company

with their two best friends, and this is their first project.

Andy was very precise when it came to his estimated outlay here.

-So what is the budget?

-£14,200.

-Approximately?

-Well, £14,178 if you want it exactly.

-You've got it down to the penny or the pound?

-Yeah, to the penny or the pound.

Well, it's now seven weeks later.

Back in Leeds, the weather's not been as sunny as Spain,

which has held up the outside work.

But inside, the bungalow's been plastered, rewired,

and they've added cavity wall insulation.

Andy and the team have installed a new kitchen,

which, despite the tight budget, looks high-quality.

Plus gas central heating's been added.

The bathroom's been stripped out and re-tiled.

The bath has been installed, but the rest of the suite is still in storage in the bedroom.

Once the walls have been painted, the room looks ready for new carpet.

The sitting room at the front is the largest room in the house.

What had to be done here?

OK, this is one of the rooms that needed very little doing to it

other than we had to take the old fireplace out.

A lot of the work, you really can't see.

The majority of the floorboards have come up,

we've installed central heating, as you can see,

the house has been completely rewired

and we've installed new downlighters in here to make it more modern.

As I said, most of it is quite hidden, but it was a lengthy task to get it this far.

The previous owner had already done quite a lot of work in this room.

It was one of the most advanced.

But Andy wasn't happy with the plaster, so that's been redone.

Andy's got a novel way of keeping track of the progress.

# That writing on the wall... #

There are a few things left to do

and you can probably see over my shoulder about seven lists, which have been there a while.

Still a few bits left to do, but hopefully only minor.

Going into business with friends can cause friction.

This team have got on well, tackling most of the work together.

Between myself, Dale and the girls,

we've done the majority of the work ourselves.

So far, we've had about eight days of other people

on top of the work we've done.

As Andy's a qualified electrician, he was able to do the wiring.

But of course, they had to employ a registered fitter

to attend to the boiler and all gas appliances.

One of my closest friends, Jason, helped me with the plastering,

and one thing I discovered is,

you can do no work whatsoever when the plasterers are in the house.

They run madly from one room to another, and you can't get anything else done at all.

That delayed the work inside by about a week,

whilst the weather stalled the progress outside.

Andy reckons it'll take a couple of weeks to finish both inside and out.

Then they plan to put the bungalow on the market and sell.

But the big question is,

did they keep to that very precise budget of £14,178?

Well, believe it or not, although it was extremely supposedly accurate,

we're actually still about £2,000 under budget.

We've got about another £500 allocated to landscape the garden,

so we should come in well under budget.

Time now to see what two local property experts

will make of the refurbishment that's taking place here.

It's been done to a good standard

and it's ready for someone to move into.

Nice and neutral and modern so if they want to change it, it's a blank canvas.

It's sparkly, it's minty.

It's freshly done, everything's new,

everything's been done to a standard rather than to a price.

You walk in and think, "That's a proper man done that."

Still some work to be done in the front and rear gardens.

The only other thing you could have done is go up into the loft,

but in this market, you might not get your money back for what you'd spend on it.

This first property for their new development company

cost £73,000 at auction.

They then spent £12,678 doing it up,

making a total outlay of £85,678.

So what could its resell value be?

The sales market is flat,

and there is an over-supply of broadly similar bungalows within a 500-yard radius,

and they're not going anywhere.

This bungalow is worth £110,000.

In my opinion, we'd be looking to market this property at £104,950.

Well, that valuation range between £104,950 and £110,000

would generate a gross profit of between approximately £19,000 and £24,000.

Does Andy think that's a satisfactory return?

There are a number of properties around here pretty much identical

for sale at £125,000 to £135,000.

So I'd certainly try and aim to achieve a bit more than that,

um, but either way, we won't have lost money.

After taking a year off to spend more time at his holiday home in Spain,

Andy and his new development company look to have picked a good property.

The experts think the bungalow could rent out

for between £495 and £525 per calendar month.

That's certainly gone up from what they said seven weeks ago, which can only be good.

Might those rental figures change Andy's plans here?

Er, not really. Still put it up for sale, still sell it.

But if I don't make enough on it, I might go back to Spain.

And on a day like this, I can see the appeal.

We hope you've enjoyed watching, and perhaps learned some lessons.

-Join us next time for more Homes Under The Hammer.

-See you then.

-Bye.

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