Episode 20 Homes Under the Hammer

Welcome to the show.

Both of us have been dealing in property for many years now

and we've witnessed the fluctuations in the market.

But through it all, we've remained convinced of one thing,

you can find yourself a bargain when you buy your home under the hammer.

Martin and I have always been fascinated

by buying under the hammer.

Yes, the speed, the excitement and the potential to get yourself a bargain.

They're all very attractive!

So, let's see what got our purchasers hot under the collar on today's show.

In Staffordshire, this two-bedroomed terraced property

may put some people off, but look below the surface.

Actually, it's not too scary at all!

This semi in Faversham, Kent,

has an interior that might make you feel a little blue.

Well, the decor hits you between the eyes, that's for sure!

And in Cumbria, this house could have some serious problems.

It's a majorly important structural part of the roof

and it has been cut basically in half!

All these properties have been sold at auction.

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

It's yours.

Today, I'm in the Staffordshire town of Basford.

It's home to Europe's first purpose-built theatre in the round,

The New Vic.

# They say the neon lights are bright

# On Broadway...#

And there are other theatres as well

in the two hospitals in the town,

the Royal and the City General.

So, with all those theatrical and medical workers, there could be many tenants

looking for accommodation here.

Well, just a mile from the City Hospital

is the property I'm here to see.

Two bedroom mid-terrace at a guide price of 60,000 quid

looks pretty good from the outside!

The rendering on this redbrick house looks OK

and I'm pleased that the condition of the roof matches the neighbouring properties.

So, it looks as though this place has aged pretty well,

but the windows look original,

which could be an issue.

So, what have we got?

OK, up a little flight of stairs, into the house

and your front sitting-room.

Quite a nice space

and I love the high ceilings,

that gives a really nice feeling of space in the property.

You've also got this bay window here,

which, again, lots of light, gives that extra bit of space...

I notice a bit of damp there,

very common for a bay window to have damp like that.

Normally, coming in down from the roof

or lead flashing against the main part of the building.

Unlikely, I would say, for it to be rising,

given our elevated position, but you never know.

Bit of a gas fire there, and that needs to be checked out and the central heating

looks like it's quite dated.

Through into your rear sitting-room area,

very traditional layout for this kind of property,

stairs up to the bedrooms,

a very interesting looking gas fire.

It's a little bit dated,

but all in all, I've not seen anything that frightens me yet!

Apart from the orange colour scheme!

Let's hope that when you peel back the paper,

there are no nasty surprises!

Well, so far so good!

Ah well! I hadn't seen the kitchen!

Yes, it's not huge and as you can see

it is definitely in need of a bit of tender loving care.

New tiles, new work surfaces, new units, new boiler for sure!

But nothing that frightens me again too much.

That's stuff you'd want to do.

New kitchen, maybe 1,000 quid, 2,000 quid, whatever you want to do.

Carrying on through, the back door. Again, very traditional layout

for this kind of property.

The loo, bathroom, is right at the back here,

only accessed through the kitchen. In certain parts of the country,

this may be an issue.

However, around here,

this is exactly what you would expect for this kind of property

and talking to the estate agents, it isn't too much of an issue

when it comes to selling it on or renting it out. It does need to be refurbished,

but again, kitchens and bathrooms, you'd expect that.

So, yeah, I'd go back to the point, it's not actually too scary at all!

Upstairs in this mid-terrace,

that had a guide price of £60,000 plus,

you either turn left at the top of the stairs to the front

or to the right to the rear bedroom.

Both need a full makeover

and I'm afraid the view from the back window is not the best.

Well if you're expecting a large back garden,

you are going to be a bit disappointed.

You've literally just got this narrow strip.

If it's a family home, it's bad news.

If you're renting it out, it's actually good news.

However, having said that, what's that?

Oh! There's a little garage.

There is actually a little lane at the rear of the property,

so there's obviously access there to get a car in here.

Clearly, this is in a right old state. In fact, it looks a bit dangerous.

I won't stay in here too long! It's a very useful space.

Either, replace it with something that isn't going to fall down in the first big gust of wind,

or just clear it away and then you have got somewhere that you could put a bit of a garden in.

Yeah, good news.

# Knock it down, knock it down

# Knock it down, knock it down

# Yeah! #

So a surprisingly spacious property.

We asked a local estate agent to come and cast

his eyes over it.

How does it fit into the local housing market?

There's good potential with this property. It needs updating,

full modernisation

but it's going to appeal, very much, to the rental market.

And, how much rent could it generate?

Once renovated, this property should command

a rent of £450 per calendar month.

There is a bit of an update required here but once complete,

is there a demand for this type of property?

How much could it be worth after a full refurbishment?

Once renovated, I would suggest an asking price of £89,950.

As far as I'm concerned, there is really nothing not to like about this house.

It's in a good location if you were to rent it out.

I think you could live here and almost move in as it is,

although it would definitely benefit from a bit of tender loving care and upgrading.

I like the high ceilings, I like the brick... Yeah, great one to go for.

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

Lot 43, this is in Basford, Stoke-on-Trent.

What's this, 55 on this one.

50, then. Start me at 50. 50 bid, thank you.

At £50,000. I'll go in ones, if it helps.

The bid's at 50 so far. 51,

52, 53, 54, 55.

56, 57, 58 now?

58, at 58,000. 59,

60, 61,

62, 63...

Shaking your head. 63, gentleman in red. At £63,000.

Against you seated. 64?

Yeah? 64, 65...

No? At £65,000.

Another one anywhere else?

If not, I'm selling it at £65,000.

For the first time at £65,000.

For the second time, bid's left, no mistake.

At £65,000, third and final time...

Are we all done?

Your lot, sir, well done.

That final successful bid of £65,000 was made by Ken and his wife, Jill.

The couple have bought the house as their first property investment.

# It takes two, baby

# It takes two, baby

# It takes two. #

Ken has been a builder for 40 years and runs his own business

while Jill recently took early retirement from a nursing career.

I met them back at the house to find out their plans.

-Jill, Ken, good to meet you both.

-Good to meet you.

-Congratulations!

-Yes.

-You got yourself a house.

Mmm, yeah.

Tell me why you wanted to buy it?

Erm, investments at the moment are really poor.

We're getting no return on most of the money we've got

and we decided that... I mean, I'm in the building trade.

I've done loads and loads of these properties and never really had the time

to actually do anything for myself but now Jill's taken retirement,

she can look after the office side of this part of the business

and she's very good on money and keeping records, making lists.

-Jill, you've been drafted in?

-Yes.

-To set the business up in some ways, actually?

-Yes, I been working full-time for 38 years

and I just wanted to invest in some property and generate some income.

-You know, so we do want to...

-What were you doing until he retired?

-I was a nurse.

-Oh, right.

Well I hope your professional qualifications as a nurse aren't needed too much in the job!

What are you looking forward to?

I'm going to have a go with Ken, I'm going to strip all the wallpaper

and I'm going to get rid of that shed at the back

and I look forward to picking up all the pieces and throwing it in the skip.

-You're really going to get hands-on, are you?

-Oh, yes, definitely.

So Jill brings both admin and office skills to the project

plus a hands-on approach, the ideal combination for their first investment property.

So why this house then?

We looked at it on the auction site

and this area is quite near to the hospitals, town centre,

even Keele University is not far away, Stoke University.

-The station's not too far away, quite handy...

-Stoke City...

-..and not a bad area.

-Stoke City football club?

Right, OK, are you fans by any chance?

-Oh, yeah, big fans, yes.

-Are you both big fans, then?

I am a season ticket holder, Jill's, she's the statistician.

She tells me where we are and what position we are when I come home.

To see if this place will be a home win for Ken and Jill,

I want to know what they plan to do with it.

Strip it down, cure any little bits of damp that there may be,

new kitchen, new bathroom, two new windows in the back

and a new door.

Basically, paint it all, new carpets in.

We've not quite decided about the fires,

maybe we'll do an open fire, maybe not.

We'll see what we're doing. Otherwise, everything is more or less organised.

No major structural changes, are you leaving the lay-out pretty much as it is

with the kitchen back there and the toilet at the back?

I think we'll have to alter the door position going into the kitchen. We may even put an arch there

because it's difficult to get units on both sides.

What are you doing at the back? You've got the sheddy thing

and the courtyardy bit. What's the plans for that?

Jill will pull that down and we'll burn the wood on our wood burner.

Right, OK.

We're going to leave it for parking.

If people don't want to use it for parking,

they've got a nice picnic, barbecue area at the back, anyway.

Maybe clean the paving, see what they're like when the garage is gone.

Tidy the yard up, it should look OK.

What's the plan for it, are you going to rent it?

We're going to keep our options open but, I think, in this climate,

I think, the best thing to do is to try and rent it.

Well they seem to have a strategy in place

and with Ken's experience and contacts in the building trade,

I reckon a five to £7,000 budget is doable.

What about the timescale?

I would think four to six weeks. It depends on my work, as well.

If I get called off to do something that's more profitable, I'll go.

We've got a holiday coming up...

It's coming to ski time and we don't let anything stop that.

-Oh, really, big fans of skiing?

-We're big ski fans, yeah.

-So no slippery slopes for this house?

-No, no, I don't think so.

I can't see any serious problems at all.

I think it'll go quite smoothly.

-Congratulations, good luck with it.

-Thank you.

-I look forward to seeing how you go.

-Lovely to meet you.

Lovely to meet you, too. Have fun skiing and have fun with the house!

Well Ken and Jill obviously spotting a property ripe for transfer with this place

but how will their new developing partnership get on?

Will it make it into the Premier League

or will they score an own goal with this place?

You can find out, later in the show.

I'm in rural Kent today, in the leafy market town of Faversham,

which is rapidly becoming a popular commuter town

with fast train links to London, taking just 70 minutes.

Today's auction lot is in a fabulous location for commuters.

It is so close to the train station that announcements can sometimes be heard from the platform.

So if your 7:05 is running a little late,

you can afford to take a more leisurely stroll to the station.

So, perfect!

It's here. It's a three bedroomed semi-detached house.

It had a guide price of 170 to £180,000.

Not only does it have ample off-street parking,

it comes with a garage, is double glazed

and has a good-sized front garden.

So far, it's promising.

Wow! Well the decor hits you between the eyes, that's for sure!

That aside, though, you've got lots of space in here.

You can see there's been central heating installed.

It's terribly old-fashioned, I think you really need to come in here

with a fresh, modern look and change, basically, everything.

But, really good spaces. I love all the daylight coming through.

I think the only redeeming feature, so far, are these lovely old doors,

so you could try and preserve those.

Perhaps change that fireplace because that's not really beautiful.

You've got one reception room, two reception rooms.

I know the kitchen's through here.

Potentially, you could think about knocking through

and having a lovely, big family space to the back. You've got beautiful views out to the garden.

With a bit of money spending on it, and a bit of thought,

this could be a really nice family house.

It really screams of potential!

The rooms are all a healthy size and the kitchen just needs a bit of updating.

You might even be able to rescue some of the units.

There's also a downstairs toilet and so far I'm loving what I see.

I know I'm laughing, but I just can't get my head around this colour scheme.

That is so blue! That aside, really lovely proportions up here.

Again, big family rooms, a bathroom here.

A fabulous bedroom to the back of the property,

a really good size to the front and not even a box room.

You'd easily get a double bed in the front bedroom there.

Again, I suppose, once you've painted it all, a very big tick from me.

# Don't sigh, don't cry

# Bye, bye, blue... #

Yes, say "bye-bye" to the blues and "hello"

to a more contemporary colour scheme and the bedrooms will be immediately improved.

It shouldn't cost an arm and a leg, either, just some elbow grease.

Apart from a bit of a scrub, are there more adventurous ways

of getting the most out of this property, guided at 170 to 180,000?

What's the best way to add value to a property? Hot tub? No!

Create a fabulous water feature in the garden? No!

Add an extra bedroom?

And, with this house, you can even think about creating a bedroom and bathroom.

Now at the side return, and the garage here, could all be utilised

and a precedent has already been set, which is good news

because neighbours along here have already done that.

My only concern is the end value, I would say around £350,000 here.

You know, there is a ceiling price on this road

so the new owner will have to crunch some figures

before embarking on any kind of development here.

Extensions not only extend the size of a house,

they also extend the length of time it takes to turn it around.

There are also other issues that could derail any over ambitious plans here.

A lovely sunny garden out the back and it's huge!

But something that might put buyers off is that you can see the train station.

Now people may think noise could be a negative factor

but you don't get any because the trains have almost stopped by the time they pull in.

So, you get none of that ee-aw, ee-aw, ee-aw.

One thing I would do, though, would be

to put some planting here to shield that old car park behind.

# Cover me

# Come on in and cover me. #

So, perhaps, some work to be done in the garden

to improve the house's privacy but, again, not something that would be too tricky to sort out.

All in all, I think this covers all the bases in terms of being a great family home.

But, can you cover your costs on this place

that was guided at 170 to 180,000?

What does the local estate agent make of what's on offer here?

This is a good semi-detached house in a great location

and it just needs

a complete refurbishment and redecoration.

It's best not to overdevelop it.

OK, so the estate agent doesn't think it needs an extension

but what sort of resale figure could there be for this house,

that was guided at 170 to 180,000?

The value of this, once renovated, is going to be towards £300,000.

Extended, will probably be towards £350,000.

So with the build costs for an extension, the increase in value

wouldn't generate a significant increase in profit.

How could it fair on the rental market?

If it's let out as a three-bedroomed house,

it will be 750 to £800 per calendar month.

Well it's not a looker of a house but it's functional

and I think there's scope to add value here

but don't forget the ceiling price of 350,000.

The new owner will have to make sure their final spend does not exceed that.

I think, an extension is a good idea as long as you don't overspend.

I'd think about a modest addition here,

turning this into a four-bed house, perhaps.

Let's find out who fancied this challenge as we go to auction.

Lot 46, 170 to start me.

£170,000. 170, I have, and I should think so!

And 180, 180, I have.

190, Sir?

200? 200, I have.

And, 210. And, 220.

225 and 226. 226, I'm bid.

227? 227. 228?

228 I'm bid and 229, is bid.

230? 230 I have.

231? No?

At £231,000... That was a very definite "no".

Well at 231,000, on my left hand side, the gentleman bid.

Being sold for the first time at 231.

At 231 for the second time.

231,000, third and final time, are you all done?

Sold at 231.

That successful bid of 231,000,

51,000 over the upper guide price, was made by Giles.

He lives 40 minutes away with his wife, Rachel,

and their two young children.

Giles used to work in London, in insurance,

but has recently been at stay-at-home dad.

-Giles, lovely to meet you, congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

Tell me the story behind you buying this property?

Well we've been looking for a couple of months to find somewhere to renovate.

I've been at home looking after the children for a year,

which has been hard work.

-So what's your background?

-I used to work in insurance, in London

and basically did that for about ten years.

Basically, decided when I was about 30, I didn't want to do that any more.

So I've always been interested in property.

I met my wife, we got married and we've been renovating a few houses to live in.

We've self built a house and then I've taken a little bit of time off,

over the last year, to look after the children.

That's been too much like hard work, so we've decided to get back on the property ladder

and have another go at doing a renovation.

As far as the property developing goes,

would you say you've learnt on the job, you've learnt along the way?

Yeah, absolutely.

My dad was always a bit of a "fix it up" kind of guy

and I was always someone who wanted to get involved with what he was doing.

I just learned as I've gone along.

You know, we've always got specialist trades in to do specific things, electrics and gas.

Actually, a lot of renovation and building work is muscle and grunt.

And, er, if you can do that yourself, you can keep your costs down

and, you know, hopefully make a bit of profit at the end of it.

So you've got muscle and grunt, I've never heard of that before.

That's how I'll think of you now, Giles with the muscle and grunt.

# I want muscle! #

Not only will Giles need a bit of muscle and grunt,

he'll also need to do some juggling.

His wife's a doctor and he'll need to take his children to and from nursery.

But, at last, he has a chance to focus on his own work project.

So let's talk about this property, where are you going to start with this?

The first thing is to get some planning permission,

put it into the local council.

We're planning a substantial two-storey extension

on the side of the house to create two bedrooms

and a bathroom upstairs and some extra living space downstairs.

Get that in and in the couple of months that it'll, hopefully, take that to go through,

the focus will be on renovating this side of the existing property.

Upstairs is really cosmetic, it doesn't look great at the moment.

I don't think there's anything too much to worry about.

Downstairs, there's a little bit more work to do and we're going to open it out a little bit

and then, hopefully, that should be quite seamless.

By the time that's finished, the planning permission will be through

and we'll be able to, you know, move straight on with doing the extension.

Then, you know, I'd estimate another four to five months after that,

we'll be ready to go.

Hopefully, you know, total project time about eight or nine months.

-You're going to make it into a five-bedroom, two-bathroom house?

-Yeah.

What sort of money have you got to spend on it,

it's all about keeping your costs down to get the profit at the end?

We've got a total budget of around 60,000 for the renovation and the extension.

At this moment, I would think that's probably going to be something

like 40,000 for the extension,

maybe 45, and 15 to 20 for the renovation.

Giles hopes to sell the finished house

and has crunched his numbers on the basis of a £350,000 valuation.

How are you going to cope, in the coming months, with peeling wallpaper, builders,

-nappy changing, potty training, perhaps because your little one is only one?

-Yes, absolutely.

You've still got all your daddy chores, your wife's busy at work.

How are you going to manage?

I've got a few hours each day when I'm here on my own,

there's no crying babies, there's no wife asking me to do any jobs or chores.

I'll be quite happy. I've been looking forward to doing this for awhile.

Is this going to be your downtime?

Exactly, yeah, property development for a bit of R&R.

-I love it! Giles, good luck and I hope it goes really well. Lovely to meet you.

-And you, thank you.

# Daddy, daddy cool

# Daddy, daddy cool

# Daddy, daddy cool... #

Will full-time dad, Giles, go potty for this project

and has he got the bottle to hold out for the maximum value here?

One thing's for sure, those sleepless nights are not going to get any easier.

Good luck, Giles, we'll be back later in the programme to see how he gets on.

Still to come, in Cumbria,

this three-bed house has a problem that's hard to ignore.

The gable end wall of the house is actually bowing out.

In Kent, how did combining in fatherhood with renovation go?

Picking up children and, you know, having to come back to earth

with a bit of a bump at the end of each day has been great.

But, first, in Staffordshire, did Ken and Jill's experience leave her thirsty for more?

I soon found out that perhaps this is not my cup of tea.

Back now to Basford, Stoke-on-Trent, where earlier in the programme

Ken and his wife, Jill, bought this two-bed mid-terrace for 65,000.

It was their first auction purchase.

Ken runs his own building company and Jill had retired after 38 years of nursing.

What are you going to do, then, to sort it out?

Er, strip it down,

obviously cure any little bits of damp that there may be.

New kitchen, new bathroom...

What's the plan for it, are you going to rent it out or sell it?

We're going to keep our options open but, I think, in this climate,

I think the best thing to do is to try and rent it.

Well, it's now three months later.

And, the house is ready to rent out.

The bay fronted living room walls

and carpet have a neutral colour scheme.

A new door has been fitted to the dining room.

So from orange and green to magnolia and gloss white.

And, the new fireplace adds a great homely touch.

But there have been some major damp issues that needed to be treated throughout.

The entrance to the kitchen is now through an arch.

The new units and appliances look really good but the damp

was only the start of the problems in the kitchen, as Ken explains.

When we bought the house we realised that the kitchen was the worst part

of the house, really. Everything was shot, boiler, kitchen units, window.

We totally stripped it out.

We realised straight away that the fact that we could do with

the cooker on one side, the fridge on the other

because there wasn't really enough room to put both on the same side.

We needed to centre this opening up here.

We centred it up and we thought putting an arch in would give us

a little bit more light into that room there.

I think it's worked really well.

The grey flooring continues into the bathroom

A new window and suite have gone in there.

The damp issues continued upstairs where Ken has replastered the two bedrooms.

New doors have been installed.

And, the wardrobes removed from the front bedroom.

It looks fresh, clean and modern, thanks to Ken and Jill's teamwork.

I think he's done wonderfully well.

I think he's very good at what he does.

I really stepped up a gear when it came to the cleaning

and organising the carpets and making all the phone calls.

But, he's done most of the work.

But it seems Ken had his work cut out trying to fix some exterior problems as well.

We had problems, the roof, the wall plate was rotten

and I had to put scaffolding along the back, take the rotten wood out, replace it

and put an overhang on the roof, retiled it's a heck of a lot better.

Also, there were no lintels over the windows.

It didn't take much to demolish that old garage,

it was practically falling down.

Now the paving slabs have been cleaned up,

the outside does look much tidier.

What's left to do?

We've pulled everything down round. I've just got to put a pair of gates on the back there.

We, obviously, re-rendered the outside, altered the drain a little bit.

Yeah, I'm quite happy as it is now at the moment.

With Ken's 40 years of building experience,

nothing fazed him about the work here.

What about Jill, did she enjoy her first development project?

Started off really, really enthusiastic,

and then I soon found out that perhaps this is not my cup of tea.

I don't think it's something I'd do full time.

I do want to go back to work.

With the damp issues to sort out,

Ken spent a lot more time here than he intended.

In the end, to speed things up, he got some extra help.

But what effect did that have on the budget of £5,000-7,000?

Because the time was dragging on,

we decided to get a decorator in.

So, budget wise,

plus with the decoration we were intending to do ourselves,

that pushed the budget up a bit.

An odd few things like the roof, possibly gone now about 9,000.

So, on this, their first development project, added to the £65,000

they spent at auction,

that takes their total outlay to 74,000.

Time to see if two local estate agents will think the work here

has been worthwhile.

I think they've done a good job with the kitchen.

It's got nice, neutral units.

The flooring's been tiled, which is a good positive,

and it's nice, neutral colours.

Opening up the kitchen using an archway rather than a door

is a great idea.

It gives a feeling of space rather than opening

and shutting doors all the time.

I think the bathroom's nice and neutral,

the suite's plane white, nice tiled floor,

and it'll appeal to everyone.

Ken and Jill have invested £74,000 here,

and the estate agents reckon a resale could achieve between 80 and 83,000,

giving the couple a potential gross profit of between 6 and 9,000.

That's a small profit, which Ken and Jill feel is indicative

of the current housing market.

How do the rental figures look?

If we were renting the property,

we would be asking a figure somewhere in the region of

£475 per calendar month.

I'd put this property on the market, per calendar month, at £425.

-I think 475 is more accurate.

-475 is what we were hoping for. Yes.

So, we're fine with that, aren't we?

Yeah.

So, rental is definitely the way to go, with yields of around

7-8% possible here.

This house was hiding a few nasty surprises with that damp,

but Ken's years of experience in the building trade were invaluable.

What's next for the couple? Another refurbishment?

-THEY LAUGH

-Erm...

Jill doesn't want a property with as much work to do.

It didn't really surprise me in many ways,

but there was a lot of work that needed doing.

A lot of work that was hidden.

Preferably something that's brand new

and doesn't need any work doing to it!

I'm 30 minutes from Carlisle in the market town of Wigton.

Now, in medieval times,

this triangular market square was the centre of the village.

It used to have a wooden cross, now there's this rather elaborate fountain.

# Just try a little wig-wam bam. #

Wigton's a thriving little market town,

and regular livestock auctions mean that it's a hub

for the local agricultural community.

# Wig-wam, bam, sham-a-lam. #

Well, right in the centre of town, opposite a pay and display car park, is the property I'm here to see.

Now, it is ironic that it's opposite that car park,

because in terms of parking right outside the house, you can't, cos you've got this double-yellow line.

But this is it - it's a three-bedroom town house.

Had a guide price of 60,000 quid.

Rather interesting bit of excavation work's going on next door, but I'll come back to that.

For now, let's take a look inside.

Well, it's a nice start. Look at that front door.

Get that cleaned up, that would be beautiful.

But, through there, into this little entrance area,

got a useful storage space.

A living room area off to the left,

stairs up to the bedrooms,

and then another living area over to the right-hand side, here.

I like that there's reasonable-height ceilings.

It doesn't feel too claustrophobic, which is good.

And double glazing, so not too much noise from the road.

One negative straightaway - storage radiators, and very old ones at that.

So, central heating is something you're going to have to factor in to your costs.

But then, through to the kitchen,

and I think there's some internal work needed here.

There is a sort of larder/storage cupboard there.

Get rid of that to create a bit more space.

There's an understairs area there.

I'm thinking, make that into, maybe, a downstairs loo.

Building regulations changed, so you only need one door between a loo

and a kitchen nowadays, so stick a downstairs loo in there.

And then the kitchen itself, well, as you can see,

it's very dated and old.

Yeah, it needs a bit of work.

Something a bit radical you might want to consider is taking out this wall here.

It is a supporting wall, so you have to make sure you do it properly.

But then, open this whole area out into a big, sort of open-plan feel.

That would be fairly dramatic.

So, all-in-all, as ground floors go, pretty good.

There are certainly options here, but knocking down supporting walls

and plumbing in a new loo won't come cheap.

You might be better off just updating what's here,

because on the first floor, there's a bit of work to do, too.

The three bedrooms up here could all do with new carpets

and redecorating.

And, as for the family bathroom, well, it's a good size,

but that could also do with a revamp.

I'm a little concerned by this big crack in the bedroom ceiling.

I hope a quick peek in the attic will shed some light on the matter.

HE GROANS

Well, whenever you're looking round properties,

it's always really useful if you can take a look inside the loft space.

It's what surveyors do, so you should take a leaf from their book.

Some people do carry around portable ladders so they can do exactly that,

because this is the sort of thing you might find.

Up here in this little attic space, a very strange sort of room.

It's got some carpet tiles.

It's obviously been semi-converted,

but obviously does not meet any kind of building regulations,

and could only be used for storage.

But something much more worrying...

Um, look at this. This is called a purlin.

It's a majorly important structural part of the roof,

and it has been cut, basically, in half,

to give access through the loft hatch, here.

The kind of weakening of the structure of the roof

that's gone on there, heaven only knows.

And it's also been done there, so clearly not ideal at all,

and I would certainly want to get a structural engineer

to check that out and tell you what needs to be done to fix it.

There's always the risk

that there isn't enough support for this kind of ad-hoc loft conversion,

so you'd be wise to get the structure thoroughly checked.

And if you thought the cracks in the bedroom were bad,

I'm afraid that there's more cause for concern outside.

Well, as I noticed when I first arrived at the property, right by the side of it

is this huge great excavation.

It looks like they're putting in the foundations to build

some kind of a house. I'd want to know what that is,

so check that out with the local planners. But while I'm here,

I've also noticed the gable end wall of the house...

I don't know if you can see it, but it is actually bowing out this way,

and there's a really nasty crack there.

So, I don't know if this digging has had some effect on the house itself,

but I'd certainly want a structural engineer

to check that out before I did anything.

But it's not all doom and gloom out here,

because while there are double-yellows at the front

and a big hole at the side of the property, it's a different matter at the back.

Well, thankfully, there is a resolution

to those parking problems, here, at the rear of the property.

Not only have you got a small garden,

there is rear access through this gate, here,

to a place where you could easily park two cars.

That makes a big difference.

The property went to auction with a guide price of 60,000.

We asked along a local estate agent to give us his thoughts.

My first impressions of the house

are that there are a good number of rooms, each of a good size.

However, I believe the property requires refurbishment throughout.

What kind of price tag would he put on the property once refurbished?

Once renovated to a good standard,

I believe this property would be worth around £95,000.

And what about putting the property on the rental market?

Once the property's been refurbished to decent standard

it could be let out at £400 per calendar month.

You certainly couldn't wish for a more centrally located property

and a lot of space for the money.

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

Lot 22. Who will put me in at 60?

Let's see 60 for this.

50, get me started.

50 I've got. At £50,000 we're away.

I'll take 51.

51 I've got. 52...

53...

54...55...

56...

57...58...

Shake of the head.

At £57,000.

58...

59, shake of the head. It's with you at 58.

At £58,000 I'm selling it.

At £58,000 for the first time,

at £58,000 for the second time,

at £58,000 then, third and final time.

All done. Sold, madam, well done.

That successful bid of £58,000 was made by local lass Sheila

who attended the auction with her sister Kathleen.

Now, Sheila knows her silverside from her sirloin

because not only does she run the restaurant and bar

at the local cattle market

but she also keeps the books for her husband, who is a butcher.

I met Sheila back the property to hear about her plans.

-Sheila, lovely to meet you. Congratulations!

-Thank you.

Tell me why you wanted to buy this place.

I'd been looking to buy a property to do up.

I've been looking at one or two and this came on the market

and I thought it would be a good buy.

What was it about it that you particularly liked?

-I used to live next door.

-Next door?!

-Yes.

-Which way?

-Not in the hall!

-Right!

-THEY LAUGH

-No, the house, me parents owned the house next door.

-Oh, OK.

-So, what was in that hole before?

-A butcher's shop.

-Oh, OK.

-Me dad built it.

So, hang on a minute,

-your dad built the shop that used to be next door...

-Yes.

-..which was a butchers shop?

-He bought the house when I was 15...

-Right.

-..and he built a butcher's shop in the garden.

-So, how long did the shop operate for?

Oh...

-Many years?

-Many years.

-When did it stop?

Well, my dad died and my brother took it over,

and he closed it about four year ago.

Right, but up until four years ago it was a going,

-going concern in a butcher's.

-Yeah, and then he closed it

-and sold the site to my other brother who's a builder.

-Ha!

Wow!

Ha, butchers, builders -

I wonder if there is a candlestick maker in the family!

But, joking aside, it'll be a big help to Sheila

to know exactly what's going on in the hole in the ground next door.

'I've told him to hurry up and fill it in!'

-THEY LAUGH

-Because he's your brother...

-Yeah.

-..you can tell him that!

-Yeah.

-What's he doing to the place?

-He's building four townhouses.

-Right.

-Hm-mm.

-And will they actually adjoin this building?

No, there'll be a two inch gap so it'll protect my gable end.

Yeah, now, let's come onto the gable end cos it is a bit wonky, isn't it?

Yeah, yeah. I might do something with it before he starts building.

-I'll get a builder to look at it and see if I need to.

-Are you concerned?

-Cos it concerned me a little bit.

-No.

-I've had structural engineer look over it.

-What did he say?

Erm, not too much concern, no.

While your engineer was here, did he stick his head into the loft?

-Yes, that was the main reason I got him here!

-You know about that then?

Yeah, yeah, I knew before I bought it.

-He's not too concerned about that either.

-What does he think you can do to sort that out?

Er, maybe some steel structures, just to strengthen it.

Well, that's a big relief because I was worried that this house

might have serious structural issues.

What has Sheila got in store for the rest of the property?

Maybe keep the carpet!

-SHE LAUGHS

-Yeah, lovely!

It's a good carpet!

Oh, really? Yes, it is, it's amazing how they last, these carpets.

-Yeah, no, I'll put a wood floor.

-Put a wood floor down, OK!

No, I'll laminate this room and the kitchen.

-The cupboard in the kitchen is to come out.

-Right.

-And just redecorate.

-Any, sort of, structural alterations down here?

Taking out any walls or...

No, no.

If I was going to live in it I would have maybe taken that wall out.

-Right.

-But I'm not, so...

-So, it's to be rented, is it?

-Yeah.

-Yeah, it's just to rent.

-And upstairs?

-New bathroom and just redecorate.

-So, who gets to do the work?

I've got to local people that...I've got lined up.

And me and my sister will do some as well.

-Right, what bits do you get involved in?

-Well, she can strip this off!

Oh, great, give her the woodchip! Well, that's great!

-You love your sister, obviously!

-Yeah!

-What's the, sort of, budget?

I would like to do it for ten, but I don't think I will.

-Up to 15.

-Right, and that doesn't include doing the gable end

-if you have to do something there?

-Erm...we'll wait and see.

-And kind of timescale?

-Erm, two-and-a-half months.

-Well, listen, congratulations, well done.

-Thank you.

-I look forward to seeing how you get on.

-Thank you.

Well, Sheila obviously has incredible family ties with this place, what a great story.

And with the brother digging next door,

hopefully, the problems with the gable end will be sorted,

as will those in the roof.

Will she manage to serve up a tidy profit on this one

as well as those meals at the auctions?

You can find out later in the show.

Renovating can be a time-consuming undertaking.

Yes, especially if things don't quite go to plan.

Let's see if our buyers' dreams have turned into reality.

Back now to Faversham, in Kent,

to check on progress at this three-bed semi.

Part-time property developer and full-time stay at home dad Giles

bought it at auction for 231,000.

When he wasn't looking after his two kids,

Giles's plan was to extend the property,

turning it into a five-bedroom family home

and he wasn't going to shy away from rolling up his sleeves either!

You know, a lot of renovation and building work is muscle and grunt

and, you know, if you can do that yourself

you can keep your costs down and hopefully,

you know, make a bit of profit at the end of it.

-"Muscle and grunt"? I love it. I've never heard of that before.

-No skill!

That's how I'm going to think of you now, Giles, with the, "muscle and grunt"!

Giles had a budget of 60,000 and an eight to nine-month timescale.

I really couldn't wait to see the fruits of all that, "muscle and grunt".

So, nine-and-a-half months after our first visit

we're back to reveal all.

# Give me all your loving All your hugs and kisses too

# Give me all your loving Don't let up until we're through. #

Well, there's still a bit to do

but Giles reckons that within two or three weeks he'll have the whole place shining like a new pin.

It's clear to see, however, that he's well on the way

to turning a rather tired semi into a belter of a family home.

We have, erm, extended the property extensively

so we are now five bedrooms, two bathrooms, two reception rooms.

Erm, we've updated the original part of the house

and, yeah, really pleased with what we've done so far.

The crowning glory has to be the new dining kitchen,

which is a BIG improvement on the old kitchen and loo that were here before.

Well, this space was originally the kitchen.

Erm, obviously, quite a small kitchen at that stage.

What we've done is taken out a wall to create a much larger kitchen.

Then here was originally the outside of the house

and we've taken this wall out as well,

and I think what we've created is a really nice kitchen diner,

come family room, that, hopefully, will really be the heart of the home.

Apart from the ground works, bricklaying, plumbing and electrics,

for the most part, Giles has been working here on his own.

Were there any significant problems along the way?

The only really, you know, difficult part of the job that we found

was a drain that we had to move.

That ended up being pretty deep down in the ground

and so by the time we'd dug it out and then to re-fill the hole up with concrete,

that did cause us to overrun a little bit on the budget for the ground works.

But, actually, apart from that, we've had no real major issues.

Giles hopes to bring the build in just a month or so behind schedule,

which isn't bad considering how much he's done here.

But how has he fared on the budget front?

The original budget was 60,000.

We've gone over that by a little bit

but, maybe, only something like 10, 15,000

but, actually, a lot of that will go on the finish at the end.

Things like granite worktops that we're going to put in, and carpet,

and, you know, the finishes around the property.

And how did it go with juggling a house build

as well as looking after two kids while his wife, Rachel, was working as a doctor?

It worked out really well because, you know,

it's hard work doing project like this and, actually,

having the natural break at the end of the day

to go and pick the children up

has actually meant that I have, sort of, got out and got home,

and had time to, sort of, think about something else.

Because, actually, if you are trying to do this day in day out

there is a, sort of, physical limit, really, on how much you can do.

So, actually picking up the children

and having come back to earth with a bit of a bump at the end of each day has been great.

And the really welcome news is that Giles has already had a good offer on the property.

Somebody knocked on the door

and told me that they used to live in the house opposite

and, you know, could they come in and have a look around.

And the gentleman said that, you know, this property,

you know, thinks it's exactly what his daughter's looking for,

so he brought her back the next day, she loved it

and it's snowballed from there, really.

And they've made an offer and, you know, we've accepted it.

So, it's been great, really.

So, given his purchase price of 231,000,

plus the 75,000, or so, that he'll have spent on the renovations,

Giles's total outlay on the project is around 306,000.

We asked to local estate agents for their views

on this transformed house.

I'm amazed that this house, how this has been extended, it works so well.

There's a lot of additional space been added.

Absolutely fantastic house. There's a lot of accommodation space here.

A very good family home.

The estate agents agreed that the house could rent out

for between £1,200 and £1,300 per calendar month,

a yield of nearly five percent.

But Giles has already accepted an offer to purchase the property

but what should it fetch on the resale market?

I could sell this property in the market for £380-£400,000.

This would sell, now, for a figure towards 400,000.

Probably £385-£400,000.

Yeah, no, really pleased with those valuations.

Obviously, you know, we have accepted an offer on the house

and, er, those are broadly in line with the offer we've accepted.

So, yeah, really pleased.

And, in fact, Giles has just accepted an offer for £400,000.

So, if the sale goes ahead,

he'll be in line for a pre-tax profit of £94,000

minus the usual selling expenses.

That really is a great reward for all his heroic efforts

but where does he go from here? To another auction?

I would definitely go back to auction, yes.

In fact, as soon as we, hopefully, get the proceeds from the sale

we'll be back at the auction looking for an appropriate property.

Back, now, to the busy market town of Wigton, in Cumbria.

It was here that, earlier, we met Sheila,

who'd bought this lovely three-bed townhouse for £58,000.

She is a native of Wigton,

runs a restaurant in the local cattle market,

is married to a local butcher

and knows the street and house really well.

I used to live next door.

-Next door?!

-Me parents owned the house next door...

-Right.

..and they built a butcher's shop in the garden.

-So, how long did the shop operate for?

-For many years.

-When did it stop?

-Well, me dad died and me brother took it over

and he closed it about four year ago,

and sold the site to me other brother, who is a builder.

Well, I suppose it is good to keep it in the family!

The house itself needed some work to fulfil its potential

but the real worries here were two shortened purlins in the loft,

that could result in roof damage, and a crack in the end gable wall.

So, was Sheila's budget of £10-£15,000

and a two-and-a-half month timescale

going to be enough to deal with these problems?

So, bearing in mind Sheila's involvement in the meat trade,

it would surely be fair to say that three-and-a-half months later

we returned to have a BUTCHERS at her renovation!

Outside, the walls have had a fresh lick of paint

and while the windows were already double glazed and didn't need replacing,

there is a new front door.

And, next door, it looks like Sheila's brother

has finally started work on the new townhouses.

Inside, the living room is now fresh and newly decorated in neutral colours -

perfect for the rental market.

While the kitchen has been revamped along the same decorative lines.

The reception room has also been done in a similar style.

And, yes, those carpets HAVE gone!

But there was more to this ground floor renovation

than just cosmetic work.

So, in this room I've completely stripped it back to the bare brick.

There was quite a lot of damp problem.

It's been dampcoursed and then the outside walls have been tanked.

Completely re-plastered.

New flooring, new woodwork, new doors,

new lighting, new fire.

Behind me there was a cupboard -

we've stripped that out and put a new one in,

just to cover the electric meters.

Everything is smart, fresh and inviting.

The same goes for upstairs,

where Sheila has continued the look in the three good-sized bedrooms.

And that bathroom...

Well, that's had a total revamp as well

and is now the perfect place to relax and pamper yourself.

Throughout the house, Sheila, as a butcher's daughter,

has stripped everything back to the bone and re-plastered throughout,

adding new wiring and central heating.

But what about those problems that lurked unseen?

Yeah, there was a big crack in the gable end

but once the houses are built next door

it's going to be within two inch, so it's going to be enclosed then

but the builder decided if we had it tanked -

once you tanked all the outside walls nothing can get in.

So, really, even though the crack is still on the gable end

nothing to get inside because it's sealed.

And it's guaranteed 30 years as well.

And remember those problem purlins in the loft?

Well, Sheila has followed the structural engineer's recommendation

and had them strengthened with steel supports.

So, that's one less thing for her to worry about.

But the damp-proofing of the house

has meant a small problem arising in the kitchen.

Erm, it's been a complete revamp.

New kitchen, cooker, sink.

We did have a bit of a problem -

the wall unit they had we couldn't put on

because you can't drill into tanked walls.

Sheila hopes to be letting this place out soon,

once a minor job in the kitchen is sorted out

and the garden at the back has been tidied up and made presentable.

And, as with everything else on this project,

she'll leave those jobs to the builders.

Sheila is only recently retired from running the restaurant

so wasn't able to be hands-on with this project

but that doesn't mean she didn't enjoy the process.

Just seeing it come together at the end.

Yeah, the workers have really, really worked hard.

Especially this last fortnight.

The extra work on the damp-proofing knocked Sheila's schedule on

from two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half months

but did all that extra work mean that the budget also took a knock?

Originally, the budget was between ten to 15

but that was wishful thinking.

It's gone quite a bit over.

I think it'll be you roundabout 22 by the time I get everything in.

The reason it's cost a lot more is all the extra building work.

The damp-proofing and the tanking.

But I didn't mind because I know I bought the house reasonable price

and I think it still, it'll still pay off.

It was a windy day,

so we asked to local estate agents if they would be...

-THEY LAUGH

-..blown away by this property!

Remember, Sheila has spent £22,000 on the renovation.

Add that to her purchase price of 58,000

and the total outlay is now £80,000.

What do the estate agents make of this property?

I think they've done an excellent job with the improvements they've made to the property.

I like the size of the rooms, I like the finish,

I like the bathroom suite, it's been done to a very good standard

and I love the central location of the property.

I think the property has been finished to a good standard,

it has three good-sized bedrooms, I like the finishes on the bathroom

and the kitchen are very modern and clean.

I think they've improved the property to a good standard.

Decoration is really finished off well

and it will appeal to a few people.

So, it's a thumbs up from the estate agents

but with plans to let the property out,

how do the possible rental incomes sound?

In this current market, I believe this property could achieve

between £475 and £500 per calendar month.

To let out this property

I could see it being a rental income of £450 per calendar month.

Yeah, that sounds about right. Yeah, that's what I thought.

Those rental figures could give Sheila a healthy annual yield

of around seven to around seven-and-a-half percent

and if she ever decides to cash in the house,

the estate agents value the property at between 95-100,000,

giving Sheila possible pre-tax profit of £15-20,000.

But, for now, Sheila's planning to take things easy

and enjoy her retirement

though she doesn't entirely rule out going for another property soon.

I would do the auction again, yes. Maybe in the future.

Because I plan to have a bit more free time to myself,

which I've never had for a long time.

Well, that's it for today's show but join us next time for more tales

from the front line of property developing.

We look forward to seeing you then.

-Goodbye.

-Goodbye.

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