Episode 66 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello. Now, if you ever fancied buying a property at auction

but haven't yet taken the plunge, maybe now is the time.

There is so much variety in those auction catalogues.

Thousands of lots are offered each month for sale,

so why not get down to your local auction house and check out the action.

People often ask us how to behave in an auction room.

Well, there are no hard and fast rules, but here are a few tips.

Always stand or sit where you can be seen by the auctioneer, and set yourself a price limit.

If you want to bid, make sure you are clear, you're visible, and don't exceed you limit.

So, here are the properties that people bid on in today's show.

In Goudhurst, Kent, there's a chance to own a unique building.

The auction catalogue calls it "a fabulous opportunity." I'm excited.

In County Durham, I reveal my powers of deduction when it comes to tracing damp.

That could have something to do with it.

And in the small Cornish village of Antony, not even cats could have

a swinging time in this cottage kitchen.

HE LAUGHS

All these properties are being sold at auction. We'll find out who bought them

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

-Sold!

Goudhurst in Kent is one of those classic English villages.

There is a duck pond in the middle, and lots of character buildings.

It's delightfully quaint.

I'm here to see a detached property in this village. It had a guide price

of just £180,000 to £200,000, and the auction catalogue calls it

"a fabulous opportunity." I'm excited!

And here it is - a former chapel. How impressive!

The 19th century chapel was built on a lovely elevated site,

so has some stunning views.

The building has some really attractive architectural features,

but as it's been lying vacant, I suppose it might take more than a little faith to get into shape.

Wow! This is an incredible space.

The acoustics... Ah! Ah!

I love spaces like this. I know it's been vacant for eight years.

It was built in 1878, and you can see this Methodist chapel is just incredible.

Look at these windows!

This would make an incredible home, it's absolutely beautiful in here.

You can imagine raising the floor here, creating a mezzanine level

so you've got two areas to live. What a brilliant family home!

With a bit of imagination, this could be a stunning individual property.

Amazingly, the chapel isn't listed, but I hope that some of the really beautiful features will remain.

There is a separate, smaller building on the site of the main chapel

that used to be the Sunday school. At one end, there is a raised area with a small kitchen,

and just when I thought I couldn't praise this property any more,

there's another revelation about this chapel.

So, here's a really exciting bit of news.

Somebody has already taken the trouble to apply for full planning permission

to turn this into living quarters. And I've got the plans right here.

Now, you can see on the ground floor you've got a lovely, big, spacious living room.

There is a study. You've got a huge kitchen/dining area.

A little downstairs office with a lobby,

and it goes out onto a beautiful walled garden, which will be amazing in the summer.

I mean, the grounds here are already spectacular.

And then upstairs you've got four lovely bedrooms

with an en suite bathroom and a dressing room,

and another huge bathroom to the side, here.

So you can see it's really, really spacious.

It's got really nice doors leading out to the garden.

Planning permission has been granted.

Can you imagine what it would be like to live in this place?

It's already got quite a special feeling here.

The plans that have been passed will allow the demolition of the former Sunday school building.

The land that that frees up will be turned into a walled garden for the new house.

But in the main chapel, there are many signs of damp on the walls.

So, whoever bought the chapel would definitely need to get the roof checked out for leaks.

Apart from the all-important planning permission that comes with this property,

it's also got a sizeable extra chunk of land to the side.

So, the plans are great, but what if you wanted to tweak them or change them altogether?

Maybe demolish this building and build two semi-detached houses?

Well, looking into the planning history here, it could prove difficult.

Now, in 2004, the idea of demolishing and creating two houses was refused.

In 2005, somebody had the idea of creating four flats here.

That was also rejected. So, looking at several rejections,

I would say you may have to settle for the plan in place.

To find out more about the prospects here, we invited a local

estate agent to come and have a look at this chapel that comes with that

crucial planning permission.

I think the plans are very good, but they've obviously been prepared

to get planning permission. I think a revisit, planning-wise,

would be a very good idea.

The room that currently I am standing in is the former Sunday school building,

and I think there's a lot of potential here that could be used.

Changing the plans could prove problematic, given its planning history.

And what about the financial implications?

How much could this former chapel generate in rental income after it's been converted?

I would expect to get about £2,500 per month for it.

And the potential resale value after a full conversion into a four-bedroomed house?

If it was done along the lines of the present planning permission

with a good developer, I would anticipate achieving somewhere between £650,000 to £680,000.

This is an individual property for an individual buyer,

and once the work has been carried out, well, it's going to make somebody an amazing home.

I would love to live here. Let's find out who wanted this chapel as we go to auction.

Now we go to lot 94, which is the former Methodist chapel.

It's in a quarter of an acre with planning for

a four-bedroom detached house.

Excellent conversion project. Start me where you will on that one.

180 can I say? 180? Where are you going to start me?

£180,000 bid, I am on the way. 180 I have. And 5, do I see?

185 do I see? 185, standing at the back.

190. And 5. 195. And 2? At 200. And 5, and 10,

and 15, and 20.

And 5. 25, and 30.

230. And 5. 235?

235. And 40. 240, and 5.

240 I have. And 5, may I say, at the back? Are you out of it at the back?

We're all done at 240. 5 in a fresh place. 245. And 50.

250. And 5. 255 at the back.

255, and 60. And 5. 265.

265 is against you at the back, sir.

265 I have, 270. 270? Yep. 270, and 5.

275. And 80. 280 and 5. 285.

And 90. No? At 285,000, open neck shirt at the back.

290 I am looking for.

287 I will take, if it were just two more. You've been with it all this time.

But I've got 285 at the back for the first time.

285. 287. 290. One more go.

290 I've got. And 2, no?

At £290,000 I have, and I will sell for the first time.

290 for the second time.

Third and final time for 290,000, standing at the back,

are we all done? 290. Well done, sir. And the number is...

The victors in that epic auction battle were Nick and Sonia,

who paid £290,000. They are both experienced developers in their own right,

and this is their second project together. Nick is a quantity surveyor,

and Sonia is an accountant by profession, and has also run her own building company.

I met up with them back at the chapel to hear

what they are praying for with this place.

-Guys, congratulations.

-Thank you.

-This is brilliant news.

I mean, I love it here. What are you two going to do with it?

In a nutshell, we hope to turn it into a lovely family home.

For you guys to live in?

Yes, that is the likelihood at the moment, is that we're going to live here ourselves.

So, Sonia, what is the story behind you finding this?

Well, we moved to Goudhurst just over a year ago, and my daughter's school's local,

so I drove past this building every day taking her to school,

and noticed it was empty, and we approached the Methodists

to see if we could buy it, but unfortunately at the time they said no,

and it would have to be sold at auction.

So, we sort of followed it from there.

So we have been tracking it for some time.

The couple are currently renovating another property in Rochester, Kent.

They plan to complete the work there before starting work on this former chapel.

Although planning permission has already been granted,

they are looking to resubmit revised plans.

Our view is that it's not the right design for this building.

And why do you say that?

Because it doesn't do justice to the space that is here.

Basically, they are intending to put a floor all the way through here,

and ruin the potential of having some double height space in it.

It virtually demolishes all of the Sunday school room

at the back which we don't think is also appropriate.

We have an architect on board who is starting to draw up

and hopefully interpret our vision for it, and put his own mark on it, too.

And we believe we'll end up with a better product at the end of the day.

So, how are you going to do that without cutting back on space?

If you want to keep this as one and not use it as, you know, two floors,

how are you going to do that in terms of space?

There will be a part floor running through,

but what we want to do is keep the dramatic two-storey space

around the two sides where the tall windows are.

The new plans sound fantastic, but they've got to get them passed,

and that will take time and money.

They've set a total budget of £200,000,

including fees and other expenses.

Added to the £290,000 they paid at auction, that takes the couple's projected total outlay

to around nearly £500,000.

And they're reckoning on about one year to get the work done.

So, it's just one dwelling that you are looking at building?

At the moment, the intention is just to build one, but we are looking at the possibility

of a second property on the adjoining land which was part of the purchase.

Guys, all I'm going to say is good luck with the planning,

-and I hope it goes your way. Thank you.

-Thank you, thank you.

-Thank you very much.

Nick and Sonia want to change the plans which came with their auction purchase,

but given the planning history, this approach isn't without some degree of risk.

You know, I hope for them it works out,

but the big question here is will the sell on, will they rent out, or move in?

You can find out what they do later on in the programme.

Welcome to West Cornforth in County Durham. It's a former mining village,

so the majority of properties built here were for the pit workers and their families.

So, the property I'm here to see is a former coal miner's cottage.

It's a terrace, two bedrooms. Around six years ago, this same property

sold for around £56,000, but the guide price at auction was just under £20,000.

That just goes to show what the current economic climate

has done to property prices around here. That's just, like, a third of the price.

From the front, it doesn't look too bad. There are fairly new double glazed windows,

and it's set a little back from the road. Not a bad start

for a guide price of £19,950.

Expectations set relatively low, then.

So, what have we got?

Looks all right, first glance.

Very standard layout, front door straight in front of the stairs to the bedrooms,

through into the front sitting room.

I reckon these floorboards could be quite nice stripped back,

and double glazing on the front, which is good.

It's definitely a nice little space.

Through to your rear sitting room, as I said, very traditional layout.

But again, nothing untoward as yet.

I would have liked to have seen an open fire in there,

and I'm concerned that's been blocked up and there is no air brick there

to give a flow of air, so that might cause a few damp issues.

Open that up, that'd be a really nice space.

And something you might want to consider doing is knocking down this wall here

or at least putting some kind of archway through,

because then you'd create a really lovely living space.

Sort of dining area there, and kitchen.

Because this is the kitchen as it stands.

It is small, and again, going back to this whole traditional thing,

I would have expected to find a loo there,

so, good news - it's obviously been moved upstairs.

One issue in here, though, it does smell very damp,

and there is definitely signs of water ingress up there.

Hmm...

That could have someone to do with it.

Oh! It makes me so cross! Look, it would have cost, literally...

You don't even have to buy some new guttering.

They would have spent, I don't know, an hour, maybe, to put that in place.

The amount of damage that has done,

just for a simple lack of maintenance! Grrr!

# Said, I'm angry Just looking at you... #

And breathe.

You may have gathered that I get a tad irritated at the neglect of perfectly sound property.

The bottom line is that trying to save money by NOT doing repairs

only leads to more repairs and more expenditure. It's just a false economy.

Rant over.

Anyway, let's see if my mood can be improved by the upstairs layout.

There are two bedrooms, a decent sized master, and a single to the rear.

Thankfully no sign of any water penetration here.

And really, apart from redecoration and flooring,

there is not as much to say or do for that matter.

# I can't begin to tell you all the reasons why

-# You're making me crazy

-Crazy... #

The upstairs bathroom has been configured as a wet room,

but for the average buyer a bath is still the business.

And with a shower fitted above it, that would suit most families, too.

We invited a local estate agent to give us his opinion on this

property, which had a guide price of £19,950.

The property is a good little house.

Needs considerable updating, I would say.

Predominantly there are some damp issues in the kitchen.

Needs a new kitchen, new bathroom. I perceive that when the property is fully refurbished

it would more appeal to the rental market rather than the sales market,

just given local conditions at the moment.

If this is to be a rental property, what sort of rental income could this place earn?

I would anticipate on the rental market it would achieve

somewhere in the region of £320, £325 per calendar month.

What about renovating the property for sale?

The guide price does seem very attractive,

but there is significant work to be done. So, if you bought it,

you'd have to make sure you did your homework.

On the basis of the final sale price, there always needs to be

a budget in mind when you are refurbishing properties.

It's always key not to spend too much,

as there is a ceiling price for the area.

And what might that ceiling price be?

I would anticipate a final sale price somewhere in the region of £50,000

once the property is fully refurbished.

Well, a bit of work required to get this place shipshape,

but for that guide price, I think this is a great investment opportunity

as a rental or a pleasant place to live.

Let's find out who bought it when it went under the hammer.

Down to West Cornforth, it's your two-bed, mid-terrace house.

It's got the vacant possession, it does require some modernisation.

It's got the double glazing. Do we have a bid at 20?

19?

19,000 bid on the second row. We are up and going at 19,000.

Do I have 20,000 anywhere else?

We're here at 19, right in the centre, at 20,000.

21,000. 22,000.

23,000. 24,000.

Shaking your head. Are you sure?

Second row, at £23,000. I've got your bid, sir, at 23,000.

Are you coming back in at 24?

No? I'm in at £23,000,

I'll take 500 if it helps.

No? I'm here, I'm selling, at £23,000.

Selling once at 23,000, I'm selling for the second time at £23,000.

The hammer fell on a successful bid of £23,000 from Ken, who's an electrician by trade.

20 years ago he purchased, renovated and sold properties regularly,

but this is his first development since then.

I met Ken and his sister, Eileen, back at the terrace.

Lovely to meet you both. Congratulations. Tell me why you wanted to buy this place.

Well, it was investment, really. And I like the area. It's up-and-coming.

-So, the auction, how was that?

-It was great. It was good fun.

Yes, he rang me up before he went. He said, "I'm not

"going to buy a house, I'm just going to have a look."

I said, "All right then, that's great. Not yet."

Then I rang her back and said, "I bought one."

-And what did you say?

-"Oh, God!"

-THEY LAUGH

Ken is an industrial electrician by trade,

and while this house held no shocks for him,

its purchase certainly did for his sister, Eileen.

# Electric shock... #

So, Eileen, tell me about your involvement in all this.

-Well, I'm going to do the decorating.

-Right.

-No hard stuff.

-Well, to some people, decorating is hard.

-I might be able to find you something.

THEY LAUGH

-Free labour.

-Free labour.

-You can use your artist talents.

-Oh, yes.

What are you going to give her to say thanks?

-A bottle of champagne, he said today.

-Did he?

There will be a bonus.

# Let's get together and do this Over a glass of champagne... #

Well, it may be best to keep the champagne on ice for now.

So, what tempted you into this?

Well, it's something I used to do a lot of years ago,

but then I lived in Hull and I had a partner then.

-And we bought and sold quite a lot of houses.

-Right.

-But I'm an electrician by trade.

-OK, that helps.

And work's a little bit in short supply at the moment, so you've got to diversify, do other things.

-So what kind of electrician are you?

-Mostly industrial.

-OK.

I haven't done a great deal of domestic. I know how to do it,

but I haven't done a great deal of it.

So you've got all the qualifications and everything you need to sort of do the wiring on the house?

Yes, I'm fully qualified to rewire the house and do a test and inspection.

But it'll also be a feather in my cap, because then I'll be able

-to join one of the regulating bodies and hopefully work should come from it.

-Right.

Ken has only recently become certified to do domestic electrics.

In order to join the regulatory body, his work has to be inspected,

and this property should prove the perfect test subject.

So, what's the plan? What are you going to do?

Well, basically make it watertight, because there is a few misplaced slates and guttering to replace.

-Going to make this dining room into a kitchen/dinette.

-OK.

So, I'm going to fit a new kitchen, and make that through there, the old kitchen,

-I'll make that a utility.

-OK, that'll be nice.

-What else were we going to do?

-Bathroom.

-Decorate top to bottom. Bathroom. Redo the bathroom.

-Bathroom.

-Tile the floors and basically modernise the house.

Just to bring it up-to-date, make it modern.

So, the plans, then, are once you've done it to do what?

Put it back on the market straight away.

What kind of amount of money are you hoping to make?

Well, the going rate seems to be about 56,000.

A property developer has to know the local sales market, and this one is a tricky one.

The estate agent thought the house could sell for £50,000.

Ken thinks 56,000. Remember, it sold for the same some six years ago.

I hope he's not overestimated the profit that can be made here,

and that he keeps a tight rein on the budget.

What is the budget?

Well, I'm thinking about 10,000, but it might be a bit more. Maybe less.

-So, what's the kind of timescale for the work?

-Two-and-a-half months.

-OK. Is that in between your normal work?

-No, I'll be here.

-That's it?

-Two-and-a-half months.

-And are you doing...?

-Most of it.

Well, good luck with all of that,

-and we look forward to seeing how you get on.

-Thanks very much, yeah.

-Thank you.

-Thanks a lot.

Well, it's unusual for someone to buy a house BECAUSE it needs the electrics done,

but in Ken's case it works perfectly. And with Eileen's help,

he should be able to sort this place out.

He's certainly going to improve its current condition.

Let's hope there's no shocks in store when we return.

You can find out how he gets on later in the show.

Coming up - in Cornwall I discover whether small really is beautiful.

It's a good working space. You don't have to reach very far to get the things you need.

Back in County Durham, will Ken ever clean up on his two-bedroom property?

Just horrendous, the amount of dust. In fact, I'm still having trouble now trying to get rid of the dust.

But first, it's back to the chapel in Kent to see if Nick and Sonia

have the fabulous home they'd hoped for.

In the pretty Kent village of Goudhurst,

earlier in the programme we saw this extraordinary development opportunity.

Built in 1878, the former Methodist chapel

was a wonderful building with high ceilings and long windows,

through which the light just flooded in.

Sitting on a decent sized plot,

not only did it come with a rather less elegant former Sunday school building attached,

but also with something much more valuable -

the all-important planning permission to convert it into a four-bedroom house.

For 290,000, it was snapped up at auction by local couple, Nick and Sonia,

to be their new family home.

Sonia's an accountant who has also run her own building firm,

while Nick is a quantity surveyor, so together they were well qualified

to take on such a large project, and also had their own plans for how to maximise the space.

-Our view is that it's not the right design for this building.

-And why do you say that?

Because it doesn't do justice to the space that is here.

Basically they are intending to put a floor all the way through here,

and ruin the potential of having some double height space in it.

We have an architect on board who is starting to draw up and hopefully

interpret our vision for it, and put his own mark on it, too.

And we believe we'll end up with a better product at the end of the day.

Not only were they hoping to change the plans for the chapel conversion,

they also hoped to get planning permission to build a detached house on the land adjacent to the chapel.

They had given themselves a budget of £200,000 for the chapel conversion alone,

and a realistic timescale of one year.

Now, 14 months later, we're back.

And it looks like they are well on their way to achieving something very special here.

# Oh, heaven, oh, heaven I wake with good intentions

# Then I'm gone, then I'm gone Then I'm gone, then I'm gone

# Then I'm gone, then I'm gone Then I'm gone, then I'm gone... #

Wow! What a transformation! The main chapel space has certainly gone,

and it's been turned into a fantastic living area.

Tried to develop a palette of colours as well as a particular

blend of materials, and so the slates were reclaimed and reused

and supplemented where necessary. The bricks from the original chapel were...

It was hand demolished and all salvaged and used in the reconstruction of the walls.

As we came to the house, we wanted to keep some nice light, open spaces

but keeping a palette of largely white, grey and black with some splashes of colour.

They've mixed traditional with modern, with a high-tech study area hidden behind the lounge.

Then there is a doorway that leads to the fantastic, oak-beamed glass extension.

So where the old Sunday school once stood, there is now

an amazing high-specification kitchen diner.

With everything anyone could want and more.

The kitchen - we wanted to use natural materials,

and we wanted to use oak to continue the oak frame outside,

and we also wanted to introduce the darker colours to mimic

the slate on the roof and the dark flooring,

but also white to lighten it up, really.

As if that wasn't enough, there's even a utility room and cloakroom.

Then there's the upper floor with that redesigned mezzanine level.

We've been in a number of church buildings that have been converted,

and one of the issues always is, particularly from the external elevations,

when you put a floor across at a high level,

it spoils the lines and chops the windows in half,

so we were aware that we didn't really want to do that.

We wanted to bring the floors back from the windows,

but there's always a compromise and a balance between having some

floor space upstairs to stand on and to use as bedrooms.

Hopefully what we've achieved is some quite dramatic space,

and the church from the outside largely looks as it was when it was first built.

And off this beautifully designed mezzanine floor there's a great family bathroom.

And three bedrooms.

Two reasonably sized ones, one of which is just a storeroom at present

and then there's an amazing, light, en suite master bedroom...

..complete with sliding doors that lead out onto a balcony.

Wow! This is just breathtaking, and if the chapel alone wasn't impressive enough,

they've also got planning permission to build on the plot beside the chapel.

What we're envisaging building is a three-storey house,

one level of which is subterranean,

bar the front elevation, which will be largely glass.

It's going to be an ICF construction, which is an insulated concrete formwork,

so basically you put a load of polystyrene Lego bricks together

with lots of steel in them, and you pour the concrete, and it will actually be...

Well, we're hoping it will be a passive house. It will not need any heating.

Nick and Sonia have five children between them.

The plan is for the new build and chapel to be home for their entire family.

They hope to construct the new build for 200,000. But how much has the chapel cost

to convert into this fantastic family home?

On the chapel we have spent about 350,000. It includes a little bit of

money relating to the site next door, enabling some drainage works

and the construction of a shed at the back which we needed to do

prior to excavating the main dig.

350,000 on top of their £290,000 purchase price for the chapel

and the building plot takes their total outlay to 640,000, without costs and fees.

So, in addition to creating a fabulous new home,

have they made a wise investment?

What do two local estate agents think?

Unbelievable, I think, is the best way of describing it.

It is a fabulous building.

When I left here two years ago, and was looking at it then,

I had to say to myself, "I'm really not sure they're going to be

"able to manage this." And it's been an outstanding example of what

someone can do with something like this with a broad, open-plan sheet of paper.

Oh, it's outstanding, isn't it? The position of the property,

the character, the improvements.

In fact, it's probably one of the best conversions

I've ever seen. The workmanship is first class.

Yes, I definitely agree with him. I think it's one of the best

conversions I've ever seen, too.

But it cost them £640,000 to do, so was it worth it?

With regard to the price of the property, I think it is going to be

somewhere between £650,000 and £700,000, and then with regard to

the property next door, once it's built,

it's going to be somewhere between £450,000 and £500,000.

I'd probably put a value on it of 690,000.

With regards to the building plot, probably about £490,000.

They were pretty much as expected, but yeah, they are pleasing values.

Even with the £200,000 cost for the new build, the combined development

could see a pre-tax profit of between 260,000 and 360,000,

making the whole renovation very worthwhile.

So, will they take on any more big property projects?

-We're just about to.

-Snap!

-To the extent, obviously, we have the other

property to do next door. But I think we've both said that

maybe one more sometime in the future,

and not necessarily in this country.

But before they do that, I think they need to live in this

fantastic house and really enjoy making it a home.

Today I'm in Cornwall, and this is the Rame Peninsula.

It's known as the forgotten corner of Cornwall,

but once seen, who could ever forget this simply stunning coastline?

The auction lot I'm visiting is in the little village of Antony,

and with a local shop, school, pub and village hall,

what more could you ask for?

# Little Anthony... #

Well, just a few miles from that beautiful scenery in the small

and friendly village of Antony - I feel bit of a theme coming on here -

is the property I'm going to see. And it, too, is described as, well, fairly petite.

And so was the guide price. £45,000 for a one-bedroom cottage.

This is it. Let's have a look inside.

Small it may be, but let's hope it's perfectly formed.

# My little lovely... #

So, what's on offer for your money?

Well, not a particularly large amount,

but what there is looks to be in fairly decent condition.

From the front door straight into this room, which is basically,

apart from the thing I'm about to go into, your one room downstairs.

You've got an open fire, which makes it really kind of cosy,

but it's got character, that's for sure.

Moving towards the rear of the property,

-as I said, the only other room down here is the kitchen. Well...

-HE LAUGHS

It's a good working space, you don't have to reach very far to get the things you need.

It's cute, though, isn't it? I mean, it's cute.

# Cutie pie... #

Good luck squeezing a washing machine or dishwasher in here.

But perhaps the solution would be to do a small extension into the private garden at the rear.

There's obviously no garden at the front of the cottage,

you're straight onto the road, but at the back there is at least

this small little courtyard area.

The other issue out here is this retaining wall.

You've got a big bank of soil here, and you just hope that

that retaining wall has been put in properly, because if not,

that could give you all sorts of problems, and to correct that and put another wall

in its place is going to cost you a lot of money. Innocuous though it may look, it could be a problem.

Well worth getting checked out by a structural engineer.

But in the summer, this garden could be really lovely.

Let's take a little look upstairs.

Thankfully, there is a classic, white bathroom suite.

I'm not so sure about the brown colour scheme throughout, though.

In such a small space, you really need as much light as possible.

Across the hall is the bedroom.

There is no sign of central heating, so installing that

should be factored in to the new owner's renovation budget.

But all in all, this is a lovely little cottage.

We invited a local estate agent to give us his opinion on this property

which had a guide price of £45,000 plus.

My first impressions of the property, it's got two good-sized rooms,

bedroom and lounge, and to have a bathroom in a property of this size

on the first floor is definitely a bonus.

Due to the size of the property,

it's a relatively small amount of money needs spending on it,

really just to bring it up to that next level.

New kitchen, new bathroom, general decor,

and maybe some sort of heating would really add extra value to the property.

So, if those works were carried out, how much could this property be worth?

When renovated, we'd be looking to market this property at between £75,000 and £80,000.

And the rental?

If we were looking to do a short-term tenancy on this property,

we'd be looking to mark it up in the region of about £500 per calendar month.

I think this place has the potential to be a lovely, little retreat for holidaymakers in Cornwall.

So, how much could it achieve as a holiday let?

For holiday lets, we'd be looking for about £500 per week in the summer months.

Well, it's a lovely location, that's for sure. And the cottage itself

may be small, but it certainly packs a financial punch. Oh, yeah.

With great possible rental returns either as a short-term or as a holiday let.

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

So, lot 229 is a two-storey, one bed mid-terrace cottage for modest

improvement. Located in the well thought of village of Antony.

It's freehold. So, who'd like to start me off at 45,000?

Someone to start at 45,000.

£45,000 standing here on the right.

That's good place to start. At 45, I'll go in ones if I can.

I have 45, looking for 46 now.

45,000. 46 now.

46. 47. 47.

48. 47,000 here,

48 now.

48,000. 49.

At 48,000, 49. It's against you. £49,000.

50, now, if I can, or a half will do.

£50,000, seated here. £50,000, it's now against both of you at £50,000.

51. Sure? You are both done? The rest of the room done?

At £50,000. £50,000 it is here, seated, then.

First time of calling, £50,000 here. Second time.

Third and last time of calling,

seated here at £50,000, if there is no further advance. GAVEL FALLS

The cool customers with their successful bid of £50,000

are husband and wife, Nigel and Elizabeth.

They farm cattle 20 miles from the village of Antony.

While they have bought properties at auction, renovated and sold them on before,

this is their first investment purchase in many years.

-Nigel, Liz.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Lovely to meet you both. Congratulations.

-Thank you.

-Tell me why you wanted to buy this little cottage.

An investment, really. We are actually farmers, and farming's a hard way of life,

so we thought we'd put some money into this for future retirement funds.

Great, and is this the first project of its kind you've taken on?

The first one that we are hopefully going to rent out.

We've done a couple of building ones and sold on before.

And what was it about this one, Liz, that you thought, "Yeah, this is the one to go for"?

-It doesn't need an awful lot of work doing to it, and we thought it was quite reasonable.

-Yeah?

-And the area? It's in a lovely spot, isn't it?

-Yeah, nice, little area,

near a couple of National Trust places, quite close to Plymouth on the ferry.

So we thought it might be good for renting.

So, what did you think about it when you came to see it?

We actually came to view the next-door property, because that's in quite a bad state.

-Bit more of a challenge.

-Bit more of a challenge.

-Was that for sale as well?

-That was for sale at the same auction.

-Right.

Then we saw this one, and we thought this is more

-of a bargain than that one almost was.

-Right!

So we ended up buying this one.

It remains to be seen whether changing their mind at the last minute

will be an astute move. Let's hope so.

So, what are you doing to do to the place to sort it out?

It doesn't need an awful lot doing to it.

We need a new kitchen, decorate it throughout. New carpets.

-Some sort of heating system. Yeah, just general tidying up, really.

-Tidy the garden.

-Tidy the garden up.

-Yeah.

-That's about it.

You talked about the garden, one thing that did concern me a bit is

you have a massive retaining wall here, haven't you?

Have you looked into how that is and the condition of that and its effectiveness?

We did briefly look through the bushes at it. It all looks in fairly good order,

so until we clear the garden we won't really know 100%,

but I'm hoping it will be OK.

And if this works well, back to the auctions?

-Definitely.

-Definitely, yeah.

We're used to auctions, obviously, because in farming we deal a lot

with auctions anyway, so it's just a little bit more money when you buy a house rather than a cow.

-Although, some cows, I understand, can go for...

-You could buy a bull

-for the same price as this house, yeah.

-THEY LAUGH

Oh, yes, it's true - a pedigree bull could cost more than the £50,000

Nigel and Elizabeth paid for this property, and that's no cock and bull story.

The couple certainly seem prepared to grab the bull by the horns

when it comes to renovating this cottage.

So what kind of budget have you put aside for the work?

About 5,000, which should hopefully cover it, really. Want to do a fairly nice job.

-And who's doing the work?

-We'll do most of the work. I'll probably get

someone in to sort the electrics and maybe for the kitchen.

But we'll do a lot of the work ourselves. Being farmers...

Working that roller.

Being farmers we've got harvesting and things to do, so can't be here all the time.

And what's the timescale for sorting it all out?

Hopefully about two to three months depending on other workloads

and what we find when we go through the house.

-Well, congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

-Good luck with it,

-and we look forward to seeing how you get on.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very much.

Elizabeth and Nigel are diversifying from farming into property,

spending their money on property rather than a prize bull.

-So, can this small house become a cash cow?

-HE CHUCKLES

You can find out later in the show.

Work always takes a lot longer when you are doing up properties,

so you must factor that in when you are doing the work.

-So, have our buyers hit their timescales and budgets?

-Let's find out.

We are back in Cornforth in County Durham to see how

industrial electrician Ken got on with that mid-terrace.

He picked it up for a remarkable £23,000 -

less than the cost of many new cars.

Downstairs there was a damp and smelly tiny kitchen,

and I saw red when I noticed the cause was simply not repairing a gutter.

Oh! It makes me so cross!

Look! The amount of damage that that's done,

just for a simple lack of maintenance. Grrr!

But annoying as that was, luckily the water damage didn't

extend to the two bedrooms upstairs, and I did appreciate

the new double glazing and layout of this two-bedroom house.

The good news being that the bathroom was upstairs,

but it really needed to be turned back into a traditional bathroom.

Ken bought the place for 23,000 and saw this as his way back into

property developing after taking a break for just over 20 years.

His sister Eileen was around to help with the finishing touches.

-Free labour.

-You can use your artist talents.

-Oh, yes.

-What are you going to give her to say thanks?

A bottle of champagne, he said today.

Ken planned to spend around £10,000 and ten weeks renovating the house.

He was going to do most of the work himself,

pulling in help from family and friends.

Well, we've returned 12 weeks later to find out if it's

fizz and family fun, or a frazzled family relationship.

With a fresh lick of paint round the windows and a tidy front garden,

someone has been making this house look whole lot better.

Inside, the unloved front sitting room has been re-plastered,

re-papered and all in all re-loved.

But that dingy dining room is where the biggest change of all has taken place.

# Ah, ah, ah, ah

-# Ain't nobody

-Nobody

-# Loves me better

-Loves me better

# Makes me happy Makes me feel this way

-# Ain't nobody

-Ain't nobody

# Loves me better... #

This was the back sitting room in the house,

so I've turned this into a kitchen/dinette.

This was the major job.

It's been a big achievement.

By relocating the kitchen from the tiny area at the back,

Ken has made use of the space for a brand-new utility room,

and he's even found space for a downstairs loo - a very good idea.

This was originally the old kitchen. There was a lot of work to do in here.

The roof was leaking, there was water coming in.

We had to repair all the guttering, we had to have the extension re-roofed.

So, no problems with dampness downstairs, then(!)

But what about that electrical work that Ken was keen to get stuck into?

Well, the re-wire was pretty straightforward,

and it's not difficult when you've got an empty house.

This rewiring has taken Ken one step closer to his move from being

an industrial electrician to a domestic one.

But this old house still had a few shocks in store for him.

The major work was stripping the walls.

And the dust and the dirt was just amazing.

All these houses were built with black plaster.

You try and do anything with the walls, it's black.

It was just horrendous, the amount of dust.

In fact, I'm still having trouble now try to get rid of the dust.

But the house itself, although it was in a bad condition inside,

it's a well-built house.

Upstairs, Ken has taken the duo of dowdy bedrooms

and given them the same fresh, neutral makeover.

But not everything is finished.

-# I got work to do

-Work to do

# Got so much work, yeah... #

The bathroom still needs tiling and final declaration, but Ken knows

he'd be a lot further behind without the help of family and friends.

My brother-in-law, Barry, he's a fitter by trade.

And my sister, she was the one who decided on the decor,

what colours things should be done, and they've been a great help.

A great help to me. I wouldn't have got it done without them.

And Ken hasn't exactly been sitting around, either.

Initially he thought it would only take ten weeks to renovate this house.

It's taken about five months to do the house.

I was here just about every day.

Sometimes Saturdays, sometimes Sundays as well.

Ken went well over his timescale, but what about his budget?

He bought the house for £23,000 and planned to spend £10,000 renovating it.

The refurbishment cost 16,000,

bringing his total investment here to £39,000.

So, was it money well spent?

We invited two local estate agents to give us their opinions.

I think the owner has done a fantastic job in refurbishing

what was a fairly tired property beforehand.

Bringing the kitchen back into the dining room,

or what was the dining room,

now means you've got a much more family-orientated space,

and there's space to put a table in

to be able to eat around in the kitchen.

I do like the use of the space at the back that used to be the kitchen.

That's now an extra utility room. I do like the kitchen.

It's nice to see a very good standard of kitchen.

And what might this property earn if let?

It would probably achieve rental market around £300 to £350 per calendar month.

On the rental market at the moment I would anticipate

a price in the region of £375 per calendar month.

Those rental figures would mean a yield of between 9.5% and 11.5%.

That's very good for the area, yes. I think that's reasonable.

What do the estate agents reckon the property is worth now?

I would probably think that it would fetch around £40,000 in the current market.

In the current market conditions, there is some rather strange pricing out in the local area.

However, I would anticipate a sale price just over the £50,000 mark.

Those widely varying prices would give a profit of between £1,000 and £11,000,

minus taxes and expenses, of course.

If I could get 50,000, I would be happy with that.

Hopefully I'll put it back on the market. This is a new thing for me.

I hope to sell it on, and then I can go back to the auctions and get another one.

HE LAUGHS

Ken certainly sounds keen to get back to another auction.

What has he learned from this renovation?

You need a good team to be able to get things done.

That's... Teamwork is paramount.

Six miles from Plymouth, and on the beautiful Rame Peninsula is the small village of Antony.

It was here that we came across what might best be described as a compact property.

Yes, this mid-terrace cottage wasn't the biggest in the world,

with just one bedroom, albeit quite a reasonable sized double bedroom.

But it wasn't in too bad a state,

and really just needed a bit of renovation work.

It was bought for £50,000 by Nigel and Elizabeth.

Tell me why you wanted to buy this little cottage?

An investment, really.

We are actually farmers, and farming is a hard way of life,

so we thought we'd put some money into this for future retirement funds.

The couple have a beef cattle farm 20 minutes away in Liskeard.

With a budget of £5,000, they had hoped to complete the refurbishment

in two to three months, doing it in between their farming commitments.

Now, 12 weeks later, we return to see if small really is beautiful.

# It's a tiny world out there

# It's a tiny world It's a tiny world

# It's a tiny world Running all over... #

With the dividing wall between kitchen and lounge removed,

there is now a much improved kitchen/diner, and upstairs...

Well, the one bedroom is now modern and bright.

They've fitted electric heaters throughout. And what about the bathroom?

In here, a new toilet, tiling, flooring

and redecoration has certainly done the trick.

Then there was that rather overgrown garden.

Yes, when we came here it was quite a jungle out here, so we managed

to clear all the brambles and weeds, reveal the back wall.

That seemed in a good state, so that was a relief.

It was quite wet out here also, so we dug down and put in some drains,

put some gravel on top.

Made a little raised border, a few plants, herbs etc.

Our neighbour and us put up the fence so we can make a nice, secluded garden,

and we've just started painting the outside of the house, so, yes.

Quite an improvement, I think.

This IS a pretty impressive transformation.

With the wilderness tamed,

they've turned it into a much more manageable and practical space.

But undoubtedly the most impressive change is in the kitchen.

Right, well, in the kitchen there was a partition wall that

came across about here, which we removed

because it was impossible to get anything in the kitchen.

Put in new appliances. Put in the fridge at this angle

because it was the only way that we could get it in.

And new flooring. And that was about it in the kitchen.

I really think they've made the most of the space they had.

It's amazing what a change in the decor will do for a place.

But how has it been trying to fit the work in around running a farm?

We've managed to do it in between harvest.

If I've been busy on the farm, then Elizabeth has come down on her own, so it's worked quite well.

I've done quite a bit of painting, which is obviously fairly

straightforward and not too high, so can't fall off a ladder, can I?

Other than the kitchen, the carpets and obviously an electrician

to check all the electrics, we've basically done it all, haven't we?

I think they've managed the balancing act pretty well,

and they just have a few small jobs to do before it's ready for the rental market.

But what I really want to know is did they keep to that £5,000 budget?

# I want to know now, now... #

I don't think we're too far off.

We've got one or two more bits and pieces to come in, but yeah, we're around about 5,000.

We were hoping to come in under. Yeah, I don't think we're five.

So, a £5,000 spend on top of a £50,000 purchase price

takes Nigel and Elizabeth's total outlay to £55,000 without costs and fees.

Have they harvested the maximum potential from this tiny terrace?

What do two local estate agents think?

I think it's been finished off to a good standard.

It offers cosy accommodation, ideal for one or two people.

Beautiful garden to the rear which is a sun trap.

Ideal for your patio table and chairs, and barbecue when the weather is good.

Yeah, I really like it.

The property has had a fantastic transformation.

It's not a huge property,

so the money that they have spent on it has really made a big difference.

Nigel and Elizabeth have invested £55,000 into this one-bedroom house,

so have they successfully managed to grow their investment?

In the present market we'd be looking at marketing this property at between £75,000 and £80,000.

In the current marketplace,

I would suggest this property is worth in the region of £80,000.

Yeah, it's about where we thought.

Pretty much what we thought, yes, really.

That's a potential pre-tax profit of between £20,000 and £25,000,

but it was the rental market where Nigel and Elizabeth were predominantly aiming the house.

In the rental market, we would look at marketing

the property at about £450 to £500 per calendar month.

On a rental basis, on an assured short-hold tenancy, I would suggest

the yield would be in the region of £475 per calendar month.

We've got somebody in mind that would like to rent it between those figures,

so I think that's the way we might go.

Rental values in the region of £450 to £500 per calendar month

would see an annual rental yield above 9%, which is pretty healthy.

Although they hope to get a long-term tenant,

the estate agents also reckon they could get

up to £600 a week in the high season as a holiday let.

So, it seems that whichever way they go with this small house,

they could reap big rewards.

How do they reflect on this investment project?

I've really enjoyed it.

Yeah, it's been the smallest one we've ever done,

so, yes, it was quite a relief to get it done rather quick.

Well, that's what happened to the buyers on today's show,

but anything can and does happen on planet property.

Make sure you join us next time for more Homes Under The Hammer.

-We will see you then.

-Goodbye.

-Goodbye.

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