Episode 9 Homes Under the Hammer

Even in the current volatile property market,

many of us are still hooked on buying.

Yeah, and that includes the two of us.

We're fascinated with auctions where, each year,

thousands of people buy their homes under the hammer.

We're constantly amazed by the stories

that follow us from the auction rooms -

some real-life dramas and some real-life successes.

Yes, and we have found some more stories for you to share.

Three years ago, I spotted the potential of this Stoke house.

This is a solid, well-built, lovely house.

The new owners weren't sure when work would start.

There's a flat in this London block with surprisingly big bedrooms.

A good-sized double bedroom there.

We've got another really good-sized double there.

And a mid-terrace in Wiltshire has had some unexpected visitors...

I reckon that could even be the dreaded dry rot.

All of these properties went to auction...

75, somebody?

-..we'll find out who bought them...

-Is that a bid?

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

-Sold.

I'm in the Trentham area of Stoke-on-Trent

to return to a property we first visited in 2008.

Guided at £150,000

was this substantial three-bedroom detached house

and I just couldn't wait to see inside.

So what have we got?

Straight through the front door and I'm thinking, "I like this!"

It's early 1900s, classic design -

I mean, look at the floor. That's a great start.

The rooms themselves look to be in reasonable condition,

nice, big front sitting room there.

Stairs that will return up to the bedrooms. Kitchen...

Well, it doesn't look in too bad condition.

It looks like it could do with a bit of tarting up,

but perfectly serviceable.

Then through into a classic, lovely living room.

Open fire, good to see. Again, these stripped floors, they're good.

Some of the original features still here.

And then this lovely little area here,

which goes out onto the garden.

I'm getting a really good feeling about this house.

Upstairs, I'm still hunting for something wrong with this place

and I don't think I'm going to find it.

It's a good size,

I even like the fact there's a nice landing area here.

Nice bit of furniture there.

Three good-sized bedrooms,

The loo and the bathroom exactly where it should be.

It needs updating,

the decorating could certainly benefit from some modernisation,

but, you know, that is small fry.

This is a solid, well-built,

well-designed, lovely house.

This handsome house was built around 1910

and the previous owner had been living here since the 1970s.

It's been well looked after over the years,

but is now showing signs of age.

It's a substantial brick-built property

with its own driveway and a garage.

# Oh, she's a brick...house

# I like ladies stacked and that's a fact

# I ain't holding nothing back... #

There's not much at fault with the house downstairs.

The two reception rooms are spacious and well-lit.

Upstairs, though, there is room for improvement.

One of the three bedrooms is small

and probably better suited for storage or a study.

The bathroom is rather small and outdated.

I reckon to make the best of this property,

an extension would really help meet the needs of a modern family.

Outside, and the three-sided garden

is a glorious opportunity for someone to develop

either an idyllic place to relax

or a chance to start their own vegetable patch.

In fact, there's easily room for both.

Well, what is there not to like about this house?

It would make an absolutely glorious family home

and, maybe it's a bit to do with the nostalgia, but I don't think so.

It's a great property

and for £150,000, let's see who was lucky enough to get this,

when it went to the auction.

AUCTIONEER: A substantial, three-bedroom detached house.

Nice period property, this.

125, can I say?

Thank you, 125 I am bid.

At £125,000.

Is that a bid in the middle?

130 in the middle, now.

135, can I say?

At 135 it is, at 135.

140, is it? £140,000.

At 140.

Bidder here now, 147.

At 147.

148.

149.

150, is it?

At 150,000, on the back row.

151, 152.

153?

153.

At £153,000 for the first time.

At 153,000 for the second time.

At 153,000 for the third and final time.

No mistake, the bid is seated, at £153,000.

You bought it, sir, well done.

The house was bought for £153,000 by husband and wife

Guy and Emma, who are originally from Stoke.

They currently live and work 45 miles away in Birmingham,

where Guy is a sales manager for a water technology company,

and Emma's a school librarian.

They have two young daughters and are looking forward to coming home.

Guy, Emma, congratulations.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very much indeed.

-This is a great house, isn't it?

-Yes, it is.

-We're excited.

Tell me why you bought it.

Family, very close. Next door, in fact.

-Next door?!

-Extremely close.

If we look out of our spare bedroom,

we're looking in at our, my, in-laws' bedroom.

Right.

Which doesn't put us off too much,

but then there's my sister round the corner

and my parents round the second corner.

Oh, my goodness. What is extraordinary.

We left Stoke and we were 18, we're now a bit older than that,

so we're coming back after a number of years, returning to our families.

In fact, Emma knows the property very well -

as a child she used to play here

with a friend who lived in the house.

We came to look round and thought,

"It's got great potential, we can have some fun with this."

We've done a house before, that's finished and lived in,

so we're moving to the next project,

and to shatter my parents' retirement, is the main aim.

We spend a lot of time back here, anyway, in Stoke-on-Trent,

because we've got a massive extended family here, and that sort of thing.

Tell me about you two, then.

What do you do? What's your sort of backgrounds?

We met when I was 16 and you were 14, wasn't it? So childhood sweethearts.

We stayed together, and got married in 2000 for a millennium wedding.

We just thought, "Let's go for it."

Tell me about your family situation, you've got kids of your own?

Yep, two girls, five and two, Sky and Macy.

Two blonde bombshells, yeah.

And this is a wonderful family house, isn't it?

Yes, and it will get even better, I think,

the plans that we have for it.

Emma and Guy plan to turn this house into a five-bedroom property

by demolishing both the garage and the lean-to and extending outwards.

This will create an open dining and kitchen area on the ground floor

and two additional bedrooms above.

The existing kitchen will become a downstairs cloakroom,

and allow space for a bigger hallway.

So who's going to do the work?

And what kind of plans do you have for it,

in terms of budget and timescales?

Right, we reckon we're going to plough probably

70-80,000 into it, I would say.

We've got lots of contacts, with most of the family in this area,

so we've got a few sized up already, haven't we?

So, we're going to do it quickly, yeah.

So give me an idea of timescales?

-Within six months.

-Definitely. Sooner the better.

And where are you going to be in the meantime?

We'll be here most of the time, but when the knock-through happens

and those sorts of things, we might migrate maybe next door,

we were thinking, yes, just nip through the fence.

What about finances for all this?

Are there any flies in this ointment,

or is it just a happy story?

It's a very annoying story in that we can't find any,

but there may well be some there...

-Well, we haven't sold our house, that's the problem.

-Yeah.

We've just put ours on the market,

because this all happened very quickly, clearly.

-You skipped over that quite...

-Yes!

"Yeah, there is that small problem."

So until you sell your house in Birmingham,

you can't really do the work you want to do on this place, then?

Not the big plans, no.

We'll do the immediate things so we can live comfortably.

There is a fly in the ointment, isn't there? Hadn't thought of that.

Oh, I don't want to bring you down! It's only a small one!

No, no, you're right, we do need to sell the house,

but it will go and it will go quickly.

Well, that was, at the end of 2008.

But when we returned, just over two years later,

Guy and Emma had managed to turn the property

into a very comfortable family home.

But the plans for the two-storey extension had been put on hold,

as Emma explained.

Originally, our plans were to have the extension done

ready for my husband's 40th birthday.

Unfortunately, he lost his job during the summer,

and so, luckily, we put the plans on hold,

we got them passed, but we didn't get the builders in.

So, postponing the extension was a sensible move,

and with a budget of £1,000,

the couple carried out a cosmetic refurbishment.

The kitchen got a new cooker and replacement cupboards.

Upstairs, the small bedroom became a makeshift dressing room,

and the two other bedrooms were redecorated,

with the girls' room very pretty in pink.

Guy was about to start a new job working in green energy technology,

so the extension plans were back on the table.

We're moving from a three-bedroomed house

to a double-fronted, four-bedroomed house,

with extra bathrooms and bigger downstairs and living area.

And the existing two bigger bedrooms remain as they are,

and we're having a solar panel room upstairs,

that'll then lead into the master bedroom,

another spare bedroom and a wet room upstairs.

How much did Emma think this was going to cost?

We're still looking at a budget of around 70-80,000.

That will include the total rewire

of the old, existing part of the house,

and that should also include any utilities

that we need to put in and the solar panels.

So we're hoping we can stay on budget.

Everything's ready and we're raring to go.

Join us later in the programme to find out how, two years later,

Guy and Emma have finally turned this

into their bigger, better dream home.

Lots of traffic, lots of people.

You've guessed it I'm in London for the next auction lot.

Islington, North London, to be precise, where it's rush hour.

This is so exciting.

I am literally a three-minute walk from Angel tube station,

and I'm already here to see today's auction lot.

Now, it's got two bedrooms and the guide price was set at £220,000.

Now, I know that might sound a little bit ridiculous,

to pay that sort of money for a two-bed flat,

but having a North-1 postcode really does push the prices up around here.

And the average two-bed flat in this area is set at over £470,000!

Suddenly this is starting to look like it could be a bit of a bargain.

Great area, good transport, so why was the two-bedroom flat here

guided at less than half the average for the area?

Mm, maybe this is what's keeping the price down.

The property is in this block with the shops on the ground floor.

I'm always cautious about flats over shops.

Luckily, the one I'm here to see is on the second floor,

so there's quite a distance between you and the retail premises.

But still, it's not an ideal scenario.

-# Better shop around

-Shop, shop

# Whoa, yeah

# You better shop around

# Shop, shop... #

This block of flats and shops was built in the 1960s,

so I'm hoping for some well-proportioned rooms up there.

The exposed brickwork looks pretty good,

and it's great to see there's some remedial work underway.

And it's not just on the outside

it's going on inside, too, in the communal areas.

So, treading carefully, I can't wait to see what the flat's like.

There's so much work going on out there, the scaffolding's up,

but that's good news, because it's all going to be upgraded.

Which is exactly what you need to do inside here.

So you've got a bathroom there - that could definitely do with reconfiguring.

You could squeeze a bath in there if you moved the sink around.

I think it's worth having.

A good-sized double bedroom there,

another REALLY good-sized double there.

This flat doesn't feel cramped.

Yes, it feels dated, it feels like loads of work needs to be done.

The kitchen there, again, not a bad size,

and straight into the living area.

Now, I really like this space.

This building must be south facing, because you get loads

of the natural daylight flooding through that window,

and you look out onto some beautiful Regency buildings,

so it feels quite nice in this room.

You've high ceilings, I'm not loving the polystyrene tiles,

obviously they have to come down.

There's no gas central heating, just these old fires here.

So this property really does need lots of upgrading,

the carpets need to come out, everything needs to be done.

But I can't stop thinking,

you're three minutes away from the tube station,

you could be to King's Cross and be in France in a couple of hours.

How fab is that?

And a trip to France would make a good reward

for whoever takes on this flat once they've given it a makeover.

Although there's no structural work needed,

there's lots of decorative work required,

but there's something outside that may hamper the builders

when they arrive in their vans, loaded with tools and materials.

The road outside is designated a red route,

which means strict stopping restrictions.

Of course, that's an absolute nightmare for the builders

and may also put off buyers and tenants.

But what will a local estate agent make of this centrally-located flat

that went to auction with a guide price of £220,000?

The location of the property is fantastic.

You are literally on the doorstep of Angel tube station

and Upper Street, which has all of the restaurants,

shops, bars and facilities that people love in the area.

You're also on the City fringes, so in terms of those people working in the City,

it's very close and easy access in and out of the City.

So ten out of ten for location but what about the flat itself?

How does that score?

My first impressions of the property -

it's obviously in need of a lot of TLC

to get it where it should be in terms of quality and finish.

Everything from kitchens, bathrooms to flooring and wallpapering needs changing quite severely,

-so it's going to be a big project for the new owner.

-Let's talk figures.

How much rental income could the flat generate after being refurbished?

I would say the property is worth somewhere in the region

of £1,700 per calendar month.

How much might it sell for?

I would say, when completed,

the property could be worth somewhere in the region of £330,000.

The red route directly outside will be a deal breaker for some,

but for others who want a central location

and don't mind living above a parade of shops,

then this is a great one to go for.

Let's see who did just that when it went under the hammer.

Islington, hot area, Islington,

second-floor, purpose-built, two-bed flat.

I don't know. I haven't seen this one. 250?

It's worth 250 on my right. 250.

255. 255 sitting down.

260. 265.

270.

266. Try and help?

265 in the aisle. 266 in the other aisle.

267. 268. 269.

269, yeah? 270.

Yeah? 271.

272. 273.

274.

273 in the front,

274 elsewhere. 274, 275.

275, round off at 275?

If not, 274, first time, second time...

You're bidding? 275. 276.

277. 278.

279.

On my left, 278. First time, second time, third and last time, all done?

Sold, 278, to you, sir.

After all that bidding, the flat was sold for 278,000.

Although Adeola was at the auction,

it was her colleague who did the bidding.

They both work for a firm that buys properties

on behalf of clients who are looking for good buy-to-let opportunities.

Handily, their offices are based just around the corner from this flat.

I met up with Adeola to find out more.

-Adeola, congratulations.

-Thank you.

-We didn't see you on auction day, did we?

-No.

-So explain the story.

I'm basically an acquisition agent, and my clients come to me,

they want a property that would always let.

This property came up at the auction and I decided to go for it.

The location, it's just perfect.

If you're not at the station in three minutes, you took a wrong turn.

The person that you bought this on behalf of,

have they seen the property?

-Yes, they have.

-And what do they think?

-They're happy with it.

-They love it?

-Love it.

So acquisition agent Adeola

had sourced this flat for the company she works for.

It was to meet the requirements of a client who had approached them.

But their job isn't done yet

because it's also up to them to do the refurbishment.

Are you going to be coming in here and doing all the work?

No, we have a team that are going to do the work.

-They intend starting work tomorrow.

-They're coming in tomorrow?

-Yes.

And what changes are they going to make?

We're not really changing anything,

cos space-wise, it's a small flat.

We're only going to spice it up.

The only change would be... We're going to reconfigure the bathroom

and make it into a bath as opposed to the shower there at the moment.

OK, that's a great idea,

because there is actually just about enough room

to squeeze a bath in lengthways,

that's if you do move the sink across.

-Yes.

-What about the kitchen?

We're going to make it really nice, a modern kitchen.

It's going to have everything.

And what sort of budget have you got to do this?

So you're looking at a kitchen, bathroom, floors, carpets -

quite a lot of work to do.

Yes, it is a lot of work. And we're looking at about £12,000.

£12,000 for the whole flat?

Now, we need central heating,

because you don't have any central heating in here.

The central heating is going to be the most expensive

cos we're going to use one of the best combination boilers.

All for £12,000?

-That is an incredibly low budget for the work you've got to do here.

-Yes.

We...

Like I said, we have a team and they do shop around

and they're going to get the best to make sure it's done perfectly.

OK, so the guys are coming tomorrow to turn this place around.

How long is it going to take them?

-We're looking at about two and a half weeks, tops, three weeks.

-Really?!

-And then...

-So you think you can turn this around in three weeks?

-Yes.

-Your guys must work pretty fast. Can I have their number?

SHE LAUGHS

Once the completed flat's handed over,

Adeola's company then act as management agents for it

on behalf of the new owners.

-What are the downsides to this property, do you think?

-Parking.

-Yeah.

-But it's basically a property for professionals.

Jump on the tube, go to work, come back in - perfect for professionals.

Someone that doesn't have a car.

With the parking restrictions of the red route outside the flat,

I am concerned they could cause the builders a logistical nightmare.

Might their nearby business base provide a solution,

and is Adeola concerned?

I don't think that should pose any problems

cos they have the space to offload and they can park the car

at the garage because we do have a garage around here.

-So you're not worried about the builders?

-No.

Adeola, good luck with this project, I can't wait to see what you do.

I just hope you do it in three weeks and with your £12,000 budget.

-I can assure you we will.

-Good luck.

-Thank you.

You've got to love Adeola. She has a definite plan in place

and she doesn't seem fazed about the lack of parking and the red route.

Nothing her team of builders can't work around, apparently.

Now, the question is,

will they manage to do it in just three weeks and for £12,000?

It does seem like a small budget for this property.

You can find out if she does it later on in the programme.

Coming up, I reckon the layout of this house could be improved.

Take out that wall, create a really nice kitchen/family living area.

We go back to London.

Let's hope Adeola's client is as pleased as she is.

It's really looking nice. I would love to live here myself.

But first, we return to Stoke where money's been tight.

We just thought, "We can't do it.

"There's no way we can afford to do it."

Back now to Trentham, Stoke-on-Trent,

where, earlier in the programme,

we showed how, back in 2008, Guy and his wife, Emma,

had bought this three-bedroom detached house for 153,000.

-Right. Just what we wanted, isn't it?

-Yeah.

They were returning home to Stoke from Birmingham to be near family.

Guy's parents live next door

and they had plans to extend their house on both sides.

We came to look round and thought, "That's got great potential. We can have fun with this."

But when we first returned in 2010, although they'd moved in,

the extension plans were postponed

because Guy's circumstances had changed.

Unfortunately, he lost his job during the summer.

Luckily, we put the plans on hold.

We'd got them passed, but we didn't get the builders in.

They modified their plans to extend only one side of the house

and they weren't sure when the work would start.

Well, another two years had passed

when we returned to see the completed four-bedroomed house.

The new extension blends seamlessly in with the original house,

creating a very imposing property.

There's a new wing on the right-hand side as you look from the front.

Once inside, the entrance hall has been widened,

using space from the former kitchen.

The door leads to the new extension that's replaced the lean-to

and the original garage.

A stunning new kitchen has been created.

It runs from the middle of the house to the back of the new extension.

At the front, a bay-fronted family room adds extra accommodation,

and Emma's delighted.

This, before, was the old wooden lean-to, if you can remember.

Really pleased with what we achieved in here.

With it being so big,

it gave us the opportunity to have a big family kitchen table and the island.

We had some really good bargains in here.

The kitchen cost us less than £3,000.

The cooker should have been about £1,200 and we got it for £350.

We used auction sites where possible

and we used all our old appliances to try and save money as well.

We managed to redesign it and have it all fitted and ready

for less than £3,000.

What was left of the former kitchen

after the hall extension has become a utility room and loo.

The front living room in the original house

is currently an office,

and the larger rear sitting room looks out onto the garden.

As Guys explains, after a delayed start,

there have been big changes here.

Yeah, we've done a nine-month build on it

and transformed it from two bedrooms and a large box

to four double bedrooms.

Big eat-in kitchen that we always wanted, and a second smaller lounge.

And numerous bathrooms,

which we certainly need now with three daughters.

We've added one to the brood.

We've extended the family as well as the house!

It all happened at once - Baby Connie was born

whilst the builders were still weeks away from completion.

Her two sisters, Sky and Macy, and Guy and Emma,

were living next door with Guy's parents for ten weeks.

But the house is now finished.

Upstairs, in the new extension, two new bedrooms have been built.

The master bedroom has an ensuite and a wardrobe-cum-dressing area.

In the original house, the small box bedroom

and bathroom were knocked into one new family bathroom.

The front bedroom is now a guest room.

And the girls share the back bedroom.

To save money, apart from the kitchen equipment,

they sourced the doors, electrical fittings

and plumbing themselves and made some considerable savings.

We had some very large quotes from builders

when we first started getting the quotes in for the extension.

And that's why we started to say, "Right,

"if these builders will allow us to source our own certain materials,

"doors, windows, plumbers, etc, we'll be able to afford it."

At the time we did it, there was great value out there, wasn't there?

Being in Stoke as well, all the tiles and all those sort of extras...

With Emma being heavily pregnant towards the end,

we were going round these factory shops...

They were getting me out as quickly as possible. "Take what you like!"

..some of the deals she struck while the panic was in their eyes...

"Don't worry, we'll load these in the car for you. Just go, please."

-"Get going!"

-"All the best with your journey ahead."

So did the shrewd shopping pay off?

What effect did it have on their £70,000 to £80,000 budget?

We were absolutely disciplined on cost.

We kept really on top of it

and what the final outturn of the project would be.

-85 in the end.

-Yeah.

With the £153,000 they paid at auction,

that takes the total outlay to £238,000.

Outside, the back garden's lost no space at all

because the extension replaced the old lean-to.

It's a great family home.

What do Sky and Macy think is the best part?

I like that room when Sky lets me sit on the first cushion.

From that door to where the island is, that's how big our kitchen was.

Yes, quite a big change.

But with the setbacks, it's taken four years to get this far.

They'd initially delayed the start when Guy lost his job.

He started another job but after redundancy there,

he decided to set up in business with a colleague

and that's been going well.

So did anything else hold up the work?

The reason we were a bit late on the whole project

-was I think down to us. Me, really.

-Yes.

Cos another thing we decided to do ourselves was to actually demolish

what was there existing,

which was a really strong, substantial garage, etc,

and that took me a few more weeks than was initially planned.

Well, he may have been a demolition dad

but Guy and Emma really have created a cracking conversion here.

Time to hear what two local estate agents think of the house.

My first impressions is they've done a really good job.

They've made this property bigger with the extension.

they've not killed the plot and kept the character in.

This property works because it is so well-balanced.

You've got what are three good reception rooms downstairs

plus this living/dining kitchen.

The reception room off the kitchen is a good idea. A family living space,

you can watch the kids while cooking.

The bedrooms upstairs are well sized, the extension bedrooms

are quite well proportioned, bigger than a typical estate property.

This is clearly a family home.

The couple have no intention of renting it out

but the agents think it could achieve between £995-1,100 per calendar month

but what's it worth now if sold?

Will it be more than the £238,000 they've invested here?

If we were marketing this property today,

we would be setting an asking price of £275,000.

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

That would generate a gross profit of £37,000

before the usual selling expenses.

I was just hoping we'd covered our costs really. So, right.

-Right.

-Now it's worth more, we can get on and do the rest of it.

-Yeah, we can borrow some more money against it.

-Yeah!

No, that's a great figure.

Would they consider taking their profit and selling up?

-Tempted to sell? Well...

-No.

-No. No?

-No.

-No.

Ooh, sounds like Guy was almost tempted for a second there!

But it's no surprise that they want to live here after all their hard work.

So what does the future hold?

-We've got planning permission for the other side.

-Yep.

-Which has always interested us.

-Yeah.

-And that's certainly a possibility.

And any more kids?

Well, if we have any more kids we'll HAVE to do the extension, won't we?

-Right.

-So one would have to go with the other, really.

-Interesting.

-Yeah.

-Four daughters.

BABY GURGLES

-That sounds a real plateful.

-Yeah.

-We'll see.

To be continued.

For the next property that went under the hammer,

I'm in Westbury, a small town in Wiltshire.

# On white horses, let me ride away... #

Most famous for its picture of a white horse

which adorns the side of Salisbury Plain above the town.

# On white horses, snowy white horses... #

The property I'm here to view is about 10 minutes' walk from the town centre.

Well, off the main road, down this little alley,

is the property I'm here to see so the good news straight away,

at least you're away from the noise of the road.

Guide price was £70,000, it's three bedrooms, let's take a look.

So no parking right outside your door and shiver me timbers,

the exterior woodwork is showing a bit of wear and tear.

Er... Oh, straight away, nasty bit of damp on this wall. Look at that.

Paperwork bulging, paint coming off.

That is slightly concerning cos that is...

Well, it's the actually the adjoining wall

to the next-door property.

So it could be a problem from their side which will obviously be harder

to sort out than if it's something completely within your control.

But entrance hall there, stairs up to the bedrooms.

Through into your front living room.

And as you can see, very old ceilings.

They're going to have to either be skimmed over or, most likely,

have that taken down and new plasterboard put in its place.

Very old fireplace, you'd probably want to replace that.

I'm more concerned, at the moment, about this general damp and rot.

If we look down here at the skirting board there, nasty.

There's only one way to really tell how bad it is. Ready?

Ooh-err.

Now, look how that's completely and utterly turned to powder.

Mm.

Not good. I reckon that could even be the dreaded dry rot.

So, damp in the hall and dry rot in the living room.

It seems wherever I go, this house is turning to dust.

# I'm the sawdust man I'm the music man

# I'm the talk of the town

# Stick with me, my little baby

# I won't let you down... #

There's definitely money to be spent here.

Let's hope it gets better towards the back of the house,

where evidence of its previous residents remains -

students, apparently.

So, through to a rear living room area.

This is quite interesting.

You've got the kitchen on that side, which seems a little bit small,

and you've got this area, which I think would be...

Basically, take out that wall,

create a really nice kitchen/family living area.

That would also benefit from these doors out onto the garden.

A really useful space. I think this could be the centre of the house.

Yeah, good news.

The garden is a decent size, so if you were to step out onto a new terrace,

a kitchen-diner would be brilliant.

Upstairs - in this house that went to auction guided at £70,000 plus -

there's a bathroom and three bedrooms.

Two are doubles, and there's a small single.

Everything needs a general refurbishment

and total redecoration.

One thing you might anticipate having to do

in any house of this age is replace the windows.

It's a good opportunity to increase the thermal efficiency

of the house in general, by putting in double glazing.

In some instances, it is more urgent than others. In this case...

Yeah, I think if I push too hard on that it would fall out.

So definitely high on the list of jobs you need to do.

So, what does a local estate agent make of this three-bed terrace?

It needs quite a bit of work so will it be a wise buy,

or a foolish purchase?

The essential things that one would need to do to this house to make it

re-saleable or re-letable would be mainly redecoration work.

New kitchen, new carpet, work on the windows as well.

A basic refurb job.

The fact you can't drive up to the front door,

that you are just off the main road on a communal pathway,

will be some sort of issue and will put some people off,

but I don't see it being too much of a negative factor.

Once the work has been done to the property,

will it make a good rental? What could it let out for?

With regards renting this property out, I think as a three-bed,

there is a good demand, there aren't many of them about.

It is close to the town centre.

In terms of a value for rental properties,

you're probably looking about £550 to £575 per calendar month.

Could there be a good sale return once it's done up?

How much could it sell for after the refurbishment?

If the property was done up and presented in good order,

if one wanted to sell it on the open market,

I would estimate a value somewhere in the region of £110,000.

I think as a first-time buyer or investment property,

there is a demand for it.

Well, a few damp and rot issues and windows that need replacing,

but all those would probably form part of any refurbishment anyway.

So, keep a tight rein on the budget and it's a good one to go for.

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

We move on to lot 23 which has three bedrooms, a nice little terrace.

Where are you going to start me?

75, somebody? 70?

You start and we'll get on. 65, OK, shall we? At 65. There we are at 65.

At 66, we'll go in twos again, at 66,000.

68, I'll take. 68 over there.

70, fill it out.

70 I've got, OK around the corner. Two, do you mean?

72. At 72. 74? 76? At 76. £76,000.

I'll take seven if you like, to help you on.

77, I've got, OK. At 77.

Now it's going to you, 78. 79 to you, sir? 79, OK.

At 79,000. 80, I'll take.

At £79,000, this gentleman sat down at 79.

80, anybody else? Yes or no?

otherwise it goes at £79,000 for the first time.

79, then, for the second time. At 79, third and last time.

Your number, sir, is...

That final successful bid of £79,000 was made by Alan,

who is based in Wiltshire with his partner, Julie.

Alan's a retired paramedic manager.

This was the first time the couple had bought a property at auction.

I met up with them to hear about their plans.

-Julie, Alan, lovely to meet you both.

-Lovely.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

Why did you want to buy this place?

Well, we wanted to have a little bit of an investment

and do something sensible with the little bit of money we had

to try to make some interest.

Have you done anything like this before?

We did a house, finished it last year, similar sort of project.

We were quite pleased with the outcome of that, so we thought we'd try again this year.

What's the idea? Is it to buy it, do it up and sell it on, or rent it out?

Hopefully rent it out. We'll see what it's like when it's done,

but rent it out for a year, watch the market, see what we do after that.

Alan's sister, Christine, has also invested financially in the project.

But because she lives quite a distance away in Taunton,

she won't be as hands-on as Alan and Julie.

Tell me what you're going to do to the place.

As you probably can see, we need a new bathroom, kitchen,

window replacement, decorate throughout, have a look at the damp and see the causes, and rectify that.

We need to have a look at the roof,

there might be a bit of work I need to do up on the roof.

Needs a little bit of love and affection and tidying up.

Didn't want to spend too much to make it unaffordable,

but we want it to be nice for whoever comes in.

One of the bits of damp worried me a bit,

because it's actually coming through the party wall with the next property.

Any thoughts on what that might be?

We have spoken to the neighbour, he's got a bit of damp his side.

It may be that, um...

He has had his damp treated, quite a while ago,

but there's a soil pipe coming down inside the property.

-A soil pipe?

-A soil pipe.

And the heating pipes are inside that cupboard.

With a bit of luck, it might just be something as simple as that.

What feel are you going for decoration?

Just very clean, fresh, as light as possible so it appeals to a lot of people.

And kitchen?

Same, basic.

-Wood, white?

-Whatever's cheapest!

OK! What ever the offer is in the DIY store.

-Exactly.

-That would be right, yeah.

It always makes sense to hunt down bargains.

And saving a few quid might come in handy

if the damp does prove to be a bigger problem than they were expecting.

Julie, what will your involvement be?

Mainly painting, decorating, reparation work, that sort of thing.

Nothing skilled, really. Just hard labour.

-What do you do when you're not doing this?

-I'm a paramedic.

-Wow.

Alan, what's your job when you're not doing this?

I'm a retired paramedic manager. I still do a little bit of work.

I do some work on one of your BBC programmes as an adviser.

-Which one?

-On Casualty.

-Oh, great.

What do you do on that? Making sure they're doing things right?

That's the idea, yeah, that's the idea.

Alan will do the bulk of the DIY and Julie will help with the painting,

so if anyone can breathe new life into this property,

it will be these two paramedics.

# Cos I want you to save me

# Just please save me

# Save me...#

So what's the budget for the work?

We don't want to spend more than 5,000 probably.

5,000 quid. And timescale?

Probably I'm looking for two months,

depending on how good the weather is to me.

And after this, any plans for more?

Wait and see how this one goes,

and if we get a tenant in, whether we sell it, wait and see.

-We're kind of laid back on that sort of thing, aren't we?

-Yeah.

Great. Well, congratulations.

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

-Thank you.

I think Alan and Judy have got themselves a nice, manageable little project here.

The only concern is that damp cos tracing its source

can sometimes be a real problem.

How will they get on? You can find on later in the show.

Time and tide wait for no-one,

but in the property world, time usually means money.

Let's go back and see how that time and money was spent.

Earlier in the programme, in the North London suburb of Islington,

a two-bed flat on the second floor of this block was bought for 278,000

by a property company that Adeola works for as an acquisition agent.

She'd tracked it down for a client who wanted a flat to rent out.

Adeola's company would then manage the property for the client,

by finding tenants to rent it.

She thought this one was ideal.

The person you've bought this on behalf of, have they seen the property?

-Yes, they have.

-What do they think?

-They're happy with it.

-They love it?

-Love it. Yes.

What changes are you going to make?

We're going to reconfigure the bathroom

and make it into a bath as opposed to the shower there at the moment.

And what about the kitchen?

We're going to make it really nice.

A modern kitchen. It's going to have everything.

Outside, the landlord of the whole block of flats

was carrying out a maintenance programme on the communal areas.

Well, it's now six weeks later and Adeola's invited us back

to see the completed flat.

The work on the communal areas is finished.

And inside, the flat is looking great.

Through the front door, the first room on the left

that was the former shower room

now has a new white suite and a bath has been installed.

Apart from new plumbing, the flat's also been rewired

and downlighters put in.

Plus there's new flooring throughout.

The new double-glazed windows reduce the outside noise,

making the bedrooms much more inviting.

That tatty kitchen has had a full refit...

..and now looks much larger, as Adeola explains.

There was a big cabinet here all the way to the top. We got rid of it.

Changed the boiler to a combi boiler.

Entirely new kitchen, tiles on the floor.

Space for fridge and then a space for washing machine,

and a cabinet as well.

So far, so good. The client is happy with the outcome.

The improvements continue in the living room,

which has been neutrally decorated with new windows and carpeting.

Adeola's client asked her to track down a suitable flat to let out,

so what was his verdict on it?

My client is quite happy with it.

He's looked around, seen the changes

and is happy with everything that he's seen.

As an acquisition agent, Adeola's work starts at the beginning

by finding the property,

but was she involved in the refurbishment process?

I didn't have to manage the builders.

We have a project manager who does that, so he basically just comes back

and gives me feedback of what's been going on.

The report makes good reading.

The flat's been transformed,

and nowhere more so than in that tiny former shower room.

The bathroom was quite small because there were so many wooden shelves

and all that that were there, so we've taken everything out,

and that's why we could fit in a bath in there.

Adeola was adamant that the refurbishment

would cost no more than £12,000.

Did the team stick to that figure?

We actually went over budget by 8,500

because the doors were slightly more expensive.

We decided to go for fire doors instead.

And also the windows, we decided to go for double-glazed

rather than normal windows.

Money well spent, I'd say.

The budget overspend takes the total to £13,500,

but Adeola's company has found a tenant

who's happy to take it unfurnished

so they've saved money

by not having to buy furniture to put in the flat.

It was really in a mess, I must say,

and what it looked like before and what it looks like now,

there's a big, big difference.

It was a dump site before but as you can see now,

it's really looking nice.

I would love to live here myself.

With that £13,500 budget and the £278,000 purchase price,

the total outlay here is £291,500.

Time to hear what two local estate agents think

of this converted second-floor flat.

I think the property's fantastic.

In terms of overall space, they've done very well.

They've utilised the bathroom space very well

and what they've done in the kitchen is excellent,

so in both markets, it's an easy one for an estate agent to move.

The bathroom's greatly improved with the bath.

It gives the option to have either/or,

which appeals to the wider market.

The only negative thing in the property is the second bedroom,

it's slightly smaller.

I wouldn't say there are any negatives.

They've made the absolute most of it and I'm very impressed.

Is the flat worth more than £291,500?

I'd suggest putting the apartment on the market

for somewhere in the region of £340,000.

We would put this on the market at £350,000.

With that valuation range, there's a potential profit here

of between £48,500 and £58,500, before tax and expenses.

That's good.

What rental income could the flat generate for Adeola's client?

We could rent this per calendar month at £1,850.

I would suggest putting the flat on the market

for somewhere in the region of £1,800 per calendar month.

I feel that's a bit low, cos at the moment we have on offer

of £470 per week unfurnished, which comes to 2,036 per month.

Adeola gets that monthly rental figure of £2,036

by multiplying the weekly amount by 52, then dividing by 12.

Since filming, the tenant has moved in and is paying £470 a week.

That equates to a healthy yield of around 8.5%.

So job well done, Adeola.

Will she be heading back to auction again?

Definitely go back to the auction again.

It's been absolutely amazing, and the client is absolutely happy.

I think we've all really done a good job. It's a good achievement.

We return now to the Wiltshire town of Westbury,

where earlier in the programme, Alan, a retired paramedic manager,

and his partner, Julie, had bought this three-bedroom mid-terrace cottage for 79,000.

It was a joint investment with Alan's sister, Christine.

The house had been used by students,

but the graffiti wasn't the main problem.

There were signs of damp, which needed investigating.

Tell me what you're going to do to the place.

We need a new bathroom, kitchen, window replacement,

decorate throughout, have a look at the damp

and see the causes of the damp and rectify that.

So what's the idea, Julie - to sell it on or rent it out?

Hopefully rent it out. We'll see what it's like when it's done,

but rent it out for a year and then watch the market after that.

Two and a half months later,

we met Alan and Julie back at the cottage again.

A new front door and replacement windows have been installed.

Inside, the front living room has lost the old fire surround

and the freshly-decorated room now has laminate flooring

and a new ceiling.

At the back of the cottage,

the graffiti has gone from the dining room.

New floor tiles has been laid,

but the wall hasn't been removed to open up the kitchen.

But with matching floor tiles,

a new ceiling, plus new units,

the kitchen is a vast improvement.

Why did Alan change his mind about the wall?

We chose not to take the wall down and make it into one big room

because it's a structural wall,

and there's quite a lot of work to put RSJs in and do that sort of work,

so we opted not to take it out and leave it as two separate rooms.

Time will tell whether that was the right decision or not,

but the layout still works here.

Upstairs, the three bedrooms have new carpets,

and a neutral colour scheme.

I'm pleased the rear bedroom has retained the original fireplace,

and the house is a lot warmer

now that the rotten windows have been replaced.

The layout in the bathroom hasn't changed

but the dated decor and the suite certainly have.

So how did Julie and Alan divide up the work?

Alan obviously did the majority of the skilled stuff.

I did the painting and decorating, a lot of sanding,

nothing too skilled, and making tea of course.

# She's always brewing up tea

# Have a cup of tea...#

Well, you should never underestimate the importance of a good cup of tea

in this line of work, so Julie played a vital role.

We worked really well together.

It's been hard and it's stressful at times, but we got through.

Outside, the garden's been tidied, new fencing's been erected,

but what about the damp issues inside?

Nasty bit of damp on this wall. Look at that.

Paperwork bulging, paint coming off.

Did Alan manage to track down the cause and get it sorted?

I had a little bit of a leak in one of the down-pipes,

which was a big cause of the problem but I took off all of the plaster

around the front of the property, treated with a damp injection,

finished off all the rendering and painting - it's a done deal.

We're very pleased.

What about the finances?

Did they manage to keep within their tight budget?

We originally set a budget of 5,000, which was a bit ambitious.

And we came in on budget.

Good going -

with replacement windows and a new bathroom and kitchen.

So what's their secret?

Shop around, buy things when they're on special offer,

don't just buy them when you need them,

and be very careful where you spend money on the little things, cos they add up.

That £5,000 plus the 79,000 they paid at auction

means the total outlay here is £84,000.

How does Alan feel now that the cottage is finished?

It's a great relief!

I'm going to have a little bit of time off

cos we've put a lot of time and effort in over the last few weeks

so we're going to have a little break

and then have a look and see what else is about.

Time to hear the opinions of two local estate agents.

I think it's fab.

The decor is certainly a lot better, neutral, contemporary flooring,

and they've really made the most of the fireplaces.

Very impressed. Beautiful inside.

I can't believe what they've managed to achieve in such a short time.

Very, very nice property.

I think it's a great three-bedroom family house

with a good garden, close to town.

Alan and his sister have invested £84,000 here,

so how much is the property now worth?

I would be valuing this property between 115 to £120,000.

I would put it on the market for £115,000.

So if they were to sell, those valuations would generate

a gross profit of between 31 and £36,000

after the usual selling expenses,

but the plan is to rent it out, so what income could that achieve?

For rental, I would expect it to achieve £575 per calendar month.

I think you'd be looking at somewhere in the region of

£620 per calendar month.

Those valuations would generate a yield of between 8 and 9%

and that's a great reward for reining in that budget.

-That's very nice.

-Not bad.

We have actually got a tenant lined up, who's moving in tomorrow.

It's actually one of the neighbours to the property, his daughter,

so we were obviously here one day and he came up and said,

would we be interested in renting it to his daughter, which is perfect.

That was very nice. No advertising. No agents' fees.

We're very pleased.

No wonder!

No costly fees to pay and a ready-made tenant from next door.

She'll be paying £525 a month.

That's what I call a result.

# R-E-S-U-L-T

# Oh, what a result

# To end up with you by my side

# Oh, what a result

# Top of the league On a winning streak... #

We hope you've enjoyed watching today's property portfolio.

Join us next time for more brave buyers' experiences,

here on Homes Under The Hammer.

-Goodbye.

-Goodbye.

Subtitling by Red Bee Media Ltd