Episode 1 Homes Under the Hammer

-Hello and welcome.

-They say every house tells a different story,

and we've certainly found that to be true.

Yes, there are always tales to tell and stories to uncover

when you buy your home under the hammer.

Auction properties are sold on a buyer-beware basis.

You need to check them out before you bid.

Or you could be in for some nasty surprises.

Let's see if our bidders got lucky with their purchases.

How would you like a country cottage near Swanley in Kent?

Only a 25-minute commute from London Victoria,

if you don't mind brick cladding.

Or how about a two-bed terrace in Crewe with a guide price of 40,000?

Oh!

These properties have been sold at auction.

We'll find out who bought them and what they paid for them

when they went under the hammer.

Sold for 31. Well bought.

# All I need is the air that I breathe. #

You might not associate the area around London with fresh air,

but in Victorian times,

ailing Londoners were sent to recuperate in this area of Kent.

Nowadays, towns like Swanley are more favoured by commuters

than convalescents.

It's only 25 minutes from Victoria Station

and has plenty of shops and other amenities.

A mile or so from the centre of Swanley

and it's much more rural, with fields and farms as far as the eye can see.

Some people will love that, and others will find the isolation

a bit of an issue, so it's worth bearing that in mind.

The property itself is this, a two-bedroomed end-of-terrace.

It had a guide price of 120,000 to 130,000.

This little row of terraces feels rather out on a limb,

down a rural country lane, and the facade was, maybe, an acquired taste.

More of that later. Let's just get inside.

It's a little bit squeezed in here,

but you would expect that from a property like this.

A little bit narrow.

Walking through into the dining room and the cosy lounge.

Somebody has already knocked through a little archway.

But it really works and this will be a really nice place.

You've got a real fire, look.

You can see some ashes in there. You can burn your logs.

It needs updating. A little bit tired.

You just put some new carpet, a paint job, new curtains.

Great space in here. You could get rid of this area

and put something else there if you wanted, but it seems to work.

And at the back of the property,

which would have been an extension, is the kitchen.

Currently, it's a little bit dark.

I would exchange these units for something light and modern,

because it does get rid of all the light at the moment

and I think that's got a lot to do with the very dark mock-Tudor beams.

While I'm on that subject, not sure about the rose leaded lights.

If they're not to your taste, it would be inexpensive to get rid of them.

Overall, lots of ticks, but it just needs a bit of updating.

And general neglect probably accounts for the damp, mouldy patch

in the little porch area out the back,

although I'd check there wasn't anything worse going on out there.

There's a really nice-sized little garden.

Definitely enough space to entertain a family on a warmer, drier day.

Upstairs, we have two bedrooms. A nice double at the front.

The second bedroom is a perfectly good size

and the bathroom at the rear is also decent and in good nick.

Nice white suite, freshen up with new tiles and Bob's your uncle.

# I'm so glad I'm so glad

# I'm glad, I'm glad I'm glad. #

But this property is more clad than glad!

One easy way to give this house a face-lift is - a-ha -

literally, to give this house a face-lift and remove this cladding.

Although it's not as easy as you might think.

Start chipping away at this cladding

and the surface of the bricks might well come off with it,

or you could be left with heavy-duty adhesive all over the facade.

At the very least, the bricks will need cleaning and re-pointing

and getting the place looking like next door, well,

it could cost you in the region of £5,000.

Ouch.

While I'm outside, I should check out the parking.

Fabulous! Some off-road parking?

Er, no. This isn't yours. It's next door's. Shame.

In fact, believe it or not, there is no parking.

Very surprising for a rural location.

It was all looking fairly promising inside,

but the outside is a bit of a let-down.

The cladding and the parking might be issues that put

a lot of people off.

I wonder what a local estate agent will make of this property.

One potential negative of the property is the lack of parking as it is now.

Whether you have a professional couple or young family,

they are going to have a car, living here.

Without a doubt, if you can't get a car on the drive,

some form of parking round the back would be a massive asset to the property.

What does he think the house would fetch on the open market?

In its current condition, the property is worth £175,000.

Once renovated, you could increase that to £190,000.

And potential rental income?

If you were to go down the rental route with the property,

you would easily achieve £850 per calendar month.

Lots to do and plenty of ways to improve this place

to make it a lovely home, or a good little rental.

Let's see who agreed when it went to auction.

Lot 52, it's got a guide of 120 to 130. 110? 110, I have.

£110,000 the bid.

At £110,000, I have. This is lot 52.

There was a lot of interest in this property.

And we rejoin the bidding at £148,000.

148. 148.

And 149 is bid. And 150. 151. 152.

152. 153.

You folded your arms. That's not a good sign, is it?!

152,000, right at the very back of the room in the centre aisle.

At 152,000. 153 for you.

But at 152,000 the bid... 153.

He's come back for one more. 154.

155. 156, sir?

157. 157 is bid. 158?

No. £157,000 I'm bid.

You're out at the back. You're out on my left.

On my right-hand side for the first time at 157.

158. And 159?

That really was your ceiling, wasn't it?

158 at the very back of the room.

At 159, do I see?

For the first time at 158,000.

At 158,000 for the second time.

100 and... 159.

I can lip-read, even from this distance!

At £159,000 for the first time. Gentleman on the right-hand side.

Three quarters of the way down the room.

At 159,000 for the second time.

159,000 for the third and final time.

159,000. Are you all done? Sold at 159,000.

After that tense and lengthy bidding battle, the successful bid

of 159,000 was made by a couple I've met before - Sam and her husband, Philip.

They are property developers and construction company owners.

This house in Chatham featured in one of their two previous visits to the show.

I met them at this cladded cottage to find out what they planned.

Guys, it's lovely to see you again. It's like we're old friends.

We meet again. Sam, it looks like you've been in the wars.

-What's been going on?

-I have. I had a riding accident.

-Oh, dear.

But, guys, listen, it's fantastic to see you. Another project on the go.

I've got to be honest, for you guys, it's a bit of a quick refurb job.

You like the big projects, don't you?

You like to completely go for the planning, put big new kitchens in.

Your last property in Chatham, you did such an outstanding job.

I can't help but feel this is an easy-peasy one for you two.

It's relatively easy, yes.

There is no central heating system, at the moment,

so we'll put a nice high-efficiency energy central heating system in.

Take those chimney breasts out. They're a bit dated. We'll put nice cast-iron ones back in.

We're going to get rid of the Artex and, in the kitchen,

we are going to square it up.

That little extension with the dampness, that is going.

We will square it up and make the kitchen bigger.

We need to talk about the mock-Tudor beams in the kitchen

and the leaded-light fake roses in the windows.

The mock-Tudor beams are definitely going.

The roses - it doesn't cost a lot for a bit of glazing,

so I'd say they'll probably go. Of course, the cladding is going, as well.

Let's talk about the cladding.

All your neighbouring properties have that beautiful, lovely

raw brickwork. How hard is it to get rid of cladding like that?

It's a hit-and-miss, really, how well it's been fixed.

We have taken a few pieces off, just to see.

It came off easily and there is no damage to the brickwork.

Fingers crossed, we're hoping it's going to come off OK.

Sam and Philip intend selling this house on after refurbishing it

and have a budget of 20,000 to 25,000 and one big advantage -

their own construction company.

So finding tradesmen to do the house shouldn't be a problem.

Your guys in-house, are they going to be on this and out of here?

Is it going to be a real quick turnaround for you?

We'll probably come down and do a bit of the carpentry ourselves.

-Because it's so easy for us to do it.

-How are you going to cope with that?

You can barely walk on those at the moment.

How will you cope with your DIY?

-Because I know, Sam, you love to get involved, don't you?

-I do, I do.

I will have to sit and watch Philip, won't I?

Guys, I know you're going to do a fantastic job in here

and it's been lovely to see you again. Sam, take it easy.

-Thank you very much.

-I will.

-Good luck.

-Thank you.

So we meet Sam and Philip again.

And what a nice, easy-peasy project for them this time.

I am sure they're going to do a fab job on this place.

You can see what it looks like later on in the show.

Imagine your predicament.

You work in Manchester, but you don't want to live there.

You like travelling the country, but you don't drive.

Or, maybe, you want to have easy access to places like Chester

and North Wales, but you can't afford the property prices there.

I have the answer. Crewe.

Crewe is famous as a busy hub of the rail service in the North West.

But it also has a reputation for luxury car manufacturing.

The town was once the home of Rolls-Royce,

but today is still involved in the making of Bentleys.

But enough of industry, what about property?

So, what am I here to see?

Well, situated on this slightly busy main road,

a two-bedroom Victorian terrace. The guide price was £40,000-plus.

Loads of properties like this were built in that era,

probably to house railway workers.

And they can often be a very solid investment.

Ah. Not quite the welcome mat I was expecting.

We'll come back to that.

What have we got? Through the front door into your front living room.

You are going to have issues with noise from the road.

It's got double glazing. Maybe want to think about triple glazing, perhaps.

But, yes, it's not a bad size. Reasonably high ceilings.

Through here, very standard layout.

Up the stairs to your two bedrooms, into your real living room.

When this house was built, that would have been your lot, basically.

Two up, two down. Very classic.

But, in this case, it has what is fairly standard in these properties, these days -

an extension on the back, single-storey, housing the kitchen. Long, galley style.

At the back, again, pretty classic, where your bathroom facilities are.

In this case, there is no bath - just a shower and toilet,

and this strange area here, which doesn't seem to do anything.

So maybe you could increase the bathroom into that area,

a bit of extra space, get a bath in there. That would be nice.

Apart from that, pretty much what you might have expected,

apart from the slightly dodgy welcome at the front door.

Decaying flooring and crumbling skirting boards aren't a good sign.

Overall, the ground floor looks like it needs quite a bit of upgrading.

So, upstairs, no great surprises with the layout.

A bedroom at the front and a bedroom at the back.

Both a decent size, though.

And, coming into this bedroom at the back,

a chance to look out of the flat roof above the kitchen and bathroom.

You'd want to have that checked out, make sure there were no leaks, maybe have it re-felted.

These kind of two-bedroomed terraced houses like these

are still very much what people want to buy and rent.

So, actually, this is a good property to go for.

And, as the old saying goes, they don't make them like that any more.

They are homes that feel, well, homely.

But before I get all dewy-eyed with nostalgia,

let's go back to that front door.

Can't put it off any longer. Have a bit of grubbing about.

Find out what on earth is going on by the front door here.

Whenever you are looking around a house, do use all your senses,

as I often say. In this case...

It's not too good, is it? Floors aren't supposed to do that.

It's not a trampoline. Let's explore a bit further.

What is going on underneath all this rubbish?

I reckon if I delve a bit deeper, I will actually disappear down an unknown number of feet.

So I think I'll stop there. Clearly, the floorboards have disintegrated.

That's obviously the joists gone, as well.

You are looking at a serious amount of woodwork.

Well, if you're a carpenter, that is fantastic.

If you have to employ labour to do

that, it's going to be expensive.

Oh!

There we go.

-HE LAUGHS

-I was not expecting that!

How do I get out?

Um... Help!

Joking aside, this indicates a really serious issue

and an expensive one, so this not-so-solid little terrace

suddenly seems like maybe not a bargain,

even at that guide price of £40,000-plus.

What, I wonder, will our local estate agent make of it?

Oh, and watch the step when you walk in!

First impressions of the property, it does need some work doing to it.

You'll probably need new kitchens, new bathroom, possibly rewired.

flooring needs looking at, as well, and windows.

What could the property sell for?

I think, done up to a reasonable standard,

we can put this property onto the market for £62,000.

This is a popular rental area, so what would the returns be?

I think if this property went to the rental market,

it would be £450 per calendar month.

Well, from the outside, a good enough little house,

but the problems greet you the moment you step through the front door.

Still, if you factor in the cost of putting it right

and work out a price that you should pay at the auction,

with that in mind, it could still be a good one to go for.

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

Lot 43.

What's this? 30,000, start me here?

28, then? 28 bid.

Standing right. £28,000.

30, are you going to say, now?

At £28,000. Under 30 now.

At £28,000.

I'll go in ones, if it helps. Shall we say 29? 29.

30, sir? 30. 31.

32. 33. 34.

New bidder. £34,000.

35?

A half, you're saying. 34½.

35. No? At £34,500.

Standing left.

35 anywhere else? At 34,500 for the first time.

At 34,500 for the second time.

Third and final time. At £34,500.

It's just not quite enough.

If the bidders would like to come to talk to us.

Well, the lot didn't reach its reserve price and was withdrawn.

But, after the auction, the property was bought for £35,000 by Simon.

He runs a property maintenance business,

so he is the perfect man to get this place back on its feet.

I met him at the house to find out exactly what his plans are for it.

-Simon, good to meet you.

-Hi.

-You were not the last bidder there.

-The person before, is that right?

-Yes, I dropped out at 34,000.

Ended up going to the auctioneer afterwards and asking

if I could purchase this one, and he said 35,000.

-So somebody had bid 34½, so that didn't get it, but 35 did?

-Yeah.

-Wow.

So why did you want to buy?

Um, just an investment property for myself, and retirement fund.

Is the plan to do it up and rent it out, or sell it on?

Hopefully, I've got a tenant that's going to be moving in in around two months.

Oh, right, already? How did you get them so quick?

Pot luck, really.

Simon already owns a buy-to-let around the corner,

so he does know the area.

He's got to be actually able to get the tenant across the doorstep.

-What do you think's happened there?

-A bit of woodworm, just general dry rot.

-I'll redo the joists.

-You say that very flippantly. That's a big job!

Um, I've done quite a bit of woodwork before

and doing the floors in the last house I did

was a big renovation job, so it doesn't faze me.

-What else are you doing?

-Re-skim some of the walls.

Just generally a lick of paint and bring it up to standard for the tenant.

So any plans for layout changes at all?

There's a possibility of removing a wall

and putting a P-shaped bath in there with a shower above the bath.

Well, his property maintenance background will stand him

in good stead for the job ahead.

Although he will be calling in certified tradesmen

when and where they're needed,

with, he hopes, the job completed in two months.

But with £35,000 already invested in the place and a tenant lined up,

he's going to have to be careful with his budget to make this place pay its way.

Possibly looking around £6,000 to 7,000.

And plans for the future, once you've done this one?

Remortgage and start again.

-Listen, congratulations. Good luck with it.

-Thank you.

Well, Simon does seem to be pretty laid back about what,

to most people, would be some pretty extensive renovation work to be carried out.

A small budget, too.

Will he achieve as he thinks he will?

You can find out later in the show.

Turning a property from a worn-out shell into a home can be very rewarding.

Oh, and profitable.

But did everything go to plan for our buyers? Let's take a look and see how things turned out.

In the commuter heaven of Swanley in Kent,

just a mile from the mainline station,

this terraced cottage was in need of a bit of a face-lift.

# I'm so glad that I'm so glad

# I'm glad, I'm glad I'm glad. #

The new owners, Sam and Philip,

are old hands at Homes Under The Hammer.

This is their third time on the show.

They paid 159,000 at auction, without tax and expenses, of course,

and plan to spend a further 25,000 to the value of this property

over a three-month period.

How did they intend to tackle it?

How hard is it to get rid of cladding like that?

It's a hit-and-miss, really, how well it's been fixed.

We have taken a few little pieces off just to see.

It came off easily and there is no damage to the brickwork,

so, fingers crossed, we're hoping it will come off again.

Four months later, and Sam's injury has completely healed.

They've paved the front garden, which is fantastic,

and they've also managed to restore the fine brick exterior.

They've removed the narrow outside door, too.

Let's see how they've transformed the inside.

We squared off the kitchen to make this lovely space.

We obviously bricked up the original entrance to make the nice entrance there,

which gave the space here for a table and chairs.

We installed new units, new tiling, new appliances,

nice grey floor, which I really like, and we modernised it, basically,

but with that country feel, as well, because we are in the country.

The central heating had to be completely renewed.

Checked out the wiring, obviously,

and we put a new extension on the property.

We also got rid of that horrible cladding on the front.

The bathroom was very dated.

It had an old, square, little shower,

so we opened it up and put a nice new shower in.

We redid all the tiling, the walls, put a new floor in, et cetera,

and just modernised it.

The longer timescale wasn't because of any difficult issues,

it was more to do with working round the other projects

with Sam and Philip's busy construction company.

Their budget for the work was £25,000

and their spend was only 20,500.

That means their outlay was just over £180,000.

One issue that hasn't been solved yet is the problem with parking.

Their new paved area at the front can be considered a legal parking space.

An application to drop the kerb is unlikely to succeed,

because of the tight corner nearby.

That leaves a future buyer to negotiate with neighbours.

Let's see what two local estate agents think of the property.

Remembering that they have spent over £180,000 on this property -

what return could they generate?

I would expect to achieve in the region of £225,000 to £230,000.

Marketing price, you'd probably be asking around £230,000.

£225,000 to £230,000.

That should be a profit of between £40,000 and £50,000,

less taxes and expenses.

What about rental returns?

I would expect with rental

to achieve within the region of £875 to £900 per calendar month.

To rent property you'd be achieving around £950 per calendar month.

Yes, I think the values are accurate.

That's about right. That's where we expected to be.

-That's what we expected, really.

-Yeah.

That's a yield of 6%. No wonder they intend to sell

and move on to the next project.

Well, the thing is, we're happy doing it.

We enjoy our job. So why stop?

# Oh, Mr Porter, what shall I do?

# I want to go to Birmingham and they're taking me on to Crewe... #

Early in the programme there was definitely no queue in Crewe

to purchase this two-bed terrace.

In fact, it was bought for £35,000 after the auction, by Simon,

when it failed to meet its reserve price.

He runs his own property maintenance company

and before that ran a roofing business.

It was just as well, since this property's problems had me floored.

Ooh!

Simon already owns one buy-to-let, and had a tenant lined up for this house,

which he bought as an investment for his long-term retirement fund.

He planned to spend £6,000 renovating the property,

including extending the shower room at the back of the house.

Now, ten weeks later, Simon has assured us

that we can safely step through the front door.

Well, that gaping hole has been repaired.

New timbers plus an air vent to fix the damp by the chimney breast.

Replacement laminate flooring has been laid

right through into the dining room.

And with new doors and skirting boards, things are looking good.

The kitchen has a new worktop,

but what else has Simon been doing?

It's been redecorated, plastered throughout the house.

We've re-configured the bathroom, took down a wall

and managed to get a bath in there instead of just the shower.

Changed the front door, the back door and new flooring throughout.

Simon finished the house with carpeting upstairs,

and if there are signs of occupation

that's because he already has a tenant.

The timescale was eight weeks

and we did it in 6½ weeks

because the tenant needed to move in.

There's been good news on the money front.

Simon's budget of 6,000 to 7,000 proved excessive.

Even with the boiler replacement,

he thinks he's spent around 5,400.

With the £35,000 he paid for the property,

it would take his total investment to £40,400.

We invited two local estate agents

to come and have a look at the property.

How much do the agents think the house is now worth?

More than the £40,400 Simon has invested?

In the current sales markets we'd be looking round about £60,000.

In my opinion this property would sell for offers over £70,000.

A bit of a disparity in valuations there.

Based on those figures, if Simon was selling,

there is a potential profit of between £19,600

and £29,600

before taxes and expenses.

That's a bit more than I expected,

so, yeah, I'm very pleased with that.

Simon already has a tenant,

so is he getting the right rent for it?

If this property was on the rental market,

it would fetch about £450 per calendar month.

In my opinion this property would let for a figure of £550 per calendar month.

That would generate a whopping 16% yield

if your rent did increase to £550 per calendar month.

Has it tempted Simon to get the auction catalogue out again?

Yes, I'd go to the auction again.

I'm looking at another one in next month's auction so,

fingers crossed, I'll bid on that one.

It certainly has been a success.

Well, whether you're a complete novice or a property professional,

there are always lessons to be learned about buying houses.

So make sure you join us next time

for some more auction action on Homes Under The Hammer.

-Goodbye.

-Goodbye.