Episode 11 Homes Under the Hammer

Even in the current, more challenging, climate,

Martin and I still love dabbling in property.

Yeah, and we love to bag a bargain.

But it's not always easy.

How can you do it? Well, one way might be to buy your next home under the hammer.

Well, buying property under the hammer is getting more and more popular.

Millions of pounds of property is sold each month at auction.

So here are the three properties

that inspired the buyers on today's show.

I'm in two minds about this three-bed semi in Yorkshire.

It's a house of two opposites. Downstairs, bad, upstairs, great.

This topsy-turvy property in Kent

gives me a good workout.

Now, whoever takes this on

had better be very fit, because it's all on different levels.

And I'm starry-eyed about this cottage in Surrey.

People like Cliff Richard, Tom Jones, John Lennon, Ringo Starr

have all lived here.

All these properties were sold at auction.

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

when they went under the hammer.

Sold.

Today I'm in the pretty village of North Frodingham in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

Well, right in the centre of North Frodingham is the place I'm here to see.

It's a three-bed semi-detached,

double-fronted. Had a guide price of £75,000 to £80,000.

This is it.

Looks all right from the outside.

These red-brick houses do stand the test of time.

And new uPVC windows help this one look the part.

So far, so good.

Okey-dokey, what do we have?

Well, straight in to your living room.

And straight into a bit of a disaster zone, to be honest!

Yikes! OK, lots of work to be done here,

and a lot of it on the walls. Lots of internal walls

looking like they've got damp problems,

which is a bit of a shock.

Kitchen towards the rear of the property.

That looks in a right old state.

So, not seeing much to make me feel particularly happy yet.

Slightly better news in here. A nice-sized room at least.

I think it's probably been knocked through at some point.

You've got the open fire, the double aspect. Road on one side - thankfully, double glazing.

Views out onto the garden there.

But obviously, again, a real issue with damp on virtually every wall.

So what we're concluding here is that it's basically a bit of a rip-out and start again.

Let's take a look upstairs.

It may not be for the faint-hearted, this one,

but strip it back to the brickwork,

and you've got a good-sized space to work with.

Fingers crossed things are looking up up there.

That's a good start - bathroom pretty much where it should be,

at the top of the stairs.

It looks in reasonable condition. I mean, very old and dated suite.

It's not a bad-sized space, so that's good.

Cupboard there with your hot-water cylinder in it.

Then really nice-sized double bedroom on that side.

A smaller single bedroom there,

then through to your second very large double bedroom.

The ceiling's quite low.

You might want to consider taking that out, even opening it up to the eaves of the property.

I'm surprised,

because downstairs, I have to say, great disappointment.

Upstairs, I'm not sure I'd change this layout at all. It's almost like it's a house of two opposites.

Downstairs, bad, upstairs, great.

You could swing a pride of lions up here,

never mind the proverbial cat.

And although there are more signs of damp,

again, it looks like a good starting point for a total refurbishment.

Hold on a second. The back garden...

is enormous!

So, out the back door,

and a really big...garden.

That...

..is a real nasty surprise.

Looks like a bit of a garden shrub or plant or something.

It is, in fact, Japanese knotweed.

It's a horrible, horrible plant

that gets into foundations.

Its roots spread through concrete.

It's so bad, it's notifiable to the council if you've got it.

And it needs to be disposed of extremely carefully.

I'm very worried it's there, because I don't know what damage

it might have done to the foundations, the drains, goodness knows what.

Another slight problem out the back here is...

This is the next-door neighbour's, that's fine.

But this is your garden,

so, literally, the next-door neighbours have got a very narrow pathway there.

And this is the land that comes with the property,

so I think there's probably some conversations to be had with them at some point.

But the garden itself - well, you can't complain at that.

It's massive.

Let's explore.

# In the jungle, the mighty jungle

# The lion sleeps tonight

# Wimoweh, wimoweh... #

Need a machete to get through here at the moment,

but it just goes on and on, past that funny little building there,

and look - all the way to the fence at the end.

That is a real surprise.

It's almost disproportionately big for the property.

Clear it out, see what you've got,

and then decide what you're going to do with it.

The property, and all this garden, went to the auction

with a guide price of £75,000 to £80,000.

We asked a local estate agent

to tell us whether he thought it was worth a rumble in the jungle.

Interesting. Slightly neglected.

Needs quite a considerable amount of work,

but generally, a nice-looking house

that should provide a good home for someone.

What might the renovated property fetch on the rental market?

For rental purposes, I'd expect a property like this,

in good order, to achieve somewhere in the region of £575 per calendar month.

What about the resale value?

When fully renovated, providing works have been done to a good standard,

I would expect a property like this

to achieve about £140,000.

Well, it's a nice little village,

and the house certainly has potential,

but it does need quite a lot of work.

And by far the most worrying thing for me is in the garden.

The garden itself is great.

This plant...

Not good news.

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

On to lot number 40.

80 for it? £80,000?

70, then.

I've £60,000 bid.

£60,000 I'm bid.

£62,000. 62. 4?

£64,000.

6.

8. £68,000. 70.

At 2. 72.

3. 73.

Half. £73,500.

At £73,500.

Anybody else?

4. 74.

At £74,000.

At £74,000.

Are we all done? At £74,000...

Any more bidders? At 74 once,

£74,000 twice,

third and last time of asking.

£74,000.

You have it, sir.

It was 22-year-old electrician Tom

who snapped up the property,

with that below-the-guide bid of £74,000.

He attended the auction with his dad, John.

I caught up with them both back at the house to find out their plans for it.

Tom, John, good to meet you both.

Congratulations.

Tell me why you wanted to buy the house.

Well, I live across the street, and it just came up

and I thought it seemed to be quite a good price

and it was an auction. Never been to an auction before,

so that was exciting. Good price, and big garden.

Quite a few rooms in it.

-So is it a house for you, then?

-Yes.

-Me and my girlfriend.

-Great.

-And that's the family home across the road?

-Yes.

So how well do you know the village?

I know it quite well. My mum and dad used to...

actually came and lived in that side of this pair of houses.

-Your mum and dad actually lived in the house next door?

-Yes.

Fantastic.

-So the house...have you been inside it at all?

-Yes.

We've been to view it twice, and had a good look round it.

-Obviously, it needs a lot doing to it, but I'm an electrician, my dad's a joiner.

-Oh.

My girlfriend's brother is a plasterer, so...

I've got a few people sorted out for that.

Just as well they've got a team of trades people on board,

because this won't be a small job.

So, what's their plan of attack?

We're going to start at the roof.

It wants refelting.

Get it watertight, then we can concentrate on the inside.

It'll want a damp course.

But it's all well within what I've been used to doing, anyway.

-Right.

-I've seen many a house nearly as bad, if not worse.

And then, of course, the electrics you'll be able to do,

-which is a major saving.

-Yes.

-Kitchen and bathroom and all that.

-Kitchen and bathroom, yeah.

Needs a full kitchen. Bathroom's...

-Blue.

-Well, yeah, blue!

Bathroom's OK, but it's blue,

so it could do with a nice white bathroom.

Um...just get it a bit more modern.

So what's the budget for the work?

Tops, we think it'll be about £25,000.

-Wow.

-Cos we're doing the work ourselves, we'll save quite a lot.

So how long to get it sorted out?

We'd like to have it done in about a year.

-A year?!

-Yeah.

Why a year?

-You can do it quicker than that, can't you?

-We could do, yeah.

Definitely.

-But...

-It's open-ended.

But you're currently living at home?

Yeah, I'm living at home, which is across the road, so...

We could do bits every now and again and on the weekends, sort of thing.

-There are some advantages to living at home.

-Yeah.

Fed well, as well!

Yeah, well, washing done, fed well!

# And it's going to take some time

# This time... #

Tom might not be in a hurry to move out of his parents' house,

and who can blame him?

But one thing that really can't wait too long

is that garden, especially what's growing outside the back door.

That'll have to be dealt with.

-Were you aware of that before you bought it?

-It was written on the notes,

just before we started bidding for it.

So we read it there, but we hadn't seen it or heard anything about it until the day of the auction.

Did that throw up a note of caution or were you...?

Well, it did, but we thought...

-It can be dealt with.

-It can be dealt with, yeah.

-And it can. There's ways of doing it, but it definitely can be dealt with.

-Yeah.

Now, the garden, which is obviously huge...

But it's right behind the neighbouring property, isn't it?

How does that all work?

They can use the garden as they like for now.

-I think there's plenty of potential to do something with the garden, with it being so big.

-Brilliant.

-Listen, congratulations. Good luck with it, Tom.

-Thank you.

-Look forward to seeing how you get on.

-Lovely, thank you.

-Thank you very much.

Well, Tom clearly in no hurry whatsoever to get this place sorted out. A year?!

For goodness sake! I suppose when you're living at home,

having all your food cooked and your washing done, maybe the incentive isn't that great.

And I guess, when you're also doing it for your day job,

coming home in the evenings and weekends

and doing more of the same is never easy.

You can find out how he and the family get on sorting this place out later in the show.

# Not gonna wait, gonna wait For the weekend

# The seaside needs us more than ever... #

This is Margate, on the Kent coast.

The seaside town has seen its fortunes rise recently,

with the multi-million-pound Turner Contemporary art gallery

spearheading regeneration.

The old town is now filling up with boutiques, cafes and galleries,

and on top of that, millions of pounds are about to be spent on Margate's seafront.

The property I'm here to see is not far from the seafront

and the Turner Contemporary Centre.

But it's on this busy main road.

So, here it is. It's a former accountant's office

which has two flats attached.

The guide price at auction, £95,000 to £100,000.

Let's take a closer look.

Now, the business space consists of two office areas,

one here, one here.

And as a former accountant's, it will have A2 business usage,

so you can continue to use it for professional and financial services,

such as a building society,

an estate and employment agency,

a betting office, even.

It's also relatively straightforward to change the use of this

to retail.

But whether a commercial premises like this would be in demand

in this area - well, that's another matter entirely.

I noticed quite a few empty units along this road,

and it might be pretty tough finding a suitable tenant

in today's difficult economic climate.

But there's more to this property than just a couple of office spaces.

There are two flats as well.

First, the lower ground floor.

What really appeals to me is this little studio flat

has its own independent access.

So I suppose this would be the sleeping area.

You've got a wardrobe space there. Little shower room through there.

And this... It's brilliant!

I mean, look how big it is!

You've got the kitchen area, enough room for a sofa,

a table, and also, you've got another door with another entrance,

because you could even use the back gate.

So this little unit, well, it's a really nice one.

Even the outside space is pretty good for a town-centre property.

The only fly in the ointment down here

is that the sleeping area at the back

will not actually comply with building regulations.

To qualify as a bedroom,

a room needs to have a window to supply natural light,

ventilation, and a fire escape.

If you were to buy this place, it would be best to check with the local council

that the layout here adheres to the rules.

Talking of layout,

above the office space, on the two upper floors,

there's a maisonette flat,

and a very steep staircase to negotiate.

This is the second flat. Now, whoever takes this on

had better be very fit, because it's all on different levels.

You've got the shower room

just down there on the first level,

and it's quite small. I would say it's a little bit of a turn-off

for somebody that likes bathroom space,

because you're not going to get it with this flat.

But you do have this really rather spacious sort of lounge area,

and if you look closely, you can see the sea from here.

So, all good.

And a separate kitchen area.

So it's quite a compact space.

And then, up that very tight stairwell,

you've got a bedroom and a little utility area.

So everything you need, but on lots of different levels.

So, it won't be for everyone.

The bedroom on the very top floor may be a good size,

but it's a tad odd to have a utility area off it.

Perhaps converting it into a large en suite would be a better use of space.

The guide price here was £95,000 to £100,000.

There are plenty of options for this place,

so who better to discuss them than a local estate agent?

In my opinion,

I would not keep this as commercial premises.

I would try and get it into two apartments, if you can.

The reason for that is currently, there are 33 empty units already in this road.

Unless, of course, somebody's buying it for their own use and purpose.

So he thinks the building would be best converted into two flats,

rejigging their current layouts to include

what is currently the office space.

But it may not be straightforward.

It's difficult to know whether the local authority will allow conversion into apartments.

The problem would be that if you went in as a fresh application,

it would probably get declined under current legislation.

However, because it's already been flats in the past,

there's a possibility it might be granted

under existing permitted use.

If permission was granted to convert the property into two two-bedroom flats,

what would the building as a whole be worth?

Depending on the quality of the conversion,

I would expect it to achieve somewhere between

£120,000 and £130,000.

Bearing in mind that guide price of between £95,000 and £100,000,

and with conversion costs in the mix,

this doesn't sound a very profitable way to go.

What could you get for rental if you opted to keep this as a commercial property

and did a straightforward renovation?

If they were to keep it as business premises on this level,

I think you wouldn't get more than probably about

£3,000 to £4,000 per annum.

The agent also reckoned the upstairs flat

could fetch around £400 per calendar month, if refurbished.

But with that question mark about building regulations on the lower ground floor,

it would be tricky to value.

There are certainly come interesting options to consider here.

So, does keeping this former accountant's premises as a business add up?

Well, I actually think it does,

because of the two separate entrances to the flats,

which means you get three bites of the cherry,

with two rental incomes and a business premises.

So, who went for this one?

Let's find out at the auction.

Guide £95,000 to £100,000.

Where do you want to start me on that one? Start me at 90.

£90,000.

I'll take 80, then.

£80,000 I've got.

At 85, cos it's worth every penny.

85 I've got.

90, and 5 at the back. 95.

92 I'll take, if it helps you. At 92.

Are we all done, then, at £90,000?

Cos it's an absolute steal at 90, but it's in the room to sell at 90.

At £90,000, sitting down, I've got. For the first time,

sitting in front of me.

£90,000 for the second time,

and £90,000, third and final time. It's going to be sold.

Well done, sir. £90,000.

That final bid of £90,000 was made by Max,

managing director of his own criminal and family law firm,

based in Ashford, also in Kent.

So why did he want a property in Margate?

Max couldn't meet me today,

so his co-director Vicky came along

to their new premises to explain.

-Vicky, congratulations.

-Thank you.

Lovely to meet you today. Now, you weren't the one bidding on the day for this.

No, it was my colleague.

And why did you want to buy this?

Well, we wanted to expand into Margate,

and to do that, we need to have an office, and this seemed like the perfect thing to do.

Did you view the office prior to auction?

Not this one, no.

What do you mean, "not this one"?

Well, we had viewed another one up the road,

which we thought was perfect

and my colleague went along to bid on it, but unfortunately, it just went too high,

so he had to pull out.

And what happened next?

There was about a 40-minute gap, then I got a text saying, "I've bought another office."

So he literally sat there and flicked through the catalogue,

saw this and just bid on it?

He did.

Of course, I had a panic attack cos we'd not seen this office.

So after the auction, we zoomed straight here,

had a look, and luckily, it was perfect.

Really - that simple? It is perfect?

It is perfect, yes.

Why did you miss this one in the first place?

I don't know.

I think we probably had delusions of grandeur.

We saw the bigger office down the road.

It was an old bank. It looked very impressive.

Probably a bit too ambitious for us, though,

looking back in hindsight.

And was it a lot less money than what you'd expected to pay?

-About half, yes.

-Wow!

So you've also saved as well.

We saved as well.

Does Max tend to buy things on the spur of the moment?

He gets very excited about auctions.

When that catalogue comes in, the world stops.

He even goes down to auctions when he's not planning on bidding on anything.

So I wasn't surprised.

# You've been hit by You've been struck by

# A smooth criminal... #

Well, you all know my opinion about buying blind,

but it certainly sounds like what happened on auction day

was for the best in this case.

And with this property, they don't just get offices for their expanding law firm.

So what's the plan for the residential parts here?

We will rent out, certainly, the top flat, because the income from that

will more than cover the mortgage.

-It's like us having a free office.

-That really works for you, doesn't it?

Definitely. That was always the idea, certainly with this particular office.

It makes sense. There's enough outgoings with the business, like business rates and so on.

You need a bit of extra help, and that rent will do it.

So what are your plans with this, as far as the business goes?

Are you planning on knocking any walls down, expanding at all?

Well, I think we'll certainly expand into the basement.

That's a flat at the moment, but we'll need that space.

There's just not enough space up here to house a couple of solicitors and a receptionist.

This place really does need a bit of a freshen-up. It's dated, the carpets are old,

the wallpaper looks shoddy. Are you going to change it?

Absolutely strip this back.

I've got a very set colour scheme in place that I've got in the other office,

-and I want it to follow through here.

-Which is?

Which is quite neutral walls

and a charcoal-grey carpet.

It really suits us and it looks very smart, so all of this will be gone.

What's going to be out the front there?

I'll need to have a receptionist out there,

so it'll be the sort of greeting area, in a way.

People come in, greeted by a receptionist,

and then solicitor through here and solicitor downstairs.

How much do you think it'll cost you to make the changes you need to make?

Well, the changes, to be honest, there's not too much structural change needed.

It's really cosmetic.

I think probably around £10,000,

just to freshen it up and redecoration.

Ideally, Max and Vicky plan to get the office up and running

in just two months.

Once that's completed,

they can think about any work required to get the upper flat ready to let

so it starts covering their business costs.

Vicky, congratulations. I can't wait to see how professional this place looks

-by the time you've finished. Congratulations.

-Thank you.

So, Vicky's colleague Max didn't mean to bid for this property at all.

He didn't even look at it before the auction.

But luckily, it seems to have turned out OK.

And now they have a new Margate business premises.

So will Vicky make a good job transforming this office space

into a suitable place for solicitors?

You can find out how she gets on later in the programme.

Coming up, I'm in Surrey, making a note of the good, the bad

and the ugly in this cute cottage.

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick...yuck.

In Kent, we find out if buying blind paid off for Max.

I just thought it was a bargain, really.

Can't really go wrong for that price.

But did he?

But first, in Yorkshire, how did Tom get on?

We're really looking forward to moving in,

using it as a home now instead of a workplace.

We return to North Frodingham now,

where 22-year-old electrician Tom

purchased this three-bedroom semi at an auction for £74,000.

With well-proportioned rooms and a huge garden

pitted against damp a-plenty

and an ominous plant that could attack the foundations,

this wasn't a place for the faint-hearted.

But Tom had help at hand from his dad, John,

and the property was quite literally on his doorstep.

You're currently living at home?

Yeah, I'm living at home, which is across the road.

So I can come and do bits every now and again and on the weekends, sort of thing.

There are advantages to living at home.

Fed well, as well!

Yeah, washing done, fed well!

Let's hope didn't make a, er...meal of this project.

With the comforts of home meaning no pressure to move out,

and working a full-time job,

Tom had given himself a generous timescale of a year

to get the place ready for himself and girlfriend Charlotte to move into.

We're back here 17 months since I first met Tom and John

to see if this house has been turned into a home.

These 17 months have clearly been well spent.

This is no standard semi,

but has a charming, cottagey feel.

What are Tom and Charlotte looking forward to most about moving in?

Doing everything together,

like cooking, cleaning...

-Yes.

-..rather than living with parents

and not doing it all together.

-Being independent.

-Yeah, being independent.

Although having family on hand did prove very helpful during the renovations.

Tom's dad John, who's a joiner, was able to give Tom a guiding hand for a lot of the work.

I've been able to help him with my experience. Over the years, I've seen a lot of things

and I've maybe put things forward and sometimes they haven't liked the idea

and other times, it's a good idea, sort of thing.

And so, in general, it's gone well.

However, creating this dream home

did present a couple of nightmares.

The house was riddled with damp,

but a new damp-proof course installed inside and out

has seen the back of that.

I was really concerned about the Japanese knotweed

outside the back door,

which was tricky to tackle.

But they've read up on it, cut it back,

poisoned and, hopefully, eradicated it.

One thing they haven't fully addressed yet is the garden,

but there's plenty of time for that.

By the sound of things, that massive space will come in mighty handy.

Charlotte likes her animals.

I think we'll probably have some chickens or something like that.

Definitely a cat. You're going to have a cat

and we'll probably have a dog as well,

so we'll make use of it.

It'll be in good use.

Inside, there are some really lovely touches,

including this sign, which was left by a previous owner

and which Tom and Charlotte have placed above the front door.

They even managed to squeeze a WC into the downstairs space

and added French doors that lead into the garden.

But modern as those small details may be,

it was the age of the property which was part of its appeal.

I've always wanted to do an old property,

because I love the character of old buildings

and with it being across the road from where my parents are,

my uncle just lives down the road...

Got loads of family in the village, so it's nice to stay in a village

and just...

..live like... I don't know, the old-fashioned way, really.

And what a lovely way to live that is.

I'm not the only one who's impressed with the job Tom and his family of helpers have done here.

I'm feeling quite proud, really.

Tom's worked really hard on this house,

and I think it's really paid off.

I'm very grateful to everyone that's helped.

So I'm...

I'm very happy with it.

It's clear, though, that Charlotte's efforts are appreciated too.

You've been chief painter.

Painter and decorator.

I think she's done a very good job.

Thanks!

The project has gone over the original timescale,

but that was always quite relaxed.

And if you have got the luxury,

it's sometimes good to be able to take your time,

particularly if what you buy at auction is going to be your own home.

Between Charlotte sourcing a lot of the furniture from charity shops

and the family all lending a hand,

Tom was able to keep almost exactly to his £25,000 budget.

And it seems everyone's happy with the end result.

When it all comes together,

that's when you feel proud - we've done a good job, you know.

Hopefully we have, anyway. I think we have.

We're really looking forward to moving in.

Get using it as a home now instead of a workplace.

All the nights and...

hard work, weekends... It's all come to an end now.

But just quickly, before Tom and Charlotte start setting up home,

we invited two local estate agents

to have a look.

It's a lovely period house

that's been refurbished very well. They've used the light

in a good manner. They've created French doors

in the living room, and I think they've done well in the kitchen

to provide somewhere to eat and a utility area as well.

The property is a really attractive double-fronted period house

that has been extensively renovated

to a really high standard,

with good attention to detail.

The proportions of the accommodation lend themselves really well to modern living. It's a lovely house.

With the purchase price of £74,000

added to the work cost of nearly £25,000,

the total outlay here was £99,000.

I'm pretty sure they aren't going anywhere,

but if the couple wanted to sell,

what do the agents think they could expect?

I would expect to market this property

at around £140,000, and hope to achieve around £135,000.

I would expect this property to appear on the market

at about £140,000

and achieve in excess of £135,000.

That's brilliant, isn't it?

Yeah, it sounds good.

I like it!

It's well worth all the effort. Definitely.

A £135,000 sale price

would leave them a pre-tax profit of £36,000.

Mighty impressive.

But they've got some moving in to do. When are they hoping to do that?

Right now?

Today!

Move all our boxes in and get them all unpacked.

Yeah.

It's going to be exciting times now.

-First sleep here tonight.

-Yeah.

Independence. It's going to be brilliant.

This is what's left of the historic Brooklands racing track in Weybridge, Surrey.

The first purpose-built motor racing track in the world.

Well, in recent times, this whole area has been redeveloped

to provide housing, shops and high-end businesses.

And that's adding to an already high desirability factor for Weybridge itself.

People like Cliff Richard, Tom Jones, John Lennon, Ringo Starr

have all lived here.

So, as you might expect, property prices are pretty high.

# Living in high society... #

So high, in fact, that in 2008,

a Times newspaper survey found this sought-after suburb in the London commuter belt

had six out of ten of the most expensive streets

in southeast England.

It's easy to see why.

The town is pretty, with traditional buildings, noted schools,

high-end housing and even blue-chip companies.

But if you're feeling lucky, you might still snap up something of a bargain if you know where to look.

Well, somewhere along this quiet residential lane

is the property I'm here to see.

It's a two-bedroom Victorian cottage.

Um...

I've just got to find it.

# I'm hunting high and low... #

High, low and sideways, in fact.

I'm reliably informed the character property I'm here to see

had a £230,000 guide price.

# I'll always be hunting

# High and low... #

And it's somewhere in amongst these, um, other character properties.

But which one is it?

DOGS BARK

CHEERING

You never know quite what to expect with a place that looks like this from the outside.

But the good news is, it's actually really nice.

Through the front door, and one big main room here,

obviously been knocked through at some point.

But given the fact that you've got fairly low ceilings,

that at least makes it feel not as claustrophobic as it might.

Stairs up to your bedrooms there, and the staircase very discreet there.

Probably the best use of that kind of space again,

because this really is not a big property.

But I like what they've done to it so far.

This, however, is completely rubbish.

It just does not work.

The suite - wow! Lemon yellow back in fashion.

Um...

I don't think so. That needs to go.

But you need to create more space there. That is horrendous.

So maybe take a little bit of space out of that front living room area.

Because actually, that is the only room that is a major problem,

because come back here, you've got this kitchen,

and, yes, it's small, but it's what you expect for a cottage like this.

It looks out over the back garden,

and with the right kind of units in here, it would be very nice.

So, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick...yuck.

Get that teeny tiny bathroom sorted out,

and with a bit of clever creativity, you could decorate and furnish this currently blank canvas

into somewhere that feels more spacious,

but retains its cottage charm.

Right at the top of the stairs are the two bedrooms.

One at the front with wooden floorboards that could look lush when sanded down.

And you never know, there could be a fireplace hidden behind that chimney breast.

The second and rear bedroom is a bit smaller.

Whilst it does fit in with the character of the property,

the peeling polystyrene ceiling certainly doesn't.

Keeping with the small theme, the back garden is just that,

but could look bigger if the shed wasn't plonked in the middle.

So, plenty of potential throughout, except...

Now, there is one very practical problem with this cottage.

And it comes from the fact

of where it is.

As I said before...

..it's a long way down.

Come on!

Keep up!

And that is how far you've got to carry the building materials in

and the rubbish out.

OK. With a guide price of £230,000,

we invited a local estate agent to have a look around.

The property is quite a small property.

One of the major sticking points possibly with a buyer

is the size of the bathroom.

This could either be kept as a wet room,

by removing the bath, or actually moving the bathroom to the rear of the property,

incorporating the kitchen into where the bathroom actually is at the moment.

Some good options for sorting the bathroom size, then,

and once that's done, along with the various other bits required

to bring the place up to speed,

what could it sell for?

Having recently sold a very similar property in the road,

I feel, with the renovations done, the house is likely to achieve

somewhere in the region of £320,000.

Wow! If you bought for anywhere near that £230,000 guide price,

with a bit of careful budgeting,

this tiny property could deliver a very big profit.

Would rental valuations also offer a healthy return?

With the proximity to the mainline station and the local shops as well,

the rental demand for this property would be very, very high.

I would think it's likely to achieve somewhere in the region

of £1,000 to £1,100 per calendar month.

DOG BARKS

So, a lovely little cottage in a nice area.

Not without its problems...

not least...

DOGS BARK

..the noisy neighbours

and the fact you have got those issues of access

when it comes to doing building work,

but still charming, and I'm sure somebody fell in love with it when it went under the hammer.

Woof!

Two-bedroom, mid-terraced house.

Who'd like to start off on this? Start low...

200.

That's dead cheap for this.

200.

205, sitting down.

210.

215.

220.

225.

230.

235.

240.

245.

250.

255.

Have a think. 250 with you.

251.

If not, £250,000. It's going.

You're going to lose it.

At £250,000,

first time...

second time...

third and last time, if you're all done.

Sold, 250. Well done.

Airline pilot Jonathan flew out as soon as he secured the property

for £250,000

and has now handed over the controls to his wife, Angela.

She used to work for an airline too,

but left the high life for property development.

-Angela, great to meet you.

-Thank you.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

-Lovely little cottage.

-Yes.

It is. It's nice, yes.

Tell me why you wanted to buy it.

I gave up work back in February.

And I refurbished a couple of properties

a few years before. I sort of fitted it around work and children,

and just felt ready to leave and be more at home with the children,

-and this fitted in well with it.

-Great.

What were you doing?

I was cabin crew for an airline.

Tell me about the family. How old are the children?

I've got two boys. They are five and six-and-a-half.

-Wow!

-So they're full-on.

I'm sure they'll help when they can

with pulling off paper and things off the walls!

So how did the other projects go?

They were good. Did a couple in Streatham, and they were flats.

Um...needed a lot more work than this place.

Hard work, but good fun as well.

Right. So what attracted you to this particular place?

It's much closer to where I live.

I can get to it within five minutes.

And also, it may be a place that I might decide to keep on and rent out,

but I'm not too sure at the moment.

So that's a decision I'll make maybe as the project carries on,

and then maybe end up living here when I retire.

-OK.

-Maybe. We'll wait and see.

Angela has a lovely laid-back approach to this project

and has experience behind her.

But that didn't stop her breaking one of this programme's cardinal rules.

So what did you think of it the first time you saw it?

-Today was the first time I've seen it.

-What?!

I know. Bit scary.

My husband had seen it, but I hadn't,

so I did put my trust into his hands.

Wow!

But yes, it's nice. It's small, but it's not as bad a state as I thought it would be.

I've seen worse, put it that way.

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

It needs a new kitchen, new bathroom,

maybe enlarging the bathroom,

and upstairs is just two bedrooms, so just refurbish those

and just get it up to a good standard.

What's the budget for the work?

Between £20,000 and £25,000

to get it up to scratch.

And she hopes to do it in two to three months,

bringing in contactors for the big jobs such as the kitchen and bathroom,

but tackling a lot of the work herself.

She even has a plan for getting things up and down

that higgledy-piggledy lane.

Well, I'm going to have a trolley

to wheel everything down and wheel it all back.

But a skip... There is a neighbour that we may ask

if we can use their driveway just to put the skip on

and maybe put a bit of money their way!

Well, if they say no, you're definitely...

If they say no, I'll have to get permission from the council.

-To put it where?

-Don't know yet.

We'll figure that out. Again, that's another thing we'll figure out as we go along.

And after this one, what's on the horizon?

I'll try to get another one, hopefully.

I'd like to go back into London.

I feel the margins there are better, so...

But we'll just wait and see.

Ideally, one or two a year would be good.

And the idea each time will be to do up and sell on?

Yes. Hopefully, we'd like to find one that we could keep

as an investment for the two children.

-Brilliant. Well, congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

-Good luck with it.

-Thank you.

-Look forward to seeing how you get on.

So, some work ahead for Angela,

and I do think the biggest issue she's going to have to cope with

is getting those building materials in

and the rubbish out.

Still, she seems prepared for what's in store.

How will she get on sorting this place out?

You can find out later in the show.

It's been a while now since we last saw those properties, Martin.

There should have been some progress, but you never know.

Yes, because all sorts of problems can arise.

So let's go back and find out how they've got on.

We've returned to Kent.

Margate, to be precise,

where solicitor Max purchased this at an auction

for £90,000.

A commercial premises on the ground floor,

with two flats - one on the lower ground

and a maisonette on the first and second floors.

Max wanted to expand his law firm,

but it was his colleague Vicky who I met.

She explained how they ended up buying this particular place.

Did you view the office prior to auction?

-Not this one, no.

-What do you mean, "not this one"?

Well, we had viewed another one up the road which we thought was perfect.

And my colleague went along to bid on it,

but unfortunately, it just went too high, so he had to pull out.

-And what happened next?

-There was about a 40-minute gap

and then I got a text saying, "I've bought another office."

So he literally sat there and flicked through the catalogue,

saw this and just bid on it?

He did. Of course, I had a panic attack because we'd not seen this office!

That is some gamble to take.

We're back to meet up with both Max and Vicky two months on

to discover if it paid off.

Outside is certainly looking clean and bright.

The plan was always to incorporate the lower ground flat

into the offices. Thanks to a paint job,

and making the kitchen less homely and more staff-friendly,

that's been achieved.

And on the ground floor,

it's goodbye to the blue and violet.

Even with the furniture in place,

this all looks very professional.

Vicky is delighted.

Well, the ground floor I think is perfect for our needs,

because we've got this big bay window,

and there will be passing trade. They can see that we're a solicitor's office.

It's nice and light.

This area here is excellent for a reception area.

And when you go through to the back, you've got the solicitor's office,

where you can have two or three people sitting in there.

And then you've got down the stairs there,

where you'll have more solicitors sitting,

probably one department down there, one department up here.

I'm very pleased with how it looks.

The colour scheme is perfect for us.

It's clean, it's fresh, it's professional.

I think people are going to be able to come in here,

use our services with confidence,

knowing we've put a lot of time and effort into how our offices look.

And what about Max?

Now that he's seen his surprise purchase turned around,

is he confident he made the right choice on auction day?

Yeah, very pleased. When I first came to see it,

I thought it would have been a lot worse than what it was.

I just thought it was a bargain, really. Can't go wrong for that price.

But unfortunately, I didn't read the legal pack or view it or anything like that.

# You've been a bad bad boy... #

And Max a lawyer too!

Reading the legal pack for an auction property

really is essential if you want to know what you're getting yourself into.

Believe me, not everyone turns out to be as lucky as Max was.

A real bonus for the business here

was the maisonette flat above.

Max and Vicky hoped that the income from a tenant

would pay the mortgage for the whole building.

It needed a bit of work too,

so how has that turned out?

It's definitely looking cleaner and less cluttered.

I'm glad to see they've changed

that odd off-the-bedroom utility room to an en suite.

I think the flat looks beautiful.

I think it looks a lot more stylish than it did before.

I think we'll be able to rent it out

at quite a good rate,

just because of the standard that it's at at the moment.

And they'll need to,

as the whole building needed to be rewired,

which cost about £5,000.

So between that, the work to the offices

and the fact they've done the flat within their two-month timescale,

their £10,000 budget took a bit of a hit.

Probably more like £15,000, £20,000, I would have thought.

Yeah.

But that doesn't seem to upset them too much.

If the spend on the work was £20,000,

then the total cost of this place,

including the £90,000 Max paid for the building at auction,

is £110,000.

We invited two local estate agents

to give us their opinions on the newly divided office space and flat.

One of them has been here before.

The office space they've provided on the ground floor is clearly suitable for their needs.

I'm not sure that it would be highly marketable

in the current marketplace,

but it's clean and tidy and will suit their purpose.

Coming up to this property, I'm really quite impressed.

It's opposite quite a popular supermarket.

It's in a busy main road,

so it's good for passing trade.

And I think the property itself's been done to quite a nice standard.

So both the building and the amenities are really ideal

for Max and Vicky's needs,

both for the building and the potential letting of the flat.

As they are now two clear separate entities,

the estate agents valued them as such.

First of all, what did they foresee for sales?

In the current climate, I would put a value of £35,000 to £40,000

on the commercial unit.

In terms of the flat with the sea view in the current market,

I would say somewhere between £40,000, maybe £45,000.

I think the flat, being a one-bedroom,

would be worth around about £40,000 at the moment.

And the commercial space at the moment

probably would be worth about £45,000.

So even if both sold for their maximum,

the total would be £90,000,

just covering the purchase price paid at auction,

but not the renovations.

However, this was about expansion of the business

and the long term.

The estate agents estimate the flat upstairs could achieve

between £375 and £400 a month.

Well, the rental on the flat is ideal, really,

because that will cover most of the mortgage

for the whole building, so it's almost like we're getting the office for free

and that's what we bought the building for. It was for the office,

not a residential investment or anything like that, so that's just an added bonus, really.

Sounds good.

So, given all that,

will Vicky let Max loose at an auction again?

Definitely, yes.

With this perfect office

and flat potential at the top,

I think I can safely say that I will.

We're back in Weybridge, Surrey.

Here, I met Angela, who bought this quaint two-bedroom terrace

for £250,000.

She was changing careers

from cabin crew with an airline to property developing.

However, the downside here was the long haul

involved in the trek to get to it.

But Angela had a few ideas

on how to get rubbish and building materials along that windy path.

Well, I'm going to have a trolley

to wheel everything down and wheel it all back.

But a skip... There is a neighbour that we may ask

if we can use their driveway just to put the skip on

and maybe put a bit of money their way!

Well, if they say no, you're definitely...

If they say no, I'll have to get permission from the council.

-To put it where?

-Don't know yet.

We'll figure that out. Again, that's another thing we'll figure out as we go along.

Access was the big issue,

and the tiny loo was another.

We've come back 12 weeks on

to see if Angela has turned

this hard-to-get-to destination into a must-see.

Outside is looking clean and fresh,

sporting a coat of paint and a good tidy-up.

And inside?

The living room's a lot brighter, with new flooring,

paint, and a perfect spot created for a wood-burner.

As for the kitchen...

It's looking much more like a country cottage.

Despite it being a bit petite,

it now feels way more spacious.

Glass doors leading out to the garden.

But what about that miniscule bathroom?

The lemon yellow suite's long gone,

and we can actually get in to see the whole room this time.

We actually stole some space from our sitting room

to make the bathroom bigger, because it's the only bathroom in the house.

And it allowed us to have the bath along the back wall.

Here we are, coming into the kitchen.

The kitchen has completely been...

redone. We once had a door here.

That took you out to the garden.

And that's been blocked up,

which allowed us then to put double doors in,

and then you can go straight out onto the garden from there.

We've gone for a higher-quality finish

with things like the solid oak worktop

and solid wood units.

And it just feels so much more spacious

and I'm really, really, really pleased with it.

The renovation of the kitchen and bathroom makes such a big difference.

I love the new doors out to the garden,

which is also looking tidier,

with a low-maintenance patio

where weeds and an old shed

once overcrowded the small space.

Upstairs, both bedrooms have been completely redecorated.

There are just carpets to go down

and Angela's brother-in-law

is finishing off the last of the painting.

So, a thorough job

and pretty much bang-on that three-month schedule.

But as with all renovations, there were some ups and downs.

It was in pretty bad disrepair.

We had a lot of damp in quite a few areas,

so everything was pulled back to the bare brickwork, more or less.

We had to pull the ceilings down upstairs

and downstairs, to redo them.

So, yeah, it was all in pretty bad shape.

Hmm, pulling ceilings down sounds like a pretty messy job to me.

My big worry here was the access route,

and it turned out a skip wasn't feasible.

So, how many trips up and down the path

did Angela make?

Goodness, I couldn't tell you.

It's got to be 100 or so.

It just seemed to go on.

We got one job clear, and then something else would need clearing out,

and it was just...logistically, it was an absolute nightmare.

But we got there.

We really got there in the end.

It was just hard work, and we just had to get on it. And that was it.

I take my hat off to her.

And not just for all of that hauling of bricks and rubble.

The cottage is looking really lovely.

Angela originally said she might be tempted to keep it on

as an investment for the future.

Is that still the case?

I would like to keep it,

but I think we're probably going to end up selling it.

It's a lovely little investment, and we've put a lot of...

heart into this place, so, yeah, it's a shame. But anyway...

Just...see what happens.

The cottage clearly tugged on Angela's heartstrings,

but how did her purse strings fare?

The original renovation budget was a maximum of £25,000.

I did my calculations the other day.

And it will probably be up around £25,000, yes.

And so we've kept on track.

But will she be laughing all the way to the bank?

That £25,000 added to the purchase price of £250,000

makes the total outlay £275,000.

We invited two local estate agents,

one of whom saw the property before,

to cast their expert eyes over the finished article.

My first thoughts coming back to the property

is the dramatic improvement.

Just looking around, even though the work hasn't been quite finished,

the changes are quite monumental.

I think the property would appeal to a young professional couple

moving out from London, where they can get a bit more for their money,

because it's within easy of the train station, and Weybridge town itself is quite appealing.

So the property could prove popular.

But at what price?

First, rental values.

The property's likely to achieve somewhere in the region of

£1,200 per calendar month.

I would expect to achieve somewhere in the region of

£1,250 per calendar month.

That would mean a yield of around 5%,

but it's not quite enough to tempt Angela into letting it.

It is a little bit lower than what we would have liked to have achieved,

but that's what the market says, so that's fine.

Will the sales values be more than fine?

I would expect it to achieve

somewhere in the region of between £330,000 and £340,000.

I would expect the property to achieve,

in today's market, around £340,000.

That's about what we wanted, so that's really good.

Yeah, we're really pleased with that.

Based on those figures,

the pre-tax profit here lies between £55,000 and £65,000,

allowing Angela to invest in her next project,

leaving someone else to fall for this one.

It's been done lovely,

and hopefully, the person who buys it will see

the standard we've put in and hopefully,

they'll live here for a few years and get enjoyment out of it too.

Well, in the ever-changing world of property developing,

there are always new things to learn.

So we'll have more lessons for you next time.

-So join us then for more Homes Under The Hammer.

-Goodbye.

-Goodbye.

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