Episode 26 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello. Buying your first home is a life-defining moment.

One that you will just treasure for ever.

But whether it's your first property or your 50th,

-it's always really exciting buying at auction.

-Oh, yes.

There are plenty of heart-stopping moments

when you buy your home under the hammer!

Well, everyone knows that appearances can be deceptive

and some auction properties prove to be a bit of a challenge!

Yes, the house may look as if it needs a quick makeover.

But actually, what is needed is drastic surgery!

So do today's properties just need a bit of filler, or a full renovation?

Let's find out!

In Kent, this building plot hasn't dampened my enthusiasm.

I can imagine a nice big, detached, family house sitting here.

This mansion in Darlington makes me feel more "down" than "Downton"!

But it isn't that sort of big,

impressive entrance that you'd hope for.

And this Derby semi was ticking boxes for me. Nice house, I thought.

Well, it was all going so well. And then, I came into the bathroom.

All these lots went to auction. We'll find out who bought them...

Selling for the first time.

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

Sold.

This is the village of Four Elms in Kent.

15 minutes from the town of Sevenoaks,

deep in the lovely Kentish countryside.

And in my opinion, you'd be "quackers" not to take a look

at what's on offer in this neck of the woods.

Even in the rain!

# All the ducks are swimming in the water

# Fol de rol de rol

# Fol de rol de rol! #

This part of the world is very, very desirable indeed.

Families are falling over themselves to buy a home here.

But what if a characterful old farmhouse isn't your thing?

Well, how about a plot to build something new?

Because that is exactly what was on offer.

It's a quarter of an acre site,

right in the heart of the village, with planning for a four-bed house.

And it had a guide price of 280 to 300,000. How exciting!

It's unusual to get a building plot right in the heart

of a community like this.

In fact, there was a bungalow on this site

until it was demolished a couple of years ago.

And I tell you what, I'm glad I brought my wellies!

Because this is going to be one muddy viewing!

Now, I know this is a quarter of an acre site,

but you know, it feels so much bigger! Wow! Loads of space here.

You can see this is where the old house was. Loads of rubble.

But it's quite interesting, I can imagine a nice big,

detached family house sitting here very happily indeed.

And the bit I love, the plans! There is an executive four-bedroom house.

Now, these have been passed already. There's two floors.

You've got the downstairs ground floor with the kitchen, dining room,

a family space, a nice big hallway, a drawing room and bedroom four.

Not sure about that.

Apart from bedroom four,

everything else looks really good on the ground floor.

And then going upstairs,

you've got a master bedroom with a lovely ensuite shower room.

You've got another two bedrooms and a study and linen area.

Now, straightaway, I would like to knock the study

and the linen cupboard into one big room and call that bedroom four.

I really think you needs to have your sleeping upstairs

and your living accommodation downstairs.

You wouldn't want to have to submit the plans again,

because this is already a done deal.

It's passed, you're going to buy these with the auction lot.

so I think if you could tweak it,

and just have four bedrooms upstairs, this would be a great house.

Some potential buyers will not be keen on a downstairs bedroom

and just regard it as a study or occasional bedroom at best.

And you don't really want your substantial family home

downgraded to a three-bed if you can help it.

The downstairs bedroom is next to a shower room, which might be OK

for families with teenagers or someone with mobility issues.

But I think that on the whole, it does limit the market.

So might well be worth exploring, as is the site itself.

It's always worth doing a bit of digging around any auction purchase.

And here, it is quite literally true.

I found out the reason the bungalow that used to be on this site

was demolished was because it had subsidence.

It was underpinned and the problems came back,

making it utterly unmortgageable.

I'd like to bet that the ground around here played a big part,

since it's mainly clay soil, which is prone to shrink and swell.

One thing's for sure, whoever builds a new home here needs to be

certain it doesn't go the same way as the old one.

It's like Glastonbury at festival time on this ground!

# Only one way to get there

# You've got to get a little mud on the tyres! #

But the word "subsidence" is not music to my ears.

You definitely need to "pile" the work into new foundations,

which could be expensive, but might well pay off.

What does a local estate agent think?

Four Elms is a very popular village, surrounded by open countryside.

The green belt washes over the area completely

and very few building plots such as this ever come to the market.

Having seen the plans, my thoughts are, it would be probably a little

bit nicer to have the fourth bedroom upstairs rather than downstairs.

What level of finish should the new house be kitted out to?

I think to a high specification to obtain the best possible price.

It is a good plot, it's a good location.

Therefore it deserves a good specification.

That greenbelt factor is definitely worth bearing in mind.

It will mean that there will be planning restrictions, so trying

to change the plans to build an even bigger house or houses

might well be a non-starter.

So if a developer decided to go with the plans as they are,

maybe with the odd bedroom tweaked, how much could the property be worth?

The house when completed, depending on specifications and standard

of construction, should be worth in the region of 625 to £650,000.

You would have to spend a lot of money to create a high spec

house here, say 200,000 build costs on top of the plot,

even if it sold for around the guide price, of 280 to 300,000.

So the figures stack up for resale, but what about rental?

There is a good rental market for the property and I believe it would

achieve a rent in the region of 2,000 to 2,500 per calendar month.

A rare opportunity to build a house in an extremely desirable location.

It's not a cheap plot,

but it could reap decent rewards or make a lovely home for someone.

Let's see who went for it at the auction.

Lot number 17 now is, wow, this is a really lovely plot,

this, over by Edenbridge.

Planning permission for a four-bedroom detached house

with a site of a quarter of an acre.

Start me at £280,000.

260 to get me running. I'm on the way at 260. I'm obliged.

260, I'm on the way. At 260.

And five. 265. 265. And 70. 270.

270. And five. 275. 275.

And 80 if you like. 280.

280, right in front of me in a fresh place. 280.

And 85. 285 to either of you, if you like.

285,000. At 285 if you like.

280 I've got sitting in the front row.

We're going to sell it for the first time at £280,000.

A chance to bid again if you want it. Second time at £280,000.

Third and final time. If you're sure. You're all done at £280,000.

It's yours, sir, at 280. Excellent plot.

That final successful bid of 280,000 was made by Andy.

He's a local developer and I met him

back at the muddy site to find out why he wanted it.

-Andy, lovely to meet you.

-You too.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

I want to know all about what's going to go on here

and why you wanted this plot.

Well, we're looking at putting a four-bedroom house on here,

as it's got planning in the auctions for this.

We're going to do a couple of alterations to it.

We're changing the garage to an oak garage now.

And we're going to put in a swimming pool as well now, in the garden.

Wow!

We've had some tests done for piling now,

so we have to pile because of the water level around here.

So we've had companies come in, do all the setting outs,

and we're ready to roll in the next hopefully two weeks.

When the ground is unstable and can't bear the weight of a structure,

prefabricated piles made of concrete or steel can be

driven into the soil using a pile driver.

# Pile driver... #

Often the piles are embedded into a concrete block to help

distribute the load, which should result in a stable foundation.

So, tell me about your experience of building houses.

I've been building for 30 years now. Mainly extensions, loft conversions.

And about 20 years ago we decided to build our own house

and carry on building. So we try to do at least one to two a year now.

Andy is what you'd call a seasoned developer.

And it needs someone with experience to wade through this clay soil

here and not find themselves, well, stuck in the mud!

Can we talk about the soil, first and foremost?

And why you're doing the piling?

Well, the background to the site show that there was some

kind of maybe lake or pond on here. So we had to have a soil test done.

Which does show it is clay and part peat as well, which is

very soft for a normal foundation.

So that is why we've had to go for piling.

Is that something you factored into the costs here?

Yes. When we bought the plots,

we knew that we would probably have to pile, before we went to auction.

I had some quotes done, so we knew that it was going to be

a good £20,000 over from what we'd normally build.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how it's done.

Andy did his homework, so didn't get any nasty surprises.

It's definitely an advantage, being local.

He knows the ground conditions and the market,

including what goes down swimmingly with buyers!

The thing that bothers me

is the fact that there are three bedrooms upstairs and one downstairs.

What are you going to do to change that layout?

Well, we're going to take the study upstairs out and there's quite a big

cupboard upstairs, out, which would give a good size fourth bedroom.

I was really hoping you were going to say that

because when I was looking at it, I was really trying to

rack my brains to think, is there enough room to call that bedroom four?

-Yeah, definitely.

-A swimming pool, whose idea is that?!

I mean, you really are taking it up to the next level.

Yes, it was a friend of mine who came up with the idea.

He's just built a couple of swimming pools now, so he came

down to the site yesterday and we decided we're going to have one.

How much do you think it's going to cost you?

I mean, what is your budget for a build such as this?

The build on this will be 200,000.

How much is it going to be worth at the end of the day?

It's been valued between 650 and 700.

So hopefully with the pool, it will keep it up near the 700 mark.

So you are looking at walking away with quite a healthy profit there.

Yeah, yeah.

It all sounds very glamorous and lucrative.

If Andy sticks to his budget, he could possibly be

looking at a gross profit of over 200,000 on this build.

He plans to get it done in seven months.

It all seems remarkably straightforward, so far.

And are you going to be here on-site, watching the boys,

-making sure everything runs smoothly?

-I'm actually on the tools.

My trade is plastering.

So I will be on the tools, doing quite a bit of the work myself,

-with the chaps as well.

-I am so excited to see what it looks like.

-Thank you for coming along today. Sorry about the weather!

-No trouble!

Good luck with it. Thank you.

Andy knows what he's about and I'm sure he'll build

a smasher of a home here.

I love the swimming pool plan and I reckon there's a profit in it.

Provided that clay soil doesn't drain his budget!

You can find out how it goes later in the show.

I'm in County Durham in the market town of Darlington.

The town has many impressive landmarks, like this clock tower,

a legacy of the Pease family who were wealthy Victorian industrialists.

Intriguingly, the property that went to auction just half a mile away

from the town centre has a connection.

Well, this area of Darlington is called the West End.

And it's extremely popular and desirable.

Now, the property I'm here to see

was described in the auction catalogue as substantial.

That's a good start. And you know what?

From the outside, it's living up to that description. Five bedrooms.

The guide price was 399,950 quid.

This Victorian house was once owned by the Pease family,

who built the clock tower as well as the town hall

and the covered market in Darlington.

Since those heady days of grandeur,

the property has been divided into two.

At one time, this must have been an amazing mansion.

But before you get the carriage and footman ready, please note,

we'll be using the tradesman's entrance, round the back!

Well, approaching the property, the entry is a little bit confusing.

That's probably because this was,

along with the adjoining property, originally one big house.

So you've actually only got half of it, if you like.

You have got the garages. There's four of those.

That's certainly enough.

And you come round into this little courtyard area.

A little bit more of rear garden or front garden,

whichever you want to call it!

And then what would be your entrance to the house.

But out here, before you even go in, you can see, lovely though it is,

a bit of remedial work required to that brickwork at the top.

Let's take a look inside.

Slightly disappointing when you come in through the door there.

But I suppose this was the rear entrance,

so you wouldn't expect anything too grand.

Nice that you've got the tiled floor.

But it isn't that sort of big, impressive entrance that you'd hope for.

Similarly, a big sweeping staircase? Well no, there isn't one.

This is the staircase in the property.

I guess in the property as a whole, it was the second staircase.

So it's not that grand.

And it's almost like there is a dividing line here,

almost like that was the servants' area at one point.

There's a couple of small rooms.

The moment you step into this area of the house,

you suddenly get that feeling of grandeur.

Over that side, a really nice-sized rear sitting room,

front sitting room,

it depends which way round the house you're going to call it!

But a good size, with the big windows.

Over this side, a dining area, separate from the kitchen.

It looks to be in pretty good condition.

And then again, the further you walk this way into the house,

the better it becomes.

Coming to here, and you've got this absolutely gorgeous living room area.

Huge great windows. Nice fireplace. Stripped floor.

Lots of original features like the coving and stuff like that.

This, this is what I was hoping the house would be like all throughout.

But at least you've got this room. And that one. With the kitchen.

Let's carry on.

# Nothing but a grand illusion... #

I'm rather disappointed that it's not all grand rooms here.

In fact, it's a bit of an illusion.

At the other end of the corridor,

if I turned left instead of coming up this way, smaller rooms

we didn't see when I first came in include a study

and this utility room.

As well as a downstairs bathroom. This place is vast!

So, what does the upstairs have to offer?

Well, a smallish kind of landing area here.

And then down that way, I don't want to go there yet, we'll go this way.

Because a very interesting room here, bathroom there,

bit of a storage cupboard.

Half-decent-sized bedroom here with a double aspect, which is nice.

But it's linked by this door into this bedroom.

So this, to me, is the side of the house you want to be on because

you've got these fantastic windows again, overlooking the garden.

Lots of light flooding in. Really nice-sized room.

But in terms of the layout, it just needs a little bit of tweaking.

Down the other end of the landing, there's another very large bedroom.

Then the rooms become a little smaller.

There are two more bedrooms, one double and one single.

So that's five bedrooms in total. And the main bathroom.

Like most of the other rooms, the fixtures are pretty good.

So you could get away with just adding your own decorative style.

However, the biggest tweak needs to be downstairs

in that kitchen/dining area.

Ideally, you'd have one big open-plan area.

But obviously, you've got this chimney breast in the middle

and that is one heck of a job to take that out.

So I guess that's going to have to stay.

It would be nice to have something a bit more substantial,

But as it is, it's in really nice condition.

I mean, the whole house, you could pretty much move into as it is.

I mean, look at this.

You've got granite work surfaces, fairly new units.

With a house like this, though, of this kind of age, it's going

to be the stuff that you can't see that you really want to check out.

What condition is the roof in, what is the damp-proofing,

if there is any, like?

You know, the exterior pointing and stuff like that.

That is the stuff that isn't particularly nice to do,

because it just costs a lot of money.

But it's stuff that you're going to have to address.

So, what does a local estate agent think of this large, five-bedroom

property that went to auction guided at just £50 shy of £400,000?

Would it be worth spending a lot of money here?

It's a lovely property. I just think it needs some modernisation.

I think the rooms need reconfiguring to a more modern family style of living.

But because it's semi-detached, I think that is going to

limit the end value. So although it needs some good investment,

there should be a limit on how much is spent.

What about the rental prospects for this grand property?

Once refurbished, the property will rent for approximately £1,300 per calendar month.

And the resale value after some cosmetic changes?

Once refurbished,

I would expect to sell the property for between 470 and £500,000.

Well, a bit of an interesting one, this one.

Because it could go two ways.

Either you could move in here and live in it pretty much as it is.

And it would be a lovely home, just like that.

Or, once you embark on some kind of renovation, it's going to cost

you a lot of money, but you could turn it into the most amazing house.

It's all going to be down to the decision of whoever bought it.

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

So we're going to move along now to property, lot number 43.

Fantastic looking house, this. Substantial Victorian residence.

Can I ask for 400 to start?

Do I have 390,000? Thank you. 395. Yeah?

400,000? 400 bid.

405. 410. 415? 415.

420. I'll halve it to 417,500.

417,500 bid. I'll halve to you as well at 420.

420 bid. 422 and a half. No?

I'm selling once at 420,000. It really is your last chance.

I'm selling for the second time at £420,000.

Sold to the gentleman and the lady on the right-hand side.

That final bid of 420,000,

to seal the deal on this huge Darlington property

was made by Andy, who was at the auction with his wife, Andrea.

# That it feels like home

# And it knocks me out

# Just to feel this way

# You know, I broke out... #

The couple live in the town. Andy runs his own civil engineering and groundworks business.

Andrea has been a midwife for the past seven years.

I met up with them both back at the new purchase,

to hear about what they plan to deliver at this property.

-Andy, Andrea, lovely to meet you both.

-And you.

Tell me why you wanted to buy this lovely house?

Well, I think we'd made the decision that we wanted to move

back into the centre of town, really.

We live out in the countryside at the moment.

But we've decided we don't particularly enjoy country life.

-Oh, right!

-We're missing things about the town, which I know is backwards for most people.

But, um, we miss being able to walk into the town on an evening,

and walk the kids to school.

This house is going to be a new family home for Andy, Andrea

and their children, Jamie and Fiona.

But the move isn't going to be completely straightforward.

What's happening with the house you're living in at the moment?

-It on the market. We're hoping to sell.

-You haven't sold it yet?

-We haven't sold it yet, no.

We're in that nail-biting stage, really, of owning two large houses.

Ooh! So how have you managed to finance this?

Well, we've mortgaged some of it. And we've used all of our savings,

just about, to pay for it. We kept a little bit back

to get some of the work done ourselves.

But then, until we can sell ours, we won't complete the work.

# Cash or credit, it doesn't matter

# As long as my bank books

# Keep growing fatter

# Easy Street is my favourite avenue

# Who needs money? I do. #

Andy and Andrea are definitely going to need cash.

That's because there's a lot of that boring but necessary maintenance stuff I mentioned earlier.

And also, some not so boring stuff.

Quite a few of the bricks have actually deteriorated to the fact

where I need to replace the bricks.

So I've got a lot of bricks to take out and fully repoint the whole house.

Wow! That's a job and a half in itself.

It is for somebody, yeah! I must admit I don't fancy that one.

And then it's got a double hip roof, so there's a lot of work to do on the roof.

There's a lot of damage to that that needs replacing.

Convert the garages, lose two of the garages.

Our final project would be an orangery out the back,

-if you want to call it the back or the front.

-Wow!

And then internals, I'll leave to Andrea.

Internals, the biggest piece of work we're doing is taking out

the chimney breast that's between the breakfast room

and the kitchen, and then going up stairs,

the same chimney breast between the two smallest bedrooms.

So we'll create a really big sort of kitchen dayroom downstairs.

Do you have any idea how much rubble that is going to create?

-Oh, yes!

-Oh, it'll be all right.

-It's best that we're actually not living in here

why we're doing it, because that is really dirty.

Yeah. We're going to use some of the corridor space behind the kitchen

to create a utility room. And then the existing utility room,

we're going to convert into a sauna and a wet room.

And then upstairs, create a sort of a really big master suite with dressing room and ensuite,

from the rooms where we've taken the chimney breast out.

Not just that, they'll also be replacing the windows.

All 25 of them. So this is going to be a major job.

But then Andy does run a civil engineering and groundworks company.

The general building work, the demolition, I would do it myself.

All of the first fixed works, I'll do myself.

But I will utilise plumbers and electricians.

What's the budget for this little adventure?

70,000, we hope we will do it all bar the orangery.

What kind of timescale is there for sorting it?

-Five to six months.

-OK.

-I think it all depends on selling ours.

-If ours sells, five to six months.

-Well listen, congratulations.

I'm very excited to see how you get on sorting it out.

-So, good luck with it.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very much.

Well, Andy and Andrea are clearly delighted with what will become their new family home.

But the amount of work they're taking on, gosh, it frightens even me.

I mean, just to take out this wall here in the kitchen/dining area,

what a job that's going to be.

Well, you can find out how many skips they end up using

later in the show.

Coming up, there's plenty on offer in this Derby property

both inside and out.

What a fantastic additional bonus to have.

We return to Darlington, where time's taken its toll.

It's a very old house with years of neglect.

We just have to put all of those things right.

But first it is back to Kent, where Andy's had a hard time.

About 180 tonnes of cross concrete in the garden, to raise the garden.

Earlier in the programme, we were in the Kent village of Four Elms,

seven miles from Sevenoaks.

And the numbers certainly seem to be stacking up for this plot,

with planning permission for a four-bedroom house.

Local developer Andy bought it for 280,000.

He and I agreed that the only flaws in the plans

were the fourth bedroom being on the ground floor,

and the small matter of the site having a history of subsidence.

However, none of this worried him unduly.

We've had some tests done for piling now.

So we have to pile because of the water level round here.

And we're ready to roll in the next, hopefully, two weeks.

Is that something you've factored into the cost?

Yes, when we bought the plot we knew that we'd probably have to pile.

Andy was also really plunging in, with plans for a swimming pool

and an oak garage, all to be done in seven months,

on a budget of 200,000.

Seven months and three weeks later, I'm back.

And Andy's five-star, four-bed executive house is built,

along with this oak garage, as Andy had promised.

At the back of the house, Andy, his partner Ali and new puppy Leo,

have moved in, and can enjoy this sun terrace,

which spans the whole width of the house.

Inside, the light floods into this timber-floored open-plan living space.

And I really love this large open kitchen

that stretches from the front of the property to the back.

This is the dining area and the kitchen area, open-planned.

This is where we've taken out the wall from the existing drawings

and made it more into an open-planned area.

And then this is the lounge, which we created with the bi-folding doors opening up into the garden.

Off the hall is a cloakroom and two further rooms at the front.

The interior design has all been down to Ali.

The original plans had the fourth bedroom on the ground floor.

That didn't work for me. Andy and Ali thought exactly the same.

So the cupboard and study area have gone.

And... Ta-da! Four upstairs bedrooms now!

They've gone for a very high-end look throughout.

Moving that bedroom upstairs has really worked well.

Yeah, I think that was really good because we created a fourth bedroom,

which was a really good size. And we also put an en suite on the master bedroom.

We put wardrobes all down one wall, so there's lots of storage.

Andy didn't have to resubmit the plans for the changes he's made.

That meant there were no delays. So building this lovely house

in just over seven months is pretty good going.

However, sadly, there's no lounging by the pool with cocktails here, after all.

The garden does look lovely.

But what happened to those swimming pool plans?

Well, we found out it was a very high water level.

This is why we had to pile it. We probably had about 180 tonnes of cross concrete in the garden,

to raise the garden because of the water levels.

So I think having a swimming pool would have caused a lot of problems

with the high water levels.

Andy's heating the house from an external heat source pump,

powered by the solar panels.

So I wonder, has the budget ended up in hot water?

We stuck to the budget on the 200,000.

But I'd allowed for solar panels.

But I decided to go for an air source heat pump.

So, in total, that probably put the budget up about another 15-20,000.

Added to the 280,000 Andy paid at auction,

that takes his total investment here to 500,000.

Andy and Ali moved in about a month ago.

And Andy's son is going to join them soon as well.

So, Ali, after a few weeks here,

what's been the most enjoyable aspect of your new home?

I think this open plan living area.

This is what I absolutely love, being able to cook and chat.

Really great. And it's all overlooking the garden as well.

Puppy Leo, who's a cockapoo, seems to be cock-a-hoop with the garden.

The couple plan to live in the house for at least nine months

and then maybe sell.

We invited two local estate agents to take a look at the property

and give their current valuations,

to see if Andy's hard work has paid off.

First impressions of the property when you approach,

is that it has a good kerb appeal.

It looks attractive from the outside. It seems to have been done very well.

It fits in nicely with the surrounding properties,

and keeps the main fabric of the village going.

The living space here at the property is very versatile.

You've got good sized rooms, tall ceilings and it's very bright.

The bedrooms are all good doubles, with an ensuite,

which is to a high standard and specification.

It's clean, it's tidy, it's bright, its contemporary.

And that's what people are looking for.

The estate agents estimate it could generate a rental income

of between 3,000 and 3,250 per calendar month.

That's a yield of 7%. So, does that tempt them?

No!

No, I'm happy actually living in here until early next year,

until we decide on another project.

I don't think I could tear myself away from this place if it was mine.

However, profit is profit.

And I expect that would be Andy's motivation for moving on.

Has his £500,000 investment made the most of this unpromising plot?

If the property came to the market it would achieve

something between £775,000 and £800,000.

This is up to 150,000 more than he valued it when he first saw the plot.

It's always tricky valuing off plan.

And he now feels that, as the spec's so good,

and it now sports four proper bedrooms, that boosts the value.

What did the other estate agent think?

I'd look to put the property on the market with a guide price

of between 785,000 and 800,000.

And I would look to achieve somewhere in the region.

A profit of 275 to 300,000, before tax and expenses.

-Great prices.

-Wow!

-I valued it between seven and 750.

Definitely a nice profit in 19 weeks.

-That's all it took to build.

-And it's a lovely place to live.

-Yeah.

-For a little while.

With Andy's building expertise and Ali's interior design skills,

they've created an impressive new home here.

They seem a great development double act.

Andy's done it really well. And he's done it really quickly as well.

So yeah, I think we've worked, Ali doing her interior design,

she's put some good colours and furniture together.

Well done. Worth celebrating. Cheers!

I'm in Alveston, only three miles south-east of Derby city centre.

Once a village, it became part of Derby in the late 1900s.

# So I got me a little home

# On the outskirts of town. #

Well, I'm here in Alveston to see the kind of property

that's synonymous with the suburbs. A three-bedroom semi-detached.

In this case it's got a drive, it's got a garage,

it looks pretty good from the outside.

It had a guide price of 88,000 quid. Let's take a look inside.

I'm pleased to see the outside has what looks like

new double glazing, which is promising.

In through the front door, stairs up to your bedrooms.

One thing which I don't particularly like is that, a glass panel.

I think throwing light into the kitchen, but for some reason, that jars with me a little bit.

However, what I do like is this room here. You've got dual aspect.

It is a big, knocked-through living area. Open fire, which is good.

And it's a really nice space. It works for me.

It feels - well, it makes the house feel a really nice size.

Erm, but again, good and bad. What doesn't work is this.

The kitchen. As you can see, it's really not suitable for this house.

However, the solution, I think, is very simple.

This wall here, knock that through to create a really nice room.

Maybe a breakfast bar. Suddenly this is turning into a fantastic family home.

I might have radical thoughts about the downstairs layout,

but upstairs it's all pretty standard.

And there's nothing wrong with that. Three bedrooms,

including a good-sized double at the front with a charming bay window.

Next door, there's a single bedroom.

And at the back, a double bedroom where it might be worth considering

taking the chimney breast out to create even more space.

But of course that costs money.

Whether you do or not might depend on

whether it was bought for anything like that £88,000-plus guide price.

What I wouldn't scrimp on is checking the rather

suspect-looking electrics, and the central heating.

You don't want any surprise problems.

It was all going so well, and then I came into the bathroom here

and unfortunately, I think we've got some real problems.

Initially you notice this crack above the bath -

that in itself isn't too bad,

but then you start looking a bit further.

The window frame here is kind of skew-whiff.

Same for that door frame, another crack there in that wall.

It seems to me like this corner of the whole property

is actually sinking, I think we've got subsidence.

It could be problems with the drains downstairs and outside - whatever,

this is potentially a very serious issue, and you need to get this

checked out before you go anywhere near the property.

# Crackin' up

# I'm gettin' ready to go, had enough

# I can't take any more... #

It could of course just be historic settlement,

with nothing moving now -

indeed, there are no signs of any cracks on the exterior walls,

although there's obviously been some repointing

of the brickwork at some point in the past.

But to be really certain whether it's subsidence or not

it's always best to get a professional survey done.

At the rear of the property, nice to see double doors out onto the garden,

and there's a potential for doing some kind of extension which is good,

but a real surprise is this - have a look!

It's a garden, and it goes on and on.

You've got some nice apple trees and things like that,

cos all the way down here, fantastic little allotment,

a place to grow your vegetables,

and look at this! All the way to here.

What a fantastic additional bonus to have.

# Did you know your garden's overgrown?

# And what is shown?

There's some fairly backbreaking work to clear this out,

but this could be just what a keen gardener's been looking for.

There's even a garage to store the tools.

To find out a bit more about the potential we invited the auctioneer who sold the semi

to come and have a look around and tell us what he'd recommend doing here.

I think it's a general makeover for the whole house -

the fixtures and fittings are fairly old, the decor is fairly old.

It all just needs bringing into the 21st century.

How much could the house sell for after refurbishment?

Whatever you do to this property, without structural extensions

you're not going to raise its value beyond about £125,000 to £130,000.

What effect would adding an extension have?

If you extended but it was still three bedrooms,

and I imagine it would be because you'd only do a single-storey extension on the back,

you could probably add about another £10,000 to £15,000 to that.

That wouldn't be cost-effective.

In that case, sticking with the current layout,

what rental income could it produce?

If this was on the rental market,

once renovated it would have a rental value of about £575 a calendar month.

So, a fairly straightforward semi here -

it needs a bit of work to sort it out, especially that

crack in the bathroom which certainly needs investigating.

But basically, who fancied resuscitating this semi in Alveston?

Let's find out, when it went to auction.

Lot 50, and a traditional 1930s bay windowed three-bedroom semi.

Requires some upgrading and modernisation.

Start me on this one, ladies and gentlemen, what will I say for it?

88 is bid, thank you.

89? 89, I've got.

89,000. At 90?

£90,000. 91?

91 is bid.

At 91. 92?

92,000. 93?

At 93. 94?

94 is the bid. 95, one more?

£94,000. 95, quickly.

That's just short of reserve, so I can't do it at 94.

Unfortunately the property didn't reach its reserve price during the auction.

However, it was bought immediately after the auction

for £95,500 by John, here on the right.

We didn't see him bidding because, as he'd lost out on his first property choice earlier in the day,

he nipped out for a break so missed this one going under the hammer.

I met up with him and his friend James to find out more.

John, James. Great to meet you both.

What happened there, then? Cos it didn't sell.

Well, basically we've gone in to get the first lot,

and the first lot went for a lot more than what we'd budgeted for

so we've gone for the 50th lot, so obviously there's a big gap.

So we nipped out to grab something to eat,

and by the time we got back it was on the 50th lot, and it didn't sell.

The reserve was at 97,

so then we went in, put in an offer for 95 and a half, and it was accepted.

John was at the auction with his grandad, who's also called John.

His grandad's a property developer from London.

So tell me why you wanted to buy the house.

Well, basically I'm looking for a project to do during the winter.

I normally work a lot during the summer, and then the winter is

-when it quietens down a little bit.

-So what do you do?

I'm a football freestyler. So I do shows with a ball, body doubling,

events, corporate parties... So I basically do tricks with a football.

-Where did that come from, then?

-I used to play football, and then I stopped playing when I was 16,

entered a competition with freestyle.

Won a competition, and then in 2008 I won the UK Championships for football freestyle.

And to show us what he means,

I couldn't resist getting John to give us a quick demo.

# It's tricky!

# It's tricky, tricky, tricky, tricky...

Impressive stuff, and John's hoping to score with this property as well.

It's his second development project.

First time around he had the help and guidance of his grandad,

but on this project, Grandad won't be so involved.

John's mate James will be lending a hand.

So James, what's your involvement in all this going to be?

Basically I'm just going to help John out in what needs doing.

-And what's your sort of speciality?

-Electrics, mainly.

I was supposed to be at college full-time,

but the funding got removed for the course.

So now I've got some more spare time I'll be helping a friend out.

I've been doing labouring and building work for about four years. So it works out well.

And is he going to pay you?

-No, no, I'll do it as a friend.

-We'll sort him out.

It's not just James who'll be here to help.

John's dad is a joiner, and James's dad is a qualified electrician.

So, if John's grandad turns up as well there'll be enough of them for a game of five-a-side footy.

But John's got an arrangement with his developer grandad

that means he doesn't have to invest a footballer's salary.

I basically put in as much money as I can to get in the house

and he puts the rest, and then I pay for the materials, the labour,

and whatever else needs to be paid for.

He's going to stay at home - he's from London -

so he'll be doing his own property whilst we're doing this one.

-So, tell me what you're going to do to sort this place out.

-There's a few things really.

Up in the bathroom there's a nice crack in the wall,

we need to strip that back, see what's going on behind there.

This wall'll be coming out.

The kitchen needs doing, we're going to brick up the wall the other side here.

We're just going to basically strip it back to a blank canvas

and then put in the kitchen, bathroom suite and so on.

-What's the timescale?

-I'm saying two to three months. It's not a massive project.

-Yeah. As soon as you leave today we'll be cracking on with it.

-Right.

-That's my main thought on the place.

And how much it's going to cost, the budget?

We're saying about 4,000 to 6,000.

-Quite tight, that!

-Yeah.

-Kitchen, bathroom?

-Electrics?

I know you've got your mate doing it, but...

It's all about knowing people.

-It's favours, isn't it?

-It's all favours.

-Well, listen - congratulations. We look forward to seeing how you get on. Good luck with it.

-Cheers.

Freestyling footballer John carrying on

in the property developing game with this house.

Has he found his perfect match here?

Hopefully there won't be too many financial penalties

as a result of things taking longer than expected.

You can find out how it all goes in the second half.

Well, we have given our buyers time, but has it all gone to plan?

-Will we return to bare plaster or a perfect finish?

-Let's find out.

We're now returning to the County Durham market town of Darlington...

# Drivin' into Darlington County

# Sha-la-la-la la-la-la... #

..where earlier in the programme Andy and his wife Andrea paid £420,000

for this five-bedroom Victorian house in half of this imposing property.

They wanted it so they could relocate from the country

to be nearer the town centre. And they had ambitious plans for it.

The biggest piece of work we're doing is taking out the chimney breast that's between

the breakfast room and the kitchen, and then going upstairs,

the same chimney breast between the two smallest bedrooms.

-Do you have any idea how much rubble that is going to create?

-Oh, yes.

-Oh, It'll be all right.

Andy runs a civil engineering and groundworks company, so he was well prepared.

The general building work, the demolition, I'll be doing all myself.

All of the first-fix works I'll do myself.

But I will utilise plumbers and electricians.

The couple haven't yet sold their current house,

and had set a budget of £70,000 for the work,

which they hope to complete in five to six months.

Well, it's now ten and a half months later, and Andy, Andrea,

plus Jamie and Fiona, will be moving in in a couple of weeks.

Their current house is still on the market, but their new home's looking great.

The former kitchen, that was a little shy,

hiding behind the chimney breast, is now centre stage and very confident.

What we've done in the kitchen... Originally the kitchen was

two separate rooms, with a big double thickness chimney breast

dividing the two, so we've taken that chimney breast out,

and created a doorway in the corner

and a utility room from part of the corridor.

And then at this end of the room we had two windows,

which we've taken out and made into the French doors,

put the stone flooring down,

and then obviously the oak kitchen. And I'm really pleased with the overall effect.

The living room has had a floral makeover,

though the dining room still needs some work.

Upstairs, as planned, the chimney breast

was also removed from the first floor,

between two of the smaller bedrooms.

This has resulted in this large master bedroom.

The end of the original corridor has been blocked off,

and the small former bathroom is now the ensuite.

It sounds like the demolition was as messy as I'd feared.

We had lots of different people at it, including my children and children's friends,

everybody's enjoyed taking it down.

I think it was about six skips in the end, which was less than I'd thought.

Two of the remaining three bedrooms are for their children.

Fiona's gone fuchsia.

And Jamie's gone more neutral, with a splash of blue.

The connecting door from Fiona's room to the guest room

has now been blocked off.

It's a lovely double aspect room.

The large family bathroom has remained in its original location.

The room now has much more of a character look -

all the period plumbing has been replaced.

And it's all been rewired, too.

The roof needed a fair amount of attention,

and that was due to a period feature too.

It was a wooden drainage system, that needed replacing from when the house was built.

It was a very old house,

and...well, years of neglect.

We just had to put all of those things right.

The house had scaffolding up for six weeks.

With the help of builders from Andy's civil engineering and groundworks company,

the gable ends have been repaired.

The brickwork's been repointed, and the garage roof removed.

New wooden windows have been installed throughout.

What part has Andrea played in the refurbishment?

My role has predominantly been the decorating -

stripping paint off skirting boards, stripping woodchip off walls,

and then starting to put it back together.

The floor in the lounge has been stripped and re-stained.

And they've retained much of the original Victorian character.

They've already bought a new floor for the hall and dining room, which has yet to be laid.

So, what's left on the to-do list?

The study, which is now the workshop,

has to be cleaned out, shelves down,

and in what used to be the downstairs bathroom and toilet,

that needs a floor down.

It's a wet room, cos we've put a shower in.

We sort of pre-prepped for an orangery on the front.

We've got the bi-fold doors in the dining room, and the door in the living room.

The couple are considering extending into the garage in the future.

But with no extra income yet from the sale of THEIR house,

what have they spent on the project up to this point?

The budget was 70 to do it. We're running now roughly about 84.

We're hoping to get it all done, 88 to 90 at the most.

They paid £420,000 at auction, which takes their total investment so far to 510,000.

Time to see what two local estate agents think of how it looks now,

and the plans for the future.

I'm very impressed with the house. Grand period property.

The work that's been done has been done well. Lovely front garden.

I think the house has got a lot going for it.

The kitchen downstairs is lovely.

And certainly the bedrooms upstairs, their size, fit very well in this current market.

How much do the experts reckon the property could achieve on the market

once the work is completed?

More than the £510,000 Andy and Andrea have invested?

Once the property is finished off,

my current value would be £475,000 to £495,000.

Once the work is completed I would suggest that

the property would be likely to sell for a figure just shy of £500,000.

Well, there's no initial profit here,

but as Andrea and Andy have bought the house as their new family home,

I doubt they will be too disappointed.

-It's about what we expected. We thought it would be just under the 500 mark, didn't we?

-Yeah.

You said just under 500 and I said 460-ish, so yeah, it's a little bit more.

Both estate agents agree that the property could let

for between £1,250 and £1,500 per calendar month,

producing a yield of around 3%.

I could charge you that, then(!)

No, it's not something we'll be looking at doing.

Our aim was to make it a family home, trying to keep as many

features as we can, and somewhere that we'll enjoy living in.

And I think that's what we've made, we've made it somewhere we'll enjoy living.

Earlier in the programme in the Derby suburb of Alveston,

this 1930s three-bed semi was bought for £95,500

by John, who we met with his friend James.

John's a football freestyler,

and this was the second investment property he'd bought with his grandad.

He hopes to continue doing this until he can eventually buy his own house.

I basically put in as much money as I can to get in the house

and he puts the rest, and then I pay for the materials, the labour,

and whatever else needs to be paid for.

His old school friend James was going to help out.

-What's your sort of speciality?

-Electrics, mainly.

I was supposed to be at college full-time,

but the funding got removed for the course.

So now I've got some more spare time I'll be helping a friend out.

James had also been doing building work for the last four years.

His dad's an electrician and John's is a builder

so there was plenty of experience to call on. Which they came to need,

judging by that crack in the bathroom.

They had big plans for a small budget - a new kitchen,

a new bathroom, as well as walls to come down and walls to go up. All in a three-month timescale.

Well - now, 13 weeks later, it's showtime!

So, what happened in the front room?

We all agreed the walls should come down to create an open kitchen...

and, yes, there it is.

The boys have gone for a very neutral colour scheme - a wise choice.

The open-plan slate grey kitchen complements it very well.

I'm delighted that glass divide to the hall's been bricked up -

but what about those cracks in the bathroom I'd been concerned about?

We got a builder to have a look at the cracks in the bathroom,

and he said structurally everything was fine.

So we basically re-cemented, and then got on with the tiling and stuff.

Panic over. That's good news!

The bedrooms have been equally well finished,

with new doors, plastering and radiators.

John and James have concentrated a lot of their time on the house, but who house has been involved?

The main person that's helped along with us is my dad. He was finishing work and then coming straight here,

and I think we've both learned a lot from him as well.

Yeah, definitely. He has been brilliant, he's been really valuable to the success of this project.

The boys have done reasonably well, with what was a pretty small budget.

James isn't fully qualified as an electrician, but has been working

under the supervision of a registered electrician.

Always remember, when it comes to electrical jobs you must comply with regulations -

and employ a registered electrician. It's the law.

It's basically been mostly rewired,

so we've rewired downstairs and upstairs and put a new fuse board in.

We've moved some of the light pendants upstairs, cos they were near the window -

we've moved them to the middle of the room.

We just made it look up to date.

We got a qualified electrician in to come in and test everything.

We've been given the OK and he's going to send the certificate,

so everything's bang on.

In UK homes, around 70 people die in electrical accidents every year,

so make sure you have someone who knows what they're doing.

Electricity and gas are definitely no-go areas for amateurs.

However, most of us can turn a hand to gardening,

and this one has been cleared.

John and James plan to spend a couple of days getting it in shape.

There has been a lot of work here. What's been the biggest challenge?

I think the most difficult part, because we've got no bosses

and we're working together, is getting each other going.

If you're doing one or two hours here, nothing will ever get done.

What effect has that had on John's freestyle football bookings?

With freestyle, it took a back seat whilst I've been doing the project,

so I've set up an agency so I can stay hands-on with this project.

For the future, I'll earn from that as well as doing my own stuff.

John had set a budget of £4,000 to £6,000.

Did he manage to keep to that?

With the budget, we did well.

We spent £5,500, which was within the 4 to 6 that we aimed for.

With the £95,500 that John and his grandad paid for the semi,

that takes the total investment here to £101,000.

We invited two local property experts

to have a look.

What will they think of the finish and the potential?

First, the auctioneer who sold and viewed it originally.

It's always interesting when you come into a property you've seen

in its old clothes, so to speak,

because the impression is always positive, isn't it?

When you look around the place,

you think, "I would have put a better bathroom in than that

"and I wouldn't have put the wash basin where it is,"

but the overall impression I think is fine.

My general impression of the property is good.

It's a '30s semi, which always looks nice, with the nice bay windows.

Inside, it's nicely polished, new carpets, decor, new fittings.

The kitchen and bathroom have been done reasonably cheap

but still look good.

How much rental income could the house generate?

This would have a rental value of about £575 a calendar month.

I'd be looking round about £550 per calendar month.

A yield of over 6.5%.

But rental's not part of the long-term plan for John.

We want a quick turnaround and we want to get in, get out,

get the house sold and start the next project.

John and his grandad intend to sell this place.

Do the experts value it above the £101,000

they've invested?

I think I'd pitch it at £130,000

and I'd expect offers around £125, maybe a little bit more.

I'd recommend an asking price not exceeding £125,000.

That's about as much as, sensibly,

you would market a property in this location for.

That would be a profit of between £24,000 and £29,000

before tax and expenses

for John and his grandad to share.

We were looking at about £128,000 to £130,000,

so, you know, we're nearly there,

so we've got to be happy with that.

After 11 weeks of solid work, the lads are looking forward to

getting their social life back on track.

Once they've caught up with all the news from their mates,

what have they got planned?

I definitely think we'll work again together.

We're both ambitious and we both want to make money,

just like everybody else does. We work well together

so I'm sure we'll link up and sort another project out,

whether it be property or something else.

And the latest news is that John has scored with this house.

It's now been sold for £130,000.

Well, that's it for today.

We hope you've enjoyed the trials and tribulations.

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

-Goodbye.

-Goodbye.

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