Episode 29 Homes Under the Hammer

Today's property market is certainly challenging,

but we think there are bargains to be had in the auction rooms.

We are here with tips on how you can find them,

and also how you can make the current climate work in your favour.

So, join us now as we meet three more plucky buyers.

Well, before buying, we always advise you to do your homework.

Otherwise you could end up with a lot more,

or possibly less than you bargained for.

It is vital to check the area and the state of the property

so you know how much it could be worth once renovated.

So, will today's buyers get top marks

or go to the bottom of the class? Let's find out.

In Sevenoaks, Kent, this huge semi fires up my imagination.

I would love to see this done up. It's going to be a good one.

In Cumbria, this character cottage has a good-sized kitchen

and a bathroom upstairs.

It's getting lots of ticks in lots of boxes.

'And in Bagshot, Surrey, the layout of this cottage starts off OK...'

But then it continues,

as the further you get towards the rear of the property,

it gets weirder and weirder and weirder.

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.

This is West Kingsdown in Kent.

It's 11 miles from Sevenoaks, and very pretty and rural it is too.

It's hard to believe we are minutes away from the A20

and the M20, and that is part of this place's appeal.

You get all of this on your doorstep

but, if you need to leave it all behind and go to work, well,

you've got fabulous road links just around the corner - perfect!

It's a pretty village and would be a lovely place to set up home,

so let's go and find today's property.

I'm here to see a large semi-detached house

that had a guide price of 175,000 to 185,000.

Now, it's been in the same ownership for over 30 years,

and whenever I hear that,

I always assume I'm going to get an untouched gem.

Well, yes, there definitely is a gem there.

But it's a hidden one at the moment and it is untouched,

although maybe more untouched than you might want.

It's an imposing building, that's for sure.

But it certainly looks as if some major work

is going to be required.

That chimney will need rescuing from the vegetation for a start.

This house could be a money pit, but it is certainly intriguing.

Wow. This place is vast.

Walking in here is like walking into an antiques shop.

Look at this beautiful old surround. You've got a piano here.

Big, high ceilings. An amazing bay window. This is so my cup of tea.

I would love to see this done up. It's going to be a good one.

It is. Honestly. Bear with me.

I know the scale of the house and the work needing to be done

seems daunting, but it will be worth it.

And you won't persuade me otherwise.

# Don't bring me down

# No, no, no, no, no

# Ooh, ooh-ooh

# I'll tell you once more Before I get off the floor

# Don't bring me down... #

The hall is dark and the kitchen is tiny,

but for a house this size, I'd want to see an amazing space.

And, as for the conservatory,

well, I don't think anyone will be conserving it.

I think this structure is well past it.

Up on the first floor, there are two bedrooms, both good sizes,

and a bathroom.

Then, up on the top floor, another two good-sized bedrooms.

They are both well proportioned and have lovely arched windows.

What a great feature. Though they might need replacing.

And since they are not standard, that could be costly.

But it doesn't end there, because way below is a huge cellar.

My brain cells are already whirring.

A home cinema, a gigantic playroom.

Call me an optimist,

but I'm seeing past all the hard work to a totally fabulous home.

# So lift me up

# Finish what you started

# Take me on

# For a ride

# Lift me up

# From the brokenhearted

# River's deep

# And wide... #

There's masses of space indoors, but what about outdoors?

Some work has already been started clearing the house out,

so it's tricky to get a true picture.

As you would expect from a house set out over four floors,

this garden is quite sizeable,

but there is a large double garage at the end here.

That is good news. But I've got some even better news.

If you demolish this garage,

you could create some access from the side here, or the rear,

and then you are looking at a potential building plot - bingo!

This is all subject to planning permission, of course,

but if you were successful, this could pay for renovating that.

Amazing!

So, maybe what could have been a money pit could, in fact,

be a moneymaker, but time for a second opinion.

What does a local estate agent make of this house

that went to auction guided at 175,000 to 185,000.

First time in here

and it's an awful lot to do.

But it's got good potential.

The room sizes are quite good in comparison to modern buildings.

The house does have a lot going for it,

but what's the best way to add value here?

Potential to extend side-on and possibly to the back,

obviously with the right planning permission.

If you do extend onto the side,

it would make good en suites to the bedrooms.

What sort of returns can be made here? First, the resale value.

Once renovated, so long as they keep it to a high spec,

keep the character, in this market,

for about £450,000 to £550,000.

And as a rental?

I would say between £1,750 per calendar month

to £2,000 per calendar month.

OK, so this place needs the works.

But you need to think about what it could be,

and then there's the added bonus of a building plot

at the end of the garden!

A fantastic one to go for, I think.

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

Over, then, to lot 60. West Kingsdown, Sevenoaks, Kent.

Lots of potential.

£180,000 to start me.

£180,000. I'm on the way at 180.

And 5 now. 185. 185.

And 90. 190. And 5.

95, and 200. 200.

200 on my left-hand side. 200.

And 5. 205.

And 10? 210. And 15.

215. And 20.

It's against you sitting down on the left. 220.

217, is that? 217.

And 220.

220 and a brand-new face right in front of me. 220.

And 2 if you like. 222.

And 5. 225.

225, I've got. 22...

226. 226. And 7.

227, I've got.

And 8. 228.

And 9. No, £228,000.

It's with you, then, on my left-hand side.

For the first time, then, at 228,000.

If you're sure you're done at the back. And second time, 228.

And the third and final time, being sold for 228,000.

It's yours, sir, for 228,000. Well done.

That successful bidder who got the lot for 228,000 was Ian.

But it's his two sons, Sean, on the right,

and Martin, who came to show me their new purchase.

The brothers are both carpenters in their 20s.

They've been on the show before when, back in 2010,

they bought and renovated this house in Tonbridge, Kent.

Buoyed by that success, they went on to buy another two properties.

This will be the fourth and biggest project to date for them.

I met them back at the house to talk about their plans.

Congratulations. Now, I know we've met before. How did that project go?

That went very well.

-Originally I think I said I was going to move into that place.

-Yes.

But we had three offers within a week

and we sold it straightaway

because the offers were too good to turn down.

-Did you make a nice, worthwhile profit?

-Yes, it was all right.

-It's got us by.

-And here you are again.

-So, you are back in it for more trouble.

-Yes, back in it again.

Yes, this one is quite a bit more than the other one, I think.

When we came and looked at it, there was quite a few people here

walking in and out and just shaking their heads,

thinking, "Just walk away, just walk away."

But we stuck around and, fingers crossed, it will pay off.

Sean, tell me, what is it about this house that you liked so much

that made you guys spend what you did spend on auction day?

It seems to have a lot of potential in it.

As you can see by the size of it, you can do so much with it.

Looking at the houses around it, it just seems that it will fetch

the kind of money we are looking for, so it seemed about right.

It seems that Martin and Sean knew when they were onto a good thing.

They've obviously got the ability

to look beyond the superficial problems here

and see that the place is brimming with possibilities.

But will their vision match the potential here?

What sort of plans have you got for this place?

Are you going to take it right back to the bare bones?

Yes, we will take it right back as if it was a new build.

New electrics, new plumbing, put an extension round the side,

two-storey extension, and then a wraparound round the back.

So, you are going to go for it.

-If we get the permission, that is!

-Yeah.

Why have you decided to have a big wraparound extension

and to extend out the back?

Why don't you work with what's here?

Because we've seen next door,

the price that their house has been up for sale for.

They've got a big extension that goes right round the back,

so we want to keep it the same as that,

to go for the same style

and hopefully fetch the same kind of money.

And the main thing with that, where this house

and next door were one house at one point,

their stairs are a different layout to ours,

so their rooms work a lot better with bathrooms and stuff like that.

So, the extension will give us a nice, big family bathroom

with, hopefully, two en suites and stuff.

Just make the house flow a bit better.

# Let your love flow

# Like a mountain stream

# Let your love grow

# With the smallest of dreams

# And let your love show

# And you'll know what I mean

# That's the reason... #

Letting the love flow might benefit the place

with some valuable extra space,

but the brothers know it's going to need tough love

to get it up to scratch, to match similar properties in the area.

The neighbouring property went on the market for £500,000.

And their focus isn't restricted to the house.

What about the potential with the garage that you've got,

with the separate access on the side?

It would always be an added bonus

if we could get planning for a separate building at the back.

It's got a courtyard to the side

that could be used for parking, and it's a big enough garage.

You can see that you could easily fit a house on it, that's for sure.

You know, that really is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Yes, if we get planning permission for that,

that will cover the cost for building this and a lot more.

We might just sell it off with planning permission

and move on, using that to fund something else.

Yes, with this one, I mean, our budget's £80,000 to £100,000,

so we've budgeted quite a lot on it,

gone through the figures a few times.

Depending on the sort of finishes we are going for,

which are going to be high-end, we're probably going to be closer

to the hundred grand mark on expenditure.

First, the brothers need to get planning permission.

So, realising that may take time.

They've given themselves 12 months for the renovation.

They plan to recruit the other trades, such as plasterers

and electricians, when required,

but will be doing the majority of the work themselves.

It's going to be a hard slog, but they seem up for the challenge.

As long as you can see potential in it, there is something to head for,

so there is a goal at the end of the day that we are striving for.

-Do you think you've got the energy to do this?

-Yes.

It's going to be a long journey but, you know,

we are looking up to a year, really, but I think we will manage it.

Guys, it's been such a pleasure meeting you once again.

I cannot wait to see what this is going to be like

because I think it could be amazing.

It's in a great location as well.

-Thank you.

-Thanks.

-Martin, Sean, lovely to see you again. Thank you.

Martin and Sean cannot wait to get cracking

on their biggest project to date.

How will they get on with the planning to extend this house,

and will they manage to create that building plot

at the end of the garden?

You can find out if the brothers make a success of this

later in the programme.

Today, I am just outside the village of Little Broughton in Cumbria.

Couple of miles away from Cockermouth.

Keswick 20 miles away.

Strictly speaking, you are not in the Lake District National Park,

but with scenery like this, you are being a bit picky there.

It's gorgeous!

Who could fault this?

Fantastic scenery,

but without the price tag of a more classic Lake District location.

This will be a lovely place to put down roots,

or I'm wondering whether tranquil Little Broughton,

could have promising holiday rental potential.

Well, the property I am here to see certainly fits in

to that quiet holiday retreat kind of category.

It's a one-bedroom, stone-built cottage.

Guide price was £40,000 plus. It was built 150 years ago.

You can see, it is just oozing charm.

Let's see what it is like inside.

The middle cottage of three, it has a slate roof and is double glazed.

Nice.

Nice to see it very...well, on the face of it, pleasantly decorated.

Plain white walls. Half-decent carpet.

And a lovely feature that you might hope for, a log-burning stove.

That's nice. Stairs over in the corner there up to the bedroom.

One main room in the front, your living room.

Then through a little...

well, door...

Oh, yes, that's the word! ..into the kitchen.

Actually, for a little cottage like this, not a bad size.

Now, I'd love to see a cottagey feel kitchen in here.

At the moment, it's possibly a little bit characterless.

But you've got the space. It hasn't got too low a ceiling.

Reasonable amount of light coming in from the double-glazed windows.

It's getting lots of ticks in lots of boxes.

-# Tick, ticky, tick-tick

-Ooh-ooh-ooh

-# Tick, ticky, tick-tick

-Ooh-ooh-ooh

# Tick, ticky, tick-tick I'm gonna tell on you... #

One box it doesn't tick is central heating,

judging by the wall-mounted electric storage heaters.

You do have to bear in mind that a cottage of this age

is going to be small and have quirky proportions.

Look at this staircase, for example.

It's lovely, but you'd struggle to get a wardrobe

up to the only bedroom at the front of the cottage.

Flat-packs, yes. Bigger wardrobes, uh-uh!

Something which, to me,

turns this from being a cutesy-rootsy cottage

into something that's actually very practical -

it's a good size family bathroom.

Not necessarily what you would have expected.

This will have been converted

from what would originally have been a bedroom.

I'd keep it pretty much like it is.

An option, though, could be to take out that large cupboard there,

which contains the water cylinder, and maybe put a combi boiler in.

That would give you enough space to squeeze in another bedroom.

But I just like the proportions here.

You know, you've got this bedroom at the front of the property there.

It's a good-sized double.

Lounge downstairs, good-sized kitchen, good-sized bathroom,

single bedroom - I like that.

I don't know if I'd mess around with the internal layout at all.

# Leave it alone

# Leave it alone

# Leave it alone... #

At the front of this cottage,

that went to auction guided at £40,000 plus,

there are some parking spaces, but are they allocated to this property?

I want to check that out,

because the small back yard is shared with the neighbours.

So, that won't suit everyone.

But considering that guide price,

I think this Cumbrian cottage is a gem and a bit of steal.

Let's see if a local property expert agrees.

The property is not in too bad condition.

Just needs some cosmetic work, really.

It would be an ideal holiday home or second home

or a buy-to-let property.

The property could possibly be made into a two-bedroom

by splitting the large bathroom

to create a small single bedroom and bathroom.

The market is limited because it is only one-bedroom.

I'm not convinced that it wouldn't spoil this cottage

to try and cram another room in.

But will some valuations change my mind?

First, as a one-bed.

Once the property has been renovated to a good standard,

if it is kept as a one-bedroomed property,

I would recommend an asking price of £65,000.

If the owner was to create a second bedroom,

I would recommend an asking price of £70,000.

That difference of £5,000,

minus all the building and plumbing costs involved,

wouldn't tempt me if I was looking to sell it on.

But, of course, for a buy-to-let investor,

more bedrooms means more income.

Once refurbished, if it's kept as a one-bedroom property,

I would recommend a rental value of £395 per calendar month.

If they decide to make it a two-bedroom property,

I would recommend a rental of £420 per calendar month.

What we've got here is a really charming little cottage

that you could pretty much rent out as it is,

or spend some money on and turn it into a really lovely home.

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

Stone-fronted terraced cottage located in a sought-after village.

One bedroom, one reception room.

Kitchen on first floor, bathroom, near Cockermouth.

Who's here for this? 40.

40. 35.

30, anyone?

Can't go lower.

30, on my way. At £30,000, then.

Are we all done at 30? I'll take one, 31 here.

And 32, 33, 34.

34, I've got. 35.

36. 37.

38? 38, 39.

39 I've got and 40?

A shake of the head at 40.

I'll take a half. 39,500. 40?

A shake of the head of 40.

Are we all done at 39,500?

40 over here.

At £40,000 then. And a half?

Shake of the head. It's with you at 40.

At £40,000 then, first time. At 40 second time.

All done, all-out, selling away.

Sir.

That final bid of £40,000 was made on behalf of the new owners,

Tina and her husband, Terry, from Fylde in Lancashire.

They were at the auction, but it wasn't them doing the bidding.

I met up with them and their dog at the cottage to find out more.

-Terry, Tina, great to meet you both.

-And you.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

-I love this little place.

-Yes, it's quite nice.

What happened in the auction there? Were you there or what?

We were at the auction, but we organised a proxy bidder

because my grandson was due round about the time of the auction,

but as it turned out, he wasn't born, so we came up anyway.

It strikes me as a good deal at that price. What do you think?

-Well, we think so, we were going to pay up to 50.

-Were you? Gosh!

-Yeah, yeah.

-So why have you bought it?

Well, we took early retirement in April

because we have a small place in Spain and the idea was,

we'll go out to Spain for a few weeks a year.

We went out in May, Terry lasted six weeks.

He got a call from work saying, "Do you want come back to work?"

-So he went back to work.

-Just for a year's contract.

-So much for retirement!

-So much for retirement! Managed eight weeks.

What do you both do, or what did you both do?

I work for a food manufacturing company in Wigan who make beans.

Beans? Excellent! Fantastic! And you?

-I used to work for a local authority in housing.

-Right, OK.

But we were looking for a project for Tina

-to occupy her while I'm working.

-And we had some money,

so rather than have it sat in the bank doing nothing,

-this is what we bought.

-And why have you bought it?

It's a project, but for what end?

Well, the end is to sell it and hopefully make something out of it,

but if we can't sell, then renting or maybe a holiday let.

The couple are swapping castanets for Cumbria.

# In the little Spanish town

# 'Twas on a night like this... #

But Tina won't be travelling the 110 miles from their home

in Lancashire to do the work.

They intend to get local tradesmen to do the refurbishment,

not that this house appears to need much doing.

Pleasantly surprised when we came in and looked round properly

that there's not as much needing doing as we first thought.

Do you have any idea what you might get if you rented it,

-not holiday lets?

-375 - 400.

400. Let's say 400 to make the calculation easy.

That is £4,800 a year on your investment, which is going to be...

I don't know, what, less than... It's a 10% yield, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

We expect to possibly pay about 10,000, up to 15,000, to do it up.

15,000?! How are you going to spend that?!

What are you going to do?! Gold taps?!

-It depends on...

-The roof needs fixed.

-Oh, does it?

-Yeah.

The roof... The front of the roof needs...

You're going to have tradesmen phoning you up, I'm telling you!

When this goes out, they'll be like,

"Where do they live? I'll do it for 15!"

I take it back. There's actually a longer list of to-dos

than you might have expected.

They want a gas supply installed, to lose the water tank

and install a new kitchen and that's just for starters.

We think there's a bit of damp,

which we're going to get someone in to look at.

Partition off the back to make a separate bathroom

in what was originally the bedroom

and we want to partition it off and make it into a second bedroom

and bathroom to make it a bit more marketable as well.

So what is the timescale?

Well, we're looking at about three months once we start, but we're...

-We were driving to Spain on Sunday.

-Are you? Wow!

-I'm staying for six weeks.

-But I have to come back to work.

-Oh, OK.

And are you going to get involved at all in the renovation?

The only thing I'm likely to be doing is decorating.

-Well, congratulations. Good luck with it.

-Thank you.

-Look forward to seeing how you get on.

-Thank you, sir.

# In a little Spanish town

# 'Twas on a night like this. #

Tina and Terry temporarily postponing life in Spain

for property renovation in the Lake District.

A great little house, though,

and some interesting ideas and a good budget, too.

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

Coming up, in Surrey, the accommodation in this cottage

is very tight, especially in the boxroom.

When I talk about box, I'm talking about a cardboard box.

We are going back to Cumbria where Tina triumphs in the kitchen.

I was negotiating with two men

who felt that storage was more important than style.

We return to Kent and a bit of history.

This building was built in 1850, so it's a fairly old property

and everything needed redoing.

We now head back to the village of West Kingsdown in Kent,

where we saw a three-storey semi which promised great potential

with its wonderful period features and garden.

Unfortunately, the challenges included

taking this old house back to basics,

but brothers Sean and Martin,

on the left here, weren't put off at all,

so they paid £228,000 for it.

The brothers are carpenters and have been on the show before

when they renovated this terraced property in Tonbridge, Kent.

This new challenge was a tougher proposition,

but they seemed gain to take it on.

As long as you can see potential in it,

you know there's something to head for, so there's

a goal at the end of the day that we are striving for.

Do you think you've got the energy to do this?

Yeah, it's going to be a long journey,

but we're looking up to a year really, but I think we'll manage it.

With an £80,000 - £100,000 budget,

Martin and Sean had a vision of adding a side and rear extension,

turning this place into something quite special.

There was also the chance to sell off some of the garden

to add a new-build, which could provide the icing on this cake.

But before they could consider that option,

there was still a lot for them to do.

18 months later,

we returned to see if the brothers have risen to the challenge.

Well, they've added that impressive new extension.

But it just sets up what's inside - a truly stunning transformation!

The front room is now a beautifully elegant lounge...

..while the extension has allowed for the creation of

a spacious new hallway, a downstairs toilet/shower room and a study area.

And that's not all on this ground floor.

At the back, the brothers have created an amazing

single-storey extension, which leads to an impressive new kitchen.

The lads were on hand to tell us all about this amazing transformation,

starting with Sean and that fabulous new kitchen.

This room here was the original kitchen.

We had worktops all down this side,

we had the existing door over in that corner and it led to the outside.

So now, out this side, we've had a single extension.

We've got all our TV points and electrical sockets

on the walls already, so they can just come in and put a TV straight up

and it leads directly out to the back garden,

where we've put bifold doors and a decking area straight out,

so you just walk straight out and don't have to step down anything.

This rear extension definitely adds a new dimension to the ground floor,

but the side extension

has changed the dynamics for the rest of the house.

On the middle floor, the beautifully restored master bedroom

retains its layout, but the new extension has allowed

not only for the creation of an immaculate ensuite...

..but on the landing, there's a stylish,

contemporary family bathroom.

Loving the floor tiles, boys!

The side extension also means that

the second bedroom has increased in size,

with the space now home to an ensuite and a walk-in wardrobe.

On the top floor are the least changed rooms of all.

Two loft bedrooms with lots of space

and the original windows with great views over the Kent countryside.

All in all, they've achieved a fantastic renovation,

but it meant getting back to basics.

This building was built in 1850, so it's a fairly old property

and everything needed, you know, redoing.

All the brickwork needed sorting out,

needed replastering, the floorboards needed changing

and stuff like that, so there was a lot of work.

Believe it or not, that's not the end of the tour.

With its own access, the basement's also had a complete renovation

and could be used as a reception room or a fifth bedroom,

plus there's also an additional room to be used as a home cinema.

And, at the back, a wine cellar.

Even here, the quality of work is excellent.

We wanted to give it the highest possible finish

because I think the property deserves that and it needs that

and we tried to keep some character features in it.

We wanted to keep the Victorian feel of the property

-but give a modern twist on it.

-I'm proud of how it's gone.

This is the first build that we've done of this size

and we haven't really had any problems.

We've hit some minor problems, but we got over them pretty easily

and it's ended up looking like this, so I'm very happy with.

Indeed he should be happy and proud.

This is a total transformation.

They've made it sound easy, but as always,

there are delays you have to be prepared for.

The planning permission took three months

and they had to take on other work in the meantime.

What about the outside?

I had thought this large garden could be a pot of gold

as the plot for a new-build

and Martin and Sean originally considered that too,

but after taking advice from estate agents, their architect

and doing some research, they made the decision,

so there's no new-build at the bottom of this garden.

We didn't think it'd be a good idea to go planning at the back,

because we think it probably would have devalued this property,

but if it didn't, it certainly would have been

harder to sell having someone overlooking you right at the back.

The brothers started work on the house six months after

I first came here and met their schedule by doing

the complete renovation within 12 months.

But how did their budget fare?

The budget went over slightly, but I think we had 80 to 100,000.

We ended up spending 110 on it, just around 110 I think it was.

But I think, you know, every penny was well spent,

to be honest with you, it was well worth it.

Add that to the purchase price of 228,000

and the lads have invested £338,000 here.

Time to find out if two local estate agents

love this place as much as I do.

What an amazing job that they have done here.

It's probably one of the best refurbs I've seen in a while.

It looks stunning from the outside. Walk across the threshold

and that absolutely stunning finish internally.

Really good, even from the double glazed windows, UPVC sash

windows, to absolutely everything in-house is a top-end finish.

What I particularly like about this house is that it retains

a lot of the original features.

But it's got a real contemporary, kind of modern feel, about it.

Absolutely fantastic family home.

But will the brothers make any profit from this project?

Remember their total outlay was 338,000,

so what could they expect to sell it for?

I would expect to achieve a figure in the region

of £500 to £550,000.

I'd expect to achieve in the region of £500,000.

Those valuations mean they could achieve a profit of between 162

and 212,000, minus the usual tax and expenses.

That's not too bad.

Yeah, I mean at least we know what sort of figure

we can sell it at now or in the future or maybe a couple of years,

if we come sell it, it might have gone up in value as well.

Should they decide to rent the house out, the estate agents reckon

there is a potential rental income of £1500 to £2000

per calendar month.

That could mean an annual yield of between five

and just over seven percent.

But at present, older brother, Martin,

plans to move in and enjoy the benefits of all their hard work.

The brothers say they have learned a lot from this renovation,

so they have already set their sights on the next venture

and it seems they are aiming high.

Next job is for a new build.

Yeah, definitely, I mean, you know, we've done the success of this,

the standard it's finished to, I mean you can see, it is

very good so going into new build, we shouldn't have a problem at all.

Just go bigger next time, I think.

Or a couple at the same time.

Or two, yeah, that works out all right.

This is Bagshot in the north-west corner of Surrey,

close to Camberley and Guildford.

It's just off the M3 but also on the edge of the green belt,

although today's auction lot

is on a rather busy main road.

# Hit the road, Jack

# And don't you come back... #

If you are after a peaceful retreat,

then the property I am here to see does not fit the bill.

However, it is a cottage which is guided at 145 grand.

It's got a garden that could become off-street parking.

So, what have we got?

Well, the front room here is kind of small

and, of course you have that road,

but I do notice they haven't put double glazing in yet,

so that is definitely one of the first things I would want to do.

Put a bit of storage, looks like there is a decent fireplace,

but at the end of the day, it is a cottage. It's not big.

But, you know, it is reasonable.

Through to the rear of the house, where it starts, unfortunately,

to get a little bit not-so- appealing. This is the kitchen.

As you can see, not many units.

Through there, though, a cellar which you might want to investigate.

But then it continues as the further you get towards

the rear of the property, it gets weirder and weirder,

because this was actually the original rear wall of the property.

What somebody has done is kind of added on bits and pieces.

There's a downstairs loo and some stairs up to the bedroom,

and this is a flat roof extension. What is going on here?

And what have they created?

A corridor and then, through to the rear of the property

where you have got this almost-useless room.

Not ideal.

# You were on the straight and narrow

# You were going round the bend... #

This like a property version of a Russian doll.

It appears to have extensions built over an extension

with the result that the downstairs bathroom which was

presumably at the back of the cottage,

is now in the middle of the kitchen and the back lounge.

It makes both areas hopelessly small,

so a few RSJs and a big hammer needed here, I think.

Open it all up, put the bathroom at the back of the property or

preferably upstairs and you could have a decent kitchen diner.

So, will upstairs be any better?

Well, one bedroom, at least, is a decent size.

But then to the rear of the property, where there is a boxroom.

And when I talk about box, I'm talking about cardboard!

This thing is absolutely tiny.

I can't even stretch my arms out

and it is basically not much bigger that way. What could you do here?

It's a place for a computer desk or something, isn't it?

Could it be a bedroom? Well, a child's room, I suppose.

What could we do? Could we extend? There's a flat roof down there.

You could possibly build over at the top, bad news though,

the neighbours haven't done anything, so definitely

issues getting planning permission for that.

Probably, just live with it as it is.

# Seems so small... #

This could be a bathroom or a shower room. The proportions are a mess.

Let's hope outside is different.

Out to the rear of the property where there's a huge surprise!

Look at the length of the garden!

You need binoculars to see the back. Well, actually, unfortunately,

it's not quite as good as it seems because the garden that belongs

to this property is just this narrow bit here.

Six-foot wide, but it does go back one heck of a long way.

Maybe you could install a bowling alley or something like that.

Other than that, you think what could I do with this?

Maybe I could use this to extend the rear of the property?

Unfortunately, what I'm standing on here is a right of way that actually

goes behind all the properties along this little terrace.

No chance of extending out here

without getting the approval of all the people in this row.

You're not going to get that. It's a legal nightmare.

It was looking good.

It's not.

# Good thing

# Where have you gone? #

Good things come and go.

For a moment, I thought we were onto something with the outside space.

The outside and insides of this house echo each other

with their long, narrow and not-very-well-used space.

What does a local estate agent think of this labyrinth layout?

I think if you were to move the bathroom upstairs,

you could open up where the bathroom is and have a nice kitchen

breakfast room overlooking the garden. I think people

would prefer to have a really nice one-bedroom house

with a good kitchen breakfast room.

It's bathrooms and particularly kitchens that tend to be the

key rooms for attracting buyers,

so definitely areas to concentrate on.

Would it be worth improving the size of the cottage?

I would be very reluctant to either go in the loft or the cellar.

Cellar would cost a lot of money to convert,

because you'd have to make sure it is completely damp-free

and I don't think the pitch is high enough to do a lot conversion.

So, if the cottage was upgraded and the layout changed to make

a kitchen diner with the bathroom perhaps moved upstairs, what sort

of sale price could this property,

that was guided at £145,000, command?

If I was to put a figure on the property as a one-bedroom

in fantastic order with a great garden,

I'd also recommend that they put off-street working,

I think a sensible figure would be in the region of 170 to 175.

How about its rental potential?

It's a fantastic rental area because of all the local amenities.

I'd put rental figure of probably approximately 700 to 750

per calendar month.

The biggest issue for me is sorting out the downstairs layout.

Get that bathroom maybe up into the small box bedroom.

I don't think it matters that you lose that room.

Who was interested in it? Let's find out what happened at the auction.

Considering now Lot 48.

Appealing mid-terrace cottage.

Requires modernisation. Great part of the world.

Somebody want to give me a start? You bidding?

How much? 100? OK.

We'll start there. Got £100,000. 105?

110. OK. 110.

115? 115.

120, sir. 125.

125, 130, 135,

140, 145...

145, 150, sir,

155,

151, back in,

152,

153...

..152.5, 153,

and 500, 154 and 500,

155 and 500,

it is £155,000, against you, on my right.

It's £155,000 the first.

155 for the second.

155 for the third and final time.

All done?

Sold, 155,000.

That final bid of £155,000 was made by Surrey-based Chris.

He bought the cottage as investment along with his friend

and fellow taxi driver, Jill.

These two have been buying

and doing up properties as a sideline for four years.

This is their third joint project.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that I was stuck in traffic,

I didn't manage to meet up with them,

but they told us about what made them bid for this unique property.

Its quirkiness, more than anything else. I could see the potential.

As long as you look past what it is,

and you can see what it can be, that's the attraction.

I only saw it first time last week, so it was, yeah,

I like little cottages.

A bit of a shock when you get inside.

Well, Jill seems to have recovered from the shock and it looks like

they have a very clear approach to deciding what to buy.

If it shows the potential that we want it to show,

to be quite honest with you,

we're looking for £20,000 profit out of anything we go into.

You've got to cut your budget to suit that 20 grand.

The work has to be done personally.

Chris will live in the house and do the majority of the work

with Jill helping out at weekends.

They've got some really radical thoughts about how to reinvent

the space here including moving the staircase

with one specific aim in mind.

Trying to turn it into a two-bedroom.

If we can do that, then we move up a bracket from a one-bedroom to a two.

That's the aim. Whether it can be done or not remains to be seen,

but I think removing the staircase,

taking the wall out of the second box room, for the use of a better word,

taking that tank out a bit -

you will have the space for a second bedroom.

We are going to keep the lounge as it is,

but that back end, as you can see, definitely needs opening right out

because it's probably the worst designed ground floor I've ever seen in my life.

I agree, it's definitely up there with one of the oddest layouts

I've ever seen but with Chris living here, he hopes he can make it

into a two-bed cottage with open-plan kitchen diner

in just three to six months. How much will it all cost?

It's a case of 5,000 spend, what it's going to be,

so a cheapish kitchen, got to be double glazed,

got to be central heated,

so I've got a lot of contacts but it only goes so far.

£5,000 is an optimistic budget for a new bathroom, kitchen,

windows, stairs and a complete rejig of the layout,

but hopefully with Chris's determination and support from Jill,

they can get this cottage back on track.

What drove them to property development in the first place?

I'm fed up with taxiing and getting to something else would be nice.

I get a lot of enjoyment from starting with something like this

and ending up with something decent.

There's no doubt that Chris has his work cut out

especially given that minuscule budget.

You can find out if this project went to plan later in the show.

Well, time has passed since we last saw those properties

and we're dying to find out what happened to them.

Have they been transformed or encountered problems?

Let's find out.

We're now going back to Cumbria,

just a short distance from the village of Little Broughton

on the border of the Lake District National Park.

Tina and her husband, Terry, had bought this one-bedroom stone mill cottage for £40,000.

They live in Fylde in Lancashire and we met them with their dog Oshka.

The couple have a holiday home in Spain and are both retired

but after just eight weeks, Terry was asked to return

for a year's contract at the baked bean factory where he worked.

# My wife says I've not to put beans in my ears

# Beans in my ears

# Beans in my ears. #

While Terry was counting beans at work,

it seems he was going to be doing the opposite here given the budget they'd set.

15,000? How you going to spend that? Gold taps!

The couple were heading to Spain and when they got back

they reckoned it would take around three months to do the work.

Five and a half months later, we've returned.

The cottage has been redecorated throughout.

Those storage radiators have been removed

and gas powered central heating installed.

They've chosen a cottage style for the units in the kitchen.

Upstairs in the former bathroom,

they did successfully squeeze in a second bedroom and shower room.

Although Terry had retired, he's been back at work

so he only had weekends available for this project.

Five weeks out of six, I was finishing work, driving up here,

working over the weekend and going back to work on the Monday.

Bit tiring but it was fine.

So it's Tina who's been handling the negotiations with builders,

picking the kitchen units

and getting the central heating fired up.

We had to get the gas laid on and there was an eight-week timescale...

Waiting period for the gas, which we just had to sit out,

there was not a lot we could do about it.

The biggest problem was when we took the airing cupboard out and the water tank.

Next-door's soil pipe was coming through into our house.

That was the biggest difficulty, really, so we had to negotiate

with him to get his soil pipe back into his house.

So the waste pipe now comes directly out of the wall

from the neighbours' property.

Outside, the work around the windows and the doors has been repaired

and part of the roof has been refelted.

Terry's concerns about the damp were unfounded.

Once the central heating was installed, everything dried out.

They were keen to keep a cottage feel especially in the kitchen.

We got a building company coming in to measure

up and give us a quote.

We decided which one we wanted which was more the cottagey style.

I had to fight for my plate rack but I got it.

Why the battle?

Because I was negotiating with two men who felt

that storage was more important than style.

Well, you got both with that plate rack, and being so close

to this lovely countryside, I wonder what Oshka thinks of the place.

I think he's enjoyed it.

-He's had a lot of sniffing around different lanes.

-He's been very good.

Once we start working, he just lies down on the carpet

and lets us get on with it.

I was surprised at the budget Terry and Tina set.

£10-£15,000, so how much did the refurbishment cost?

We came in under budget, round about 14,500.

We didn't quite manage the gold-plated taps but what we did do

is put a roof light into the bathroom to give natural light

which put additional costs on that we weren't expecting initially.

We invited two local property experts to take a look at this

refurbished cottage that now offers two bedrooms instead of one.

From when I first came on the property, I think

that they've finished the property off well.

The kitchen units are lovely and I think they've made the most

of the space upstairs by adding a shower room and a second bedroom.

What does the auctioneer who sold it think?

I think they've made a really good job with the decor.

They've retained the cottagey feel and the cottagey look to it.

What a difference it's made creating the second bedroom.

I don't think it makes any difference that they have changed the bathroom into a shower room.

Most people do use showers these days rather than a bath.

There is a small holiday let market in this area

but I think it would do far better

if it was exposed to the resale market or the rental market.

Terry and Tina intend to sell

but how much rental income could the cottage generate?

On the rental market, I would advertise this property

at £400 per calendar month.

You'd achieve a figure of between £425 and 450 per calendar month.

Those valuations mean there's

a potential yield of between 8% and 11%.

-That's quite reasonable.

-Yes, quite good, that.

That's more than I expected. But we're not renting it.

What about the resale value?

Is the cottage now worth more than the £54,500 the couple invested?

I would value this property at £70,000 to £75,000.

I think you would adopt an asking price of, say,

£80,000 to perhaps anything down to £75,000.

That £75,000 figure would mean a profit of £20,500,

minus the usual tax and expenses.

It's more or less what we expected.

-Yes.

-That's fine.

In the meantime, Tina's about to head south to Spain for a few weeks.

But what about Terry? His retirement seems to be full-on.

I'll probably take Tina to Spain and then fly back and back to work.

Until July. In July, that's it, I've finished completely.

# It's something unpredictable

# But in the end it's right

# I hope you had the time of your life... #

And what about Oshka? What's he going to do?

Oshka's coming to Spain with me.

It was back in 2007 when we first took a trip to

Bagshot in Surrey to see what the auction catalogue

described as "a mid-terrace cottage requiring modernisation,

"but situated on a busy road."

To my mind, this one-bed cottage wasn't just in need of updating,

it required a complete rethink of the rather bizarre downstairs

layout, with rooms built in rooms, creating corridors in odd places.

And upstairs, there were two rooms -

a double bedroom overlooking the road and then the boxroom.

And when I'm talking about box, I'm talking about cardboard box.

This thing is absolutely tiny.

And, with the right of access at the back preventing any possible

extensions, the cottage could only

be rejigged on the footprint it sat on.

But, for taxi drivers Chris and Jill, they felt there was an

opportunity not only to improve the cottage, but to improve its value.

So they bought it for £155,000 at auction and had quite

ambitious plans for this, their third property venture together.

Trying to turn it into a two-bedroom.

If we do that, then we move up the bracket from a one bedroom to a two.

In order to keep the cost down,

the plan was for Chris to live in the cottage while doing

some of the work and bringing in tradespeople where necessary.

They were hoping to do it on a budget of just £5,000

and a three to six month timescale.

But, with the combination of the slow-down in the property

market and Chris retiring, things haven't moved on quite as expected.

So, now, over five years later, we're back.

There's not only off-road parking,

it seems the cottage is now more off-road itself.

They started to rebuild this A30, which was completely unknown to me.

I didn't know they were going to do all this.

They've actually moved the A30 across by 16 feet.

So it's given us a little private road coming down the side.

The roof I got a grant from the council for, so there's

a brand-new roof on it, both the flat roof and the main roof.

With the outside sorted, Chris could turn his attention to the inside.

So, the front reception room

now houses the relocated stairs and has been completely refurbished.

But the main challenge was always going to be

that rather odd back area.

Has that now been sorted?

It sure has.

What I've done here is I've opened the area right up.

The bathroom was here, a small galley kitchen

and I've literally put an RSJ across,

put a skylight in to get the light in, moved all the drains,

so that they still flow in the same way

and then packed the bathroom from here and tucked it into the back.

So, the bathroom was removed from its awkward

position in the middle of the room

and placed in a much more suitable space at the back of the cottage.

And it was a case, then, of trying to sort these bedrooms out.

Moving the stairs to a more central position in the cottage

allowed Chris to even up the rooms upstairs.

So now, instead of one large bedroom and one very small boxroom...

..there are two decent-sized double bedrooms.

So, it may have taken a while, but the cottage is now much improved.

It was such a challenge and at one stage I thought, "I can't do this.

"This one's going to beat me."

But I'm one of those people, I just can't give up. I won't give up.

It's a case of I keep on going, keep on going.

And as you see the light at the end of the tunnel, you just work

your way towards it and eventually you pop out of the other end.

This cottage was meant to be a joint venue for Chris

and fellow taxi driver Jill,

but apart from some financial input from Jill, this has not only

been very much Chris' project, it's also been his home.

Now it's sufficiently finished to be put up for sale.

So, where will he go from here?

The idea is to sell it for as much as I can get for it, but it will

give me enough capital, I'm hoping, to buy something in Wales outright.

So it seems Chris hasn't been put off by this protracted project,

but, after five years, I suspect the that £5,000 budget has melted away.

I will have to do the figures, but I would say 30,000-ish,

maybe slightly more. But that's including everything.

That's including the mortgage payments, et cetera.

Five years' mortgage payments is not going to be cheap, is it?

£30,000 is quite an overspend on the original hoped for £5,000 budget.

So, added to the initial purchase price of 155,000,

their total will be at £185,000.

How much has the time delay cost them?

What do two local estate agents make of the rejigged cottage?

It's a nicely presented property.

It's got a lot of character and it's in a convenient position,

walking distance to the village.

It's a vast improvement to have a double second bedroom,

because, at the time that I came to see it the first time round,

it was a very small second bedroom.

I think the kitchen-diner is nicely designed.

It's nice, open plan, which is the design that people like today.

Chris is keen to sell the property and move on now.

Remember, he said at the beginning that he

and Jill always set off with a target of a £20,000 profit.

So far, they've spent £155,000 on the purchase

and 30,000 on the renovation, which makes an investment of 185,000.

What do the experts think this cottage could get if sold on?

I would expect it to achieve in the region of £205,000.

I'd market this property in the region of £205,000,

and look to achieve offers of 200 and above.

-CHRIS:

-205? That's a bit lower than I thought.

I was hoping to clear 210, and it's up at the moment at 215.

Well, if Chris does get his hoped for £210,000 price tag,

that would be a potential pre-tax profit of 25,000, so perhaps,

after all, this project has worked out OK.

One thing's for certain, it doesn't seem to have put him

off buying more properties.

I'll never give up property. I've got a passion for it. I just love it.

Well, that's all we've got time for today,

but we'll have plenty more for you next time.

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

-Goodbye.

-Goodbye.

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