Episode 35 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello! Now, if you want to buy any kind of property,

then the auction room could be the place for you.

Yeah. You must make sure you do your research

and get your bidding strategy right.

So when the hammer falls, you can be victorious!

So let's find out who did their homework

before they put their hand up to bid.

Well, people buy all sorts of things at the auction,

from a home to an investment property,

to a garage to store their belongings!

And if spent wisely, your money can go a very long way.

So what did people decide to splash their cash on on today's show?

I'm in London, and as I'm sure we can all agree,

taste and design is really black and white!

I'm not sure whether I like it or not!

In Pontypool, this three-storey property

certainly has its fair share of ups and downs!

It does feel like the whole place is mostly made up of stairs!

And the colour scheme in this bungalow in Carlisle

makes it more fun house than dream home!

Somebody had real fun with the old paint colour choices!

All these properties have been sold at auction,

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

when they went under the hammer.

Selling away!

This is Sydenham in south-east London.

It sits happily between more fashionable Dulwich and popular Crystal Palace to the south.

But Sydenham has charms of its own.

Lovely green open spaces,

a train station that'll get you into Victoria in 14 minutes

and for London, some really rather cheap property.

A trip to Sydenham almost feels like I've swapped the city

for a day in the countryside.

# When the leaves have fallen

# From the last lime tree... #

Well, almost.

But there's a property for us to see, so I'm leaving all this behind.

At the moment, the average price for a terraced house in London

is a staggering 526,000.

House prices vary hugely,

depending on where you are in the capital.

But you would struggle to find a family home for under half a million quid in many areas.

Which is why I'm especially excited

about this three-bedroomed house.

It had a guide price of £220,000.

This '60s house is not so big on kerb appeal

but at that price, it is big on purse appeal!

And this is what you call open plan!

Wow! An incredibly big space.

I'm not so sure about these stairs.

Maybe something a little more modern? Glass would look good in here.

You could really turn this place into a spectacular minimalist zone.

It would really work in a house like this.

And it's definitely big enough for a family.

Now, the kitchen. I'm not sure whether I like it or not.

I think I would have to change it.

Could be a little bit '90s.

All this a bit old-fashioned, a bit dark.

So you could exchange it for something more light reflective.

But a good working area, and what I do love

is that you've got the garden just there and there's access right here.

This is what you call a courtyard garden.

But for London, you should be grateful for any outside space.

And you've certainly got enough here

for the kids to have a little play.

But the thing that really excites me is this!

It's not a garage, you've got a double garage!

It's plenty big enough to put your car inside

because so many garages today, you can't get a modern vehicle in it.

But I'd be looking at converting this, turning it into something great like a kids' playroom

a home office, a teenagers' den.

It's such a phenomenal space

that you could do so much with.

I really see this adding a lot of value to that house.

# You make me feel like I'm living a

# Teenage dream... #

Having this space to hang out sure would be a teenage dream!

You could convert half of it,

leaving the other side as a garage.

London parking is not easy to come by

and this garage has rear access.

Ideal for privacy and avoiding that busy road out front.

Back inside the property, and upstairs has three bedrooms on offer.

This small box room at the front

may be better used as a study.

Next to that, a large double bedroom

then at the back of the property,

another large double and a family bathroom.

This is in addition to the toilet which is off the hall as you enter the property.

All this for that guide price of 220,000.

The whole place could do with updating throughout

but with no major work required,

you could live in it whilst this is being done.

So that's bound to add to its appeal.

But what would a local estate agent think?

We invited one along to find out.

First impressions of this property are great.

It's very rare that you get modern properties nowadays with greenery around and grass and trees.

But Sydenham is like that.

It softens the actual harshness of the property.

When you come into the property, it's very modern living.

It's open plan. That's how it was built, which is great.

So, once renovated, what price could it fetch if sold on?

If it was done up, I think it would achieve somewhere between 330 and 350.

How about the rental market?

Would it be a financially viable option for this particular pad?

When this is done up, rental-wise, it's a very good rental.

It would achieve £1,400 per calendar month with no problem whatsoever.

The market is very buoyant.

This is a great value family home in a nice area, ever improving.

Let's find out who went for it at the auction.

Lot 63.

Three-bed mid-terraced house.

Obviously popular location.

What are your bids on this? 250?

250 with you. 255.

255 with you.

260.

265.

270?

266?

265. Looking for 266 elsewhere. Another thousand.

If not, 265.

First time. Second time.

Third and last time. Have you all done?

Sold 265.

So the hammer fell on the bid of 265,000

made by Vincenzo.

He hails from Italy, but has been living in London for the past 15 years.

In that time, he's bought nine auction properties,

doing them up and selling them on.

Today, he's brought companion Thomas along

for a good sniff around his latest purchase.

Vincenzo, congratulations! Nice to meet you!

Here you have it. You've bought yourself a house at auction.

Yes, I did. Did you really want this one, on auction day?

No really. No? No.

You had your eye on something else?

Yes, I do the shortlist of several properties

and now I go there, I view the property, all of them,

then - this is the first step -

and I take all the shots with my mobile phone,

go home and analyse if it's good or not for myself.

And eventually I decide which one to go for.

When I decide which one to go for,

I just do starting the research.

How much it costs, how much I need to spend.

How much it will sell.

What's on your checklist? What else do you look for?

First of all, what I look for is the station by.

Good area, which is in the border with the good area.

This property is just on the border with Dulwich Village.

So it's the station three minutes away, although it's up the hill

and it's very hard to get up!

But it's five minutes away. If you are busy to go to work

it takes five minutes to the station,

15 minutes to London Victoria station

and to Brixton just two minutes.

It's the right property for the professional people.

I like Vincenzo's approach.

He's methodical and does his homework.

Taking photographs is a great idea.

How many times have you looked at a property

but couldn't recall details clearly later?

Photos also add to the vital reality check

as you tend to only remember the good bits.

As we know, the key to successful developing is thorough research.

It sounds to me like you are a man who does thorough research.

You know what you're doing. You've downloaded the legal pack. Yes.

You know how much you want to spend. This time I think I've overspent.

OK. So there you go.

On your checklist, I bet you didn't think you were going to overspend on the day.

So how much did you overspend, for this?

I think I overspent about 15 grand, to be personal.

So you didn't want to spend £15,000 extra.

No, but taking all into consideration,

all the aspects of the property,

I think that it's still good for what I want to do.

It's still giving me a return,

even if I don't want to do anything with the property, just leave it as it is.

So what are you going to do to the property? Nothing?

There are three steps which I would like to do with this property.

The first step is just to try the auction.

If it works, just to put it back in auction and it will give me around 15 to £20,000 profit.

The second step which I would like to do

is just to put with an estate agent

and to get around £310,000 if I can.

The last step, the one I like, the one that gives me more pleasure,

because I see the property transformed,

is to do a nice job to the property

and get the maximum price.

Wow! So whoa! You don't even know what you're going to do.

So number one, you're going to try and flip it,

put it back in the auction at a profit.

That's why this is my first step.

With my first steps, I need to make sure the property can be flipped without doing any work on it.

So you think there's value in this as it is? As it is, I think, yes.

I'm all for having a Plan B

so it can only be a good thing that Vincenzo has three possible plans of attack here.

If he does go for his and my preferred option

of giving this place a top-to-toe cosmetic refurbishment,

he's set himself a maximum budget of 20,000

and a timescale of three months.

And speaking of timings...

How long have you been doing this for? I've been doing this since 2005,

when I bought my first studio.

I sold it after a year. It was my own property

and I bought a second one and made more profit then.

And I kept in Maida Vale, Warwick Avenue, St John's Wood.

Then I started... There was a shortage of opportunity in that area

so I started moving around and eventually I'm here after 10 years.

Vincenzo, good luck with this.

It's going to be so interesting seeing which option you take. Good luck.

Thank you, Lucy. It's been a pleasure to meet a beautiful girl like you!

Thank you! And a professional. Thank you!

Well, I hope Vincenzo goes for option three.

I would love to see this place transformed.

Join me later in the show to find out what on earth happens!

Beautiful, isn't it? Today I'm in Pontypool in South Wales.

And here is Pontypool folly.

It was a tower built around 1770 originally

but it was recently restored,

partly due to a campaign by locals

who used bricks from the local primary school to rebuild it.

The views are simply stunning

and Pontypool will soon benefit from a £10 million investment

to regenerate the town centre and conserve the local heritage.

That means the auction lot I'm here to see

could be more lolly than folly.

And here it is.

It's a three-storey property. A commercial unit on the ground floor

with private access at the side to a three-bed maisonette flat

which is spread over the lower ground, first and second floors.

It's actually a really interesting opportunity.

I like this kind of thing as it's a mixed use development.

Downstairs a commercial unit, upstairs, two floors of something that could be developed

into flats or whatever.

This is the downstairs unit, very well located on the high street.

It's small, but hey, the guide price 50 grand,

it's got to be worth a look.

The ground floor commercial unit is, well, tiny,

so it will have limited appeal.

Once inside, there is access to the lower ground floor

which comprises two box rooms and access to a rear courtyard.

And from the back, you really get a sense of just how big this auction lot is.

Be prepared for a lot of stairs!

It does feel like the whole place is mostly made up of stairs so far.

But hey, it'll keep you fit!

On this floor, then, a kitchen area there.

And through into this room.

This is a real nice surprise.

Big windows, lots of light flooding in.

You are on the side of the main road, so it could be a bit noisy.

But wow, great space.

And it was actually used as residential, so a flat or whatever at some point.

If you wanted to use it for commercial,

you'd have to apply for change of use,

but I actually think this is pretty attractive.

Central heating. That's good.

Electrics looks like it's reasonably new.

You know, let's carry on.

Phew!

Up yet more stairs.

I feel like I've had a workout!

And yes, yet more space.

Bathroom area there.

A little room there. Another bedroom or whatever you wanted there.

And through into a rear room.

Again, good size. Reasonable condition.

In terms of a flat,

this could be pretty spacious with that room downstairs, the kitchen, this up here.

It's a really nice-sized property.

And, all in all, for the money, yeah.

Good news, really.

Good news, indeed.

But I wonder if there's more money to be made

by converting this maisonette

into two single-bedroom flats.

With some clever reconfiguration,

I think there's plenty of space

and, as it's in the heart of the town centre,

it's an ideal rental location.

But there's also bad news.

What really causes me concern

is the teeny-tiny commercial unit.

What practical use could it be put to?

And there are other considerations, too.

Firstly, you've got this passageway, and above it,

you've got the upstairs floors.

So you've got what they call a flying freehold.

Your solicitor would have to check that out very carefully before you bought the property.

Have you got a right of way, a right of way into that door?

All sorts of things. And then you've got this downstairs unit.

It's very small. It doesn't have any facilities, doesn't have a toilet, et cetera, et cetera.

Is that legal? Again, something your solicitor really needs to check out.

But assuming any potential legal issues do check out OK,

what does a local estate agent make of the property

and its £50,000 guide price?

On this road, it's popular for letting properties.

If the owner was going to decide to let out the property as flats,

he could probably rent them quite quickly

as long as possibly they were two-bed or one-bed.

If it's a three-bedroomed flat,

he might have a little bit of difficulty.

The estate agent thinks the ground floor commercial unit

might prove tricky to let,

but it could bring in around £50 per week.

But how much could this three-bed maisonette let for?

You could look to achieve 400 to £425 per calendar month in the current climate.

The only difficulty is that most people would rather rent

a three-bedroomed house rather than a three-bedroomed flat.

And if converted into two single-bedroomed flats?

If you converted it into two flats,

you could look to achieve 300 to £325 per calendar month.

You shouldn't have too much trouble in renting those out.

The estate agent believed that, once renovated,

the three-bedroomed maisonette

could achieve a sale value of £75,000.

But the two flats could achieve a combined total

of £100,000.

Well, it's certainly a lot of property for the money.

But is it worth it? It all comes down to what you're going to use this place for.

I think converting it into a flat is probably the way to go.

It's certainly a good location for that.

The downstairs unit, the jury's out on that one!

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

On to lot number 16. Premises with investment and development potential.

Who's going to start me off at 50,000?

45?

Start me off, then.

40,000. Thank you. 40,000.

That wakes us up. That's 42 at the back.

42 and four. 44? Thank you. 44,000. 46.

46,000 standing. 46 and eight.

Looking for eight. 48.

Thank you. 48 and 50.

I'll take him in ones.

One. One. 50. 51.

And two. Two. Three. Three.

And four. 54,000.

54,000 on you. 54. And five.

55. 55,000 on you.

55,000. 55,000. Any advance?

55. 55,000. I'm in the market.

55,000. 55?

55,000.

Are you going to let him get it, sir, at 55?

Cos he's going to get it. 55,000, it's his.

55,000. Any advance? Be quick.

55,000.

Yours, sir.

That successful bid of £55,000

was made by Andy, who attended the auction with his wife, Yen.

Andy hails from the south of Ireland

and Yen is from China.

The couple met when they were both in Dubai

but have since swapped the rolling sand dunes of the Middle East

for the rolling valleys of South Wales.

'Andy, Yen, lovely to meet you both. Congratulations!'

Thank you. Tell me why you wanted to buy this interesting property?

Well, the location was good, and it's pretty close to where we live.

It's in good condition, the price was right.

It was at auction. I like buying at auction. Right.

Why? You get the best value, I think, at auction.

We bought another property at auction, six months ago?

Yes. Mm. We're in the process of renovating that at the moment.

He likes to buy auction everything!

Car, everything!

So have you done many of these kind of things before?

We're doing one at the moment in Newport. Right.

So since I gave up my job in '08,

we tend to do property. Right.

So you made a move into property.

Actually you went into property just as the market went... Crashed!

Oh, yeah. Got to pick the right time!

Well, some would say bargains to be had at that point.

Well, I was involved in building four houses at the time.

It was bad. Ooh.

But you managed to survive and work through that. Yes, yes.

We sold three and we live in one. Right.

But we didn't make any money! Right.

'Let's hope that doesn't turn out to be the case this time.

'Andy and Yen bought this property hoping that its mixed use status

'means more opportunities.'

So let me understand exactly what the plans for it are.

You're going to rent out downstairs? Yes.

And then upstairs, rent that out as well, or...

Probably. See whether it would rent out as offices.

If it doesn't, I'd leave it as a flat.

Are you going to have to apply for change of use if this is offices? Yes.

I will, yeah. But a lot of the buildings in the street are used as offices. Right.

There shouldn't be a problem with getting a change of use if I need it.

But I will have to apply.

Tell me what you're going to do, then, to sort it out. What's the plan for works and stuff?

It needs redecorating. I don't know what we'll do with the kitchen yet

because if it goes as commercial,

the kitchen is too large.

So we'll have to wait and see on that one.

But it'll be a new kitchen if it's going as domestic. Right.

And a new bathroom. And keep it on two levels as it is, pretty much? Yes.

It's three levels in total. It's too complicated to turn it into two flats.

'Andy and Yen are finishing another renovation project just now.

'When they complete that,

'they plan to spend ten to 12 weeks getting this one into shape.

'But what about their budget for the work here?'

I don't scrimp on budgets. There's no point.

Whatever it takes, it'll take,

but it won't take more than ten.

Great. So are you excited by the project?

Yeah. Work! Work!

Yen, what's your involvement going to be with the project as you go along?

Are you going to help with decoration and design?

Yeah. We do everything together at the moment.

So, yeah.

I'm sometimes his mate!

I do everything!

Painting and... Yeah.

I do lots and lots. Oh, great. Yeah.

We do it all ourselves.

We were plasterboarding yesterday!

And we'll be plasterboarding later today!

And we'll be plumbing next week!

We do everything ourselves.

Congratulations. Good luck to you both. Look forward to seeing how you get on.

Nice to meet you. Thank you.

Andy and Yen certainly seem confident they can sort this place out.

However, it does all rely on getting that change of use

and also whether or not there's a demand for what they are creating.

You can find out how they get on later in the show.

Coming up, not even a torrential downpour

can dampen my enthusiasm for this big garden in Carlisle.

That's my report for the garden. Now back inside!

In Pontypool, for husband and wife Andy and Yen,

property developing is like true love - it never runs smooth!

She picked the colours, which I didn't agree with!

But first, in London, are the experts impressed by this transformation?

It's all beautifully colour co-ordinated, and it looks fabulous.

Back to London and the suburb of Sydenham,

where I enjoyed a stroll through the local park.

That's where I saw this three-bedroomed mid-terrace

which had a guide price of 220,000.

Inside it was bold.

It was bright.

And was bursting with potential.

The property came with a double garage at the back.

It's such a phenomenal space that you could do so much with.

I really see this adding a lot of value to that house.

And who spotted the opportunity on auction day?

The successful bidder was Vincenzo

who paid 265,000 for the property.

I met him and his furry little friend Thomas

to hear about his plans.

There are three steps I'd like to do with this property.

The first step is just to try the auction.

If it works, just to put it back in auction and that will give me around 15 to £20,000 profit.

The second step which I would like to do

is just to put it with an estate agent

and to get around £310,000, if I can.

And the last step, the one I like, the one that gives me more pleasure

because to see the property transformed

is to do a nice job to the property and get the maximum price.

Vincenzo, good luck with this.

It's going to be so interesting, seeing which option you take. Good luck.

Thank you, Lucy. It has been a pleasure to meet a beautiful girl like you! Thank you, Vincenzo!

'I could tell Vincenzo was a man who appreciates the finer things in life!

'But which option would win out?

'We're back eight months later to find out!'

Anything could have happened, but under Vincenzo's exacting eye for detail,

everything has happened.

I'm absolutely flabbergasted by this fantastic transformation.

As you can see now, the house is completely refurbished.

New kitchen, new bathroom, new bedroom.

It's practically changed everything

as it was before.

Vincenzo ditched plans A, B and C

and plumped instead for Plan D.

He decided to make this house his home

and lavishly redesigned the interior decor.

The Italian reputation for style

seems to be alive and well.

I particularly like the mood lighting in the living area

and the fabulous new kitchen.

Super chic!

The kitchen has been designed by me, as everything else in this house.

I tried to keep a simple line,

the white units, white worktop,

and I tried to install appliances where they can last longer, being my own property.

And I chose the one I thought was appropriate

to my requirements.

The ground floor has a smooth flow from the living space to the dining area and kitchen.

It's open plan, yet each area is a well-defined space

which continues out through the patio doors

into the back courtyard.

It's a perfect space for enjoying a fine Italian wine

with friends on a summer's evening.

Now, what about that double garage

which I thought was packed with potential.

Oh, bravo, Vincenzo!

He has partitioned the garage to create a home office.

I definitely take my hat off to him!

I had the option to leave it as a garage

or to create an office.

And because I'm going to live in the property,

I like to go outside, like leaving the house and going to the office.

And I believe I achieved creating a new space

where I can relax and do my own work.

Well, let's take a look upstairs.

The interior design of the bedrooms is impeccable and eye-catching.

The lightly contrasting colours and plush carpets

create the perfect place to relax.

And in the master bedroom, Vincenzo has again spared no expense

to create an oasis of calm.

I really enjoy putting light in my house,

especially depending which humour I'm in.

For instance, when I want to read and relax, I put soft light.

I enjoy doing the house with the light looking in different angles.

They are pretty expensive, the lighting, as well.

Vincenzo spent around 3,000 on each of his chandeliers!

Yes, you heard me right!

Now, you don't need to be an expert to realise

that Vincenzo's original budget of 20,000

has been blown big time!

So, how much did he actually spend?

20,000 was the budget I had to spend.

Unfortunately, I spent £120,000!

Oh, my goodness me!

Vincenzo's determination to create his dream home

meant he required his builders to re-do work until it matched his high standards.

That was a costly, yet for Vincenzo, ultimately rewarding, decision.

When you are doing your own house, the money is not an object.

Because where you live is where you spend most of the time.

And when you come back from work,

you want a place to relax

and forget whatever has happened during the day.

So the money was not really an object.

Vincenzo's 120,000 spend

includes the renovation, furnishing, fixtures and fittings

which, added to his £265,000 purchase

makes his outlay a whopping 385,000.

That's enough to make me "paws" for thought!

We asked two local estate agents

for their opinions on Vincenzo's new home.

My overall impression is of a very high quality standard finish.

I like the attention to detail,

the way he's picked the colour schemes.

It's beautifully colour-coordinated. And it looks fabulous.

I think it's a nicely-proportioned house, good room sizes.

Nice living space downstairs.

The finish is superb. No question.

High specification throughout.

Vincenzo has designed his home far beyond a rental specification

and has no intention of letting it.

But how much do the estate agents believe the property could sell for

bearing in mind Vincenzo's total investment of 385,000.

I believe this property would resell for in the region of £400,000.

I believe the property could resell for between 400,000 and £425,000.

If achieved, those figures would make Vincenzo

a pre-tax profit of between 15 and 40,000, minus tax and expenses.

What does he think of that?

It's interesting. It's really interesting.

I know it doesn't apply to me because it's my lovely home,

where to live, I hope, for a very long time. Me and Thomas!

This property has been transformed from garish to gorgeous.

It's simply stunning

and I've been delighted to discover

that both Vincenzo and Thomas are happy in their new home.

So, will he go to another auction any time soon?

For the time being, I will have a nice rest and enjoy what I did.

Maybe in future. You never know in life!

Courtesy of its geographical position, the border city of Carlisle

is steeped in history.

Romans, Jacobites and border reevers,

their conflicts have all played out here.

Today, it's the main cultural and industrial centre

of North Cumbria.

The property I'm here to see

is very close to the town centre in this popular residential area.

Nice cul-de-sac location, close to Cumberland Infirmary,

so the possibility of rental to hospital workers.

But it's this, it's a bungalow, it's three bedrooms,

had a guide price of 60 to 70,000 quid.

Let's take a look.

For starters, off-street parking is a bonus

and it shouldn't take too much effort to tidy up the front garden

for some instant kerb appeal.

So, what's in store?

A little entrance porch area, which is always nice.

And then through into a fairly decent-sized living area.

Lots of light coming in through these huge great windows, which is good.

A modernish-looking feature gas fire there.

And in general, it doesn't look to be in too bad a condition.

A bit of wooden floor. Might want to keep that.

You come to the sort of central part of the property, though,

and somebody had real fun with the paint colour choices!

Pink Panther, watch out!

An interesting colour blue there. Orangey-brown on the walls.

Well, it's not to everyone's taste,

but the layout most certainly is.

Kitchen there, one bedroom there,

a bathroom and loo here.

Looks like it could do with a bit of work.

And it terms of layouts of bungalows, I really like this.

MUSIC: Any Dream Will Do

My dream is of a nice blank canvas

so the bright paintwork has to go!

Rip out the kitchen and the bathroom

and you've got a good solid framework to hang your renovation on.

Towards the rear of the property, two more bedrooms.

You do get a sense of enormous space in this bungalow.

Certainly a lot more than when you first see it as you come up the road.

In this rear bedroom, you've also got the addition of an en-suite,

currently laid out as a wet room.

So in terms of internal layout, for a change, you can pretty much leave it exactly as it is.

This three-bed bungalow is looking kinda peachy.

And talking of fruit trees, there's definitely scope for a little orchard out back.

Well, at the rear and side of the property,

a really good-sized garden, which is great news.

Now, it's a miserable old day, but there are some advantages

to looking at a property in the rain

because it gives you a chance to check out not only the roof

but also the rainwater goods.

So I'm looking for things like overflowing gutters, bubbling drains, anything like that.

Because as you know, if you can spot those problems early on

you can save yourself a lot of problems in the future.

A stitch in time saves nine.

In this case, a few issues with the roof.

A few tiles have slipped and things like that

but at least all the guttering seems OK, so it's good news.

Right. That's my report for the garden. I'm back inside.

There is another advantage to all this rain.

What does a local estate agent make of the bungalow

and its 60 to £70,000 guide price?

There's plenty of accommodation here. More than one bathroom,

a good sized outside space, as well.

So it's good for all people, really.

What could this bungalow fetch if sold on?

Once renovated, this property should achieve around £100,000.

And on the rental market?

It should achieve on the rental market 400 to £450 per calendar month.

Well, to use a much over-used expression,

it really is "surprisingly spacious", this one!

Much bigger on the inside than it looks from the outside.

And in general, it doesn't need too much. Bit of bathroom work, kitchen work, as ever,

And of course, the main thing, change those colours on the walls!

Who fancied it? Let's find out when it went under the hammer.

OK. Lot number 11.

Semi-detached bungalow

with three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Do I see £60,000 for this?

60, I'm in.

Looking for 62. At 60 I'm bid.

62 I've got. New position.

64, sir? 64 I've got.

66. 68?

Thinking about it. It's with you at 66, madam.

67. 68, madam?

69?

69. 69 I've got.

70?

70 I'm bid. 71?

Shake of the head at 71.

It's with you at 70.

At £70,000.

I'm selling it. We're in the market at 70.

At £70,000, then.

For the first time.

Sorry?

70 and a half. 71, madam?

And a half.

Shake of the head.

Back with you, madam, at 71.

Been with me all the way at £71,000.

First time. Second time.

Third and final time. All done, all out. Selling away.

To you, madam. Thank you.

That successful bid of £71,000 was placed by Judith

who attended the auction with her husband, Stuart.

I met the couple back at the bungalow to find out their plans.

Judith, Stuart, great to meet you both.

Congratulations.

Tell me why you wanted to buy this place.

We've been looking for somewhere in this area for my daughter to move into.

She lives in a small house and she's got a little girl.

That's great. What were you looking for, then,

in terms of what you really wanted for her and what she wanted?

Well, they needed somewhere with three bedrooms.

And a garden.

And this came up and we came to have a look at it

and here we are!

How's it working out financially, then?

We funded it from some inheritances I've had.

My mother died about six years ago. I'm sorry.

And then a close relative fairly recently,

so that's what we're using at the moment.

How great that you can put that into finding somewhere for your daughter and her family.

My daughter will have a house to sell once they've moved in,

so we hope to get a fair bit back!

Right. OK. Hopefully! Hopefully!

'Judith and Stuart want to do their bit to help their family get a bigger space

'but there's a lot of work to be done to this bungalow.'

So who's going to do the work?

Well, we're going to have contractors in to do some work on the roof.

And electrical work, possibly.

But we'll be doing the gutting and stripping. This is it.

So there's a lot work. So I shall be getting fit again!

Our son-in-law is going to do a lot of the putting in the kitchen, and plumbing and that.

Great. And my daughter will do some of the decorating. Help strip the walls.

Right. A combination of ourselves, family, ourselves and contractors.

Great. And what kind of budget have you got for doing the work?

Well, we want to try and keep it under the 15,000.

Obviously if we have the roof done

we thought we'd have it done properly by a contractor.

And the timescale for doing it?

Well, within two to three months, hopefully. Yes.

And what about outside? What are you going to do with the garden and stuff?

Well, the drive's a bit awkward,

so we're going to extend that to come straight in

so we can get vehicles in.

And we want to get a bit of a vegetable patch going

and have a hut in the garden.

Trim some of the trees back.

And then move in the swings and the slides and the playhouses!

Yes. Trampoline! That's what she wants, a trampoline!

'Sounds like this large, safe garden

'is going to be a haven for grandchild and grandparents alike.

'Although maybe not on a day like this!

'What intrigues me are the plans for the indoors and that interesting colour scheme!'

What kind of feel are you going for with the decorations in the kitchen and stuff like that?

Have you got any ideas?

My daughter's got to have a bit of an input,

but I have to rein her back a bit

because she has some wacky tastes in colours!

Retro black and dark colours.

Dark colours. Oh?

Well, something modernish

but not too modern!

Cos we feel it's got a bit of a cottagey style about it.

That's it. You've put it in a nutshell.

The cottage style. With a slight modern twist, perhaps.

There will be a bit of black in the shower room, but never mind.

I haven't told you about that!

Oh, right? What's that, then?

No, this is just my daughter. A black and white theme in the shower room, yes.

Do you think there might be squabbles over the kitchen design catalogue?

Um... There might be. There might be!

There might be. Certainly over the decoration there will be, yes.

But we've got the flooring anyway,

so we've already got that to change.

Are you looking forward to it all?

Yes, I can't wait to get started. This is it, yeah.

Congratulations. Good luck with it.

Thank you very much. We look forward to seeing how you get on. Thank you.

Thank you.

So, Judith and Stuart securing a great little property

for their daughter and her family.

Bits of work to be done, but nothing too major.

However, will there be arguments over the colour schemes?

You can find out later in the show.

Well, time has passed. Let's see if our buyers have risen to the challenge.

Or will they have that sinking feeling? Let's go back and find out.

Back to Pontypool in South Wales, and this mixed-use property.

It was a tiny commercial unit

plus a three-bedroomed maisonette flat

spread over three floors.

That meant there were stairs. And lots of them!

Phew! I feel like I've had a workout!

But would this auction lot be a stairway to property development heaven?

It was purchased by husband and wife Andy and Yen.

They planned to rent out the commercial unit

and convert the maisonette into office space

if they could get permission for change of use.

If not, they planned to keep the unit as is,

despite greater financial reward

if they converted the maisonette into two single-bedroomed flats.

But whatever they ended up with, they were certainly going to be hands on.

We do everything together at the moment,

so, yeah.

We do it all ourselves. We were plaster-boarding yesterday.

Wow. And we'll be plasterboarding later today.

And we'll be plumbing next week.

So we do everything ourselves.

'The couple don't believe in cutting corners,

'and gave themselves ten to 12 weeks and a budget of £10,000.

'Well, it's now one year since we met them,

'so what's been happening at this Pontypool property?'

'So, a big change of heart here, then,

'as the upstairs accommodation has been converted

'into two one-bedroomed flats.'

We were hoping to turn it into offices.

But there isn't much demand for offices

so we went for planning and got permission for two flats.

Two one-bedroomed flats.

So we hope it'll be better to rent as two one-bedroomed flats.

Then we put the cellar with the little shop on the bottom

so that they have facilities.

So it was quite a bit of work, but it's come out well.

'Very well indeed.

'By combining the commercial unit and the lower ground floor

'and by adding a toilet,

'they made the shop front a much more viable proposition.

'So I'm not surprised Andy and Yen had no problems letting it.'

We've leased the shop for two years

at 3,500 a year.

So that's sorted now for two years.

'Now, what about the first and second floors?

'Originally, there was a living room and kitchen on the first floor.

'With some clever reconfiguration,

'this has become a single-bed apartment

'with an open-plan living and kitchen area

'and a double bedroom with en-suite.

'On the top floor were three bedrooms and a bathroom.

'The bathroom has had a very welcome makeover.

'The small bedroom is now the kitchen.

'It's smart, tidy, and ideal for the rental market.

'The two remaining bedrooms are now a living room and a bedroom.

'But two flats means two sets of everything.

'This has meant totally replumbing and rewiring the building.

'Of course, that was work for the professionals

'but there was no shortage of other jobs for Andy and Yen to get stuck into.'

We had to completely rewire the two flats because they were separate flats.

Divide the plumbing up, put in a new central heating boiler,

put in an extra kitchen and an extra bathroom.

And my good lady is the painter and decorator as well as the labourer,

so she picked the colours -

which I didn't agree with!

But they look nice.

I think because the kitchen is like a cream colour, you know,

I had to make a little bit of colour

so that people going in can see it.

All nice.

And it was quite easy.

And that's it.

'So, how much has all the extra work ended up costing?

'Have Andy and Yen kept to their original £10,000 budget?'

It came out at about 18,000

which is better than I expected.

'That £18,000 spend brings their total outlay here to 73,000.

'A number of factors, including applying for planning permission to create the two flats

'delayed their start on site.

'But once they did get going,

'the work took 14 weeks,

'just four weeks longer than anticipated.

'So, with the ground floor shop let,

'what's going to happen to the flats?'

We did intend to sell them, but there's just no point in selling.

There's a better return to rent.

'With that in mind, we asked two local estate agents,

'including the one who saw the property before,

'what they make of the renovation here.'

The refurbishment has been done very, very well.

I think the way he's done it,

he's maximised the potential income

that he can gain from the property.

I think the owners have chosen really nice kitchens and bathrooms

throughout the upper and lower flats

and any potential purchasers or tenants would be really impressed.

'The estate agents agree

'that £3,500 per annum

'is a fair rent for the commercial unit.

'But what about the two flats?'

For the upper flat, I would market this particular flat

at £375 per calendar month

and for the lower flat I would hope to achieve £350 per calendar month.

I would value the upper flat at £375 per calendar month

and the lower flat at £350 per calendar month.

We'll be happy with that. Very happy with that. Very happy.

That would be very good.

'Including the rent from the retail unit,

'Andy and Yen could achieve an annual return of just over £12,000,

'a potential yield of nearly 17%.

'Fantastic!

'What could they achieve if they decided to put the whole building up for sale,

'bearing in mind their total investment of £73,000?'

If I was to market the building and it had tenants in each flat and the ground floor,

then I would market it at £115,000.

If they were to sell the building onto an investor tenanted,

I would expect them to achieve £110,000.

I think that's excellent valuations.

Yes. That is more than I would have expected.

'Those valuations would mean a profit before tax and expenses

'of between 37 and £42,000, which is very impressive.

'So what's next for Andy and Yen?'

We already have another one

so we finish another one and probably get another one.

We really enjoy doing this job.

So...

Now it's back to Carlisle,

where earlier we saw this three-bed bungalow sell for £71,000.

It was bought by husband and wife Stuart and Judith.

They were keen for their daughter's family to move in here

as they thought it would provide a great living space.

They were very excited about the wonderful garden for their grandchild.

But this was going to be a project that would benefit all of them.

So who's going to do the work? We'll have contractors in

to do some work on the roof.

But we'll be doing the gutting and stripping, you know.

This is it. So it's a lot of work, so I'll be getting fit again.

'It wasn't in too bad a condition.

'It was very spacious and had a rather striking colour scheme!

'So, one year on, let's meet up with Stuart and Judith

to find out how it's looking now.

'There are still splashes of colour, but it's a lot fresher in here

'and much more modern.

'Just take a look at the new kitchen.

'Here's Judith to talk us through it.'

There wasn't much left in this kitchen.

It was pretty derelict on one side

so we decided to take it all out.

It was white, and I don't like the white. It's too cold looking.

We wanted something that was a bit warmer.

My daughter had to have black somewhere in the kitchen!

And a bright green colour. So we've renewed it all, really.

And this is what we've come up with.

'What a transformation.

'The whole place certainly feels homely.

'Their son-in-law fitted the kitchen.

'I love the sleek black worktops, and the tiles provide a splash of colour.

'If this property was destined for the rental market or a straight re-sell,

'I would have advised something a touch more neutral, perhaps,

'but it's nice to see the family putting their personality on this project.

'The old bathroom suite has gone

'and it all looks a lot more cheerful.

'It's not just the bathroom that's been done up.

'Remember the en-suite wet room?

'Well, that's had some magic dust sprinkled over it, too.

'And they've installed a cracking new shower unit, as well.

'There's some flooring still to go down,

'but what else is there left to do?'

Odd bits to finish off, really.

The rest will be outside work.

Outside work, yes. Give the house a lick of paint outside, the walls.

And the garden.

'At least they've cut the grass

'and also have plans for the bit of garden at the front.'

Yes, we're going to pave the front

so that there's more vehicle hard core parking

To get it off the street.

It's difficult to drive in to that drive.

The drive's a little bit awkward.

'Nowadays, there are strict planning regulations

'about creating driveways and the materials you can use

'because of the risk of flooding.

'So do check with your local council about your plans.

'Stuart did a lot of the work, with their son-in-law doing the kitchen.

'They brought in contractors for the bigger jobs like the roof.

'They had to replace half of it while repairing the other half.

'This took longer than expected and was more expensive than they'd hoped.

'So what's happened to their budget of 15,000?'

We actually paid 71,000 for it

and we've spent about 16,000.

A third of that was on the roof.

Well, more than a third was on the roof.

'The plan for this property has always been for Judith and Stuart's daughter and her family to move in.

'But it's always good to know if the collective effort

'will be financially rewarded.

'We asked two local property experts

'to come and give us their opinions.'

'They've pretty much done what I hoped they would do.'

They basically ripped it to pieces and redecorated the whole place.

Put in a nice modern bathroom,

a nice kitchen, there's two bathrooms in this property,

a good en-suite off the master - that's always going to be a bonus.

Looks like they've done a good job.

They seem to be pretty thorough in the work that they've done.

They've put good quality kitchens in.

The bathrooms are both good. There's an en-suite.

So I think this property has broad appeal.

'So, a collective pat on the back to everyone involved, then.

'But will there be a profit if they decide to sell on,

'bearing in mind their total spend of £87,000?

I would suggest that the resale value is around £95,000.

However, as a strategy for selling,

I might suggest to the owners that they try at £105,000

in order to have some leeway for negotiation.

This property in its condition today

I would market this property at around 110 to £115,000.

Yes, quite pleased, yes. That's about right, yes.

That seems reasonable, yes.

'The top figure would see them clear a profit of £28,000,

'minus the usual fees and tax, of course.

'That's good to know for the future should they ever want to re-sell.

'But what if they decided to rent it out?'

Rental for this property would be in the region of £500.

A property like this with there being three bedrooms

should achieve £500 per calendar month.

Gosh! That much?!

Jolly good. Crikey!

Perhaps we'll rent it out instead!

'No wonder they're pleased.

'That's almost a seven per cent yield.

'Judith and Stuart bought this for their family.

'But it's good to know that they've got a nice return waiting

'if they ever come to sell or rent in the future.

'But for now, they're just happy to help their granddaughter settle in

with her parents.

I'm looking forward to getting my grandchild into the garden.

Get to growing some vegetables and stuff, and what have you.

Our garden's not really suitable for growing that sort of stuff,

so it will be nice to go and do that.

Join us next time for more Homes Under The Hammer.

We'll see you then. Goodbye! Goodbye!

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