Episode 49 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello. Now, despite difficult market conditions,

people are still keen to get a slice of the property action.

And if you're prepared to take the plunge, auctions can be a great place to start.

Yes, it can be fraught, it can be frantic, but it can also be fun

buying your home under the hammer.

Now, some properties are wildly popular at the auction while others go unsold.

Yes, an auction room can be a tricky place to conquer.

But here are the properties that won the hearts of the buyers on today's show.

'We don't often see houses like this on the programme.

'It's lovely now, but just wait and see when it's brought up to par.'

'In Ashington, Northumberland, we meet a family who turned this two-bedroom terrace

'into a home and garden to be proud of.

'And in North London, this two-bedroom flat

'may not look very promising from the outside,

'but you'll be amazed by the possible £55,000 profit.'

'These properties were all bought at auction.

'We find out who bought them and for how much when they went under the hammer.'

-All done?

-HAMMER BANGS

'I'm in Chestfield, a sought-after village in the Canterbury district of Kent.

'The property I'm here to see sounds like one we don't get very often on Homes Under The Hammer.'

The auction catalogue's description for today's lot

is certainly favourable.

A detached property, it would make a delightful family home

given its superb location.

That all sounds very impressive, and from the outside, wow!

Look at that garden! It's fantastic!

Now, the guide for all of this, £330,000 to £350,000.

# Let the sun shine

'Glittering and dazzling in the afternoon sunshine,

'this is a real gem of a property.'

-# Let the sun shine

-# Let the sun shine, let the sun shine, baby

# Let it all go, let it all go, baby

# Shine, yeah, yeah, oh #

Wow! It's really light and bright.

Ooh, it's got such a nice feeling about it!

You've got this really welcoming, open-plan hallway

leading into this lovely reception room.

You know, you can just see the beautiful garden everywhere you look.

You've got one, two, three, four windows,

a big conservatory, loads of light coming in everywhere.

It's a bit bland once you're in here, though,

because there are not lots of architectural features,

so you're going to have to add a lot to this property,

and I do feel this room in particular doesn't do that outlook justice,

so you're going to have to work hard on that.

But, ooh, I can't wait to look round the rest of the house!

'Hm, not so impressive and seems a little dull

'when you compare it to the large and light lounge.

'I'd be inclined to knock down the wall between the kitchen and the dining area,

'do away with this dated hatch and you'd really brighten the place up.'

-# A little bit brighter

-# Brighter

# In every way

'The utility room that's tacked onto the side is huge.

'Then there's also a garage, which you could think about incorporating into the house

'and making into additional living space.

'Upstairs there are three bedrooms and family bathroom,

'all a tad dated but nothing some TLC wouldn't mend.

'And again, the key here is that it's light and bright throughout.'

# A little bit brighter

-# Brighter

-# In every way

Well, this is the master suite

and I would say it's a little bit disappointing.

Slightly pinched, although it does have its own en suite bathroom.

But the payoff,

that beautiful garden and the golf course.

This house, it's all about the view.

'The house itself is a bit of a letdown

'with proportions inside not living up to the outside.

'The question is, would a simple refurbishment ever do this plot justice?'

-# You and I, it's true

-'I don't think so.'

# Have a beautiful view

'However, if you wanted to do anything major,

'well, this is a case where homework proves key.'

This house sits on an enormous plot and so as an investor,

well, I'm thinking could this be a potential building plot?

Could you sell a bit of this garden off?

Well, unfortunately, that may not be possible.

Taking a look on the council website

and checking past planning applications, I found out the following.

In 2000, a previous owner had a plan rejected for a new-build here.

Then, in 2008, a further application was made.

That was also flatly refused.

The council thought the buildings were unduly prominent

and had a negative impact on the street scene. Oh, dear.

That's not to say the new owner could not reapply.

My advice - have a chat with the council.

Maybe a smaller development would be welcome.

'This country pile was guided at £330,000 to £350,000.

'We invited a local estate agent to view it

'and give us his thoughts on the property and its potential.'

I think I would advise the new owner to come in and redevelop it.

The room sizes aren't really standard today

and they need coming in and getting sizes that are really made

for today's standards.

Around the area, there's been a lot of development and extensions of properties.

The precedent has been set, so to get planning here

I would say wouldn't be easy but could be achievable.

'So if the new owner agreed and got excited about an extension,

'what return might be possible if it was then sold on?'

If you extend this property to six bedrooms with the room sizes that everyone's looking for,

I'd estimate you'd sell the house for £875,000.

This detached property is in a gorgeous village,

it backs onto the golf course, but the fact that it's in a conservation area,

well, it could have a few issues when it comes to making any changes.

For me, it's this wonderful garden that really attracts me to this lot.

Let's find out who fancied this one as we go to auction.

Lot 103, lovely family home, this one.

Start me at 320. I'm obliged. On my right-hand side sitting in the yellow shirt.

325 I've got. 330. And 5.

And 40. And 45. And 50.

350 I've got. 355 is against you.

355 it's with you. 360. 360?

At £355,000 I've got to the gentleman sitting down.

360 I've got. 365, he says yes.

370, I guess it's back with you. 370?

370? For 365 I have it for the first time.

For the second time at 365.

For the third and final time. If you are sure you're all done

-at 365,000...

-HAMMER BANGS

It's yours, sir, at 365.

'The successful bidder, who made that final bid of 365,000, was Nick.

'He owns his own building company which specialises in individual new-build houses

'and large conversions.

'So I'm really excited to find out what his plans are for this place.'

-Nick, congratulations.

-Thank you.

-What an amazing house.

-Thank you.

-It is so light and bright.

Fantastic location. How much did you want to buy this for?

Well, I did make the lady an offer beforehand of £350,000.

-Really?

-But she turned me down. She's done the auction before and she liked that sort of...

Well, she just likes the auction, bought and sold at the auction.

-So basically, you paid £15,000 more.

-Yeah.

-Do you think it was worth it?

-Definitely. I was willing to go to 380, really.

It's a great house, it's in an amazing location.

Yeah, love the area. I've lived here for many, many years and live a minute down the road.

-You don't!

-I do, yeah.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-You've got that amazing golf course over there.

-Yep, great views.

So wait a minute, if you live a minute down the road, what are you doing buying this?

Well, I can do a lot more to this. It's a lot bigger. It's going to be a great family home.

'Nick has bought this for his wife and daughters and hopes that it will be their new dream home.'

So what are you going to do to this house to really turn it around?

-Knock a lot of it down to start with.

-Are you really?

-Yeah.

About 65 percent plus is going to come down.

And are you turning this into a house that you want to live in

and you know how you're going to live and it's going to meet all your needs?

Definitely. Yeah, 100 percent.

'This sounds like an ideal scenario.

'With Nick's expertise, he's going to be able to take what's a bit of a caterpillar of a property

'and turn it into a beautiful butterfly for his family.'

# You my butterfly, sugar, baby

'And it will be so satisfying for him to be able to enjoy the fruits of his labour.

'But how does he plan to make it a place to call home?'

-Are you going to be adding any more square-footage to this house?

-Yes.

-Quite a lot?

-Well, about half as much again as what there is here now.

-Wow. So you're going to be applying for planning permission.

-Yes.

Any chance you might not get that?

Erm, I've spoken to both the neighbours. They're very happy with what's going to go on here.

Erm, we deal a lot with the council anyway through the business,

so we feel that what we put in as plans should pass,

unless we get a stumbling block by someone really not liking it, so fingers crossed.

Big question. What's your budget? How much money are you going to spend on this?

That's going to depend on how much I'm going to do myself

on evenings, weekends, whatever, outside the company.

-But I think I can do it for about £250,000, maybe less.

-Wow.

It all depends on how many favours from the building companies I can pull in.

-That really is going to take it into the next genre, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-So it's going to be quite a special house.

-Yeah.

'With that £250,000 budget,

'Nick's set himself a timescale of four to six months to complete the work.

'He's already had the plans drawn up

'which I can't wait to get my hands on!'

-Oh! These are the plans.

-Yeah.

Let me just see what it's going to look like.

-That is amazing.

-Thank you.

That looks like something out of Dallas.

-Really?

-A big, sprawly, gorgeous, big house.

-Look at all the glass.

-Yeah, there's lots of glass in it,

especially at the back against the garden and the good views.

Wow. Ohh! That is gorgeous!

I love, love, love this whole circular, curvaceous sort of decking area living room.

I mean, that really is just a perfect family living area.

It's just incredible. So we go upstairs.

Bedroom one is huge! And look at that balcony wrapped around the edge!

So do I need to ask whose bedroom that is?

I think it'd be my wife's. THEY LAUGH

And maybe she'll let me in there. THEY LAUGH

It really is incredible. So you've got four bedrooms in total upstairs.

Now, for the size of house, and I know they're all big bedrooms,

I thought this might have been five/six bedrooms.

Any chance of squeezing in any more rooms?

We don't need that space, but if we ever, which I hope we never do, have to sell it,

-then we could always do that.

-Cos that would be more money for you.

-Yeah.

Anything that's worrying you with this?

Only the planning. As long as it gets through planning, then I'm happy.

-Ohh, Nick, good luck. I am so excited.

-Thank you.

This is one of my favourite ones on Homes Under The Hammer.

I'm so excited to see how it's going to turn out.

-Good luck.

-Thank you very much.

-And congratulations.

-Thank you.

Wow! Nick's plans are certainly impressive.

What an incredible family home this will make

if he's successful with the planners.

I wish him well with this. I just hope the fact that it's in a conservation area

doesn't cause him too many issues along the way.

Will he create his dream home?

You can find out later in the programme.

I'm in Ashington in Northumberland,

about 15 miles north of Newcastle.

The area has a strong coalmining history

and it's also the childhood home of soccer legends Bobby and Jackie Charlton.

'Although there are no football heroes to be seen here,

'I'm pretty sure the place I'm here to visit will have something to do with Ashington's mining legacy.

'But I have no time for swanning around on this part of the River Wansbeck.

'It's time to find the auction property I'm seeing today.'

I do love seeing washing hanging up on washing lines,

the most environmentally-friendly way to dry your washing.

I don't know why but I just really love it. And I guess that sums up this little part of where I am.

Old colliery-built brick terraced houses.

This is actually the front. This is a fairly traditional layout in this part of the world

where you've got the front of the property, you've got this little pathway and the gardens are there.

It's a great start. I love the outside straight away.

I love this layout. And the property itself, well, we'll take a look inside.

First of all, the guide price. 49,950 quid.

Why can't they just say 50 grand?

Nice little porch area there.

Wow!

I was not expecting this!

Look at the size of this room!

-HE LAUGHS

-It basically occupies the whole of the downstairs, well, almost.

Great design. I mean, I've seen hundreds of terraced properties

in my time, not one like this.

This works extremely well. You've got stairs up to your bedrooms there.

Downstairs loo and bathroom there, which isn't really ideal.

And then through into a kitchen. I mean, it's all really serviceable.

I'm not seeing anything that scares me particularly.

In fact, far from it.

Just fantastic!

'Hm. Well, apologies for gushing, but it is an impressive and lovely large front room

'with a delightful aspect onto that detached front garden across the pathway.

'This garden is pretty big, which means lots of potential.

'Including the yard at the back, for a small terraced house,

'there's an incredible feeling of space.'

So, can upstairs possibly match the brilliance of downstairs?

Well, let's find out. It is only a two-bedroom terrace,

so you've got one bedroom at the front, back, depends what you call that.

I think that's the front where we came in.

A decent-size bedroom there. So you've got two decent-size bedrooms. It looks in good pretty condition.

Yeah, it's great.

# Everybody get up

'OK, so what it doesn't have is an upstairs bathroom,

'and for many people, as we know, that's a big no-no.

'But would you want to sacrifice this fairly generous bedroom space?

'Also, the downstairs layout works well

'and there's quite a good-quality bathroom.

'But you don't need me to keep going on about how wonderful this is.

'Let's see if a local property expert agrees with me

'that this is a great house, guided at just £49,950.'

First impressions, a standard mid-terrace property

with a unique street which has gardens opposite.

Obviously, there is the shared pathway you have to get across,

but most properties in this area tend to only have a yard.

'Apart from the garden, what else might help raise the resale value here?'

Plus points, it is in good order. It does require some damp-proofing work

and would benefit from a new kitchen, but it has a modern bathroom,

it's double-glazed, central-heated. It would appeal very well to the rental market

and would provide a quick turnaround if you were to put it on for resale.

'The estate agent reckons there's a bit of work to be done,

'but we're both agreed that it's ripe for a quick turnaround.

'However, he may be right about checking out that damp course.

'What could it sell for once spruced up?'

Brought up to a reasonable standard, I would value this property at £65,000.

-'And as a rental?'

-For rental purposes, I would value this property at £425 per calendar month.

Well, this garden really is the icing on the cake

for what is already a really attractive little house.

A good family home, I like the layout,

and that price, well, you can't argue with that.

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

We'll move over to Northumberland and up to Ashington.

Popular location with an attractive front garden.

We've got this available with a price guide of £49,950 plus.

Can I ask for 50,000 anywhere?

50,000 with Sarah. I'm here with £50,000.

52? 51 bid.

51 bid. 52.

52 bid. 53. 53 bid.

54. 54 bid.

55. I'll take 500.

Try again. I'll buy you a pint.

Go on. 54 and a half. He's nodding.

I'll buy you a gin and tonic. 55.

This is expensive for me. 55.

I'm here and selling at 55,000.

It's your last chance. I'm selling at 55.

Gentleman sitting down without a pint at 55 and a half.

56. No?

55 and a half sitting down. Are you out, as well, on the back?

It's the gentleman sitting down at 55 and a half.

No? Are you out? Are you out?

I'm here and I'm selling at £55,500.

I'm selling once at 55 and a half.

For the second time at £55,500.

-HAMMER BANGS

-Sold, gentleman sitting down, at £55,500.

'The spacious two-bed terrace was sold to Martin for £55,500.

'He owns his own building and civil engineering business.

'Martin and his wife Sarah own seven other properties,

'so they do have some experience of developing.'

-Sarah, Martin, great to see you both.

-Hi.

-Hi.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

-I love this place, actually.

-Aw, thank you.

-You obviously do cos you've bought it.

-Yes!

Tell me why you bought it.

We wanted to go into the investment property market

and we've already got two properties that we rent out for holiday lets

and this is our first foray into buy-to-let.

-Right.

-So we bought this along with two other properties at separate auctions.

-Bit of a spending spree.

-Yeah.

-Mm.

With all that in mind, why this house, then?

Well, we went round the agents, or I did,

and kind of found out which areas were the best,

erm, and so we started there.

And then I just kept driving by to see which ones took our fancy

and this one, as soon as we walked through the door,

it just had that feel. I like the aspect,

erm, the garden,

and the people we've met here just seem really nice.

-But we just love the feel when we walk through.

-I think it's a better part of town.

It's not too far away from the centre but it's far enough away

and you've got the open aspect and a nice garden.

The schools are nearby, which is always a good thing.

-Right.

-We want to kind of hit the ground running.

'Hit the ground running indeed.

'With this place to renovate and a trip to Hong Kong coming up,

'the schedule is, shall we say, pretty tight.'

-We're planning on having it done for next week.

-Next week?

-He's going to get all the major work done, yeah.

-As much as possible.

Can you spare time for the interview? I think you need to be off!

-We'll leave somebody painting it while we're away.

-This room is the one...

-He'll do all the hard work, all the grafting.

-Right.

Martin being in building, we've had a look round

-and unless there's something lurking... We haven't tested the gas.

-Under the floorboards.

We know it's got damp

but, yeah, it's pretty cosmetic and we want to kind of hit the market in a month.

-What's the budget?

-Well, there's £5,000 but, to be fair,

there's some contingencies in there, as well, because I don't think we'll get anywhere near that.

But as Sarah said, we've got another two, as well,

and there's one that will probably be over-budget, but this one I'd expect to be below three.

'Martin and Sarah have bought these properties to add to their portfolio,

'but have earmarked this particular house as a possible home.'

But this one is also eventually going to be for our son.

-Right.

-We're building our portfolio so we can pass it on to them and this one will be James's,

who's in his 20s now but he has a learning disability,

so eventually, when he's ready, he can come here.

-It's got a nice feel to it.

-It has, yeah.

-And it's got a good community.

-Mm.

Where we live at the moment, we kind of...

We built our house and then added an extension

and James has got his own self-contained accommodation.

The problem is, we're a mile away from our nearest neighbours,

we're not on a really good bus route,

and the whole intention with James is to make him independent.

Here it's not far from Newcastle,

you're on great train and bus links

and you can just walk into town, which is ideal.

So at the moment, if he wants to go shopping,

he has to rely on other people. So this would just be perfect for him.

'They're keen to see that their son's future is secure

'for a very particular reason.'

I was diagnosed with secondary cancer, so it was kind of...

We've had to kind of put everything into place quickly.

You just have to get on with it. I'm fine. I feel really good.

We're doing lots of things. These properties, I've retired now,

so the properties are going to keep us going and busy.

And Martin's set up his own business,

erm, so we've kind of gone from there, haven't we?

So how are you with everything that's going on in the bigger picture of your lives, Martin?

It's certainly a big change to the lifestyle, you know,

but as Sarah said, I think the most positive... not positive, but the most meaningful thing is

you've got to stay positive, and the diagnosis isn't good,

but, you know, you've just got to work together as a team

and try and fight through it.

My kids keep me going and I like to be busy,

so I'm not working, so this is going to keep me really busy, these three properties.

-Well, listen, I do wish you good health.

-Thank you.

-And good luck with everything.

-Thank you.

-Can't wait to see how you get on.

-Thank you very much.

Well, this is clearly so much more than just a purchase of a house

for Sarah and Martin.

So many positives in some very difficult circumstances.

How are they going to get on? Will they get it sorted in just ten days?

You can find out later in the show.

'Still to come, this North London flat fails to impress me.'

Straight away, the floor feels a bit strange.

'In Ashington, Northumberland, Martin and Sarah discovered

'their renovation had added benefits.'

Certainly from a family point of view, it allowed us to spend more time together.

'But first, Nick's plans for his dream home have come true.'

Basically, the whole house that we had here before has come down.

'Back now to Chestfield near Whitstable in Kent

'where earlier in the programme Nick, who lives less than a minute away,

'bought this large four-bed detached property for £365,000.

'It had a big garden overlooking the golf course.

'Nick has his own building company which specialises in new builds.

'He planned to move his family in here after he'd made some significant changes.'

-Is this your dream house?

-I hope so.

-So what are you going to do to this house to really turn it around?

-Knock a lot of it down to start with.

-Are you really?

-Yeah.

About 65 percent plus is going to come down.

Are you going to be adding any more square-footage to this house?

-About half as much again as what there is here now.

-Wow.

-So you're going to be applying for planning permission.

-Yes.

How much money are you going to spend on this?

That's going to depend on how much I'm going to do myself. But I think I can do it for about £250,000,

maybe less. It literally all depends on how many favours from the building companies I can pull in.

'I thought Nick's ambitious plans looked absolutely wonderful.'

Ohh! That is gorgeous!

'I was rather excited about those plans. Can you tell?'

Love, love, love.

'Then there was the small question of getting planning permission.

'However, Nick hoped to have the property extended and transformed in about four to six months.

'20 months later and we're back.

'It looks as though Nick has been very busy.

'The old house has gone and, boy, I was impressed with the plans,

'but this? Well, it's just fantastic! I want one!

'The curves are just wonderful.

'The change is astonishing.

'Never mind the £365,000 price tag,

'this looks like a million dollars.'

# Then I'm gone, then I'm gone

# Then I'm gone

# Then I'm gone, then I'm gone

# Then I'm gone, then I'm gone

'Upstairs there are four big double bedrooms.

'Two with en suites.

'The other two bedrooms can both access a central bathroom

'due to its Jack and Jill design.

'The finish throughout is of the highest level.

'It's good to see that the large garden area has been made use of.

'It looks as though it'll soon be up to the standard set by the interior.'

In this area, we have a kitchen, which we tried to do the curve

as much as possible to match, mirror what we have in the rest of the house.

We have a dining area here. And then round the corner,

we have a little sitting area for the younger kids

to watch a bit of TV while Mum's still cooking.

And then round this area, if you come through here,

we go through to the lounge

and then in the lounge we have these curved doors

which we built to mirror everything else that we've done in the house with the curves.

And with the golf course and the balcony upstairs, it just gives that a great view.

We love the curves. Very hard to build but look great when it's finished.

'Oh, it does. This is one of those grand architectural gems

'where you really can see where the money has been spent

'and the impact it's achieved.'

Basically, the whole house that we had here before has come down.

I wanted to save some of it, but the size of the house

didn't really fill the land as much as it should

and to do a lot of alterations to what was here

would've cost me more money, more time

and just wouldn't have got that sort of look

of the house that I was looking for, really.

'Getting planning permission took about five months

'and the build about 18 months. How much of the work was down to Nick?'

Quite a bit. I done most. Me and one of my best friends did

probably 90 percent of the build ourselves, evenings, weekends,

holidays, so quite a long time for the last 18 months.

'There's no stopping Nick. As well as doing this and his day job,

'he and a friend trained three nights a week for a cycle ride in aid of a cancer charity

'from Land's End to Whitstable.

'They did it in under 24 hours. Well done!'

Very tough. Very tiring. It's now time to get finished,

the last little bits, and then start to relax and enjoy what we've got.

'The curved design brings so much light into the house,

'but individually-designed windows can be tricky.'

It's quite hard to build a house with a lot of glass.

Anything that's curved and a special order takes so long to get.

The curved doors, they come from Germany, they take four months, five months,

the curved staircase. It does take a lot longer than a normal build.

'What effect did that have on the budget?

'Nick had expected to spend around £250,000.'

Yeah, not far off that. 250, 260, with all the costs and all that.

So it's been pretty good.

'Added to the £365,000 he paid for it,

'that £260,000 spend

'brings his total to £625,000.

'Are two local estate agents as impressed as me?'

First impressions, light, bright, very spacious,

well thought-out throughout, and being unique, it's a one-off.

I wasn't expecting to see such a modern, bright property

that offers so much potential for any buyer of this property.

Positioned very well on the plot, maximises it.

Accommodation is exceptionally spacious.

The layout of the lounge, when you're looking out onto the gardens.

The master bedroom, the lounge, the way the property flows,

there's nothing I would change.

'They seem to like it, but what valuations will they put on the property?

'More than the £625,000 Nick's invested?'

The property, in my opinion, is worth in the region of £1 million.

If I was to put this on the market today, I would recommend offers in excess of £1 million.

'They agree! Which means a potential gross profit

'of £375,000 before tax and expenses.'

I've already had an offer over a million,

so I gathered that's what sort of cost it'd be worth

when it's completely finished so, yeah, that sounds really good.

'Well, I said earlier that this house looked like a million dollars,

'but a million pounds is even better!

'Surely Nick won't want to sell, so what are his plans?'

We're going to love living here for a while. The kids love it, the wife loves it,

so yeah, we'll just enjoy ourselves here for a while.

# Come on you

# Spurs are on their way to Wembley

'Well, whether they're on their way to Wembley is one for the pub,

'but I'm certainly game for a visit to Tottenham,

'the North London home ground of Tottenham Hotspur.'

Well, one of the golden rules of property developing

is to buy in an area which is either undergoing regeneration or scheduled for it,

and that's certainly a case in point here in Tottenham

where not only are they talking about building a new stadium for Spurs

but lots of shops, offices, restaurants and the like.

So that's got to be good news if you're thinking about buying property here.

# We are the boys of Keithie's army

'Being near a football ground isn't for everybody.

'There's busy traffic on match days and noise.

'But if you're a Spurs fan, then it's a match made in heaven.'

So, what am I here to see?

Well, it's a two-bedroom first-floor flat

in this three-storey end-of-terrace.

It doesn't look that attractive from the outside

but the guide price was £125,000.

Let's give it a chance.

'I've said this building wasn't attractive and that's because

'this was once a row of shops with flats above.

'However, it's not just the boxy building that's off-putting.

'The communal areas also need some TLC.

'As this is a leasehold flat,

'that means it's down to the freeholder to make any improvements.'

Hm. Let's hope the flat itself is a little bit more inviting.

Erm, so, through the front door, you've got your bedroom there

and then through into here, which is your front lounge.

Now, lots of light coming in from those two windows

and nice high ceilings, so it's good.

But straight away, the floor feels a bit strange

and whether that's just badly-fitted laminate or not, I don't know.

It needs a bit more investigation. As does the rest of the flat.

# Spirals out of sight

# The carpet crawlers

'Even if there is no issue with the underlying floorboards,

'I would still favour replacing this laminate

'with carpet or better quality floor covering.'

That bit of the flat we can live with,

but it starts to get a bit weird when you come down this end

cos you've got these stairs, very shallow and very wide,

and it sort of sets the scene for it all going a bit wrong.

Bathroom here, separate loo and bathroom there.

Kind of dark and dingy, a bit like this corridor. The kitchen is really pokey,

but then at the end there, you've got your bedroom.

So I'm just wondering what you can do with this central area,

because this bit is really letting the flat down for me.

'You could do a rejig here, maybe creating an open-plan living room and kitchen.

'You could also make the currently rather pokey little kitchen

'into a bathroom, but that could be expensive.

'So, time for a second opinion.

'What would a local estate agent advise a new owner to do

'with the inside of this two-bedroom Tottenham flat?'

The two bedrooms are good sizes. They can take double beds.

Yeah, not bad. I wouldn't change the layout. I'd live with it as it is.

'So what would he recommend?'

The outside needs to be sorted out.

You know, it could do with a bit of painting

and that would attract people to come in.

Because when you come in, you don't need to do much,

just do the flooring, nice kitchen,

bathroom and toilet needs a bit of attention, as well, but it's quite a good property.

'Would this be easy to let and what rate could it achieve?'

We could achieve between £1,100 per calendar month

to £1,200 per calendar month quite easily.

It would rent within a week or two. There's a lot of demand, you know?

Because banks are not really lending,

so there's a lot of demand for rentals,

so demand is outstripping supply as we speak,

so there'll be a long queue.

'And if the flat was done up to sell on?'

We could sell it for between £160,000 to £170,000.

Well, if you're a Spurs fan, this place is a no-brainer.

But for anybody else, you might be a bit put off by the slightly shabby exterior

and the communal areas, and the flat itself, not an ideal thing in terms of layout.

But with all the regeneration planned for round here,

I think still there could be some money to be made from this one.

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

A two-bed first-floor flat, Tottenham, good area to invest in.

Start, er, 130, then?

Not going to go below 130. It's cheap at 130.

130 standing up. 130. Got you. 130.

131 anywhere?

Yes, 131 on my left. 131.

132. 133.

134. 135.

136.

137.

137.

138.

139. Have a think.

138, back to you.

139, new spot.

'There was interest in the property and the bidding steadily increased.'

145.

145 with you. 146 elsewhere?

145, first time. Second time.

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

-HAMMER BANGS

-Sold, 145.

'That final £145,000 bid for the two-bedroom flat

'came from Hertfordshire-based David.

'He's a property developer. But is he also a football fan?

'I met him at the flat to find out more.'

-David, good to meet you.

-Hi.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

-Are you a Spurs fan?

-Er, yes.

-You are?

-I would say I am, yes.

Was that one of the reasons why you wanted to buy it?

Er, no, no, no. I've got a small portfolio of houses,

so flats are usually cheaper and easy to maintain,

so I wanted a flat, this one came up at auction, I decided to buy it.

Great. And is it then to do up and rent out or sell on or what?

Yes. It's to rent out.

So it's going to be a small refurbishment and I aim to let it out straight away.

-You know what you're doing. Have you always been a property developer?

-It's something I wanted to get into,

but when I left university, I had student loans and debts

so I had to get a job. I became a software engineer

and was made redundant in 2010.

-Er, best thing that ever happened to me.

-Right.

Cos it gave me the time and the opportunity

to do what it is I always wanted to do, which was be my own boss

-and work with property.

-And it's worked well.

-Yeah, definitely.

-Great.

And I've got to ask you about the thing in your tooth.

# Shine bright like a diamond

What is that all about? That's amazing!

Yeah, it's a diamond. My wife has one, as well.

So it was a present she gave me, I gave her one.

So we always have a diamond smile.

Oh, fantastic. With a glint. Perfect.

'Well, I had to ask, didn't I?

'Let's hope this flat is a gem of an investment for David.

'It's actually his third property project, and like the last two,

'he has opted to buy in the North London area because he grew up here.'

What was it about this flat that you particularly liked?

Er, I love the proportions. Good size.

Erm, good layout, as well.

Erm, so it seems to work quite nicely.

OK. What are your plans for it?

The floors seem a bit uneven. So we're going to start with that first.

The ceiling, I think that's Artexed, so we'll change all the ceilings, as well.

There seems to be a historical water ingress. So we'll take a look at that.

The only thing I don't like is the bathroom and kitchen. The bathroom's quite small.

The kitchen is also quite small. So we're going to merge the toilet and bathroom together

and then swap the kitchen and bathroom around to make one large kitchen in the centre of the flat.

-Oh, right!

-Yeah. So where the kitchen is now, the bathroom will be with the toilet.

And then where the bathroom is now, the kitchen will be.

-Oh, OK.

-So sort of create a central entertainment hub

-where people can meet, socialise, have a coffee.

-That's a nice idea.

-Yeah, yeah.

'Of course, David is aware that he'll need to get permission

'from the freeholder before he makes any of these major layout changes.

'Whilst he's at it, is there anything else he wants to do with that entranceway?'

Yeah, it's a communal area, so it's not an area that I'm allowed to really just go ahead and renovate,

again, without permission or without consulting the freeholder.

OK. And the building itself, on the outside,

a little bit shoddy. Is there anything you can do about that?

Again, yeah, it's really down to the freeholder.

I am in talks with him already with this flat,

so hopefully I can talk to him about the communal areas and the area outside

-and come to some sort of agreement to make it a bit better.

-Oh, great.

So, what's the sort of budget you've got for doing what you're doing?

Well, I'm not too sure about the floors,

I don't know whether it's the badly-fitted laminate

or there's actually a more serious underlying problem.

-Depending on that, I'm looking at £10,000 maximum.

-OK. And what kind of timescale?

-Seven to eight weeks, eight weeks maximum.

-Oh, wow!

-And then into the rental market.

-Yes, yes.

So then rent it out and off you go.

-Is the plan then to carry on building the portfolio?

-Yes, yes.

For now, we want to create a lot of buy-to-lets,

just to create a strong foundation.

And then we can get into more buy-and-sells,

-maybe some new builds, things like that.

-Good stuff.

-Well, congratulations. Good luck with it.

-Thank you very much.

-I look forward to seeing how you get on.

So, will this turn out to be a diamond investment for David?

Well, the flat itself I think we can work with.

However, that communal area could be a bit of a sticking point

in terms of getting the right kind of tenant in here.

You can find out, though, how he gets on later in the show.

So when you've bought your property, be prepared for some hard work

and some surprises along the way. Some welcome, some not so much.

So have our buyers uncovered hidden treasures

or unearthed hidden problems?

Let's go back and find out.

'We're back in Ashington, Northumberland,

'the hometown of footballing heroes the Charlton brothers.

'Martin and Sarah bought this two-bedroom property to add to their small portfolio.

'Although it was going to be let in the shorter term, the plan was that

'this would eventually become the ideal home for their son, James.'

But this one is also eventually going to be for our son...

-Right.

-..who's in his 20s now but he has a learning disability.

-OK.

-So eventually, when he's ready, he can come here because it's got a nice feel to it.

-Yes, it has.

'However, Sarah and builder Martin had given themselves a rather ambitious schedule.'

We're planning on having it done for next week.

-Next week?

-We know it's got damp.

-Yeah.

But, yeah, it doesn't need... It's pretty cosmetic and we want to hit the market in a month.

'That is one of the shortest timeframes ever on this programme.

'But we caught up with them a month later.'

'They might have thought there wasn't much to do,

'but the living area required complete new plastering, thanks to some dated damp-proofing.

'It's just amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do for a house.

'The upstairs bedrooms somehow seem more spacious.

'As you can tell, Martin didn't mind the original colour scheme.'

The colours that were on when we first came through,

you know, it was a very, very nice property, primarily,

but what we've done is just lighten it up, painted the ceilings white, put a cream on the walls,

and just lifted the whole property, really, you know?

'He had to work through quite a to-do list.'

New stair carpet,

redecorated the sills and lintels,

given it a nice airy feel. So we're very pleased with it.

'This investment will undoubtedly secure James's future,

'but it has also provided a focus for Sarah in the face of her serious illness.'

This project, certainly from Sarah's point of view,

it's kept her quite busy looking at different agents to find out what's out there at the moment,

what's the best deals for us, by way of putting them on to rent.

So I think certainly from a family point of view, it's allowed us to spend more time together

and, you know, not get to know each other more,

but certainly, you know, spend more time as a family

and, you know, it's been very, very pleasant.

'Outdoors, things also seem very pleasant indeed,

'with some transformation taking place in the garden.

'The couple's son, James, has been showing off his green fingers.'

# From father to son

James has been down on a number of occasions with friends of the family

and James's friends and his carers

and, you know, they've certainly done a lot of work in the garden.

Primarily it's cutting back the plants and such that have been there.

Done the borders, you know, cut the grass.

And they've put some new gravel down on the walkway or the footpath itself,

where it was a combination of concrete and red gravel, they've tidied that up.

And, again, that was given to us by some of our friends.

It's a beautiful material that they've used.

No, he loves the garden, to be fair. We've had very good weather recently for them to do it, as well.

He is very much a gardening person,

he likes the outside and he loves it. So, yeah, it's been really good for him.

'So, what are James's plans for the garden?'

I might put maybe some more flowers in here to make it smell a bit nicer

and maybe more petunias.

I don't have any favourites. I like all flowers.

'How about a vegetable patch?'

Yeah, I'm going to have a nice big one.

I might have some chillies,

watermelons,

honey melons,

er, strawberries, raspberries, bananas.

'Bananas? On a sunny day like this, anything's possible.

'But there must be some jobs James isn't looking forward to.'

Sometimes cutting the grass. I don't think anyone likes cutting the grass, like.

'Ha! Can't argue with that. So, how much do Martin and Sarah

'have left over from their initial £5,000 budget?'

Budget-wise, we had £5,000,

which contained some contingencies.

The actual cost is just less than two,

and the programme was ten days overall, ten working days that it took us.

'Another thing Martin was grateful for some help with was the paperwork.

'Their solicitor came in handy when it came to sorting out some issues with damp.'

I think the biggest saving was the damp company doing the works

rather than us having to undertake it. That was quite a big saving for us.

When we purchased the property, within the deeds

the solicitor advised that there was a guarantee for the damp

which had been done at some point previously.

I actually took it upon myself to contact the company.

What we agreed was that I would hack the old plaster off

and they would come up and reapply the damp-proof membrane

and replaster the walls free of charge, which obviously was a good saving for us.

'The £55,500 that Martin and Sarah paid for this house at auction,

'plus around £2,000 on renovations,

'means that they've spent around £57,000 here.

'Time to hear what two local estate agents think of the changes.'

I think this property has been sympathetically modernised

to an exceptional standard with light decor

that would be appealing to new buyers.

I think they've done an excellent job.

It's much more inviting than the last time we saw it.

The decoration that they've done makes it much cleaner, brighter and airier.

It actually makes the place look larger.

And I think now it would appeal to single people, couples or smaller families

or even those downsizing from a larger property.

There's a good-size garden with a nice seating area.

The kitchen is decorated to a nice standard,

which wouldn't require much further work to it.

The yard at the back is neat and tidy.

And the bathroom is also of a good standard.

'They seem impressed. As Sarah and Martin are looking to rent the house out,

'how much do they reckon it could get on the rental market?'

The rental market in this area is very buoyant.

I'm sure they'll get a tenant very soon for it

and I'd expect them to get approximately £400 per calendar month.

This property has recently rented for £425 per calendar month

and we'd expect to achieve the same after the sale of the property.

We've checked a few different agents

and that's the sort of figures we have, from 400 to 450.

So we've... 425 is about the right price.

'With a projected rental of £425 per month,

'that gives Sarah and Martin a healthy yield of nine percent.

'With the alterations Martin and family have made to the inside and outside,

'how much could the house be worth if sold on?'

Well, they've done it to a very good standard and this property does have a garden.

I'd value the property between £65,000 and £70,000.

We would look to market the property at around £70,000,

to achieve £65,000 to £70,000.

'That valuation range of £65,000 to £70,000

'means Sarah and Martin could be looking at a profit of between £7,500 and £12,500

'before tax and expenses. What do they think of those figures?'

A lot of hard work has gone in,

but, yeah, I think that's about the right price.

-Do you?

-Yeah, it sounds interesting.

'Back now to North London.

'Property developer and Spurs fan David

'bagged a winner with this £145,000 two-bedroom first-floor flat.

'And this property isn't the only name on David's team sheet.'

I've got a small portfolio of houses,

so flats are usually cheaper and easier to maintain,

so I wanted a flat, this one came up at the auction, I decided to buy it.

Great. And is it then to do up and rent out or sell on or what?

Yeah, it's to rent out.

So it's going to be a small refurbishment and then to let it out straight away.

'So with his maximum budget of £10,000 for renovations,

'let's see if David managed to get this flat off the bench

'or if he needs extra time to finish the job.

'Well, there certainly have been some improvements.

'The kitchen's a lot brighter and seems more spacious now.

'That could be because the fridge and freezer

'are being played out of position.

'David has made very clever use of some awkward space.'

Everything was built around the fridge, really.

So we started with the fridge and freezer here

and had to work around those dimensions.

We created cubby holes on the side.

It was also important to create this wine rack area

above the fridge just to hold drinks.

And then more storage space above also,

to keep things like the router and pictures.

My carpenter did the work and I'm really pleased with it.

'Luckily there were no issues with the floor under the old laminate,

'so David has replaced it.'

The old laminate flooring was really badly fitted.

So once we removed all of that,

there was another sub-floor which was level.

Most of the kinks in the floor were sorted out with underlay and carpet.

And it levelled the floor out nicely.

'He's managed his squad well.'

I've played the role of project manager.

So finding the contractor, working with the builder,

I've also sourced all the materials,

purchase the materials, delivered all the materials, as well,

done a little bit of the painting.

But everything else has been done by contractors.

So major role was project management.

'He thought that the project should take six weeks,

'but was adamant about an eight-week maximum. How did that go?'

I had to wait for the builder to come back from holiday.

Erm, then he worked and hurt his back here during the project,

so we had to wait for him to get some treatment also.

So it was going to be initially six weeks

but it ran to eight weeks including... I had to build the furniture, as well.

So, in total, eight weeks.

'Well done, David! He also had very ambitious plans for changing the layout of the flat

'but clearly changed his mind. Why was that?'

My initial idea was to swap the kitchen around

with the bathroom and toilet, just to create a larger kitchen.

Kitchens are, sort of, the most popular room.

However, when we tried to pursue that avenue,

we were asked to provide a lot more structural information

and also to make a lot more structural changes,

including tanking of the bathroom, the new bathroom.

So in terms of project timescales and budget,

it was going to take too long and it was going to cost too much.

So I decided to stick with the original layout

and just renovate.

'David's scheduling seems to be fine,

'but was he as sharp on his spend as he was on his timescale?'

The budget came in at the end at £9,500.

Erm, it was supposed to be £8,000.

But we decided to spend a little bit more in the kitchen

and on the furniture, as well, for the new tenants.

So that made the budget creep up a little bit, plus the unit under the stairs.

I'm really happy with the amount of space I've been able to create.

'David always struck me as someone who had this property lark sussed.

'So, will two local estate agents

'think he's done all the right things?'

As I've looked around the flat,

it's to a very high standard, it looks very approachable.

I think what works well is the actual finish,

especially in the kitchen.

And the size is absolutely fantastic, got two double bedrooms,

and the lounge is actually of a great size.

I like the way the carpet contrasts with the walls,

the decorations.

I think anyone that moves in here would love it and I find that it would be easily rented.

'The flat is very nice. However, as we all know,

'first impressions do matter, and that should be addressed.'

I would actually recommend improving the communal area

to bring it to a certain level to match the actual condition of the flat.

Cos that might put people off, but you won't know until you bring the clients in.

I would recommend that the outside be painted.

The communal areas aren't the best, no.

But I don't feel like it would be a problem for the flat as the flat itself is done to a high standard.

'David bought the two-bedroom flat for £145,000

'and spent just under £10,000 renovating it,

'bringing his total outlay to £155,000.

'How much could it fetch if sold?'

I feel that this flat could resell for a top end of £210,000.

I feel this flat could resell at a price of £205,000.

'That top valuation of £210,000

'would mean a profit of £55,000,

'before the usual tax and expenses.

'After just eight weeks, does that meet his expectations?'

It's always good to know you've got money in the property should you want to sell it.

I worked towards a much lower figure than that.

So anything more than that is a welcome bonus.

'As this is an area undergoing regeneration, holding onto this property could be a smart move.

'But having heard those valuations, is David tempted to sell now?'

Yeah, I think I will be tempted to sell.

The area is coming up, so I think the value will rise even further.

But if I received an offer for around that figure now, maybe.

'David already has a tenant, so is he getting anything like these estimates?'

This flat could rent at up to £1,300 to £1,350 per calendar month.

This flat would rent, in the current condition, for £1,150 per calendar month.

Well, I worked towards a figure of £1,100,

so that sounds about right.

Erm, I'm actually renting the place for £1,450.

So, again, very happy.

'With an 11 percent yield on that rent, he's got every right to be happy.

'I'd say that David has certainly scored with this Tottenham flat.'

Not enough for you? Well, we'll have plenty more where they came from next time.

-So join us for more Homes Under The Hammer and we'll see you then.

-Goodbye.

-Goodbye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd