Episode 55 Homes Under the Hammer

Despite all the doom and gloom in the news, the property market can still be a good place to invest.

-But it's important to be very cautious and do your homework.

-Yes.

And one way you can potentially benefit is buy your home under the hammer.

If you're looking for variety and good value, an auction house may be the place just for you.

And here are the properties that lured our buyers to the auctions on today's show.

Roll up, roll up. There's a house near the sea in Devon with a guide price of just 70,000 quid.

Find out who snapped it up at auction.

Whereas in Derbyshire, this house shows signs of a colourful past,

but the guide price of £54,000 proved very tempting.

And in Streatham, London, I have only one thing to say about this two-bed flat.

Now this is fantastic!

All these properties have been sold at auction and we'll find out who bought them

-when they went under the hammer.

-Sold!

This is Paignton in Devon,

an absolutely beautiful seaside resort on the so-called English Riviera.

It's been a popular holiday spot since Victorian times and I used to come here on my holidays

as a child. It's gorgeous. A fantastic place to live, which is why I'm excited about today's lot.

Childhood holiday destinations often hold a special place in your heart.

Paignton has many wonderful memories for me - paddling in the sea, eating ice cream

and wandering round the harbour.

Fast forward...hmm...years and it's no longer just the sea that I've come to visit.

I know we don't get sunshine all the time in Britain,

but the property I'm here to see would brighten anyone's day. It's this fantastic canary yellow colour.

More than that, it's this end of terrace, three-bed, guided at £70,000. Almost too good to be true,

especially when similar houses in this street sold for a lot more.

'In fact, a nearby house on this pleasant street sold fairly recently for £140,000.

'So that £70,000 guide price sounds too good to be true. Am I about to find out why?'

Straight through the front door and stairs are wonky,

there's cracks in the ceiling and in the wall there. And...

the moment you come into any of the rooms, you notice something I didn't notice from outside.

Things do not seem to be at all right with this place.

The walls are, seemingly, quite slopey. You can see angles of window frames.

Yes. Oh, my word. As you come over to this side, to the rear living room,

the floor - better not do that too much - sinks considerably.

This isn't looking... good at all.

Through into the kitchen and again doorframes all over the place.

Oh, my word.

I'm slightly lost for words here. This is...

one of the worst cases of, um, well,

the word begins with an S and ends with "ubsidence".

We are talking about serious structural issues. At the back,

this pebble dash effect has been either taken off or has fallen off, to reveal bricks with cracks.

Over this side, such pressure on the property that the bricks themselves have cracked.

I spelt it out, but let me make it perfectly clear. This place...is subsiding.

Badly.

All those structural problems do explain that low guide price of 70,000.

Anyone taking this on would be wise to get a full structural survey

and be prepared to spend a bit on underpinning, unless they want to own a pricey pile of dust.

This terrible terrace may just be more trouble than it's worth.

# Trouble, trouble

# Trouble, trouble, trouble... #

It definitely makes you feel a bit queasy when you look at all the odd angles.

The wavy floors don't help and that end wall is wonky.

It's not just the subsidence. It's, well...everything!

The renovation here will require building expertise and cash and lots of it.

This is no project for a plucky amateur.

So, upstairs what do we find? Much of the same.

Three bedrooms - a small room there, a double at the front and a fair-sized double at the back.

You've got a family-sized bathroom. That's good. As you might expect,

the rooms are the same in terms of problems - cracks, uneven floors, a bit of a nightmare,

but let's try and be logical about this. Every house, no matter what state it's in,

has some kind of a value. Get it at the right price and you'll still have a reasonable investment.

However, that's great for rental, but when it comes to reselling it, you've got a few problems.

Number one, stigma. No matter what you do, people will be thinking this was a house with subsidence.

Number two, insurance. The rates will go up the moment you declare it has had problems.

Number three, mortgage. Mortgage companies are very fussy about this.

Ask yourself - if somebody has the option of buying a house which hadn't had these historical issues

versus this place which has, which one would you buy? Depending on the price.

'It might be that you wouldn't take this on at any price. You'd have to go in with your eyes open.

'In fact, I reckon that £70,000 guide price may end up being far from a bargain.'

# Trouble, trouble, trouble... #

We asked a local estate agent for her opinion on the place.

First impressions of the property,

it's pretty looking from outside, with some work doing. All the others look pretty lovely.

Ideal for a little family home.

'In its current configuration and once all the remedial work has been finished,

-'how much could this property be worth?'

-Based on what we know about it,

the value's about £70,000, £80,000.

Re-sale, once all the work's been done and it's been finished,

probably you'd be looking at something in the region of £135,000.

'And as a rental?'

I think as a rental it would achieve something in the region of £650 per calendar month.

Well, a property like this comes with a whole heap of what ifs.

"What if the problem's worse than I thought? What if I can't get insured?"

Still, if you're prepared and aware, it could still be a good one to go for. Let's go to the auction.

A guide of £70,000 to start.

60,000 to go. 60 now.

60 here. 60,000.

And one more, can we say? 61 now.

61. And two.

62,000. 63?

Yeah. 63. Four? Four.

65? It's here at 64. Looking for 65 now.

Are you sure you're all done at £64,000. Seems very cheap for a three-bed house.

At £64,000.

OK, I'm going to move on from there. Turn the page, very close.

'So the lot failed to reach its reserve price and was withdrawn, but a deal was done afterwards

'for £71,000.

'The brave purchasers are Darren on the left and his friend Adam.

'Adam was going to buy a high-end sports car, but decided to invest in property with his friend instead.

'The good news is that Darren is a quantity surveyor,

'so this troublesome terrace is no doubt part of a well-planned project. Right?'

Adam, Darren, great to meet you both. Congratulations.

-So it didn't sell at the auction. What happened after that?

-We had a beer and a chat.

-10 minutes later it was ours.

-So you didn't intend to buy anything at the auction?

No, just going down for a bit of a recce to see what it was like,

-with a view to jumping in at some stage down the line, but not as quick as we did.

-No.

Buying blind is potentially not the best way to go, but...

we actually went off and during our five minutes of research...

-The pint drinking?

-Yeah, pretty much.

One sold down the road for £140,000 in April.

And it can't cost £70,000 to get this straight, unless something's gone horrible wrong,

so we thought if we get it for £70,000, it'll probably cost £40,000 to get it up and running.

There's a little bit of profit in it. If it was a few hundred grand, we wouldn't touch it,

-but £35,000 each is not a lot in respect of...

-Well...

-..going completely pear-shaped.

That's the way I look at it. That's how I sold it to him over a pint.

You enjoy this. You're loving this.

-I love a little bit of a gamble.

-You're not fazed at all. You quite like taking a real flyer with this.

-Yeah, it's not going to make...

-He's bad news!

-I know!

-YOU are a quantity surveyor!

You're professionally trained!

# Best friends at my back

# Best friends... #

'Well, with friends like these... But joking apart, the lads do know they've got a lot on their hands

'and have taken on a really uphill task to make this place saleable.

'They've commissioned an engineer to survey it and plans have been put in place for underpinning work.'

Having been round, what have you discovered? And what's the plan?

We've had the structural guy confirm that it suffers from subsidence.

They didn't need to confirm it, did they? You see it as you drive up!

-But he said it could have been the drains.

-You're nearly in the next-door neighbour's garden!

So the main thing is getting the underpinning sorted out.

Once we're through that, it should be relatively straightforward.

'Hm, but there can still be no underestimating the job here.

'It's not just structural work. Everything needs to be done. They've got a budget of £40,000

'and a timescale of just four months. Good luck with that!'

Has there been a time where you've thought, "What have we done?"

There's been moments when we've thought, "Crikey, there's a lot to do," but we've bought it now.

If we'd borrowed hundreds of thousands, I'd be worried. And we would have looked at it.

I don't think it'll be a massive... There might be a little bit of hassle, no doubt,

-but I don't think...

-I'll remind you of that.

-I don't think it'll be that bad.

Good. Great to meet you both. I wish you all the very best.

Well, what can I say?

That certainly was a surreal and expensive day out for Darren and Adam.

"Whoops! We've bought a house that's heading for the neighbour's garden."

Joking aside, there's lots to sort out, but you never know. And it will be an experience

for this property-purchasing duo? Find out how they get on later in the show.

I'm in Ripley in the Amber Valley area of Derbyshire.

It's a traditional spot which has retained much of its local character,

but it's also becoming a mecca for trendy tourists and those wanting an active nightlife.

# I love the nightlife I've got to boogie On the disco 'round, yeah... #

By day, Ripley's thronged with shoppers and visitors.

In the evening, its pubs and restaurants are the draw for people living all around.

With three big cities - Derby, Nottingham and Sheffield - it's very commutable.

So Ripley attracts a lot of interest from buyers.

Straight off, a bit of a negative because the property I'm here to see is on this busy main road,

but Ripley does have scope for growth in terms of property prices,

so maybe we'll forgive that bit and look at the house itself.

It's a three-bedroom semi-detached at a guide price of £54,000 plus. Let's take a look.

Normally I would go in through the front door. However, a little birdy has told me

that's not going to be possible. You can find out why a little bit later.

So it's down the side of the house to the back door for now. Not quite the entrance I was hoping for.

So what have we got? Well, believe it or not, this is not a utility room.

This is the kitchen.

It's not the most auspicious of starts, is it?

But through there into your lounge. Straight away I'm thinking you've got to play with the layout here.

The good news, and bad news I guess, is that behind there is the loo and bathroom.

And you've got this wall. So a tiny kitchen, a bathroom where you don't want it.

Take that wall out. Rejig this whole area, maybe create an open-plan kitchen, living space.

And try to move that bathroom upstairs. But I really like that nice aspect there

with the patio doors. Dual aspect with double-glazed large window.

And lots of space. And some very, very interesting decoration.

'From ceilings and floors to walls, it's rather like a museum of past styles and designs,

'in a rather groovy kind of way.

'Flower power aside, the layout has some serious problems.

'There's one mighty big lounge, one tiny weeny kitchen and that downstairs bathroom.

'It just doesn't work. Then there's the small issue of getting in.'

Now time to reveal why I couldn't get in through the front door.

Yep.

The floorboards... completely rotten. Not good.

'Those floorboards are definitely not groovy and the electrics are a bad scene.

'Upstairs, however, there are some encouraging signs.

'There are three bedrooms. One is big enough to split up and house a bathroom.

'And, yes, those flowery wallpaper designs are just as prevalent here.

'But what about the area where you'd more normally expect to see an abundance of blooms?'

Well, at the rear of the property you've got a garage and loads of sort of hard standing.

If that was it, it would be a pretty good rear area.

However, THIS is the garden!

Absolutely outstanding. What? 30, 40... I don't know how many metres that is.

What a great additional bonus.

# I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles

# And miles... #

'The garden is out of sight, man! And the house is just begging for a rear extension

'or a conservatory at least.

'So despite being in a time warp, I think with some updating it could be really quite trendy again.

'What does a local estate agent think of this three-bed house

'that was guided at £54,000?'

This property,

from the outside, looks like a fairly normal semi-detached house on a nice-sized plot.

You come inside and it's psychedelic. It's quite exciting.

It's a lot of fun. Someone's obviously gone to a lot of trouble back in the day

to design and style some interesting colours and wallpapers, but now it's really a project for somebody

to modernise and bring up to date and probably simplify the decor.

Yes, but what areas are key to maximising its potential?

The bathroom needs to be brought upstairs, but still a third bedroom retained,

so that probably means some kind of extension. A lot of neighbouring properties have done that.

You'd get a much bigger kitchen area, three bedrooms and a bathroom.

Would it be worth doing the additional work needed for a house that was guided at £54,000?

If the existing property was renovated on the current footprint

and the bathroom brought upstairs to create a two-bedroom semi,

the ceiling price for that house in good order is around £125,000.

If renovated and extended, with an extension to the side or the rear,

to create quite a big three-bedroom house with more accommodation,

in good order it could achieve £155,000.

So there's plenty of scope for some re-sale profit.

He also estimated a rental figure of £490 per calendar month

as a two-bedroom, or £575 per calendar month as a three-bedroom property.

So despite the proximity to the main road, a really good semi-detached house.

It's all about the price you pay. Yes, there's work to be done, but there's money to be made.

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

Lot 16. Three-bedroom, semi-detached house. Very pleasant location.

Extensive views at the rear. Lots of scope for improvement. Three bedrooms, driveway, garage.

58 to start me? 58? 58 I've got in two places. Thank you.

At 59. 60,000.

61. 62. It's here to be sold. 63.

The bid's yours. 64. 65 at the back.

66 seated here.

66. 67? 67 I've got. 67. 68.

This lot was proving to be very popular. We rejoin the bidding at £80,000.

£80,000.

80 and a half.

81. 81,500.

82.

82,500.

83. 500.

I've taken the bid at the back. 84.

84. Come in again, sir? 84,500?

At £84,000. Once.

Twice. Third time.

Sold at 84,000. Well done.

'So for £30,000 over the guide price, at £84,000,

'the new owner of the three-bed semi-detached house is Paul.

'I met him back at his new purchase to find out his plans.' Paul, good to meet you.

-How are you?

-Pretty good. Congratulations.

-Thank you.

-Tell me why you bought this place.

-To do up, really.

Well, it's a good challenge, this one. I look at it as a very good challenge.

-What did you think when you walked in?

-I thought, "Oh, my gosh!"

But the decor... It shows it's original.

It shows what was in fashion all them years ago.

So you bought it to do it up and rent it out, sell it on?

To do up, make a good job I hope and then move on to the next one.

-Have you got much experience?

-I've done properties in the past. This is the fourth on my own.

-I'm an electrician by trade.

-OK.

-I do planning now.

-I've got a team I use all the time, builders, plumbers. So we've got a good team.

-Great.

'Paul clearly has the skills to bring this house up to date

'and if he doesn't know how to do it, he knows a man who can.

'With three renovations under his belt, this shouldn't be too tricky for him.'

-What do you think the biggest challenges will be?

-This one, structural, I'd say.

-There's going to be walls I want knocking down.

-What are you planning?

Knocking the walls down for downstairs and taking the bathroom upstairs.

Make a big open-plan diner/kitchen. And then put two double doors in here to keep them separate.

I hope I don't have to lose a bedroom. My idea is to take the bathroom upstairs,

make a bedroom smaller, but I'll make the other bedroom bigger by taking the chimney breast out.

-That way you've got a three-bed semi still.

-Wow. Sounds like lovely plans you've got.

Whether it works...! But that's my idea.

'He hopes to carry out these great plans on a budget of £20,000-£30,000

'and take roughly 12-16 weeks.

'But before he can rejig the layout, there are some other issues to tackle.'

-There's obvious signs of rot.

-There is. There's no central heating. It's going to want damp proofing.

It's all original cabling, so it'll want the full refurbishment.

It's a good challenge, this property. I think it'll be a really nice place when it's done.

-Congratulations. I hope it all goes to plan.

-Thank you very much.

-Look forward to seeing it.

-Thanks.

Well, Paul under no illusion that there is quite a lot of work to be done to sort this place out,

but I really like what he's planning. It will really revolutionise this semi.

Find out how he gets on later.

'Coming up: find out how this flat in south-west London went from shabby to chic.

'Back in Derbyshire, watch how fantastically Paul rose to the challenge of his refurbishment

-'and how much money he could make.'

-I'm pleased with that.

'But first - is it up? Is it down?

'Have the lads cracked their perilous Paignton property?'

'Paignton in Devon is a lovely seaside town with great beaches and shops.

'It's a place to relax and unwind. What could be nicer than buying a property here?

'How about a three-bed end-of-terrace with a bright, sunny colour outside,

'space out the back and plenty of room downstairs?

'It needed updating and perhaps a rethink on the layout, but otherwise tempting?

'Or maybe not.'

-It's subsiding. Badly.

-TERRIFIED SCREAM

'Despite its major drawback - and I mean major - Adam and Darren bought it,

'without seeing it first, for £71,000.'

Has there been a time when either of you thought, "What have we done?"?

There's been moments when we thought, "Crikey! There's a lot to do," but we've bought it now.

If we'd borrowed hundreds of thousands, I'd have been worried and we would have looked at it.

I don't think it'll be a massive...

There'll be a little bit of hassle, no doubt.

-I'll remind you of that.

-I don't think it'll be that bad. It'll be all right.

'Hm. I wish I was as certain as Adam.'

# Trouble, trouble... #

'They hoped they could dig their way out with some underpinning,

'hard work, a budget of 40 grand and an optimistic timescale of four months.'

# Trouble, trouble... #

'Now, 11 months later, we're back and the good news...

'Well, the house is still standing and looks solid.

'How did they achieve that?'

-Piling.

-It went down about five metres. A whole concrete slab and the house now sits on that

instead of its original foundations.

'Yes, this was about going backwards before they moved forwards.

'There wasn't just a concrete slab put under the house. The front and gable walls had to be rebuilt.

'It took five months to sort out the contractors and arrange the piling.

'Then, at last, it could be put back together.

'One advantage of taking it back to a shell was that they could adjust the layout

'and really change the look and feel of the place.'

Well, one of the biggest changes we've made is down here. There was a wall going across here.

We've completely removed that.

We also had just a door from the hallway and a door into the kitchen.

That's all been opened up to give a real open-plan feel.

We've in-filled the kitchen door and replaced it with French doors there just behind you.

Yeah, we're really pleased with the feel.

'This downstairs area definitely now has a better flow.

'It really does seem like a new house

'with new windows, doors, central heating, plumbing and wiring - the lot.

'But what about upstairs?'

The first floor is still original, but it had dropped significantly

so when they took the walls down they lifted those floors up

-and got them reasonably straight.

-It's not all perfect.

-Not perfect.

'The bathroom's been brought bang up to date.

'And they've retained the three bedrooms.

'A great job, lads.'

I looked after sorting out the building regs

and the piling. And then we cracked on and did the building work.

Between us, weekends and evenings and so on.

It's not been an extremely smooth ride, I must say, but that'll happen if you do a full-time job

and do work in the evenings.

'Adam works for an air monitoring company and Darren's a quantity surveyor.

'Although they employed builders for the structural work, they've put in the hours themselves,

'hoping to prevent their £40,000 budget spiralling out of control. How much did they spend?'

£55,000 and that is basically down to having to rebuild the front and side of the house.

We always knew we were going to have to underpin it.

The 15,000 quid is solely down to doing the front and side walls.

'A £55,000 spend on top of their £71,000 purchase price

'takes their total outlay to 126,000 quid.

'So having practically rebuilt this house, have they improved the worth of their investment?

'What do two local estate agents think?'

I love the property. The changes really enhance what's already here.

It's perfect to move into. They've done a really good job.

The property has been refurbished to a very high standard.

Very light and airy. A good contemporary feel.

It's fantastic that it is now probably better than it was when first built.

They've tackled the issue, sorted it out and won't have any problems going forward.

'Darren and Adam aren't sure whether to let or sell this house,

'but having invested £126,000 in it, what would give them the best return?'

We would expect to achieve something in the region of £145,000.

The price I would look at would be in the region of £150,000-£155,000.

-Very much as expected, really.

-Yeah. Not surprised, not shocked.

'So a potential pre-tax profit of £19,000-£29,000.

'Not too bad.

'How would it fare as a rental?'

This property would rent for £725 per calendar month.

I would look at marketing anywhere between £700 and £750 per calendar month.

I personally felt about £700 a month, so not too far out.

'A rental value of £700 per calendar month would generate a yield of just over 6%.

'Not spectacular, but OK.

'And while the jury's out on what to do with this house, what plans do they have for the future?'

We've bought another place in East Devon, actually.

-Different kind of project altogether.

-Yeah. So in quarter of an acre of land.

Two-bedroom house. We'll knock down and look to build.

'I'm in south-west London in the popular residential area of Streatham.'

This part of Streatham is close to the shops on the high road,

close to Streatham main line station

and just down the road from Tooting Bec Common. So the location gets a tick.

'It's a bit of a hike to the Tube from here, but there are plenty of buses into town

'and a good train service to London Bridge.'

So what am I here to see today? It's a first-floor two-bedroom flat in this modern, purpose-built block.

It had a guide price at auction of £185,000 plus.

The exterior looks in pretty good order. Let's just hope the interior matches up.

'What this block may lack in character and charm, it makes up for with allocated parking spaces

'and clean, tidy communal areas. Works for me.'

Now this is fantastic.

Wow. A great space here. All the rooms leading off.

You've got a bathroom through there. So far, it doesn't look like you'd have to spend too much on this,

but it's very open plan. It's got a wonderful flow to it.

And this is how open-plan kitchen dining sitting rooms should be. I mean, look at this place.

What I love is that you can't hear any traffic. Set back from the road. I don't care what anybody says.

I think size does matter.

# Size matters, size matters But not how you think... #

'There really is plenty of space here and it's laid out pretty well.

'The two bedrooms are both good-size doubles. One has an en suite shower, then there's that family bathroom.

'So there are two loos and the kitchen/dining/living room is also a decent size.'

This flat raises the old argument of buying new versus buying old.

Buy a modern flat like this and the refurb costs will be low

and it's a relatively hassle-free option. But buy old and you can add value by improving the property.

With this flat, you can't extend, it's not worth rejigging the layout because it works as it is

and the kitchen and bathroom don't really need replacing. So is there any room to add any real value?

The best way to make money on this on is to do it up quick,

spend the minimum and let it out fast.

'The flat comes with a lease of 112 years and a ground rent of £200 per annum.

'What does a local estate agent make of this place with its £185,000 guide price?'

First impressions of the flat - it needs a little TLC in places, but could look quite nice.

'Once done up, what could this flat rent out for?'

Rental income would be around £1,300 per calendar month.

'And if you did it up and sold it on?'

If you do a basic spec, you'll achieve the lower end,

around £250,000. If you go for the higher end, the wow factor, I'd expect around £275,000.

When you buy property anywhere, location is key.

This flat is close to the common, close to the shops and has great transport links.

The flat itself needs only a minor refurbishment so you could slap some paint on it

and get it back on the market and rent it out super quick.

So was this a popular lot? Let's head to auction and find out.

So a two-bed flat. Looks like a nice-looking block.

I won't go below 180 on this. Anyone want to bid 180,000? Lot 137.

180. 180 I've got, bidding.

181.

182. 183. 184.

-185, sir? 186.

-'These two battled away and the bidding crept up slowly.

'We rejoin the action at 225,000.'

225. 226.

227.

227. 228. Back to you, sir, at the front.

228 I'm looking for. Yeah, 228.

Behind you, 229?

230. 230,000.

231?

231. 232?

233. 234.

235?

No? If not, £234,000 for the first.

234,000 for the second. 234 for the third and final time. All done. Sold, 234.

'That successful bid of £234,000 was made by Alex.

'He's a Swiss, German-born Oscar-nominated film producer, director and author

'who has also turned his hand to property development. He's married to Amy, an architect,

'and they have a two-year-old daughter, Coco.

'Now Amy's been on this show before. We first met here when she was advising a client

'who bought a flat with lots of period charm in Hampstead.

'I met Alex, Amy and Coco back at the flat to find out more about this latest project.'

Congratulations. Now, Amy, we've met before,

-but you had a baby in your tummy.

-I did.

-And I'm spying that this is here!

-Here she is!

-Wow. You were doing up a property for somebody else then.

-Yes.

I was working with a lot of clients and advising them on what to buy and working on the architectural side.

We decided to do it for ourselves.

So, Alex, why did you think this was an ideal flat for you?

We did a property up close by and got to know the market a bit. Then this one came up at auction.

We thought, "It looks really good if we can get it for the right price." And here we are today.

I'm surprised you two have got time to do any of this anyway.

-Last time I saw you, you were busy with modelling and all sorts. Tell me about that.

-Yes, Miss UK

-and other crazy sporting activities along the way.

-Showjumping.

-Athletics, modern pentathlon and recently lots and lots of polo.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-So is property developing the only thing you do?

-It is now.

I have a background in film and creative businesses.

I've written a book and used to make movies,

but I kind of found that all these creative things work well,

but aren't possibly as exciting as the property market.

So I met Amy many years ago, we ventured out together, and here we are doing properties now.

So you guys have a lot going on!

'These two certainly are very busy people. On top of everything else,

'Amy has also managed to find time to appear on the TV show Gladiators as Siren,

'but will there be any wailing or gnashing of teeth on this project?

'Gladiators, ready!'

So, Amy, tell me what you're going to do to this flat.

I quite like that it's very open-plan, there's a good flow.

There is. Luckily, we don't have to do any construction work. The rooms are great sizes as they are.

It's going to be purely cosmetic. New floorboards, new paintwork, new kitchen appliances

-and two brand-new bathrooms.

-It seems like Amy has this completely under wraps. Is that right?

She does, yeah. The way we work is we do a lot of homework when we purchase a property.

With this one, we know the market in the area, so we know what a property of this size can achieve.

And it came up at auction, we did our homework, set ourselves a price to go for at auction.

And we hit the price, so we're hopefully within our budget.

But I rely completely on Amy's expertise on the more nitty-gritty, interior design

-and calculating costs.

-So who will project manage?

-Amy.

-It's shared.

-What did you say?

-Amy. And you said it's shared. Interesting.

-I was being diplomatic.

We each have our own role. Alex deals with the estate agents and the legal side.

I'll deal with the property on a weekly basis, the builders,

and make sure it's looking in the correct condition at the end.

-What sort of budget have you got for the work here?

-There's been a lot of costs with the purchase,

with the legals and buyer's costs incorporated in that.

Construction, we've allowed 30,000 for the labour costs and all new materials.

In total, we're close to 50 when you add all the bits and pieces.

This one in particular had a lot of issues in it. There were a lot of conditions,

a lot of hidden costs that were included later.

So we kind of worked them halfway out, took a bit of a gamble, but I think we're OK now.

'So with a £30,000 budget for renovating the flat,

'Alex and Amy also anticipate another 20,000 for fees and taxes

'with legal costs alone costing them £8,000.

'Using their expertise, they'd prepared carefully and worked out costs in advance,

'including a contingency because there will always be the unexpected.

'I'm going to mention the H word again. Yes, that's homework.

'This power couple have certainly done theirs.'

How long do you think it'll take?

Another issue we have to flag is that we have to borrow money at quite a high interest rate.

We make profit if we can do it up very quickly, so we've set ourselves a goal of five weeks.

-Five weeks to be in and out.

-Wow!

We have our team of builders ready and waiting. Everything's pre-ordered. It will be arriving

the second day we get in here. They'll work on target.

The hammer must have gone down and you started buying everything and organising your builders.

-It's all done in the preparation.

-Wow. I'm really excited to see what you do here.

I can't wait to see your style and how you put your stamp on it.

Amy, lovely to see you again. Alex, great to meet you. And Coco. High five?

Wow! Fantastic! Good luck, guys.

Well, this couple certainly like their fingers in a lot of pies.

Alex is a filmmaker and novelist, Amy is an architect, former Miss UK, and a showjumper.

On top of all that, they also property develop.

They don't plan to do any major work here, but the timescale is still pretty tight, I'd say.

They want this back on the market and sold, so will Alex and Amy get it done in time?

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

Well, time has simply flown by, but have our buyers made any progress on their properties?

Let's go back and find out what's happened to them.

'It was in the thriving Derbyshire town of Ripley that we first saw this three-bed semi-detached house.

'Not only was it well set back from the road, with a driveway and off-road parking,

'but inside it offered a rather impressive range of wallpaper coverings.

'Groovy!

'Though the layout was less groovy with a teeny-weeny kitchen

'and an even more disappointing downstairs bathroom.

'With rotting floorboards, downstairs had room for improvement!

'But with three good-sized bedrooms and plenty of outside space,

'there was at least the possibility of changing the layout.

'That's exactly what local electrician Paul thought when he bought it for £84,000 at auction.'

What's the biggest challenges?

This one, structural I would say, because there's going to be walls I want knocking down.

-What are you planning?

-Knocking the walls down for downstairs and taking the bathroom upstairs.

A big, open-plan diner/kitchen.

I hope I don't lose a bedroom, so I'll take the bathroom upstairs,

create the other bedroom bigger by taking the chimney breast out.

That way you've got a three-bed semi still.

'Armed with a £20,000-£30,000 budget, he hoped to turn it around in 8-12 weeks,

'making it ready to sell on.

'Now, 3½ months later, we're back.

'What a difference outside.

'There's a great tarmac parking area, new flower beds and retaining walls

'and also a proper porch area.

'And at the back...

'Well, that's got a little bit extra with a new conservatory.

'But it was inside where we expected to see a bigger change.

'Wow! What a difference!'

This was the biggest challenge of them all.

We'd a wall in line with the beam and a doorway to the bathroom.

So to create what I needed to create was to knock the walls out,

put the steel beams in and then behind me was

a big chimney breast and to get your table and chairs and everything, we took the chimney breast out.

New patio doors down to the floor and then put a conservatory on.

It's opened everything up as an open-plan diner/kitchen.

'It's not just the kitchen that looks so much better. The lounge is pretty good, too,

'and the whole place is improved downstairs.

'But has Paul sacrificed a bedroom to move the bathroom upstairs?

'Well, no. By splitting the bigger bedroom and removing the chimney breast, he's not only made

'a fantastic, up-to-date bathroom,

'but has also maintained a good-sized bedroom.

'And with the other two bedrooms rejigged and refurbished, boy, this is one impressive refurbishment.

'And it doesn't stop there.'

Well, outside, this was just all concrete.

Straight down to the end of the patio there was wrought-iron gates. All that's now gone,

as you can see. Tarmacked the drive.

Straight in the garage. And tried to do one level for the patio,

so there's no stepping up or down.

'Not only has he now got a greatly improved patio area,

'but he's also created some bedding space in the garden.

-'He's certainly been busy.'

-Every day, weekends, nighttimes.

And we wrapped up about nine at night.

I've been on very little in the days, but every night and all weekends I've been on this project.

'But it looks like all this hard work has paid off and he's really improved this place no end.'

I've loved every minute of this one. There was just something about it when I bought it.

With the amount of land with it, it's just everything for a good family, this one.

'Having proposed a budget of £20,000-£30,000,

'he's spent smack in the middle, £25,000.

'Not bad at all for what he's ended up with.

'But a £25,000 spend on top of his £84,000 purchase price

'will take his total outlay to £109,000.

'So has he taken this previously groovy house and made it more happening for the modern market?

'What do two local estate agents think?'

First impressions are great from outside.

You see a nice new driveway, the porch looks really smart.

You come inside, the property's had a lot of work done to it. It's a real transformation.

Very modern, very light, a house you'd want to move in to.

Very nice property inside. Very modern, especially the kitchen and the bathroom.

I was very surprised at the interior.

'Encouraging comments, but Paul's keen to sell this house as soon as possible

'and move on to his next property, so will he get much return on his £109,000 investment

'in the current market?'

I think this property would now go onto the market at £139,950.

I would put this property on the market at £135,000 to achieve £130,000.

130-140...

I'm pleased with that.

'That could mean a potential pre-tax profit of £21,000-£31,000.

'If Paul did have to let the house, the estate agents reckon he could achieve a rental value

'of £550 per calendar month, which is an annual yield above 6%.

'Paul's done an amazing job creating this fabulous, glossy home. He must be thrilled with the outcome.'

I'm pleased, delighted how it's turned out.

I'm just looking forward to the next project.

'It was in Streatham, south-west London, where we saw a pretty impressive two-bedroom flat.

'On the second floor of a purpose-built block, it was positively palatial in London terms.

'It had two good-sized bedrooms, one of which was an en suite,

'a large lounge-cum-kitchen/diner and a reasonable bathroom.

'So with a 125-year lease and ground rent of just £200 per annum,

'this was definitely an interesting lot. It was bought at auction for £234,000

'by husband and wife property developing team Alex and Amy.

'With two-year-old daughter Coco, they hoped to do it up and sell it on.

'They didn't intend hanging about with this one.'

# Get it on, bang a gong... #

How long do you think it'll take to do this place up?

We have to borrow money at quite a high interest rate, so we do it very quickly.

-We set ourselves a goal of five weeks.

-Five weeks to be in and out.

-Wow!

-We have our team of builders ready and waiting. Everything's pre-ordered.

It will arrive on the second day and they'll be working on target.

# Get it on, bang a gong Get it on... #

'Not only did they need to get on with it for financial reasons, these were busy people,

'with Alex writing and working on film projects, while Amy has her own architectural practice.

'So with a team of builders and a 30-grand budget, did they really get it revamped in five weeks?

'Now a little over six weeks later, we've returned to see how they've got on.

'Well, it's certainly looking great.

'With an upgraded kitchen,

'new flooring

'and, in the master bedroom, there's a much improved en suite.

'This is fantastic, but did they really get it done in their five-week timescale?'

It took us about 4½ weeks in total. We had a couple of days of snagging.

So perfectly on time, finished exactly to the day.

It was very smooth, this project.

'That's pretty good and it doesn't look like doing it fast has meant they've cut corners.

'There are high-quality fittings throughout.

'This has been some team effort, so do they really work well together?'

We have our little ups and downs, of course, but I think we work well together

because Amy sort of looks after the build,

does the ordering, the design. I do more the legal side.

-We both have found our niche.

-We have clearly-defined roles.

If we stick to them, clearly, it works very well.

'They also had daughter Coco checking it all out, too.'

All the builders know her very well. She's got her own little hard hat she likes to put on.

She's been enjoying herself.

'And I'm sure she's impressed with the changes her mum and dad have made to this flat.

'So on time. Also on budget?'

30,000. Exactly.

Even, actually, a little bit less,

only because of bulk buying and knowing the products we were going to use

and we got discounts from ordering them before.

So probably a thousand or so under, which is great.

'But along with that £30,000 spend, they've had £20,000 of legal fees and costs,

'which, added to their £234,000 purchase price, means they've spent £284,000 on the flat.

'So do two local estate agents reckon they've invested wisely?'

I had a look round. Very impressive. The owner has done a fantastic job.

My favourite thing would definitely have to be the kitchen. And also the bathroom and the en suite.

My first thoughts of the flat are the high specification of the detail they've done to it,

ie the bathrooms, the tiling and the integrated units they've installed in the kitchen.

The only thing I'd have done differently is the quality of flooring to a higher level.

'Amy and Alex took out a loan on this flat, so don't want to let it,

'but it would be interesting to know what rental value this flat in Streatham could achieve.'

I believe if you put it in the rental market today, you'd be looking at £1,600 per calendar month.

This property would rent out for around £1,400 per calendar month.

Rental on this property is not an option. The figures sound great, but it's not an option.

'So a potential annual yield of around 7% isn't really on the table for Alex and Amy,

'but having invested £284,000 here, they hoped to give it the wow factor

'and sell it for around £360,000. Is that too ambitious?'

I believe this flat would re-sell for offers in excess of £300,000.

If you put it on in today's market, you're probably looking at a retail asking price of £365,000.

It's interesting to hear the other values they've given.

But I think we'll stick with the 360 that we've been told by one of the other agents.

'Yes, Alex and Amy currently have the flat on the market for £360,000.

'If they achieve anywhere near that, they could see a potential pre-tax profit

'of around the £70,000 mark. Not bad for five weeks' work.

'But with a multitude of other interests, is property developing something they'll continue to do?'

I think we're just very lucky that at the moment we've found something that's working for us.

Times are quite tough in a recession, so we'll continue as long as we can, really.

Whether it's a bungalow, a mansion or just a piece of land,

-we'll be here to see what happens to it next time.

-So make sure you join us then.

-Goodbye.

-Goodbye.

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