Episode 64 Homes Under the Hammer

-Hello and welcome.

-They say every house tells a different story,

and we've certainly found that to be true.

Yes, there are always tales to tell and stories to uncover

when you buy your home under the hammer.

Auction properties are sold on a buyer-beware basis.

You need to check them out before you bid.

Or you could be in for some nasty surprises.

Let's see if our bidders got lucky with their purchases.

How would you like a country cottage near Swanley in Kent?

Only a 25-minute commute from London Victoria,

if you don't mind brick cladding.

Or how about a two-bed terrace in Crewe with a guide price of 40,000?

Oh!

But you have to watch your step!

Maybe the profit potential in this three-bed terrace in Tooting,

south London, will get your juices flowing.

It could be a bargain, with a guide price of 330,000.

All these properties have been sold at auction.

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

when they went under the hammer.

Sold for 31. Well bought.

# All I need is the air that I breathe. #

You might not associate the area around London with fresh air,

but in Victorian times,

ailing Londoners were sent to recuperate in this area of Kent.

Nowadays, towns like Swanley are more favoured by commuters

than convalescents.

It's only 25 minutes from Victoria Station

and has plenty of shops and other amenities.

A mile or so from the centre of Swanley

and it's much more rural, with fields and farms as far as the eye can see.

Some people will love that, and others will find the isolation

a bit of an issue, so it's worth bearing that in mind.

The property itself is this, a two-bedroomed end-of-terrace.

It had a guide price of 120,000 to 130,000.

This little row of terraces feels rather out on a limb,

down a rural country lane, and the facade was, maybe, an acquired taste.

More of that later. Let's just get inside.

Before we go any further,

can we have a quick chat about this exterior door?

Call me stupid, but what's the point of only half of it opening?

Look! Can you get through there?

No. You've got to open both of them to get through.

It just seems a bit of a waste of time.

I would change that and have one outside door. That would work.

It's a little bit squeezed in here,

but you would expect that from a property like this.

A little bit narrow.

Walking through into the dining room and the cosy lounge.

Somebody has already knocked through a little archway.

But it really works and this will be a really nice place.

You've got a real fire, look.

You can see some ashes in there. You can burn your logs.

It needs updating. A little bit tired.

You just put some new carpet, a paint job, new curtains.

Great space in here. You could get rid of this area

and put something else there if you wanted, but it seems to work.

And at the back of the property,

which would have been an extension, is the kitchen.

Currently, it's a little bit dark.

I would exchange these units for something light and modern,

because it does get rid of all the light at the moment

and I think that's got a lot to do with the very dark mock-Tudor beams.

While I'm on that subject, not sure about the rose leaded lights.

If they're not to your taste, it would be inexpensive to get rid of them.

Overall, lots of ticks, but it just needs a bit of updating.

And general neglect probably accounts for the damp, mouldy patch

in the little porch area out the back,

although I'd check there wasn't anything worse going on out there.

There's a really nice-sized little garden.

Definitely enough space to entertain a family on a warmer, drier day.

Upstairs, we have two bedrooms. A nice double at the front,

which is somewhat eaten into by those huge wardrobes.

But I do like the view from the window.

The second bedroom is a perfectly good size

and the bathroom at the rear is also decent and in good nick.

Nice white suite, freshen up with new tiles and Bob's your uncle.

# I'm so glad I'm so glad

# I'm glad, I'm glad I'm glad. #

But this property is more clad than glad!

One easy way to give this house a face-lift is - a-ha -

literally, to give this house a face-lift and remove this cladding.

Although it's not as easy as you might think.

Start chipping away at this cladding

and the surface of the bricks might well come off with it,

or you could be left with heavy-duty adhesive all over the facade.

At the very least, the bricks will need cleaning and re-pointing

and getting the place looking like next door, well,

it could cost you in the region of £5,000.

Ouch.

While I'm outside, I should check out the parking.

Fabulous! Some off-road parking?

Er, no. This isn't yours. It's next door's. Shame.

In fact, believe it or not, there is no parking.

Very surprising for a rural location.

It was all looking fairly promising inside,

but the outside is a bit of a let-down.

The cladding and the parking might be issues that put

a lot of people off.

I wonder what a local estate agent will make of this property.

The house is situated in a semi-rural location. Semi-rural being the fact

you are just under a mile from the town centre of Swanley,

which has all the buses, train stations, shops and supermarkets.

The road it's located on is a country lane.

Therefore, it has certain restrictions.

Parking can be a bit difficult at times.

People that like the remoteness would be excited about the house.

It is very quiet.

It's not a cut-through road, so somebody who wants to be set away

from the hustle and bustle of a town would very much enjoy the house.

One potential negative of the property is the lack of parking as it is now.

Whether you have a professional couple or young family,

they are going to have a car, living here.

Without a doubt, if you can't get a car on the drive,

some form of parking round the back would be a massive asset to the property.

What does he think the house would fetch on the open market?

In its current condition, the property is worth £175,000.

Once renovated, you could increase that to £190,000.

And potential rental income?

If you were to go down the rental route with the property,

you would easily achieve £850 per calendar month.

Lots to do and plenty of ways to improve this place

to make it a lovely home, or a good little rental.

Let's see who agreed when it went to auction.

Lot 52, it's got a guide of 120 to 130. 110? 110, I have.

£110,000 the bid.

At £110,000, I have. This is lot 52.

There was a lot of interest in this property.

And we rejoin the bidding at £148,000.

148. 148.

And 149 is bid. And 150. 151. 152.

152. 153.

You folded your arms. That's not a good sign, is it?!

152,000, right at the very back of the room in the centre aisle.

At 152,000. 153 for you.

But at 152,000 the bid... 153.

He's come back for one more. 154.

155. 156, sir?

157. 157 is bid. 158?

No. £157,000 I'm bid.

You're out at the back. You're out on my left.

On my right-hand side for the first time at 157.

158. And 159?

That really was your ceiling, wasn't it?

158 at the very back of the room.

At 159, do I see?

For the first time at 158,000.

At 158,000 for the second time.

100 and... 159.

I can lip-read, even from this distance!

At £159,000 for the first time. Gentleman on the right-hand side.

Three quarters of the way down the room.

At 159,000 for the second time.

159,000 for the third and final time.

159,000. Are you all done? Sold at 159,000.

After that tense and lengthy bidding battle, the successful bid

of 159,000 was made by a couple I've met before - Sam and her husband, Philip.

They are property developers and construction company owners.

This house in Chatham featured in one of their two previous visits to the show.

Now, this terrace is only a few miles from their home.

I met them at this cladded cottage to find out what they planned.

Guys, it's lovely to see you again. It's like we're old friends.

We meet again. Sam, it looks like you've been in the wars.

-What's been going on?

-I have. I had a riding accident.

-Oh, dear.

But, guys, listen, it's fantastic to see you. Another project on the go.

What's happening with this property, and why did you want to buy this?

Um, we bought it mainly because it was close to our existing property,

so it's very easy to get to.

Are you still living in the house that we filmed you in all that time ago?

-All those years ago, now!

-We are.

I've got to be honest, for you guys, it's a bit of a quick refurb job.

You like the big projects, don't you?

You like to completely go for the planning, put big new kitchens in.

Your last property in Chatham, you did such an outstanding job.

I can't help but feel this is an easy-peasy one for you two.

It's relatively easy, yes.

There is no central heating system, at the moment,

so we'll put a nice high-efficiency energy central heating system in.

Revamp the wiring. Take those chimney breasts out.

So you ARE going to do that?

Yeah, they're a bit dated. We'll put nice cast-iron ones back in.

-We have the cast-iron fireplaces already, from another property.

-There you go.

-So you need to use those!

-We're recycling.

We're going to get rid of the Artex and, in the kitchen,

we are going to square it up.

That little extension with the dampness, that is going.

There is a window facing out there, so there is a steel lintel

already there, so we will square it up and make the kitchen bigger.

Now, what about those roses?

BOTH: Hm! LAUGHTER

We never even thought about the roses!

Not quite our taste, though, to be honest.

I'm laughing because, if you're getting rid of these, because these are dated,

we need to talk about the mock-Tudor beams in the kitchen

and the leaded-light fake roses in the windows.

The mock-Tudor beams are definitely going.

The roses, it doesn't cost a lot for a bit of glazing,

so I'd say they'll probably go. Of course, the cladding is going, as well.

-Let's talk about the cladding.

-I know what you're like.

I know you probably want to get to the bottom of that.

All your neighbouring properties have that beautiful, lovely

raw brickwork. How hard is it to get rid of cladding like that?

I know you're a builder and you know everything there is to know. Tell me.

Um, well, it's a hit-and-miss, really, how well it's been fixed.

We have taken a few pieces off, just to see.

It came off easily and there is no damage to the brickwork.

Fingers crossed, we're hoping it's going to come off OK.

We have to make it better.

If it comes off and the bricks are damaged and pitted badly,

we'll repair them.

We'll probably use something like a synthetic stone render, er,

coloured render on it. That's a back-up plan.

But we're hoping we are going to save the brickwork.

Sam and Philip intend selling this house on after refurbishing it

and have a budget of 20,000 to 25,000 and one big advantage -

their own construction company.

So finding tradesmen to do the house shouldn't be a problem.

Your guys in-house, are they going to be on this and out of here?

-Is it going to be a real quick turnaround for you?

-Yes.

-Um...

-Well, should be.

-Yes and no.

Sam's saying, "Yes, yes," and you're saying, "I don't know about that!"

We'll probably come down and do a bit of the carpentry ourselves.

-Because it's so easy for us to do it.

-How are you going to cope with that?

You can barely walk on those at the moment.

How will you cope with your DIY?

-Because I know, Sam, you love to get involved, don't you?

-I do, I do.

I will have to sit and watch Philip, won't I? I could be in charge.

-Sam, can you lift one of those crutches up and point?

-I can. Look.

Fantastic. You can order from your sofa. I love it.

Guys, I know you're going to do a fantastic job in here

and it's been lovely to see you again. Sam, take it easy.

-Thank you very much.

-I will.

-Good luck.

-Thank you.

So we meet Sam and Philip again.

And what a nice, easy-peasy project for them this time.

I am sure they're going to do a fab job on this place.

You can see what it looks like later on in the show.

Imagine your predicament.

You work in Manchester, but you don't want to live there.

You like travelling the country, but you don't drive.

Or, maybe, you want to have easy access to places like Chester

and North Wales, but you can't afford the property prices there.

I have the answer. Crewe.

Crewe is famous as a busy hub of the rail service in the North West.

But it also has a reputation for luxury car manufacturing.

The town was once the home of Rolls-Royce,

but today is still involved in the making of Bentleys.

But enough of industry, what about property?

So, what am I here to see?

Well, situated on this slightly busy main road,

a two-bedroom Victorian terrace. The guide price was £40,000-plus.

Loads of properties like this were built in that era,

probably to house railway workers.

And they can often be a very solid investment.

Ah. Not quite the welcome mat I was expecting.

We'll come back to that.

What have we got? Through the front door into your front living room.

You are going to have issues with noise from the road.

It's got double glazing. Maybe want to think about triple glazing, perhaps.

But, yes, it's not a bad size. Reasonably high ceilings.

Through here, very standard layout.

Up the stairs to your two bedrooms, into your real living room.

When this house was built, that would have been your lot, basically.

Two up, two down. Very classic.

But, in this case, it has what is fairly standard in these properties, these days -

an extension on the back, single-storey, housing the kitchen. Long, galley style.

These look like they are reasonably newish.

Maybe a new work surface, possibly new fronts on those

and that would certainly smarten things up.

At the back, again, pretty classic, where your bathroom facilities are.

In this case, there is no bath - just a shower and toilet,

and this strange area here, which doesn't seem to do anything.

So maybe you could increase the bathroom into that area,

a bit of extra space, get a bath in there. That would be nice.

Apart from that, pretty much what you might have expected,

apart from the slightly dodgy welcome at the front door.

Well, that doorstep may be on the bouncy side,

but the rest of the room won't put a spring in your step.

Decaying flooring and crumbling skirting boards aren't a good sign.

Overall, the ground floor looks like it needs quite a bit of upgrading.

So, upstairs, no great surprises with the layout.

A bedroom at the front and a bedroom at the back.

Both a decent size, though.

And, coming into this bedroom at the back,

a chance to look out of the flat roof above the kitchen and bathroom.

You'd want to have that checked out

and make sure there were no leaks and maybe have it re-felted.

Also from the back, you can see in the area some new developments.

I don't know how those have been selling, but when it comes back to this kind of house,

even with its problems and work that needs to be done

and blah, blah, blah, these kind of two-bedroomed terraced houses like these

are still very much what people want to buy and rent.

Maybe as a second step on the property ladder, first family home.

They rent out well,

they will resell well and you pretty much know what they are going to cost to renovate.

So, actually, this is a good property to go for.

And, as the old saying goes, they don't make them like that anymore.

But while the layouts don't lend themselves to modern living,

these places do offer decent-sized rooms.

You have your own front door and, as with this house,

usually some outside space. They are homes that feel, well, homely.

But before I get all dewy-eyed with nostalgia,

let's go back to that front door.

Can't put it off any longer. Have a bit of grubbing about.

Find out what on earth is going on by the front door here.

Whenever you are looking around a house, do use all your senses,

as I often say. In this case...

It's not too good, is it? Floors aren't supposed to do that.

It's not a trampoline. Let's explore a bit further.

What is going on underneath all this rubbish?

I reckon if I delve a bit deeper, I will actually disappear down an unknown number of feet.

So I think I'll stop there. Clearly, the floorboards have disintegrated.

That's obviously the joists gone, as well.

You are looking at a serious amount of woodwork.

Well, if you're a carpenter, that is fantastic.

If you have to employ labour to do

that, it's going to be expensive.

Oh!

There we go.

-HE LAUGHS

-I was not expecting that!

How do I get out?

Um... Help!

I do all my own stunts, you know!

# I feel the Earth move Under my feet

# I feel the sky come tumbling down

# I feel my heart Start to tremble... #

Joking aside, this indicates a really serious issue

and an expensive one, so this not-so-solid little terrace

suddenly seems like maybe not a bargain,

even at that guide price of £40,000-plus.

What, I wonder, will our local estate agent make of it?

Oh, and watch the step when you walk in!

First impressions of the property, it does need some work doing to it.

You'll probably need new kitchens, new bathroom, possibly rewired.

flooring needs looking at, as well, and windows.

Ha. Really?!

Bearing in mind that there may be a horror story waiting under this floor

with a big bill attached, would it be worth tackling?

What could the property sell for?

I think, done up to a reasonable standard,

we can put this property onto the market for £62,000.

This is a popular rental area, so what would the returns be?

I think if this property went to the rental market,

it would be £450 per calendar month.

Well, from the outside, a good enough little house,

but the problems greet you the moment you step through the front door.

Still, if you factor in the cost of putting it right

and work out a price that you should pay at the auction,

with that in mind, it could still be a good one to go for.

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

Lot 43.

What's this? 30,000, start me here?

28, then? 28 bid.

Standing right. £28,000.

30, are you going to say, now?

At £28,000. Under 30 now.

At £28,000.

I'll go in ones, if it helps. Shall we say 29? 29.

30, sir? 30. 31.

32. 33. 34.

New bidder. £34,000.

35?

A half, you're saying. 34½.

35. No? At £34,500.

Standing left.

35 anywhere else? At 34,500 for the first time.

At 34,500 for the second time.

Third and final time. At £34,500.

It's just not quite enough.

If the bidders would like to come to talk to us.

Well, the lot didn't reach its reserve price and was withdrawn.

But, after the auction, the property was bought for £35,000 by Simon.

He runs a property maintenance business,

so he is the perfect man to get this place back on its feet.

I met him at the house to find out exactly what his plans are for it.

-Simon, good to meet you.

-Hi.

-You were not the last bidder there.

-The person before, is that right?

-Yes, I dropped out at 34,000. Um...

The auctioneer dropped the hammer down and I decided

I was going to go for a later property. I didn't go for that one.

Ended up going to the auctioneer afterwards and asking

if I could purchase this one, and he said 35,000.

-So somebody had bid 34½, so that didn't get it, but 35 did?

-Yeah.

-Wow.

So why did you want to buy?

Um, just an investment property for myself, and retirement fund.

Is the plan to do it up and rent it out, or sell it on?

Hopefully, I've got a tenant that's going to be moving in in around two months.

Oh, right, already? How did you get them so quick?

Pot luck, really.

They're moving out of their tenanted area

-and want to move closer to Bentley, where he works.

-Result.

-And what kind of rental are they paying you?

-Hopefully, 375.

That figure is much less than the £450 per calendar month

the estate agent thought was achievable here.

I suppose a lot rests on how much work he decides to do.

However, Simon already owns a buy-to-let around the corner,

so he does know the area.

He's got to be actually able to get the tenant across the doorstep.

-What do you think's happened there?

-A bit of woodworm, just general dry rot.

-I'll redo the joists.

-You say that very flippantly. That's a big job!

Um, I've done quite a bit of woodwork before

and doing the floors in the last house I did

was a big renovation job, so it doesn't faze me.

Is that what you do? Is that your job?

-I do that and I do industrial roofing, as well.

-OK. What else are you doing?

Re-skim some of the walls.

Just generally a lick of paint and bring it up to standard for the tenant.

Now, obviously, you've got this extension on the back which houses the kitchen and the bathroom.

Flat roof, doesn't look to be in brilliant condition,

any plans for that?

I was tempted to put a lean-to on top of it,

put an angled roof on, but looking at it from the bedroom window,

-it just looks like the gutters need cleaning.

-Right.

To stop the flow of water backing over.

So any plans for layout changes at all?

There's a possibility of removing a wall

and putting a P-shaped bath in there with a shower above the bath.

-Which wall would you take out?

-The secondary wall as you walk into it.

-Oh, OK. Create a bit more extra space?

-Yes.

Well, his property maintenance background will stand him

in good stead for the job ahead.

Although, he will be calling in certified tradesmen

when and where they're needed,

with, he hopes, the job completed in two months.

But with £35,000 already invested in the place and a tenant lined up,

he's going to have to be careful with his budget to make this place pay its way.

-Possibly looking around £6,000 to 7,000.

-Right.

Is that going to include a new kitchen and bathroom, or not?

-New work surface. Seems quite strong.

-Right. Really keep the budget down.

-Yeah.

-And plans for the future, once you've done this one?

-Remortgage and start again.

-Build a portfolio of how many, in the end?

-I'm looking to have ten in the next five to seven years.

-Right.

Whether I'll buy one and sell one, I don't know yet.

It depends on what the properties are and how much funds I've got available.

-Listen, congratulations. Good luck with it.

-Thank you.

Well, Simon does seem to be pretty laid back about what,

to most people, would be some pretty extensive renovation work to be carried out.

A small budget, too.

Will he achieve as he thinks he will?

You can find out later in the show.

Still to come, will things be quite as laid back in busy south London

with this mid-terrace in Tooting guided at £330,000?

Will I need a stunt double

when I go back to this two-bed terrace in Crewe?

Help!

'But first we go back to the country lanes of Kent.

'Can we park the car yet?'

No. This isn't yours, it's next door's.

In the commuter heaven of Swanley in Kent,

just a mile from the mainline station,

this terraced cottage was in need of a bit of a face-lift.

# I'm so glad that I'm so glad

# I'm glad, I'm glad I'm glad. #

The new owners, Sam and Philip,

are old hands at Homes Under The Hammer.

This is their third time on the show.

They paid 159,000 at auction, without tax and expenses, of course,

and plan to spend a further 25,000 to the value of this property

over a three-month period.

How did they intend to tackle it?

Let's talk about the cladding.

I know what you're like and you'll probably want to get to the bottom of that.

All your neighbouring properties have that beautiful,

lovely, raw brickwork. How hard is it to get rid of cladding like that?

I know you're a builder and you know everything there is to know.

Tell me.

Um, well, it's a hit-and-miss, really, how well it's been fixed.

We have taken a few little pieces off just to see.

It came off easily and there is no damage to the brickwork,

so, fingers crossed, we're hoping it will come off again.

Four months later, and Sam's injury has completely healed.

They've paved the front garden, which is fantastic,

and they've also managed to restore the fine brick exterior.

They've removed the narrow outside door, too.

Let's see how they've transformed the inside.

Originally, here, there was a window.

The entrance to the kitchen was to this side here.

And, as you came into the kitchen, this was the door

and the kitchen was only to here, originally.

We had a little square lean-to, which was very damp, a bit dingy.

There was originally a bay window here.

We took the window out, we squared off the kitchen to make this lovely space.

We obviously bricked up the original entrance to make the nice entrance there,

which gave the space here for a table and chairs.

We installed new units, new tiling, new appliances,

nice grey floor, which I really like, and we modernised it, basically,

but with that country feel, as well, because we are in the country.

It gives more options. Before, it was you go in, cook, come back out.

Now, you can go in there and make it more of a family room,

with table and chairs, and you can enjoy the space.

The main things we've done since we bought the property

was the central heating had to be completely renewed.

Checked out the wiring, obviously,

and we put a new extension on the property.

We also got rid of that horrible cladding on the front.

And just generally decored it and got rid of the Artex, as well.

The bathroom was very dated.

It had an old, square, little shower,

so we opened it up and put a nice new shower in.

We redid all the tiling, the walls, put a new floor in, et cetera,

and just modernised it.

The longer timescale wasn't because of any difficult issues,

it was more to do with working round the other projects

with Sam and Philip's busy construction company.

Their budget for the work was £25,000

and their spend was only 20,500.

That means their outlay was just over £180,000.

One issue that hasn't been solved yet is the problem with parking.

Their new paved area at the front can be considered a legal parking space.

An application to drop the kerb is unlikely to succeed,

because of the tight corner nearby.

That leaves a future buyer to negotiate with neighbours.

There's already a right-of-way at the side of the house.

From here, they could create a parking space on part of the back garden,

which, so far, has not yet been altered.

Let's see what two local estate agents think of the property.

Very, very different from when I saw it a few months ago.

Before the works. They've done a great job on it.

While it is a Victorian cottage, and they've kept some of the features,

but they've mixed it - like a fusion with contemporary, modern features.

I'd say with the kitchen, the units they've chosen, very nice, neutral.

Obviously, with the paint they've gone with.

And with French doors on the back, as well, leading into the garden...

Again, completely different from what was here before.

Bathroom - the fact it's upstairs.

It was originally a bedroom when this was built 100-odd years ago.

So you've got a wonderful big bathroom, a separate shower cubicle.

Exactly what anyone would want.

With the bathroom, again, they've gone for very nice and neutral,

and a separate shower, as well,

which, for local commuters, close to the station,

hits the right target market.

The property would probably fit one or two types of people.

One, professional first-time buyers,

or, secondly, in the modern day and age,

a divorcing couple - if someone's selling the family house,

stepping down, this'd work for them.

Remembering that they have spent over £180,000 on this property -

what return could they generate?

I would expect to achieve in the region of £225,000-£230,000.

Marketing price, you'd probably be asking around £230,000.

£225,000-£230,000.

Yes, I think that's the value we expected.

-And where our research, more or less, came in at.

-It was. Yeah.

That should be a profit of between £40,000 and £50,000,

less taxes and expenses.

What about rental returns?

I would expect with rental

to achieve within the region of £875-£900 per calendar month.

To rent property you'd be achieving around £950 per calendar month.

Yes, I think the values are accurate.

That's about right. That's where we expected to be.

-That's what we expected, really.

-Yeah.

That's a yield of 6%. No wonder, they intend to sell

and move on to the next project.

Well, the thing is, we're happy doing it.

We enjoy our job. So why stop?

It's a hobby, really.

As long as we can, I think, just continue.

This is Tooting, a suburb in the south-west of London.

# South of the river

# Is where I'll be...#

Tooting was once considered a little

bit rough around the edges, but no more.

It is definitely on the up, with people being priced out

of neighbouring Balham and Clapham.

And, you know, there's some lovely housing stock here -

late Victorian, Edwardian...

Pretty much like this place.

It's a three-bedroom terrace at a guide price of 330,000 quid.

Let's take a look.

Well, I wonder if we can tell anything about the house

by that door.

Little bit of...erm...stained glass,

if that's the word I'm searching for - or two words. Really pretty.

But straight in and I think that could be an indication

of what the house is like. It's kind of... It's...

It's of an era. And hasn't changed much.

But good-sized rooms, nice-sized front room there.

Stairs up to the bedroom there.

Rear, sort of, living area space...

what I think would probably be, in my world, a kitchen here.

But, no! Because then it goes down some steps - how odd is that?

Even weirder - you've got that little room there -

and into this rear sitting-room.

So I guess - kitchen, middle, rear sitting room at the back, stairs...

What is going on with this place?!

# What's going on?

# And I say hey-ey-ey... #

It's not the most ideal layout,

and there doesn't even seem to be a proper kitchen in here.

Just that sink and a cupboard-sized room.

# What's going on? #

But the good news is there's a long south-facing garden,

great for summer evenings, eating alfresco.

But what's happening upstairs?

# What's going on? #

So a slightly less-than-perfect layout downstairs,

but a completely different kettle of fish up here.

Upstairs I really like it.

Bedroom towards the back. This is the bathroom and loo.

It's actually in a very logical place.

And two more bedrooms -

the one at the front is a good size, and the smaller one just there.

The other thing I notice when I come up here...

you've got this fantastic... Well, basically, roof light,

casting loads of light down the stairs.

It also starts me thinking,

is there an option for extending here?

Well, you'd have to check out the roof space,

check the joists or the beams.

Erm... But then it's all about chatting to a local estate agent

and finding out if some kind of extension,

either up, or to the back, is worth doing.

Would you get your money back?

Would it make it more saleable? Or, if you plan to live here,

would it just make it a nicer house to live in?

So let's do exactly that, and ask a local property expert

his views on the property and the surrounding area.

Tooting has become very popular

due to the fact that areas like Clapham and Balham

have risen in price and those people have been moved down

to Tooting because the prices weren't as high.

But they're climbing, and they're getting more bang for their buck.

Does he think that by extending into the roof

it will add value onto this property?

In Tooting, if you were to do extensions and loft conversions,

you would get your money back.

Those sort of items can really increase the price there.

But what if the owner decided to just renovate what's here?

How much does he think it could be worth?

Once the property's done up, and done to a good standard,

if it's a three-bedroom, you'd be looking at about £480,000.

What about the rental market?

Roughly for a three-bed in the area, I think you'd be looking at

between £1,350 to £1,500, depending on the spec and location.

So, would this Tooting terrace

have made a lucky purchase for someone? Well, I think it would.

A good-sized house, opportunity for expansion,

and a chance to make a little bit of money.

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

So, lot one, three-bed mid-terrace house.

Who would like to kick off on this?

Must be worth 300, not going to go below 300.

It's worth that all day.

Others certainly seemed to think so, and very quickly,

the bidding reached £400,000.

400...

401?

402?

403?

404?

405?

406?

407?

408?

409?

410?

411?

412?

412, sir?

411 with the lady.

412 at the back. Are you coming in?

Or down here?

412. New spot.

413.

414.

415.

416.

416. Anywhere else?

416, new spot.

417.

418.

419.

420.

421.

422.

423.

424 anywhere?

If not, for 423, first time?

Second time?

424.

425.

He's cagey.

426.

427.

427. 428.

429.

430. Thank you.

431.

432.

Are you sure?

431.

With you, madam.

432, elsewhere?

If not, 431. First time.

Second time.

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

Sold for £431,000. Well bought.

Well, a real bidding battle,

with the gavel finally coming down on Julie's bid of £431,000,

a not-insignificant £100,000 more than the guide price.

Julie was bidding as part of a group of four friends

who've joined forces to develop this property.

Julie couldn't make it to the Tooting house,

so I met up with two other members of the team -

Richard, a self-employed hotelier from Clapham,

and builder friend Vlad, originally from the Ukraine.

-Richard, Vlad, good to meet you both.

-Good to meet you.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

Tell me why you wanted to buy this place.

It's just a fantastic investment.

When you look at the housing market around here, it is on the up.

There's a lot of push-out from Balham

which has come down to Tooting, and into Streatham.

So do you know the area quite well, then?

Pretty well, I live in Clapham myself.

I've just finished a two-bed flat which we renovated in Streatham.

And we're just watching the market move up at the moment.

It's a very strong market.

So, tell me about this project.

Well, my company will be developing this project,

and we are going to do the roof a little bit.

Do a rear extension, a little bit.

A little bit of garden.

And we'll turn this house into a nice family house.

So there are four people involved, basically, in...

-like, a shared responsibility for buying this place?

-Yes.

-But it's your job to sort it out?

-That's right.

-So what do you think of it?

-Well, it's a healthy house.

I can't see anything wrong with it, at all.

But it has to be renovated to a good standard.

Right, so what are you going to do?

Well, to be honest, everything has to be...

There's a lot.

-Everything has to be stripped and put right.

-OK.

That is certainly a lot of work for Vlad to do.

But what exactly are their plans?

We are going to take out this wall.

That wall is going to go,

the fireplace behind there,

we'll take out, close up this door

so you'd come into this room through the door just there.

-This is just going to be one huge sitting room.

-Wow.

The kitchen, we're allowed to extend 3m of permissible development.

So we're going to put an extension on the kitchen,

big bi-fold doors, sloping roof,

couple of big Velux windows in there.

Take out the chimney breast in the kitchen, as well,

so you'll have a really big, wide kitchen-cum-day room.

Then upstairs the bedrooms we're not going to touch too much,

-and then we're going to go up into the roof.

-Wow.

There's about 38 cubic metres up there.

-So we can do a really big double bedroom with en-suite up there.

-Wow.

What about the strange layout at the back?

With the steps down into the living room...?

Are you knocking all that around?

The steps to the little room, no.

We're closing up that wall,

then turning that into a downstairs utility room -

so washing machine, tumble dryer.

Working on the premise that we want to make it into a family house -

it'll be a great place for kids to be able to sit,

Mum and Dad are cooking supper, or whatever,

and the kids can just play there and watch TV...

And then, of course, with bi-fold doors, you've got the deck.

We're going to deck out for about 15ft.

So when the weather is nice you can just open the doors,

they can play on the deck, play in the garden.

It should be ideal.

It sounds really nice.

-What's the biggest challenges ahead for you, Vlad?

-Well...

-Easy-peasy for you?

-Easy-peasy. I'm not worried about this.

It's just technical - just start and finish it.

# Cos he had high hopes

# He had high hopes

# He had high apple pie in the sky hopes.. #

Vlad seems very chilled considering his friends Richard, Michael and Julia

are pinning their hopes on his building skills.

Since he's used to doing high-end, multi-million pound projects,

I don't think they have anything to worry about.

He's set an £85,000 renovation budget.

Once were done, we're confident we're going to get about 650.

-650?

-Yeah.

-Whoa!

So potentially a big profit?

Hopefully.

So if they do get that large profit,

what are the four friends going to do then?

Hopefully we'll just keep all the profits in the bucket when it's sold.

-Right.

-And we'll buy another one.

-And then we'll buy another one.

-OK.

And quite a lot of people involved in the project. How's that going to work?

It's working pretty well at the moment.

Um... We all have been through the house a few times.

There's a consensus on the work we need to do.

Vlad has done the estimate based on the work we need to do.

At the moment it's just a question of - once we start -

it's managing costs and making sure we don't overspend.

Right. No danger of squabbles, then?

Can't see any.

Good, congratulations. I hope it turns out well for you.

-Thanks a lot.

-We look forward to seeing how you get on.

So the four friends going into business together.

Will it be a case of many hands make light work?

Or too many cooks spoil the broth?

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

Turning a property from a worn-out shell into a home

can be very rewarding. Oh, and profitable.

But did everything go to plan for our buyers?

Let's take a look and see how things turned out.

# Oh, Mr Porter, what shall I do?

# I want to go to Birmingham and they're taking me on to Crewe... #

Early in the programme there was definitely no queue in Crewe

to purchase this two-bed terrace.

In fact, it was bought for £35,000 after the auction, by Simon,

when it failed to meet its reserve price.

He runs his own property maintenance company

and before that ran a roofing business.

It was just as well, since this property's problems had me floored.

Ooh!

-What do you think has happened there?

-Woodworm, just general dry rot.

-I'm redoing all the joists.

-That's a big job.

Um, I've done quite a bit of woodwork before, and doing the floors,

-and the last house I did was a big renovation job.

-Right.

So it doesn't faze me.

Simon already owns one buy-to-let, and had a tenant lined up for this house,

which he bought as an investment for his long-term retirement fund.

He planned to spend £6,000 renovating the property,

including extending the shower room at the back of the house,

and there was, of course, the jungle to hack back,

all in a two-month timescale.

# Jungle love, it's driving me mad

# It's making me crazy, crazy... #

Now, ten weeks later, Simon has assured us

that we can safely step through the front door.

Well, that gaping hole has been repaired.

New timbers plus an air vent to fix the damp by the chimney breast.

Replacement laminate flooring has been laid

right through into the dining room.

And with new doors and skirting boards, things are looking good.

The kitchen has a new worktop,

but what else has Simon been doing?

It's been redecorated, plastered throughout the house.

We've re-configured the bathroom, took down a wall

and managed to get a bath in there instead of just the shower.

Changed the front door, the back door and new flooring throughout.

I'd suspected utilising that waste area by the back door

would be worthwhile.

It wasn't much, but you can now soak rather than stand and shower.

But I'm still curious to know how big a job

fixing that non-suspended floor at the front door was.

As soon as you opened the door

there was a hole that was probably 2ft by 2ft.

The whole of the floor had to come up and I re-timbered the lot

and put it back down and made good.

Simon finished the house with carpeting upstairs,

and if there are signs of occupation

that's because he already has a tenant.

It ended up being a quicker turnaround

than Simon had initially anticipated.

The timescale was eight weeks

and we did it in six-and-a-half weeks

because the tenant needed to move in.

Simon runs a property maintenance company

so he has had other jobs to tackle as well.

Did he get any help here?

It's mainly been myself and Jamie who I generally work with.

We've worked together for about seven years now.

Simon and his apprentice, Jamie, did require a qualified gas engineer

to fit a replacement boiler,

but outside they cleared the encroaching weeds

and knocked down a wall that was unsafe.

So what's been the best bit?

Building the back wall was quite a good, enjoyable experience.

Painting, my little girl helping me.

She loved it, she loved painting upstairs.

I've got a three-month-old boy - hopefully he'll join in next time.

I'd give it a year or two, Simon, or you'll end up with

handprints just where you don't want them.

There's been good news on the money front.

Simon's budget of 6,000 to 7,000 proved excessive.

Even with the boiler replacement,

he thinks he's spent around 5,400.

With the £35,000 he paid for the property,

it would take his total investment to £40,400.

So, with a tenant already in place, he has just one thing left to do.

To remortgage it

and go on to the next venture.

We invited two local estate agents to come and have a look

at the property to find out how much Simon could remortgage for.

What do they think of the refurbishment?

First impressions, this is a great terraced property, nice finish

and perfect for young buyers looking to move into the area.

It is what it is, it's a two double-bedroomed terrace property,

so you have limits to what you could do.

It's nice and fresh throughout and it brightens the whole place up.

I particularly like the kitchen of this property.

Very contemporary, very modern, perfect for families.

It's got two reception rooms,

so again it makes it very popular for sale or for let.

Let's talk figures.

How much do the agents think the house is now worth?

More than the £40,400 Simon has invested?

In the current sales markets we'd be looking round about £60,000.

In my opinion this property would sell for offers over £70,000.

A bit of a disparity in valuations there.

Based on those figures, if Simon was selling,

there is a potential profit of between £19,600

and £29,600

before taxes and expenses.

But those valuations will be good news for his remortgage calculations.

That's a bit more than I expected,

so, yeah, I'm very pleased with that.

Simon already has a tenant,

so is he getting the right rent for it?

If this property was on the rental market,

it would fetch about £450 per calendar month.

That's a good figure.

I'm getting less than that at the moment, so I'm pleased with that.

Well, prepare yourself, Simon - you might be even happier.

In my opinion this property would let for a figure of £550 per calendar month.

That would generate a whopping 16% yield

if your rent did increase to £550 per calendar month.

That's a bit of a shock, that one.

That would be really nice if I got that.

You've got to hand it to Simon - he took on a property

that a lot of people would have run away from, and for his second

investment property, things have turned out just fine.

And there's clearly some income potential for the foreseeable future.

Has it tempted Simon to get the auction catalogue out again?

Yes, I'd go to the auction again.

I'm looking at another one in next month's auction so,

fingers crossed, I'll bid on that one.

It certainly has been a success.

Well, Simon took a chance on a property that no-one else wanted,

but here in up-and-coming Tooting, south London, four friends

faced fierce bidding and paid a whopping £431,000 for this

three-bed mid-terrace, and they planned to make the most of this property.

Richard was going to use his business expertise to project-manage

and since Vlad had construction experience

in high-end projects, I had high hopes for the outcome.

What are you going to do?

To be honest, everything has to be stripped.

There's a lot.

-Everything has to be stripped and put right.

-OK.

That wall's going to go,

the fireplace behind there we're going to take out,

-close this door up so you'd come into this room through the door just there.

-OK.

This is just going to be one huge sitting-room.

The kitchen, we're allowed to extend to 3m through permissible development,

so we're going to put an extension on the kitchen,

big bi-fold doors, sloping roof, couple of big Velux windows in there.

Take out the chimney breast in the kitchen as well,

so you're going to have a really big, wide kitchen-cum-day room.

Upstairs, the bedrooms we're not going to touch too much.

-Then we're going to go up into the roof.

-Wow.

There's sort of... There's about 38 cubic metres up there,

so we can do a really big double-bedded room

with an en-suite up there.

Wow.

I'll say it again, wow.

This odd, little room would become a utility space.

All this extensive work would have a healthy budget of 80-85,000

and a timescale of ten to twelve weeks.

Their plan was ambitious, but as we've seen before on Hammer,

anything can happen.

We returned five months later to see how they got on.

# Anything can happen

# Anything can... #

The converted loft is now an extremely spacious bedroom

with its own en-suite.

Knocking through the walls to create this huge kitchen is

something that Richard seems especially proud of.

So the original house finished here.

Um... And then there was a big fireplace just here.

We've taken out the fireplace, steeled across here, and then we've

extended the kitchen 3m out to here,

to where the bi-fold doors are.

And then for maximum light we've also added the biggest Velux window

we were allowed to add.

I think we've got a very modern, very desirable kitchen.

It's the future of the house. It's very light.

This is south-facing,

so we get the sun from probably about 11 o'clock in the morning,

and all the way through to the evening, to come in here.

We've put a 3m-long deck in and we've totally cleared the garden

and then just grassed it.

I think it's beautiful.

# You're beautiful, it's true... #

Extending the kitchen and cleaning up the garden led to

a discovery and a new challenge that needed to be overcome.

We did have a delay with the kitchen.

We had difficulties with the sewer

because it's only this house in the road that has an access panel.

At the back of the house we had a Thames Water mains sewer

running under where we wanted to do the extension.

So we had to move it over

and it took a lot of time.

We had to apply to Thames Water to move the sewer,

which is straightforward but time-consuming.

We had to design it

and we had to rebuild,

so this was the main thing which held us up.

And that took about six weeks.

It was interesting because

you don't do these sort of things every day.

It's been like a challenge for us.

A challenge indeed.

In addition to spending £90,000 on the renovations,

5,000 more than their initial budget,

the sewer issue led to their 12-week schedule

being extended to four-and-a-half months.

Was it a challenge worth waiting for?

We asked along two property experts to find out.

I think it's a wonderful property.

I think the kitchen is a very good size.

The kitchen-breakfast-room-diner is very popular at the moment.

With the sliding doors going out to the garden, it will be

very popular with our clients who view the property.

The loft conversion is good and they've got a walk-in shower

which is obviously very handy and quite trendy.

The fittings in the shower

upstairs are really nice.

I think the loft conversion is very nicely done.

There's a lot of demand for extra space in the area at the moment, so it's a good thing to do.

The four friends have spent a total of £520,000.

The experts reckon that Vlad, Richard and their partners

could achieve up to £2,700 per calendar month in rent.

That would give them a yield of around 6%. Their plan, however,

was to sell, so what would the experts estimate as a market value?

If you were to put this property on the market,

we'd expect to achieve between £650,000 to £670,000.

I think you'd expect to achieve in the region of

£750,000, to £775,000.

Those really are different, aren't they?

Some differing figures,

but ones that do reflect the range of prices within the area.

Richard and Vlad, however, have other plans.

We had an offer of 670, which we've accepted,

so I think at 670 we've done very well.

I'll say!

A profit of 150 grand less taxes and expenses.

It's been a brilliant project.

It's gone very well.

The house looks fantastic

and we've only just finished it

and we've already sold it.

And the new owners will be happy in it.

Well, whether you're a complete novice or a property professional,

there are always lessons to be learned about buying houses.

So make sure you join us next time

for some more auction action on Homes Under The Hammer.

-Goodbye.

-Goodbye.