Episode 72 Homes Under the Hammer

Now, if you're looking for variety and good value,

then the auction may be for you.

So here are the properties that lured our buyers on today's show.

Well, there are some really interesting tales that come

out of the auction rooms.

Some success stories and some real dramas!

We've found some more interesting properties that have been sold,

so let's see what stories they have to tell!

I'll be in a two-bedroomed house in Stoke,

where things seem a bit rushed!

What's the time scale?

-We're looking about two and a half to three weeks.

-Weeks?!

The bidders for a London property find the competition

very close indeed...

It's a hot row, this one! 241.

In Cumbria, there's an open plan two-bed terrace

and a very naughty purchaser!

Lloyd breaking the cardinal rule of buying property at auction.

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.

# Ooh, my love

# My darling

# I've hungered for your touch

# A long, lonely time... #

I'm in The Potteries,

coal canals and clay made this the epicentre of the ceramic industry.

And while the industry is a ghost of its former self,

it hasn't entirely disappeared.

Well, today I'm in Meir Hay, a suburb of Longton in Stoke-on-Trent.

About half a mile from Longton itself, with a cluster of shops,

it's a perfectly pleasant place to have a home.

Good news, because one was up for auction.

£85,000 plus was the guide price. Two-bedroomed semidetached.

Looks pretty good from the outside. In we go.

And so, any startling discoveries in store

when you walk through the front door? Eh, don't think so!

Stairs up to your bedrooms there, into the living room.

Nice that there is an open fire but obviously you need to have

some kind of a fireplace on the front there.

It looks to me like somebody's done a bit of the work,

stripping off walls, taking out the fireplace, for instance.

It's a nice-sized space. You've got double-glazing, which is good.

But actually the house, I think,

gets better the further you go into it.

Because at the back here, a good-sized kitchen.

It's a kitchen-dining room.

Obviously lacking a few basics like units!

But at least, again, you don't have to struggle trying to get

rid of the rubbish that was in here before, perhaps.

But the best thing, for me, lovely sliding patio doors.

Out onto, strangely enough, a patio. Brilliant!

I'll investigate that further in a bit.

The good news is you'll certainly be saving on skips

and on elbow grease.

# Something got me started... #

But I've spotted one other feature that you might be tempted

to remove as well.

Nice to see a few references to the local pottery tradition.

A nice frieze there.

It might go, depending on your tastes.

But upstairs here, a good-sized bathroom.

It doesn't actually have a bath in it, which is slightly inconvenient.

It has a loo, though, and again somebody's cleared it out,

so you can start from scratch if you like.

The absence of a kitchen or bathroom can make finding a mortgage tricky,

but it's not completely impossible.

However, that difficulty will possibly make this more

attractive to a cash buyer.

Two bedrooms, one at the back not so huge.

Front bedroom, a nice size and again,

looks like these were built-in cupboards that have been taken out.

Somebody's halfway through installing a boiler there.

So it's really one of those houses, lots of work needed to be done,

but somebody's actually given you a pretty good leg up

to get you started.

Inheriting unfinished projects is not always straightforward.

But the good thing is that here,

there's no obviously dodgy work to undo or have checked.

Though there are still some things I'd get rid of.

# Little fluffy clouds...

# Little fluffy clouds... #

Plus, there's the warm welcome. Woof, woof!

Off-street parking, and a garage.

And the property is in a really lovely area.

Time for me to take a closer look at what's on offer outside.

Well, at the back of the property, a really good-sized terrace garden.

And once again,

somebody's gone to quite a lot of trouble to sort things out for you.

At some stage in the past there was obviously a conifer hedge here.

Now, those things are a real devil of a job.

Not necessarily to chop down, that's the easy bit.

It's getting rid of the stuff when you've chopped it down.

But somebody's done it for you.

Along with these various shrubs and bushes. Which is good.

And as you work your way up towards the house,

a few more intriguing things. What do you reckon this is?

Looks like the sort of half-started, I don't know,

foundations and first or second course of some kind of building.

A summer house, maybe, a pretty elaborate shed. I don't know.

What are you going to do with it? That's the question.

You could, I guess, try and complete it.

Create something here, a bit of extra space.

Or put this back to a nice bit of garden.

I'd probably go with the second option.

If you decide to go green, then it would definitely be

major skip time, as there's lots of rubble to go.

However, this is a big outside space and on three levels,

so I'd be looking for low-maintenance solutions,

whether I was living here or renting it out.

This house was essentially a shell,

so did its guide price of £85,000 plus reflect its true value?

What did a local estate agent think?

Positives of this property are it's not too old.

Built early to mid '80s.

So from a development point of view, there's nothing too challenging here.

It's a property that will rent very, very easily once it's modernised.

The agent said this was a popular rental area.

But what kind of rent could this two-bed semi achieve here?

Once the renovation has taken place, for the rental market,

you'd be looking at a figure of around about £500 per calendar month.

And if we were destined for a resale?

Once renovated,

this property would have an asking price in the region of £100,000.

Well, this is one of those properties that just does

what it's supposed to, doesn't it? It's a great family home.

So, exactly what you need, big garden, garage,

lots of space inside. Just needs a bit of updating.

Fantastic one to go for.

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

So, lot 34 in Meir Hay, Stoke-on-Trent.

75 to start me?

68, then. It's got to be worth that, surely. 68 bid. In the middle.

£68,000. 70 can I say, now? 70 bid. 70. At 70,000. 72? 72.

74? 76? 78? 79, seated at the back.

79. 80? 500, you're saying. 79,500.

500 to you, sir, 80.

No? At 79,500 then, standing right. 80 anywhere else?

At £79,500 then for the first time.

At £79,500 for the second time.

Third and final time at £79,500.

Can't sell at that price.

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

The hammer didn't fall as the property failed

to meet its reserve price.

But the deal was struck for £79,250 after the auction.

It was bought by Giuseppe and his wife Margaret.

They run a recruitment company with their son, Nino.

But they and their daughter Katrina, who is an equine vet,

all have buy-to-let properties.

Margaret came along with Nino to tell me more.

-Nino and Margaret, great to meet you both.

-Thank you.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

-Tell me why you wanted to buy this place?

Really we decided to have a change in a couple of properties that we had.

So decided to sell a larger property that wasn't really working.

-And swap that for two smaller ones.

-OK, so you've sold a big one?

-Yes.

-And bought two little ones?

-Yes.

-Yes.

-So, let's talk specifics, then.

The house you had, how much was it? How much was it worth?

-We managed to complete at 180.

-180.

And how much rent were you getting for it?

-You could only get about 650 a month from that.

-Right.

So with that 180, what are you in the process of buying?

The first property, total cost has come in at about 70,000, completed.

-Right.

-And that's with a rent of 525.

-Well, big difference. Striking.

-Half the price, but only 10% less rent.

-Yes.

Just goes to show, doesn't it?

Mmm, two for the price of one!

It seems to have been a smart financial move in this instance.

Spending the £180,000 they made from selling the big house

has given them two sources of rent instead of one.

However, two properties can mean twice the work

and twice the maintenance costs.

The recruitment business focuses on the education sector.

So that means Margaret, Giuseppe

and Nino have school holidays to develop their portfolios.

Husband Giuseppe will be involved, but it looks like the majority

of the work here will be down to these two.

So tell me what you're going to do to sort it out?

Well, you coordinate.

I'll be coordinating, doing a fair bit of the work myself.

-We're going to remove the fireplace, have it skimmed.

-Take it away?

-Take it away.

-Really?

-Just to give some more space, really.

And just paint through, new carpets, and that's about it for in here.

Right. Rest of the house?

Rest of the house, obviously new kitchen,

-new flooring, new bathroom, shower. Get rid of the Artex!

-Mmm!

And the same with the landing.

-And outside? It's quite pleasant, isn't it?

-Yes.

-It is.

At the back there'll be a gravel garden and the rest laid to lawn.

-A lawn area.

-Great. What's the budget, then?

We're looking at round about 6,500-7,000.

-That's factoring in you doing a lot of the work?

-Yes.

And are you going to get involved at all, Margaret?

-Yes, I do the painting!

-Oh, do you? Dab hand with the paint brush!

-No, not really, but I do the painting!

-You enjoy it?

-And I choose the tiles.

-Right.

-And the kitchen and the bathroom.

-Oh, terrific.

-Yes, I do the spending!

-Yes? Oh, right, OK.

No, important job! What's the timescale?

-We're looking about two and a half to three weeks.

-Weeks?!

-Yes.

We have a tenant that's interested already.

-And it's just a matter of letting it when we're done.

-Wow!

-So that's a result, then.

-Yes.

-Yes.

-The money can be pouring in pretty quick!

-Yes.

-Well, listen, congratulations.

-Thank you.

-Good luck with it.

-Thanks very much.

-And look forward to seeing how you get on.

-Thank you very much.

So, Nino and Margaret and their family making the, I think, very

sensible decision to sell one house and buy two others with the profit.

This is one of them, it's going to do very well for them.

Perfect, they've already got a tenant lined up.

All they've got to do now is sort it out in a fairly frantic timescale.

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

And from Stoke-on-Trent

to Catford in the Southeast Lewisham Borough of London.

In its time, the area has been home to comedians Ben Elton

and Spike Milligan and the aptly-named musician Cat Stevens!

But they're not the only ones

who thought this was a good place to settle.

This part of Catford is known as the Corbett housing estate.

It was built by Quakers in the 1900s and was developed to house

only respectable families.

So it was originally designed with plenty of places of worship,

but not a single pub.

Let's hope the house I'm here to see is suitably honest and worthy!

The estate was laid out in a rigid grid pattern.

And is still very popular with families today.

So, here's the property.

It's a three-bedroom Victorian terrace which had a guide price

at auction of £185,000 plus.

Now, my first impressions are I like that bay window and the fact

that it's set back from the road with a good front garden here.

So, so far it's all looking pretty decent and upstanding.

I think the Quakers would approve.

I can see straightaway this house needs a lot of work.

It is dated, you've got bare floorboards.

A wonky radiator here, oh.

But there are also some nice period features in here which makes me

smile, of course.

The front reception here has got a lovely original fireplace.

You've got a very small kitchen over here. Bit of a cupboard in there.

You will definitely have to change that because it doesn't work.

And then right at the back this huge extended living room

and another period fireplace which is fabulous.

But I'm spotting missing floorboards, there's signs of damp.

Rot by the looks of it.

I'm not even sure the floor over there is safe to walk on.

It feels a bit spongy.

This is really where the refurb costs could start to mount up.

MUSIC: "If I Had A Million Dollars" by Barenaked Ladies

# If I had a million dollars

# If I had a million dollars

# Well, I'd buy you a house

# I would buy you a house. #

OK, maybe not as much as 1 million but it would be easy to spend

a lot of money here, unless you're careful.

I do think a large kitchen is essential

so moving it into here and using the old one as a utility room

would be a much more modern way of working the space that you have.

Outside, the garden is messy and overgrown but cut it back

and tidy it up and it's a decent size.

But what does upstairs have to offer?

Upstairs we've got three bedrooms. A very small single bedroom there.

There's a double there, another single through there.

But this bathroom, it certainly needs replacing

but compared to the bedrooms this is quite large.

But this here is a stud wall so you could think about taking this out

and completely rejigging the space up here to make it work for you.

But, personally, I quite like a large, luxurious bathroom.

What do you do in the bath?

At the moment it's not really a setting for those scented

bubbles and fluffy towels.

Nice tiles and a new bathroom suite are a must.

You can add to that the list of things that need doing in this

house which so far consists of clearing the garden,

sorting the electrics, fixing the damp, mending the floors,

installing a heating system and moving the kitchen.

The house came guided at 185,000.

So, we invited a local estate to cast his eye and ask his opinion.

Firstly, does he agree with me about switching the kitchen?

The current property is already extended

and in this area where we're standing at the moment would make a fantastic

kitchen/diner which is very popular with buyers' at the moment.

So that's what I would personally recommend would add to the

saleability of the property.

So, we're agreed on that kitchen move.

Now, what does the agent think this house is worth on the market

if that lengthy list of fixes were done?

The property market is extremely buoyant and is rising.

We would estimate at this current time £300-320,000.

And if it were to be rented, post renovation, of course?

How much would he suggest it would go for per calendar month?

The type of rental you should be expecting to achieve

on a property of this size, in good standard, would be £1,500-1,600.

This Catford house certainly has a few problems.

The floorboards are rotten and there's damp

but I think it's got great potential.

Who was brave enough to take on this terrace?

Let's find out who bid for this one at auction.

To Catford now. Lot 33. Three-bed end-of-terrace house.

Start around 180.

Right, 180. Sorry. 185 with you. 190?

195, sir? 200?

With you 200. New spot, 200. 205.

That guide price of 185,000 was quickly forgotten

and after bidding from all around the room the battle for this

property was fought out between three bidders in the same row.

We rejoin at a bid of 241,000.

It's a hot row, this one.

241? 242?

243? 244? 245? 246?

247? 248? 249?

No, 248. Green shirt. First time, second time, third and last time.

Are you all done?

Sold 248. Well done, green shirt.

Green shirt or, as he's usually known, Dennis, was the final bidder.

Paying £248,000 for the property.

A substantial 63 grand over the guide price.

Dennis is originally from Canada but has lived in the UK for the past

12 years and this Catford end-of- terrace will be his fourth project.

Although it's a far cry from what he's done before.

MUSIC: "Canada" by Pilot

# Canada, you got an open door

# You got so many things I swear I never saw them before. #

Dennis, lovely to meet you today.

Tell me what you're going to do with this house and why you wanted to buy it.

This is the first property I've ever bought at auction.

And funnily enough all my previous ones were new builds.

Now, I'm going to have to stop you there because this is funny for me.

Most people start off with a little refurbishment like this

and they move on to a new build.

Well, what attracted me

to do a refurbishment is with a new build typically

you are looking at a year to 16 months turn around time.

By the time you've got your financing in place, by the time you've

sorted out the planning... I'm an NHBC registered builder

but you still have to get all the warranties whereas with

a little refurbishment like this it was a way to keep my crew busy.

I have really good people and I didn't want to lose them.

And I thought, "You know what,

"I should be able to turn this around in three to four months."

Excellent, so you've got a fantastic team on stand-by.

Yeah, I like to use the same people over and over again

because we know how we work together. You can trust them.

I know that pricing wise it will be right.

It's just easier to work with people you've worked with before.

This house has got the bones of being something beautiful.

It's traditional, it's charming. But it does need a lot of work.

And I know a lot of people would have been

put off by this on auction day.

So, how are you going to change it?

Downstairs, more or less, the layout will stay the same.

The only thing we are going to do is for some reason

they put the kitchen in what should be a bathroom.

Which doesn't make any sense to me. It's ridiculous.

-Why is the kitchen in the cupboard?

-Don't know.

But the kitchen needs to go into the lounge off the wonderful back

garden with a deck, with a big folding bi-fold doors onto that deck.

How about knocking through this wall or do you

think that will be too big?

I think that there is value in keeping this as a separate

reception or possibly a bedroom because a lot of people have

ageing relatives and not everyone wants to go upstairs.

So by turning that tiny kitchen into a WC and shower room,

keeping this, it gives the potential buyer or renter

the flexibility of using this as an extra bedroom.

And they've still got a massive private lounge,

kitchen/diner in the back.

Are you going to extend any more or leave the footprint as it is?

That's a good question.

There is the possibility of doing a first floor small extension to

extend one of the bedrooms.

Now, that is a great idea.

And I'm liking the fact that I do feel the upstairs is

a little on the small side.

-But do you think that is money well spent?

-Here's the thing.

I'm from Canada originally

and when I first came over to this country

I was amazed how people in the UK based the value of houses

on the number of bedrooms but not necessarily the size of the bedrooms.

Someone will say it's a five-bedroom house

but there's barely enough room to swing a cat in some of these rooms.

And keeping room sizes front of mind with or without the extension

Dennis is planning on moving the bathroom to the small single

bedroom and making the current bedroom into a larger

bedroom by stealing some space from the landing.

He's already had an architect draw up plans.

One set without the upstairs extension and one set with it.

So, how much does he think his budget will be?

£25,000 which is going to be tight but I think we can do it.

And with the extension, if we do that, another 7-8.

I was just afraid with my first refurbishment that

I may overspend because most of my other projects have

been in more expensive areas of London

so I tend to do a really high quality finish and spend lots of money.

So the challenge for me

with this one is to keep within what I think is a very reasonable budget.

But don't go over the top because I don't think the area can support it.

You call yourself the new build guy.

You're a bit scared of the refurb

so I'm quite looking forward to seeing what you do here.

-Are you a little nervous?

-Always nervous.

Whenever you do these things it's a risk.

You never know how it's going to turn out.

But you just do your best

and at the end of the day there is an element of luck.

But you do have a passion and that shows.

I love doing this because it's creative.

It's exciting, it's fun and also I think I'm doing something worthwhile.

Someone's going to live here,

someone's going to have a family here.

And I hope I'm going to build something apart from making me some

money, hopefully, is going to give someone a really nice place to live.

-Good luck with this.

-Thank you.

-Can't wait to see what you've done.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

So this three-bedroom house is Dennis's first

experience of renovation rather than building from scratch.

Once this property is finished what will he end up preferring, I wonder?

Building from new or making good the old?

And will he end up adding the first floor extension or not?

You can find out how he gets on later on in the programme.

Coming up, in Cumbria will it pay to take a risk with this two-bed

property?

-You hadn't seen it?

-No. I bought it blind.

And in Catford Dennis has transformed his garden

from this to this.

So just imagine what he's done to the house.

But first we're back in Meir Hay. A pleasant suburb of Stoke-on-Trent.

This two-bedroom semidetached property was bought for

£79,250 as a family project by

Giuseppe, Margaret and their son Nino.

Margaret came along with Nino to tell us

about their savvy move in selling a larger property to fund

the purchase of two smaller ones for a bigger yield.

And while we were talking scale there was something else that

was minuscule.

What's the timescale?

We're looking at about two and a half to three weeks.

-Weeks?

-Yes, we have a tenant that is interested already.

-It's just a matter of letting the work be done.

-That's a result then.

-The money can be pouring in pretty quick.

-Yes.

And as the previous owner had already done

a lot of the stripping out, they did have a head start.

But still, two and a half to three weeks?

Well, this lot meant business because three weeks

later on the dot we're back.

A vast improvement for sure.

And other than a few bits and pieces left to finish off outside,

Nino has met the tight deadline.

In fact, from when they started, the job has taken two weeks.

It just goes to show what a bit of hard work and determination

and the pressure of a tenant waiting in the wings can do.

However, just because it's been done in double quick time doesn't

mean it's been problem free.

When we first bought the house we had a little issue with

the dividing fence.

We weren't sure who it belonged to or who was responsible for it.

After a chat with the friendly neighbours we decided we'd go 50/50

and we've renewed the whole length and it really smartened the garden up now.

And it's not only been reaching a fair compromise over

the fence that has kept neighbourly relations in good health.

When developing property it's always good to be able to get on with

the neighbours.

A bit of respect for them in terms of making sure that...

making noise, putting the kitchen in, bashing the tiles off.

We've tried to do it when they've been at work.

Worked around their shifts

and it's always good to get on with your neighbours.

# With fiends and neighbours

# You're the richest man in town. #

Well, they do say everybody needs good ones.

Something which wasn't so good here was the garden.

So, how did Nino make it more appealing?

Garden was originally on three levels in the back.

It had been a bit of a mix of uses so what I've decided to do is

turf the bottom area, make a nice little garden area.

Turn the middle into a gravel garden

and we're going to clean up the slabs that are here

and finish painting the fencing that we've put up and finish it off.

Although they made it much more user friendly,

costs were kept down by keeping the layout the same.

Something that certainly didn't stay

though was that striking hallway decoration.

What happened to that? That's an interesting story.

We did have to take that off.

We didn't think it would be to everybody's taste as a rental property.

It turned out that the lady that lived here had

worked for Wedgewood in the past.

-Hence the inspired colours.

-The frieze was definitely a statement.

Was Nino able to rescue it for posterity?

Unfortunately, it was chipped off with a chisel.

Shame.

Nino has impressed me by doing a lot of the work here himself,

along with the rest of the family.

However, a plasterer did the whole house including the ceilings.

Thankfully, no more Artex.

And a gas engineer checked the safety of the heating

and an electrician came to upgrade the electrics.

So there really has been a lot covered in a short space of time.

The budget was going to be £6,500 stretching to £7,000

if absolutely necessary.

How did it turn out in the end?

We've done pretty well with the budget.

Considering we've spent a little bit more than planned on the garden.

We've come in at 6,800, about £50 or thereabouts.

Adding to the purchase price of £79,250,

that brings the total spend here to £86,100.

Time to get two local property experts round to the house

to see if they're as impressed as I am.

It is clear the owners of this property have redecorated,

recarpeted the property and changed the kitchen

and bathroom. The most appealing features of this property is

it has a single garage and an amply sized plot.

I feel the refurbishment has gone well.

The bathroom and the kitchen have been particularly pleasing.

And I think this would be a big bonus for the property.

'So, they can see this place appealing, but for what price?'

'As Nino and his family bought this as a rental investment,

'let's hear those figures first.'

The rental price for this property is £495 per calendar month.

If I was looking to rent the property, I'd expect to achieve

in the region of £500 per calendar month.

Erm, not bad, pretty much where we expected it to be,

although we have managed to achieve slightly higher rental than that.

'In fact, their new tenant, who was planning to move in

'the following weekend, will be paying £525 per calendar month.

'That's a yield of just over 7%.

'However, out of curiosity,

'if the property were to go on the sales market,

'would it see a rosy return?'

I would put this property on the market for sale at £95,000.

If I was marketing the property,

I'd be putting the property on the market at £100,000.

We think that's a fair price.

Looking at what's on the market in the area,

that seems to be the going rate for this size of property.

'The top valuation of 100,000 would give a profit of around £14,000,

'minus the usual taxes and expenses.

'Not a bad result in just three weeks.

'So, with all the selling, buying and renovating,

'is it time for this family to take a break?'

Yes! We've had a busy couple of years,

we've been renovating all that property portfolio,

changing things about,

so now it's time to have a bit of time off and relax.

'So, while Nino takes a break, I'm swanning off to our next location.'

I'm in Workington on the Cumbrian coast.

Back in 2009, this was the scene of some absolutely terrible flooding,

when the Derwent and the Cocker burst their banks in Cockermouth,

upstream, devastating that town

and destroying the bridge that linked north and south Workington.

Well, the bridge has been rebuilt

and Workington is rebuilding itself, too.

'With rebuilding comes regeneration and investment.'

I'm in a very popular residential part of town

to see the kind of property that's...

oh, quite ubiquitous in this area.

It's a two-bedroomed mid-terrace.

At a guide price of £50-£60,000, though...

That's quite a big difference, isn't it, 50, 60?

Is it going to be good, bad...or ugly?

Well, fingers crossed for the first. And a quite good start, actually.

You've got this little entrance area, keeps the draughts out,

and, the moment you walk in, a really nice feel, open space,

partly due to the sort of open plan design.

You've got double glazing, which is good,

a gas fire which looks like it's seen better days

so you definitely want to have that checked out.

Into the sort of rear living room area, which is a nice space,

lots and lots of light, that really strikes you about this house.

A few potential issues with, eurgh, damp there, which is...

Hmm, yeah, that definitely needs to be looked at,

possibly something going wrong with the sill there

or check out the guttering.

A few other signs of something similar.

That's probably more likely to be the fact that the house

hasn't been lived in for a little while, perhaps.

But then a nice surprise through into the kitchen,

a fairly classic design, galley-style, not in bad condition,

and then very classic design through to the very rear

of the property, where your bathroom and loo are. It's not ideal,

but it's kind of what you come to expect from this sort of house.

So, is it worth the effort of moving it? Probably not.

All in all, definitely erring towards the good.

'Yes, there's nothing too bad or too ugly here, either.

'It could do with a bit of smartening up

'and definitely need some cleaning.'

'It's a shame the bathroom's downstairs,

'but that's pretty standard around here.

'Sort out the damp, redecorate and re-carpet, perhaps,

'and this house could be good to go.'

So, let's come back to these open-plan stairs.

I think they're a really nice feature of the property

and they give a really lovely open-plan feeling

to this particular room.

They're already here, so issues about building regulations...

strictly speaking, you don't have to worry about too much.

However, I think, from a safety point of view, you really need to address the problems here

because any open stars like this are a potential danger,

because children could fall through that gap.

The current regulations say that the gap distance there

needs to be less than four inches, or you need a bar across.

Similarly on these edge bits here,

to stop children falling through here.

If you've got kids of your own, if you were moving in, that's something you'd want to do.

But if you're looking at renting this place out,

as a landlord, you have an obligation

to make sure the property is fit for purpose and safe.

So that's something I would do as a matter of course.

Well, up here the good news continues.

Two bedrooms, one at the front slightly smaller

than the one at the back, which is a really nice size.

From the front, you wouldn't guess how lovely and spacious

this property is once you come inside.

From here, though, as I always say, when you're up here

make the most of the views out onto other parts of the property.

Look at roofs, guttering, etc.

In this case, a flat roof over the top of the kitchen and loo there,

doesn't look to be in too bad condition. It really is...

a great house.

'It's a shame there isn't much outside space,

'but at least there is enough room to put washing out

'and somewhere to sit.

'As a two-bedroomed house,

'this is less likely to appeal to a larger family,

'and is probably more suited to couples and first-time buyers,

'a market, generally, where gardens are not a priority.

'That guide price of between 50 and 60,000 makes it seem affordable.'

'So, what does the auctioneer who sold it think of the house?'

It's obviously had some sort of modernisation at some point in time.

Maybe upgrade the kitchen, upgrade the bathroom, maybe.

Not too much work to be done.

Certainly leave the footprint as it is.

'Yep, all pretty straightforward,

'and if all those bits and pieces were carried out,

'would a buyer see a potential return

'on the resale or rental markets?'

'Yeah, if it was done up to a reasonable standard,'

I think you'd achieve a figure around £75,000.

'If it was exposed to the rental market,

'I think you'd achieve a figure'

in the region of £400 per calendar month.

'So, potentially a decent uplift on resale,

'and a very healthy rental yield.

'That all sounds very promising to me.'

Well, a bit of work to be done to sort this one out,

but, intrinsically, a pleasant little house

in a good location close to Workington town centre.

Good one to go for.

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

Lot 13, lucky for some.

Two-bedroom mid-terrace property,

benefiting from gas central heating, double glazing.

Accommodation briefly comprises entrance, lounge, dining room,

kitchen and bathroom to the ground floor.

Two bedrooms on the first floor.

Externally, there's a yard to the rear of the property.

Ideal investment.

45?

40, then?

40 here. 40 I'm bid. In ones.

At £40,000. 41. 41 I've got.

42. 43. 44.

Five? Thinking about it. With you at £44,000.

Back in at 45. 46.

47, 48, 49,

50. 50, I've got. 51.

Back in at 51. 52, 53,

54...

54, I've got. 55.

Shake of the head. With you at £54,000.

At £54,000, then.

Are you done? Are you sure?

I can't sell it at that.

Come and see us. We know who we are.

The two-bed house failed to reach its reserve price,

but after the auction, Lloyd, who bid £54,000,

was able to buy it for exactly the same sum.

Lloyd lives in nearby Cockermouth,

and he runs a light haulage and courier company.

-Lloyd, good to meet you.

-Hi.

-Congratulations.

-Yep.

-Tell me why you wanted to buy this place.

When I went to the auction, I was going for another property.

I didn't even look at this one.

The other one was a three-bed with a garden.

Lost it - it went £20,000 over what I was willing to pay for it.

Erm, this one came along, and I know the area,

because I was brought up the next street along.

And I know they're good little properties and good investments.

-I hadn't seen it or anything.

-You hadn't seen it?

No. I bought it blind.

-Well, I think you might have lucked out here.

-Yeah.

When you walked through the door, what did you think?

I was very pleasantly surprised. The kitchen's great,

the bathroom - yeah, it wants a good clean and that,

-but it's serviceable.

-What's the plan for it?

Is it to rent it out or to sell it on?

Well, it's an investment for my daughters.

It is going to be their property. It is bought for them for the future.

-Oh, great.

-They're 17 now, so they're going to be

hopefully moving in a few years' time, but up till then,

it'll be a rental property - just see how it goes,

and then, if they want to move in, when it comes empty,

then they can move in - it's theirs.

Because they won't get on the property ladder any other way.

Er, I've got twin girls, so, room each,

and then they can... leave me in peace!

Yes! It's increasingly hard to find

that first step on the property ladder,

so Lloyd buying this house as an investment

or stepping stone for his two daughters is a great move.

This will be his second step into property development,

having previously bought a five-bed house which,

after a two-year process, he eventually converted into two flats.

I think this one will be a bit more straightforward.

Tell me what you're going to do to it, then.

Remove the back boiler out of the fire,

get rid of the fire, put an electric fire in as a focal point.

New combi boiler.

General decorating right through, clean the carpets.

-If they'll clean, great - if they don't, it's not massive.

-Mm-hmm.

Upstairs, same again - just a general tidy-up,

general paint through, and that's it.

Any plans for the stairs? I think it works quite well,

to have them open-plan like that - would you consider moving them?

Erm, I don't think you can really move them as such,

not without losing a lot of the living space down here.

And all the houses here along this street are the same.

What's the budget for this?

Well, originally it was between five and ten,

but looking at it now, it's going to be...

-maybe three grand.

-Mmm.

-And that'll be absolutely tops.

-And the timescale?

3-4 weeks tops.

I have people wanting to move in,

-very urgently.

-Oh, already?

Yeah, yeah. I've had a phone call this morning - "Have you got the

"property? Have you got the keys? When can I have a look and move in?"

-Oh, wow!

-I've said, "Whoa, hold on a minute!

"It wants a bit of work and that!"

I mean, the girl's desperate to move in, from where she's at.

-And what kind of rent have you agreed?

-£400 a month.

-Right.

-Which is giving us a good return.

-So, you can't complain.

-Well, listen, congratulations, good luck with it.

Thank you. Bye-bye. Thanks.

Well, Lloyd, breaking the cardinal rule of buying property at auction

and not visiting it beforehand.

However, in this instance, it does seem...

that he's been very, very lucky.

It's a great house, he paid a good price for it,

but, er - three weeks to get it sorted?

It's ticking on!

We'll see you very shortly when we come back!

Well, time and tide wait for no man,

and in property terms, time usually means money.

So, let's go back and see how that time - and money - has been spent.

Earlier, I was in Catford in south-east London.

I viewed this three-bedroomed Victorian terrace

that had a lot of potential but needed a lot of work to fulfil it.

Enter Dennis, who purchased it at the auction for £248,000,

a whopping 63 grand over the guide price.

Although he was an old hand at the property game,

this place presented a new kind of challenge.

This is the first property I ever bought at auction

and, funnily enough, all my previous ones were new-builds.

I'm going to have to stop you, because this is funny for me.

Most start off with a little refurbishment like this,

and they move on to a new-build.

With a new-build, typically, you're looking at

a year to 16 months' turnaround time -

by the time you've got your financing in place,

and you've sorted out the planning...

Whereas with a little refurbishment like this,

it was a way to keep my crew busy, and I thought,

you know what? I should be able to turn this around in 3-4 months.

Dennis was undaunted by the prospect of taking on this project,

and it's now 15 weeks since he and I had that conversation.

How does it look now?

Is it even finished?

It's finished all right, and it looks pretty amazing -

and fully-furnished!

I'm delighted he got rid of that titchy kitchen,

and has created a fabulous open-plan kitchen-diner and living room,

as well as sticking to his plan of keeping the front room,

which is currently laid out as a lounge,

but could be used as a bedroom.

And upstairs has seen some equally impressive changes.

And the problem we had upstairs, the bedrooms were in the wrong place

and they were just too small.

So, this bedroom here, that has become one of the masters,

was originally two small rooms - you had a dividing wall here.

Where we put the bathroom is where the smaller bedroom was.

And then this room, you had a chimney breast taking up

almost the entire space.

So, we had to find a way that we could get more space

into the house, into the bedrooms.

And the way we did that originally

was with a plan to extend over the kitchen.

Now, the problem with that is, it would have required

planning permission, which could have taken several months,

and we weren't sure whether the structure,

the weight of that structure,

would be supported by the existing kitchen roof.

So, we came up with another plan instead.

The plan was, take the smallest of the poky bedrooms,

turn it into a family bathroom,

and then, taking advantage of the permitted development rights,

do a loft extension upstairs, which is exactly what we did

and we put a new staircase as part of that.

And this is the loft. As you can see, it's a bright, big space,

lots of windows.

A little constrained with the ceiling height because, obviously,

we had to keep within the permitted development rules but flexible room.

Someone wants an office space here, they can have it.

Someone wants to put a wardrobe, we can do a wardrobe.

But I also like it

because what we've done with this house is created flexible space.

This could be bought by two sharers

and they would both have two lovely master bedrooms.

Well, I didn't see that coming but I'm sold. Dennis has found a hugely

effective way of working the space available,

which helped to keep him within his three month timescale.

His budget was originally 33,000, with an extension out back

and he'd been worried that he would get carried away

and overspend on this refurbishment.

So, has he?

We've gone over-budget but it was a conscious decision.

Once we decided to do the loft extension,

we knew we would be looking at spending more money.

So, we ended up spending another, I would say, about £20,000.

So, all in, we're about 52.

Add that to his purchase price of £248,000

and Dennis has spent 300,000 here.

He wants to sell the property

and to do that he's done something a little different.

My experience in selling homes is that's a lot of potential

buyers need a bit of help to visualise the space.

So, long ago, I made the decision to actually stage or dress

the properties, almost like a show flat.

And, in a way, you're selling a lifestyle as well.

In my experience, it also helps to sell the homes faster

and also helps achieve the highest price.

This is a great selling tip.

If it's something you're able to do, even if you just put in the basics.

There are companies out there that will rent furniture out,

so you don't have to actually spend huge sums of money.

I've got to hand it to Dennis, he's dressed this place beautifully.

It looks good as new.

Speaking of which, he and his team usually do new-builds,

so how dos he feel about this?

It's a real sense of accomplishment just to see it finished,

to see what we've been able to achieve,

to bring this house back to life.

We all mucked in and just did it and it was fun.

# Oh, yes, it's fun time

# Fun time

# Fun time

# Fun time

# Let yourself be happy It's fun time! #

That's what I like to hear!

Someone who loves properties and the process.

I wonder what two local property experts will think

of all that hard work.

I'm very impressed with this property.

It's great, it's a period property, which everyone loves.

It's in really good condition, which is lovely.

Three good sized bedrooms

and I think the standard of this property is so high, that I don't

think the owner of this property will have any trouble selling it.

I love the fact that we still have a formal living room,

with nice period fire place.

But also we have what I would call the heart of the home now,

which many buyers are looking for, which is an extended dining room,

lounge and open-plan kitchen with doors to the garden.

It really is the heart of the home.

So, let's get to the heart of the finances.

Remember that Dennis has spent a total of 300,000 here

and he intends to sell.

I would be happy to value this property for £375,000 and I'm

more than confident in myself that I can get the full asking price.

I would currently put this property on the market at 385,000

and with the demand for stock at the moment,

I would expect to achieve that, if not more.

Wow! I'm really happy!

Really, really happy.

Yeah, erm, it's great. I think for three months' work,

I'm over the moon.

I think any developer would be happy with that valuation.

It would give Dennis a pre-tax profit of between 75 and 85,000.

That is fantastic!

But that was bettered when Dennis accepted an offer of £415,00.

Leaving him £115,000 better off,

minus the usual fees and expenses.

A job very well done!

And it's no surprise that Dennis plans to go to more auctions

and do more refurbishments in the future.

So, has he any hints for the intrepid property purchaser?

The best tip I could give is do your homework, muck in and try

and think creatively because sometimes, as I found out,

what you think the original solution is not your best one.

So, be prepared to change as the circumstances dictate.

Well, earlier in the programme,

a change was the order of the day, for sure.

We were in Workington, on the Cumbrian coast.

This two bed mid-terrace failed to meet its reserve

price at auction and was withdrawn.

But Lloyd then agreed to pay £54,000 for the property

as an investment for his two teenage daughters.

The plan was for them to move in after university if they wanted to.

Haulage company owner Lloyd

initially was going to refurbish it and rent

it out and therefore didn't plan any major reconfiguration work.

The bathroom would stay downstairs

and he wasn't going to move the staircase.

Tell me what are you going to do to it then?

Remove the back boiler out of the fire, get rid of the fire,

put an electric fire in.

New combi boiler, general decorating right through.

What's the budget for this?

Originally, it was between five and ten but looking at it now,

it's going to be, maybe, three grand.

And the timescale?

Three to four weeks tops.

I have people wanting to move in very urgently.

My concern was that he would have to tackle the open-tread staircase,

which could present a hazard for tenants.

There's guidance for landlords on these health and safety issues.

For instance, the gap openings on stairs

and banisters should be less than 100mm.

They shouldn't be too shallow or too deep

and there's guidance on banisters and so on.

It's now four months later and we've returned.

I'm intrigued why Lloyd's three to four week timescale has expanded.

Well, he has replaced all the windows.

Hang on, where are the stairs?

They've been moved completely. That explains the extended schedule.

Redesigning the layout has created this large,

uncluttered open-plan living room.

Lloyd decided to replace the bathroom.

It's still at the back of the property

and is reached through the kitchen, which has lost the black tiles

but gained a boiler for the central heating system.

As Lloyd was going to have to make safe the open-plan staircase

anyway, he decided to rebuild and relocate it, which benefits

the two upstairs bedrooms.

Originally, the staircase was coming up through there, there was

a door here, with the wall here.

Obviously, on the other bedroom but

we've had to knock these walls down and reconfigure them and that's

given us the benefical...there'll be wardrobes in both bedrooms.

It would give you two equal rooms

and extra storage upstairs and downstairs,

cos under the stairs is a cupboard as well now.

Both bedrooms can accommodate a double bed

and with the built-in wardrobe,

the floor space will be far less cluttered.

The fascias on the flat roof have been repaired

and new guttering and down pipes installed.

As I thought, the possible damp problem

was just a result of the house being empty, so no problem there.

So who's been doing the work?

One firm did all the building work, one firm did all the plumbing,

one firm did all the electrics and that was it.

The house has been rewired throughout.

Lloyd intends to replace the doors on the kitchen units

and he might put in a new hob and oven.

Originally, Lloyd planned to just clean the carpets, but in fact

he's changed his mind and now plans to recarpet throughout.

He's certainly changed a lot more than he intended to

so I'm wondering how this longer timescale has affected

-the tenant he had lined up to move in.

-I lost that tenant.

She's found somewhere else,

but I have got someone to move in, the first of next month.

We're nearly at the end now.

Another week, week and a half and it will be finished.

Relocating the stairs was a good idea,

but I wonder how this affected the budget.

That went out of the window when we knew

we had to move the staircase for safety reasons for children.

We've spent £11,000, which is 8,000 over budget,

but it was well worth it, I think.

With the £54,000 he paid for the property,

it takes his total investment to £65,000.

We invited two local estate agents to come

and have a look at the property to get their opinion

on its potential in the local housing market.

We're 90% there with the refurbishment at the moment,

but what has been done so far has been done to a good standard.

This one's going to make a good little house.

It's been replastered, rewired.

The stairs have been moved and that's created

quite an open-plan living space downstairs which is great.

Any potential purchaser could keep the room, this room as it is.

Or split it into two, so I would certainly think that

the movement of the staircase has been a positive.

How much do the agents think the property's now worth?

More than the £65,000 Lloyd has invested here?

I'd expect to ask £82,000 and achieve £80,000 easily.

We certainly think we could market this property in the region of £85,000.

Well, with £85,000 that would generate a £20,000 profit before

-taxes and expenses.

-85 is what I was expecting, there or thereabouts.

At 82, I think I would just keep it as a rental.

I wouldn't consider selling it.

Lloyd's got a tenant lined up but how much do the agents think

he should be charging?

What rental income could the property generate?

The rental market is buoyant in this town

and he should achieve £425 per calendar month.

An achievable rental figure would be between 400

and £450 per calendar month.

For what the property owes me, approximately 65,000,

I'm quite happy with £400 a month. It's a good return.

£400 per calendar month would give Lloyd

over 8% yield in the short term.

And in the longer term, the house could still be available

for his daughters when they leave university.

I wonder if he's got his eye out

for another investment property like this or something different.

If the right property comes along, I'll have a look at it.

It doesn't matter what it is, whether it's a two, three, four-bedroomed

house, or a flat, it's just the right property at the right price.

Well, we hope you have enjoyed seeing today's property portfolio.

Make sure you join us next time for more brave buyers' experiences

on Homes Under The hammer.

-We'll see you then.

-Goodbye.

-Goodbye.