Episode 74 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello. Despite slightly confused market conditions,

people still want to grab a slice of the property action.

And if you ARE prepared to take the plunge,

auctions are a great place to start.

It can be fast, it can be frantic

but it's interesting to buy your home under the hammer.

Now this show isn't just about bricks and mortar.

It's about real people with real stories to tell

and we never know how things are going to turn out.

Is it a dream, is it a nightmare?

Stay with us as we follow more lots which sold at auction.

In Stratford, East London,

the third bedroom in this flat is just a bit on the tight side.

Look, I can touch either side.

In the north-east near Gateshead,

this semi-detached house appears to have a pressing problem.

I've just noticed this on the carpet.

Somebody having a bad day with an iron.

And in Gravesend, Kent, this terraced house needs some loving.

Does the shed need a haircut?

Is it a thatched roof or even a bird's nest?

All these properties have been sold at auction

and we'll find out who bought them

-and what they paid for them when they went under the hammer.

-Sold.

This is Stratford in East London,

home to the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Stadium,

and now an area with thousands of new homes,

fabulous transport links and a mega shopping centre.

In fact,

it sort of has a feeling of a new town rather than an old one.

Well, if you were after urban, you will be happy with this location.

Railway line just over that wall, busy road in between,

and Stratford itself only 15 minutes that way.

Now it's undoubtedly going to be noisy at times but, hey,

you'll know that before you even walk in the door.

The property itself is this, it's a first-floor three-bedroom flat

and it had a guide price of £140,000.

For a three-bed flat, that's pretty good going,

especially when you consider that two-bedders around here achieve that easily,

or in some cases, even more.

Well, what a nice surprise, loads of space up here.

You've got three rooms to the front of the property,

this nice little corridor, and then at the back

I'm presuming this is a reception room.

What have we got through here? A little bathroom.

A bit disappointing, a bit on the small side.

But it's nice and quiet, nice big window as well.

And then right at the back, you've got the kitchen.

Now this certainly needs some redesigning.

I would get rid of all these units along here.

I don't usually like a sink under a window that cuts the window in half

but in this instance, I think it would work.

You only really need a little bank of units along here

and then you could redesign it in such a way

that you've got a lot more space.

What have we got here? Oh!

A bonus room. Everybody likes to see this.

Now, that gets me a bit excited

because potentially you could think about opening this space up

and having a much nicer kitchen, a little utility area.

You could even think about going through into there.

So what you thought was a very pokey, small reception room

has now turned into a nice, big kitchen, dining, entertaining space.

I love it when what you thought was a cupboard door turns out to be

a whole extra room that suddenly offers you options

for altering the layout.

This surprise room also has some stairs

which leads down to a small garden at the rear.

Though with the garden door locked at present,

I best content myself with a sneaky peek out of the window.

The three front bedrooms all seem to have a fair bit of wear and tear

while one of the larger rooms looks like it's got a damp problem.

But all in all, despite its shabby look, this would be ideal

for a small family or three young professional sharers.

They'd have to draw straws to see who ends up with this room, though.

Now this is a teeny-weeny third bedroom by anyone's standards.

A single bed measures three foot by six foot-ish,

and if you think your armspan is the same as your height, well,

I'm five foot five and, look, I can touch either side.

You will NOT get a bed in here.

I reckon this is a study or a cot room at best.

And you would struggle to rent this out to a separate individual.

Hmm, I'd say it's more of a two-and-a-half than a three-bedder.

So, the solution...

Well, you could reconfigure the layout, have the living room

and the kitchen at the front

and turn the rear rooms into two decent-sized bedrooms.

Or you could think bigger.

I've been told that the loft space comes with this flat, ie,

it is included in the deeds and you own the roof and the space above.

Great if that IS the case, although I would check thoroughly

as some vendors have been known to assume they own it

just because it's only them who have access.

But if you do, there's a clear opportunity to extend up there,

make this a proper three-bedroom and increase the value.

The lease has just over 80 years to run,

so that's not a worry for the moment, but you would need to find

out from the freeholder if you would be allowed to make major changes.

If you could, there's a good opportunity to make this flat something very desirable indeed.

# Just move on up

# Move on up... #

Loft conversions, of course, well, they don't come cheap,

so would it be worth splashing the cash on this one?

A local estate agent came along to give us his opinion.

First impression, very spacious.

Three bedrooms, two good-sized doubles, a small boxroom.

We don't get many three-bedroom flats coming up available in this area,

and I think this particular property has got a lot of potential.

No doubt about that.

But, realistically, can you call this a three-bed flat?

You can class it as three-bed because it has its own window,

but, realistically, it's two-bedroom plus a study.

So, with that £140,000 guide price,

what sort of returns could the flat make?

If it was fully renovated,

I'd personally value it between £200,000 to £205,000.

The agent also reckons that rental returns of £1,300 to £1,350

per calendar month are possible,

but how much value could a loft conversion add to this property?

If it was just a loft extension with a loft room, with an en suite,

potentially around ten, 15,000.

Whereas if it was a dormer, which will cost a bit more money,

you can potentially add another 25,000.

-And the rentals?

-Per calendar month, with an extra bedroom,

you're looking at around another £300 extra.

A reasonably priced flat in an affordable area

with heaps of scope to improve.

Let's see who went for it at the auction.

Lot 89. Inviting bids on this.

170 anywhere?

If not, you tell me.

Thank you. 150 I've got.

151 anywhere?

Thank you, 151. 152, 153,

154, 155,

156, 157,

158, 159.

More competition. 159.

160, 161, 162,

163, 164, 165.

One more? Round it off, 166?

£165,000.

Anybody else? If not, 165 for the first.

165 for the second.

165 for the third and final time... All done?

-GAVEL BANGS

-Sold, 165. Well done.

And the successful bidders were married couple Yili and Joanna.

Joanna is from Lithuania while her husband Yili is Albanian.

Together, they help run a restaurant and Yili's building company.

I met them back at the flat to find out exactly what

they had planned to serve up with this property.

Guys, congratulations. Lovely to meet you today.

How much did you want this flat, Joanna?

We had a few properties in mind and this one was one of our favourites.

So we came to see it twice,

which was the only property that we went to see twice.

So, we went for it.

So, Yili, when the hammer went down - chakoom! -

and it was yours, what were you doing?

Well, before that, I was really stressed.

We were going for another property, and I was kind of... I wasn't sure.

And with this one, we got it. I was just over the moon. Very happy.

So what is it about the flat that you like so much? Tell me.

I mean, first, it's the location, second, it's the size.

Third is the roof, which is massive, like, a really good height,

which you can convert into a loft conversion. And that's it.

Interestingly, you spotted the potential straightaway,

which would be to go up into the loft. But my next question, guys -

do you know that you own the loft space, have you checked it out?

We did. We've checked.

Well, we checked with the neighbour, we've checked with a solicitor,

and they said it belongs to us, so, hopefully, it's all good.

Keep checking. You need to check the deeds, you need to make sure.

-Are you that confident?

-Well, I am, because she wants...

The lady downstairs who owns the property, she doesn't want nothing to do anyway,

so even if it doesn't belong to us, I think it will be easy to sort it out.

OK, so you're not 100% sure.

Now, Joanna, you've just let the cat out of the bag there.

Do you think that you've not exhausted it enough?

Maybe you need to do a bit more research?

Well, yeah. We like the property without the loft.

The loft conversion is a benefit. But, yeah, the lady downstairs,

she doesn't want to do anything to the loft because...

She... She checked it anyway. She checked as well, herself.

It has got some problems and she's saying, "It's yours. I don't want... I don't want to deal with it."

-Still, you need to check.

-But still, the papers are not checked yet.

-Yili, tell me what you do.

-I'm a builder.

-Yeah.

-I've got a building company, a loft conversion company.

-I love it!

You've got a loft conversion company!

I hope you can do the loft. Why wouldn't you want to do that?

Ah, now it all makes sense.

-# You were made for me

-You were made for me

# Everybody tells me so

-# You were made for me

-You were made for me

# Don't pretend that you don't know... #

This savvy pair have their fingers in several pies.

Not only do they help run the restaurant with family members,

they also own some rental properties. But it's Yili's

loft conversion company, which Joanna also helps run,

that improves the prospects for this loft,

provided they sort out ownership.

What about any structural work down here?

You've got a kitchen that doesn't really work very well,

little, odd utility room.

How are you going to make the best of the space at the back?

Well, I've looked at the chimney.

It seems not to be doing anything at the moment.

I have to check with the people downstairs as well, but I think that

we can possibly remove it all off and just have an open space there.

Wow, THAT is going to be fantastic,

because this isn't the biggest of rooms.

If you could open it up, it will be fantastic.

And what about the front rooms?

The layout is going to stay as it is, isn't it?

I think, yeah, the front rooms, basically,

rewiring has got to be done. And some of the plumbing bits.

But in terms of opening them up, I'm not sure we're going to do that.

Probably keep it the way it is.

They aim to spend £10,000 renovating the flat

with £20,000 ready for the loft conversion.

While Yili will be getting his hands dirty and project managing,

qualified professionals will be called in for any plumbing

and electrics that need seeing to.

How involved are you going to be, Joanna?

Well, I'll just look for cheap materials, that is going to

be my job, to find the best prices on the market.

But he's going to be managing the team.

That's his responsibility, doing a good job on the...

Probably, colours.

Yeah, colours and design is going to be mine, definitely.

-Is that what you enjoy doing?

-Yeah, I love it. I love it.

The couple plan to add this to their rental portfolio,

but if the right offer did come along, they'd consider selling it.

Obviously, once it's ready.

Down here, we can get it in, like, four weeks.

Up in the loft, we have to wait for six to eight weeks, most likely

eight weeks, before we start any work.

And after that, probably another four, five weeks.

So, it's going to take about three months, I would say.

This one will be done in four weeks and then the rest a bit later.

Hopefully, when we come back, we'll see that extra,

that third bedroom, still with a nice little study downstairs.

Guys, good luck with this and I can't wait to see the outcome.

-Congratulations. Well done.

-Thank you very much.

So, a restaurant, a building company and a development on the side.

Joanna and Yili have a busy time ahead

and a real opportunity to make the most of this tired flat.

Find out how it all goes

and if they do own the loft space later on in the show.

I'm in the northeast of England, three miles from Gateshead,

four miles from Newcastle upon Tyne.

This is Whickham. What's on offer? Let's find out.

This area is situated in a high position which,

on a fog-free day, overlooks the Tyne.

And I wonder, while I'm on the lookout,

if I'll find a property bargain.

So, I am in this well-liked and desirable residential area,

and sitting on this corner plot is the property I'm here to see.

It's a 1940s, 1950s semidetached. Three bedrooms.

Guide price was £124,950. A bit precise, that, isn't it?

But look - great kerb appeal, nice driveway, manicured borders,

nice flowers and shrubs.

Let's hope the inside matches up.

A bit of flaking paint and some maintenance to do,

but first impressions are very promising.

Well, yeah. Good start.

A nice sort of open feel the moment you walk through the door.

You've got stairs leading up to your bedrooms. Bit of storage there.

But a nice feeling of space.

Very classic layout for this era and style of property.

A door there leading through into your front lounge area.

Through to your kitchen, now, this is classic.

This often lets this style of property down.

It is too small for the size of the house,

especially for today's modern living.

So, I'm thinking immediately taking out a few walls to open that out

into the dining room area there. Then through into the dining room...

I'm only laughing because I just noticed this on the carpet.

Somebody having a bad day with an iron. Don't ever iron on the carpet.

But, more clues for the era of the property. Yeah.

Ah, lovely.

Dividing doors in between the rear dining area and front living room.

They probably want to come out, don't they? As does this fire.

What I'm seeing straightaway is this is just a really nice, solid house.

Just needs a little bit of updating.

For a house that went to auction for just under £125,000,

there's not that much to, er, iron out here.

Although dated, it looks like it has been well cared for.

Apart from updating, the only pressing issue is

a bit of rejigging, but there is space to do it.

Attached to the kitchen is a utility room which

runs behind the garage, so that's something to think about.

So, upstairs, and bathroom where it should be.

A combined bathroom and loo, which is good.

And you've got your three bedrooms.

One at the back, a smaller one there at the front,

and then this really nice-sized big double with the bay...

-HE LAUGHS

-..there. I'm laughing because...

Built-in wardrobes. Hmm.

Lovely(!)

# Baby, let's be forgivin'

# And try to be willin'

# To listen and just let it slide... #

It's hard to believe that once upon a time these wardrobes were the height of fashion,

but so were Louvre Doors and patterned tiles, like these.

Funky.

Ah, what doesn't ever date, though, is space.

Now, this is where it all gets a bit weird.

Because through this slightly small door, you come into this area.

Now, I am actually above the garage and the little utility area.

And there is this... Well, how do you describe it?

It's a conservatory, a workshop - laid out for at the moment -

erm, a greenhouse?!

But, you know, it's space.

Whatever it is, I don't think it's successful.

It just kind of feels a bit stuck on.

# I'm gonna stick like glue

# Stick because I'm stuck on you... #

Aesthetically, it's not going to win any design awards,

and the unusual features don't stop there.

Well, at the rear of the property, it does get very, very weird.

Because you come out of the rear door onto this sort of decking area.

I mean, there's a shed, a fence, and THAT is the neighbour's garden.

I don't know what the history here is, whether or not this

property sold its garden to build these houses or the other way round.

I just don't know. But, whatever happens,

it's not what you expect, is it?

Yes, it's all a bit baffling.

Can a local estate agent straighten me out on this property,

guided at £124,950?

I think this is a really lovely property. Could be lovely.

In a great area. It does need work, obviously,

but I think it will be beautiful when it's finished.

And what does the agent see as the main challenges that the property presents?

The downsides of this property are the small garden at the rear.

The kitchen is not very big either.

That could be a little bit off-putting for families.

And any advice to add value to the house?

I think that this property would benefit greatly

from an extension to the side, perhaps take off the workshop

on the top of the garage and build up to make it more spacious.

That's a fairly big job and costly,

so we should think about the numbers.

What if the buyer just went for a straight refurbishment?

I think if this property was done to a reasonable standard,

then you could expect to achieve about £175,000 to £180,000.

And the agent reckons that extending over the garage

and adding another bedroom could take the resale value up to 200,000.

But how did rental sound without an extension?

If this property was to go onto the rental market,

then I would expect to achieve around £750 per calendar month.

What do we think of this solid little house

and its quirky little workshop? You know what? We like it a lot.

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

We're going to go to lot number 53.

Any bid at £125,000?

I'll take 120 to start or we'll withdraw. Thank you, sitting down.

Gentleman sitting down at £120,000.

122 standing.

124. 124, 126, 128.

130, 132.

I'll take one if it will help. One bid. 131, 132. 132 bid.

133. No?

Take 500. 132,500. 132,500 bid.

500 as well. 133. 133,500.

No? New bidder at 133,500.

134. 134,500.

134,500 bid. 135. 135,500.

No? We're going once at 135.

I'm going for the second time at £135,000...

Sold to the gentleman on the back wall at £135,000.

The bidder who looked as pleased as Punch is Paul,

at the auction with his girlfriend, Michelle.

He got the house for £135,000, and Paul is a local lad.

He has been buying and selling

and refurbishing property for around 12 years.

Prior to that, he worked in computer-aided design, designing

and installing industrial doors.

I met him to find out his plans for the house.

-Paul, good to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

-Tell me why you wanted to buy the house.

Basically, the price that I paid for it. It's a decent price.

-And the location as well.

-What are you going to do with it?

Is it to rent out or what?

-It's for me and my girlfriend to move into.

-Oh, great!

-A house together.

-Great, so this is your first house together, is it?

-Oh, yes, yes.

-Ah, congratulations!

-Thank you very much.

-How long have you been together for?

-18 months.

-Right.

What was it about this house that you really liked?

I think the size and just the potential, really.

It's been well kept but it's outdated. It needs doing up.

So tell me what you're going to do to it to bring it up to scratch, in your eyes.

Well, what we're going to do is, obviously, first,

take everything out, like the old wardrobes,

-take the wall out between the kitchen and the dining room.

-OK.

And then it will be a case of getting electricians in, getting them

to redo electrics, because I think the electrics are on the way out.

It's got a new boiler in but it's upstairs in the bathroom,

so I want to take it down into the utility room, out of the way,

and then new kitchen in, new bathroom suite in.

What kind of money have you got set aside for doing the work?

I've got 15,000 set aside. That's just for materials, not for labour.

I'll be doing most of the work myself anyway.

Paul's a qualified tiler and he can plaster and fit kitchens

and bathrooms.

But he will use a certified electrician and employ a plumber.

He thinks the work will take around six months

and both he and his girlfriend Michelle have properties that they

have to sell before they move in and make this their first home together.

Paul will obviously be hands-on,

so will that workshop come in handy, I wonder?

-It's a useful space.

-Yeah, it is a useful space,

but I would maybe just take it down, unfortunately.

It is a bit of a shame, because it is quite unique and quite quirky.

But it's just...

Replace it with an almost identical thing built out of something

-more substantial, perhaps?

-Yeah, that could be.

I mean, maybe as, like, a conservatory, I suppose, on the roof.

But, yeah, price would be the main concern for that.

So, how much input will your girlfriend have?

She'll be helping me where she can, y'know.

She's not got any experience in this sort of thing.

But even if it's just helping us tidy up at the end of the day,

that'll be more than enough for me.

Well, it seems like you've done well, for sure. Congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

-Good luck. Look forward to seeing how you get on.

Thank you very much.

Well, I think Paul's done really well with this place.

It's a lovely house. It just needs a little bit of modernisation.

One thing for sure, his tiling experience will come in very handy.

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

Still to come, in Gravesend,

a couple who found the ideal life in property developing.

Mark's a lot happier now he's doing this.

I mean, it's changed his life around.

And is there such a thing as an ideal renovation? Paul thinks so.

Very rarely do you buy a property and it works out exactly how you want.

We now head back to Stratford in east London, where earlier

we saw this three-bedroom first-floor flat

sold at auction for 165,000.

It was bought by Yili and Joanna, a busy husband-and-wife team

who help to run a restaurant and Yili's building company.

They also own some rental properties

and plan to add this place to their portfolio.

But before that, this shabby place needed a total make-over.

And with one of the bedrooms barely big enough for a single bed,

Yili and Joanna aim to convert the loft

to create a large en suite bedroom. Grand plans indeed!

Do you know that you own the loft space?

Well, we checked with the neighbour, we've checked with the solicitor,

and they said it belongs to us.

Keep checking. You need to check the deeds. You need to make sure.

-Are you that confident?

-Well, I am, because the lady downstairs

who owns the property, she doesn't want nothing to do, anyway.

So even if it doesn't belong to us,

I think it will be easy to sort it out.

Handily, Yili's building company specialises in loft conversions,

so that was one aspect taken care of.

But I was still a bit worried about the ownership, as these issues

can often turn out to be a legal wrangle - and expensive, to boot.

No doubt about it, though, it would add value.

And three and a half months later,

we are back to see what Joanna and Yili have done with this flat.

Well, it's certainly an impressive start.

Yili has taken out that chimney to open up this space beautifully,

to create a new kitchen/dining room, complete with stylish new units.

The rear reception room has been made over

into a more relaxing space...

..while just along the landing, a new bathroom suite and tiles

have a real touch of class and style about them.

And as for the three bedrooms, all made over to a high standard

and with the same decor and with laminated flooring throughout.

But as great as all this looks, there's one thing missing.

There's no loft conversion!

So, does that mean that the question of who owns what

is still up in the air?

We do know we owned our loft space.

We agreed to pay £1,000 for the freeholder to do a loft conversion,

but that also included some other paperwork we had to do with him.

There were, like, a bit of delays

and asking for additional information,

because a flat is not as straightforward

as it is for the house.

So, yeah, they were asking quite a few questions,

and we have to answer them.

We applied for planning permission,

which we are due to get in the next week or so.

With Yili and Joanna finally securing the loft,

work will hopefully begin soon

on the second phase of transforming this flat.

But the negotiations on the freehold

also led to another big change to the layout.

So, when we bought the property, the kitchen was tiny.

It had a funny room at the back and small kitchen here,

so we knocked the wall down and made it nice and spacious.

We installed a new kitchen, new tiles and decoration, lighting.

Everything was done from scratch.

The kitchen is actually my favourite room in this flat.

I like the colours, I like the decoration.

So, yeah, hopefully someone will enjoy this.

And as Yili and Joanna still plan to rent the flat out,

the garden, which we now have access to,

has been given the low-maintenance approach,

with fence-to-fence, wall-to-wall decking.

Back inside, and the flat has a great contemporary feel about it.

But having gone to all the effort of bringing the flat back to life

and giving it that impressive finish,

Yili doesn't aim to undo all the hard work

when the loft conversion starts.

Usually, we do most of the work from outside,

so we don't really do much till the stage when we install the stairs.

So by that time, then only we cut the ceiling here

to install the stairs, and then there won't be any disruption here.

Project-managing the renovation was down to Yili,

who didn't get his hands dirty as much as he'd anticipated,

while Joanna contributed by digging out

the best bargains for materials and furnishings

and decided on the final decor.

We wanted to put a bit of style in the property,

because I think people are a bit tired

of just magnolia walls in their rented properties.

So we put in a bit of vintage retro style, just very nowadays.

The couple took a month's holiday before getting started on the flat

and managed to get it done in six weeks,

two weeks longer than planned.

They still anticipate the budget for the loft conversion

to come to 20,000.

But did the original ten-grand budget for this flat hold up?

So far, we've spent about £15,000.

That's including the furnishing and decoration and everything.

Add that to their purchase price of 165,000,

and the couple have spent £180,000 on the flat.

Time to find out what two local estate agents thought

of Yili's and Joanna's investment.

The property's very nicely decorated. I do like it. It's very presentable.

It's very tidy, done up to a very good specification.

The colours are very good, very well co-ordinated.

Very spacious bedrooms, as well.

The property's actually quite nice, very, very modern, bright and airy,

and I believe it'll sell or rent straightaway,

because there's not a lot of properties on the market

in this kind of condition.

So the vendor has done quite a great job on this property.

The couple plan to rent the flat out, but should the flat be sold,

the agents reckon that this £180,000 investment could be sold

for between 180,000 to 200,000.

But with the loft conversion possibly taking their total outlay

to 200,000, what could a resale then achieve?

With a loft conversion, I would say £200,000.

With the loft conversion, I would say in the region of

225,000 to 235,000.

Those very different valuations could mean just breaking even

after that loft conversion

or a profit of up to £35,000 minus the usual taxes and expenses.

However, Joanna and Yili set off on this project

with the aim of adding it to their rental portfolio.

They hope to get £1,400 per calendar month without the loft conversion.

So I'm sure they'll be more interested in the rental values.

As it is now, I would say 1,300 per calendar month.

With the loft conversion, I would say

1,400 per calendar month. Very comfortable.

I would say in the region of £1,300 to £1,400 per calendar month,

and with the loft conversion from £1,400 to £1,500 per calendar month.

In fact, the good news is that since we filmed them,

they've managed to rent the flat out for £1,500 per calendar month,

giving them an annual yield of 10%!

So, will this entrepreneurial couple be dishing up some more properties?

We're going to do this. This is the thing we like to do.

We've just purchased one, just two or three days ago.

-But, yeah, I think that's what we're going to be doing.

-Yep!

Leaving London by way of a leisurely boat trip along the Thames,

you could eventually disembark here, in Gravesend, Kent.

Its riverside setting helped it become

one of the first resort towns back in the 19th century.

If you're in more of a hurry, though, the train from London

will get you here in just 20 minutes.

# Dear River Thames

# You keep moving along

# Not knowing where you're going or where you've come from.... #

Now, you've probably already guessed from the properties around me today

that I'm here to see a mid-terrace house.

It's got three bedrooms and it had a guide price of 65,000 to 70,000.

That sounds pretty reasonable.

But the auction catalogue does state

that it needs complete refurbishment and modernisation.

That means a little bit more than a lick of paint, I think!

Here it is. Yes, the exterior certainly needs some attention.

I think it's time to head inside

and see what "complete" really does mean.

Oh, yes! A big renovation job in here.

Lots of wood-chip wallpaper to get off.

That is a very difficult task, let me tell you.

And you can just see it needs painting.

The sitting room?

Well, there's no fire surround. That's been ripped out.

All the windows will need replacing.

There's no carpets, there's no flooring, there's holes everywhere.

Oh, a few little hidden features to get excited about. Or not.

Now, you've heard about taking things back to the bare brick.

There's a visual example for you.

But, you know, beyond that you can see it's a nice-sized room.

It would work really well.

You've got some light coming in, a fireplace you could work with.

Er, interesting! Follow me. Yes, this is the kitchen.

Nothing other than an old sink thrown in the corner.

And as I suspected, the bathroom's shoved right at the back.

It's not even a bathroom. There's just a little shower tray here.

Now, I think this would work really well as a utility room.

You could tuck the washing machine in there, a tumble dryer.

But that's only if you can get a bathroom upstairs.

I'm going to investigate.

This might be a bit of a dilemma. This is not a big shower room.

If it has to be the only bathroom for this house, it's not ideal.

Let's hope upstairs will supply the answer.

So, what have we got?

Three bedrooms. Maybe we CAN find that extra bit of, erm, space.

# I was the first man in space on our street

# It was a chance I could not pass up on... #

Another dilemma, again very typical of a terraced house like this.

You get a very small room off the main bedroom.

Now, that room is so small, it's barely a bedroom.

There are a few ways you can get around this.

That is screaming out to be the bathroom, which is making me smile.

I've seen this done quite a few times before. You create a corridor.

Along here you can have access from the bedroom next door

through a doorway here.

The corridor continues along here into that bathroom.

You can close this door off, and then every room will have

independent access into that bathroom.

I think it'll make this house much more saleable,

and it would be so much better than having the bathroom downstairs.

Yes, you would lose that third bedroom,

but it's so small I see it as wasted space at the moment.

Yes, the corridor would take some space from the middle bedroom,

but I think there would still be room for a double bed in here.

And the front bedroom is a great-sized master.

However, I suppose you might accuse me of fiddling while Rome burns,

because it can't have escaped your notice that this house

is in a pretty bad state and really needs a lot of work.

# Lights will guide you home

# And ignite your bones

# And I will try to fix you... #

Well, something else that needs fixing up is the garden.

Now, this is what happens if you don't look after your garden shed.

Is it a thatched roof?

Or even a bird's nest?

Looking at all the rubbish in the end of the garden,

if ever there was a time to invest in skips, it's now.

# Did you know your garden's overgrown?... #

But there's a lot of opportunities here, I think.

But also a lot of work.

Let's find out what a local property agent thought of this house,

guided at £65,000 to £70,000.

Renovations required within this property would be

to completely rip out the floorboards, because it's smelly,

it needs a new bathroom, a new kitchen,

complete overhaul throughout, including new windows, boiler,

and the garden needs a lot of attention.

So once the new owner has done the renovation work,

what does she think it could resell for?

If you were to renovate this property throughout,

it would fetch in the region of £135,000 to £140,000.

Well, that valuation means that if you were to get this house

for anything like the guide price,

you could make a substantial profit here,

even after the cost of a total refurbishment.

However, the agent thinks

that if the bathroom were to be moved upstairs

with the loss of that titchy bedroom,

the resale value would still be around 135,000.

Hmm, don't need a calculator to work out

that it wouldn't be worth the hassle or expense if sold on,

although perhaps it would make it more appealing to a buyer.

And what about the rental value?

This property would fetch £700 to £750 per calendar month.

Well, on this occasion, appearances weren't deceptive,

and complete, well, it really does mean a total renovation,

not to mention addressing those layout issues.

But still, after a lot of hard work,

I think this property will make a great home for someone.

Let's see who felt up to the challenge when we went to auction.

Lot 45. What may I say on this one? Start me at 65,000.

65 I have. Thank you. At £65,000 I'm bid.

67 I have. And 70. 72. 72 in the back. 75.

77. And 80. And 82.

And 85. 85.

And 87. And 90. 90 is bid. 92.

95. And 97. 100.

100 I have. 102. 105. 107.

10? 110. 112. At 112,000 on my left-hand side.

At 112,000. For the first time, then, at 112,000.

For the second time at 112,000.

Third and final time at 112...

113. I can lip-read. 113 I'm bid. 114.

114,000 in the front row for the first time.

114,000, front row, for the second time.

Third and final time at 114,000. Are you all done?

Sold at 114,000. Well done, sir.

That final bid of 114,000

was a whopping 49 grand over the guide price.

The bidders were Mark and his wife Elaine.

Hang on a minute, that beard looks familiar!

I met Mark back in 2011, when he bought a terrace around the corner.

Mark had been an ornamental plasterer

but was embarking on a career in property development,

and his first renovation job was a success,

which he puts down to hard graft and his lucky beard!

Well, he still has the beard, and with Elaine, a college lecturer,

I reckon he's going to need all the help and maybe some more luck

to get this place fixed up.

-Mark, lovely to see you again.

-Good to see you again.

-How nice.

-And Elaine. We've not met.

-No, we haven't.

-So, have you been developing since we met?

-Yeah.

-We've done another one in the area.

-Right.

That went successful.

The original one was successful as well,

so onwards and upwards to this one.

Well, I do wish him success for this one, too.

However, I can't help worrying

that he's paid so much for this house, 114,000.

Now, the agent reckons a resale value of between 135,000 to 140,000.

With so much refurbishment needed,

well, there's not an awful lot in it.

New bathroom, new kitchen.

Moving the bathroom from that little shower room at the back

-up to that third bedroom upstairs.

-Interesting.

-Yes.

How are you going to work that?

Well, in the front bedroom, there's a cupboard in the corner,

and that's just a little partitioned stud wall between that cupboard

and the middle bedroom, so we're going to knock that out

and create a corridor in the second bedroom.

We're going to move the door across from the third

bedroom at the moment to create access into that,

so, at the end of the day, no-one will have to go through

someone else's bedroom to use the bathroom.

Have you spoken to lots of agents to warrant this advice?

Yeah, well, the other two properties we've done in the area, I've done

exactly the same thing in the last property, and it worked a treat.

And the value is still there.

It's great to hear he's done his homework,

because you don't want to spend all that money on the work

and then end up making a loss, not good business sense.

We'd like to bring it in about 12.

-Hmmmmm! Ooh!

-But... I know!

-I thought you was going to say something like 20!

-No!

-We were expecting 15-ish.

-OK.

-So, £15,000, but you hope to bring it under that.

-Yes.

So, Elaine, how involved are you going to be with the project?

I'll be choosing the colours, picking the kitchen,

getting my hands dirty, getting out in the garden.

To keep costs down, they will need to do most of the work over

a four-month timescale, except for electrics and gas, of course.

Do you work well together doing things like this?

-No rows, really, do we?

-No.

-No disagreements.

-No.

-It's not worth it, no time for that!

-Yeah, but there's quite a lot of pressure in doing

a renovation like this, because it's quite a big undertaking.

-Yeah. Just don't let it get to you.

-It is but...

It's just wasted sort of effort and time, you know.

-But also, Mark is a lot happier now he's doing this.

-Yes.

I mean, it's changed his life around.

So, in himself, he's not so stressed and that's good, really.

-Good luck, guys, I really hope it works out for you.

-Cheers.

-Really nice to see you. Elaine, nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

-Thank you.

Well, it's great to see that Mark and Elaine are still going

strong with their property developing business.

Mark's lucky little rings have served him well. However,

this time, they paid a lot over the guide price and I'm not

sure they'll complete all the work within their budget.

Let's hope they've learned from their past experiences

and keep all their figures in mind.

You can join me later on in the programme to find out if this

really is lucky number three!

Well, I'm sure all our buyers hope their journey has been worth it.

They took the right turns and avoided the pitfalls.

Decisions, decisions, have they made the right ones?

Let's go back and find out.

We now head back to the north-east of England

and to Wickham near Gateshead, where earlier,

we met Paul, who bought this semidetached house for £135,000.

He's already bought, sold and refurbished several properties

and this one was the next in line, except for the selling part,

because once done up,

he aimed to move in and live in it with his girlfriend Michelle.

The house was solid, but while we all want something with

a bit of character to make it stand out from the crowd, for Paul,

this workshop above the garage was possibly a step too far.

I would maybe probably take it down, unfortunately.

It's a bit of a shame, because it is quite unique and quite quirky.

Replace it with an almost identical thing

-built out of something more substantial?

-Yeah, that could be.

As you say, maybe a conservatory, I suppose, on the roof.

But, yeah, it'd be price that would be the main concern for that.

The couple had a budget of £15,000, which hopefully should have

been enough, and a six-month schedule.

It was six and a half months later that we returned to Wickham to catch

up with Paul to find out if they had finally made this their home.

Well, if home is where the heart is, Paul has certainly

put his into this wonderful, fresh and spacious new downstairs layout.

And it's farewell to the tiny kitchen and hello to a spacious,

open-plan kitchen/dining room, perfect for modern living.

And upstairs, the bedrooms have been given the same treatment,

those sliding wardrobes have slid off into history to be

replaced by contemporary units much more suited to the 21st century.

And overall, I think

Paul's got a lot to be pleased about with this renovation.

Over the moon. Very rarely do you buy a property

and it works out exactly how you want it, but for this property,

-it's just, yeah, I'm absolutely over the moon with it.

-Quite right too.

He's certainly added a lot of space down here by creating a new

downstairs layout.

For the hallway, we got rid of this

entrance from the hallway to the kitchen and made that a cupboard.

As a consequence, you got to walk through the living room

and we got rid of the sliding doors,

opened all this area up, which is a nice, open space.

And we took the wall between the dining room and the kitchen out,

and now we've got a lovely entertaining area, which we have

already had a couple of parties here and it is great for entertainment.

This is Paul's seventh renovation job, so he's used to finding

any hidden horrors lurking in the woodwork or the structure,

but here, he was surprised that there were no surprises!

This house, for once, basically, everything was nice and square. Plum.

And it was just great to work on. It was a nice, solid house.

There were no issues whatsoever,

and it was quite a nice feeling to sort of finish it

and to know that everything is just, you know, pretty much spot-on.

You don't often hear that, a trouble-free renovation!

And as for that workshop above the garage, well,

the doorway is now bricked up, which can only mean one thing. It's gone.

It was just going to cost too much to keep it as it was. And to update it.

So, it was just the cheapest option was just to get rid of it completely.

Easier said than done.

-Remember, Paul did say that this was a solid house.

-It was hard work.

It had been well put together. It had been built to last.

I had my father helping me and a couple of my mates at times just

basically trying to pull the thing apart, and it was hard work.

The workshop was finally taken down, but that meant the garage had

to have a sloping roof installed and the newly exposed wall rendered.

At the back, the garden has had a decking overhaul,

but its limited size means that what you see is what you get.

For the house, Paul got his usual team of certified

professionals in for the electrics

and plumbing with the remainder of the work being done by himself.

And since this was going to be their new home together,

girlfriend Michelle gave Paul a helping hand.

Michelle did a lot of the painting and decorating,

and to be fair, her input was a massive help to me,

because any job that I gave her, she was brilliant.

She's never picked a paintbrush up in her life until this house now.

And to be fair, she was absolutely fantastic.

You'd expect a house that would be their own to have a high

standard of finish, and this place doesn't disappoint.

But would that come at a cost to their budget

-and their six-month timescale?

-We hit the target on moving in.

However, for the budget, I said originally that I think it

was going to be about 15,000, it ended up being 18,000.

Just over 18,000.

So, to be fair, I suppose when it was in my mind that we may be

moving in, we've gone for a bit better quality

and we've been here for a month now, and it's a nice place to

sit down in the evening after work and just sit and relax.

And why not, after all this hard work?

With that renovation cost added to their purchase price of 135,000,

the total outlay for the house is now £153,000.

So, time to find out from two local estate agents

if it's money well spent.

And we start off with the agent who visited

the property before Paul got his hands on it.

I think the property has been done to a fantastic standard,

it's beautiful. Really beautiful.

When I first saw the property, I don't think it flowed properly.

Erm, really got that flow going. It's just tremendous.

The kitchen, the living room, it's just lovely.

My first impressions of the property were

what a beautiful finish the property has.

The real selling features for me are the beautiful kitchen

and dining area, also the log-burning stove

and smashing bathroom upstairs.

The only thing that I do find is the gardens are a little

bit of a let-down at the back.

Front is great, the back is a little bit disappointing.

The lack of a decent-sized rear garden may put off some buyers,

but in reality, it hasn't put off Paul

and Michelle from making this their home.

If they do decide to sell this house, what sort of return could

they expect to make from their £153,000 outlay?

If I was to put this property onto the market,

I would recommend an asking price of £185,000.

I think the property could be worth somewhere in the region

of £175,000 to £185,000.

Those valuations mean that Paul and Michelle could stand to make

a pre-tax profit of between £22,000 and £32,000.

Over the moon with that.

I mean, that means that everything is covered anyway,

so, all the hard work was worth it, so, yeah, happy with that!

Paul has carried out a really fantastic refurbishment

to this house, and created a lovely, cosy family home.

But with those possible profits,

is he tempted to treat it like his other projects and sell it on?

As far as the figures are concerned, fantastic price,

I mean 185 at the top.

But it's irrelevant, we're going to stay here and hopefully,

for a long time.

And maybe start a family.

Earlier, we were at the mouth of the Thames in Gravesend, where we met

Mark and his wife Elaine, who bought this terraced house for 114,000.

Mark, an ornamental plasterer, had been on the show before,

when with some hard graft and his lucky beard,

he renovated this terraced house, also in Gravesend.

This latest purchase is his third renovation job, and I reckon

he must've had deja vu, because this shabby, rundown,

decaying three-bed also had the same mixed-up layout upstairs.

It's going to take quite a bit of effort

and no doubt money to sort this place out.

-We'd like to bring it in about 12.

-Hmmmm! Ooh!

-But...

-Oh, I know.

-Oh, I thought you was going to say something like 20!

-No, no.

-But no!

-We were expecting 15-ish.

-OK.

-So, £15,000, but you hope to bring it under that.

-Yes.

The couple reckoned the house would be ready to sell on in four

months, but it was seven months later when we returned to

Gravesend to find out just how Mark and Elaine have got on.

First things first, the house now has a new front door and windows.

So, have they managed to do what I really hoped for

and create a new bathroom upstairs?

Yes, they have.

Well, there wasn't a bathroom in the property initially,

so, what we've done, we've utilised the area within this dead room

at the back, we moved the door across to the edge of the house

and then we created a corridor through here, which then gains

access from the front bedroom straight into the bathroom.

Again, just as I was hoping for, a corridor meaning both

good-sized bedrooms have separate access to a spanking new bathroom.

And for visitors, there's still the loo downstairs,

with the old shower room now the new utility room.

After solving this problem, everything else was plain sailing.

All pretty straightforward, nice structure to the house,

nothing untoward like damp or anything like that,

so, structurally very sound.

It was just a re-plaster job and rewiring, new windows,

new kitchen, new bathroom, yet to be complete.

Carpets, everything you see, really.

And just like the upstairs,

the ground floor is still a work in progress.

Everywhere has been re-plastered and redecorated and it's good

to see that Mark has kept some of the original character features.

Through the newly re-plastered rear reception room,

the new kitchen still needs some attention to finish this area off.

Mark did most of the hard graft on the house,

with a lot of help from Elaine.

Family members in the certified trades such as electrics

and plumbing also pitched in to help.

However, the couple weren't able to stick to schedule,

because there's been a big change to their life.

To our own property, we've had to get it ready to put on the market.

Some of the rooms needed re-plastering,

which was quite a big job for Mark.

And now, that's been sold, so, hopefully within a month to

-two months, we're going to be going and living in France.

-Sacre bleu!

Mark and Elaine are upping sticks

and moving across the old briny to take up residence abroad,

something they've been planning for a while.

Well, we've been looking, really, for about six to eight months,

we decided.

And we're going to buy an old farmhouse and, hopefully,

run some gites.

A whole new life, so, we'll give it a go and see what happens.

# Non, rien de rien

# Non, je ne regrette rien. #

Well, I'm sure they won't be regretting the move,

but what exactly are their plans for the house now?

Initially, we were going to sell it, but it's going to be a stepping stone now for us.

We're going to move in, live in it for a couple of months, two,

three months, and we'll put it back on the market

and hopefully sell it once we're ready to move to France.

There's lots of finishing touches to do here, but it's mainly

superficial work. However, there's still one big job to face up to.

# Out of sight, out of mind

# So the story goes. #

We attempted to do the garden, but it had to take a back seat

because of getting our own house done up.

So, we decided that while we're here, we're going to order

a couple of skips and hopefully some bodies to come and help us.

Free of charge, I hope, because when it came to the finances

for this renovation, I was a bit worried about their original budget.

Well, we initially thought we were going to spend 12,500 to 13,000,

14,000 on it, but at the current time, it's at 12,500.

We've got a little bit more work to do still,

so that'd probably take another thousand or so,

so about £13,500, £14,000, I think will be spot-on.

Add that to their purchase price of £114,000,

and Mark and Elaine's total spend should be £128,000.

So, time for two local estate agents to give us

their thoughts on the renovation,

starting with the agent who saw the house in its original condition.

It's certainly a lot fresher than last time I came.

I really like the fact the bathroom has been moved from

the small shower room downstairs up to the full-size bathroom upstairs.

I think the property is great.

It's had all of the right things done to it with

the redecoration, carpets.

And I think the bathroom really does work, by the way that they

have separated it from the bedrooms and it has its own corridor.

I think that works. That's an excellent idea.

As the couple plan to move to France, what could they get

when they sell the house?

Remember, their final outlay will be around £128,000.

This property, in the current market,

should fetch in the region of £140,000 to £145,000.

I would recommend that this property would sell

somewhere in the region of £150,000 to £155,000.

Well, those valuations mean that Mark and Elaine could earn

themselves a nice pre-tax profit of between 12,000 to 27,000.

We were aiming for about 150.

We felt the ceiling price was a bit below that, so, I think we

have achieved what we were looking to achieve, so, we're more than happy.

So, with a new life waiting for them across the Channel,

-will it be a new look for Mark?

-I'm going to keep the lucky beard.

It's been good to me so far, so I daren't shave it off.

It might, well...

-I don't want you to.

-No, no. It's been a good omen.

So, I think I'll keep it for a while yet.

Personally, with Mark and Elaine's hard work,

I don't think luck comes into it.

But after all their efforts, I'm sure they're looking forward to

a new life, but will they be on French TV soon

on Maisons Sous Le Marteau?

Homes Under The Hammer to you and me.

I don't think we'll be looking to expand the company over there.

It's just sort of, you know, a whole new way of life

and something totally new for us, so that's what we're looking to do.

Well, that's it from the plucky buyers on today's programme.

But there's plenty more where they came from.

So, join us next time for more Homes Under The Hammer.

-Goodbye.

-Bye.