Episode 75 Homes Under the Hammer

-Hello. Welcome to the show.

-Despite all the doom and gloom,

the property market is still a tempting place to invest your money.

Yes, and if you're cautious and do your research,

there are still bargains to be found buying your home under the hammer.

PROGRAMME THEME MUSIC

If you're looking for variety and good value,

then the auction may be for you.

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

Property development is unpredictable.

But, in Kent, confidence seems high.

I feel the risk of us losing money here is small or nonexistent.

In this Surrey semi, on the upside, the bathroom's upstairs,

on the downside,

to get to it you've got to walk through one of the bedrooms.

And in a Stoke three-bed with huge problems, well,

let's just say a bit of luck might help.

I was going to say touch wood, but there's none left, is there?

THEY LAUGH

All these properties went to auction.

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

-when they went under the hammer.

-Sold!

We're in Kent now, and did you know that the historic dockyard

was recently used in the opening scenes

of the Oscar-nominated film, Les Miserables?

# I dreamed a dream in time gone by... #

I'm hoping to find a dream property here.

This part of town is all very suburban and leafy.

You've got a kids' play area and bowling green over there.

School just down the road, and a graveyard to my left.

Now, that will put some buyers off, although the way I look at it is,

you've got a quiet, well-maintained space right next door to your home.

Because the house is just here.

It's got three bedrooms and a guide price of 180,000-185,000.

# All I want is a quiet place to live... #

It isn't just the quiet that I think's an advantage here.

You can be pretty sure that it will stay that way, that there isn't

going to be a massive development springing up on your doorstep.

Intriguingly, the property lot comes with

an extra little annexe building. But more of that later.

First, to the house itself,

which I understand was built around the '50s,

and the first quirky thing I rather like is the front door

on the side of the house.

I'm not expecting loads of hidden features in this one,

due to the period of the property, but look at all this space! Wow!

Really nice, wide hallway,

and a rather luminous green kitchen, don't you think?

But it's a great area. Overlooks that pretty garden.

You've got a second reception room here which, of course,

you could knock these two into one, and have one big

kitchen/open-plan breakfast room, wonderful for families,

and then you've got this sitting room

at the front of the property. These old windows -

it's such a shame, because I really quite like the way they look -

but you would need to replace them,

hopefully something in keeping with the period would look lovely.

You've got to get rid of these horrible polystyrene tiles.

Get them all down. They're a fire hazard.

But my first impressions of this property? I really, really like it.

So far, no olde-worlde charm worth keeping,

but the two bedrooms upstairs are also a good size.

It's all a bit tired, and, oh, dear, those polystyrene tiles, again!

And in the bathroom!

Aesthetics aside,

I really do want to emphasise the fire risk with those old tiles.

If you have a fire, they will promote the spread.

If they are painted, they will drip onto the floor,

again, spreading the fire, and possibly burning anyone underneath.

And just for good measure, they let off toxic fumes.

They're not really something I would want to have around.

The bathroom and separate loo are pretty dated.

Now, I said there were two bedrooms,

but there is a third room up there.

I've always wanted a property with a pool! Ha!

But this isn't exactly what I had in mind.

How's this for an added bonus?

I bet they were CUEING up for this one!

# I need a hot shot... #

Well, it's worth remembering that anything inside the house

when the hammer falls at auction is yours.

So that means this pool table as well.

Although I think there's a better home for it - this little annexe.

I was expecting the doorway to lead into the annexe from that

little sort of coal shed/utility space, but there isn't one. So,

assuming you've got to walk under this covered walkway into the space,

it's going to be quite exciting to see what it's like in here,

because it's always good to have that little extra with a property.

Wow! This is brilliant!

As a mum, straightaway I'm thinking kids' playroom.

My children would love this, they would be getting that pool table

straight in this room for starters. But you know what?

You could use it as a nanny annexe, a granny annexe, you've got plumbing

you've got a nice loo, you could even put a shower in down here.

It's quite dark though, and that's because the windows are boarded up.

I think I'd like to frost them over,

because you don't actually look out onto your own land.

But this will certainly add value to a property like that.

And, of course, don't forget,

you could even rent this out as a separate entity entirely.

Although you enter the annexe from the side of the property,

it's a bit of an odd arrangement,

as it actually sits in the cemetery grounds.

It used to serve as an office and home to the cemetery attendant.

Lots of space seems to be the story of this property,

with great interior space, a garage,

and it continues into the generous front and back garden.

This is a decent-sized plot,

and I'm wondering if you could make more of it.

How about building a double-height extension to the left,

where the garage is, extending to the right, where the walkway is, and

splitting the property in the middle to create a pair of semis?

I have seen it done before very successfully,

and it could be a way of increasing your return.

So there's a neat twist for you. No development will happen next door.

Instead, it could all happen right here.

Of course, it would all be down to planning

and whether the numbers stack up.

All in all, I reckon,

for the 180,000-185,000 guide price,

there are some really interesting possibilities here.

What does a local agent think of this property?

Actually, a lot better than I imagined.

The great thing is, it hasn't been abused by the DIY enthusiast.

-It's natural. It's how it was built.

-Ha-ha! Absolutely!

But does he think building an extension would be worth doing?

In my opinion, if you were to extend on this

and start spending too much money, you would end up regretting it.

It's a lovely three-bedroomed,

detached house with three double bedrooms.

It's got the annexe, which I would call an annexe, it's got

the potential as an annexe opposite, it's got everything it needs.

I don't think you need to go into the building side of things.

I think it's more cosmetic, get it tidied up, get it nice,

get it ready and sell it.

So if it was just renovated, how much value could be added here?

I honestly believe, if it's done to a good standard,

you could command £275,000 for the whole lot once done.

And what if it was put on the rental market?

Once this property's done up for rental,

we'd have people fighting for it.

And I believe you'd get between £950-£1,000 per calendar month.

This isn't a standard, suburban, three-bed house.

I think it's an exciting opportunity to do something different

with all the added extras you have here.

Or, if that doesn't appeal, refurb and sell on for a decent profit.

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

Lot 13, detached house for improvement,

start me where you will, 170 will get it on the way.

£170,000 bid on my right.

170 I have.

172, I'm obliged. 172.

And 5. 175. And 7.

And 7. 178, I'm obliged.

178. And 9. 179.

Thank you. 180 in the front. Fresh place.

181, sitting down. 182.

182. And 3. And 5. 187.

190. 192, thank you, ladies.

195. 197, I'm bid.

£200,000, sir, may I say it? 198.

199 from the ladies, if you like. 199, may I say?

First time, then, at 198. 199 I'm bid. 200, if you like. 200 I've got.

At £200,000 I've got for the first time.

200,000 for the second time.

Third and final time, to the gentleman at the back.

For the third and final time, £200,000, are we all done?

You've got it, sir. Well done.

And that final bid of £200,000 was from Steve on the left,

and his business partner, Andrew.

The pair have been working together

developing property for about a year now.

Andrew, the builder on the right, originally from Poland

and Steve, the spreadsheet money man.

Let's find out what attracted them to this house in Chatham.

Steve and Andrew, congratulations.

So how did you guys end up in Chatham?

We came here via the auction room, looking for a house to do up,

and we were struggling with the estate agents,

so we thought we would look at the auction route.

And why this area in particular? Are you from here?

No, we are based in Surrey but because it's a very easy

commute for us, and the prices in Chatham

are much lower than where we are, we can do up

more properties here than in Surrey, actually.

So, you feel you've got a lot of house for your money

in Chatham? And in particular, this one?

-I think so, yes.

-You certainly have, haven't you?

What was it about this property that you liked so much?

It's detached, which is great, over in this part of Chatham.

Loads of space and, although it's very tatty,

it hasn't been ruined by somebody going through with bodged DIY,

-so we think we can tidy it up pretty quickly.

-I think it's the uniqueness.

There isn't a second house like this in the neighbourhood.

There are no neighbours around,

and you know that nobody will develop around you, therefore,

if you want to develop, there is nothing stopping you.

Nobody can disagree to some sort of extensions to build on the house.

And I think that that was the main reason why,

why we were actually buying this house, more than the others.

Well, we're all agreed on what a good position this house

sits in, but do they see the possibilities I see?

What I love about it, of course, is that little annexe.

That's like a real bonus to this property.

Well, that's fascinating because, in the auction catalogue,

there was no sign behind the hedge

of either the garage at one end of the house

or the link between the pitched roof annexe and the main house.

And we really think we can do something with that.

We were considering converting that annexe into a living space.

What it's going to be in the future, we don't know,

but we have a few ideas to do here.

I think you really have got to convert that into

some sort of living space, granny annexe, nanny annexe, playroom.

But what about the sort of, well, it's covered, the walkway,

but it's open to the elements,

would you try and make that an integral part of the property?

What we'd really like to do is turn the front door to face the front,

so put a new cavity wall across the front of that walkway,

put the front door onto it and then use that as a corridor to link

the main house and the annexe together.

I'm so focused on talking about the annexe.

What about the main centre of the property? What about in here?

What are you going to do to turn it around?

You've got some ideas, haven't you?

I think, pretty much, the rooms are going to stay as they are,

starting from the top floor.

You have two double bedrooms, one single bedroom.

The bathroom and the toilet, though, they are going to be changed.

Where you have a dividing wall, that's going to come down.

And we're going to move the main entrance into the bathroom forward.

So you have one big toilet, bathroom, family bathroom, upstairs.

We find that there is no need to put in an extra en suite,

although we have an idea actually

to sacrifice some of the space from the back bedroom

and make an en suite, but probably because it's a two-bedroom,

2+1 three-bedroom house, there's no need for an extra bathroom upstairs.

-It's a two-bedroom and one pool room.

-Yes! There is that.

It's not a bedroom, there's a pool table currently up there,

which, I take, is going to go?

Well, it's available! Yep, that'll be going.

Yes, we'll probably advertise it in the local paper for someone to take.

I need to ask you this question. What's the budget?

The budget here is to try and get the house done for about £30,000.

OK, and your timescale?

Timescale? Typically, what?

Between eight to ten weeks.

What would your sort of top valuation of this property be,

once it's done up, looking fabulous?

-We reckon we can achieve a price between 300-320,000.

-Really?

-Yes.

-Wow!

-Without doing any extension work.

We did consider extension work,

but it works out not to be worth, at this stage.

He's the optimist and I'm the pessimist!

OK, so that really is breaking through the £250,000 barrier

-and some, isn't it?

-Yes.

And how do you feel about that?

I feel the risk of us losing money here is small or nonexistent.

And so, I am seeing anything 260 and upwards

would be a result in the right direction.

Guys, good luck with this project. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Well, we have our fingers crossed. That's the main thing.

-Lovely to meet you. Good luck.

-Thanks.

Well, Steve and Andrew will make this place work,

I'm sure of it, but will they tip the value over 300 grand?

There's only one way to find out.

Join us later in the show.

Leatherhead in Surrey is now a pretty desirable area,

with both rail and road access into London and beyond.

Situated on the River Mole,

the town has the symbol of a swan holding a sword in its beak.

But is today's property going to be something elegant and serene,

or just a bit of an ugly duckling?

Well, just off the busy main road on this quieter side road

is the property I'm here to see.

Now, property prices in Leatherhead, not surprisingly,

are quite high, so what does a guide price of 150,000 quid get you?

Well, you might be quite surprised, because it's a little bit...

What's the word? ..not looked after on the outside. But it's a cottage.

It's semidetached, two bedrooms, let's take a look.

So, possibly not expecting it to be too sparkling in here

but what have we got? It's got a front living room area.

Not exactly massive.

Nice, open fire which is a good sign,

although, looking round the room, I don't think there's any other form

of heating apart from some electric heaters on the walls, there.

Stairs up to the bedrooms there, and through into your rear sitting room.

Another fireplace in here, a bit more dated, some floorboards

that could be stripped. Let's see what else we can find.

So, what's through here?

Well, little kitchen.

Seems to me this is built into some kind of extension

on the property, which immediately means you're going to be

thinking about damp-proofing. How many courses of bricks is it?

There is an overriding feeling in this place, I think,

of having to sort out the damp,

because it smells and feels a little bit like it needs it.

But, overall, not a big space,

but it's a cutesy-wutesy cottage, I guess,

so it depends what you're expecting.

And it could be nice with a better interior layout, I guess.

One thing you're going to have to do, though, is get rid of this.

As I said, no central heating, as such.

So maybe a combination boiler and sort that out at the same time.

Ah, yes, the kitchen does need work.

With one of the biggest hot water heaters I've seen,

in one of the smallest kitchens.

A bit of a rethink needed, all round.

Reposition a combi boiler elsewhere,

perhaps knock through into the rear dining room to make

a much bigger kitchen-diner with doors out into the garden and, then,

I think the whole place would be much brighter and welcoming.

So upstairs and you've got your two bedrooms.

Not a bad size, but in some ways, they feel

even more in need of tender loving care than downstairs does.

They've got these nice fireplaces, which is a good touch.

And floorboards which I think you could strip back,

again, which would give loads of character.

But what about that bathroom? Well, here it is.

The good news is, it's upstairs.

The bad news is, to get to it,

you have to walk through one of the bedrooms.

# World just passed me by... #

People traipsing through a bedroom

to get to a bathroom is far from ideal.

# Oh, pass me by... #

And, really, a corridor will need to be built to separate the rooms.

And that will eat into your bedroom space, which is a shame.

So, could there be an alternative solution?

I wonder if maybe there is some room at the rear of the property

that could be utilised.

So, what's out the back?

A cutesy-wutesy cottage garden, hopefully.

One thing is for sure, though,

that extension looks like it was original, which is a nice surprise.

And so is the garden. Look at this. Goes all the way back there.

Yes, it's overgrown

and you're going to have to spend a good amount of time out here

with a strimmer but, actually, it's a really nice space.

It's a pretty good, if overgrown, garden.

And there certainly is room for a bigger and better extension,

if you fancy it.

And, overall, this place needs some work, yes,

but most of all, it just needs love and attention.

# Oh, love is all I need

# Love is all I need... #

What does a local estate agent make of this

two-bed, semidetached cottage, with its rather quirky layout?

As far as the layout of the house is concerned, at least it's got

an upstairs bathroom, which is rare in these buildings.

They're usually downstairs.

The downside of that is, it's off of one bedroom.

So it's got to be for a family that get on well.

Hmm. Certainly, there are some issues to address.

But would it be worth the time and effort

to get this £150,000 guided property up to scratch?

In my opinion, I think the resale value of this,

with all the works done, would be around £230,000.

OK, so that's encouraging. Now, does it have much rental potential?

Rental value for this with all the works done

would be £1,050 per calendar month.

Well, it's not without its issues,

but what you've got here is a really cute cottage

in need of modernisation, in a very popular location.

Just the sort of thing that I know would have been very popular

when it went under the hammer.

Lot 97 is a two-bedroomed, semidetached house,

requires upgrading.

What about 150?

Yeah, 150, will start there.

151, thank you. 152. 153. 154.

155. 156.

157. 158. 159.

160, thank you. 161...

Well, this was turning out to be a hot lot,

and we rejoin the bidding at £180,000.

..180. 181.

181, new place. 182.

182. 183. 184.

185.

185. 186, on my left. 187, sir.

No? If not, 186 for the first, 186 for the second, 186 for the third

and final time, all done?

Sold, 186.

And so, for 186,000, that's £36,000 over the guide price,

the new owner of a two-bed, semidetached cottage in Leatherhead

is Michael.

Michael lives just 15 minutes away in nearby Epsom,

and I met him back at the property to find out his plans.

-Michael, good to meet you.

-And you.

-Congratulations.

Tell me why you wanted to buy this place.

Erm, I bought it, really, to give myself a job.

Refurb it and hopefully make a bit of profit.

Right, tell me about you. What do you actually do?

-Carpenter by trade.

-Oh, great.

-Yeah.

-There is some woodwork to be done, isn't there?

-Absolutely.

I can do most of it. I don't do the electrics or the plumbing

but most of the other stuff I can turn my hand to.

-Great. So, tell me, then, what you're going to do.

-Extend the back,

erm, to make the kitchen bigger.

-Right, similar to the neighbouring properties?

-Yeah.

-Similar story?

Similar story.

And then, perhaps, lose these walls.

Maybe, possibly, make the downstairs all open-plan,

move the staircase, bring the staircase coming up the side.

I'll have to get rid of the chimney breast

to get the staircase starting from here.

And upstairs, I'm going to separate the bedrooms,

so you don't go through the bedrooms to the bathroom.

So, is the idea to create a corridor upstairs then,

-and have the bedrooms coming off that?

-Yeah.

-The trick to that is moving the stairs.

-Yes.

I'll bring the stairs over here.

I can then, hopefully, gain a bit of passageway and then,

by moving the stairs, add it, put it back into the bedroom.

Now, you're lucky you're a carpenter, because that kind of job

-falls perfectly into your areas of expertise, doesn't it?

-Yup. Yup.

Should be OK.

No biggie for you, putting a staircase in.

No, no, that should be fine.

Michael has already two renovations under his carpenter's belt.

And, from his experience,

he thinks that working on this will take between 10 and 12 weeks.

However, I can't help thinking that there's a lot to do here,

and he's already invested 186,000.

So talk me through the numbers. In an ideal world,

how much are you going to spend on it, doing it up?

If I can, I'll try and get it in around the 20 grand mark, erm...

but maybe edging towards 25.

And what's the plan for it? Is it to rent it out or sell it on?

Ideally, I want to spin it over, sell it, go and do another one.

-Listen, congratulations.

-Thank you.

-Good luck with it.

-Cheers.

We'll see how you get on.

Well, I like the idea of buying yourself a job with a property,

and that's exactly what Michael has done. And a nice project it is, too.

However, with what he's planning, especially that extension,

that £20,000 budget sounds a little bit tight to me.

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

Still to come, this Stoke-on-Trent house has severe dry rot -

a dreaded problem, one that really has people running for the hills.

Back in Surrey, it's gone well for carpenter, Mike.

Most of the character I've tried to keep -

fireplaces, the wooden floor, the architraves.

We're now returning to the Kent town of Chatham, where,

earlier in the programme, this three-bedroomed, detached property,

adjacent to a graveyard, was bought for £200,000

by Steve on the left and Andrew, who are based in Surrey.

The pair have been working together for about a year,

developing properties.

Andrew is originally from Poland and he does the building work,

whilst Steve is an ex-lawyer, looking after the finances.

They saw great potential for the extra building on the site.

There was no sign behind the hedge of either the garage

on one end of the house or the link between

the pitched roof annexe and the main house.

And we really think we can do something with that.

What about the main centre of the property? What about in here?

What are you going to do to turn it around?

Pretty much, the rooms are going to stay as they are.

Starting from the top floor,

we will have two double bedrooms, one single bedroom.

Hold on a minute. It's a two bedroom and one pool room.

Yes! There is that.

It's not a bedroom, there's a pool table up there,

which, I take, is going to go?

Well, it's available!

They were going to sell and hope to pocket a profit, and they hoped

their budget of 30,000 wouldn't leave them snookered.

They set a timescale of about eight to ten weeks.

Now it's eight months later.

And, next to the quietest part of town, there is now

definitely something to shout about.

The property has replacement windows throughout.

But the living room is only the beginning...

..because the former dining room and kitchen

have been knocked into one.

This is the kitchen, before, it was split.

Where I'm standing right now, there was a dividing wall

and the door was on my left from the hallway,

and we decided to open this up and create a larger dining/kitchen room

with very high standard gloss units, curved units,

and we're very pleased with the results.

Obviously, it's going to continue

throughout the house into the utility room

and into the annexe room that's on the other side of the property.

The utility room will be placed in what used to be the store shed,

while the annexe is going to be linked to the main house

by creating a corridor with a parallel wall.

We decided to apply for planning permission.

We took a certain amount of time,

and that's enabled us to get the part of the house between the main house

and the annexe absolutely approved and ready for conversion.

I thought that little annexe was intriguing,

and offered tons of possibilities.

So what did they do with it in the end?

This annexe was the former office building.

And what we've done is convert it in such a way

that all the windows have been changed.

We've gone for these high-level windows

instead of the previous single-glazed metal windows,

and we've put a good cloakroom/bathroom over on this side,

so whoever buys the house

can either use it as a bedroom or as another living room.

I think it's a really elegant and flexible solution.

Although they decided on cost grounds

to leave the front door as it was, on the side,

there has been more work outside.

A terrace with French windows is under way,

and the other foundations are the beginning of the garden room,

which they have decided is a cost-effective addition.

Back inside the main house, the former bathroom and loo

have been knocked into one well-equipped family bathroom.

The pool table's also gone

and the three bedrooms have been tastefully redecorated.

There's still the garden to landscape,

and with the additional work on the extension

and with the high-level finish kitchen, I wonder what effect

all of that has had on their original £30,000 budget.

We spent about 40,000, perhaps a little above, in the end,

but we're still very comfortable that

what we spent makes good sense for this particular house.

With the £200,000 they spent at auction,

it takes the total investment to £240,000.

And have the plans remained the same?

Yes, the plan is to sell the house.

Agents, from time to time, like to try and persuade us to rent them,

but our business is selling them and moving on to renovate the next.

What will these two local estate agents make of the renovation work?

My first impressions are that no expense has been spared,

particularly the kitchen and bathroom, which are the key rooms.

The layout works particularly well.

I think with the proposed garden room that's going to be added

to the back of the property,

that's going to help with a separate area for other entertainments.

I think, with the extension, it is a good idea,

because it's connecting the rest of the building together.

However, in the future, if they do want to expand,

at least they've got room to do it.

Now, I know they don't want to let the house out,

but out of interest, how much could this fetch on the rental market?

I predict a rental income of £1,400 per calendar month.

If this property was rented out,

they would achieve around £1,500 per calendar month.

Well, that's an impressive yield of 7%.

It would be a good rental return, by the sound of it.

Depends where they pitched the price,

but 1,500 a month would be a good rental income.

And what about that all-important resale figure?

Do the agents think the property would be worth more than

the 240,000 that Andrew and Steve have invested here?

I would value this property for £300-£330,000.

We'd aim to sell this property for £365,000.

Well, a real disparity in the valuations there.

One valuation would give a £60,000 profit,

while the other would produce a whacking 125 grand,

minus all the usual taxes and expenses.

365 is a very good achievement

but I think the 350 mark is where we're going to land.

This has been the fifth property that Andrew

and Steve have refurbished.

Their development business is going well, so, what next?

We've got another house we're working on already, which is

an even bigger project than this one,

potentially including some new development in the garden as well,

but at the moment, unless Andy has different ideas, we carry on.

I think so. We didn't plan anything

in the near future. Once we have this house sold

we'll probably start looking and go back to the auction again.

Well, a success story there in Kent.

Will we find another one here in Bradely, Stoke-on-Trent?

It's suburban and rather pleasant

and it's also played a part in the rising fortunes of the local area.

Well, the area formed part of an urban expansion

plan in the 1950s to provide housing for local miners

and factory workers whose homes in nearby

Burslem and Tunstall were condemned,

so it was bricks and mortar to the rescue.

There are still some older Victorian terraces along the main road

leading to Burslem town centre. There are buses

aplenty for all your commuting requirements.

So, what am I here to see?

It's a three-bed, mid-terrace in this fairly attractive

row of similar properties.

I like the brick-built frontage and from the outside, this is it.

Looks pretty good. The guide price £40,000 plus.

Hmm. Sounds suspiciously low.

Even more suspicious, when you know the ceiling

price around here is around the £80,000 mark.

So, let's investigate what we have. Little corridor here.

I don't like that as a layout.

It feels claustrophobic the moment you come through the front door.

I am not even going to go there for a second, but through

here into your main sort of living area and this is quite a nice space.

Obviously full of lots of stuff at the moment, but get rid of that

and it's got this dual aspect which is always good.

So living area at the front, rear area at the back.

Hmm.

HE INHALES SHARPLY

We'll come back to that. Onwards through here

is your kitchen and I think onwards through to a bathroom.

I am just going to go upstairs. Hmm.

OK, OK, I know, I know I am avoiding a big problem down here.

But I promise I will come back to it.

# Come back

# Baby come back... #

Well, up here, the good news is there is a bathroom

and a sink, the bad news is there is no loo and that's not ideal.

I think you have also stolen space from the bedrooms

because it does actually feel a little bit cramped.

The good news again though is that it seems that the majority,

if not all, of the walls are actually stud partition.

Not that difficult to take down and rejig the layout up here.

And I think with a bit of careful thought

you could make it much better than it is.

Would you keep it as three bedrooms or go for two bigger ones?

Could you turn that sort of washroom into a proper bathroom with a loo?

OK, nothing else for it. Back downstairs.

Well, I can't get away with it any longer.

It is time to address the elephant in the room, as they say.

The obvious thing with this property, which is

clearly pretty bad!

This is one of the most incredible examples of dry rot

I have ever seen in a house.

I mean, this bit here with plastic over the wall and you have the

tendrils of this fungus there.

This is something you'd see in a museum case or a natural

history kind of show. This is the, if you like, the result of dry rot.

It's a fungus. It grows, it eats its way through wood,

it smashes its way through...

anything.

Look, look, look.

Look at that, there.

There's the tendrils of this nasty little thing.

It is one of the classic issues

and problems or potential problems in a property,

one that really has people...

Oh, my goodness me!

..running for the hills.

It's caused by water and a combination of that

and an enclosed space as in under these floorboards.

The problem is the tendrils stretch everywhere,

they go through wood and concrete, they are a disaster, as you can see.

It's expensive to put right

and it needs to be done properly otherwise it comes back.

Dry rot is a fungus which can travel much faster than your average

mushroom and if it goes on the rampage this is the result.

# My world is crumbling My world is crumbling... #

And bear in mind that this is what you can see.

The joists and everything could be shot.

It could even have crept next-door, all very expensive.

I'd get a survey done before I even thought of buying this

property to find out the extent of the infestation.

Maybe outside will cheer me up.

Well, there is a good-sized back garden to the property

and it would seem even bigger

if you got rid of, or trimmed back, at least, that privet hedge.

But another bit of really good news is at the back here, there is

actually a rear access

so pretty much like other people have done, put a garage in here,

gets your car off the road, yes, a nice additional bonus.

I say additional bonus, but that is of course assuming that

something can be done to solve the problems inside.

What will a local estate agent make of this crumbly terrace?

Compared to a standard renovation project, this probably

requires little bit more work, there is some dry rot knocking around.

Obviously that may need a specialist to have a look at that

and replace the whole floors, really.

I think all that taken into consideration, and when all done,

and in a nice order, this could be somewhere around £85,000-£90,000.

OK, so that is the potential value, what could the rental income be?

In a good condition, I'd place this on the rental market

somewhere between £400 and £425 per calendar month.

Well, it's sometimes said

that mid-terrace properties are a safe bet.

Since, as long as the ones on either side are all right,

how bad can the one in the middle be?

Well, this is a case in point...

of that theory being complete rubbish because it is horrendous!

As we've seen.

Still, as long as you get it at the right price,

it could still be a good investment.

Let's see who went for it under the hammer.

Lot 53, a large mid-townhouse, first floor bathroom,

the majority double glazed, gas central heating.

Three bedrooms, good-sized garden.

Lot 53, 35 to start me on this one.

35 bid, thank you.

At £35,000.

£35,000, I'll say 38. Shall we say 38?

The bid is at 35. 38 bid. Thank you.

£38,000. 40?

£40,000. 42?

£42,000. 44?

One, you are saying? £43,000. 44?

A half. He's saying 43½. 44?

At 43...

44 seated. At 44. Another 500?

No. The bid is seated at 44,000.

Back in 44½. 45?

A new bidder at 45. 45½. 46.

46. 46½. 47.

47. 47½. 48?

48. 49.

50? 50.

No, at £50,000, standing there at 50,000. 51 anywhere else?

At £50,000 then for the first time.

New bidder, 51. 52?

52. 53?

No. 53,000, the gentleman in the blue T-shirt.

Just wave again so there's no mistake. Thank you.

£53,000 then, all done now?

At £53,000 once,

£53,000 twice,

third and last time at £53,000.

Your lot, sir, well done.

That final bid of £53,000 was made by Clint.

He and his wife Kerry own a stud farm for Welsh cob horses

and have just finished renovation work on their own home.

Clint builds horseboxes amongst other things.

It seems he can turn his hand to most things,

but is even he going to find this troubled terrace a challenge?

I met the couple to find out more.

-Clint, Kerry, great to meet you both.

-Thank you.

Clint - an interesting name. What is the background to it?

My dad was a cowboy fanatic really, so I was named after Clint Eastwood.

-Do you like Clint Eastwood?

-Yes, I must admit, I like cowboys as well.

Buying at auction might seem like the Wild West,

but not if you do your research, view the property,

read the legal pack and know your limit.

-Please tell me you looked at this house before you bought it.

-No.

-No.

Aargh!

The typical mistake.

Right, why?

We decided on the way that we were going to pay about £50,000.

I was working on the assumption that I needed to spend about 10 on it.

-Resell it for about 75, not a bad profit.

-Oh, no!

-The actual auction, it stopped on our limit of £50,000.

-Right.

So I just put my hand up for 51.

I then got a kick off my wife

-to say, "What are you doing?"

-I was nudging, yes.

Somebody went 52, I went 53, and we bought it.

After that I thought to myself, "That's a good price."

Then I thought, "Why was it a good price?"

Why was it a good price? Well, the clue, Clint, was in the legal pack.

Now, it's bad enough they didn't view the property beforehand,

but guess what else they didn't do.

Yep, that's right, they didn't read the legal pack.

If they had, they would have spotted information that said they had to

pay the seller's fees, upping their total spend thus far to £56,000.

And, by the way, the pack also mentioned the dry rot.

So, what is the plan to deal with that?

We're just going to rip everything out. All the wood is coming out.

Obviously treat the walls and floors

-with the fungal disinfectant, basically.

-Yeah.

New stairs going in, so that will eliminate the dry rot.

We've looked up, it's only travelled halfway up the stairs.

So there's no actual dry rot upstairs.

Clint and Kerry intend tackling the dry rot themselves.

On a tight budget, fair enough, but I would always recommend

getting in the experts because if you don't get it right,

it will return. If you do decide to treat it yourself,

bear in mind that you should go past where you think the dry rot ends

because it travels, and never replace boards, skirting or whatever

with untreated wood, otherwise you'll just be inviting trouble.

And of course, you need to find the source of the damp

that caused the problem in the first place.

You are now the proud owners.

-What are you going to do?

-Just basically refurbish the lot.

We'll knock some walls out, extend the kitchen,

extend the rooms upstairs.

One bedroom upstairs, we can move the wall only about 250mm,

which doesn't sound a lot, but it means we can get a single bed in.

We can turn the bath around upstairs so we can put the toilet

-which is downstairs and make a functional bathroom upstairs.

-Great.

How much extra is it going to cost you

to put right all the problems you didn't know about?

-No extra really.

-What do you mean, no extra?

-We were planning on spending £10,000.

-Right.

So whether it meant 10,000, we were just going to come in

and we'd have better fixings, you know,

the finished product, or 10,000 meaning the work we've got to do.

And we are going to be doing the work ourselves.

So we don't need to get anybody else in.

-You'll then potentially make some money, won't you?

-Yes.

It's standing at 56 now. If we spend £10,000 on it, that's 66.

Obviously then, depending on what it's valued at when it's finished,

if that still went up to a value, we thought, of about 75,

there's still 9,000 or 10,000 in there.

-Right.

-Anyway, so... We are planning on having it done in about 10 weeks.

-Right.

-So it should be a nice little earner...

-Right.

..if it goes to plan.

I was going to say touch wood, but there's none left, is there?

Congratulations. Good luck with it.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

Well, I think Kerry and Clint recognise that they did break

every single rule in the book buying this place.

But you've got to love their attitude.

And it seems like they have an action plan to sort it out.

There's only one big question for Kerry and Clint.

Are you feeling lucky?

Well, time has simply flown by.

Have our buyers managed to make progress with their properties?

Let's go back and check out what's happened.

Back in Surrey, we are returning to a property in Leatherhead.

Where Mike, a carpenter, bought this neglected, two-bedroom cottage.

He paid £186,000 for the property

and had a timescale of 10 to 12 weeks.

The layout was one of the many things he intended tackling.

The bathroom access was off one of the bedrooms.

And Mike had radical plans to change that.

If I bring the stairs over here, I can then hopefully gain a bit

of passageway and then by moving the stairs, put it back into the bedroom.

Mike also planned to extend at the back

and had set a budget of £20,000 up to a maximum of £25,000.

What's the plan for it? Is it to rent it out, or to sell it on?

To sell it on. And then, fingers crossed, hopefully make a profit.

Seven months later, has Mike swanned through this renovation

or will this be his property swansong?

Well, the outside looks much better,

with smart paintwork, new windows and door - very tasteful.

And inside, the derelict property has been transformed.

# Right time, the right place

# The right body, the right face

# Timber, I'm falling in love

# Timber, I'm falling in love... #

As you would expect from a carpenter,

the timbers have had a lot of loving attention.

The sanded floors look fabulous, as does the restored fireplace.

Michael has taken longer than planned

because he took on other work.

After seven months, I had expected to see the ground-floor extension.

What happened to that?

Originally, I'd planned to extend at the back,

but that would involve a planning application,

take maybe two to three months more time than I wanted to wait for,

so I decided to go down a permitted planning route

and fill in the L-shape,

extending it on the side.

I'm pleased with the glass roof,

it does allow a lot more light into the two rooms

and it gives the place another feature.

I'm pleased with the way it all turned out.

By just extending into what was the original side return,

Mike has created a lovely kitchen.

And look at the garden. Who'd have believed there was so much space?

Mike decided against repositioning the staircase and yet he still

managed to create a corridor and keep the rear bedroom a good size.

If you remember,

originally there was a door here that led straight into the bedroom.

So you'd have to go through the bedroom to get into the bathroom.

So I've taken the door off, used the door for the bedroom,

created a false wall here and then removed the chimney breast -

the chimney breast was sticking right out here -

so I've taken as much of the chimney breast as I could away.

I'm pleased with the new layout.

I'm hoping that it makes it more user-friendly, from the fact

that you don't have to go through a bedroom,

and ultimately an easier place to sell.

Always remember, removing a chimney breast is structural work.

So make sure that whoever does take it on

knows exactly what they are doing.

Mike has had experts in to do the electrics and plumbing.

But the retention of the original features

is definitely down to his skills as a carpenter.

The replaced sash windows are beautiful.

Most of the character in the house I've tried to keep,

ie, the fireplaces, the wooden floor, the architraves and the doors.

I sanded all the floors

and just kept as much of the original stuff as I could.

It's a lovely job and just what this cottage needed.

Mike did pay a lot over the guide price and I'm hoping that

if he's going to make a profit,

that not having done some of the major structural work

he planned means he's kept his preferred budget of £20,000

and not his absolute maximum of £25,000.

How much has he spent?

In total I've spent £25,000,

5,000 more than I had intended,

but there was a wee bit more work in the decorating of it.

Some of the walls had to be replastered.

Hence it pushed it up to the £25,000.

With the £186,000 he paid at auction,

it takes Mike's total investment here to £211,000.

Time to find out what two local estate agents

think of the transformed property.

We'll start with the one who saw it first time around.

I think the owner has done a very good job

with the access to the bathroom.

Without reducing the size of the bedroom too much,

it's still a good-sized double.

I particularly like the new extension on the kitchen

which allows natural light to flow into the kitchen and dining room.

The fact that the owner has kept the original flooring

and the original fireplace makes it very attractive

to anyone who wants to purchase the property.

Positive noises all round then.

Mike wants to sell, but if he had to rent,

the agents agree he could ask for £1,100 per calendar month.

That would make a yield of just over 6%.

Really? Yes, that's fab. Really good.

Would he be tempted?

Well, I am still planning to sell it,

and hopefully sell it soon, and move on to the next one.

So what about that all-important resale figure?

Is the property now worth more than the £211,000 Mike has invested?

I would estimate the value to be

somewhere in the region of £265,000-£285,000.

In my opinion,

the sale price of this property is around £250,000-£260,000.

A potential profit of between £39,000 and £74,000

before taxes and expenses.

Anything over 250 I would have been happy with.

So 280, 285 would be brilliant.

How nice to see the transformation that Mike has made

to this old house that had seen better days.

And what's next for carpenter Mike?

Does he fancy another refurbishment?

Well, I've actually got a few jobs for customers to do.

Sell this place, get back to the auction and hopefully buy another.

Do it all again.

So, from a renovation with hardly any problems

to one year in Bradely, Stoke, with, er, well...more than a few.

Clint and his wife Kerry paid £53,000.

Clint was named after the Dirty Harry star Clint Eastwood

but I'm afraid he didn't make my day when we met.

-Please tell me you looked at this house before you bought it.

-No.

-No.

Aaargh!

It's no laughing matter

because this house was riddled with dry rot on the ground floor.

And I could see it costing Clint a fistful of dollars to put it right.

Well, you are now the proud owners. What are you going to do?

Just basically regut... refurbish the lot.

All the wood is coming out downstairs -

floors, skirting boards, door frames, stairs -

and we're going to be knocking some walls out, extending the kitchen.

The only toilet was behind the kitchen

and Clint and Kerry were going to move that upstairs.

The couple planned to renovate and sell the property on.

They were going to do a lot of the work themselves.

They both breed horses and Clint rebuilds horseboxes,

so his practical skills are going to come in handy.

They set a budget of £10,000

and reckoned it would take a couple of months.

Well, it's now five months later

and we've returned to check on the progress.

The wall between the hall and the living room has been removed.

They waved goodbye to the rotten floor, replacing it with

these rippling tiles, a bit like the tide on a beach.

# I know we can turn the tide

# Together we can change the way things are... #

And the house has washed up lots of other treasures.

With so much dry rot to tackle,

it meant the floor could be completely opened up.

OK, what we've done here is we've taken down the dividing wall,

which has taken away a dingy corridor that was

leading in from the front door and has given us a lovely open space.

Yeah, and the wooden floor we had, with it being dry rot,

and the more we dug into it the more it was really bad,

so we ripped it all out and put a concrete floor in.

It's given us a good, substantial room now.

Removing the infected timbers was only half the story.

The house was stripped right back and the walls were treated

with a fungicidal wash to prevent any future problems.

Only then could the impressive layout changes begin.

OK, what we've done is we've taken a wall out from behind us

to open the kitchen up and give us a kitchen-dining room and an open flow.

There were two walls at the end, we've taken the coalhouse wall out

and the downstairs toilet out.

We've had to put the toilet upstairs into the bathroom.

It was the smallest bathroom I've seen.

So that meant us moving a dividing wall.

It made one of the bedrooms are bit smaller,

but we've got a nice, bigger bathroom now.

By moving the stud walls, they gained valuable space,

which allowed the bath to be turned,

leaving room for the loo from downstairs.

With help from qualified experts,

the house now has new central heating.

And there's new lighting and the plumbing has been changed.

Clint and Kerry did a lot of the work themselves, but I'm wondering

how long it's actually taken. We last met five months ago.

It was hard because we've both got full-time jobs.

So it was a case of coming down in the evenings and at weekends.

In total, it's taken us,

counting up the hours we've actually spent on the house, 12 weeks.

Which is pretty good going considering all the work

they've had to undertake.

I wonder what effect it had on their budget.

We had a budget of £10,000.

As we got further on through the project,

we upped the standard a bit, didn't we?

Which meant the glass balustrade was coming in,

the shinier tiles we were going to have,

so, yes, we spent £12,000, so we are really chuffed with it.

Clint and Kerry, if you remember, didn't read the legal pack

and the seller's fees cost them three grand on top of their bid,

bringing the auction total to £56,000.

I'm really not surprised they went over that £10,000 budget.

But that brings their total spend now to £68,000.

We asked two local estate agents to come along

and give their opinions.

I'm worried they are almost at the price they were looking to sell for.

Have they done enough to take it to a higher value?

Much improved from the last time I was in the property.

Nice new kitchen in there, nice new bathroom and fitments.

Nice flooring all the way through.

Vendors look like they've done a good job.

My first impressions were that the vendors have spent

a lot of time on the attention to detail,

with unique flooring, it's quite a selling point.

They've opened up the kitchen, the lounge

and the living area to create some more space.

Also upstairs, the bedrooms have been moved around

to create more room in the bathroom.

Well, the plan has always been to sell,

but how much rental income could the property generate

if Clint and Kerry did have a change of plan?

The rental value would be £495 per calendar month.

If I was going to place this on to the rental market,

I would be asking somewhere around £500 per calendar month.

And that's a yield of around 9%.

Not a bad return, Clint.

If we were to rent a property around here, then, yes,

-we would be looking at something around £450-£500 a month.

-Yeah.

So, yeah, we'd be happy.

How about that all-important value on the resale market?

Will they get their money back? They've invested £68,000.

Will they make their target profit of around ten grand?

Given the level of finish and detail on this property,

I would place it on the market for £94,950.

If I was in the owner's shoes,

at the moment I'd be looking to get this back on the market

and hopefully achieve somewhere around £100,000.

Whoa, a result!

That would mean a possible profit

of around £30,000-£35,000 before taxes and expenses.

I think, if we could get 95, 100,

-we'd be more than happy, wouldn't we?

-Yes.

In fact, the couple have already had their own valuation done

and are going to put it on the market for around £110,000.

All in all, a fantastic job and a great potential profit

when you consider the house was riddled with rot

when they bought it blind.

Despite all the trials and tribulations,

will they do another property?

Yes, hopefully we're going to sell this

and then get another one straightaway.

-It was definitely hard work, but it has been worth it.

-Yes.

-Definitely worth it.

-Yes, we come here

and every time you walk through the door, you're sort of...

Yes, every day you are sort of, "We've done that," sort of thing.

You get the same feeling.

Well, whether it's a bungalow, a mansion or a piece of land,

we'll be here to see what happens to it on Homes Under The Hammer.

-So make sure you join us next time.

-Goodbye for now.

-Goodbye.