Episode 15 Homes Under the Hammer

It's difficult to judge what the property market is up to these days

because you can't always believe what you read or hear.

One thing you could do, though,

is buzz around the property auctions and see for yourself.

A wide range of properties sell under the hammer,

so why not pop down to your local auction room

and see if they have one that's right for you?

You might be surprised by the prices.

So let's see what people bid for on today's show.

Expect tales of the unexpected today.

First, a mystery story at this Newcastle bungalow.

There is something seriously not right with this floor.

In Kent, this romantic tower brings out my inner fairy-tale princess.

Rapunzel! Rapunzel! Let down your long hair!

And in Northern Ireland, it seems that's "all she wrote".

Right, I'll be off, then!

Nothing more to say, is there?

I'm sure I'll think of something!

All of these properties have been sold at auction.

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

when they went under the hammer.

Today, I'm in Gosforth, to the north of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne.

It's a busy and long-established commuter area with

plenty of amenities and a fantastic public transport system

in the form of the Metro link,

which runs regular trains to Newcastle and Gateshead.

And sitting on the fringe of Gosforth

is the Red House Farm estate.

It was built largely in the 1950s and is popular with those

seeking a pleasant suburb in which to bring up their families.

Well, the property I'm here to see

sits in this popular residential area.

£85,000 plus was the guide price for this,

a two-bedroomed semidetached bungalow.

Looks all right from the outside.

In we go.

Yep, and there's off-street parking and a garage, to boot. Promising!

OK, now, from my experience,

bungalows follow one of two basic designs which is corridor to

a central area, which all the rooms are off, or, like this one,

where you come into this initial corridor and then similar,

the rooms sort of come off but in a sort of modern fashion,

but you know what I mean. Anyway.

Bedroom one there, bedroom two over that way.

The bathroom, well, it's all straightaway saying,

"I need a bit of tender, loving care". Black, Bakelite-type cistern.

Wow! That definitely dates the property. As does this.

Look at this light switch. It is definitely original.

Notice there's no screws or anything.

My guess is that the entire electrical system is going

to need to be updated for sure.

Your front living room area there, and through into the kitchen.

All in all, it's not a bad size.

And certainly, in here, it's, yeah, room to grow, so to speak.

But what it needs is definitely modernisation. Not least the boiler.

And how's that for bare plumbing?

# Everyone has pipe dreams... #

And in this bungalow, it's less of a pipe dream

and more of a pipe nightmare.

SPOOKY ECHOING CRASH

You know, after you've seen as many properties as I have

over the years, it's the small things that really get you.

What an intriguing bit of plumbing that is.

DISCORDANT, JARRING GUITAR

There is something seriously not right with this floor.

That bit there, where the door threshold is,

is higher than this bit here.

Hmph!

My guess is that the material

used as the hardcore for the floor itself has got some problem with it.

Now, in the past, in certain parts of the country,

they used mining waste as part of the hardcore, and that,

over time, creates a chemical reaction which can cause problems.

I'm not sure that's the situation here,

but it could explain the fact that something's definitely a bit odd.

# You really got me!

-# You really got me!...

-#

It could also explain the rather low guide price

of £85,000 for this property.

There can be various reasons for what's called,

in general terms, concrete cancer.

It's not just mining waste that can cause concrete to deteriorate.

Aggregates like flint or fine rocks from the sea bed can cause issues,

too, as can water penetration, and it can be expensive to fix.

This renovation is going to be from the ground up.

Good thing there's only one floor.

At the rear of the property, a nice-sized little garden.

But I'm more interested in what some of the neighbours have done,

which is a single-storey extension,

which would add a nice bit of extra room to this property.

You've got this little bit at the end there,

but I think something here coming out,

within permitted development rules, of course,

single-storey, definitely a good thing to do.

Apart from that, a few nice garden ornaments.

# All around me are familiar faces

# Worn-out places, worn-out faces... #

All in all, this is a neat little bungalow

and has clearly been a cosy home.

And, bonus, a cosy shed heated with wind power.

There's certainly room for updating and extending and adding value.

What does a local estate agent think

would make this property more appealing to today's market?

Ideally, my suggestion for this property would be to

add on an additional sun lounge/conservatory.

The most common item these days is a sun lounge.

Something like that would cost approximately £5,000-£10,000.

A typical glass conservatory, of course, would be

something slightly less.

OK, let's talk figures.

What could this bungalow, that was guided at £85,000, go for,

if done up and maybe extended?

My evaluation for this property with this current footprint, refurbished

to a high standard, would be approximately £130,000-£140,000.

If you were to add an extension to the property,

conservatory/sun lounge,

my evaluation would be approximately £140,000-£150,000.

And what about rental valuations?

My rental valuation for this property, with or without

a conservatory, would be £550-£600 per calendar month.

Well, it's a nice enough little bungalow in a good area,

but those problems with the floor

would certainly add to any renovation budget and timescales.

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

Traditional bungalow in a popular residential area.

I need £78,000, or I'll withdraw.

78,000, lady sitting down, 78,000.

79 on the front. 80, 80 to the lady.

81. 82, 83.

The lady's bid 82. 82,500 on the front. I'll offer the same for 83.

83 bid. 83,500 bid, 84.

The lady sitting down.

At £84,250, 250 bid. 84,250. 84,500?

Anybody else at 84,500? I'm selling at 84,250. I'm going once at 84,250.

I'm going for the second time at 84,250.

Sold, gentleman on the front row, at £84,250.

And so, for £84,250, the Gosforth bungalow was bought by Shuweb.

We last met Shuweb and his little helper, son Maher, in 2012,

after he bought a three-bedroomed flat in Newcastle

and turned it around for the rental market.

He's a former chartered surveyor who now works in the family firm

with his two brothers.

They deal with the wholesale and retail part of the business,

while Shuweb takes care of the property development side.

Shuweb, great to see you again.

Nice to see you again, yes.

-How's it been since the last time we met?

-Well, it's been quite busy.

We've been purchasing quite a few residential flats and houses,

since the last time, and I've just been busy in getting works done

and getting them filled up with tenants.

I know you have drafted in some young help, haven't you?

I have, yes, my son.

-How old is he again?

-He's ten now.

And how's he getting on?

He's getting on really well.

Whenever he's got some spare time, he likes to shadow us,

which... I thoroughly enjoy his company anyway.

But I think it's going to be good for his future,

that he can be looking after the empire, as such.

And it's quite an empire, with the family business

owning around 40 residential and 40 commercial properties.

Maher is keen to follow in his father's footsteps,

and this one might be a good one for the learning curve,

as there's quite a lot of things here needing attention.

So, what are you going to do with this place to sort it out?

Obviously it will need new kitchen, new bathroom.

We'll have to get the roof checked

and make sure that it's completely watertight.

And also, with this particular property, which I noted

on the inspection, is that the concrete floor's quite uneven.

I think it's quite likely that there's concrete cancer.

That might be quite a big job.

It might need quite a bit of floor to come up,

and then concrete re-laid, but that's been budgeted into the overall costs.

So, in terms of just the floor, then,

how much is it going to cost you to put that right?

Probably about £3,000-£4,000, ballpark.

I have to ask you one thing.

Are you going to redo the central heating system,

including the pipework?

Yes. Absolutely. The pipework's not too good at the moment

but I think this is something to do with the floor.

The original pipes were laid in the floor, and they've corroded

and the water's seeped into the concrete and made matters worse.

-There's some classic plumbing, isn't there?

-Absolutely, yes.

Another thing Shuweb is going to have to fix here is the lease,

because it's short.

If he wants to sell it on,

he will need to extend the lease to enable prospective buyers

to get a mortgage, so I hope he's budgeted for that.

There's only about 44 years remaining,

and I think that's why

we were able to get the property at the price we did,

but within the auction pack,

it's clearly stated that we've got

the option to buy the freehold, for a further £5,000,

so total spend on purchases and fees is going to be £90,000.

And I think we've got the budget for the works at about £20,000.

And when I originally bought this property,

the idea was just to add it to the portfolio and let it out.

But we've had some really positive feedback

from the valuation that we had done,

and we think, once we've had the works,

once we've bought the freehold out, it should take a few months,

and we've had all the works done,

it should probably be worth about £140,000,

which is a considerable amount of capital increase in the property,

so I think this is one that we're going to turn around.

OK, so if it all goes to plan,

this one isn't destined to become part of that large portfolio.

It's going to be more a case of do it up quick,

sort out the lease and move it on.

What's the timescale for getting it sorted?

I think this is probably going to take us about three to four months.

-Team of builders in here.

-Yes.

-Get working on it.

-That's right, yeah.

-Well, listen, congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

-Good luck with it. As ever.

-Thanks.

A good property, a few problems though, with those floors.

Is it going to be as simple as it seems,

just £3,000 to take all these floors out and replace them?

I wait with bated breath.

You can find out how it all turns out later in the show.

Well, if you think Shuweb's got a lot on his plate, wait until

you see what's here in Harrietsham, Kent, an ancient village mentioned

in the Domesday Book, which sits on the slopes of the North Downs,

because on the outskirts of this village

is something a little bit different.

The beauty of auctions is that it's a place

where the unique and unusual can be bought,

properties which would be hard to value

as there are no market comparables.

And this really is such a property. Look!

It's this water tower, built in 1903.

Wow! I need to explore.

For starters, the location is idyllic,

with views over open countryside.

The building itself is impressive, if a little basic.

But the best thing about this,

it's got full planning permission to convert to residential.

In 2004, this sold for £120,000.

But because it's now got planning in place,

the guide price at auction was £200,000-£220,000.

Just goes to show, getting planning permission can really add pounds.

# Oooh... #

But at the moment, all you'll be getting for your money

is a square, empty brick shell with a great big metal water tank on top.

This building is absolutely awesome.

But it makes me want to say,

"Rapunzel! Rapunzel!

"Let down your long hair!"

# You're my

# Fairy tale... #

OK, so it's not exactly a fantastic fairy tale of a building

right now, but the plans which have been cast are quite promising.

Now, obviously, the shape of this building presents some issues

when it comes to converting into a home.

You've got to imagine living in there.

Put some floors in, well, you're going to end up with

lots of small little rooms, just one on top of another

with lots of space taken up by stairs.

Not the easiest layout to live with,

but the plans allow for a large extension

to be built out here at the rear.

Now, this will be connected to the tower with a glass entrance - stunning!

The extension will be single-storey

with a beautiful curved wall around here,

and this will house the main living area.

You've got your lounge, kitchen, dining room and also,

you'll have two bedrooms with en suites just over there.

The curved wall of the new extension will also have large glass windows

to make the most of the views.

In the old part, the tower, there will be

a TV room on the ground floor, a study,

and a third bedroom on the next floor up.

The second floor will be the master en suite

and right at the top where the water tank is right now

will be the master bedroom.

It sounds great, doesn't it?

The only downside is, the new extension will take up

a large chunk of the grounds, leaving a relatively small garden.

# I love it! #

The site itself is also within

an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty,

a designation which aims to conserve the beauty,

flora and fauna of a landscape,

so some of the nearby trees have preservation orders on them

and you will suffer a hefty fine if they are damaged or removed.

And a great deal of emphasis has been placed

on the planting up of the grounds, which has to be done

as soon as possible after this development is complete.

The unusual house has planning permission,

but whoever builds it will need to comply with lots of restrictions.

What kind of demand would there be for a house like that?

We asked a local estate agent for his thoughts.

Demand for this type of property is high.

I don't think there would be any trouble finding

plenty of interested parties, because it is unique

and yet, it's in such a nicely established, idyllic situation.

There's still a lot of spending needed to achieve that house.

Unique, bespoke features usually mean a spiralling budget.

So, bearing in mind that £200,000-£230,000 guide price

and the possible build costs,

what could this house achieve on the market, once it was finished?

Judging by the plans, the size of the accommodation,

the location,

and some other comparable properties that we're

handling at the moment, I would estimate that it would probably

achieve something close to £1.1 million.

This water tower really does offer a very unique opportunity

to build an unusual home.

All the hard work's been done, the planning permission's in place,

so now, all the new owner has to do is build it.

So, who was tempted by this wonderful tower?

Not Rapunzel.

Let's find out who bought it at the auction.

200 to start me. 200, I'm on the way, I'm obliged.

200, 205 on my left-hand side.

210, it's against you.

210, it's with you. 215. 215.

£220,000, 218, if it helps you.

218 I've got. 220, it's with you.

220, it's against you, again.

222 in a fresh place, standing at the back corner. 225. 228 I've got.

230 I have. 232, it's against you. 232. At £230,000 for the first time.

230 for the second.

If you're sure you're all done, it's going to be sold.

£230,000 sitting down, make no mistake, third and final time.

The water tower, sir, well done.

That laid-back-looking buyer, Andy,

managed to capture the former tower for 230,000.

He runs a consultancy in fire protection

but has branched out into property over the last six months.

Handily, he has a team of builders

from the various companies he runs so, so far, so good.

Andy, congratulations.

You certainly like to take on a challenge, don't you?

I don't know. I don't know if we see it as too much of a challenge.

But we like to think it's more interesting than a challenge, really.

So why would you think this isn't a challenge?

I know a lot of people looking at something like this would

A, think it's amazing, but B, think, wow,

I've got to build a house around this.

My background is, I work as a fire engineering consultant originally.

I've got various companies that do

the consultancy in construction and residential a lot, so, yeah,

my background is pretty heavily construction and property-based.

Because my normal course of work was working on residential developments

that were up to 40 storeys high

and 2,000-unit developments, so it's not something,

when we look at this, yes, it's got its own intricacies,

but we don't really see it as... we see it as a challenge,

but not as something that's daunting.

So this isn't really going to add that much stress

to your life, is that what you're saying?

-I'm not allowed to add any more stress to my life!

-Tell me why!

I've had to take a step back from my other businesses

-because of stress and various other reasons.

-Really?!

-This is taking a step back?!

-Yeah, it is!

I mean, this is, for me, it's like a hobby, I guess.

# You got to step back, baby, so I can get along with you... #

So, Andy has had to take

a step back from his main business in fire protection

and is now focusing on property development

on a much smaller scale instead.

But smaller scale does not necessarily mean smaller ambition.

Let's talk about the water tower itself.

How are you going to turn this around

and turn it into a beautiful home?

The ground floor itself,

I mean, the modern extension is where we're going to try

and create the sort of living spaces that will be... A lot of people

nowadays want the open-plan kitchen, your dining, your living space.

That's going to be the key focus, this great

sort of sweeping curved-glass view straight out over the countryside.

That's going to be stunning.

There's nothing like a beautiful, ergonomic curve in a house.

It just looks sexy. I love it.

One of the things we're going to try and do is,

looking at this house, we've always said it's going to be high spec,

high budget, so a really good kitchen, it's got to have a kitchen

with the wow factor and all that sort of stuff.

Um, and, you know, so that when someone walks in,

they're not only going to see the view,

but it's also got to have that sort of impact, that punch.

# Nothing but the best is good enough for me... #

It all sounds amazing, but this high-spec finish will come at a cost.

Andy's budgeting between 230,000-250,000 for the build,

and it looks like there could be an amendment to the plans as well.

I think we'll try and make use

of the sort of space above the new extension.

I mean, it's going to be a grass roof,

so it's going to be structurally fairly solid,

and I'd like to try and develop something like a roof terrace,

with the grass, so you'd have to take your lawn mower up there

every now and then, that sort of stuff.

But it would give you that additional outside space.

I love the thought of just mowing your roof!

Well, you know, this is the thing.

It creates sort of a garden on the roof but it also as well,

it then really raises you up a level and enhances the view even further.

Andy's solution to that small garden is a stroke of genius.

However, it's always risky in terms of time and money

to try and change planning permission,

and I'm just worried it could really delay things.

Come on, how long is it going to take you to build?

Well, we are sort of estimating probably about six to eight months.

To build. Probably about eight months.

It's a shame that we're not going to be building in the summer.

Going through the winter months with it, so yeah...

If I drive past, I'll make sure that I bring a hot Thermos of coffee

-for you to keep you warm.

-We might need a few of them!

Andy, thank you so much for joining us.

I'm so excited for you and cannot wait to see the finished article.

-I'm sure it's going to be stunning.

-Hopefully.

The thing that I find interesting is that Andy views this project

as a step back from stress,

but developing such a unique building as this

can often come with its own problems.

It's an individual structure, after all,

which has to be adapted for domestic use.

And unusual homes often take longer to sell.

So, when the time comes,

will Andy be able to find a buyer for this quirky property?

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

Coming up, in Northern Ireland, I'm struck by

the overwhelming smell of paint.

That's hopeful. And in fact, wow!

It looks pretty good.

But, back in Kent, just "pretty good" is not good enough for Andy.

We know that we've got to bring out the luxury within the space.

But first, we're back in Newcastle upon Tyne, or more precisely,

the northern suburb of Gosforth.

Only a hop, skip and jump onto the Metro

for a quick ride into the city centre.

It was on the pleasant 1950s Red House Farm estate that I met Shuweb.

He bought this two-bedroomed semidetached bungalow for £84,250.

Shuweb is a former quantity surveyor

and now works for his family property business,

dealing with the development side of things.

It didn't take a super-sleuth to work out that there was something

seriously amiss with aspects of this house.

There is something seriously not right with this floor.

What an intriguing bit of plumbing that is.

My guess is that the whole electrical system is going to have to be updated for sure.

But Shuweb had a good idea of what was wrong.

Pipework's not too good at the moment.

That might be quite a big job,

might need quite a bit of floor to come up and concrete re-laid.

I think it'll need new kitchen, new bathroom.

We have to get the roof checked

and make sure that it's completely watertight.

It makes you wonder just what bits of the house are going to be kept.

Would there be anything of the original house left?

Shuweb estimated a three-to-four-month time frame.

We return ten months later.

MUSIC: "You Make Me Feel Brand New" by the Stylistics

Well, it certainly looks like a brand-new house.

Even though Shuweb thought he'd do it in half the time, it does seem

like he's done the place top to bottom.

Including the floors.

The doors.

Even down to the skirting boards.

We caught up with Shuweb to find out

if he's been floored by how long this project had taken.

No sign of son Maher today.

Well, even budding property developers have to go to school.

It's been about nine to ten months. It should have been shorter.

But we had some quite major issues which we were aware of

but we didn't realise would take as long.

Shuweb had to extend his time frame

to get the specialist he wanted to fix the floors.

Resolving the concrete cancer issue was always going to be a challenge.

Not only did the floors have to come out, so did about half a metre

of subfloor, and then a new base had to be laid in several layers.

There was a metre of dolomite compacted down.

We then put down a 150mm concrete floor,

and, on top of that, we put 75mm insulation

and on top of that a final 75mm of screed.

With the floor solved, Shuweb could sort out all the other big issues.

There was very little of this place worth keeping

and they had to take it back to the shell.

It was just like a full refurb after that.

We literally left it to the external walls

and this main wall in the middle of the building.

So we then put the walls up

and then we had the heating fitted,

we had the electrics done.

We then plastered the whole house and then the kitchen was put in.

The bathroom was put in. And then it was decorating and flooring.

Externally, it was basically just tidy up the gardens

and the external paintwork that needed doing,

just to tidy up the property.

This last week has been quite a difficult week getting it

finished off and, yes, there was definitely, like, major relief

when the job was finished.

Shuweb actually had £25,000 to spend,

including £5,000 for the freehold.

However, he decided not to buy that

so how does he feel about having spent £21,000?

When it comes to the budget, I'm actually quite pleased

because I came in under budget.

That's probably down to finding the right company that did the floor.

After all that hard work and a total spend of £105,250,

I'm sure Shuweb will be eager to hear the valuations

of the estate agents that we've invited along.

I think it has had a dramatic overhaul.

It's very modernised compared to what it was previously,

from what I've seen, photographic-wise.

And I think it's been done out to a very high standard.

The kitchen's done to a really good specification,

as well as the bathroom, actually.

I quite like that fully tiled, modern finish.

There's very much a demand for this type of property in the area.

There is probably what you could call a lack of supply

and whether it's brought to the market for sale or to let,

I would expect quite high demand.

That's good news!

So, what might Shuweb expect if he rented?

Rental-valuation wise, you are looking at £600 per calendar month,

within this area.

Rental-wise, I would expect a figure in the region of £600-£700,

per calendar month.

With a rental estimate of £600-£700 per calendar month,

that would provide a rental yield of about seven to eight per cent.

I think that's really good. I estimated it to be about £650,

so I think they're pretty bang-on.

And if he wanted to sell the property?

Sales-wise, I feel I could achieve anywhere from £135,000 to

£145,000 on the open market.

I would suggest an asking price of £120,000 to £130,000.

I feel that's a little bit conservative, to be fair.

I kind of think that it's really between 145 to 150.

Shuweb has had his own valuation done,

and the house is currently on the market for £149,900,

which would give him a profit, minus the usual taxes and fees,

of almost £45,000.

This project's been very much a good success.

From my initial purchase costs of the building,

adding on the renovation costs,

there's a good profit margin in there for me.

So, yes, it's been a fruitful project.

So will I find as profitable a venture here?

I'm in Northern Ireland, ten miles from Belfast.

This is Scrabo Tower,

and it stands high above the town of Newtownards in County Down.

The tower was built in memory of Charles Stewart,

3rd Marquess of Londonderry in recognition of his kindness

to his tenants during the Great Famine.

About a mile from the centre of town,

surrounded by some really nice countryside,

is the property I'm here to see.

Straightaway, you get a really good feeling about the location.

It's sort of open and in this cul-de-saccy bit here.

This is the property - looks OK from the outside.

Three bedrooms, £45,000 was the guide price.

Hmm.

Roof and windows look perfectly OK.

It's not a lot of money, so, my expectations are fairly low,

so straight through the front door and...

hit by an overwhelming smell -

not of damp, as you might expect -

but of paint. That's hopeful!

And, in fact, wow - it looks pretty good.

Little things - glanced up at the fuse box,

and that looks fairly state-of-the-art,

so, wow! Looks like there's been a rewire.

Glancing into the front living room there...

looks to be in fairly good condition - nice new floor.

New double glazing.

New stair carpet.

Through to the kitchen and...wow!

Would you look at that?

Brand-new kitchen.

Big space, loads of room for a dining table or whatever.

Right, I'll be off then!

Nothing more to say, is there?!

MUSIC: "Nothing Left For Me To Say" by Cliff Richard

Really, I am gobsmacked.

How often do you come across a property like this?

Surely...surely there has to be a catch.

Let's take a look up here, see if this sparkle continues.

Um, it's been done in very neutral colours.

Um... I'm not sure if the walls have been stripped,

as we have this lovely woodchip,

but white and magnolia definitely does the job.

There's a great feeling of space up here -

you've got your three bedrooms, a nice little landing area.

Bathroom - looks like that's been refurbished.

Not to a supremely high standard, but it's perfectly serviceable.

Possible fly in the ointment - you know

I said the electrics looked like they were bang up to date?

Look at the light switch.

And glancing down at some of the sockets...

It looks like they're not new.

So what's happened there?

It could be that someone has just replaced the consumer

units by the front door and not actually done the wiring.

On the face of it though, it's pretty good

and any decent electrician would have had to sign off

the electrics, so maybe I'm creating too much of a problem.

It's just something to be aware of.

Am I trying to find fault? Well, maybe,

but it seems too good to be true.

What about the outside space?

Through the kitchen and out the back of the property,

little downstairs loo, which is useful.

And then, a really pleasant back yard area.

You've got views across to the hills there, which is nice.

Just a few little details.

I like this stonework - it's fairly low-maintenance,

so if you're looking at renting this place out then that's good news.

Another little bonus - a parking area out back there,

accessed by this gate.

It just adds to what is already a very practical little house.

Practical and pristine - well, more or less.

But how does it stand up in the Northern Ireland market?

I need a local property expert to tell me

more about the Newtownards estates.

It's an ex-local authority estate,

build about the 1970s for social housing, primarily.

Probably about 50% of it now would be privately owned.

It's fairly close to local primary schools,

one either side of the estate,

and it's close to all the local town centre amenities.

Transport links to the area are very good.

There's a busy bus service goes straight past the end of the road

and main bus services are just out on the main road.

Once you get into the town centre,

you've got connections to Belfast and beyond

and the local train station's just five miles away in Bangor.

Handy for the town and transport,

and handy for the schools. But what about the property itself?

With regards to the property,

there's not too many negatives at all.

It's in a fairly good standard.

It could be rented as it sits.

It would even resell as it sits.

If you wanted to achieve best price,

you might want to attend to the woodchip paper,

cos that can be a negative in some people's eyes.

Yep, Lucy and I are with the agent on that.

If this property was given a little bit of attention,

how much would it fetch on the open market?

I would put it on the market with an asking price

in the region of £65,000,

expecting to achieve between 60,000 and 65,000 as a sale price.

All great news for this rather smart Newtownards residence,

and would it have the same rosy glow in rental terms?

This property would make an excellent rental.

It's in the ideal location, really, for that sort of market

and in its present condition it's ready for let,

so you should be able to achieve in the region of £425-£450

per calendar month.

Great stuff, but what's the best course of action

if you own this property?

If it was my property, I would probably rent it, I think.

With the market on the turn and prices beginning to rise,

this is the ideal time to be holding property

rather than selling at the bottom of the market

and I think in years to come they'll make a good return on it.

Well, what a pleasant surprise this place is.

Now, you may have thought the fact it's in pretty fantastic condition

would make it a very popular lot at the auction,

but sometimes it works the other way - people like to buy properties

they can add value to, and that's not necessarily a bad strategy.

However, with this one,

the great thing is you can either move into it as it is

or start renting it out straightaway.

So I think it's a fantastic one to go for.

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

We have 45,000 in the room.

Is there 45? Do we have 45,000?

Someone like to get us away at 40? Do we have 40,000?

Is there 40,000?

40,000, thank you. Any advance on £40,000?

42, thank you, at the back at 42,000. Any advance on 42,000?

Standing at the back at 42. Any advance on the 42,000 we have?

Any advance on the 42,000 we have?

Going to try it at 42. Any advance on the 42? All sure?

Last call at 42.

We'll try it for you at the back at 42,000. Number there, please?

Those bidders at the back who we couldn't quite see

had to negotiate, as the house didn't quite reach its reserve.

But the deal was struck later for that £42,000 bid

by David and his son Andrew.

Andrew, David, great to meet you both.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

Tell me, what happened there then?

Cos you didn't actually get it, did you?

We didn't actually buy it in the auction, no.

Our strategy was we wanted to buy it with a mortgage and,

obviously, if you go through the auction process, that's

not really... You have to work to their timescale.

So the property didn't sell in the auction.

We were able to negotiate it afterwards

and sort of work to our own timescale.

But our story with this property is a bit of an interesting one.

I mean, we tried to buy it about eight months ago,

a mortgage offer once again.

But, unfortunately, someone came at the last minute with the cash,

a cash offer and the vendor at the time wanted to take that.

So we were sort of disappointed.

David and Andrew were pipped to the post when they tried to buy

this before, but as it turns out, that worked in their favour.

The new owner did all this work and then put it back into the auction.

So, they've definitely lucked out here.

And, a bit of homework has paid off too.

At that time you'd made a few inquiries, spoke to some neighbours

and found the old tenant that used to live in this house.

I actually was able to get a few inquiries

and track down the tenant,

because that person is an asset to the profitability of the business.

Your tenant controls your profitability.

The best tenant is the previous tenant.

She wanted to move back in if we were to buy it.

So we've now got a completed house

and the previous tenant wants to move back in.

-So, it's sort of win-win for us.

-Wow!

What an amazing set of circumstances!

This isn't the first time father and son

have matched their tenant to the property.

This is the second one we've bought with the tenant in mind.

The last one came with the tenant already in it.

There were three open viewings.

First viewing, sent my dad, "Look at the house."

Looked at the house, "This looks good."

"Go back and see if the tenant wants to still live in it."

"How long have you lived here?" "17 years.

"I'm scared I'll lose my home."

Their first home. She wanted to stay there.

That gave us the confidence, "If we buy it, will you stay?"

So we bought over a new tenancy agreement with us

-and everyone's happy.

-Bingo.

Not only is this good business, it's business with a heart

and I really like this strategy.

So how many properties have they got?

This is number three or number four.

You've lost track already?

-Well, we sold one in-between.

-OK.

We actually bought a house that went to auction in London.

But we bought it. It was a property in Northern Ireland.

So I think that sort of allowed us

to capitalise on that, the fact nobody knew about these houses.

Going to London auctions and bought that, sold it.

The sort of profit we made there allowed me

to buy my own house in London.

So, was it done up as you would have done it up?

It's done up as we would have done it up for investment.

I think the new tenant would like...

She's a bit contemporary in her outlook.

I think she wants to redecorate up her own pattern.

But we don't mind that.

# Every one's a winner, baby

-# That's the truth

-# That's the truth... #

So, everyone really is a winner.

With their new/former tenant moving in, any decorating will be

done by her and she gets to put her own stamp on her old home.

Andrew and David only really need to tidy up the garden,

and hand the former tenant a paintbrush.

And what about the budget? Is there a budget? 50 quid?

Yeah. Well, like I said, we initially had a budget

when we initially wanted to buy it to do it up.

We had a £5,000 budget.

But now, there's not really any need and that'll be it.

Probably the first month's rent will cover whatever

-we need to do out the back. So we're happy.

-Good.

The only thing I was a bit concerned about is it

looks like there's a new electric consumer unit, but it doesn't look

like they bothered to change the light switches or the sockets.

Do you know what has gone on there?

I haven't had a chance to look any deeper into that,

-but the lights are working.

-OK, then.

HE LAUGHS

That's all right, then. Listen, congratulations. Good luck.

-A pleasure to meet you, yes.

-Lovely to meet you, too.

I look forward to hearing how it all turns out.

-Maybe you come back, transformed this place.

-Yeah, probably.

LAUGHTER

I think it'll be just the same. It's great.

Well, what an interesting turn-up for the books

and a great result for David and Andrew.

They got the house they wanted,

but renovated and with a tenant who wants to move in. Absolutely ideal.

I don't suppose there'll be many changes when we come back,

but you never know.

Find out what happens later in the show.

Well, the seasons may have changed,

but have the properties changed as well?

Or have they remained exactly the same?

It's the moment of truth. Let's find out.

It's now back to Harrietsham in Kent, where earlier,

we came across this impressive auction lot,

a 110-year-old water tower,

which had planning permission to be turned into a residential home.

Not a weekend job for a DIY enthusiast.

More a full-scale redevelopment project

for an experienced developer.

Enter Andy, who bought this quirky project for 230,000.

He was in the fire protection consultancy business,

but had decided that property development

was a less stressful option.

He was confident his knowledge and contacts in the construction field

would help him bring the ambitious plans for the tower to life.

This was only his second major development project,

but he seemed to be taking a very laid-back attitude to it.

So this isn't really going to add that much stress to your life,

-is that what you're saying, what you hope for?

-I'm not allowed to add any more stress.

-Tell me why.

I've had to take a step back from my other businesses, um,

-because of stress and various other reasons.

-Really?

-This is taking a step back?!

-Yeah, it is.

I mean, this is, for me, it's like a hobby, I guess.

If this job doesn't look stressful, I don't know what is.

Andy's hoping to produce a high-end product

for the top of the property market, on a budget of 230,000 to 250,000

and with a completion date of six to eight months.

15 months later, we've come back to find out

if this project has been a towering success.

And as you might have predicted,

with such an ambitious project, it's still a work in progress.

However, what there is to see is very exciting indeed.

This tower now has fantastic double-height windows.

What was once gloomy...

is now a fantastic, light space.

And the spiral staircase, well, it's just amazing,

going up through four floors

and flooded with light from those windows.

And when you get to the top, well,

even though it's not finished yet...

Wow, look at that!

We're currently extending the last measurement on top of the tower.

Um, so we're looking at the top of the spiral staircase,

as it's being installed.

So we've had to extend the roofline outwards, to avoid the staircase.

But one of the benefits that we get is you can now walk right up

to the front of the roof elevation and look straight down

over what would be the sedan roof on the full extension.

And you benefit from the views. You can look out from here.

Had Andy hoped things would be further on?

We've been fairly happy with progress.

We've stuck to pretty much the original planning.

We haven't tried to push the envelope too much,

because we understood there was planning issues on the site.

So the finish that we're looking for is a very high-spec

finish throughout the property.

The type of market that we're trying to put this out to,

we know that we've got to really

sort of bring out the luxury within the spaces.

And a part of making this luxury home

is that new ground-floor extension,

connected to the tower by this hallway,

still under construction.

This is the open-planned living space, so over to here

we have the kitchen, a German-made kitchen for this section,

and then basically, it's completely open-plan, through the living space,

we're going to have a wood-burning stove over in this part,

because the intention is for basically this,

the entire extension

is a modern extension to what is the old tower.

So when we have the full glass sliding openings,

they're going, following the curvature,

so they are actually curved sliding doors as well,

which is, er, taking a bit of time to get to grips with the glass,

but hopefully we're finally getting there,

but it should look absolutely fantastic.

Below the master bedroom on the second floor is the main bathroom.

Beneath that, on the first is another bedroom.

And on the ground floor, a reception room.

Andy has project-managed the development

and it hasn't been as stress-free as he'd hoped.

You know, we've had a few stressful points.

The windows in particular have been pretty stressful elements of the project,

but we just sort of roll with the punches, I guess is what you'd say.

A 14-month delay was also down to the team

going on to three other developments that Andy has on the go.

But getting this development finally finished

could lie in the hands of whoever wants to buy it.

We could effectively finish this within the next six to eight weeks.

A lot of it depends whether we get interest on the market,

cos we've already put it on the market now.

We're looking for a buyer that potentially might want to

put their own stamp on the internal finishes.

Andy originally set 230-250,000 for the work but in order to increase

the appeal of the property, with its high-end finish,

upped it to 380,000.

So, was that enough for the job?

We're currently around about looking at finishing at 405,000.

So we're about 25,000 over the budget that was revised.

Erm, but that's still including the purchase cost and the rest of it,

we're more than happy with the budget we've come out with.

And with that purchase price of 230,000,

the total outlay should be around £635,000.

It's a big spend,

so time to find out from two local estate agents if this development

will have what it takes to impress the local property market.

First, the agent who saw the property

originally before the work began.

Well, it seems to be going according to plan, doesn't it?

It's remarkable!

It's a real transformation and I think what they've done

so far is absolutely spot-on!

I've had a look around the site today and I really love it!

What stands out for me is the kitchen area.

I think once that is finished,

cos obviously at the moment it's a building site,

the views over the fields are going to be very, very nice.

It's a very non-standard layout but then it's not a standard house,

is it? It's a quirky property, it's an interesting property.

So, therefore, the accommodation is going to be a little bit unusual.

But it does work because it is so unusual.

But will this project make a profit?

Remember, the spend is estimated to be 635,000.

So, what could the water tower make when sold on?

Finished to the standard that I believe it's going to be

finished, I would imagine selling it for about £1.25 million.

I would value this property in the region of £1.3 million.

Yeah, they're great figures.

Our original sale value that we were looking at was £900,000.

You know, as a conservative sale.

Erm, but obviously now with those figures, yeah, it's great!

You're right there, Andy!

If those valuations are achieved,

then the project could make up to 565,000. A staggering profit!

And it's down to Andy finding a rough gem of a building.

And it sounds as if quirky buildings are going to

be his house speciality.

Well done!

We're going to keep looking for these sort of bespoke projects.

It's more interesting for us

and I personally think it's actually much easier for us

to sell these types of projects.

We can't compete with the big housing developers

and that sort of stuff, I don't want to.

So, it keeps it interesting.

And from Andy's tower to Scrabo Tower,

which overlooks Newtownards in County Down, Northern Ireland.

Earlier we saw a property here that was just as interesting

but for an entirely different reason.

This is where I met David and his son, Andrew.

They bought this three-bedroom mid-terraced villa for £42,000,

with the intention of renting, and David

and Andrew knew exactly how to find their tenant,

they just tracked down the old one.

That person is an asset to the profitability of the business.

Your tenant controls your profitability.

The best tenant is the previous tenant.

She wanted to move back in if we were to buy it.

They tried to buy the house before but lost out to another buyer.

This new owner did the house up

and decided to put it back on the market.

David and Andrew made sure they bought it second time around.

So, we've now got a completed house and the previous tenant

wants to move back in, so it's win-win for us.

Wow! What an amazing set of circumstances!

# Moving home, it's magic! #

And as if by magic,

not only did they buy a house with virtually nothing to do to it,

they even conjured up a tenant who was happy to do her own bit.

I think the new tenant would like to...she's a bit

contemporary in her outlook, I think.

She wants to redecorate her own, sequence her own pattern

but we don't mind that.

The main thing left for Andrew

and David to do was sort out the back garden.

How would they get on?

Two months later and the only challenge, that back yard,

has been tackled.

I'm not sure I would have elected to have a concrete back garden, it's

not exactly environmentally friendly, but the trip hazards have now gone.

And the house itself, it's been transformed into a home.

MUSIC: "Home is Where the Heart is" by McFly

# Home is where the heart is

# It's where we started

# Where we belong

# Singing, home, home, home. #

And something's happened to the roof.

We'll find out about that in a moment, but first,

what does David think of the tenant's efforts?

I think it's absolutely brilliant.

I actually wouldn't mind living here myself,

she's done such a good job, really she has!

She's the ideal tenant for the house, she used to live here,

so she's decorated it the way she wants it, it's brilliant!

What about the back garden?

It was just very uneven, initially, a sort of unusable space.

Now, it's just a little clean and tidy yard.

It was actually more involvement than what I thought.

I reckon we took about five tonnes of soil out. I did it myself

some of the time and my second son was able to help me on a Saturday,

a couple of times and he helped me the day the concrete came.

We're really satisfied with it,

the tenant won't fall or trip on the nasty-looking paving stone

and walls that was there and that's what she wanted.

So, a good job all round for everybody, I think.

The focus seems to have been on making the tenant happy.

That's ultimately why we bought this particular house.

I mean, if you're looking to buy a property to rent out,

you're going to have the risk of maybe not finding a tenant

or finding one who'll move out in six months.

So, yes, we're happy that she's happy and maybe stay for longer,

maybe years, then we don't have

those agent fees or any void periods.

So, it's good for us, good for the tenant.

What about the budget?

They had thought it probably wouldn't amount to much more

than a month's rent.

We probably went a couple of hundred pounds over that £400 budget,

just to allow the tenant to settle in, and we're happy.

So, what's the story behind those solar panels? Not cheap at £7,500.

In addition to what we'd planned to do,

we put on some solar PV panels onto the roof.

It's sort of a little experiment for ourselves.

My dad's been researching this for the past couple of years

and we just wanted to understand how it worked.

I've talked about it for a couple of years and now we've done one,

so we'll see how it pans out for us.

And it'll save the tenant some money as well.

I think, whilst you wouldn't really associate Northern Ireland

or any parts of the UK

with being able to accommodate this sort of renewable energy,

it definitely will work, from the analysis that was done by us,

and we'll be looking at anywhere between 10% return on our money

if we sell all the energy back to the grid,

right up to maybe touching 20%, if we're able to sell some back to the

tenant, at a good rate, cheaper than what they would normally be paying.

With a total spend of around 50,000, David and Andrew will be eager to

hear the valuations of the property experts we've invited along.

The best features of the house would be the downstairs cloakroom

and the solar panels.

These add a lot of attraction to the house for anybody wanting to

buy the property or indeed to rent it.

The solar panels, in particular,

will help keep down the electricity bills for anybody in the house

and the cloakroom downstairs is an advantage to anybody,

especially with young children.

The property itself is in such good overall condition.

Very, very well presented. Probably one of the best in the area.

Both experts valued the property at between £65-67,500.

So, that would mean a pre-tax profit of

15-17,500, but David and Andrew have rented the property.

Rental market's quite strong in the area, it would be an ideal renter

and I would expect it to achieve between £450-475 per calendar month.

The rental value of the property should be in the region

of £450 per calendar month.

With a rental estimate of £450-475 per calendar month,

that would provide a healthy rental yield of around 11-11.5%.

I think for rent in the area,

I'd probably expect that you'd probably get 450.

Maybe it might sit on the market for a while, you get 450,

tenant pays, six months later they might move out,

a couple of months later you get the next tenants in and pay 450.

I mean, we're getting approximately 430

but we sort of see that we're happy accepting a little bit less

than the market rate but we see that as maybe a longer-term thing,

we're not going to have the same turnover.

So, what advice would David

and Andrew offer someone thinking of going to a property auction?

If you go to all auctions and don't actually buy anything,

eventually you're going to have to buy one to find out and try it.

The house you don't own is not going to make any money.

You've got to eventually take the plunge and buy one

and start from there.

And learn from yourself and get the feel of it and do it.

That's what we've done.

That's true, you can only learn

so much from other people's advice until you do it yourself.

Maybe learn it the hard way but at least you've learnt.

As long as it's not going to ruin you and you're OK.

Well, that's it for today's show.

We'll have more news from the property auction rooms

from around the country for you next time.

-And we look forward to seeing you then.

-Goodbye for now.

-Goodbye.