Episode 16 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello. Now, auctions are a very quick way to buy property

and get a good result.

Maybe that's why they're becoming so popular!

That's right. Thousands of lots are offered each year under the hammer.

Well, people who buy regularly at auction know all

the tricks of the trade, but one way to make sure you're not buying

into a whole heap of trouble is to make sure you read the legal pack.

Yes, it's better to be safe than sorry.

Here are the properties that are going under

the hammer on today's show.

In Derby, the wonky walls in this four bed semi make me

a little excitable.

There are some big problems with this house!

In Clydebank, Scotland, a feature in this flat makes me

come over all Braveheart!

You can't get rid of the blue tartan!

And in Belfast, can you believe it?

I'm hoping this buyer isn't going to be too sensible with their money.

-Have you saved a little bit to go mad with?

-Just a little bit.

THEY LAUGH

All these properties have been sold at auction.

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

when they went under the hammer.

You, madam, well done.

Today, I'm in the popular market town of Ashbourne in Derbyshire,

which sits on the southern edge of the Peak District National Park.

As well as its numerous historic buildings

and independent shops,

Ashbourne is also known for its traditional two-day

Royal Shrovetide Football Match,

played annually since 1667.

The fiercely competitive teams are called the Up'ards

and the Down'ards.

So, will the property I'm here to see turn out to be a real winner?

Well, it's sounding pretty good.

We love the location and on paper it sounds great.

Four bedrooms, semi detached, guide price £95,000...well,

let's throw in an extra £30 to buy yourself a hedge trimmer,

cos that's one thing you're going to have to do before you've started.

Because behind this privet hedge, believe me, there is

a half-decent looking house.

Yeah!

# Did you know your garden's overgrown? #

So, OK...erm, interesting that, through the front door

entrance hall here, stairs up to your bedrooms there.

You've got your dining room there.

It's OK, not a bad size, I suppose.

Kitchen here but straightaway I'm thinking,

I wonder if there's a way of maybe combining those two rooms.

Give it that real modern open plan feel.

Take out that wall, ooh, big thick wall.

Take out that extremely big, thick, expensive take-out wall there

and you have a nice space. Thinking on my feet here, hmmm, plan B then.

Erm, love that there's a loo downstairs,

really good to have and then through into a dual aspect living room.

Really nice size space.

Erm...but there's something not right here.

Straightaway, that beam doesn't look particularly good.

Looks like there's a bit of bow in it.

And I don't know if you'll be able to see this,

but over in this corner, the floor actually drops down.

Now, I don't reckon that's just the floorboards.

There's something seriously wrong going here.

I think I said that wrong.

I mean, there's something seriously wrong going on here.

That's what I meant.

# What can I do?

# When something wrong with you. #

You know, it is almost impossible to find a wall or floor that's

actually straight!

On close examination, there are plenty of signs inside and out

that all is not well.

And I've a funny feeling that there's going to be more to come.

So, upstairs is a bit like downstairs, lots of space,

that's the good news.

I mean, bedrooms, big one there, another one there.

You've got a bathroom and loo separate.

Erm, but at least they're in the right place, upstairs.

So, knock those together, I suppose. Another bedroom there.

But it's much more fundamental than that, it's really not good!

I mean, the floor disappears off as you walk this way, it's at an angle.

You come into this bedroom here and just look at the angles

of that doorframe and the one behind it!

I mean, I don't think I've ever seen such obvious signs of things

going horribly wrong!

Again, this room slopes off down here.

It just absolutely compounds what I thought downstairs, which is

there are some big problems with this house!

This house is much more than dated decor and wilting wallpaper.

And I suspect whoever takes this on will have to tackle some

serious subsidence issues.

Let's see if there are any clues out here.

Erm, right. What I'm looking at is the brick work.

A real giveaway, look at the mortar,

see if it's been replaced at any point. Look for any...

HE LAUGHS

..cracks!

And straightaway underneath the window here, you can see all the

mortar's fallen out and some big cracks there.

Big crack above the window there, that's not good.

Now, I'm drawn straightaway to this, which is

basically where the water comes down spout into that. It's drainage,

often bad drainage, cracked pipes and whatever underneath here

would have caused the ground to get very wet.

That can cause subsidence, that can cause all sorts of problems,

so maybe that's an issue.

Let's see if there are any more clues.

Moving across, more cracks underneath this window.

And looks like somebody's been digging around to see what's

going on in terms of the foundations.

But, you know, this window here, again,

we're seeing cracks below, which is bad and cracks above.

Now, the cracks above, erm, look to me like

they're caused because often

when people put new double glazing in, they don't put the right

kind of structure above, a lintel or something like that.

A concrete beam there should be but it doesn't look like there is one.

That explains the cracking above, but the cracking below...that's

more of a problem, for me, I think.

And I think that's more to do with this drainage here or

possibly a problem with it.

Either way...it's not good.

And there's more trouble in the garden!

# You look like an angel... #

This is a garden menace known as bindweed.

And if it's not rooted out,

it can choke all the surrounding vegetation.

Not for nothing it has earned the nickname of "the devil's bind".

# You're the devil in disguise... #

Once you've got rid of that little devil,

there are plenty of nice plants to discover and nurture.

The garden is a generous size and it's private, so that's all good.

A local estate agent came along to give me

his opinion on this rather sorry semi.

It's clear to see that this property has structural movement.

Certainly, my advice to a prospective buyer is that they commission

a structural engineer to carry out a thorough survey.

A buyer might need to think about significant expenditure

on the structural issue if the report turns out to be bad news.

Add the cost of renovation, even if

you got it for anything like the £95,000 guide price, and would

this wonky house, albeit in a lovely street, be a good investment?

If I was to place this on the open market,

I would suggest an asking price of £200,000.

So, there could well be a profit if you wanted to sell on.

What about rental?

I feel it would achieve in the region of £700 per calendar month.

Well, on the face of it,

a substantial house in a great location.

Well, you certainly can't argue about the location but rather than

substantial, I'd say "substandard" when it comes to the house.

Lots and lots and lots of problems.

Not one for the unwary.

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

Start me on the guide at 95 if you will.

95 I've got, thank you, as an opening bid.

At £95,000, 96, 96 is bid.

96, 97,

98, 99, 100.

The auction was busy and there was plenty of bidding on this property.

We rejoin it at 118,000.

118 and 19...119, 120?

119,000, going once, going twice...

third and last time at 119,000.

Sold at 119,000.

Well, with a successful bid of 119,000, I'm relieved to

report that the gavel went down for a pair of builders -

father and son team, Tony and Shaun.

They knew this house as they live locally and Shaun's

grandad used to live just a few doors along.

But they usually work on new build properties,

so I wonder what tempted them into buying this one?

Tony, Shaun, great to meet you both, congratulations!

-Thank you.

-Now, I'm delighted to hear that you are builders.

-Yeah.

Cos it's not really a project for the unwary, is it?

No, it wants quite a lot of work doing at it, yeah.

You've got to know what you're doing,

cos you've got to prop it all up before you take these walls down.

When we came to view it, we were the only people who looked outside.

Everybody else was like, "Yeah, we'll do this colour in this room..."

-Oh, no!

-Yeah, we were the only ones who really looked outside.

So, yeah, it's a lot of work but, to us, it's like nothing, is it really.

And it's father and son building team,

do you actually work together in the business?

Yeah, we always have. Since I left school, erm, before I left school,

don't tell the teachers or anything but...

THEY LAUGH

..yeah, before I left school I would go and work with my dad

and I just went into the building trade and that was it,

and we've been together ever since.

So, you didn't force him to do it? He just naturally developed into...

Oh, no, he just, well, from when he was a baby,

about three or four years, he used to carry bricks for me.

-Really?

-So, he's been doing it for ages, like.

Erm, OK, so let's talk about this house, then.

What are the issues as far as you're concerned?

Erm, well, we thought it might need underpinning,

but we've had a structural engineer who's looked around the place

and he says it's all historical cracks and that on the outside.

He says a lot to do with it is the lintels above the windows,

there's no lintels and, of course, they've dropped.

It does feel kind of a bit wibbly wobbly when you come in, doesn't it?

It's difficulty, sometimes you look around and it's like, "Where am I?"

-Did you feel that?

-It's the doorways, yeah.

Yeah, the doorways, it's like going into a haunted house,

all the doorways are like this but we'll sort it out,

we'll put new door cases in and level everything up.

The father and son team have a 30 grand budget.

They have an electrician to check the electrics but they will tackle

the structural stuff, re-plumbing and replacing the central heating.

And with just ten weeks to do it all,

this team will need some stamina.

But compared to playing in the traditional two-day football match,

it should be a doddle.

So, do either of you get involved with this mad football game thing?

We used to do, yes.

I used to go and play, but, erm, it's a bit rough

and if you injure yourself and you've got to have time off work.

-Soon get injured.

-Soon get injured, a leg twisted or, you know.

Tell me what it's like.

Rough!

Pubs are open from first thing in the morning and that's it.

-Just the streets are like a big football pitch.

-Mayhem, then?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Is it as mad as it sounds?

-Oh, yeah!

-Very mad!

Unless you've been, you know.

You have to get in the water to score as well.

You have to get up here in water to score.

-Especially in February, it's like...

-Yeah.

Well, listen, congratulations, both of you. Erm, looking forward

-to seeing how you get on.

-Thank you.

-And good luck with it.

-Cheers, thanks.

Well, I am so relieved that the property was bought by builders,

but even with their experience, I still think that Shaun

and Tony have got some challenges ahead.

It was never a project for the unwary, was it?!

How will they get on, sorting it out?

You can find out later in the show.

Clydebank is a town built on the north bank of the river Clyde.

# I was born and raised up Steel River

# I see it all like it was yesterday... #

Its role as a major ship builder made it a prime

target for Germany during World War II.

During two nights in March, 1941, the town was devastated.

The Clydebank Blitz, as it became known,

left the area heavily bombarded, with 528 civilian deaths.

Of 12,000 houses in Clydebank,

at the time, only seven were left undamaged.

The following years were a time of recovery and rebuilding and

the flat I'm here to see today is one of those built after the blitz.

So, here we are,

it's a one bed upper cottage flat

and it's got a guide price of £30-40,000.

So, let's see whether inside it's modern or

if it's still rooted in the past.

Built in the 1950s, this cottage flat,

also known as a four in a block,

is a popular layout throughout Scotland.

With two properties on the ground floor and two upstairs,

each with its own separate entrance.

So, what's inside?

I absolutely am loving the tartan carpet!

Jazzy, look at that!

OK, so straightaway you walk into this house

and it feels like someone's living here.

It really feels homely, got a nice big mirror there, bedroom,

the layout works, the rooms are nice and square, bathroom.

What I like about this flat is the proportions.

I mean, look at this.

For a kitchen, you've got a fantastic space in here.

There's everything you need, washing machine, cooker,

it's all ready to go.

So, a lot of ticks in the box for this property, so far.

This is now a one bed flat, but looking at the layout,

it seems there may have once been a second box room.

So, where's it gone?

What I'm thinking, once upon a time, there was a part...actually,

you can see up there, there would have been a partition here.

And I think, a little bit of space would have been stolen from

the kitchen, therefore it gives you a very small box room number two.

So, I think you could go back to doing that.

For the amount of work you're going to do to create it, is

it really worth that small room?

But I think what I love most about this house is,

I just feel like I want to have a sit down, a nice relax,

put the telly on, it's like somebody's already living here

and any moment somebody's going to come in and give me a cup of tea.

I feel so at home...oh, they are!

Thank you. You can't beat Homes Under the Hammer on a foggy old day.

# Have a cup of tea-ee-ee-ee

# Have a cup of tea

# Have a cup of tea... #

As I'm in Scotland, this weather would be described as dreich.

So, I'll finish my cuppa before I venture outside.

It is always, always a bonus to have outside space with any

property you buy and this one in particular, look at it.

Little garden here, somewhere to hang your washing,

somewhere to have a barbecue perhaps.

So, you've got a nice flat all on one level

and a little bit of grassy land to call your own.

On this rather soggy, foggy day,

it's hard to appreciate the garden because it's "Wet Wet Wet"!

Well, Clydebank is their hometown.

But the good thing about this place is the transport links.

Glasgow city centre and Glasgow Airport are easily

accessible from the train station, five minutes walk from the flat.

# It's just that sweet little mystery

# That makes me try, try, try, try. #

I think there's a lot going for this one-bedroom flat that could

possibly be converted back into a two-bedroom flat.

What does a local estate agent have to say about it

and its potential at that guide price of 30-40,000?

My impression of the property is it's very limited what needs done,

if you're staying as a one-bedroom.

It sounds like the agent thinks there are other possibilities here.

Originally, this property looked like it was a two-bedroom,

and I would revert it back.

Erm, and the demand would be better.

There would be cost involved in that, of course.

Would it make sense money-wise?

To put the property back into a two-bedroom,

it wouldn't be that expensive, it would cost about £2,000.

As a one-bedroom flat, it would

achieve approximately £400 per calendar month

and converted back into a two-bedroom, it would

achieve approximately £450 per calendar month.

This is a great flat and with not a huge amount to do to turn

this into a two-bedder if you want, although I do like it as a one-bed.

It really is a shame to see it sitting empty.

Let's have a look and see who snapped this place up as it

went under the hammer.

Lot 56 is a one-bedroom, upper cottage flat.

Great buy to let, gas central heating, double glazing,

ready to rent.

Previous rental income 425 per calendar month.

£30-40,000, where are we starting?

35, say? £35,000, 30? See a bit? 25 then?

Can't sell it without a bid, ladies and gentlemen.

25 here, at 25 now bid, at once, at £25,000, 26.

27, 27 I'm bid, 28?

28 I'm bid, 29?

29 I'm bid, 30?

At £29,000, are we all done?

First time at 29.

Second time at 29.

Third and final...new bid at 30.

31, 32, 33.

Four, five, six, shake of the head, with you then at 35.

At £35,000. First time, second time, all done?

All out, selling away.

You, madam, well done.

Fiona made that final bid and with her colleague, Sharon,

managed to get the flat for 35,000.

They are the director

and deputy director of the Clydebank Housing Association.

And this will be one of over 1,000 properties the association owns.

Ladies, lovely to meet you today, I'm

so excited that you've come along.

What I want to know is, why did you want to buy this at auction?

And what have you bought it for?

This was our first attempt at buying property at auction and we were

looking for new ways to complement our existing housing stock.

We're a landlord and we provide houses for low cost

rental for people who can't afford to acquire houses or

satisfy their housing aspirations in the private rented sector.

So, how do you really support your tenants?

Our tenants come from a variety of backgrounds but most of them

are on limited incomes.

Erm, they possibly couldn't afford the private rented sector

locally, which is quite expensive.

And wouldn't have, erm, the means to buy a property.

So, this is a safety net for a lot of people,

particularly single people, elderly people.

The housing association is a registered charity

and runs on a non-profit basis,

meaning they can plough the income from rental and sales back into

buying housing stock for their tenants.

Many properties they owned in the past have been sold under

right to buy legislation.

So, the association has to replace those homes.

Why would this type of property appeal to you?

It's a one-bedroom property, and we're losing quite a lot

of properties through the right to buy at the moment,

and that coupled with the spare bedroom subsidy,

we were wanting to complement the current stock that we have.

And ensure that we've got adequate properties to meet the demand.

So, auction is the perfect way for you to acquire an immediate

property, surely?

Oh, yes, it's immediate.

THEY LAUGH

We arrived at auction

and we owned a property by the end of the afternoon, which is amazing!

Which is a great way to buy. It's like house shopping, isn't it?

It's certainly a lot quicker than building them.

So, what type of person would acquire a property like this?

Well, although the population in West Dunbartonshire is decreasing,

the number of single person households in increasing.

So, this type of property is ideal for our client group.

People who come to us for housing

are from a variety of different backgrounds.

We have young people leaving home, older people,

marital break-up situations.

Even homeless people.

This instant property is ideal for our client group.

MUSIC: "A Place Called Home" by PJ Harvey

A one-bedroom flat sounds perfect for the association.

I think they've got themselves a pretty good home for someone

here and one that has no obvious problems, as well.

It's such a fantastic property to buy, it's already done.

I walked in today, you know, I've been sitting on this settee,

it's like someone's living here.

So, it's a good one to have on your books, obviously.

But what will you do to change it?

Are you going to upgrade it?

We will make sure it's safe.

We'll do gas and electrical safety checks,

we'll check for asbestos in the attic.

It's doubtful, but there might be asbestos there.

We'll check the smoke alarms.

The floor coverings we normally discard, but on this occasion,

because they're in such good condition,

we'll speak to the tenant about it or the incoming tenant and see

whether they would like to keep them.

You can't get rid of the blue tartan!

THEY LAUGH

That carpet is magic, as the locals would say.

So, maybe Fiona and Sharon can persuade the tenant to keep it!

They went to the auction with a £40,000 budget,

so after paying 35,000 for the flat,

they have five grand left and two weeks to get the work done.

Were you happy with the price you paid on auction day?

Yes, we could never build it for this price.

Auction, you know, it's definitely the right route for you guys

to be going along at the moment.

So far...so far so good.

If every house was like this, we'd be delighted!

-Yeah.

-Who's going to do that job for you?

We have a list of contractors who tender for us

on an annual basis to ensure that we get good prices.

So, we have a rather large list of different trades.

Fiona and Sharon have been working

for the company for over 50 years between them,

it's a job they clearly love.

There's a lot of job satisfaction involved in handing over

the keys to someone who's desperate for a house.

Girls, I've loved meeting you both

and I'm really excited about what you're doing.

Good luck and congratulations with this purchase!

-Thanks very much.

-Well done. Lovely to meet you.

It may be a simple refurb, but Fiona

and Sharon have got such a lot riding on the success of this.

If it works, well, it could help ease their property shortages

and open the door to providing much more social housing to those

who need it most.

Will they succeed? You can find out later in the programme.

Still to come, in Belfast there's a lot that is pretty

good about this four-bed terrace.

What's not good is all this stuff going on.

While we're talking good and bad, here's good advice from Clydebank.

-Take your chequebook with you.

-Yeah!

Which we didn't.

We return to Ashbourne in Derbyshire now

and this four-bedroom semi-detached house, which was bought at

auction for £119,000 by father and son building team Tony and Shaun.

MUSIC: "Build" by the Housemartins

# Clambering men in big bad boots

# Dug up my den, dug up my roots

# Treated us like Plasticine town

# They build us up and knocked us down. #

The property looked, initially, as if it could fall down

and I reckoned it was not for the faint-hearted.

But Shaun and Tony have seen all this before.

It wants quite a lot of work doing at it, yeah.

You've got to know what you're doing,

cos you've got to prop it all up before you take these walls down.

Yeah, it's a lot of work, but to us it's like nothing, is it really?

Those ominous cracks didn't scare them one bit!

It's all historical cracks and that on the outside.

A lot do to with it is the lintels above the windows,

there's no lintels and they've dropped.

The father and son team plan to gut the whole building with

a budget of 30 grand...and a timescale of ten weeks.

Six months on, we're back!

MUSIC: "All Right Now" by Free

# All right now

# Baby, it's all right now

# All right now

# Baby, it's all right now...#

And, yes, it does look all right now,

especially on the outside.

We've taken all the old brick work down, where it was sagging

and put new steel lintels in right the way through all the windows.

It's really sound now and it'll be all right.

As you can see from the first look,

we've straightened all the door cases up and the doorways.

Everything was built above was solid brickwork

and everything had sagged, just because it was on wooden beams.

So, what we've done is took the old wooden beam out that

was like a banana shape, jacked all the floors up, put a big RSJ in.

As you can see now all the doorways are level and nice, straight doors.

# Baby, it's all right now. #

As well as the structural issues,

the whole place has been gutted, re-wired, all the walls were

taken back to the bare brick and re-plastered and every door is new.

They didn't start work right away,

but the work has taken them 16 weeks.

It's the kitchen that really impresses me!

There was a wall up here, solid wall, so we've taken that out and

there was a doorway through there, so we've taken all this wall out.

Built that doorway up there and made it into just one big room,

-really, haven't we?

-Yeah.

Put a good quality one in.

Don't go for cheap and cheerful, because as soon as a couple

come in the room, the lady likes... the main part is the kitchen.

If you put a cheap kitchen in, it just looks cheap.

It's with the most important rooms that Tony

and Shaun have done a great job!

Now, there's a shower room downstairs,

as well as a family bathroom upstairs.

In the living room, we've taken the old fireplace out, like the old

surround, and made it so if anyone wants to move in

and put a log burner in, it's just ready for an open fire.

Put a nice sandstone lintel over it,

so it's another nice feature in the room.

Even the central heating system is new.

This is essentially a new house.

I think they've done an amazing job.

But they didn't stop there,

they made a big change to the outside and created parking.

We decided to build a big stone wall right the way along.

-Bit further out.

-We just tidied it all up really.

Cos people like putting their own mark on a garden.

So, just something basic, so somebody can come in,

if they want to start again, they can or

if they can just leave it like for a year until...it's just nice and tidy.

With all the major rebuilding work required,

how did the original budget of £30,000 pan out?

-We've come in at about...

-We've added it all up...or the Mrs has.

Just under 25,000, about 24,950,

something like that.

With so much time and effort going into this project,

what plans do they now have?

Sell it, so we can move on again. We really do new builds, is what we do.

At the time we couldn't find any land,

so we saw this and we knew the problems with the house.

We knew the problems.

So, we just thought it would last us over winter, you know, winter work.

This project has kept Shaun and Tony busy, but having spent

a total of £144,000, will it make them a decent profit?

I think they've made a very good job of the property.

They've done a lovely renovation

and they've spent a little bit of time and effort with

the finishing touches, which makes all the difference.

I like the kitchen and bathroom fittings, they've

gone that extra mile, a little bit of quality right at the end.

Spend that bit of money towards the end of the project,

really does make a big difference.

I think it has been altered very well,

and I think adding the downstairs bathroom is advantageous.

'The agents both think that the house could rent

'for £700 per calendar month,

'which would give them a yield of nearly 6%.

'But the intention is to sell,

'so what return could they get on the £144,000 spend?'

I think there would be good demand for this if it came to the market.

There's not a huge amount of choice in Ashbourne at any given time,

but if I was to put this on the market,

I'd put it on the market in the region of £200,000.

I think this property could achieve £200,000.

Yeah, that's what we thought about, that sort of price area.

'So, all that hard work was worth it,

'as that's a possible £56,000 profit,

'before taxes and expenses, of course.'

Now it's on the market,

we'll be starting looking again for the next one.

'So, from the gateway to the Peak District

'to the shipbuilding industry of Belfast,

'where Harland & Wolff's distinctive cranes dominate the skyline,

'and the Titanic Belfast Visitors Centre

'sits on the site where the tragic ship was constructed.

'Away from the docks are the rows and rows of terraced houses,

'which stand as testament to the city's industrial past

'and the people who lived and worked here.'

I'm in the Woodvale area at the top of the Shankill Road.

Now this was the centre of the linen industry in years gone by,

and the property I'm here to see was probably built to

house one of the workers, although judging by the size of it,

it was probably one of the middle management,

cos it's a really beautiful terrace, mid-terrace, four bedrooms,

guide price was £30,000.

Let's take a look.

'This is a grand old lady of a house.

'And look at those intricate details on that lovely red brick.

'It's in a great spot near Woodvale Park.

'Handy for public transport.

'And hovered over by Belfast's Black Mountain.'

Interesting entrance area.

It's good that you've got this little porch, though.

That'll keep some of the cold and the draughts out.

Stairs up to your bedrooms there, and then pretty standard layout

through this way into, you know, a decent sized living room,

but what is going on here with the floor?

We've got two levels.

And actually a bit of a trip hazard.

Erm, you've got to ask yourself a slightly deeper question, though.

Why is that like that? What is it covering up?

That definitely needs a bit of investigation.

But, you know, a half decent fire, sort of.

I'd like to see that as an open fire.

And the layout, mm-tee-hm, it isn't quite working cos that's there.

It wants to be in the middle, doesn't it?

So, er, slightly disappointing.

However, moving through to the kitchen...

It does look a bit like it's sort of bolted on the back here.

You've got this little courtyard to the left out the door there,

and then this, which I imagine is actually some kind of an extension.

As you can see, it's not in the best of states and it's not huge.

Erm, so slightly disappointing, and then you just bring yourself

back for a second and say, "Hang on a minute.

"What was that guide price again?

"30,000 quid?

What do you expect?!"

# It's just your expectations... #

'My expectations should be lower.

'30 grand for a four-bedroomed house?

'Get a grip, Roberts!

'On the half landing there is a decent sized bathroom

'with a corner bath, and who would have expected it?

'It looks recently done, and as you know,

'you can have any colour of bathroom suite as long as it's white.

'Onwards and upwards to the first floor bedrooms.

'One is reasonably large.

'The other a bit smaller, but perfectly respectable as a bedroom.'

So, up onto the second floor for the third and fourth bedrooms.

On the way, though, on the landing here,

a wooden window that's seen better days,

so definitely need to replace that.

Er, but the two bedrooms up here, they're a pretty decent size.

I love attic rooms, they've always got a lot of character.

One at the back there's reasonably small.

The one at the front, though, is a good size.

It's got a dormer in it, which is also good.

What's not good is all this stuff going on.

Whether that's just been pulled off by somebody

looking to see the state of the wall, but, actually,

if I put my hand on there, it feels damp.

My guess is there's some issue up on the roof there, possibly.

Guttering, possibly. Lead flashing or whatever.

Either way, need to have that checked out.

But this really does cap,

literally and metaphorically,

a really good house.

'Even if roof repairs are needed,

'that guide price of £30,000 makes this spacious house very attractive.

'What doesn't look so attractive is the outside space.'

One thing that's interesting about this house and a lot of

the properties here is that they have oil-fired central heating.

That's not necessarily a bad thing.

As long as your boiler's efficient, it can be cost effective.

However, my major concern is how you're going to fill it up,

because there is an alleyway at the back there,

but you've got this high wall,

and the other alternative is to run the hose through your house.

That's not going to work, is it?

'So, lack of space and that oil tank position are not the best.

'But nothing too different from any other of the houses on the street.

'A local estate agent came along to tell us

'who this house might appeal to.'

Ideally this would be suited for families,

some with young children,

and also just anyone who maybe works in the city centre

with its close proximity,

and it's also on the main arterial route into Belfast city centre.

Being a four-bedroom property, very sought after in this area.

There's a lot of potential here.

There's a good sizeable bathroom, erm, and kitchen.

And, also, with a lot of windows, it does allow for natural light.

There's cosmetic work to be carried out.

Obviously there's redecoration, flooring, things like that.

Upgrading of some of the windows would be recommended, erm,

quite a lot of them are double glazed,

some would need to be brought up to that standard.

As well as that, some modernisation of the kitchen

and the bathroom, erm, and this house would be ready to go.

'How much could this house sell for if renovated?'

If I was putting this property on the market

I would put this on in the region of £65-70,000.

'And how well does he think it could do in the rental stakes,

'given the demand for a four-bedroom property in the area?'

On the rental market, I would bring this property on

at £525 to £550 per calendar month.

I believe it's a very good investment,

and certainly there's an awful lot of potential with a house of this size.

Well, apart from the roof,

mostly cosmetic stuff required to sort this place out,

and I think for that £30,000 guide price, a good one to go for.

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

Lot number 29 is four-bedroom mid-terrace,

somewhere like this, we have the guide price at 30,000.

Is there 30,000 in the room?

Do we have 30,000?

30,000? Do we have 25?

Do we have 25,000 for this one?

25 at the back. Any advance on 25? We have 25.

27. We have 27,000.

Any advance on 27?

Is that...that's 29.

We have 29,000. Seated, 29.

31. We have 31 at the back.

31, any advance on 31,000?

31 we have.

We have 31. All sure?

Last call at the 31.

31 we have at the back of the hall.

Give us your number there, please. We'll try it for you.

What's that? 433.

'A guide price is there to give an idea of

'what the property might go for,

'but in this case the vendor set a slightly higher reserve,

'and 19-year-old accountancy student Lauren

'finally negotiated a price of £31,000.

'I met Lauren and her mother Julianne back at the house

'to find out more.'

-Lauren, Julianne, great to meet you both.

-Hiya.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

-So, tell me, why did you want to buy this house?

I got a wee bit of money in from a claim,

and I put it into something that, so I couldn't spend it, basically.

-A project.

-Right, what kind of a claim?

Erm, I got run over when I was...

-What was I,

-10? Yeah.

-About 10.

-You got run over?

-Yeah!

-Right.

-Never good.

-No.

-And you were obviously quite badly hurt.

-Yeah, broke my ankle.

-Right.

-Shattered my breast plate.

-Oh, my goodness. But you received some compensation?

-Yep.

-Right.

So it wasn't until I turned 18 I actually had the money,

cos it was put into a trust fund.

OK, so, the temptation could have been to go, "Wa-ay, party!"

Yep! Yeah, pretty much.

-But you decided to invest it in property?

-Yeah.

-Why property, then?

Erm, you can't lose your money in property

-and I thought it would be a project to do the house up.

-Right.

So, has the family got sort of experience in property developing?

Is that something you've done?

Erm, I've had quite a few old houses and, you know,

lived in them, done them up.

But we know quite a lot of friends who are builders and...

-Tradesmen.

-..tradesmen, so that always helps.

-Right.

So what were your thoughts when your daughter said,

"I'd like to invest it in property?"

I thought that was quite sensible.

I was always afraid that she was going to just go mad with the money.

-Have you saved a little bit to go mad with?

-Just a little bit.

# I'm going to feel that feeling

# Going to lose control tonight. #

'Lauren didn't initially have her eye on this property

'and missed out on one outside Belfast.

'But this one turned out to be better than expected.'

I thought it was only three bedrooms originally.

-Oh, did you?

-Yeah.

-That was a nice surprise, then?

-Yeah.

"Oh, an extra bedroom!"

-Had you been to see it before you bought it, though?

-No.

-What?!

We didn't even... When we were going to the auction

this wasn't one of the houses we'd even looked at.

Right.

-It wasn't until...

-No, I understand why you were a little bit like,

when I'm asking you why you liked it, you were like,

-"I don't know, actually." Cos you hadn't seen it!

-No, I hadn't.

No, but we looked at the pictures and that they'd taken of it

and looked at their legal pack and we have sort of seen

-the area before so we had a good idea of where it was.

-Yeah.

'You know what I'm going to say, don't you?

'It's really not a good idea to buy blind.

'But I suppose at least knowing the area and, more importantly,

'reading the legal pack, makes up for some of it.

'But not ideal.

'However, this house surpassed my expectations,

'and 31 grand for a four-bed house is a great buy.'

So when you first saw it for the first time,

having bought it already, erm, what did you think of it?

I was surprised. Pleasantly.

'Lauren was lucky, this could have been a very unpleasant surprise.

'But now that she has it, she knows what needs to be done.'

We're putting a new kitchen in.

There's a new kitchen going in and a new bathroom.

Obviously the damp upstairs will have to be fixed, so that'll be

plasterboard, everything ripped off right down to the brick.

'The cause of the damp is one important issue

'that needs to be tackled,

'but there is also that mysterious change in the floor level.'

We don't understand why it's up yet,

so until we rip these floorboards up we'll not know if it can go down.

-Right. So are you going to get involved in it?

-A little.

-You have to.

-Yes, I know, I will do,

just Lauren will have more time than what I will have to be over here.

So what's the timescale for sorting it out?

-We're thinking about six to eight weeks.

-And what budget have you got?

-About 12.

-About 12,000.

-OK.

-Hopefully.

-That's pretty decent. Just about be able to do it for that.

-Yeah.

Depending on the roof, of course.

Yeah, depending on how bad the roof is,

but if it's just the lead flashing

we should be able to keep it within budget.

What's the plan for it?

It was originally to rent it out,

but we're sort of thinking of possibly selling it on now.

Cos that would mean we could move onto another one,

and give it a go second time round as well.

So it must have been a traumatic experience all those years ago,

having the accident,

-but at least something nice has come out of it now.

-Yeah.

-Listen, congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

-Good luck with it.

-Thank you.

-Look forward to seeing how you get on.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

Well, what a great property for Lauren's first house,

and what a wise investment.

How will she get on sorting it out?

Well, hopefully with the help of family, friends and mum Julianne,

she'll be just fine.

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

Have our buyers' plans worked out? Have there been any problems?

Well, it's the day of reckoning. Time to find out.

Let's go back and see how they've got on.

'We return now to the riverside town of Clydebank in Scotland,

'to a property with handy transport links to Glasgow and the airport.

'This one-bedroom cottage flat was situated on the upper floor,

'and right away I just liked it.

'It had a really homely feel

'and didn't need a great deal doing to it.

'The flat was bought for 35,000 by Fiona and Sharon,

'who work for Clydebank Housing Association.

'When it came to adding new stock to their 1,000 houses,

'it was a departure for the Association.'

This was our first attempt at buying properties at auction

and, er, we were looking for new ways

to complement our existing housing stock.

So auction is the perfect way

for you to acquire an immediate property, surely?

Oh, yes, it's immediate.

We, we arrived at auction

and we owned a property by the end of the afternoon.

It's certainly a lot quicker than building them.

'The purpose of the Association is to supply low-cost homes

'for tenants who might not be able to afford a home otherwise,

'and so they weren't going to be

'spending a great deal on renovating it.

'They really were more concerned about the safety aspects of

'the property, which, of course, is a must for every landlord.

'So, not much was going to change,

'but there was one aspect of this house I wanted to stay the same.'

You can't get rid of the blue tartan!

# But please don't ever change

# No, don't you ever change

# I kind of like you just the way you are. #

'We return two weeks later to see what's been happening

'and if the flat is ready for its new tenant.

'And will my tartan carpet be there?

'Oh, ho-ho, yes, it is! Ooh, I'm so pleased.

'Well, we knew there weren't going to be any major changes here.

'Everything still looks pretty much the same. So what has been done?'

Well, what we've done in here is mostly invisible.

Erm, the kitchen was in good condition

when the previous occupant left it, so we had not very much to do.

But being a landlord, we have to make sure that it's safe,

so we had our electricians come up and test all the appliances.

They have to PAT test all the electrical appliances.

We had the gas, er, certificated,

and we had the gas boiler, erm, serviced, so everything's working.

We looked at the down lighters,

we discovered there were fire hoods missing from the down lighters,

so we've got new fire hoods on every light.

'The other safety aspect that they had checked out

'was the artex ceilings.

'As you know, Martin and I are always going on about this,

'and for good reason.'

We had the artex looked at to ensure that, erm,

there was no asbestos within any of the artex throughout the property,

and a bath seal and a couple of smaller things in the toilet,

so it wasn't a lot.

Yes, love it.

'The flat was in good condition, but if this was a private let,

'the landlord might have been tempted to make it more neutral.'

As a general rule we don't redecorate

unless the property's in a pretty bad state of disrepair.

Clearly this one wasn't.

People moving into one of our flats may not want other people's carpets

or wallpaper, so they're quite happy to come in and decorate,

and, er, I think that the rent that they pay,

they do appreciate they are getting value for money.

'This was the first time they'd gone to auction,

'so how did they decide on a figure they could pay for a property

'on behalf of the Association?'

We, erm, work out what the annual rent would be on the property,

erm, and then we would deduct our annual management and maintenance

costs, and the net rent is what we use to repay the capital amount.

And as long as we can do that within 25 years,

we will go ahead with the purchase.

So it all starts with the rent, what rent can we charge

for the property, and that dictates how much we can pay.

'They paid 35,000 for this nifty little flat, and they had

'a total budget of 40 grand, so how did that final budget work out?'

Our total costs were £38,500.

'The aim is to offer properties at affordable rents,

'so I'm really interested in what they'll be charging

'per calendar month and what kind of demand there is.'

The rent for this property will be £247 per month.

At this moment we have 395 people

waiting for one-bedroom flats similar to this one.

'Now, that's a lot of people waiting for affordable housing.

'So I'm interested to know how that rental figure will compare

'with valuations from two agents we asked along to take a look.'

The way the property's presented is absolutely fine,

it's a good kitchen, it's well finished.

Bathroom's well finished as well, nice white suite.

The bedroom's a good size

and the lounge facing the back is also a very good size.

'This property is all about its rental value,

'so what will the agents think

'it could get on the open rental market?'

The rental values for this property would be in the region of

£400-425 per calendar month.

The rental market, erm, about £450 per calendar month.

Oh, it just emphasises how difficult it is for people now

who are seeking accommodation to rent

to find good quality housing for rent

at a price they can afford.

'The £425 per calendar month valuation from the agents

'would mean a yield of 13%,

'but as the Housing Association is non-profit making,

'this isn't an issue.

'Fiona and Sharon's organisation is clearly doing a vital job here,

'helping tenants who would struggle to find

'that kind of money each month.

'So it seems property auctions could be the way forward.'

If we go to auction then we know how much we can afford.

We know that the property is going to be,

or start that bit lower in price, erm,

so therefore it's a better deal for us

if we can secure that lower price.

And what would be their advice for other first-time auction-goers?

Particularly when it comes to paying that all-important deposit.

Take your chequebook with you - which we didn't!

THEY LAUGH

We actually had to scrape up the money between us

from our own bank accounts

because we forgot to take the office chequebook.

Luckily we'd just been paid!

We're back across the Irish sea to Belfast,

where earlier we saw

this really beautiful four-bedroom mid-terrace.

It was certainly in need of refurbishment

and there were a couple of issues that had me worried.

What is going on here with the floor?

We've got two levels.

What is it covering up?

What's not good - it feels damp,

and my guess is there's some issue up on the roof there.

But was there really any reason to be worried?

What was that guide price again?

30,000 quid?

What do you expect?!

The property was bought for £31,000

by 19-year-old accountancy student Lauren.

I got a wee bit money in from a claim.

-I got run over when I was ten.

-You got run over?

But it wasn't until I turned 18 I actually had the money. It was put into a trust fund.

So the temptation could've been to go, "Wa-ay, party!"

-Pretty much.

-But you decided to invest it in property.

Can't lose your money in property,

-and I thought it'd be a project to do the house up.

-Right.

There's a new kitchen going in and a new bathroom going in.

-So what's the timescale for sorting it out?

-About six to eight weeks.

-And what budget have you got?

-12.

About 12,000, depending on how bad the roof is.

But if it's just the lead flashing,

we should be able to keep it within budget.

We're back eight weeks later

to see if that four-bed house has been transformed

or that leaky roof has proved a budget-buster.

On the bright side, Lauren's hair hasn't gone grey with worry.

But that's a wonder, as there wasn't just one roof repair required.

We got a second leak in the roof.

Lauren and mum Julianne thought the flashing needed replacing,

which they duly did.

We got a bad storm, which we think has lifted the flashing again,

so we got a leak.

The roofer couldn't get up onto the roof,

he didn't want to with the wind and the rain - it was slippy.

So we've just been waiting on a dry day, which has only just happened.

Well, after all that, is there any good news?

The kitchen has been almost finished.

# Things can only get better

# Can only get better... #

The bathroom's almost finished.

# Things can only get better... #

The whole house has been replastered.

# Can only get better Now I've found you... #

It's obvious that, despite that roof issue,

they've managed to get loads of work done,

and what they have done looks great.

But they've had no shortage of issues to deal with.

The ceiling in here, when we went up to look at it,

it had a lot of paper on it. When we started to take it off,

realised that it actually needed replastered,

which was something we hadn't actually looked at and noticed before,

we were so busy concentrating on the walls.

And what about that strange two-level floor?

There was just... One had a thin floor, basically,

and the other one had a floor on top of a floor

and that's why there was two levels.

Once we lifted them it more or less levelled itself out.

Because this had been tiled,

they put floorboards above the old tiles.

So that's one problem area solved.

Now, what about the dampness on the wall in the upstairs bedroom?

Any surprises there?

When we started to pull the plaster

that was hanging off from the top bedroom

we found that the old chimney breast was there with the bricks,

so it was good to be able to have that and leave that there.

A positive result there, then.

So, what's remaining?

The floors have to be put down the whole way through the house.

# Little by little by little by little by little... #

The rooms are to be painted.

# Little by little by little by little by little... #

There's lighting to go up.

And a bit of tiling in the kitchen.

Windows have all been...

All the single-glazed ones have been replaced.

From when we got the keys three months ago,

we've been here every single day

pretty much nine in the morning to nine at night.

Originally I thought we were just going to come in

and it was going to be - take wallpaper off, paint walls.

That's kind of what I really thought.

There certainly have been a lot of unexpected setbacks with this house.

So, given it's turned out to be not just a paintbrush job,

how's that £12,000 budget fared?

Everything's bought,

absolutely everything,

and everyone's been paid upfront,

prior to them finishing the work, basically.

And we're sitting just under the 10,000 mark.

Given the twice-repaired roof

and the extra jobs they've had to tackle,

that £10,000 is pretty good going.

Added to the purchase price of 31,000

makes a total investment of £41,000.

What will two local property agents make

of this yet-unfinished refurbishment?

First, the one who saw it before Lauren started the work.

Already I've see a lot of significant changes

and certainly a lot of changes that are going to benefit this house.

Judging by what's gone on in the bathroom, the kitchen,

the new furnishings that are in there are extremely modern

and I've seen some extremely attractive marble tiles

that are going into the kitchen as well, so...

And also wooden flooring upstairs.

To the naked eye it does seem to be just decoration,

but, really, the major work's been done.

You can see that the purchasers have put a lot of work into the property

and it's clear from the bathroom and the kitchen

that the standard that they're aiming for is very high.

I think that they are putting a lot of money

into the finish of the property.

I think, for a resale,

you could maybe get away with spending a little less

just to make a better return.

The agents think that for rental,

this property would fetch between £475 and £550 per calendar month.

That top estimate would mean a cracking yield of 16%.

But Lauren had thought she'd sell this on.

At the moment the rental market's quite strong in this area

and the way the property sales are turning,

they would probably get a better return on their investment

in 12 months.

Well, with them still determined to sell,

what price could they expect to achieve?

Once this is completed, I would put a valuation of £65,000-£70,000.

If the property was finished

to the standard that we see in the kitchen and bathroom,

I would market the property for sale at £55,000-£60,000.

Hmm. Quite varied valuations there.

The lowest would mean a profit of £14,000,

while the top estimate would mean a possible £29,000 -

all minus taxes and expenses, of course.

-Still sell.

-Definitely still sell.

Definitely sell now.

So, despite the various setbacks,

has Lauren enjoyed the experience?

I think I'm going to be sad that it's finished,

but look forward to doing it again.

And does she have any tips for other youthful property investors?

Just be prepared that there will be slip-ups

and things that happen that you're not expecting to happen,

and allow for money and time for that, I suppose.

We hope you've enjoyed watching

the homes that went under the hammer today.

Join us next time for more thrills and spills

from the auction rooms across the country.

-See

-you then. Goodbye.