Episode 23 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello. The UK property market is worth millions

and millions of pounds every year.

Those are big numbers, but don't be put off by that.

No, cos auctions are a level playing field.

They are accessible to everyone.

All you need is a bit of cash and some confidence.

With tens of thousands of properties going under the hammer each year,

there are usually a good selection to be found at most auctions.

So here's what the bidders decided to go for

when they put up their hands.

'In South Glamorgan, is there something missing?'

That's very nice.

Where's the kitchen, then?

'While in Margate, I wish there was something missing

'in this Georgian town house.'

What would I do?

First things first, I want to get rid of this wall.

Of course I do.

'But in London, this maisonette could have everything you need.'

If you like houses with stairs and a bit of character,

it's already scoring pretty highly.

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.

Yours, sir. Well done.

Wales has seen a lot of economic changes over the years.

And Cardiff in particular has had a lot of regeneration since the '90s.

With its cultural and sporting heritage,

who could not love this city?

Just a short journey by train or car from the centre of Cardiff,

and just look at the kind of scenery you find yourself in.

MALE CHOIR SINGING

I'm in the village of Penrhiwceiber,

situated in the valleys of South Wales.

Today much of its housing stock is made up of terraced houses.

But before this, these slopes were once covered in dense woodland.

The trees were felled in the 19th century

to make way for the colliery and its associated community.

And what grew here in place of the trees was a thriving village.

SINGING CONTINUES

I really like the location of a lot of these Welsh valley properties.

They really are spectacular.

Often built, as these are, into the hillsides, with amazing views.

The properties themselves, this particular street for sure,

really attractive.

I like this stonework and the contrasting surrounds to the door.

And the windows. Yeah, it's absolutely lovely.

The house itself - £25,000-plus was the guide price. Two bedrooms.

Let's take a look.

Not a huge amount of money.

"Huge amount of house, perhaps?" he says.

Well, nice entrance hall here.

Straightaway it looks to be in reasonable condition.

You've got relatively new electrics, which is always good.

Through into your lounge. Nice big window.

Possibly not that private, but a set of drapes on there...

Drapes? That's very American, isn't it?

AMERICAN ACCENT: A nice set of drapes on there.

Window blinds. Windows!

What are those things you put on windows again?

Curtains, that's it! Nice set of curtains on there,

really transform it.

Sorry, I'm going to have to draw a veil over this now.

Must be all that fresh mountain air

and the views that have turned my head.

Well, yes, carrying on...

It's all a bit strange at this point. The layout is definitely odd.

Because this...you might have expected to be

something like a kitchen, but no.

It's the bathroom. OK.

Well, that's very nice.

Where's the kitchen then?

# Finding myself lost again

# Yeah, I'm finding myself lost again... #

'This is a fairly modern bathroom with a newly fitted electric shower.

'But it's not the place to cook your dinner. I need to keep exploring.'

So, upstairs, and a really good sized front bedroom.

Almost big enough to contemplate subdividing into another bedroom.

You've got two windows so possibly you could make this into a three-bed.

An en suite would work very well I think in preference.

A cupboard there with your hot water cylinder in it.

And then into the back bedroom. A slightly smaller size.

But perfectly good though. And again, big windows.

By far the best feature again.

Cos you just look out of the windows at that view.

So far on the ground floor, there's a good size living room and a bathroom.

On the first floor, two nice bedrooms.

So back to my original question - where is the kitchen?

Well, it's downstairs. And downstairs again to a lower ground level.

A lot of these properties tend to be built on three levels.

Partly because they are actually built into hillsides.

So that gives some interesting designs.

In this case, the kitchen is down here on the lowest level.

It's a good size.

Whether you'd like to live with the fact you have to go up

and down all those stairs on a daily basis, I'm not so sure.

But one good thing...

Out there, easy access to the garden.

The garden is a good size.

But it seems like the local cats may have already moved in.

It's really from here,

when you can see the three floors looming over you,

that you get a sense of the size of this property.

With its £25,000 guide price, I certainly like it.

But what does a local property agent think of the house?

As far as auction properties in this area go,

it's not in bad condition at all, actually.

Fairly modern kitchen, decent bathroom.

Decoratively, it needs some upgrades,

but not a huge amount of work.

So, in theory, a nice, cheap, quick-turnaround property.

But what could it fetch on the open market?

If the property was renovated and modernised slightly,

I would estimate the value to be somewhere in the region of £50,000.

In a strong prevailing rental market, as a two-bedroom property,

it's worth in the region of £350 per calendar month.

And what about my idea of creating three bedrooms?

The implication would be perhaps pushing the rental value to £375

per calendar month and the sales value in the region of £55,000.

You'd have to weigh up the cost of the building work and the rewiring.

But it might still be worthwhile.

But even if you were to keep it as a two-bed,

that resell valuation is double the guide price.

But how much of that possible profit would need to be

spent on renovating it?

It's a nice enough house in a pretty dramatic location.

Good one to go for. Let's see who agreed when it went under the hammer.

Lot 27. A spacious house.

Three storey accommodation. It's got two bedrooms.

Guided at £25,000.

Start me around that sort of figure, 25. Make it 20 if you like.

Thank you. 20, I've got. At 20. 21 in front. 22. 23.

24. 25? 25? I've got 24 right at the back.

Five. Thank you, 25 now. Now you can come again. 26. 27.

27. 28. 29. And 30. 31. 32.

32, no. At 31,000. With you, sir, at 31.

At 31,000 on my right-hand side. For the first time...

Second time...

Third and last time. 31,000.

-KNOCKS HAMMER

-Yours, sir. Well done.

111. Thank you very much.

That final bid of £31,000 was made by Tavis.

He lives an hour away from the property.

I met him to talk about his plans.

-Tavis, good to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

-Congratulations.

-Yeah, we feel pretty proud with it, yeah.

-Yeah, well done.

What makes you so proud?

We've been trying to do it for a long time,

trying to raise the money, me and my wife on our own.

Finally we took the leap and did it.

So we're really pleased with ourselves, really.

So this is the first. Investment property or...?

We've invested in other properties

but we bought them by the usual means and ways.

But this is the first time we've bought at auction.

And we're sort of a bit nervous about it, really.

We feel we did our research.

And then took the plunge and had a go at buying a house at auction.

And just, you know, hopefully everything's going to go smoothly.

So what do you do when you're not doing this?

-Well, I run a pub with my wife, and we've got two lovely boys.

-Aw.

-In my spare time I play in a band as well.

-Oh, great.

If I have got any spare time after that,

I like to go to the gym and just keep fit and active, really.

Tavis might not have a lot of time to spare but he has managed

to squeeze a couple of properties into his busy life.

The first house that we bought needed a lot of work doing to it

and I had some good friends and a good team that did the work with us.

We've got a tenant that rents that off us now.

That sort of gave us a bit of the bug, really. We liked it.

We thought we are going to sell it

but we had the most fantastic tenant, so it looks after itself.

Then we bought another house that we live in at the moment

which we've done up, ready to rent out if we decide to leave.

So, we own three houses, but we've never sold one.

-This is definitely our learning curve.

-Right.

What did you like about the house when you saw it?

I liked the layout of it. I thought it was a bit quirky.

You know, the kitchen downstairs on its own,

you've got the garden out the back, the two rooms upstairs,

and I just thought it was a very clean, solid house, really.

Some of the work had already been done that I wasn't quite expecting.

The kitchen that we're in now, you know,

it's not going to need ripping out or anything like that.

-We'll go with this kitchen.

-Right, so nothing too major.

-And the gardens, of course.

-Of course, the garden, yeah.

We've got our cats living there at the moment

-so we're going to have to evict them...

-MARTIN LAUGHS

# Had a few doors slammed on our tails

# We've been kicked and cussed

# But everything's cool for two old cats like us. #

Well, Tavis might be like the cats that got cream with this property

because apart from having to negotiate with his furry tenants,

this all seems pretty straightforward.

Things like the carpet have already booked in to be put down.

Carpets? That's the last job, isn't?

Yeah, it is the last job and we've got them booked in

in a couple of weeks' time.

-So, you've got two weeks before the carpets arrive?

-Pretty much. Yeah.

That is definitely putting yourself under pressure.

-It's when I work my best.

-Is it?

-Yep. Definitely.

-But, I mean, wow.

Doesn't allow for anything to go wrong.

-I've got a slight contingency plan in place, you know?

-What's that?

Tell the carpet guys they've got to come the week after.

OK, fair enough.

No, we sort of put in that we... You know, a good two weeks cleaning,

decorating, and getting everything in here, and if it does...

a big problem arises, fortunately I do know the guys

who are laying the carpets and stuff like that,

so they're pretty flexible.

-So, what's the budget?

-Well, I'd like to be less than £5,000.

-Mm-hmm.

I would be surprised if it was over that looking around the building.

I mean, most of the work I'll end up doing myself anyway.

The electrics are new on the building, anyway,

so that's a big saving already done.

But the general sort of painting, flooring,

and things like that we'll do ourselves.

We put in sort of a £3,500 budget

with a £1,500 contingency on top of that.

Realistically, I'd like to be under that,

otherwise it won't be economic.

And then is the idea to rent it out or the idea to sell it?

We like to sell this one and we will price it to sell quickly.

This was our one to do for experience

and learn what we were doing.

But, so far, the whole process has been fun and enjoyable.

So, you know, we'd like to get this one sold and go again, really.

-Listen, congratulations. Good luck with it.

-Thanks very much.

-Look forward to seeing how you get on.

-Thank you.

Well, it seems like the only people who might be disappointed

with this renovation are the cats who currently inhabit the garden.

Will they be evicted?

How will Tavis get on with his very tight two week timescale?

You can find out later in the show.

Ten years ago, the words boutique and Margate

would have struggled to share a sentence.

But now, well, how times have changed!

Take a stroll around the old town's quirky little shops

before you pop to the Turner Contemporary gallery.

Or, enjoy a coffee and cake at one of the harbourside cafes.

Margate may still have its challenges ahead,

but it's well the on way there.

The town is certainly developing an arty, creative vibe

pulling in the day-trippers and those looking to relocate.

'One particularly nice area of Margate is this grand square,'

lined with Grade II listed Georgian buildings.

And yes, the property I'm here to see.

When this grand square was built,

it would have attracted the well-heeled of Margate.

In fact, according to the 1851 census,

the inhabitants of these two houses were a fund holder

and an attorney-at-law.

It's both of these houses that I'm here to see.

And how times have changed,

because they went to auction with a guide price

of just £160,000 to £170,000.

Now, you don't get all of them, unfortunately.

They're split into eight separate flats and three are not up for sale.

But still, what a lot of beautiful property for your money!

The auction lot consists of five of the eight flats,

but crucially it includes the freehold to both buildings.

So far so good.

Just to complicate things, some of the flats are already tenanted,

so there are just two we can have a look at.

And just my luck, they are on the top floor!

OK, I've reached the top of the stairs.

I'm right at the top of the building,

which is the building on the right-hand side.

Here's the entrance to the flat and through an imaginary wall...

I'm now in the building on the left-hand side.

Here we have the entrance to the flat.

Let's have a look around.

Well, you got a fantastic kitchen. Really good space in there.

Could easily fit a little table in the corner.

You've got the bathroom there. It feels very cosy. It's not grand.

It doesn't have big, high ceilings at all.

You got the lounge through there which is not a bad space,

and right out the front of the property,

you've got a bedroom.

It's quirky.

It certainly has a little bit of character once you've got rid

of all this woodchip wallpaper. But look at this.

A really nice window.

Gorgeous views of the square and on a clear day like today,

look, you can see right out to sea.

# I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles. #

Lovely views, but imagine lugging your shopping up all those stairs.

The flat next door follows a similar layout

with a kitchen at the rear.

The bathroom next door,

and the bedroom and living room at the front,

which I think might have all once been one large room.

Well, it looks as though somebody

has been patching up the ceiling in here.

A bit of work has been going on,

but having had a chance to look around, what would I do?

First things first.

I want to get rid of this wall. Of course I do!

Because imagine the impact walking through here

and having two beautiful windows, lots more light, double the space.

You could put all your kitchen along the back wall there

which is currently being the bedroom.

You could then move that bedroom to the kitchen area

and get that at the back of the property.

It would be such a wow factor and so impressive

when you open the front door and walk in to a space like this.

Now, I know that the open plan isn't everyone's cup of tea,

but in a small flat,

one grand room can make all the difference to the feel.

Going upwards, there is also a lot more space included in the lot.

But before you get all excited, well, there may be a catch.

This entire building is Grade II listed.

Now, that grading doesn't mean you can't make changes

but any alterations will require listed buildings consent.

However, regardless of any thoughts about the attic,

given we've only seen two of the five flats up for auction,

this is still an impressive lot.

What I love about these properties is this... This square.

It makes a huge difference to the feel of the flats.

They all have a wonderful outlook, and how lovely to walk home

every evening through here

surrounded by these other gorgeous Georgian homes... Just lovely.

The exterior of the building itself, well, just look at it.

It's absolutely beautiful.

The windows look like they're original,

the brickwork is in good condition,

the proportions are so pleasing to the eye.

As far as first impressions go and so-called kerb appeal,

this auction lot has it in spades.

Four one-bed flats, and one two-bed flat,

and the freehold to both buildings

for a guide of £160,000 to £170,000.

Is this the good deal it seems?

We asked a local estate agent along to tell us what he thought.

My belief is that there will be a long-term investment

here for this property.

Whilst I appreciate that there's always potential

for somebody to do something up and turn it around and sell it on,

I don't think the market's quite recovered well enough

for that to happen here.

This sounds like a buy-to-let opportunity.

So, what kind of income are we talking about?

When they are renovated, the one-bedroom apartments would rent

for anything up to £475 per calendar month.

If a two-bedroom was to be rented,

I would expect it to achieve no more than about £525 per calendar month.

Those top evaluations would mean a total income of just

under £2,500 per calendar month.

As for resale value, the agent reckons that renovated flats

would fetch £80,000 for the one-bed and £95,000 for the two-bed.

So, that would be £415,000.

Of course, we haven't seen them all,

and the renovation costs would need to be taken into account.

This lot is a lot of property for the money

and I think if somebody has faith in Margate's future

and is looking for a ready-made portfolio,

well, it could be the perfect fit.

Let's find out who did buy it at the auction.

This lot came almost at the end of the day,

so who had the stamina to stick it out?

£160 to start me.

Or 150, then. I don't mind where we start. 150, I have.

I'm taking it there, sir. 150, 152. 152.

And five, and seven, and 60.

60 is bid. 62, no.

At £160,000, I'm bid.

You're out on the right. 162, and five, and seven, and 70.

Unsurprisingly, quite a few bidders were interested in this lot.

We rejoin the bidding at £242,000.

The bid standing at the back for the first time at £242,000.

243, and 244, sir.

244, and 245.

244, the bid against you, at £244,000 for the first time.

£244,000 for the second.

£244,000 bid standing at the back for the third and final time.

At £244,000, all done.

Sold at £244,000.

And the successful bidders at £244,000

were Jonathan on the left and his business partner and uncle, David.

And even at £74,000 over the upper end of the guide price,

well, I reckon these guys will think they've got a decent deal.

I met them back at the flat to find out if that was the case.

David and Jonathan, lovely to meet you today. Congratulations.

-What an interesting lot this was.

-Yeah.

Two houses for the price of one, but not quite.

Quality period property here and you can't build...

You just cannot build a property

like this for the amount of money we paid.

-It's amazing, isn't it?

-It is.

And Jonathan and I have both been looking around

at some of the seaside resorts around the south coast

because at the end of it, you've got really unusual properties.

And very, very cheap

because the seasides are not really popular any more.

So why Margate?

I used to come down here

when I was a child, as most sort of south London people did.

-Me, too!

-And when this came up...

We were looking to the auction catalogue, this came up,

popped down, and once I saw the square,

I spoke to David and we had a good look at it.

I saw it was on offer and went along to bid.

Jonathan currently works as a property manager

and David also has a background in property development.

The pair have come together with a number of investors

to buy this property, eventually hoping to rent it out.

They want to make the most of every nook and cranny.

So, they're hoping there might be potential in the attic, too.

It's a hike to get up the stairs but the views are at the top.

And then you've got to climb up even more!

Well, even on this floor, which is the last floor

that's habitable at the moment, you know, you can see the sea.

If you can get that little bit higher,

just one floor gives you a really good view of the whole bay.

Do you think that you'll get the go-ahead

for something like that on such a beautiful period building

that has stood here for many, many years?

We're not looking to change the building,

we're just going to re-utilise rooms which were once used

for one form or another.

We've initially spoken to the council

and we've obviously got to go through the process

and hopefully will work with the conservation officer and

the local authority to see what we can get out of the building.

So, do you think you will get the go-ahead?

I mean, if you can't go up, has it still been a worthwhile project?

Overall, the project, we feel, is worth doing

for the long term of just what's here the moment.

We're getting a reasonable -

- we hope, reasonable - yield for the work that we will do.

And once they're rented out...

It's a five-year minimum plan, we feel.

So, what budget do you guys have in mind for your work here?

For your five-year plan? And let me just tell you,

we can't wait five years before we come back and see you!

No, we hope to be sort of ready on a lot shorter term than that

in terms of occupation.

It really depends on upstairs and what we can do,

but it would be between £25,000 and £75,000

depending on what were allowed to do and what we can get away with.

Flexibility is the name of the game here.

They are thinking long-term and short-term at the same time.

They have a tenant for one of the flats already

and plan to renovate each of the others in four weeks.

The only slight niggle I have is that

although they own the freehold for the entire building,

they don't own three of the flats.

Is that an issue?

It's certainly didn't put us off because we value

each and every flat in a building anyway.

As long as we've got the freehold which is quite crucial.

I mean, having the freehold gives us

a little more potential to do what we might see

as future value for all the building, not just our own flats.

What's your next step? What's your next plan?

Well, when we leave here, I'll be popping across the road

to the council to have a chat with them and put in some...

Get some pre-application advice, really,

to really work out what we can and can't do.

But hopefully we'll crack on and get it improved

one way or another,

and perhaps look elsewhere in Margate because it's a cracking town.

There's a lot of people looking for homes and there's a lot to offer.

I can't wait to see if you get the bonus flats on the top here.

It's been lovely meeting you today.

-Good luck with this project.

-Thank you.

-Thanks very much.

-Thank you.

David and Jonathan have a fabulous lot of flats here,

and they've spotted some scope to extend. I can't believe it!

It'll be interesting to see what they manage to achieve.

Join us later in the show and you can find out.

Coming up, in Streatham, south London,

I find myself a bit of a head scratcher.

I'm a huge fan of attics, however, this one...

..has a few issues.

Back in Margate, we check on the progress

of David and Jonathan's Georgian flats that are Grade II listed.

That's where we started to hit one or two headaches, really.

Back now to Penrhiwceiber in Wales

and this two-bed terrace bought at auction for £31,000

by pub landlord, Tavis.

Third and last time at £31,000.

Yours, sir. Well done.

Tavis and his wife Rebecca gave themselves

a healthy £3,500 budget,

but a very tight deadline to get this house ready for market.

-Things like the carpets are already booked in to be put down.

-Carpets?

That's the last job, isn't it?

Yeah, it is the last job and we've got them booked in

in a couple of weeks' time.

-You've got two weeks before the carpets arrive?

-Pretty much.

That is definitely putting yourself under pressure.

This was the first property Tavis bought at auction

and he was planning on doing most of the work himself.

Well, just one month later we're back to see how he got on.

Well, Tavis has certainly been busy.

Every room has been freshly decorated

and those deadline-creating carpets have been laid throughout the house.

The kitchen already had modern units,

but a good clean and a lick of paint has made all the difference.

So, how did Tavis turn this house around so quickly?

Well, very lucky with this property.

We had a friend of mine who is an electrician

and his brother who is a plumber come down

and within seconds the plumbing was all up and working properly.

The back boiler was completely fine.

The electrician signed all of the electrics off.

and in the process he actually put some extra plug sockets in,

new light fittings, and changed all the switches.

It was half a day's work and it was all signed off.

Electrical safety certificate all done.

So we had a good run of luck with that, really.

So, that's the fabric of the house sorted

and that rear garden has also been transformed.

It was a good 2.5 tonnes of rubbish to get rid of.

That took about four days, actually.

Of the whole time to do the property up,

the rubbish removal was the biggest part of it. The access...

This path behind the street of houses, but actually to park,

the road's about 45 degrees and sort of steep.

That was a bit of a pain to get rid of the rubbish, really.

That sounds like a lot of work.

Surely Tavis couldn't have done it all by himself.

Most of the work was done by myself and my father,

so we managed to save quite a few pennies there

cos it's forced labour with my dad.

And then a few friends came

and did a bit of plastering and skimming for me.

And as I own a pub, they were quite happy to have a few pints in return.

Nice work if you can get it!

I'm liking Tavis's form of currency.

And speaking of money, how did Tavis do with his budget of £3,500?

In the end, we ended up spending £2,250 near to the penny.

So were really happy that we came up under budget.

We could have spent more money on the property

but I don't think we'd have got the return.

It would have just been a waste of time and money.

I think the property looks clean.

We've done it for a minimum,

but I think we got a maximum result for our investment.

Yes, Tavis did very well coming under that budget.

But did he do just as well with his very tight two-week deadline?

In the month since we've seen him,

how much time has he spent renovating the house?

It took eight days from start to finish.

That was carpets in, deep clean afterwards, hoovered throughout.

So that took eight days.

We basically had a few camp beds on the floor.

We got up at six o'clock and worked till nine o'clock in the evening

and within the eight days it was done.

Wow, under budget and ahead of schedule.

That takes some dedication and can't be easy with a young family.

My family have come down a couple of times, my wife and two children.

The boys think it's absolutely fantastic running around

trying to paint and pretty much undo all of the work that I've done.

But, um... Yeah, they've been great, really. My wife's great.

She's looked after the children while I stayed down here

for eight days and sort of just let me crack on, really.

Yeah, if we do make any money, I'm sure I'll have to treat them.

Well, will there be a treat in store for Tavis's family?

We asked two local estate agents to tell us what they thought of Tavis's

first buy-to-sell property.

The development appears to have been a swift

but fairly successful process.

It's cosmetically improved quite drastically here.

I think in the current climate you're going to struggle to find

a first-time buyer or homeowner, so it is aimed at probably buy-to-let.

OK, well, let's see if Tavis can be tempted by the rental returns, then.

So far, he has £33,250 invested,

not including the beer, of course.

So, how do the numbers work out?

If they chose to rent this property out, I would advise a rental value

of between £350 and £375 per calendar month.

I believe it would rent for about £350 for calendar month.

It's a good rental income on that

but we're still going to put it on the market, I think.

Those top estimates would give a whopping yield of over 12%,

but Tavis is still determined to sell.

With a total spend of £33,250,

what sort of figure could he expect in return?

I think this property would sell between £45,000 and £50,000.

In the current climate,

I would advise a resale value of £45,000 to £50,000.

Um, the valuation is mid-40s.

It was pretty much where we were hoping to be

and it coincides with sort of the values we had it on as well.

So, yeah, happy with that.

It ties in with the budget that we had on it

and what we were hoping to get from it as well.

So from that point of view, it's been successful.

That top valuation could mean a potential profit of almost £17,000

minus the usual taxes and expenses.

Not bad at all for only eight days' work.

Well done, Tavis. What's next?

We're going to put the property back on the auction market.

We've got a reserve on it, which I think, you know,

should achieve the low to mid 40s

which will still give us a really good sized profit

for the amount of time we've put into the property.

So, yeah, will try to get it in on the auction.

Hopefully that will go pretty soon.

If it doesn't hit and go in this auction,

there is the possibility to rent it out and put it on the market.

But I'm quietly confident that it will sell soon.

Has this experience given Tavis the auction bug?

We are happy with it.

It seems that the values have been what they thought they were,

so obviously, it's a bit of a confidence booster

that we've done our research quite well.

And if it does sell for somewhere in that region

or a little bit less at auction,

we'll definitely go to auction again and give it another go.

Well, Tavis may be going back to auction, but this house won't,

as since we visited, Tavis has accepted an offer of £43,000.

From the glorious, wide-open spaces of the Welsh valleys

to fast-paced and bustling south London.

I'm in Streatham,

which over the past few years has become an interesting place

to consider for the property investor who is looking for a good deal.

Not easy to find in these parts.

Well, the neighbouring areas of Clapham and Balham

have become very expensive in recent times,

so people are looking slightly further afield.

And that brings them to Streatham.

Still close to Norbury station,

just about a five-minute walk, you've got Streatham Common.

And houses that may be within your reach.

£240,000 plus

was the guide price for a first and second-floor maisonette.

What does that get you? Let's take a look.

This two-storey building is divided into two properties

with independent entrances.

One flat is on the ground floor

and the maisonette I'm looking at

takes up the first floor and attic space.

So... What is on offer?

Well, straightaway it looks nice and bright and airy.

Um... Er... Two bedrooms?

Oh, well, that's hardly a bedroom.

Tiny little room there. Box room, more the study.

Nice sized room there at the front, though.

I guess that would be your living room. And, um... Yeah.

A fireplace.

Again, lots of light coming in

through lots, and lots, and lots of window.

That's good to see.

Stairs up to the attic room.

We'll investigate that in a minute.

Your bedroom there and then through into the kitchen.

Now, this is a pleasant surprise.

Obviously someone has put a bit of effort into this

in relatively recent times.

It's nice. I like it. It's quite a sophisticated-looking kitchen.

It starts to get a bit strange thereafter,

down some stairs into the bathroom.

Um...

Well, if you like houses with stairs and a bit of character,

it's already scoring pretty highly.

And going down those stairs into the bathroom,

the points just keep racking up.

The bathroom is reasonable. It has a bath and a separate shower.

Always a box tick as far as I'm concerned.

And then, something even better.

Well, heading upstairs to the flat you might have thought that

one thing you wouldn't have is a garden, but that's not the case.

It's actually been quite cleverly designed, this particular building.

The downstairs flat actually has access to that half of the garden

but the upstairs flat, the one we're in,

come down some stairs into this lovely little area.

It also benefits from a little alleyway out the back.

So, a real bonus. Brilliant.

With outside space at a premium in London,

having a garden is rare, so having a little space like this

to call your own adds to the appeal of the property.

It needs a bit of a tidy up, but done nicely,

you could escape the rat race and just for a moment forget

that you are in the most populous area of Europe.

# Take me up to the top of the stairs

# We'll get lost in the darkness waiting. #

So, as promised, an exploration of the upstairs room.

Now, I'm a huge fan of attics.

However, this one...

..has a few issues.

Clearly head height being the first.

It's, apart from that, a pretty attractive space.

Lots of storage.

These little windows in here throwing in a bit of light. Um...

You know, it's crying out for a dormer, isn't it?

You're going to have to do something to generate the amount of head height

you would want if this was to be used on a regular basis.

So, yes, a dormer is an obvious way to go.

Although, I'd have to say, looking down the street,

I didn't see too many houses with dormers

so planning might be an issue there.

Also, you've got to factor in the cost. Is it worth doing it?

Well, if you're buying this to live in then in terms of quality of life

it may be worth doing.

If you're looking at renting this place out,

how much extra would you get by having this as a proper bedroom?

How much is it going to cost you to do it? What's the payback period?

All of those things you're going to have to factor in.

You know, as a kids' play area, or something like that...

As it is, brilliant.

Before you do anything with this space,

you need to check out the building regulations

and make sure it would meet the requirements to be used as a bedroom.

Anyway, all in all, this is a great little flat.

So I think it's time for a local property agent to tell us

what he thinks of this maisonette guided at £240,000.

It's a good property.

It's a little bit smaller than I thought it would be

looking from the outside.

Normally, you find these Victorian properties a bit of a Tardis.

When you go inside, they open up.

It's still a lovely property.

So, if you were to refurbish the place -

new bathroom, new carpets, painting the wall, and things like that -

what would it be worth?

If that was done to a good standard,

you're probably looking at a resale

of around the £290,000 to £310,000 mark.

And for rental?

Again, doing a similar sort of refurbishment,

you'd probably be looking on values

around the £1,500 per calendar month.

Well, in case you hadn't realised, I really like this little flat

and I think it gives you a chance to get into a market that's definitely

moving in the right direction in a good area, at a great price.

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

Lot 151.

First, second floor maisonette.

Who'd like to kick off on this?

Say... I don't know, 220?

220. 225.

225 to the phone.

230, 230. 235 to the phone.

235, 240 in the room.

245 on the phone.

250 in the room.

250. 255 on the phone.

260 in the room.

260. 265 on the phone.

265 on the phone. 270 in the room.

Trying to help, another thousand, 266. 266, elsewhere?

Going to lose it.

If not, 265 to the phone.

First time...

Second time...

Third and last... 266 new spot.

266 in the room at the back. 267.

It's going. Seems a good lot.

At 266, first time. Second time.

Third and last time if you're done.

Sold, £266,000.

That last-minute bid bought this property

for Aneesh and Satinda for £266,000.

Now, if you're a dedicated, eagle-eyed viewer,

you may recognize Aneesh.

I met him last year when he bought a flat in Lewisham.

Having bought his first property at just 21,

ten years on, he now runs his own property management business.

-Satinda, Aneesh, good to see you.

-Yeah, good to see you.

And in your case, good to see you again.

Yeah, last year, so second time.

How did that go?

Yeah, very well. We've had that rented for a year now.

We are on a 24-month tenancy, and very happy with the tenants

that are in there.

-Money, could you make some?

-Yeah. It was a good return.

So we can leave that one to be now for a long time now.

Great. Now, Satinda, you're getting involved in this one.

Were you involved in the last one as well?

Not really. I hadn't seen the property before, Lewisham.

-I haven't seen this one until today.

-Oh, wow.

-So what did you think when you walked through the door?

-Really nice.

-I'm quite pleasantly surprised.

-Do you go to the auction with him?

Occasionally.

Sometimes if I've got a day off on that day I'll go to the auctions

and same with viewing the properties,

if I can get days off those days.

-But completely hands off in terms of the property renovations?

-Yeah.

So do you literally come down when it's finished?

I might come in a few times in between

just to see how things are going along. How we're progressing.

She'll throw her views in, no worries. Don't worry about that.

Otherwise you'll have to get along with it.

So, why this particular house?

I suppose it's got a good commuter links into London.

It's very close to sort of Balham, Clapham,

which have had really strong capital growth

over the last three or four years.

And really just banking on people starting to venture outwards

and look at places a bit more affordable.

I can't fault his logic.

It's the same as the agents' and mine.

Tell me, then, what are you going to do to it to sort it out?

Yeah, I mean, the property itself isn't actually in bad condition,

similar to the Lewisham one we had last year.

So, we're going to keep the kitchen as is,

probably skim some of the walls that need skimming, decorate throughout,

change some of the tiles in the kitchen and bathroom,

and probably just change the windows to double glazing.

I think apart from that, I don't think we'll do much else.

-We'll apply for planning permission for the loft conversion.

-Right.

To be made into a proper dormer extension.

But if that doesn't come in time while the builders are on-site,

we may just rent it as is with a view to doing the loft...

the dormer extension later down the line.

So, what's the budget?

We've got £8,000 to £10,000

to do the works around the actual house down here.

Then, on the second floor, we've allocated £12,000 to £15,000

for the dormer extension if need be.

OK.

-And timescales?

-We're looking to turn this one around in about six weeks.

Wow! There's no chance of getting a planning permission then.

You never know, we could be lucky. Fingers crossed.

I do think Aneesh is pushing his luck a little with that one.

Planning permission in six weeks?

It'll be tight but those two do know what they're doing.

So, are you comfortable with the whole property world

-and the fact that this is what you are doing?

-Yeah, absolutely.

We've been doing it for quite a while now.

We did our own properties first of all.

This is how we kind of got into this.

And, yeah, I'm very comfortable with it. Aneesh knows what he's doing.

He knows how to work the numbers really hard,

and, yeah, I'm pleased with how it turns out.

Well, listen, congratulations. Good luck with that. Lovely to meet you.

-You, too.

-Lovely to see you again.

-Thank you. Cheers.

Well, it's a sunny day and it seems that the sun is shining

on Aneesh and Satinda when it comes to property.

They lucked out in Lewisham,

will it be super successful in Streatham?

You can find out later in the show.

While we wait patiently for our purchasers to do the work

on their properties... And sometimes they make an amazing job of it.

And sometimes they don't do anything.

So, what will be the story with the properties

we featured on today's show?

Back now to Margate in Kent

where earlier I met David and his nephew, Jonathan.

At auction,

they bought five of eight flats in this impressive Georgian town house,

as well as the freehold for £244,000,

along with a group of investors.

So, what inspired these uncle and nephew business partners

to make this particular purchase?

So why Margate?

I used to come down here when I was a child

-as most of south London people did.

-Me, too!

This came up, we were looking through the auction catalogue,

this came up, I popped down and once I saw the square I spoke to David

and we had a good look at it.

I saw it was on offer and went along to bid.

With Jonathan appointed as project manager,

the plan was to renovate the flats.

Some would be sold on while others would be put on the rental market.

Well, ten months later, we're back to see how they got on.

Last time we saw the two top floor one-bedroom flats.

This time, were back to see the two flats

that have been renovated on the first and second floor.

I think they've done a very smart job here.

We stripped out all of the existing fittings...

the kitchens, bathrooms, the carpets.

Most of the plaster was hanging off the wall anyway.

We took them really back to almost to a shell status

and just brought them back to where they should be and how they are now.

Because they own the freehold to the entire building,

it's not just the individual flats they have to take care of.

We've done quite a lot of work to communal parts.

Repairs to the roof, the rear garden, obviously the front of the building.

Communal hallways have been completely redecorated

and the carpeted and repaired.

So everything seems to have gone smoothly,

but surely with a building this size there must have been some problems.

We had hoped to do something with the attic space,

but this is a listed building.

There are always concerns via the listed buildings authority

making sure we do the right things if we want to do something.

And that's where we started to hit one or two headaches, really.

Initially we submitted a plan to perhaps add two new apartments

to the top, or possibly one.

We spoke with the pre-planning application advice

with the local authority, and the conservation officer

wasn't really happy with some of the things we proposed.

We reviewed it and decided that perhaps the best thing to do,

and something we probably could have done,

was to extend the existing flats

on the top floor, therefore not creating any more units.

Financially, that really didn't stack up at this time,

although Dave and I have discussed it

and it may be something we can do perhaps in five or ten years' time

when the market will make it more viable.

David and Jonathan were always realistic about long-term

and short-term plans for this property,

and so they've never been in a particular hurry.

We've owned the building for about ten months now.

Probably a little more than that, going on for a year.

So, some of that has been with planning.

It's probably a delay of three or four months

while we were discussing that with the local authority.

But it's not just about planning. There were tenants in these flats

and we weren't in a position where we were going to turf people out

of their homes just so that we can redecorate them.

We've naturally refurbished properties

as and when they've come available,

which is why now we've got two empty flats,

but the two that we refurbished first have already got tenants in them.

The project was equally flexible

depending on what they decided to do with the attic.

But since they didn't go the whole hog,

they reckoned £50,000 was a reasonable budget

for the five flats in total.

And there's just one flat remaining to be done.

Yeah, I mean, that saying that we've obviously I'm tasked

with policing, to some extent.

There was some contingency, being that it was listed building.

I'm pleased to say that we pretty much came on bang on target.

I mean, we've got a few bills to pay as yet

but we pretty much spent what we expected to.

Talking of figures then,

David and Jonathan bought these flats and the freehold

for the buildings for £244,000,

and spent their budget of £50,000.

We invited along two local property experts

to see what they thought of the properties.

My first impressions with what they've done inside is very good.

It's very clean, very tidy.

It's a fairly basic refurbishment

but they've ticked all the right boxes.

Looking around this property I was very impressed.

It's in very good decorative order throughout,

looks to have been refurbished to a high standard

and it's absolutely ideal for the sale or letting market.

So, with a total spend of £294,000,

how much could Jonathan and David realise

if they were to sell all five flats?

If the one-beds were brought to the market,

presently, I would expect them to achieve

somewhere between £70,000 and £75,000.

I personally feel a two-bedroom flat could be worth anything

up to £95,000.

So, with four one-bed flats and one two-bed flat,

using the low evaluations,

that could give them a possible total resale price of £375,000,

giving a total profit of £81,000.

I think the evaluation is probably at the lower end

of what we were expecting.

We've had another agency and they said

that particularly in this location, the quality of the flat,

to perhaps test it a bit higher than that.

But our sums were sort of done at that range anyway.

Even so, I'd say £81,000 of profit is pretty good.

But, for the time being,

it's the rental they're interested in.

Let's start with the one-beds.

If the properties were brought to the rental market today,

I would expect them to achieve somewhere between £425

and £450 per calendar month.

I think a two-bedroom flat done to a sort of similar standard

in this block would fetch anything up to

round about £525 per calendar month.

Which could give the boys and impressive yield of just over 9%.

Yeah, we're getting there or thereabouts.

I think Margate's got a bit of a ceiling in terms of rentals

for one-bedroom flats, so it's a very good return if you compare it

with the likes of south London where we do a load of our work.

But I think that's fair.

So it would appear that this grand investment

has done all right for the pair.

What's next on the cards for them, then?

Keep looking for nice quality buildings that have got

a little bit of an interesting future that we might be able

to take advantage of, really.

Yeah, I don't think we'll be relocating to Margate,

but we'll certainly pick up any other opportunities

that we think are worthwhile in the area.

I mean, 20, 25 years ago, there was a place called Brighton

which most people know about.

I remember going to Brighton and thinking,

"Gosh, these places are really cheap." And nobody wanted them.

Now, Brighton is nearly as expensive as parts of London, so...

In fact, probably as expensive as most parts of London.

So, you know, you can sometimes find a place that's out of favour.

It won't be out of favour forever.

Back to Streatham, in London now, where earlier we met

property developer Aneesh and his wife, Satinda.

Aneesh bought this two-floor maisonette

for £266,000 at auction.

The attic did offer some opportunities for adding value,

but that aside,

it appeared to need a fairly basic refurbishment,

but nothing drastic.

The property itself isn't actually in bad condition,

so we'll skim some of the walls that need skimming.

Decorate throughout,

and probably just change the windows to double glazing.

We'll apply for planning permission for the loft conversion...

-Right.

-..to be made into a proper dormer extension.

Aneesh had that sorted, but it was the timescale that took me aback.

-We are looking to turn this one around in about six weeks.

-Wow!

No chance of getting planning permission then.

You never know, we could be lucky. Fingers crossed.

Hopefully they kept those fingers crossed

because at just seven weeks later

we've come back to see how they've been getting on.

With the exception of a few doors still left to hang,

everything seems to have gone smoothly.

As soon as we got in we switched the water on.

As soon as we switched the water on it and started using it,

it flooded downstairs.

# I got a leak in this old building

# Got a leak... #

Ah, not that smoothly, then!

I think there were three separate leaks,

so when we thought we fixed one, we found another.

But we got there in the end.

So, with the plumbing sorted, what else did they need to do?

We have to give it a good general refurbishment throughout

so we've done... We've upgraded the electrics,

we've put in a new combi boiler, and we've painted throughout,

glossed it, and new carpets as well.

The bathroom and the kitchen have had new tiles gone in on the floor

just to make them feel a bit more modern.

And is there anything they did manage to get done?

Just really the garden.

The garden's left to have just a bit of a tidy up.

Apart from that, it's all done.

Well, it won't take much to spruce up this little garden.

And as I said before,

an outside space like this in London is a big bonus.

But, hang on.

Is the garden really the only thing left to do?

I don't see any dormer windows.

So, does that mean Aneesh and Satinda

were too optimistic about the planning permission?

We made the choice not to build the dormer

just based on the fact that we didn't think it would deliver us

the return we want to at the moment,

especially as are just intending to rent the property

for the next couple of years.

That's probably a wise move.

Aneesh and Satinda are only a week past their six-week deadline

with not much left to do.

But with the timescale that tight,

just one or two hitches can make all the difference.

The leak was the main delay.

That held up all the other work surrounding the kitchen

and bathroom that we had planned, and the boiler to go in, so...

Once we sort of found the leak, it did help us,

but it did delay us a good couple of weeks to really hone in

and find out exactly what the problem was.

There was some works to be done on the ground floor flats

to amend and fix their ceiling.

So, did that unexpected extra work

add to their budget as well as their timescale?

They were planning to spend £8,000 to £10,000.

We spent £13,000 all in all it isn't bad.

We obviously had the unexpected £2,000 cost for the leak

which we hadn't budgeted for.

But other than that, we're really just £1,000 over the rest

of the build, but I think the property has turned out really well.

I agree, Aneesh. I think this maisonette is looking great.

With an auction price of £266,000 and renovation costs of £13,000,

they've spent a total of £279,000.

So, what will two local estate agents

think of Aneesh's changes to this maisonette?

Starting with the agent who saw it last time.

I think the changes are really good.

He's done some essential changes which is the kitchen floor,

he's tidied up the bathroom, and given the whole place

a lick of paint, which has really brightened it all up.

I think the key things are it's all very, very light.

The appliances have been done nicely.

The bathroom is nice and bright.

There's not colours that will put anybody off.

I think he's done most things very well.

The one thing that maybe he should have done

is tidied up the rear garden, but I'm sure he'll get around to that.

It's a very small thing that I'm picking up

but it's done very well in general.

So, all in all it sounds very positive.

But with a total spend of £279,000,

what kind of resale value could Aneesh achieve?

I think with the way it's been done, as is,

he could put it on the market for £365,000

looking to get offers of £350,000 upwards.

I think the owner should sell this for approximately £345,000.

Blimey! Even that lowest evaluation would mean a potential profit

of £66,000, minus the usual taxes and fees.

So, will they rethink letting it out?

Yeah, there's always temptation to sell

but we're quite happy for the longer term view to rent it out

and see what the market does in the next couple of years.

No budging from their plan there, then.

So, what could this maisonette achieve on the rental market?

In rental, we could ask for this property £1,650 per calendar month.

I think he'd be looking at £1,250 per calendar month.

That highest evaluation would give a healthy yield of nearly 7%.

I'm delighted with that, really. That's...

£1,250 to £1,300 is what we aim for.

So, yeah, very pleased with that.

I'm not surprised.

That's another successful renovation for Satinda and Aneesh.

So, what's next on their to-do list?

We've got another project that starts in Battersea

so that's where our builders are next and they're on there now.

We've just finished another project in Morden.

We've been busy the last few months and after that,

it's probably time to take a bit of a break and a bit of a holiday.

Join us next time

when we have more riveting stories from the auction rooms.

Yes, it could be your passport to a small fortune, so don't miss it.

-See you, then. Goodbye.

-Goodbye.