Episode 38 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello and welcome to the programme.

Even in this competitive market,

-Martin and I love dabbling in property.

-Yes, and we love the idea

of getting a good deal.

But it's not always easy.

One way you still stand a good chance, though,

is to buy your home under the hammer.

Now, buying under the hammer is becoming increasingly popular.

Millions of pounds worth of property sold every month.

So, here are three properties that were sold at auction.

In Cumbria, I'm considering a lot of options.

I'm thinking about all the potential uses for this house,

and there are many.

At this semi in Kent, there's plenty of potential, too.

How many cars could you park on here, I wonder?

And in Chorley, Lancashire,

there's more than enough room to do whatever you want.

Uh, it's all a bit sparse, isn't it?

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.

I'm in Seascale, on the Cumbrian coast.

Many of the names around here have Norse origins,

after Norseman retreating from King Harald Fairhair

settled this lovely coastline.

It's believed that this town's name

originates from the Norse word skali,

meaning shelter and wooden hut.

Well, the property I'm here to see

is definitely more than a wooden hut.

In fact, it's almost a mansion.

It's this detached house, double-fronted, over three floors.

It's got four reception rooms, eight bedrooms, a garden room

and there's flat at the back, all for a guide price of £110,000 plus.

King Harald Fairhair would be impressed.

So we know it's going to be big, but how is it laid out?

Well, nice, large entrance, as you'd hope for.

A big sort of reception room over that way

and an equally big one over that way.

Straight away, I'm thinking about all the potential uses

for this house, and there are many.

Off this hallway, there are three reception rooms

listed as a lounge, sitting room and dining room.

But it looks like one of them has previously been a bedroom,

which suggests this was a house of a multiple occupancy previously.

A good-sized kitchen with lots of light.

You could imagine a big table in here for a family to use.

Or maybe even big enough to serve hotel guests. Hmm.

And that's just the ground floor.

I'm going to finally explore the first floor.

Up here, nice landing area. A room there, your first of your bedrooms.

And then, through this way, really interesting kind of layout.

And I think this house has lots of hidden features

just waiting to be discovered.

It's nice that some of the fireplaces are still there.

It's got double glazing, but it looks fairly old,

so I don't know if that's due for replacement.

But the layout here is quite interesting,

cos you've got that room there

and then you come through to this extra bedroom here.

To create an extra room, you might want to separate those off.

But then this leads back out into a little landing area.

Um... Another really good-sized room there.

I mean, absolutely amazing.

Enough room to potentially put on an en suite in that.

And here - bathroom, shower room.

Bff... Wow!

I just love the scale of this house. The rooms are all a fantastic size.

Can this amazing property continue to surprise?

So, hop up to the top floor. And if you were expecting

just a little attic bedroom, you are going to be in for a surprise

because it just goes on and on up here.

More bedrooms. Count them.

One there, a little bathroom there,

you've got another bedroom over there,

bedroom there, bedroom there, another one here.

They've all got loads of character cos they're built into the eaves

and really nice.

Nice, nice, nice. Gosh.

What are you going to do with this place, then?

It's probably not going to be one house.

I don't think that really maximises the potential of this place.

It's screaming out to be a house of multiple occupancy,

an HMO.

Rent out these rooms individually

and you could be generating who knows what.

I mean, if you rented them out for

£50, £60, £70, £80 a week individually,

this house is going to start delivering some serious returns.

# Up and down and up and down

# And up and down and up

# And down. #

And there's even more potential for renting back on the ground floor.

When you come out of the rear of the property,

you might think it would just end.

But no, there's this extra space here. And I think this could be

a little, well, self-contained unit in its own right.

You've got a kitchen area there, a loo,

this slightly odd area here with these huge, great windows.

And then, at the back, look at the size of this!

Absolutely massive, massive room.

Certainly enough space in here to create a bedroom

and a separate living area,

as a bonus on top of everything else you've got.

How absolutely fantastic.

And here, some real, absolutely classic decorating touches.

We like the louvered doors. And how about this?

-HE EXHALES

-Rocks.

Or...not quite rocks.

Got to keep that.

# Get your rocks off Get your rocks off, honey

# Shake 'em now, now. #

Moving on from my fascination with the decor,

outside it is a practical low-maintenance space

with the cherry on top being a good-sized garage, which again

has multiple uses - from parking a car to storage or even a workshop.

I reckon this is a no-brainer

as far as a house of multiple occupancy is concerned,

but is there a market for this type of rented accommodation,

and what about other options?

We asked the auctioneer who sold it what potential he saw

for this amazing eight-bedroomed house,

guided at an equally amazing £110,000.

It's a very, very large house

to turn into a family home.

I'm not so sure there's a trade here for a bed and breakfast/small hotel,

but there is a large demand for the letting of single rooms.

And if it was done to a high standard

and if you managed to get en suites in the individual letting rooms,

then I think it could command quite a decent rent.

Much of that demand comes from the nearby power station

that is the main local employer.

So, what would need to be done and how much income could it bring?

If it was done to a good standard, good en suite facilities,

I think you would achieve around £80,

maybe to £85 per week for each room.

I think if the buyer managed to create maybe a one-bedroom apartment

on the ground floor offshoot,

I think you would probably get in the region of £300 per calendar month.

Well, with eight bedrooms and maybe two of the public rooms rented

at £80 per week, that would be £3,200 a month.

And then add on £300 per month for the flat, and that's £3,500.

Wow! £42,000 a year!

Well, it's an absolutely massive property that I think

could potentially return somebody a massive amount of money

if they get it right.

Let's see who decided to take this place on

when it went under the hammer.

Spacious, detached property. Massive property, this.

£100,000 plus, then, is the last quoted guide.

Got a telephone bid on this already in.

Who is here for this at 100?

95, then.

90, get me started.

At £90,000, anybody here? 90 I've got on the door.

At £90,000 then.

91 here. 92.

93, 94, 95, 96...

And with the bidding going up in £1,000 increments,

we eventually reach £130,000.

130, 131,

132, 133,

134, 135,

136.

Shake of the head at 136.

With you, sir, at 135.

At £135,000 for the first time.

At £135,000 for the second time.

£135,000, third and final time.

All done, all out. Selling away.

To you, sir. Thank you. Well done.

And the successful bidder is Peter, who along with his daughter, Sienna,

met me back at the property to outline his plans.

-Peter, good to meet you.

-And you.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

-Yeah. Big house.

-Yes, it's substantial.

-MARTIN CHUCKLES

-So, why did you want to buy it?

Well, I've just bought a house with my partner in Gosforth

and we saw this come up and decided

it was an opportunity too good to miss

because of the number of rooms

and the possibility of renting the rooms out to local contractors.

So, do you know the area

and the need for that kind of accommodation, then?

Yes, I've lived up here about nine years now

and we know a lot of the contractors anyway.

-Right.

-Through meeting in the pub, etc.

And I know there is a good market for that

if you price the rooms right and provide the right facilities.

Right.

I, in fact, about three years ago, stayed just up the road here

in an extremely grotty flat for about three months

and I thought, "This is absolutely awful."

It was decorated in the 1970s style

and it looked like that was the last time it was cleaned as well.

So I thought, "We've got to do better than that."

To cut to the chase, to rent out individual rooms to people

for what kind of letting periods?

Well, generally speaking,

the Sellafield contractors do it on a weekly basis.

So, they pay you cash upfront for the week,

and then they're normally in Monday night to Thursday night

-and they're away at the weekends.

-Right.

So, for me, that's ideal because then I can come in at the weekends,

tidy up the rooms, refresh the bedding, that kind of thing.

I did think about the holiday let kind of thing

but this side of Cumbria - we're obviously west of the Lakes,

of Windermere, etc -

we don't get the tourism here that they do over there.

-So I wouldn't like to rely on that.

-So, tell me a bit more about you.

Well, I'm a film cameraman.

-Been in the film business just over 30 years now.

-Gosh.

-Just came back. I was filming for Doctor Who last week.

-Oh, wow.

Not in Cardiff, though.

So before you ask, we don't get to meet any of the stars at all.

-You don't?

-No.

-What were you filming?

-We were filming some miniatures, special effects stuff...

-Oh!

-..for next year's season.

-Oh, you can't give any secrets away?

So I can't say anything about it, no.

Except it was very dusty and very smoky.

So how do you find time to do this, then?

For me, this is a very long-term project.

I'm not going to do it up and then get rid of it.

It's going to stay with us for the foreseeable future

as an income for me because my pension is so pathetic.

And a legacy for my children.

And it's going to take a couple of years, I think, to come to fruition.

But I'm going to try and get one or two rooms sorted out

and get the downstairs presentable and the kitchen sorted

and get a couple of rooms going.

And then once that's bringing in a bit of income,

then I'll start to do other rooms.

So, tell me what you are going to do in terms of sorting it out.

This room we're standing in now,

I'm actually going to keep for myself.

-Oh, right.

-So, it will be a kind of den for me, really.

The other reception room I'll have as a lounge/dining room,

plus a dining kitchen.

And then each bedroom will be en suite.

-So, I think, ultimately, I'll have eight rooms to rent out.

-Right.

-Plus the flat.

-Right.

-The flat will be the last thing we do.

-OK.

Cos that needs more work doing to it, really.

Peter's clearly taking it in stages

as and when he has the time and money.

So how much does he envisage spending?

-£2,000 per room to decorate and put the en suite in.

-Right.

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

-Right.

I would say about £25,000 over the next couple of years.

I'm not in the business of just

bashing it out and quick lick of paint and that sort of thing.

So if people like the rooms, if they're comfortable,

modern, bright and breezy, then they'll come back, won't they?

-That's my philosophy, anyway.

-Well, listen, congratulations.

-Thank you.

-Good luck with it.

-Lovely.

-Look forward to seeing how you get on.

-What an interesting project.

-Great. Thanks very much. Fingers crossed.

So, Peter embarking on a fairly ambitious project with this place.

And lots of work to be done both in sorting it out

and then running it as the business he is proposing.

Is he ready for all the work that's involved?

You can find out later in the show.

# We are the Village Green Preservation Society. #

I'm in Kent, only three miles from Maidstone.

This lovely village is Bearsted,

but the property I'm seeing today is a little newer than these.

Well, I'm here to see a 1930s house today.

It's down this lovely leafy, lush, green lane

and it's a three-bed semi and the guide price -

£240,000 to £245,000.

It's here, but what I'm loving is the frontage.

Gosh, how many cars could you park on here, I wonder?

I'm going to have a look inside.

I do love these '30s houses. They make fabulous family homes.

I don't know what it is, but in here, it makes me feel

like I've just come back from the pub.

Now, when I say that, it's because the house sort of slopes this way.

It goes like that.

And a dead giveaway is, well, look at this.

The doorframe sloping down there.

In front of me, it's also sloping down there.

So, I think this house may have moved over the last few years,

so that's something that whoever takes this on has got to check out.

So, nice-sized living room. Great space. Lovely, big bay window.

Second reception room. Nice and sunny.

Through to the kitchen, which, well, a little bit on the narrow side.

Slightly disappointing.

Look at these amazing cupboards, though.

You'd pay a fortune for something like that

in an old antiques shop now. Fabulous.

I would like to knock through here and just extend the space,

maybe have this as a kitchen/diner next door.

But it's out there that's really exciting me.

Wow!

Well, on a day like today, everybody wants a garden like this.

In fact, everybody wants a garden like this!

Now, I know that this is just over 50 foot this way.

And I got my tape measure out this morning,

and it's just over 40 foot this way.

Now, the interesting thing is, this house currently sits on

less than half the width of this plot,

leaving all of this space here.

Now, I know the auction catalogue hints at a potential development,

maybe a separate dwelling could be built here completely.

Who knows? That would all be down to the planners.

But I think the great thing with this property is

there's just so much potential.

You could extend, you could build,

or you could just have a jolly nice garden.

# There's a lot of opportunities. #

Hang on. Before I start planning all the possibilities

of what could be built,

I should probably first see what else there already is here.

So, upstairs we've got three bedrooms.

This is something rather interesting.

If you have a little look out that window,

you can actually see the rest of the space you've got

to the side of the property.

I know I keep banging on about that, but this is such an amazing plot

that it excites me no end, this house.

So upstairs, that's where it gets a little bit disappointing.

You've got a very small bedroom here, a not bad double-size here,

a fantastic family bedroom in here.

But a really small bathroom. I mean, look.

There is just enough room for a bath and a sink

and you've got a loo here.

So, how can we get around that?

Well, straight away, I would put a wall up here with a doorway

and open this all up so you've got one combined loo and bathroom,

and that solves your problem.

# Problem solved. #

There certainly are lots of options for this 1930s house,

so what does the local estate agent make of it all?

The thing that sells 1930s houses, generally, is it was during

a period of construction that was very substantial,

very good quality

and still retained a lot of character.

The only concern that was immediately apparent

was the sloping floor as you enter the hallway.

It's not difficult to spot.

So, that's certainly worth checking out and investigating.

So, if the house gets just a freshen up and a refurbishment,

what would it be worth then?

I would anticipate it selling for about £350,000

and to rent, perhaps £1,300 per calendar month.

So, good potential profit and also the simplest option.

But with that extra land to the side,

what does he think the best option would be?

I think that lends itself to either

a very substantial double-storey extension

or maybe they might even be able to squeeze

a small detached property in the space.

And how would that affect the income potential?

If the property were extended on the side,

perhaps a big double-storey extension

providing, say, two additional bedrooms,

another reception room, an extended kitchen,

that would allow the owner, I think, to exploit the value to the extent

of perhaps £425,000, maybe £450,000

if it's done very well and it is big.

That's the key.

That's good news if selling, but a bigger house in this area

would probably only increase the rental income

by a few hundred pounds, hardly worth the effort.

Which leaves us with the final and most exciting option -

building an additional house to the side.

The value of the original building would obviously suffer,

but how much could both properties sell for?

You could be achieving £300,000 for the original house,

plus £300,000 for the new house.

From a rental prospective, again, you could simply

double the anticipated value of the original house,

so you've got two times £1,300.

That's £2,600 per calendar month for the combined project.

Wow. Now, that is an impressive return.

Though, that is a bigger building project

and your costs would go up, too.

Can you guess? I've really warmed to this solid family home.

Now, it does have a little bit of a slope

that certainly needs looking into.

But in capable hands, with the potential of a whole new house,

well, there's a lot going for this.

Let's see who wanted to take it on when it went under the hammer.

What can we say? It is an attractive,

semi-detached house.

Bay-fronted, just the sort of thing everybody loves.

230 to start me.

230, I'm on the way at the back. 230.

230. And five now.

The original guide price of £240,000,

not surprisingly, became ancient history rather quickly.

We rejoin the bidding at £300,000.

300,000, and two.

302, 302.

And five, 305,000.

At 305, and eight.

It's a shake of the head. Have a think.

At £305,000.

308, I'm looking for.

Otherwise, for the first time then, at £305,000.

308.

And 10.

He was slow. 310. That's a shake of the head.

At 308, it's back with you in the front for the first time.

At 308 for the second.

Third and final time. If you're sure you're out.

308, third and final time.

Well done, sir, for £308,000.

That final bid was made by Chris,

managing director of a financial services company

with a small but growing portfolio of property.

Chris, lovely to meet you today. Congratulations.

-Thank you, yes.

-So, why did you want to buy this property?

It was simply a case of, "Ooh, that's got some potential.

"Maybe we can do something with it."

Was it the fact that it's on a fantastic plot?

Yeah, that's precisely it.

You've got some land along the side of the house

which may be able to be developed in some way, shape or form.

That bit of land at the side of the building

seems to have caught everyone's eye, then.

And Chris has certainly thought through all the options.

My preference would be to have a detached property, if there's room.

If not, then attach it to this.

Meanwhile, because all this takes time,

what are you going to do with the building?

Spend a little bit of money on it, tidy it all up,

get it nice for somebody to live in

and then just rent it out on a short-term let.

The budget is relatively small for that.

£7,000 should do the kitchen, do something in the bathroom,

decorate, paint, freshen it up.

So that's what allows me to say, "OK,

"now I can wait and see what happens."

So how long is it going to take you to do your first initial

get this place ready for rental?

A month. That's the plan.

One month from completion to getting somebody in here.

Now, you strike me as a man that makes things happen. Am I right?

It will happen.

There will be someone in here in a month. I can guarantee that.

There will be someone in here in a month.

-How can you guarantee that?

-I can't.

-You're just saying that?

-Confidence.

# Cos I'm a confidence man. #

Well, Chris has every right to be confident.

With the short-term rental keeping the money rolling in,

he has time to explore the many options

that make this house an extremely attractive proposition.

Let me talk about what's not attractive.

Well, it's not not attractive, but it's worrying me slightly -

is the slope.

I had somebody...I had a surveyor look at it.

They genuinely believe that that's historic.

Well, that is good news and I'm glad he's had it checked out.

Chris would prefer to build a self-contained detached property

on that side plot.

He could, of course, just extend the current house and make it bigger

or he could attach a house to the semi, creating a terrace of three.

It's all down to planning, of course,

but the possibilities seem endless.

I want to know what I'm going to see when I come back.

-Ah, well.

-And I don't know.

We've got A, B, C, D, E and F.

What we can expect is this property will be lovely

and we'll have a detached property alongside.

Well, Chris is a money man, not a builder,

so he's enlisted some special help for this project.

One of the builders that have done some work

on some of the other properties, excellent guy. Elvis, his name.

And what we've done is I've said, "OK, if I buy this property,

"you do the development and we'll share some of the spoils."

-So, Elvis is your new best friend.

-He is.

# I can help

# I got two strong arms and I can help. #

Oh, yes, Elvis has entered the building.

This property has so much potential.

I can't wait to see what Chris and Elvis come up with.

I love it that

Chris saw this as a good opportunity

and he just snapped it up on auction day.

So, will he get permission to build a house here?

Or will we see a row of terraces?

Or just lick of paint and a tidy up?

You can join me later on in the programme

so we can check how Chris has got on.

Coming up, in Lancashire, a new owner plans to work some magic.

Name a card. Name any card you want.

And in Kent, the long list of options grows.

The architects, they've come up with a completely different idea.

We move back to the northwest of England now

and the town of Seascale, on the Cumbrian coast,

where earlier we viewed this large, eight-bedroomed, Edwardian villa.

Really nice. Nice, nice, nice. Gosh.

Not only eight bedrooms, but four reception rooms

and the large rear area just begging to be a flat.

It was bought for £135,000 by Peter, a freelance cameraman,

who came back with daughter Sienna

to tell us about his vision for this property.

It was an opportunity too good to miss

because of the number of rooms

and the possibility of renting the rooms out to local contractors.

Peter had spotted real potential in the local market here

for a house of multiple occupancy,

with a local power station offering a possible source of tenants

looking to rent on weekdays while working away from home.

And he reckoned on spending £2,000 on each unit for rent

but with a top spend of £25,000,

and he was taking a long view on the timescale.

It's going to take a couple of years, I think, to come to fruition.

It seemed like two years on was a good time to return,

so has the project come to fruition?

Peter's plan involved financing each stage of renovation

by renting out each room as and when completed.

So, where is he with that?

We are two years down the line with one room rented out

and one just about to start.

I'm very pleased with the way this room has turned out.

I think we chose a good colour. It's quite restful.

Restored the fireplace. It's made of cast iron.

And the en suite worked out very well.

I managed to cram in a shower and WC and basin.

It took me ages to design that, cos it was a very tight space,

and get all the plumbing in.

Two years on, the rest of the property is a building site

because he has uncovered what can only be described

as a catalogue of household horrors.

We thought we'd get one entire floor done in the space of 12 months,

which I didn't think was particularly ambitious.

But the plumbing was in a terrible state.

The hot water tank had been leaking for years.

When I rolled the carpet back, it was black with mould.

So that had to come out as well

so I had to do the entire plumbing system again.

And it was quite a monstrous plumbing job.

I managed to get the pipework inside the lath-and-plaster wall there.

If you look down here,

you can see there's the mains supply to the tank.

That's the vent and the hot supply to the top floor

and that's the cold from the tank.

A few floorboards had already been taken up

but I had to remove quite a few more

and I'm very careful when I remove old floorboards

because you can't get these sizes anymore.

And obviously, in an old place like this,

you can't just go out to a DIY store and buy something off the shelf

because things like the door surrounds, the architrave,

are no longer available in that size.

And if all that sounds like a nightmare,

you haven't heard about the electrics yet.

Once I got in, I started taking up floorboards and discovered

that the electrical work was put in by a cowboy, let's say.

Instead of a ring main on each floor,

it was spurred out from a single source, so it was quite dangerous.

The worst part of it was the lighting circuit,

which was the original 1920s lead-wrapped wire,

which uses the lead wrapping as the earth

and the junction boxes that that was going into

were showing signs of burning already.

So it wouldn't have been long before a fire had started.

So I decided just to take all the electrical circuits out

and start from scratch.

Peter has done a lot of the work

but has got professionals in when needed.

There are no aspects of property that should be treated casually -

electrical, gas and plumbing installations in particular.

But Peter will get all his electrical work certified.

So, one room down, many more to go. What is the plan?

To fully complete the house I would say would be five years in total

from purchase, so another three years.

With all this refurbishment still going on,

how does this affect the one tenant now in residence?

Our current tenant is very tolerant, I think.

We cleaned up the hallway, we wiped the walls, all the dust and dirt,

and we cleaned up the kitchen as best we could,

put in a little cooker and a fridge.

The main problem is, as we get more rooms finished,

there's less room to have all my tools lying about and, of course.

At the end of the day, I have to tidy the everything away

cos I can't leave floorboards up and tools lying out

when there's someone coming in to sleep at the end of the day.

With the unforeseen costs of rewiring and replumbing,

how is Peter's original budget holding up?

Initially, I reckoned £25,000 would do it from top to bottom,

with a lot of the work being done by myself and my partner.

At this stage, I'd say we're about £7,000 in at the moment.

So I think we'll do it.

On that note of optimism,

how wise an investment has Peter's £142,000 been so far?

To find out,

we invited along two local property agents to have a look.

The demand for a house of this size for purchase

is actually quite limited.

In this instance, the owner is doing the right thing -

subdividing the property for multiple occupancy.

This is ideally suited to that and therefore should go really well.

The current market is quite active at this moment in time

with a lot of changes

happening to the rental income,

where we've got a lot of contractors coming through.

But at the same time, a lot of families moving into the area.

Although Peter is looking at this property as a long-term project,

what figure do the agents think could be attained

if it was put back on the resale market?

If the house is put back onto the market in the current state,

then I would anticipate that it would receive

£150,000 to £160,000.

I would anticipate that we'd achieve

somewhere around £200,000 for it currently.

As the property stands, that is a potential profit

before tax and expenses of between eight and £58,000.

Those figures are very reassuring because, obviously, if I had

any terrible financial problems, then it would mean that

I wouldn't lose out,

certainly wouldn't lose out on my original investment.

But as Peter's intention has always been to create an HMO,

what would the rental figures be?

Well, the most important thing for these rooms

is that they have their own sanitary facilities - they do -

and on that basis, they should be going for £85 per week.

I would anticipate that they would be able to get £80 per week.

I'm actually getting slightly more than that at the moment.

These figures multiplied by eight would give Peter

a whopping yield of approximately 20%,

so financially, a bright, long-term future

would appear to be on the cards.

But which Peter be tempted to repeat the experience?

This is pretty much a one-off, I think.

I would like to retire sooner rather than later.

And the thought of doing DIY and building work

for the rest of my life is not really...

not something I'm going to go for.

This is the market town of Chorley in Lancashire.

You can still see remnants of the town's cotton past

in some of the buildings.

But nowadays, it's a popular place for commuters to settle.

So, five minutes from the town centre,

ten minutes from the train station,

right by the edge of a bit of green stuff.

What is there not to like? £48,000 was the guide price.

Two-bedroomed terrace.

Oh, what shall we do? Shall be stay here?

No. I'll tell you what, let's go inside for a change.

-HE LAUGHS

-Little tease, aren't I?

Anyway, wow!

Look at that! Fantastic high ceilings.

What a lovely surprise when you walk through the front door.

Little porch area there, which is always nice.

Stairs up to your bedrooms there.

And then through into your living accommodation downstairs.

And wow, a really nice-sized room.

Obviously been knocked through at some point.

An interesting sort of square bay window. I don't know if that was...

Can you have a square bay window? I think you can.

In fact, I think I'm talking complete rubbish

at this moment in time.

Anyway, it's a bay window, a square one, whatever.

Living room area there.

Oh, did I get away with that? No, I don't think so.

Yeah, living area at the front there. A rear living area here.

Uh, it's all a bit sparse, isn't it?

Well, at least there's no getting rid of the rubbish to do.

Just think of the money saved on skips.

But clearly somebody's already had a go

at stripping this place right down to the bare bones,

so it's unlikely there will be any hidden horrors.

OK, through here, and ha-ha!

At last, some fittings!

Yes, we've got some kitchen units. Which is nice.

Especially in a kitchen, because that's what this is.

It's obviously the extension built on the rear of the property.

It actually works.

A bit of a wiggly-woggly corridor to get to it.

But apart from that, it's a good-sized space.

Lots of light coming in from the windows.

And, yes, a bit of a refurb and it would be great.

So, all in all, a big tick for the downstairs.

# Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. #

There are further ticks upstairs for this two-bed end-terrace

because I see no signs of the bathroom down here.

Phew!

It's a bit of a hike but when you get up here, what have we got?

Well, joy of joys, a really nice-sized bathroom,

obviously in need of some renovation, but that's no biggie.

A little landing area here, which is pleasant.

Smaller second bedroom.

And then through to a really lovely-sized master bedroom.

Loads of light coming in through the windows.

Looks a bit wiggly-woggly here in places.

But in general,

it's just one of those houses that has a really nice feel to it.

I can't quite put my finger on why, it just does.

Let's have a look outside.

Well, at the back of the property, not exactly an expansive garden.

Just this walled bit of concrete.

But actually, with some planters with nice plants,

maybe some climbers, clematis

and all sorts of lovely things growing over here,

it could actually be quite pleasant.

And certainly, if you're renting this place out,

this is definitely low maintenance.

But what I'm more interested in out here is, could you extend?

Well, you've obviously got that single-storey extension there

which houses the kitchen.

That could probably go to a double-storey extension,

although none of the other properties have done it.

So given these possibilities, we asked a local agent

what he thought of this house, guided at £48,000.

It's really a good property

for both investment

and for the rental side of things.

It looks like the front bay window might need a little bit of work

doing to it and then it could be

things internal-wise like plastering,

and also the roof may need work doing on them in the future.

As a possibility to make the extension out the back

a two-storey extension,

again, that potentially would increase the value.

Sticking with the same footprint, what does he think this property

might sell for in the current market?

This property should achieve about £100,000 in today's sales market,

fully renovated.

And given the area's popularity with renters,

what kind of rental figure can he put on it once it's renovated?

Rental figures should be between about £550

to £595 per calendar month.

And with the extension?

I think with a two-storey extension out of the back,

the potential should be between £115,000 and £125,000.

The rental amount should then be

approximately £650 per calendar month.

Well, yes, there's a bit of work to be done to sort this place out,

but I get a really nice feeling about this house.

I love the high ceilings, the layout.

Yeah, location, everything. Really good one to go for.

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

Lot 143, what shall we say for this?

Start me at 45 on it.

Thank you. 45. Bidding.

46, 47, 48, 49,

50, 51, 52, 53,

54, 55, 56.

With you then at £55,000. You're out, here and here.

Yours at 55 for the first.

55 for the second.

56, 57, 58.

Buying at 58.

59, 60, 61.

62. Yes?

63. 64.

65, 66.

£65,000 and in the room for the first.

65 for the second.

Third and final time.

Bought it at £65,000.

Sold to a barely visible Paul who pipped the others to the post

with a bid of £65,000.

I met Paul and his wife, Nicky, back at the property

to find out their plans.

Nicky, Paul, good to meet you both.

-Nice to meet you.

-And you.

-Congratulations.

-Yeah, great.

-Thank you.

-I like this house.

-Yeah. It's got potential.

What was it about it that made you want to buy it?

Well, it's a good area.

It's a quiet street, end-terrace, got loads of potential.

It just came upon the auction.

We saw on the local sites and we thought,

"That's a good house. It's selling for the right price."

So we had a go and ended up getting it.

-And is this something you do?

-Yes. Yeah.

We have eight properties, don't we? That we do up and...

-Nine.

-Eight or nine.

-THEY LAUGH

-Oh, so easy to lose count, eh?

Yeah, well, we do this all the time.

We buy a property, do it up, rent it out.

Buy another, do it up, rent it out.

-Right.

-We like doing this sort of stuff, yeah.

Being local makes this a very attractive property,

that and the fact it is a very popular commuter town,

with people working in Manchester and Liverpool.

So, what are their plans?

-Full revamp, really.

-Yeah.

-Full revamp.

New carpets, new windows throughout, outside.

So, a complete brand-new house by the time it's finished.

And what about structurally?

Cos you've got this archway leading between these two rooms.

-Is that going to stay?

-Yeah.

That'll stay. The layout will pretty much stay as it is.

It'll just be cosmetic and replastering.

It'll feel like walking into a brand-new house.

Structurally, the building's sound, it's square.

The roof's sound, there's no sags. It's a good, solid, old building.

And the door in the back of the lounge there,

it could be so much more, couldn't it?

There'll be a new door with a brighter and bigger window

to bring some more light in.

And then outside, it'll be re-flagged and made nice,

sparkled up a bit.

Oh, we're going to make it into three bedrooms as well.

Oh, you just dropped that into the conversation.

How are you going to do that?

The main bedroom, how it's got two windows at the front,

we're going to divide it there between the two.

You'll still end with a double bedroom and a single bedroom,

cos it's a good size. It's too big on its own as one bedroom.

Well, I mean, it does give a lovely feeling of space, is all I'd say.

But with a rental, we get a bit more rental

if it's a three-bedroom property rather than a two-bedroom.

It's better for a family with a couple of kids.

-Yeah.

-So it should appeal to more people.

-And not that difficult to do.

-No.

Just a studded wall and change the door around.

-You'll whip it up, won't you.

-Soon get it done.

So, who's going to do the work?

Well, I do a lot of work.

What I can't do, I get trades in and we look after trades.

You know, the plumbing, I can't do the plumbing.

I do all the donkey work and then I get the trades in to do their bit.

Right. And how about you? What's your involvement?

I do all the sourcing of materials and things like that.

-That's good. That's important.

-All the pretty stuff.

-Yeah.

-Design.

-Design.

What have you found a really good way to get hold of

good value materials?

-Just researching, really.

-Yeah.

Prices can change all the time,

so it's best not to stick with the same supplier

because they can have a price increase

and you can get it down the road cheaper,

-so research every time.

-Right.

Because we're so central in Chorley there's loads of suppliers,

loads of merchants all around the area.

Within half an hour, there's each town...

Each town is half an hour away, they've got different merchants,

so we've got a wide range of choices.

What's the budget?

Between ten and 12. Ten and 12.

Yeah, roughly. Usually that's what we spend on each property,

around that figure.

-And the timescale?

-Two to three months.

-Yeah.

-Two to three months.

-Three months maximum.

-Brilliant.

-Two months, hopefully.

We'll get it blitzed as fast as we can.

So, any other family members involved in this?

Well, the boys might get a paintbrush out.

-How old are they?

-Six and eight.

-What are their names?

-Harley and Finlay.

-Oh, brilliant.

Are they following in your property developing footsteps, are they?

-I think they are.

-They love getting the scruffs on

-and doing a bit of painting.

-Do they?

-Yeah.

You have repaint again afterwards, but they like having a go.

When Paul's not property developing,

he works full-time as a consultant for a civil engineering firm.

And when he's not doing that, he's a very successful magician.

# Could it be magic? #

-What kind of magic to you do?

-Oh, close-up.

Cards, coins, a variety of stuff, really.

Anything close. I can show you a little trick if you want.

-Can you?

-Yeah.

-Yeah, go on then.

-OK, hold your hand out.

-OK.

-OK, pack of cards.

-Yes.

-This is a first.

-This is a first, yeah.

Name a card. Name any card you want.

-Queen of hearts.

-Queen of hearts.

-Are you happy with the queen of hearts?

-I am.

-Don't want to change your mind?

-I don't.

-Watch this. Queen of hearts.

-You've had that pack the whole time.

-Yes.

Take the cards. Queen of hearts.

-All the cards completely upside-down.

-Yes.

Every single card in the whole pack is upside-down apart from one card.

-No!

-The queen of hearts.

MARTIN LAUGHS

I can do all sorts of things just like that, you know.

How did you do that? I love it.

You're going to pull off some magic tricks with this place?

Well, hopefully, yeah. Get it done quick-sharp.

Wave the wand and it'll be done. That'd be good, wouldn't it?

Well, listen, congratulations.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

Lovely to meet you.

-Thank you for the magic trick.

-No problem.

MARTIN LAUGHS

That was brilliant.

Well, it's a great house. You know what I'm going to say, don't you?

Will Nicky and Paul manage to work their magic on it?

-HE SNIGGERS

-Nothing if not predictable.

You can find out later in the show.

Well, it's been a while now since we saw our properties.

There should have been lots of work done, but you never know.

All sorts of problems can arise.

I wonder how they've been doing. Let's find out.

We stroll back to sleepy Bearsted, in Kent, now,

where I earlier met Chris,

a managing director of a financial services company

who also had a growing property portfolio.

He'd added to it this three-bed semi for a price of 308,000.

Despite its sloping floors and tiny kitchen,

it did offer a lot of potential, particularly on the outside.

So, why did you want to buy this property?

It was simply a case of, "Ooh, that's got some potential.

"Maybe we can do something with it."

Was it the fact that it's on a fantastic plot?

Yeah, that's precisely it.

You've got some land along the side of the house

which may be able to be developed in some way, shape or form.

As long as I've bought the house at the right sort of price

so that I could let it to cover the cost of the house,

then I've got plenty of time to devote to having a look

and see what we can do along the side.

With the help of his builder, Elvis, Chris was ready to show

he didn't waste time and gets things done, including finding that tenant.

One month from completion to getting somebody in here.

You strike me as a man that makes things happen. Am I right??

It will happen. There will be someone in here in a month.

I can guarantee that. There will be someone in here in a month.

Four weeks later, has Chris kept his promise?

And has the house been tidied up for a tenant?

The brand-new kitchen leads out onto the newly-tiled conservatory.

The two reception rooms have been freshened up

and neutrally decorated.

Ideal for Chris's prospective renters.

The freshening up continues upstairs,

where the three bedrooms have all been given a lick of paint

and, as throughout the entire house,

all the electrics have been checked and updated.

The bathroom has remained the same for now,

so it's in the kitchen where the biggest change is evident.

So, this is the room where we spent the most amount of time,

most amount of effort and the most amount of money, of course.

We fitted the new kitchen, new units, everything is new.

The electrics had to be sorted out, and that's all been done.

And I'm really pleased. I think it's come out very well, yes.

This is a quick and simple turnaround for Chris,

exactly how he wanted it.

The real project here lies in the space next to the house...

..where plans for an extra property are coming along nicely.

We've no planning permission sought yet.

The architects, strangely enough, they're coming down later on today.

They've come up with a completely different idea, of course,

as architects do,

and they think that I'm better off having a single-storey property

and perhaps pushing it back into the garden a little bit more

than where it is, take this bit off of the back of this house

to give both houses a little bit more space.

So we're investigating that. Personally, I think

that we're better off putting a detached house on the side.

But, you know, that's what architects are for.

That's what they're going do.

So they'll be down today to tell us what they think,

and then we'll take it from there.

So, we hope to get planning permission in

over the next two weeks.

Well, fingers crossed. But is all the work complete here?

One or two little bits.

There's a couple of windows that need replacing,

which we'll do fairly shortly,

but we've let the property now.

So people are moving in tomorrow. So there really wasn't the time

to do that level of work in the house before they wanted to move in.

So, Chris has kept his promise to get a tenant in a month.

Has he kept to his budget, too?

With the initial budget of £7,000,

of course, there was a little bit of give and take on that.

I'm quite smug because we've done it for less than £5,000.

So I'm pleased.

Yeah, and so he should be, too.

Chris has done what he set out to do -

clean up the existing property and get it tenanted fast

whilst also making preparations for a possible build

in the neighbouring plot.

After a total spend of nearly £313,000

here, it's time to see what two local estate agents make of it,

starting with the agent who saw it originally.

I visited the property before

and it's changed a little bit,

only a little bit.

I believe they've done some modifications,

a bit more decorating

and I think they fitted a kitchen since I was here last.

There's always a really big demand for properties

that can appeal to families.

It's in a good area, it's in a good catchment area for a local school,

and they always sell well.

It's in a nice road as well.

There is a great demand for this type of property.

It fits a nice niche where there's probably the biggest

or second biggest proportion of buyers and tenants.

That second-time, maybe third-time buyers' market. So, this is perfect.

Everything points to a sound investment by Chris, then,

and that's not even taking into account

his future plans for the plot next door.

Chris has already got a tenant, but the question is,

is he getting the market rate?

They should be able to achieve around £1,000 per calendar month.

As it stands at the moment, I would anticipate the property

renting for about £1,100, maybe £1,200 per calendar month.

Taking that top estimate would mean a possible rental yield

of around 4.5%, so let's see if Chris and his builder, Elvis,

are all shook up by this result.

Rental figures are about where they should be.

1,150 is what we've got.

So, yeah, I accept there's some improvements to be made to the house

but £1,150, people move in tomorrow,

so both the agents have given us exactly where I thought

we were going to be. So that's good.

Yeah. Absolutely happy.

If the King is happy, then I'm happy.

But what about sale valuations?

They could expect to achieve around £325,000.

I think if the owner perhaps attends to some more modern features,

for example a better quality, more up-to-date bathroom suite

perhaps combining the toilet and the bathroom into one,

it is quite possible that they might realise as much as £350,000.

These might all be on Chris's to-do list,

but for the moment, as the house stands,

if that potential valuation of £325,000 was obtained,

then that would mean a profit of £12,000 minus taxes and fees.

Not bad for four weeks' work.

And when it comes to that plan for another house,

confidence and can do are the watch words.

All finished, all completed.

May even be sold 12 months from today.

That's the flat.

We now head back to the Lancashire market town of Chorley,

where earlier I visited this three-bedroomed end-terrace house

which had a few surprises.

Wow!

Look at that! Fantastic high ceilings.

It was promising. Even the bare walls didn't dampen my spirits.

Wow. A really nice-sized room.

Although the kitchen needed a bit of work

and it had a downstairs bathroom, I was definitely feeling positive.

So, all in all, a big tick for the downstairs.

And upstairs was just as good.

It's just one of those houses that has a really nice feel to it.

The house was bought at auction for £65,000

by husband and wife Paul and Nicky,

who aren't strangers to property developing.

We have eight properties, don't we? That we do up and...

-Nine.

-Eight or nine.

-THEY LAUGH

-So easy to lose count, eh?

With Nicky to keep Paul right on the figures,

they had a £10,000 to £12,000 budget to spend.

The layout will pretty much stay as it is.

It'll just be cosmetic and replastering.

It'll be like walking into a brand-new house.

Oh, we're going to make it into three bedrooms as well.

Oh, you just dropped that into the conversation.

So, did magician Paul have all the right tricks up his sleeve?

Two months later, we're back to find out.

# It's a kind of magic

# It's a kind of magic. #

Paul and Nicky have certainly conjured up

a sparkling transformation.

And those walls are looking so much better for a start.

We only intended to take off all the wallpaper and reskim everywhere,

but unfortunately, when we took off the existing wallpaper,

all the plaster came off as well.

So we ended up taking the whole plaster back to brickwork

for the whole downstairs and then we replastered outwards.

So that was our big...

That was the only thing we didn't plan on, really.

The bay window did need looking at. All the windows were rotten, really.

So we decided to redo the whole house with new windows anyway

and we've put a brand-new bay window in there.

So it looks smart now.

Paul and Nicky have chosen to refurbish

rather than replace the kitchen.

# It's a kind of magic... #

The kitchen itself, when we first saw it, the units were fine.

# It's a kind of magic Magic, magic. #

Basically, all we had to do was replaster the whole kitchen,

new worktops, new sink, new cooker, new flooring

and repainted it all and brought it back to life.

The one structural alteration Paul and Nicky intended

was to create two bedrooms from the large master bedroom.

The master bedroom before had two windows in it

and it was a really big room.

It was too big, really, for one bedroom.

So we decided to split it and we still were able

to have a window in each bedroom.

We've still got a double-sized main bedroom

and a single bed in the second bedroom.

So I think it's worth doing.

It's made it a three-bedroomed house now, so...

-Added to the value.

-Added to the value. Better selling point, yeah.

This couple have a portfolio of properties

so they know in a competitive market what tenants want,

and one must-have is central heating.

The house before we bought it was owned by a nursery,

and they only had electric heating round the whole house.

-For safety, wasn't it?

-For safety, yeah.

And they had no gas.

The gas disconnected totally, back out to the main even.

So we've redone the whole central heating around the whole house,

new gas central heating.

And we had to get National Grid out

to give us a brand-new connection from the main road.

That was certainly an unforeseen issue which Paul had to sort,

along with organising the different trades and the sequence of the work.

We've had a good team of people working with us on it.

We have trades here full-time, constantly every day,

carrying out all the works for us

and they all followed on from each other.

I was just able to... I have a full-time job, but I was able to

keep popping by at the odd time and at nighttime, make sure it was OK.

# Teamwork, do it together

# Teamwork, friends forever. #

You have to admire Paul for getting on with this while working full-time

as a consultant in the civil engineering trade

and managing to meet his two-month timescale.

But as it wasn't quite as straightforward as he thought,

I think Paul would have had to pull off quite a magic trick

to come in on that £10,000 to £12,000 budget.

We have gone over that. We've spent around 14,000.

This is mainly due to the fact that

we've had to replaster every single wall

and also we had to get gas connected.

Well, now that everything's been completed,

what will two local property agents think of the renovations?

It's my second time inside the property

and I think they've done a really good job.

I think the kitchen looks great and the bathroom does as well

and it's nice and neutral throughout.

I think it was a great decision to make the property a three-bedroom.

It will make it a lot more saleable and also rentable,

and also it's a really good size inside for numerous different people,

including families or, potentially, first-time buyers.

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

They've renovated it to a high standard,

nice modern kitchen and bathroom.

So, yeah, it looks good.

It has now got the three bedrooms.

It's been done in a nice, clean way,

but still retaining many of the features,

with it being a period property.

With these positive comments,

what do the agents reckon the rental figures to be

for this now three-bedroom house?

I believe on the rental market,

the property should bring about £550 per calendar month.

I would expect if they were to put it on the rental market,

they would achieve £550 per calendar month.

So, a fairly healthy yield of 8.5%.

-That's exactly what thought, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Because, like, we do have a couple of houses that we do rent

so we know what they go for, so £550 was our idea anyway.

And what about the resale values?

I'd recommend an initial starting price

of just under the stamp duty at £125,000.

I would expect them to get in the region of £120,000.

-I'm quite happy with them figures.

-Yeah. It's about what we expected.

So, Paul and Nicky are happy with a potential profit

before tax and expenses of between £41,000 and £46,000.

Overall, how has this experience been?

It went according to plan.

A couple of things we had to redo, such as the plastering.

But as the house went, it went to plan

and we're happy with the experience.

The next project is yet to be found,

but as soon as we've got a buyer for this,

we'll be looking for another property,

either auction or on the market,

to renovate and either sell or rent out.

# It's a kind of magic Magic, magic, magic. #

Well, in the ever-changing world of property,

there are always new things to learn

so we'll have more stories for you next time.

So make sure you join us then for more Homes Under The Hammer.

-Goodbye.

-Goodbye.