Episode 39 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello. Now, lots of people would like to have a property portfolio

and that doesn't have to be as grand as it sounds.

Nope, even if you can raise just a small sum,

you can usually find something to buy.

And then you've got your foot on the ladder, but how do you start?

Well, one option is to visit your local property auction.

Well, because of the variety of properties on offer,

auctions can often be a good place to find value for money.

That's right, if you've done all your research

and you've got the finances available,

you should be able to make a success of it.

So here are the properties that our buyers went for on today's show.

With a guide price of £25,000,

will this two-bed terrace in Stoke prove to be plain sailing?

But there are stormy waters brewing in Tunbridge Wells.

You two haven't even been inside and seen it yet.

No, we're looking forward to it. We just have no idea what we bought.

And in North Yorkshire,

someone could end up in the doldrums with this list of conditions.

Things like you can't hang out washing,

you can't have pets, like a dog or cat...

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.

Sold.

Hanley, one of the six major towns that make up Stoke-on-Trent,

provides the town centre shopping for this borough,

to the extent that some are trying to change its name

to Stoke-on-Trent City Centre.

As well as shops, there's plenty of pubs and restaurants.

In fact, it has the lowest residential population in the area.

So any house nearby offers good amenities right on your doorstep.

Well, the property I'm here to see

is within walking distance of Hanley centre.

And it's in an area which is undergoing a lot

of urban regeneration at the moment,

so it's definitely going to be of appeal to investors.

£25,000-plus was the guide price for this two-bedroom terrace.

Let's take a look.

So, not expecting any particular surprises, but what have we got?

Very traditional layout through the front door into your living room.

The floor looks a little bit sort of...uneven.

That feels pretty solid, so I don't know what's going on there.

But the room itself, you know,

exactly what you might have expected.

And straight away you're thinking,

it just needs a bit of tidying up, bringing into the 21st century.

Replace that, perhaps...

or definitely.

New paint, wallpaper, obviously.

Through here, to your rear sitting room, oh...

Kind of fun.

Yeah, your rear sitting room area here.

Again, an old gas fire that you'd want to have checked out

or probably replaced.

Stairs up to your bedrooms there and then no surprises,

out to the rear of the property.

But just look at that before I go any further.

That step, years and years of wear,

great bit of social history, that, isn't it?

I imagine this is where the house would have ended originally,

but as is fairly traditional with these kind of terraces,

over the years, someone has extended out here.

This is where the kitchen is.

You know, it needs a bit of sorting out, of course.

And then onwards and through to the bathroom.

Now, originally, of course, that would have been a separate

little shack or whatever at the bottom of the yard. It's not ideal.

But it is basically what is expected of this kind of house in this area,

so it's not too much of a big deal.

All in all, I mean, it's textbook stuff.

MUSIC: Strangely Strange But Oddly Normal by Dr Strangely Strange

# Strangely strange but oddly normal... #

Housing differs all around the country and so do expectations.

So if you are a would-be developer,

these are the things you would need to suss out.

There may be other parts of the country where this layout

would be considered strange, but here it's the norm.

So, out the back of the property, and not an expansive garden.

Well, you wouldn't have expected that, really, would you?

A nice little sort of backyard area, really.

You can see those extensions that have occurred over the years

here and a bit more local industrial history, beautiful bricks.

These Staffordshire bricks, absolutely glorious,

all probably handmade.

A wall like that, with a few nice plants growing up it,

it could turn this little area here into a really pleasant place to be.

Oh, and there's access to a little road out the back, too. Fantastic.

Yes, it may offer no surprises but it's a great little property

which would appeal to a first-time buyer and also landlords.

Let's check out the bedrooms.

So, upstairs and your two bedrooms,

both seem to be in reasonable condition, not massive but not bad

with some inbuilt storage, which is good.

A couple of things up here.

One good thing, radiators, as there were downstairs,

so at least there is a central heating system in place.

Bad thing, it looks like there isn't any double glazing

so that is something you would definitely want to do.

And while I'm up here, a chance to look out across the roofs

of the kitchen and the loo and, as you can see,

a bit of remedial work needing to be done there.

Nothing too horrendous, hopefully.

But you may end up stripping certainly a portion of that back,

so that needs to be factored into your budget.

MUSIC: Think by Aretha Franklin

-# You better think...

-Think.

# Think about what you're trying to do to me

-# Think...

-Think, think

# Let your mind go, let yourself be free... #

Even with those jobs to do,

that £25,000 guide price is looking pretty reasonable.

We asked a local estate agent for his thoughts.

A large percentage of properties in this area

do tend to be owned by landlords.

However, there is redevelopment and improvement going on in the area

and in the near future,

we do hope to see more first-time buyers and owner occupiers.

OK, so what would the resale value be once renovation work is done?

In the current market,

the resale value would be in the region of £60,000.

If the property sold for anything close

to that guide price of £25,000,

even with the refurbishment budget of £10,000,

it would offer a great potential profit.

What could it rent for?

Rental income for this property would be in the region of

£400 per calendar month.

So, a good, solid, clearly well-loved little house

that would make a great investment purchase or a good place to live.

Yes, a popular auction lot, I'm sure.

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

Two-bedroom mid-terrace, gas central heating, two reception rooms.

20,000 to start?

20 in the aisle, thank you. At £20,000.

21, can I see? Bid's at 20,000, 21.

22. 23, 24. 25?

25. 26. 27?

No? 26. The bid is in the aisle, £26,000.

27 anywhere else?

At £26,000.

Got your 27, 28. 29. 30.

31, 32, 33, 34,

35, 36, 37, 38...

Nope. 38, bid's in the aisle still, £38,000.

39 anywhere else?

All done?

£38,000 once, then. £38,000 twice.

Third and final time, £38,000...

Sold to you, sir. Well done.

The successful bidder is father-of-two Jason.

He and his wife, Jo, bought the property for 38,000,

13,000 over the guide price.

Jason is a compliance auditor for a supermarket

and he and his wife have been steadily building up

a portfolio of properties in recent years.

He is a man with a plan,

so I am meeting him back at the property to find out more.

But first, the important stuff.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

Let's not talk about the house. I've heard you were on Tiswas!

When I was little, yes, a long time ago.

-That's one of my claims to fame.

-When was that, then?

Oh, it must've been '78, '79.

-Around that time when I was about eight or nine.

-And what did you do?

Just stood in the audience, nothing special.

Wanted to be with the Phantom Flan Flinger, but, no, never made it.

So, from Tiswas to property, tell me about the journey in between.

Oh, a few years ago I bought a property, did it up.

I thought, "This is easy."

Then the crash came, so I rented and it kind of worked out for me

-and now this is my fifth house that I'm buying.

-Right.

So it's hopefully, hopefully, get it done and rent it

and carry on and get the next one.

And is that what the strategy now is, then, to buy to rent?

Buy to rent and hopefully one a year for the next ten years

and then at 55 I can say, "I'm retiring. That's me finished."

Right.

# Gonna work

# I'm gonna build a master plan... #

Sounds like Jason has done his homework.

This is typical of the properties he has bought before,

apart from the fact they've all been in his neck of the woods,

Nuneaton and Coventry, about an hour and a half's drive away.

So, why Stoke?

There's a load of regeneration going on around here.

So at the moment, it's not the best area,

but there is a lot of work going in on a lot of properties

and that's going to bring the market up,

which hopefully will help me with my properties as well.

And what was it about this house that you liked?

Someone has lived in here and looked after it,

so it's not run down, it's not derelict.

It's clean, it's tidy.

It needs tidying up and bringing into the modern century.

So what are you going to do to sort it out?

All the wallpaper off, plastered top to bottom.

Fireplaces will probably come out, new kitchen, new bathroom.

New double glazing and doors and then painted and done.

So what's the budget?

7,000 and that's the windows, kitchen, bathroom and plastering.

And you've done enough of these to know that's sort of realistic?

It's all on track at the moment

and the quotes are coming in where they need to be for the windows

and that, so I am pretty confident it will be under the 7,000.

That doesn't sound like a very big budget,

but Jason does plan to do a lot of the work himself.

He also has a reliable colleague who helps him out

with many of the trades.

He's set a 16-week timescale and he'll rent it like his other properties.

But there might be one big difference with this one.

What about letting the property,

cos obviously you're used to doing it very close to home?

You're going to be a bit further away,

how are you going to cope with that?

There's a couple of options. We'll probably go through an estate,

an agent first time round to get a feel for it,

and then once that's sorted,

then hopefully make some contacts through word of mouth

cos most of my properties are let by word of mouth.

People leave and I have people ringing up saying,

"I have a friend who wants to move" or a neighbour who wants to come in,

-so I'm deemed as a nice landlord.

-Oh, good.

Well, that's nice to hear. How do you become a nice landlord?

-What do you do?

-I make sure everything works.

If it's not working, get it fixed.

And they pay the rent on time, they get a good, quality service

-back in time as well.

-Good.

-Well, listen, congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

-Good luck.

-And I look forward to seeing how you get on.

-Thank you. Cheers.

So Jason's on his way to sorting out his financial future through

property and a great little house he's got here to help him do that.

How will he get on sorting it out?

Hopefully he won't get himself in a Tiswas.

You can find out later in the show.

I'm in Royal Tunbridge Wells in Kent,

famous for its spring waters, the elegant Georgian terrace known

as The Pantiles and renowned as a well-heeled part of the country.

With good transport links into London,

it's a popular town for commuters.

Tunbridge Wells became royal in 1909

when King Edward VII granted the title to celebrate

the town's popularity with visiting royalty.

It's only one of three towns in England

to have been awarded the honour.

So, am I here to see a posh palace or even a magnificent manor house?

Sadly, no. I'm here to see a studio flat.

But even though the property might not be very grand,

it is very close to the centre of this royal town,

just half a mile away.

So here it is on this attractive, if busy, street.

Now, it's a studio flat up here on the second floor I've come to see.

It's in this Victorian semi.

It's handsome looking from the outside, so rather imposing.

Now, there's communal off-street parking out here, which is good.

It went to auction with a guide price of £50,000 to £60,000.

Let's take a closer look inside.

Being on the second floor, yes, it is quite a climb to the flat.

All the stairs might put some buyers off.

I certainly wouldn't want to haul my shopping all the way up here,

but let's hope the flat itself is worthwhile.

Well, the words "studio flat" and "large" are not two words

that would usually sit comfortably next to each other,

but this is small.

My goodness.

So this is it, your bedroom, your living room, your kitchen,

your entertaining space.

That's it, end of the tour.

I'm only joking. I mean, really, this is all you're going to get.

And in this space, there's not an awful lot you can do to update it.

You've got heating here, it's not gas.

You've got these electric heaters.

You've got woodchip wallpaper, you could sort all this out.

I suppose you could change this kitchen and bring it up to standard

by putting something a little modern in here,

but it's a very small space.

I've not really got high hopes for the bathroom.

And when I say bathroom, I actually mean shower room,

so another rather small space.

Loo, sink, shower. That's it.

MUSIC: Small World by Huey Lewis & the News

# Small world

# Small, small world... #

Regardless of the size, one important issue to always consider

when buying any flat is the lease.

Now, with flats, you're not often buying the land the property sits on

or the building, but leasing the right to own and live there

for an agreed period of time.

When that lease expires so, in theory,

will your right to live there.

In this case, there's only about 70 years left on the lease,

which should be all right,

but mortgage companies are not keen on short leases

and with anything under 50 years...

Well, it can be near on impossible to get a loan at all.

But since 1993, most flat owners are legally entitled

to get 90 years added to their lease.

But you need to have owned the flat, like this,

for at least two years to qualify.

So, if you plan to hold on to this flat long-term,

renewing the lease is something you should definitely consider.

And generally speaking, the shorter the lease,

the greater the cost of renewing it.

And remember, when you buy a lease-hold flat,

it's usually the freeholder who is responsible for the upkeep

of the fabric of the building.

In this case, the exterior could obviously do

with a bit of a tidy up and a paint job.

Now, you might have to wait for a while

until the freeholder gets round to doing any of the repairs

and, as one of the flat owners, you may need to contribute

to the maintenance fund, which could get a little expensive.

So, you need to do your sums and find out how much

this tiny studio flat would be worth once it's done up.

Time to call in the local estate agent for evaluation.

I think, once it's done up,

obviously the market is very strong at the moment which means

that predicting what it is going to be in a few months' time

is a little bit difficult,

but good studio flats are ranging from £80,000 to £90,000

in the town at the moment,

so I guess it's going to be within that range.

And what about that lease?

For some buyers, that will be an issue.

Negotiate with your freeholder, try and persuade them to come

to a sensible figure without going through all of the legal

channels to do it and it should win.

And if you bought the flat as an investment,

what rental figures could you achieve?

My estimate for rental when it's finished and all looking good

is probably going to be somewhere plus side of 400.

Between £400 and £450 a month.

So this property is in a great location

and with a little work, it could become a very nice, cosy, small

place to live, so who was tempted by this Tunbridge Wells property?

Let's head to auction and find out.

Excellent location.

Studio flat, it is close to the centre of Tunbridge Wells,

it would be a good rental property.

With a guide of £50,000 to £60,000, where are we starting on this?

Bottom of the guide, got to be worth £50,000. 50,000 anywhere?

50,000? No? Give me 40 then. Doesn't matter where we start.

40, on the way. 42 now.

42, can I say? 42. 44. 46. 48.

Interest did pick up and quickly passed the upper guide price.

We rejoin it at 65,000.

65, anywhere? 65, he says yes. 66, Sir?

It is against you. 66. 67?

67? It's with you, then, sir.

At 66,000. 67?

No. 67? 67, if you want it.

67. Go on. Yeah.

67. 68? 68.

69? No.

Definitely out of it?

OK, the bid is £68,000 for this flat in Tunbridge Wells.

If there are no further bids, then,

I shall sell for the first time at 68,000.

Second time at 68,000.

You're going to miss it for £1,000.

Third and final time at 68,000, we're quite sure we're all done?

Sold.

Thank you very much.

The final bid of £68,000 was made by Kent-based bidder Alfred.

Now, Alfred committed the cardinal sin of not viewing the property

before he bought it, so he's got some explaining to do.

I met him and his daughter, Francesca,

back at their flat to hear their excuses.

Francesca and Alfred, congratulations!

-Thank you very much.

-So you got the studio flat?

-Yeah.

I happen to know that you two haven't even been inside

and seen it yet.

No, we're looking forward to it. We've no idea what we've bought.

It's going to be fantastic

or we've got to do lots of work to make it fantastic.

Do you actually make a habit of buying things

and not looking at them first, Francesca?

-No, we've never done it before.

-OK, I've actually seen inside...

-Have you?

-..but I would love to give you two the grand tour.

-Marvellous.

-Come on, let's go. Let's go.

-OK.

-I'll let you go in first. Go on.

-OK.

So here we are, top of the stairs.

Quite a lot of stairs to climb.

-Here it is.

-Wow!

-Ooh.

-And, that's it.

-Not as I expected. It's a lot smaller than I imagined.

-Yeah.

But it's a lot neater and tidier than I thought.

Are you a bit disappointed on the size of it? Little bit?

-I don't know.

-Not necessarily disappointed. Cosier, I suppose.

Very cosy(!)

Look, don't forget, you've also got a wee little bathroom.

-Tiny little loo in there.

-That's quite nice, isn't it?

Yeah, it's a bit more neat and tidy than I thought it was, though small.

# So let's go to the top. #

'This project is a first for the father-and-daughter team with,

'it has to be said, not the most obvious property development skills.

'Francesca is a nanny and Alfred deals in antiques,

'specialising in violins.

'So this should be another string to his bow.'

So let's get to the nitty-gritty.

Why did you want to buy this flat? Tell me, Alfred.

Well, in fact,

it was just by chance we were shopping in Tunbridge Wells

on Friday and we happened to park outside an estate agent's window

and I happened to glance through the window.

We didn't think anything of buying it at all,

but on Monday morning, Francesca jumped out of bed and said,

"We must go to this auction just to see how much this property goes for."

So it's your fault?

No intention whatsoever of buying it,

so we got there and all you have to do is that and we got it.

-So here we are.

-You bought it.

-It's got a short lease, as I'm sure you now know.

-Yes.

-It's very small indeed...

-Yes.

-..and you paid how much?

68,000, but we paid more than that

because when we got the legal pack we were responsible for the seller's...

-Fees.

-..fees and the auctioneer's fees, which were 3,000,

so it's cost about 74 or something.

'Alfred has broken every golden rule.

'He didn't view it, didn't do any research, didn't even read

'the legal pack and so didn't know about the fees or that short lease.

'And yet, do I detect the mood is upbeat?'

We're very happy because we have been thinking about it,

via your programme, which we're inspired by, and we see all

this going on but it's a matter of getting round to doing it.

It's rather like doing violins

because I buy a violin that's cracked up, restore it,

and it gives you joy in restoring it, get it back to what it was,

and you can get more money for it anyway. Do the same with the house.

This flat is hardly a Stradivarius.

The opportunity to add value is really limited,

other than some cosmetic improvements.

Alfred used to be a chemistry teacher,

so I'm hoping he finds a winning formula for this tiny flat.

# Ah, ah, all about chemistry. #

We're thinking of extending 20 feet that way, actually.

THEY LAUGH

Well, I'm glad these two have a sense of humour and,

having bought this place with absolutely no preparation,

it sounds like they're finally getting organised.

We're getting a team together.

We've got Rodney, who's a plumber, and Lenny,

who's an electrician, so we'll get people together.

We might do a little bit of painting.

We've got to tidy it up, make it look better and then,

I don't know if you'll live in it or not. She's OK at home.

Do you think that this might be somewhere that you could see

yourself living?

Um...

-Go on, be honest.

-Not really.

-Too small?

-Too small, yeah, I think it's too small.

Alfred has a two-month timescale

and a five grand budget for refurbishing the flat.

But I think this first foray into property has been educational.

Next time, we've learned a lesson, we'll probably have a look, I think.

-Good. I'm glad about that. Lovely to meet you.

-Thank you very much.

Good luck with this. I can't wait to see what you do. Well done.

If only Alfred and Francesca had had a chance to view this flat first,

I wonder if they would have still bought it?

Research is key, but I'm more concerned

they didn't know anything about the length of the lease.

Now that is down to not reading the legal pack.

This will certainly add more expense to this little property

and I'm not sure they'll have much spare change

at the end of the renovation process.

Join me later

and you can find out how it all goes for the father-and-daughter team.

Still to come, I'm bowled over by this unusual three-bed

terrace in North Yorkshire.

All in all, really, really great.

And in Tunbridge Wells, Alfred and family receive some unexpected news.

Right, OK, brilliant, sold!

Now we're taking a trip back to Hanley in Stoke-on-Trent to meet up

once again with part-time property developer and TV star Jason.

Come on, he was on Tiswas(!)

When I was little, yes, a long time ago.

That's one of my claim to fames.

OK, maybe not a TV star, but he certainly shone at this auction...

..picking up this Victorian two-bed mid-terraced house for £38,000...

..adding to a number of properties he and his wife Jo already own.

It's all part of a bigger plan.

Buy-to-rent, hopefully one a year for the next ten years and then,

at 55, I can say, "I'm retiring. That's me finished."

# I got work to do

# Got so much, way-ay-ay. #

Jason usually buys property nearer his home in Nuneaton,

50 miles from Stoke, so what was the appeal?

At the moment, it's not the best area,

but there's a lot of work going in on a lot of properties

and that's going to bring the market up which hopefully will help me

with my properties as well.

The house is a traditional Victorian terrace that has been

extended to the back.

Jason felt it was in good condition for the price and planned a general

overhaul to bring the property up to a modern standard

fit for the rental market.

He set himself a budget of £7,000

and 16 weeks to complete the work.

And 16 weeks later, we're back.

It's clear Jason and Jo have been busy here.

The kitchen has been modernised to a good standard

and in the bathroom a new suite has been installed with

the addition of a shower over the bath.

And, given they lived a distance away,

did they manage to source reliable local tradesmen?

We got somebody signed up to do the work

but unfortunately he was involved in an accident

so we actually used a local friend from down our area.

He was quite happy to travel and come up and do the work, so we knew

he was reputable and good at what he does

so it was a good arrangement really.

In the downstairs rooms, everything has been plastered,

painted and decorated and the gas fires have been removed.

We removed the fireplaces, boarded them up

and then plastered over, cos it's easier for renting.

You haven't got to worry about the gas and the extra fires

and everything else in the rooms.

Upstairs, the two bedrooms have been completely redecorated

and throughout the house the windows have all been replaced

by UPVC double glazing.

With six properties already under their belts,

Jo and Jason are old hands,

but even so, they managed to exceed their budget of 7,000.

We've spent just under 9,000 now with the bills coming in

so we spent a little bit extra for the gas checks and the kitchen

and bathroom was a bit more work than we anticipated.

And also, having our friend do the work,

he needed a little bit extra for travelling and that,

so we sorted that out as well,

but it still come within a reasonable budget so we're very pleased with it.

We thought it would take 16 weeks.

We managed to stick to a tight schedule, got the work done on time.

What with the travelling forwards and backwards,

we did quite well and we're happy with the final result.

Despite managing to stick to that 16-week schedule,

Jason has found it pretty hard going.

It's an hour and a half to get home,

so you work till ten o'clock at night and think, "OK, I'm going home,"

and then it was a long drive home, so probably just a bit better

time management on myself if I was going to do it again in this area.

Having bought this house for 38,000,

and spent another 9,000 on its upgrade, what would be

the impact on the earning potential in this area of Stoke?

We asked two local estate agents to come along to assess

the quality of the refurbishment.

Since I've last seen the property,

the property has been significantly improved.

It's got a fresh, neutral, modern feel inside

and it's pretty much ready to move straight into.

The layout of this property is very typical in this area for this

age of property.

There's only one bathroom which is downstairs, unfortunately,

but that is typical of the type of property we're in.

There is demand from both tenants

and the first time buyer market is also improving.

Again, the third type of market would be landlords looking to

invest as a long term investment.

I feel that the standard of finish throughout has been done well.

I feel that, based on where the property is located,

that this is ideal for a first time buyer or investor.

The fixtures and fittings installed are done to a good quality.

All good positive news and Jason's reputation as a nice landlord

seems safe, but how safe is his investment of 47,000?

In today's market I'd suggest the market value of this property

was in the region of £55,000 to £60,000.

I would place this property on the open market in the region of

£55,000 to £60,000.

That's pretty ball park where we expected 55-60,

so very pleased with those.

Yeah, happy.

For a sale at the higher valuation, Jason and Jo would pocket

a pretty decent profit of £13,000 minus tax and fees.

But Jason is adding this house to his rental portfolio.

What monthly income could they achieve?

In today's market I would advise the property for rental

at £375 per calendar month.

I would anticipate a rental value in the region of

£400 per calendar month.

A little bit low because we've already arranged the rent

and we're getting a little bit more than that so not too bad at all.

I'm quite happy with the deal we've struck.

Based on Jason's agreed rent with his new tenant,

his investment of 47,000 is going to be returning almost 11%.

On the evidence of that,

Jason is well on target to reach his goal of retiring at 55.

Nestling on the banks of the river in the village of Croft-on-Tees

in North Yorkshire is this lovely 14th century Grade I listed church.

The father of children's writer Lewis Carroll was rector here

for a time, so this was where the author

of Alice In Wonderland spent his boyhood from around the age of 11.

It's believed the stone carvings inside the church inspired

one of his most famous characters, the Cheshire Cat,

and I hope to have a grin as wide as that when I look round

the three-bed mid-terrace I'm here to see,

guided at £89,950.

Well, if you want the convenience of Darlington

and an easy three-or-so-mile commute away and yet,

a bit of the rural life, then Croft-on-Tees could be perfect.

The property I'm here to see converted from an old stable. Ooh!

HE SNIFFS

No smell of horses. Bit of a relief.

Nice little entrance porch there though and then through into

your dining room.

Very large sitting room. Double fronted, so lots of light.

Then through into the kitchen.

I reckon at some point these might have even been several little

cottages, which have all been knocked together,

or certainly two of them have in this instance.

But the kitchen, as you can see, is in pretty nice shape.

I'd want to replace the flooring, but these units are great.

All in all,

it's looking good.

# It's looking good, it's looking good

# It's looking good

# It's looking good, it's looking good. #

I like the space and proportions of this place.

Yes, it needs cleaning up and modernising, and there's a bit

of damp that needs looking into, but definitely no long faces here.

Let's see what upstairs has to offer.

So, up here, a really lovely quirky design.

Um, three bedrooms.

Two on this level here. One there and one there.

The bathroom where it should be, looks to be in half decent condition

and then, I like this.

Up a little flight of stairs to the master bedroom.

Look at this lovely dual-aspect room.

Lots of character.

The whole place has got that slight quirky feel to it.

I guess that's where it came from, being a stable block.

So, all in all, really, really great.

Inevitably, with all that character comes some defects.

The single-glazed windows look a bit rotten and will need replacing

and there's some damp that should be investigated,

but it's outside that the biggest problems may lie.

It all comes down to location.

Right next door to a hotel, and the hotel, literally,

owns the land all the way up to the property itself

and there are lots of restrictive covenants.

Things like you can't hang out washing, you can't have

pets like a dog or a cat, and you can't put plant pots and things.

Anything which might interfere with the running of the hotel.

You've also got the hotel car park there.

So hotel car park one side, busy road the other. It's not ideal.

But horses for courses and I'm sure there are some folk out there

for whom this won't be a problem.

Let's see what a local estate agent can tell us

about this unusual property and, given the weather,

maybe it's a good thing there's no outside space.

It's always been a popular village. It's picturesque.

Doesn't have very many amenities

but there are amenities close by in the next village in Herworth

which is just a few yards up the road.

So the lack of nearby village amenities isn't really an issue,

but what about the property itself?

I think it needs a general overhaul. It needs modernising.

It needs updating.

It needs complete redecoration, new kitchen, new bathroom and,

generally, it needs to be brought into the 21st century.

How much could this property sell for if it was renovated?

Once the property's refurbished, I would suggest, should the property

be sold, it would achieve a price of somewhere around about £120,000.

I think the rental market around here is fairly strong.

It is a very popular village and,

should the property be placed on the market for rental,

I would see it achieving an income of around about £550 per calendar month.

So a very appealing property on the inside.

It's just the things going on around the outside that could be

a bit of an issue to some.

Let's find out who wasn't bothered when it went under the hammer.

Lot 28, it's a spacious mid-terrace property.

We've got this advertised with a price guide of 89,950.

Can I ask for 90,000 to start me?

I need 88,000 to start. Do I have £88,000 anywhere?

Without that, I will withdraw. Do I have £88,000 anywhere?

Gentleman sitting down at £88,000.

Do I have 89 anywhere else?

Latest bid at 89.

90. 90,000 bid.

91? 91 bid.

92? 92 bid.

93? No?

This gentleman's bid at £92,000 on the second row.

Do I have 93 anywhere else?

I'll take 500 if it will help or I'm selling here at £92,000.

It's your last chance. I'm going once at 92,000.

I'm going for the second and final time at £92,000.

Sold, gentleman on the second row.

This quirky house was sold for £92,000 to George

and his wife Glenys, known to her friends as Glen.

The retired couple live 15 minutes away from their new purchase

so I corralled them at this former stable to find out more.

-Glen, George, great to meet you both.

-Hiya, Martin.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

-So tell me why you wanted to buy this place.

We love walking in the area and we come here a lot in the car

and park the car opposite the church. We go through the church.

It's a lovely walk round the River Tees, Clow Beck and coming round.

We do that quite often.

But we're interested in the area

because we looked at a house just the week before in Herworth.

-It wasn't our cup of tea really, what we wanted.

-And then you saw it?

We'd actually been down to the estate agents to report

back on a house we'd seen and we walked past this other

-estate agents further down and we seen it in the window.

-Ah.

Glen said, "I like that"

and I said, "I know where that is.

"That's right where we parked the car."

Ah, sometimes in property, things just feel like fate.

I saw the photo in the estate agents.

We came round the same day,

-absolutely fell madly in love with it.

-Madly in love?

-I did, yeah.

-Not just in love?

-Madly, I just... Yeah, madly.

-Liked the quirkiness.

I just think it's fabulous,

so we talked about it and I said to George,

"Right, I'm going to put an offer in." He said, "How much for?"

I said, "92,000."

It was on at 89,9... something.

George said, "I think you need to put a bit extra, more than that,"

and I said, "No, I've got a funny feeling about 92"

so I rang the auction rooms.

She said, "Please come up to the auction."

I put the phone down and said,

"Right, George, we'll go to the auction" so we did.

The funniest thing was we ended up paying 92 for it.

There you go.

Glen clearly thinks this was meant to be,

and as things have developed, it seems she was right.

We originally bought it to rent out actually,

a little venture into buy-to-rent,

because we downsized four years ago.

We have a little bit of money left

and we needed to put it to some good use.

It's not making anything in the bank so it's one way of making

another little income, cos we're both pensioners.

But, it could all be different.

It could all change because our daughter's just sold her house.

They haven't bought one yet so I said,

"You move in there for a couple of months and we'll move here."

So once it's all done up, we'll see how we feel.

If we like living here, we'll stay here.

-If not, we'll go back home and rent this out.

-Right.

But whichever way you look at it, we've made an investment

because the money that we've got left in the bank

is a waste of time, isn't it?

So it seems like an almost perfect arrangement.

It even has the potential to be the ideal location.

Where we're living now -it's a lovely, beautiful village

but there's not really a lot there.

There's no bus runs through it and as we are getting older,

we have to travel to the doctors' and everywhere else.

There's a surgery here

-and there's a bus service goes through Darlington.

-Right.

So we've got a chance of using public transport,

which we haven't before. There's loads of walks and things.

The biggest thing we are going to miss...

-We've always had dogs but we're not allowed a dog.

-Aw-w.

-That's a shame.

-Never mind.

Well, they might not have a dog

for company on their walks around the area

but they will have plenty to keep them occupied inside.

They've got a builder sorted

and they plan a full refurbishment of the bathroom.

They'll replace the radiators

and hope to knock the wall down between the kitchen and dining area.

So, will the kitchen units be staying?

We'd leave that for the time being

but if we settled and we really liked it and we thought,

"Right, we'll move,"

then I would have it taken out and a brand new one put in.

So what's the budget for the work you are going to do?

-Well, we said we would like to see everything done for 10,000.

-Right.

The windows are going to be at least 5,000.

Yes, that might be tight.

Especially if those damp patches are a sign of a bigger problem.

So what about the timescale?

Well, we were hoping for the back end of next month

but we think it's going to take a bit longer!

-Well, I'm delighted for you.

-Thank you.

-Congratulations, good luck with it.

-Thank you.

-I look forward to seeing how you get on.

-All being well!

-Yes.

So, what do you reckon the probability that Glen and George

will end up living here is?

Yeah, pretty high!

It's great that they love it

and they're not put off by some of the downsides to the property.

How will they get on sorting it out?

You can find out later in the show.

Well, time has passed and the burning question is

have our buyers made money on their investments

or created a beautiful place to live?

I think we should go back and find out what they've been up to.

We've come back to Tunbridge Wells,

where earlier we saw Alfred and daughter Francesca

plunging head first into the world of auction property purchase,

seemingly by accident!

'No intention whatsoever of buying it.'

So we got there and of course all you have to do is that,

and we got it!

The adjective that could best describe their £68,000 purchase

was "small".

A top floor studio flat close to the town centre,

with a kitchen/living room, compact bathroom

and, well, not much else really.

Yeah, it's a bit more neat and tidy than I thought it was.

And very small.

Not that Alfred and Francesca knew this.

This viewing was the first they'd seen it.

That's right, they hadn't viewed it before purchase,

nor read the legal pack

or realised the potential drawback of buying a leasehold property.

These two broke every rule in the Homes Under the Hammer handbook!

If they had read the legal pack,

they would have known that £68,000 wasn't all they had to pay.

We paid more than that because when we got the legal pack

-we were responsible for the seller's...

-Fees.

-..fees

and the auctioneer's fees, which were 3,000.

Planning to renovate and sell on,

they had set themselves a budget of around £5,000

and a timescale of four weeks.

It's been nearly three months since our last visit.

So, let's see how our intrepid duo fared.

Well, not only am I pleasantly surprised,

I'm also relieved!

I wasn't quite sure what to expect

but I think this has been a job well done.

The old kitchen has been ripped out

and replaced by new units and worktops,

a sleek hob and oven

and finished with tiled splash back and tile effect floor.

This space has been turned into a modern and desirable kitchen area.

Doesn't it look great?!

That grubby bathroom has been totally revamped

and now looks fabulous.

The room has been extended ever so slightly into the corner

and the toilet moved to the adjacent wall.

Alfred and his wife, Sue, and daughter, Francesca,

chipped in where they could

but most of the work was carried out by a local plumber.

The only person we knew was Rodney, who was a plumber in the village.

So Rodney came round the next evening and we got together.

He knew an electrician and a plasterer, etc,

so we got a team together quite quickly.

Alfred has discovered that property renovation

isn't an exact science.

From my point of view, I was a science teacher.

So I've been trained in science and science is quite a nice thing.

You do a few experiments and something predictable happens.

This was more of an artistic venture, you know?

A creative thing and that's where it all went wrong,

because there were no ideas in my mind of what it should look like.

So we did bit by bit and it gradually came together.

And so now it looks quite presentable, anyway.

Quite pleased with it.

In the living room-cum-bedroom,

the cupboard has been removed to create a small alcove

and modern heaters have replaced the old.

Ceiling spots have been installed

and the woodchip and textured ceiling has been stripped off.

I bet that was a fun job!

You would have thought you could come in here

and plaster it and decorate it in two or three days.

It took the best part of two weeks to do all that

so that put us back.

So the estimate of four weeks plus the two weeks for the woodchip

is about right. It took pretty much six weeks.

The only thing we did to improve the space -

we put the wall in the bathroom back about two feet

and that has made a considerable difference to it.

But I think it's very limited as to what we could do.

Relying on Rodney and his team of tradesmen to carry out the work,

did they manage to keep within their budget of £5,000?

We decided to put Rodney on a day rate.

It turned out very much more expensive than we thought.

When you do the calculations... certainly 9,000.

It was way over budget but,

you know, we're not worried about that too much.

So a future thing, I think, we'd get a price for the job.

Oh, well, that's not good news!

A day rate is a sure way to lose control of the budget.

Add that £9,000 to the £68,000 purchase price

and the total comes to 77,000.

Has the refurbishment been good enough

to add value onto their investment?

We invited to local estate agents to visit the flat

and give us their opinion.

I think they've done a fantastic job.

I think they've made it light and bright

and they've made really good use of the space.

I think they've been very clever about what they've done

and I think it's a lovely place.

Standard of finish in here is good for what it is.

They put a modern kitchen in, they've done a modern shower room.

I think they've got the balance right in terms of

making something look good and presentable without overspending.

Location wise, you've got a train station just down the road,

which takes you into London.

You've got the town centre just the other way.

So anybody who wants to commute,

anybody who wants to be in the centre of a town,

with shops on their doorstep, would be very keen to live here.

It's a beautiful area.

A positive response

but what value would they put on this studio flat

if they were to put it on the rental market?

For rental, I would expect it to go on the market

at something just under the £500 a month,

to achieve about £475 per calendar month.

I think you would be looking at between £500 and £550 per calendar month.

Well, that's good, isn't it?

So in terms of doing the sums...

5/8ths is about 7%, or something.

Yeah, sounds good, doesn't it?!

Almost a gold star, Alfred!

It's actually nearer 8%,

an attractive return for a buy to let property

but selling is Alfred's plan.

So over to the experts.

If the property goes on the market for sale,

I would expect it to go on something in the early £90,000 range,

hoping to achieve around about £90,000.

If the owner was going to sell the property,

I think he'd achieve in the region of £100-105,000.

HE GIGGLES Sorry!

Right, OK, brilliant! Sold!

Well, don't get too excited, Alfred!

You will still probably have to negotiate with the leaseholder

to extend the lease,

ensuring you get top price when you sell the flat.

But excluding that cost, and other fees and taxes,

the top valuation could mean a profit of 28,000.

Well, we're very happily surprised at that

because we've been thinking all along,

cos it's cost about 80,000,

that we'd be struggling to get that back

and it looks as though we may make a small profit.

It's a fish and chips supper tonight for you girls! This is it!

We can go and celebrate! Fantastic, look at that!

No, brilliant!

So, will there be fish and chip celebrations here in North Yorkshire

for George and his wife Glen?

A retired couple who had spent £92,000 buying this

three-bed mid-terraced house in the village of Croft-on-Tees.

With it came a rather restricted list of conditions.

It all comes down to the location right next door to a hotel,

and the hotel literally owns the land all the way up.

You can't hang out washing, you can't have pets,

like a dog or a cat, and you can't put plant pots and things,

anything which might interfere with the running of the hotel.

Undeterred, the couple saw this

as an ideal investment for their savings,

possibly a buy-to-let opportunity or even a new home for themselves.

But certainly a project that would spice up their retirement.

We downsized four years ago and we have a little bit of money left,

and we needed to put it to some good use.

It's one way of making another little income.

For an auction property,

it was in pretty fair condition throughout, although sections

of wall and ceiling were damp and the windows were rotten.

They'd budgeted a total of £10,000 to upgrade the house,

and were pretty relaxed about how long it would take to complete.

Well, we were hoping for the back end of next month,

but we think it's going to take a bit longer.

Well, it's been nine months since we visited.

I can't wait to see what they've achieved.

Huh, this place looks great!

It's still a work in progress, but it's light, spacious and welcoming.

What have George and Glen been up to since our first visit?

What we've done actually is the roof, we've lifted the floor up in the

front room that needed doing, put new radiators in,

we've knocked this wall out to make it look much bigger, much nicer.

We've had to have the walls replastered, because when we took

the Anaglypta off, the walls were quite bad,

and we decided to have that done.

So we have done quite a lot that we didn't expect to do.

They've been quite busy then.

The job that George is most proud of is in the living room.

Well, this was the fireplace.

Originally, as you can all see, it was all blocked off.

We cut it out, and what we found behind it was

all full of rubble, rubbish, everything was in there.

We cleaned it all out and then decided what to do with it.

First of all we boarded it out, with the boards,

and Glen didn't like it, so we took them out and threw them away.

The sandstone we had, we cut it, shaped it, put sandstone in.

Glen didn't like that, so we took the sandstone out,

found some old bricks, shaped them, cut them in and fitted them,

and that was the finished result.

Put the two sides in, and Glen actually liked it.

So I would hope it's a feature, with the light on to make it look better.

Hopefully we can sit and watch that. Instead of watching telly all night.

MUSIC: Love and Marriage by Frank Sinatra

Changing a fireplace three times?

Huh, if that isn't love, I don't know what is!

If the fireplace was George's labour of love,

then there were other tasks that were just...well, labour.

The damp-proof, when we took the Anaglypta off,

was all the way along, especially this back wall,

because outside the whole house was earth and gravel.

And the rain was coming straight through,

so we took it all up, erm, we've come in a foot,

-GLEN SIGHS

-alongside all the walls,

and went down a foot and rendered it with waterproof concrete to

stop anything coming through and up again.

A fiddly job, wasn't it?

It was backbreaking, it nearly killed me,

I was falling asleep all the time.

So we'll never have a problem again. We hope!

In the kitchen, George and Glen were quite happy with the

original units, leaving them unchanged for now.

The shortening of that dividing wall was a great idea and makes

such a difference to the kitchen dining area.

Upstairs, the master bedroom now has an en-suite,

a good addition to a family home.

The two other bedrooms have been decorated throughout

and the bathroom has had a lick of paint and new flooring.

Upstairs and down,

ceiling spots bring a modern feel to a traditional building.

The rot on the window frames has been repaired on the inside,

but there is still work to be done on the exterior.

The original budget of £10,000, which included money to

replace the windows, has been overshot by two grand.

But I think George and Glen have fallen for this place big time,

and are starting to treat it like their new home.

MUSIC: "Is This Love?" by Whitesnake

You just get a feeling, don't you?

We've had this feeling,

and every time we drove up it got stronger and stronger,

and every time I've come here it got stronger and stronger,

and I do, I love it.

I think I'd love living here, I'd be very happy, but we won't know

until we try it - IF we try it.

If we sell our house now, we'd definitely move in.

If we don't, we'll have to rent one of them off, so...

Head over heels.

This lovey-dovey stuff is all very well, but it won't pay the bills.

With that in mind,

we asked two local estate agents to come along and put some

figures on the hard work that George and Glen have put in.

First impressions of the property, it's very light, nice and neutral

decor, very appealing, lots of light coming in and spacious rooms.

I think with the right standard of finish this property will

appeal to all avenues of the market.

Upsizes, people that are looking for a village location.

Adding the 12 grand spend to the auction price of 92,000,

George and Glen have so far spent £104,000.

If they decided to rent this property out, what could it achieve?

For rental purposes, I would expect the property to

achieve around £600 per calendar month.

For rental, I would value this property at between £595

to £625 per calendar month.

That's great news.

A rental of £600 per calendar month would represent a return

of around 7% - that's certainly better than the bank.

But what about sale value?

If all of the final touches are finished, I would expect

the property to sell for somewhere in the region of £140,000 to £150,000.

I would value this property at between £150,000 to £160,000.

-Wow!

-One SIXTY thousand?

Oh, you've made my day.

That's unbelievable, that, I didn't expect anything near that,

I was expecting maybes 120, 25, 30...

But...you've got to sell it.

It is a lovely property, we're pleased with it.

-LAUGHING:

-I'd be pleased with those figures too!

Excluding tax and fees,

a sale at 160,000 would bring in a potential profit of £54,000.

A tidy sum for this supposedly retired couple.

It's kept us busy, because believe you me,

you think you want to retire - you don't, it's very boring.

So I've enjoyed it. Would I do it again,

with my 40-year-old head on? Oh, yes.

Bring it on!

Well, we hope you've enjoyed today's programme

and perhaps got some inspiration from our buyers.

We'll see you next time with more property stories.

-Goodbye for now.

-Bye.