Episode 5 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello and welcome to the show.

Now, whether you're buying a property as a home or an investment,

you want to make sure you've chosen wisely.

It can be difficult to find

but what you're looking for is value for money.

One place you can possibly find that is at a property auction.

From rundown flats to gorgeous, sprawling mansions,

there are all sorts of properties on offer at auction.

So what's got our buyers reaching for their cheque books

on today's show?

'I'm at this four-bedroom farmhouse in Kent

'which is giving me plenty to chew over.'

I think it's pretty special, don't you?

'And I need to reach a verdict on this three-bed semi in Derby,

'but...'

In terms of it being a dry space, jury's out.

'Here in Blyth, there's a three-bedroom mid-terrace property

'with some solid original features.

'And some not-so-solid.'

Hmm.

'All these properties have been sold at auction.

'We'll find out who bought them, and for how much,

'when they went under the hammer.'

Gentleman standing.

'This is Folkestone on the South Kent coast.

'The town's central cultural quarter is looking lovely

'and full of boutiques and cafes.

'The seafront is as pretty as ever, and Folkestone is starting to

'attract the DFLs, the "down from Londons,"

'either for a day trip or a full-on relocation.'

Just outside Folkestone and down this driveway

is the lot I'm here to see.

And, no, it's not a piece of land.

Well, it is land.

It's over 10 acres, in fact.

But with that you get a four-bedroomed house,

stables, barns, a clubhouse - a whole equestrian centre, in fact!

And all for the guide price of £460,000.

'Better get a canter on. Plenty to see.

'Let's start with the house first.

'An attractive, red brick property with plenty of parking

'and a nice bit of garden to the side.

'Ah, who am I kidding?

'I don't think having room for the car or somewhere for the table

'and chairs is going to be an issue, do you?'

Well, entering this property is like walking through a window.

First things first, if I were to own this,

I would get rid of all the windows and doors

and replace it with something much more in keeping with

the building because look what's on the inside. It's stunning.

You've got these lovely period beams,

an inglenook fireplace with a beautiful grate at the back.

I mean, this must be a couple of hundred years old.

It's absolutely gorgeous and could be so homely.

The back of the property has got a completely different feel to it.

Much more modern, it's obviously an extension.

There are no gorgeous features but something that I have to show you.

Look at the size of this window! That is an opening! Wow!

I mean, look at that!

So, straightaway, you want to think about restructuring this room.

Now, come through here and look at this kitchen.

I'm getting a little bit excited cos I'm thinking,

"What about knocking through this wall?"

Again you've got another great big window area with fantastic views.

You could perhaps have lovely bi-folding doors going

all the way across, having a much bigger kitchen.

Now that has got me excited.

'Just off the kitchen is the old lobby and another lovely feature.

'Upstairs there's a very dingy and dated bathroom

'but there's four double bedrooms.

'It's a lot of work, but, my, this is spacious accommodation.'

# Came across a place in the middle of nowhere

# With a big black horse and a cherry tree

# Woo-hoo! #

'Next to the house are some very dilapidated stables which

'look to be in need of some serious structural attention.

'Next to those is the outdoor arena, filled with a sort of textured

'rubbered flooring to cushion the horses' hooves.

'That wouldn't have been cheap to build although it pales into

'insignificance when you check out the monster indoor arena opposite.'

Just look at this space!

This is in fact an international sized arena, and it's more than just

somewhere for horse-mad kids to trot around at the weekend.

This is a competition-sized structure

and as big as it gets in horsey terms.

And it's a considerable investment.

You can't just throw up a barn and hope for the best.

To build something like this

you're probably looking in excess of 100 grand.

'This is one expensive, super-large shed, probably with its own

'special flooring, extra fine sand and carefully levelled floor.

'Not to mention the bar and clubhouse on the side.

'The more I see of this place, the more I'm staggered by its scale.'

'Around the back of the indoor arena you have a large tarmaced area

'and further land which belongs to the lot

'but which the neighbours have access to.

'And opposite the main house, you have student accommodation,

'with five dorms and living quarters.

'And then there's more.

'Yes! More stables!'

Are there enough horse owners around here

to offer a viable livery service?

Oh, I don't know.

But would this property have to be a commercial enterprise?

I think the value and the appeal here lies in the combination

of the house and the fact you can keep your horses by your back door.

That's many people's dream - to just pop out before work

and again in the evening.

No travelling, loads of time to ride,

and just look after your animals.

Perfect!

For that reason, I think it's pretty special, don't you?

OK, it all needs some work, but if you wanted to get this place up

and running as a business again, all the component parts are there.

Oh, and a potentially lovely home to live in as well.

We asked a local estate agent along

to see if he could make sense of it all.

My first impressions of the centre is that it needs a lot of work.

When estate agents say TLC, this is TLC with a capital T.

But it's a got a lot of potential.

What might excite people about this particular place is that

it has potential to be re-established as an equestrian centre,

it's got potential, perhaps, as a smallholding,

convert it as an adventure centre for young people, youth.

There are so many ideas for somebody who's got vision.

The house is large but it needs a lot of renovation internally

and probably some structural assessment

from the external point of view,

but, again, it's got potential, and with money spent on it,

it'll be a lovely home.

In terms of the size of this property, it's a big project.

It's a very big project and not many people would take it on.

The value in this property will depend

on what the owner's going to do with it,

but certainly the house itself has got potential

to double in value from where it stands now.

The rest of the land and the buildings around -

some need to be pulled down, some need to be renovated,

others have got potential as accommodation

in some various forms and guises.

I think the value of the house as it stands now,

with a small amount of garden with it,

is in the region of about £200,000,

but if money was spent on it to modernise it,

and quite a bit needs to be done, you'll easily double that.

If one were to separate the land from the house,

I think the land could be worth £300,000-400,000 on its own

with the buildings that are existing on it

and in a better state of order than some of them are.

This is an extremely interesting proposition.

You could reopen this place as a business, stable your own horses,

run a small livery or just keep some livestock.

It's some people's dream.

Let's see who that person was at the auction.

A massive potential - there's 20 stables, a soft-track arena.

We've got a guide of 460-plus. Is anyone going to come in at 460?

450? Trying to get a deal - £450,000.

I'm not going below 450.

If you're not here to pay 450, you don't want to buy it.

450, I'm looking to buy. 450 I have.

And 60, now, I'm looking for. 460, do I say?

At £450,000. I'll take 5 if it'll help.

At 455. 455, and 60 now, if you like.

460, may I say?

At £455,000, I've got.

460, I'm looking for.

We all done at £455,000. Do I see another 5?

460, I'm bid.

465 now do I say from either of you two?

465, do I say?

At £460,000, I have and 5 I'm looking for.

Lots of property here. It's going to be sold at £460,000.

£460,000, I will sell for the first time.

£460,000 for the second time.

Third and final time. If we're all done at £460,000...

Sold on my right for 460. F812. Thank you.

The successful bidders buying the equestrian centre

for bang on the guide price of 460,000

are cardiac nurse Shirley and her partner, Colin, who's a courier.

I hope they're keen on the outdoors, because there's plenty of it here!

I met them back at the house to find out their plans.

-Lovely to meet you today.

-Hello.

-Wow!

I was going to ask you, "Why have you bought this at auction?"

But what I want to know is what you want to do with it.

Just make it our home. It's not going to be a business as it was years ago.

We're just going to make it a residential home for our own use.

So you've bought it for yourselves to live in?

Tell me you love horses.

-We've got three...

-Yes! Thank goodness!

Could you tell she had fallen for this property

way before you even went to the auction?

It ticked all the boxes.

When we both had a look at the time,

we thought we might be taking on too much.

Then we sat down and just thought, "Yeah, we could make this work."

I looked at it structurally

and Shirley looked more at the equestrian side.

So, Shirley, tell me about the animals.

I've got a smallholding.

We've got three horses that I ride with my daughter

and she competes and we show them,

and I've also got 22 sheep, cos I've got lambs at the moment,

so I've got plenty of little lawnmowers to bring and tidy up.

Well, there's plenty of sheep food here

and Shirley does intend to create even more pasture

from the land behind the indoor arena,

which at the moment is rather wasted.

So what about all the other buildings?

The green metal barn out there, that's going.

That's going to be taken down and that area will go back to pasture.

We're not going to do liveries or anything like that.

We don't want to run a business from here,

which is what it did previously.

The student accommodation's staying.

Just tidy up the outside and just empty it out inside.

-The indoor school, I've got visions of what I'd like that to look.

-Go on!

No, I just wanted it painted and kick boards put round so it's tidy.

It is rather large - one end will probably have the tractor

and the bailing stuff in the end of it, just so they're in the dry.

Let's talk about this property now, because I know this is your domain

and this is what you're in charge of,

so tell me - what are you going to do to improve it?

Well, out here, we're going to be taking the chimney breast out.

We're going to completely open the kitchen area.

I'm going to have an island kitchen

and an old farmhouse-type table extending into the dining room here.

-Wow.

-And at the end, up that end,

we're going to have an office for both of us.

Colin and Shirley have set aside a healthy renovation budget

of £100,000.

This couple are certainly taking the plunge in more ways than one.

Shirley proposed to me on Valentine's Day this year.

-Oh, I'm filling up!

-We're getting married in Vegas in October.

-Yeah.

-After how many years?

-29 years.

-29 years of being engaged?

Yeah, we don't like rushing into anything!

So you've bought this, you've got this project,

a wedding on the cards.

-This is going to be quite an incredible year for you two.

-Yeah.

It already has been.

Things are happening that sometimes we just say to ourselves,

"We can't believe our luck",

-the way things have panned out so far.

-I am so excited for you.

Good luck!

-We will just be really excited to see how it all turns out.

-Thank you.

Lovely to meet you.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

So Colin and nurse Shirley are going to resuscitate this place

and make it a wonderful home for them and the horses.

It's a huge job to take on, but what an opportunity!

A bit of a project of a lifetime.

Find out how it goes later in the show.

And from Colin and Shirley's glitzy Vegas wedding

to the site of more traditional nuptials -

the medieval church, Our Lady of the Virgin,

a focal point in Chaddesden near Derby.

Once a village, its old ties to local landowners the Wilmots

can still be seen.

Today, it's a popular suburb of Derby city,

with good local amenities

and transport links into the city itself.

So a good place to live or invest in.

The property I'm here to see,

situated in a nice residential part of Chaddesden,

it's a three-bedroom semi-detached. The guide price was £59,000-plus.

It's on this corner plot, which is good news. Doesn't look too bad.

Let's take a look inside.

So what's on offer?

A fairly standard layout - through the front door,

stairs up to your bedrooms then through into your lounge.

A really big surprise, cos it's absolutely huge.

That's fantastic. What isn't so good is here

in this bay. Lots and lots of damp.

Look at the way the wallpaper's coming off, there.

Maybe the roof of that has basically failed,

or possibly problems round the window.

That doesn't look too good either.

Moving on from that, we do like the size of this room.

Absolutely fantastic,

although it does get a bit darker as you come towards this end.

But what do you think's in here?

Hmm? Hmm? Hmm?

You're wrong, it was a bathroom.

You wouldn't have expected that, would you?

Not ideal at all, although I think, judging by a few other clues,

there's been a few modifications to this house over the years,

because you come out here into what is obviously an extension

and this is where your kitchen is.

How do I know it's an extension?

Cos that's obviously the original exterior window.

But in terms of a space, fantastic.

In terms of it being a dry space -

jury's out.

MUSIC: "Trouble" by Shampoo

In fact, the extent of the damp

and mould in here makes this kitchen totally unusable.

Maybe a look outside will shed a little light

on why things are so bad.

At the back of the property, the garden's not a bad size,

but I'm here really to look at the roof on this kitchen extension,

because, obviously, there's a lot of problems inside.

It's a flat roof, notoriously bad for leaking

if they're not well maintained.

You are going to have to set aside

some of your budget to sort that out, really.

But in terms of space, yeah, it's all right.

I'd definitely get someone to check the extension,

with its flat roof and uPVC cladding.

I reckon it would be much better replaced with a lovely,

modern space that would be more family-friendly

and would open out onto this long garden.

You could have ample indoor and outdoor space,

but a dry space would be a really good start.

Another troubling aspect is that misplaced bathroom.

It's not ideal, is it?

Who wants a loo in the middle of the living room?

MUSIC: "I Smell Trouble" by Ike And Tina Turner

So upstairs here, a very standard layout - small boxroom there,

which could actually be the bathroom,

as opposed to where it is right now,

although you'd lose a bedroom, so you'd have to weight that up.

Second bedroom there and then a good-sized bedroom at the front,

but once again, look at that front wall.

So much damp in this property.

Now, some of that could have been caused by the fact that

it looks to me that it hasn't been lived in for quite a while,

and you will naturally get that kind of condensating damp,

but it could be more serious,

so it's another reason why you really need to get this property

looked over by somebody who knows what they're talking about.

So it's time to call in a local expert,

in this case the auctioneer who sold the property.

The guide price was 59 grand-plus.

The options here, really, I think are two-fold.

It depends who buys it and want they want to do with it, ultimately.

The big thing about this house is its non-traditional construction.

In the expert's opinion,

this could be non-standard or non-traditional construction,

terms which are generally used for houses made from concrete blocks,

for instance, which could be tricky or impossible to get a mortgage on.

My assumption is that it will get renovated to a modest standard

and it will then get rented out.

I think that's likely to happen.

If you were to target the owner-occupier market,

so, for example, you're pointing it at first-time buyers,

clearly, mortgageability is an important aspect of that.

It's not always easy to tell

if a house is non-standard or traditional construction,

particularly if there's a covering to the fabric of the building,

so I would always recommend getting a survey done,

especially if you're relying on a mortgage.

He mentioned a modest renovation.

If that was carried out,

what does he think the property could fetch on the resale market?

I would say once improved, this property's probably not going

to have a value of much over £80,000-£85,000.

That's simply a reflection of the fact

that it's not traditional construction

and it would be difficult to mortgage.

What kind of returns could this house give an investor?

From a rental point of view, this would rent out very well,

once improved.

Rental value I think would be £550-£575 a calendar month.

Well, a few potential problems on this one, but nothing that

a good professional couldn't advise you on before you buy.

Still, it could be a good one to go for,

especially given that guide price.

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

Lot number 10, a centrally-heated, double-glazed, three-bedroom,

semi-detached house. It's freehold.

It's got scope for a bit of internal refurbishment.

Start me on this one. Lots of potential to it.

59-plus is the guide. Start me at 60, it's good value at that.

60,000?

58, then, to put it into the bidding.

58, thank you very much. 59's bid here.

At 59. 60 for you, sir? 60 is bid.

61.

At 61,000. 62?

61 I have seated. 62, quickly.

At £61,000, all done.

62.

At 62,000. 63.

64.

64,000. 65?

Either of you?

64,000 right ahead of me. It's in the market, we're going to sell.

65.

66.

500?

£65,000, a new bidder.

Once.

Twice. Third opportunity.

Sold at 65,000. Thank you.

Well, the successful bidders taking their chances on that semi

in Chaddesden were Nicola and her partner, Ian.

Ian was away working abroad when we came along,

so it was Nicola who met me back at the house to tell me more.

-Nicola, great to me.

-And you.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

So, what's the story behind you buying this place, then?

-Well, we've been building property abroad.

-Right.

We've built a couple of blocks, me and my partner,

-and I came over here to the UK to have my daughter.

-Right.

So with the help of Mummy and Daddy, we thought we'd give it a go.

Fantastic. So where were you building?

-In Malta.

-Malta!

-Yes.

Wow, pretty place.

Very nice, yeah. Nice weather.

-Different building, completely different to what it is here.

-Right.

So this is going to be a first time.

So you were actually starting from scratch on the properties in Malta?

-Building from the ground up?

-Yes.

My first project was, I bought a little shop.

It was completely trashed.

This place is a palace compared to the shop I bought

and I did that up and opened it up as a business.

-In Malta?

-Yes.

-What led you to Malta?

-I just went over there for a little holiday, as you do.

-Right.

-Yeah, and stayed over.

-For how long?

20 years, nearly. MARTIN LAUGHS

So how long was the holiday?

-Originally, a few months.

-Oh, OK.

A few months turned into a few more and then you get settled, don't you?

-What brought you back here? To have your daughter?

-Yeah.

I was missing it a lot. I'd been away for a long time.

I was quite settled over there,

but the whole prospect of not having

-your close family around you...

-Right.

-Mummy and Daddy round the corner.

-Right.

So I came back to have my daughter and we thought we'd give it a go.

They read the legal pack and had the cash ready to buy.

Builder Ian had viewed the property, but Nicola hadn't.

I wasn't completely shocked, to be honest.

I didn't expect it to be all lovely and shiny with the price we paid.

-The layout's a bit strange.

-The layout is definitely weird.

But you can't, as you say, criticise the space.

There is actually a lot of room, isn't there?

I think it's got really nice prospects - nice and bright,

it's got a nice, big room here.

I think we can do something with it.

And what about the timescales for doing it?

Right, we've got...

I believe we've got about seven weeks.

-Oh.

-Then we need to go back over to Malta to do some work.

-Right.

So it's either going to come together or it's not

and it's going to have to be put back again

for another month and a half.

Which, again, is going to have to affect our decision

on rental or selling.

It's not only their return to Malta,

but also the possible non-standard construction of the house

that could affect their decision to rent or sell,

so for the time being, everything's hanging in the balance.

-Listen, congratulations. Good luck with it.

-Thanks very much.

-Looking forward to seeing how you get on.

-Yeah.

Well, Nicola certainly seems to be aware of some of the more

obvious problems with the property. Lots of things to decide.

You can find out what she does in the end later in the show.

Coming up, I'm all at sea in the costal town of Blyth...

It's a bit of a conundrum.

..and we'll go back to the semi in Derby

to check on the finishing touches.

Yes, the pink toilet seat. I love the pink toilet seat.

Earlier, we also visited the south coast, near Folkestone,

where a four-bedroom farmhouse with a ten-acre equestrian centre

thrown in went under the hammer.

This large lot sold at the guide price of £460,000

to courier Colin and cardiac nurse Shirley.

But they didn't only have this grand project on their minds...

Shirley proposed to me on Valentine's Day this year.

-Oh, I'm filling up!

-We're getting married in Vegas.

After how many years?

-29 years.

-29 years of being engaged?

Yeah, we don't like rushing into anything.

# Viva Las Vegas... #

So after finally tying the knot in Vegas,

we are back seven months later to see if the newly weds

have taken it just a slowly renovating their new home.

I'm pleased to say they've got even more to celebrate.

MUSIC: "Wow" by Kylie Minogue

A beautiful new home...

# Wow, wow, wow, wow... #

..with a fabulous new kitchen dining space...

# Wow, wow, wow, wow... #

..and if you liked that,

wait till you see what they've done with the front room.

It looks fantastic.

All the windows and doors have been replaced throughout,

as the wiring has, the plumbing and, of course,

everything has just been redecorated.

Just take a look, though, at the new bathroom upstairs.

# Wow, wow, wow, wow

# You got it, wow, wow, wow, wow... #

Upstairs is transformed.

Made the bathroom bigger, took the little toilet out

and made that our en-suite off of our room.

We've now got the dressing room, which isn't quite finished yet.

Then just decorated the other bedrooms

once the new windows were in.

It really is a top job throughout. Stylish finish with a homely feel.

And downstairs,

they've also managed to give the office space a new lease of life.

But it's the kitchen diner that really catches your eye.

Let's find out more.

OK, so the first thing we wanted to do

was to bring these two rooms together.

We took down this wall, which had the fireplaces

and doing so, we now ended up with a big, large kitchen with my island

and also, that gave us a large dining room.

Because we've got a big family,

they now all come down and we all enjoy ourselves.

# Wow, wow, wow, wow... #

They've certainly been enjoying themselves.

With the fixtures and fittings here, they all look great quality.

That also means they must probably be quite expensive,

so how's the budget looking?

Shirley's kept a book on all the expenditures from day one,

and she surprised me the other day, telling me that I was...

It's about 52,000 we've spent,

which is good, cos we've still got budget to sort the outside out.

But, yeah, without the furniture and stuff that we've bought,

it's about 52 on the decorating and work that's been done inside.

I'm pleased. Well below budget.

I'm happy.

Yes, so far, so good, but it certainly seems

that the rest of the budget and lots of energy will be needed outside.

We have a very old render on this property and over the years

it's become detached from the main brickwork in places

and, of course, when you get bad weather

and the rain gets behind it,

you can then get a little bit of dampness retention

into the brickwork.

We now know that that's all got to come down yet,

and that's all going to be replaced.

Bit more expense.

We've got permission to demolish the green pole barn.

We've done a lot inside taking that to bits.

But it's just a long, tedious job,

because you're tidying up as you go along.

This area's still a bit of a mess, as you can see,

but there was a Portakabin just over there

and then there was a mobile home there and a lorry back,

and we sort of broke everything down,

what we couldn't burn went in a skip and we burned what we could burn

and the rest of the scrap metal, I've taken up the local metal yard

and cashed it in.

That equates to about £2,000, which we were really happy with,

cos we've put that back in the budget and it's helped to pay

for some of the work that's been done on the house.

The drive to save money hasn't stopped there.

The huge indoor arena included a bar and a cafe.

We've taken the pub that was in the indoor school -

we've smashed that out and we've also taken the cafeteria out,

because it was really mucky and I was worried about vermin.

Also, the main thing was the business rates class it as a pub

and a cafeteria, so it had to go.

The indoor school is no more.

It's now a barn, used for storage

and that's where the sheep will lamb come the spring.

Shirley always intended to use the stables to house her horses,

and here they are, all settled in.

Meet Neo and Bobby.

As for the flock of sheep, well, here's Rambo the ram,

the advance party,

the rest to follow when a fence is built.

I love having the inglenook fire in the front room. It's so cosy.

I go in their to study and within ten minutes I'm fast asleep,

cos it's so snug.

-I think for you it's the kitchen, isn't it?

-Kitchen and shower.

THEY CHUCKLE

To be up here so long...

..doing all the work,

some of it very mucky, dirty,

when the showers were finished and I turned it on,

it was a wonderful feeling.

Ah, the joys of a renovation almost done.

There might still be a lot of jobs to do on this huge property,

but this pair seem pretty happy.

Well, this is home.

He reckons he'll be buried in the garden, somewhere,

so he's got to pick his plot.

It's just home and we'll get outside straight as we go along,

there's no rush.

I love the fact this is not a project for profit.

All the work here is about making a home, but we can still have a nosy

to see if Shirley and Colin have spent their £512,000 wisely.

A lot of work's been done on this property.

It's really nicely presented,

it's been made into a lovely home.

I think it's a lovely house, it's got a nice character to it,

nice, warm feeling.

I particularly like the oak door frames and the architraves,

the doors themselves that they put in.

They put in a lot of attention into making sure everything goes together.

So what about that £512,000 investment?

When the property's finished and there's not a lot to do,

this property's going to be worth in the region of £400,000.

But there's a lot more here than just the house.

How would all the land add to that value.

I think that you could probably add another £250,000 to £300,000 on top.

If this the house and all that, I think

it's just under 11 acres, came onto the open market,

I would suggest marketing it

at somewhere around the region of £750,000.

I think in its present state outside, I suppose that's quite fair.

Obviously, I would expect that to improve substantially

once we've got the outside how we want it.

That's a possible profit of between £138,000 and £238,000.

Those figures are not including all the taxes, like the £13,000

on stamp duty they had to pay or the £2,000 they got back from scrap.

Are they interested in the figures?

It's home, so I don't care how much it's worth, to be honest.

So will someone be making their new home here

in the port town of Blyth on the coast of Northumberland?

After a long spell of hard economic times,

Blyth is now enjoying major regeneration

with an abundance of new homes on offer

and no wonder -

just take a look at this stunning, long stretch of golden beach...

MUSIC: "Seaside" by The Ordinary Boys

..just one aspect of the town that's been cleaned up

and transformed in recent years,

thanks to a multimillion pound investment by local businesses

and the local authority.

Well, one of the top tips for property investing

is to buy in areas where somebody else is ploughing in lots of money

rejuvenating the infrastructure.

Regenerating, rejuvenating, rebuilding,

all that kind of stuff is good news,

which you can ride off the back of.

That could certainly be the case here in Blyth,

and I'm looking at a three-bedroom house

which had a guide price of £35,000-plus.

Got to be worth a look.

For that amount of money, you're probably not expecting much,

but you're in for a surprise.

Nice little entrance area there and then into the hallway

and really good feel.

Lots of little details which say that this was a house in its day

that was actually pretty smart.

So hallway here, upstairs three bedrooms,

into the front living room.

Pretty nice-sized space.

Immediately drawn to the fire.

Probably want to strip that back, open it up,

give some real focus to the room.

But lots of light, bit of noise from the road out there,

so double... No, it's only got single glazing at the moment.

That's good news,

cos double glazing would definitely cut down on the noise.

Through this...

Hmm.

..cardboard construction archway into the rear living room...

I love that.

It's straight out of Blue Peter -

"I know, let's make an archway, children.

"Sticky back plastic and bits of cardboard..."

Anyway, carrying on through to the kitchen,

which leaves a little bit to be desired, as you can see.

It's not a big space.

The way it's laid out at the moment with these units doesn't work

particularly well, so a bit of thought in here.

Even think about maybe moving the kitchen that way,

putting it in that rear room there to make a lovely kitchen

open-plan living area and having this as a utility room.

But think about that guide price.

It's good for the money, isn't it?

And get it near the guide price of 35 grand

and your initial outlay would be low

and down here, there's not too much to spend.

MUSIC: "For The Love Of Money" by The O'Jays

The room size is generous,

the high ceiling, cornicing and original spindles a delight to see.

Add some double glazing and a real fire

and down here could be simply lovely.

Out back, there is need for a bit of a tidy up, but this compact space

could make a pleasant patio, and remember that lovely beach nearby.

But that broken window is drawing me back indoors.

So, upstairs, and...

Hmm, that's not good, is it? Uh-oh.

Looks like a bit of unfortunate vandalism.

That's going to have to be replaced.

Having said that, the windows in general are a bit shot,

so double glazing required.

But lots of space again upstairs.

I love the extra space on the landing here,

big enough for a wardrobe,

but one thing I have noticed going on round the house -

lots and lots of air fresheners all over the place.

Now, you might think that's quite nice,

but I think that's a little bit suspicious.

Why are there so many air fresheners?

Possibly a bit of damp they're trying to cover up the smell of.

Well, who knows, but up here on the landing, access to the loft

and another thing you should check, if you possibly can,

is up into the loft space

and you do not want to see that -

daylight, and also notice that the underside of the slates

doesn't have any felt on it.

That's not good, so a bit of roofing work might be required,

but two bedrooms - a smaller one there

and a good-sized double at the front,

and then through to your rear double and it's a really nice size again

and it gets better through here into the bathroom,

which is in half-decent nick.

Now the good news is you've got a lovely en suite.

The bad news is it's the only bathroom in the property

and accessing it through one of the bedrooms is not going to be ideal

and having had a quick glance around at the layout up here,

I don't know really where else the bathroom could go,

so a bit of a conundrum.

I suppose you could make a corridor through this room

to access the bathroom,

but it would turn this into a property with one double

and two single bedrooms, which isn't the most market-friendly option.

And although it's possible the loft space could be made into a bedroom -

we can't get up there today -

you'd need to keep the ceiling price for the area front of mind,

as all these changes cost big bucks.

The guide price for this house was £35,000.

It's time to talk figures and floor plans with a local property expert.

The property at the moment stands in a good position

with the layout of the kitchen-dining room area

and the living room.

The first-floor layout I don't think is suitable at the moment.

Moving the bathroom into one of the bedrooms would certainly create

a much better layout,

but it would also change the value of the property.

So if the layout was left as is

but the property renovated throughout,

how much could it then sell for?

In the current market conditions, I would look to say the resale value

of this property would be between £60,000-£65,000,

if it was done to an exceptional standard.

He suggested this would dip to between 50,000 and 55,000

if the bathroom were moved into the smaller of the current bedrooms.

This may be a better property to invest in long term,

which begs the question,

how would the two scenarios play out on the rental market?

For the property as a three-bedroomed,

you would look to achieve about £400-450 per calendar month.

As a possible two-bed with reformatting the upstairs layout,

I would say 350-375 per calendar month.

Well, it's a lot of house for the money,

and keep your costs relatively low on the renovation,

and you would end up with a cracking little house

that could deliver you a fantastic rental yield

or be a lovely place to live.

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

Good size, mid-terrace.

Do I have 35 anywhere?

35,000.

How about 33?

No bids at 33,000?

I'll go as low as 31.

I have to feed my kids tonight. 31,000, anyone?

31,000 bid. Gentleman standing at 31,000.

32. Sorry, hold your hand up. 32,000 bid.

33. 33 bid.

34?

34 bid. 35?

35 bid. 36.

36 sitting down.

37.

38. 39.

40. 41.

42.

Gentleman's bid at 41,000 standing. I'll take 500. 41 and a half.

No? Gentleman standing at £41,000.

Do I have 41 and a half anywhere else?

I'm here and I'm selling at 41,000. 500?

No? I'm selling once at 41,000.

I'm selling for the second time at £41,000.

Gentleman standing at 41,000.

The hammer fell at £41,000 for Andrew, who hails from Durham,

some 50 minutes away from his new purchase.

Andrew's an assistant engineer

for the county council's highways department.

MUSIC: "Stand And Deliver" by Adam And The Ants

This is his second investment property and he went to the auction

with chum Jamie, who will also be helping with the renovation work.

But how did Andrew find his first auction experience?

-Andrew, good to meet you.

-Good to meet you too, Martin.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

Tell me why you wanted to buy the house.

Well, if I'm honest, when I was at the auction,

I was actually looking for another property.

-Oh.

-Which was actually withdrawn when I got that far.

-Ah.

So I had a bit of a panic on, thinking, "I've come all this way,

"I'm looking to invest in something. What can I do?"

Fortunately, we had a look through the catalogue.

This property stood out because it's in Blyth,

an area that my friend, Jamie, is familiar with,

and he was with me at the time and I said, "What do you think?"

We managed to phone his dad and he looked it up on the internet

and was able to give us some good feedback and said,

"If you can get it for the right price, go for it," so we did.

Let me just get the timescale of this right -

Jamie, your friend, phoned his dad when?

While we were sitting waiting for the auction to begin.

-So had you seen the property beforehand?

-No.

Had you read the legal pack?

Yes, we did. We were advised to do that.

We spoke to the solicitors that were there who I then went on

-and employed to do the legal work for me for the purchase.

-Ah, OK.

-So it worked out all right.

-Yeah, it worked out in the end.

Bit "fly by the seat of your pants-y", isn't it?

Just a little bit, but, you know...

What's life if you don't take a risk now and again?

But to keep any further risks low,

Andrew wants to bring this project in for £50,000,

making his budget for the work 9,000.

So it's unlikely he'll be able to factor in moving the bathroom.

As well as property renovating

and working full-time as an engineer,

Andrew's a motorbike enthusiast.

He has seven of them and renovates classic cars.

With Andrew's hands full,

Jamie's going to be on hand to oversee the work here and take on

a lot of the minor jobs while bringing experts in for the rest.

With a three to four-month timescale,

where are they going to start?

The first job we need to do is address the windows and doors,

cos they're a bit of a nightmare.

On top of that, we're probably going to decorate throughout.

New carpet, the kitchen needs updating, so put a new kitchen in

and just give it a good lick of paint

and hopefully see a good result at the end.

And some of the more structural things,

like the roof and things like that?

The roof, we're going to get somebody in to have a look at

and get a quote for how much it's going to cost to possibly repair

-or, if needs be, replace.

-Ooh.

Ooh, yes. So hopefully it's not going to be too much, as we have a...

Not a tight budget but we have a budget

that I want to try and stick to if I possibly can.

-Listen, congratulations. Good luck with it.

-Excellent.

-We look forward to seeing how it turns out.

-Thanks a lot.

Well, buying a property that you've seen for the first time

at the auction and only via the auction catalogue

is not to be recommended,

but at least Andrew did read the legal pack

and, it seems, with his friend Jamie's help,

he's all revved up and ready to go to sort this place out.

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

Well, the clock has been ticking

and work should be well under way on those properties.

Have the piles of bricks, the bags of cement gone?

Has the paint even dried on the walls?

Time to go back and find out.

We've returned to Chaddesden in Derby.

This popular residential area

houses a three-bedroom semi-detached in need of some TLC.

The first thing I noticed was the odd living room layout.

But what do you think's in here?

Hmm? Hmm? Hmm? Hmm?

You're wrong, it was a bathroom.

Sold at 65,000. Thank you.

..to Ian and Nicola who had returned from Malta,

where they already had been developing new builds.

Nicola and Ian certainly had their work cut out with this house -

the kitchen was riddled with damp, thanks to a flat roof,

and it wasn't much better upstairs,

and they had, thanks to a planned trip to Malta,

only seven weeks to turn it around.

Well, seven MONTHS later,

Nicola has returned from her home in Malta to review progress.

Well, since we bought the property, we started gutting it.

Then we went away - we went away for about two-and-a-half months,

so basically, the whole of summer.

We sort of left it be after gutting it,

then when we returned, em...yeah, we started back on it again.

Main jobs we've had to do, starting with the roof, the water,

cos there was - as you saw - plenty of damp everywhere.

We had some builders in and we had some people to have a look at it

and it seemed that there were was some - is it pointing? - on the roof.

The kitchen was absolutely horrendous, wasn't it?

It was all damp and we've had a whole new roof

and we've insulated all the kitchen.

We ripped the bathroom out completely and had a new bathroom.

I love the pink toilet seat. I originally bought it for myself.

My daughter loved it as well.

Didn't go too well with the other half,

so...it's ended up here for someone else to appreciate.

It would appear that Ian and Nicola's plans

for a developing future in the UK has been a flash in the pan.

With the job only half done, have they had a change of heart?

Yeah, then we came to a stage where we had an opportunity abroad,

so we then had to make a decision whether we were going to finish it,

as we originally planned, and sell it,

or perhaps put it back in auction for a quick sale.

So we've gone for the quick sale.

# Well, I guess you must have had a change of heart. #

I've had to make some decisions on where to stop

and we took some advice, obviously, from the auctioneer

at what would improve the cost and what wouldn't

and where we could stop on that.

So...yeah, the whole outside was painted and the cladding.

We decided to leave it there.

Nicola hopes flipping it back to the auction

could realise a sale price of £80,000.

We've spent around three, maybe three-and-a-half so far.

Em...I know I had a bigger budget in my mind,

but I think I would have to spend quite a bit more to finish it,

so, bearing in mind we've not finished it,

we've spent about 3,500, quite happy with that.

Em...it might be just a little bit more,

cos I've still got to finish off with the painting and things, so maybe a little bit more.

But, yeah - we'll probably finish around 3,500.

Well, this is very unusual.

What will two local property experts think

of this part-finished project?

There's still an awful lot to do

to make it presentable for resale, or even for rent.

I sort of sense that we're in-between -

something's being done,

but there's a lot of things that haven't been done, somehow.

I mean, there's good reason for that, I'm sure,

but it would appear to me that there's very little been achieved,

other than probably some plastering, decorating

and a new bathroom, of course, but that's about as far as it goes.

There is a question mark

over whether or not the house is of standard construction.

There is a whole host of definitions of "non-standard" -

in this case, Nicola has discovered her house is made of brick,

but still hasn't had a survey.

If the house is non-standard,

it could be more difficult to get a mortgage.

If it is standard, all is well.

Obviously, all of this has an effect on the valuation,

so what if it is standard construction?

Taking into consideration the work to be done,

if this was completely finished, I would expect a sale price

of around £110,000-£115,000.

And if it's non-standard?

I think it wouldn't have a value in excess of £95,000.

And that's simply because the market has been narrowed down

by the fact that it's difficult to mortgage.

It all goes to show, it's very, very important

to get a surveyor to tell you what's what.

OK, there is still tonnes to do to this property

and Nicola and Ian hope to sell it on for £80,000,

which would give them a profit of over £11,000,

minus taxes and expenses.

Question is, if they do manage to flip it at auction,

will the next investor see a profit here?

If they bought it for the £80,000

and did a modest refurbishment for, say, £10,000,

then on those valuations, there could be a possible loss.

Sounds quite risky.

Would an investment to produce rental income work, though?

Every property is rentable -

you've just got to get the price right.

I would suggest a rental price of between £475 and £495pcm.

For the rental market, clearly, you've got to finish it off,

you've got to put in a working kitchen and make it presentable.

Assuming that to be the case, it would have a rental value

of between £475 and £500pcm.

Well, that's better. On the same assumptions of spend,

this could generate a yield of just over 6% -

respectable enough,

as is Nicola and Ian's possible profit of £11,500,

minus taxes and expenses, of course.

We'll finish this place off, we'll pop it auction.

If it sells, very good - we'll say goodbye to this,

hopefully start a new project abroad, if not, maybe something here.

Earlier, I was in the lovely port town of Blythe in Northumberland.

Just a stone's throw from its gorgeous, long stretch of beach,

in one of its residential streets,

is this three-bedroomed terrace,

which mostly just needed some care and attention.

Enter Andrew, a full-time engineer from Durham,

who was at the auction with his friend Jamie,

who was going to help him with the work.

And while he got a pat on the back for reading the legal pack,

he did commit another auction no-no

by purchasing a property he'd never viewed.

When I was at the auction,

-I was actually looking for another property...

-Ooh.

-..which was actually withdrawn when I got that far.

-Ah.

So had a bit of a panic on, thinking "I've come all this way.

"I'm looking to invest in something - what can I do?"

-So, had you seen the property beforehand?

-No.

A bit fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants, innit?

Just a little bit, but you know...

MARTIN LAUGHS

What's life if you don't take a risk now and again?

Andrew might not mind taking a risk,

but he also had his friend Jamie to help with the work.

Four months after I first met Andrew,

let's see what they've done.

There's still some bits and pieces to clean up and finish off,

but down here is looking a lot better,

and much less "Blue Peter."

The original features have been maintained,

which I always love to see.

The main problem with this property, though,

was that there was only one bathroom and it was accessed via a bedroom.

Has that seen any changes?

Well, if you remember, this was the en-suite bathroom

that also doubled as a family bathroom.

The only way to access it, of course, was through the master bedroom.

Obviously needs to be finished off, but in our developments,

it's all changed now.

# Ch-ch-ch-changes

# Turn and face the strains

# Ch-ch-changes... #

And here we have the newly created bedroom,

within the master bedroom, being created with two stud walls,

giving shared access to the bathroom,

so any family that comes here has a definite three-bedroom property

and everyone has access to the bathroom

and I am very pleased with the end result.

And I can see why -

I wasn't sure about sacrificing the space to make a corridor,

but on balance, this is a good solution

to the bathroom conundrum.

So, how did that £9,000 budget cope with all these changes?

The £9,000 budget, I believe,

was probably a little bit conservative, if I'm honest.

A few expenses I was hoping would be cheaper weren't, such as the kitchen,

and the end of the day, I have actually spent £11,800.

So I've gone nearly 30% over budget.

I'm still impressed - for that money,

he's installed new doors, double-glazing, the roof...

Remember we could see daylight peeping through the last time?

# To my surprise

# And my daylight... #

And the property has been plastered, painted and carpeted,

although it wasn't Andrew who was hands-on,

getting this place turned around.

Since you were last here, the decision had been

that I was going to do some of the work to help Jamie,

but as it's turned out, due to my commitments,

I've done, if I'm honest, nothing.

All the work has been done and managed by Jamie

cos he's been able to do all the work and I've been able to just sit back, relax and let him get on with it.

Nice work if you can get it!

But Andrew did call in the experts to fix the roof,

install the windows and doors

and do the plastering and carpets.

It really was a lot of work to get done

in what's only gone slightly over

Andrew's original three to four-month timescale.

Has he learned any valuable lessons, doing up his first auction property?

One of the things I have learned, when I go into doing my next project,

is to maybe have a stock of parts and screws and bits and pieces,

cos the one thing Jamie's complained about

is the number of times he's had to go backwards and forwards

to various shops to get the bits and pieces we need.

It'd be much better if we had a stock of our own parts

in the back of the truck so we can just work straight from there.

Sounds like he's already thinking ahead to his next renovation.

First, though, we've invited two local property experts

to have a look at the house,

starting with the one who viewed it

when we were here previously.

Since I was last at the property, it has improved significantly,

with restoration work to the kitchen.

The bedroom has been moved to accommodate a bathroom, now,

so we're keeping it to a three-bed,

which I feel will be appealing to a first-time buyer market.

It's a lovely, bright property.

It's a blank canvas for a first-time buyer.

Lovely, light carpets, light walls, modern kitchen and bathroom.

Well-designed and it'll be a very popular house.

So, they both seem impressed

with what's been done here to improve the property,

but how would the finances fare?

Remember, Andrew's total spend on the purchase and the work

is £52,800.

What could he charge if he puts it on the rental market?

In the rental market, I would look to rent this property

for around £475pcm, or close to that mark.

I would love to achieve, on this property,

a rental value of £475pcm.

I was expecting £350-£400,

but to hear it's 475, that's a big improvement.

Andrew did exactly the right thing in keeping those three bedrooms

and it would give him a great yield of nearly 11%.

But Andrew is only going to look into renting

if he can't sell the property.

Let's find out what the agents would market it for, sale-wise.

If this property was to be put onto the open market,

I would look to put it on to achieve between £60,000 and £65,000.

I would be confident to achieve

between £65,000-£70,000 for this property.

The bottom valuation of 60 would mean a respectable profit

of just over £7,000,

while that top valuation of 70,000 could give him 17 grand,

all minus the usual fees and taxes, of course.

Wow! That's really good.

That's round about the ballpark I was hoping for,

cos it gives me a nice, comfortable profit margin

which means I can move on to my next project.

Well, that's it for today.

Join us next time, when we meet more brave auction buyers

trying to make a bit of money on property

or possibly just trying to find a place to live.

-We'll see you next time.

-Goodbye.

-Bye.