Episode 53 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello. Sometimes the property market is extremely competitive.

Other times, it's, well, slow.

But either way, you've got to know where to get a bargain.

So what's our advice?

Well, do as much research as you can, then set a limit and stick to it.

And one place you can kind of move things in your favour

is visit your local property auction.

Buying at auction is increasingly popular.

Not surprising when you consider how long-winded buying by other means can be.

So when the hammer falls, you've exchanged contracts.

What did the buyers buy on today's show?

On the Kent coast, a former fancy dress shop has a blessing in disguise.

Planning permission to turn this space into five flats.

There's no disguising a first-class opportunity on Cumbria's West Coast.

It has actually got outline planning permission for the creation of a single dwelling.

And there is no attempt to disguise the plumbing

in this Staffordshire two bed mid-terrace.

Possibly water, possibly even worse - gas.

Just floating there.

All of these properties have been sold at auction.

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

when they went under the hammer.

Folkestone in Kent on the south-east coast

has undergone a great deal of regeneration.

Most of Folkestone's town centre has been pedestrianised

and a cafe culture is certainly growing here.

The lot I'm here to see today is extremely central

and could not be more convenient for all those lovely coffee shops,

which means it's an area ripe for similar regeneration.

Promising.

Now the property itself is this.

It's a grand, tall, four-storey building with a shop

on the ground floor and a guide price of just £80,000 to £85,000.

So let's start from the bottom up. Shop first? In we go.

My first impressions, it is huge.

There is plenty of floor space and that is brilliant.

Now, I know this used to be a fancy dress shop at one

point in its life, so we are talking A1 shop usage.

So it could become a clothes shop, a toy shop,

any kind of shop really or even a post office.

It could be an undertakers, a dry cleaners.

Just not somewhere that serves food or deals with financial services.

So it's certainly got the space, it's got options.

Let's go upstairs and look further.

Yes, it's a big space, but I'm not sure that retail is the answer here.

I think I would certainly look to see

if I could get a change of use from commercial to residential,

which is more in line with the rest of the building.

However, if it was to remain a shop, the good news

is that there is a separate access to the upper floors.

And judging by the size of the building, there's going to be lots of space.

But the crumbling facade does suggest that some work might be needed.

Well, the condition of the floors above is not great.

The ceilings are coming down.

I would want to find out whether that is due to lots of rain water coming in from the roof.

So there is clearly work to do.

But there's lots of square footage to work with also.

Now, here is where I should tell you that in fact this property

came with planning permission to turn this space on the upper

levels into five flats, which is fantastic news.

You've got two on the first floor,

there's going to be two on the second floor and one on the top floor.

All of them one-bedders.

This really is exciting news and makes this whole building just come to life.

# I'm so excited

# I'm so excited

# I know exactly what I'm going to do

# Let's get excited.

# I'm so excited

# I'm a detective I'm all over you. #

There's certainly a lot of rooms, a lot of stairs

and a lot of square footage here.

But also, a lot of repair work to do first.

Well, you've got to get the fabric of the building in order

before you can even start considering converting this

four-storey property into five flats.

So one of the flats will be at the rear of the second floor here

and it will be created in an extension out the back there.

But this area here will be flat number three.

Now, it's hard to tell from these empty rooms

what these flats are going to look like and feel like

when they are finished, but according to the plans passed,

this area is going to be the bathroom.

Over here is going to be the bedroom.

So you've got an internal bathroom, which is going to really work,

I think. It's a reasonable size.

It's not massive, but it will be fine,

this flat, because through here to the front room, look!

You've got those amazing big, high windows. All the light coming in.

And this will be your kitchen, living,

dining space with a kitchen on the back wall.

You've got space for a sofa here.

All the flats have got this open plan kitchen space, which is fine.

But you might want to bear in mind, this will be

the biggest of the proposed flats out of all of them.

All in all though, five flats, planning passed,

commercial space to rent out on the ground floor.

It's got my developer senses tingling!

# I'm so excited

# I'm a detective I'm all over you. #

But before you crack on and do anything here, you have to

check out the property prices in the local area.

Does converting this huge building into flats make financial sense?

We asked along a local estate agent to give us his verdict.

First off, what about the ground floor commercial unit, the shop?

The commercial unit will be difficult to rent because there is not a lot of demand.

It would be a owner buyer, I would think.

You wouldn't buy to let this shop, I don't think.

Well, that's not great news about the shop,

but then these are difficult economic times for retail.

What about the rest of the building and the plans that have been passed?

The layout for this building on the plans is for five one-bedroom

flats and for the sort of demand in this town, I think

that's the best way they could use this particular building.

So, financially, how would it stack up?

What rent could you achieve per flat?

Rental for a one-bedroom flat in this particular

area would be in the region of £400 to £450 per calendar month.

And what about sale value per flat?

A one-bedroom flat in this area would be in the region of £60,000 to £65,000, top end.

So altogether, that's between £300,000 and £325,000

if you sold all five flats and a potential rental

income of between £2,000 and £2,255 per month if you let them all out.

A lot of people have faith in Folkestone as a place to invest and with good reason.

And this is an impressive building in a central location with

planning in place to potentially make you some money.

Let's see who went for it at the auction.

The last lot today is Lot 67.

It's the four-storey town centre property you can see there.

Planning consent for conversion

and extension of the upper parts to give you five self-contained flats.

And with the shop as well. Start me at 75 then. 75. In the back at 75.

75. And 78. 78, sitting down. And 80. It's against you at the back.

At 80, it's with you. And two. 82. 82. And four.

So despite a quiet auction room, the lot had started a bidding war

and we rejoin with bids at £100,000.

And 100. And two. And four. And six.

And eight. And 10. And 12. 14. 116.

And 18 again. 116 with you. 118. It's against both of you. 118,000.

Otherwise, for the first time again at £116,000.

Make no mistake, it's the lady in front.

For the first time. At £116,000 for the second time.

If you are sure you're all done.

116 for the third and final time. That is yours for 116.

Regular viewers may recognise Deborah, who got the property for 116,000,

because we've met her before on Homes Under The Hammer.

She works for clients abroad as well as at home to help them

build profitable portfolios.

# I'm back for more

# I'm back for more. #

-Deborah, lovely to meet you again.

-Likewise.

The last time we met you had just bought a funeral parlour.

-In fact, my first one on Homes Under The Hammer.

-That's right.

And you are back for more.

Are you still investing on behalf of other people

because that is what you were doing the last time we met?

-That's right.

-So you actually spot these properties for your investors.

-You sort of go house shopping for them.

-Yes.

That's exactly what I do on quite a large scale.

Deborah has built up a team of builders

and together they will come in and strip the building back to a shell.

Leaking roofs, damp, old electrics, plumbing,

all gets sorted in the course of the work.

So she was never worried about the building's current condition.

With this one, what is it that made it worth buying on auction day?

The fact that we can fit five properties into this building

is a big bonus.

Two of them are going to have roof terraces and one of them

has also got a possible glass dome kitchen, which would make it

really modern and trendy.

And yet they are still going to be resold at a reasonable price.

So the maths is right on it.

So you're looking at converting into five flats.

What about the ground floor unit, which is obviously a shop front?

What we were thinking was that the ground floor could be

a sort of designer lounge, kitchen, living area for flat two,

which is going to go on the first level at the back.

So that would make a one bed flat into a good-sized two-bedroom

flat with a very interesting kitchen diner.

So that's if you do get planning permission to convert that.

What if you don't get planning permission to convert that?

You will have to use that as a commercial premises, a retail area.

Yes. Well, if we don't get planning we will be disappointed

because I think there's no mileage in it as a commercial venture.

But in the maths, the whole structure of the project has

allowed for that to be written off if we need to write it off.

So that is just your little bonus, your little cherry.

-If you get permission for that, ching, ching!

-That's right.

It would be very nice to add to the profits in that way.

But if we don't, it's not the end of the world.

Deborah has a timescale of ten months

and a budget of 240,000 for the five flats.

Plus more if they get planning permission to do the rest.

How do you get the time to do your research,

to get the planning before it's even gone through?

I mean, you really are very ahead of the game.

I make sure a lot is done before the purchase

because it is too late afterwards so everything is done up front

and everything is in the buying and the maths.

-And if you get that right, the rest should follow.

-Deborah, good luck.

I can't wait to see what this property is like

when it's finished and I hope you get permission for the ground floor.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

Debbie is experienced, competent, calm and in control.

I can't actually see this place giving her many problems.

But will she get planning permission to convert that ground-floor

shop into another flat? Will that really be the cherry on the cake?

You can find out what happens later on in the programme.

So, here is a truly fantastic pub quiz question.

Where does the timing signal that coordinates the pips,

as in the beep, beep, beep, where does that come from?

First guess? Greenwich? Wrong.

If you are being clever, Rugby?

Well, you were right until a few years ago.

But now it's actually a little village in Cumbria.

The village of Anthorn to be precise.

13 miles north of Carlisle on the Solway Firth.

So the transmitting station here is the nation's reference clock.

Who would have thought?

# This is radio nowhere

# Is there anybody alive out there? #

So, what was on offer at the auction?

Well, a really interesting opportunity

right on the edge of the village.

It's this former post office and store, complete with its own

letter box and a telephone box

and a guide price of £10,000 £15,000.

Let's have a look.

# Oh, yes, wait a minute, Mr Postman

# Wa-a-a-a-a-it, Mr Postman... #

So what have we got? A squeaky door for a start.

Basically, it's one little building really, with a big area here.

An area in front of the post office counter there.

You've got that room towards the back.

A little anteroom there with the kitchen area and a loo.

This is obviously where the shop and the post office was.

And that's basically it.

That's me done, really!

Especially as I'm doing my best not to make any postage related puns in my delivery.

Oh, sorry!

When this post office, like many, faced closure,

not even its additional outlet as a sweet shop could save it, echoing

all over the country the fate of many small village businesses.

The good news is that even if you have no use for a defunct post office come sweet shop,

you will undoubtedly have use for the services.

Mains water, sewerage and electricity are all on site.

So what to do with it?

Well, I am trying desperately hard not to make any post office or postage puns.

It's not easy, I tell you.

But anyway, what could you perhaps do with this place?

The other thing you could do is utilise the fact that it has

actually got outlined planning permission for the creation of a single dwelling.

There are a few stipulations about the finish and where the gable end needs to be,

but pretty much, you could design something to your own requirements.

That would be nice. Certainly this will rural location works.

Either way, I do think it could be a first-class opportunity.

Darn it!

Having punned for so long, it's difficult for me to counter the tenancy.

So, here's the outside delivered at face value.

Oh, you see, I just can't stamp it out!

And it's true, old habits die hard, to be frank. Oh!

I just wish this rain would stop.

That's better.

So what would a detached house sell for

on the open market in this village?

We asked a local estate agent along to tell us.

It would be difficult to put a certain value on this property

as it is dependent on what the purchaser eventually does with it.

However, if they were to build a two-storey detached property

with a garden, you could look for somewhere in the region of £150,000.

If the purchaser was to demolish the shop

and build a residential dwelling, they could look to

bring in a rental value in the region of £300 to £400 per calendar month.

With demolition very much on the cards, what would somebody

pay for the privilege to get this small parcel of land?

Let's find out what happened when it went under the hammer.

We are on to Lot 31 in Anthorn.

This is approximately a 21 by ten metre building plot

that has got outlined planning permission.

Anybody at ten for this?

£10,000 seated. We are away. At ten in the room. I will take it in ones.

11 on the phone. 12, may I see?

12, I've got. 13. It's against the phone. It's with you madam at 12.

13 on the phone. 14 back to you. And 15, may I see?

At £14,000, I am bid.

14 and a half on the phone. 15. And a half.

At 15 I'm bid, seated. At £15,000. It's against the phone now.

It's with the madam at £15,000.

15 and a half on the phone.

16, madam. At £16,000, madam. First time. 16.

Second time. 16. Third and final time. Sold to you.

The successful bidder of £16,000, hidden from view, was retired journalist, Lucilla,

who was accompanied by her partner of nine years, Richard, who is a sheep farmer.

I met them back at the former post office to discover their plans.

-Lucilla, Richard, lovely to meet you both. Congratulations.

-Thank you.

Well, this is interesting. Tell me why you wanted to buy it.

Because I am looking for a house for my old age.

I mean, my extreme old age.

I live with Richard up the road

and if he pops his clogs before I do, I need somewhere to live.

-This is all pretty cheerful!

-She thinks I'm going to die first!

-Really?

-Apparently so.

-No, it's an insurance.

I have a little house which I am selling.

It needs a bit of work

and it's not in a good situation to be a very old person in.

It's not on a bus route,

it doesn't have good internet access and those kind of things.

And I was looking for the best way with a limited amount of money

to create a nice little house.

So this is a chance for you to design something that will suit you to the ground.

-Hopefully, yes.

-And what will go in its place?

-Do you have any idea at this point?

-I think probably a dormer bungalow.

I would like it to be as green as possible.

-I'm thinking about ground source heat.

-Excellent.

-And water...

-And recycling water.

Recycling water and maybe solar panels. That kind of thing.

So what's the sort of build cost, your budget for doing all this?

I'm hoping that including the cost of the site and the building,

-that I can do the lot under £100,000.

-Right.

-It depends how big the bungalow is, I suppose.

-Yes.

-How many bedrooms?

-Two.

So one of the advantages of course at the moment is it has got outline planning permission.

Are you going to stick pretty much to what's been

suggested in terms of outline?

Well, I would like to turn it and face it, you know, to face itself

-so it gets a lot more sun.

-Right.

-Because at the moment, the gable end faces the road, doesn't it?

-Yes.

I mean, initially I thought it would be nice to build it that way.

It is a wild flower meadow, that field.

It is really nice in the summer and it goes up a hill.

I thought it would be quite nice to have French windows and things out there.

-But Richard has persuaded me that it's better to have the sun.

-Right.

-You know, on the front.

-Well, that's what I think.

What do the rest of the family think of your plans?

I think they're all quite interested.

-So what is the timescale for all of this?

-No rush!

I can see why you say that! Make it slow!

-I'm hoping a couple of years.

-OK.

That's a relaxed timescale by most standards.

But I really admire her practical approach to

moving from the family home and looking ahead to a new

greener way of living in her purpose-built bungalow.

If you think about what you can get for £100,000 on the market,

you probably wouldn't get a really nice, you know, neat,

insulated, cheap to run house.

No, absolutely. In a lovely location.

-Yes.

-With beautiful views.

Yes, there is no denying it is a great location.

It's been classified as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

and Lucilla's eco-friendly intentions are shared by Richard.

He is a conservationist

and is licensed to look after a rare species in these parts - natterjack toads.

We discovered them by chance, yes, when was it?

About 30 years ago. We have been looking after them ever since.

We've expanded the range of the toads considerably.

They have a lot of territory around here now, whereas before they were all in one place.

What's the difference between a natterjack toad and a normal told?

The easiest distinguishing feature is that the natterjack toad has a gold stripe down its back.

Oh, wow. Well, it's been fascinating to meet you both and hear the story.

-I really wish you all the best with it.

-Thank you.

-And you Richard.

I think we'll need it.

Well, I've heard some interesting reasons for wanting to build a house

in my time but that is certainly up there with the more unusual.

But how will Lucilla and Richard get on designing and building this place?

Will Lucilla manage to put his stamp on it?

You can find out a little later in the show.

Still to come - Doing things by half has me stumped in Stoke.

Let's see what it's got to show us.

And in Anthorn, Cumbria, Lucilla's eco-friendly dream

is delayed by planning problems.

Now back to central Folkestone in Kent where this four-storey

mid-terraced building was bought for 116,000 by Deborah

on behalf of investor client.

There were big plans to convert it into five one-bedroom flats

and if planning approval was granted, to make one of them a large two-bedroom flat.

So you are looking at converting it into five flats.

What about the ground floor unit which is obviously a shop front?

What we were thinking was that the ground floor could be

a sort of designer lounge, kitchen, living area for flat two,

which is going to go on the first level at the back.

So that would make a one bed flat into a good-sized two-bedroom

flat with a very interesting kitchen diner.

That's if you do get planning permission to convert that.

What if you don't get planning permission to convert that?

You will have to use that as a commercial premises, a retail area.

Yes. If we don't get planning, we will be disappointed

because I think there is no mileage in it as a commercial venture.

But we have in the maths, the whole structure of the project

has allowed for that to be written off if we need to write it off.

Deborah's building team were facing a mammoth task in making

the fabric of the building sound before they could even start

with the flat conversions.

Ten months had been the planned timescale.

13 months later, we're back to see if Deborah has got it all sorted.

# You can have it all

# So come on

# So come on

# Get it on... #

Flat one on the first floor is the largest flat.

Perhaps its most attractive feature can be found

at the rear of the en-suite bedroom.

A fantastic sun trap.

# Shine

# Let it shine. #

On to flat two.

# Stop. #

Also on the first floor, it has a reasonable sized living area,

including a kitchen diner.

And it doesn't end there.

# You only have to open your eyes

# You might just get a big surprise. #

Its own outside area.

And that's not the only thing in common with flat one.

It too is one bedroomed.

Up now to the second floor and flat three.

# You can have it all

# So come on, oh come on

# Get it on

# I don't know what you're waiting for

# Your time is coming Don't be late. #

There are rooftop views from the kitchen

and ceiling windows to let the daylight...

# Shine

# Let it shine. #

Flat four is also on the second floor. Look familiar?

That's because the layout is the same as flat one without the outside space.

On the top floor, the penthouse.

# Let me show you Let me show you. #

With finishing touches just being applied to the kitchen units,

it has a feature fireplace moved from a different part of the building.

Its internal bathroom is just that with one of the few

baths in the block and rooftop views across Folkestone.

Deborah and her investor are now ready to capitalise on their investment,

but there is no shop conversion.

In relation to the shops in this area, the council really want

to hang on to them. We found this out after we bought it.

There is a lot of money going into this area

and a lot of regeneration plans so the council, quite rightly so,

are very keen to hold on to any commercial units.

So we didn't put a planning application in

because it would have been a complete waste of time, really, and we put the shop on the market.

But generally, the people who are interested in buying the shop would want accommodation with it.

So, really, we have waited until all the flats are done

until we are seriously going to try and sell it.

The plan of demolishing part of the rear structure needed a more strategic solution.

Something we really had to think about quite carefully was

the removal of rubble from this back building that be demolished.

Over the back wall here, we've got the supermarket

and their car park and it probably would have been ideal for us

if we could have put the skip there and chucked it over the wall.

But that wasn't so ideal for the supermarket

so the waste had to be brought through the building to the

front and put in a big container out there that was on the road.

We also had scaffolding up.

That wasn't particularly an issue

but it does get quite busy around here so you have to be quite careful.

There are lots of things to think about in relation to

safety of pedestrians walking underneath,

especially if you are chucking out large concrete blocks.

So that side of things, the ripping out, we did have to plan for.

Deborah put her three month over-run down to the complications

of a large multistorey building and its plans, but it didn't have a

massive impact on her budget, which rose from £240,000 to £250,000.

Deborah wants to sell,

so we called in two local estate agents to give us their opinions.

I should imagine any agent would love the commission on this number of flats.

Deborah's investor, Tony, came along, too.

They have done a great job. A good build, nice finishes.

I'm very impressed from what I saw 11 months ago,

which was somewhat of a disaster. This is wonderful.

Yes, excellent. Really nice throughout.

Very fresh, bright and airy.

The fixtures and fittings are a really nice high standard.

Yes, it should sell quite quickly.

The purchase price was 116,000 and the renovations have

cost £250,000, bringing the total investment to £366,000.

What resale prices do the agents think the flats will fetch

and will Deborah have made Tony a handsome profit?

I would say if these flats were put on the market for sale now,

they would range from around £70,000 to £80,000.

Obviously, the ones with the terraces would be at the upper end.

With the top floor apartment, which is the smallest,

I would value that in the region of £75,000.

Then, the one bed first-floor terraced apartment,

I would value in the region of £95,000.

The agent who gave the lower valuations feels this area

isn't quite regenerated sufficiently yet to warrant higher values.

These lower values give a total of 380,000.

But the other agent's high valuations total 425,000,

which would mean a profit of £59,000 minus taxes and expenses.

But what does investor Tony think of that?

The first valuation is a little on the low side from what we thought.

The other one is more or less in line. So we're not too far out.

It is not too much different.

Not forgetting the shop,

where agents valuations range from £70,000 to £100,000.

Yes, it could make the difference between a profit on this property

being mediocre to the profit being very attractive.

So it remains to be seen.

It still works without the shop but it works a lot better

if the shop comes in at that sort of valuation for sure.

An additional £100,000 to the total would certainly make things

very attractive indeed.

So was this a good experience for Tony?

Yes. I think Debbie has learned to put up with me!

It has been fun, hasn't it?

I'm sure we will be doing more in the years to come.

Over to Burslem now, commonly known as the mother town of The Potteries.

It's one of six that make up Stoke-on-Trent.

Burslem has historical links to pottery,

mining and working canal barges.

A couple of minutes' walk from the local shops and a mile

from the local train station is the property I am here to see.

A classic two-bed mid-terrace. A guide price of £49,000-plus.

Let's see what it's got to show us.

Well, that's a first! What is the point of that?

There must be a way of...

Who would...? Why?

I mean... Excuse me Mr door-designing person,

why on earth would you design something like that?

What is the point of a door that opens halfway that no normal

sized person could actually get through? Ridiculous!

They have probably sold it as some additional bonus.

It's like, "Look, buy a door you can't actually get through.

"Save energy by not letting as much air out."

I don't know. Completely bonkers. Anyway, rant over.

Into the living room and it's not bad. Reasonable-sized ceilings.

I mean, you know, this is always going to be what it is,

which is a two-up, two-down terrace in a northern industrial town,

built for the workers and served that purpose really well indeed.

Two-up, two-down was how it would have originally been

so two rooms down here and two bedrooms upstairs.

And a nice additional bit of space created by the way that under stairs has been sorted.

Then, as so often happens with these kinds of properties,

somebody has extended on to the back.

This would have just been a little courtyard area at the back

but it has been built on to create single-storey extension housing.

The kitchen and then through there to the loo.

That is the only loo and bathroom in the property.

In other parts of the country, perhaps that might be an issue.

Around here, it's pretty much what people expect, so it's not a big problem.

The kitchen, though, is so in need of some updating

and these things on the wall, just in case you were wondering,

it's not lino, it's actually individual tiles.

Somebody has gone to a lot of trouble to get it looking like that.

Not the height of fashion nowadays, and removing them will be

just as hard work as putting them up was.

Let's hope the tiles don't continue upstairs.

So upstairs and two half-decent sized bedrooms. Very classic layout.

But while you're up here, take a look out the window and you get

a chance to see the state of the roof of that extension and

as you can see, the ridge looks to me like it needs a bit of attention.

The building itself looks relatively new as does the roof,

but just that top bit definitely needs sorting out.

If water got in there it would cause a few problems.

So a great vantage point just to check things out.

# Check-check-check-check it out

# What-what-what's it all about. #

Even with a relatively low guide price of £49,000,

roofs and especially leaks must be checked out.

And there are more joys to behold on the other part of this house,

not least the plumbing.

Well, up here on the mini landing in between the two bedrooms,

another DIY design classic.

As you can see, a pipe, possibly water, possibly even worse - gas,

just floating there like that.

Ready for somebody to trip over or stand on, or whatever.

Incredible!

# You got it wrong. #

Box it in, re-route it,

just make sure you make it safe for goodness' sake.

Outside, there's a little yard

with a shed that has its own roof problems.

It's all pretty straightforward and could represent a good

investment at that guide price of 49,000.

We asked a local property agent for his opinion.

First impressions of the property is that

although it has been well maintained over the years,

it's just really at the point where it needs refurbishment

and updating, which most new buyers would want to do.

The main thing the property requires is heating,

probably gas central heating.

It does need a new kitchen, new bathroom

and really complete decor throughout the whole property.

Quite a long to-do list then.

In fact, let's face it, it's a total refurbishment.

But when the to-do list is done, what could the property sell for?

Once renovated to a good standard,

I would anticipate a resale value in the region of £70,000 to £75,000.

And what about rental?

Rental income after refurbishment would be in the region of £400 per calendar month.

If this was my property, I think

I would look to refurbish the property and let the property to

provide a reasonable income and then look at it as a long-term investment.

Well, not surprisingly, the first thing I would do

if I bought this house would be to replace the front door.

That would drive me absolutely bonkers.

Apart from that, it's a good, solid little terraced house.

Not particularly exciting, perhaps, but a reasonable home

and a great rental opportunity for someone.

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

A mid-terraced house.

It has double glazing, two reception rooms, two bedrooms.

45 to get it going.

40 then. There, thank you. £40,000.

We'll go in twos.

The bid is at £40,000. 42. 44. 46.

48. 50.

At £50,000, seated right. At £50,000. 52.

No? At £50,000, seated back right then.

I'm selling it at £50,000 for the first time.

£50,000 for the second time.

Third and final time at £50,000

You have bought it, sir. Well done.

# Just the two of us

# We can make it if we try

# Just the two of us.

# Just the two of us... #

The successful bidder was David with £50,000.

Former electrician David

and his wife Annemarie have both recently quit

their careers to become full-time property developers together.

A brave move.

I met them at the property to find out more.

-Annemarie, David, great to meet you both.

-And you.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

-Tell me why you wanted to buy this house here.

We have been looking at properties in the area.

We have kind of done our research,

made a spreadsheet of all the properties in our price range.

Spreadsheet? That sounds terribly well organised.

-It was well organised.

-So how many did you look at?

14, we looked at in the viewing day.

-Wow!

-And at the auction we narrowed it down to eight.

-Right.

What was it like going around so many properties in one day?

Some of them blended into one, really.

Some we weren't able to time the viewing schedules

so we just looked from the outside.

-But this wasn't one of them.

-You did come inside?

-We did come inside.

Gold star for David and Annemarie.

Research is a must when taking on a new project never mind a new career.

The husband-and-wife team are originally from Hertfordshire

but have chosen Stoke for its more affordable housing.

Wise move again.

But what drove them to give up their careers for property development?

-I was a probation officer for London.

-What were you doing?

An electrician for 30 years

but I was a director of an electrical company.

I was a local councillor so I was getting home at seven o'clock,

showered, shaved, back out, meeting and we had no time together.

How recently was this?

-Three months ago.

-Oh, gosh.

Did you both then give up your job within what period of time?

A few weeks of each other.

-So you went from a steady household income...

-Quite a good income.

But there's more to life than money.

-We've got to have quality of life as well.

-Yeah, no, absolutely.

That search for quality of life means that David and Annemarie have

clearly made a brave decision.

I reckon they've chosen a good first project.

They are doing all the right things

but it's certainly going to be a steep learning curve

in the six to eight-week timescale they've set themselves.

Tell me what you're going to do to it.

-Everything, I think.

-Right.

Erm, new kitchen,

not sure if we're going to try and move the bathroom upstairs.

Turn the bathroom into a study.

Check out how much that would add or whatever to the value

because you might find it doesn't actually add a lot.

Central heating.

Central heating, re-plastering, new flooring downstairs.

-There's quite a lot of work.

-No kidding.

Have to ask you about the front door.

Yes, it's tight, isn't it?

The door seems to be the most ridiculous design I've ever seen.

Why would it open halfway? I can't figure it out.

-It will be going.

-Good!

And then, upstairs on the little landing there's a pipe

-that's runs across.

-That's plumbers for you.

The shortest route.

-It's a classic, is in it?

-I've seen loads of them.

-It'll be coming out.

-Good.

So, a long list of jobs but David seems to know what he's doing

and will do a lot of the work himself which should be a money saver.

Speaking of which...

-What's the budget?

-Eight to ten. Hopefully.

David and Annemarie seem a little nervous but that's to be expected.

Choosing a smaller, cheaper property to begin with is a smart move.

What's the idea? Is it to do it up and sell it on or to rent it out?

Well, we were hoping to do it up and sell it

and then move to the next one.

But we have seen some properties in the same area

that seem to be not as worth as much money

as what we thought they were. Ah. So we may rent.

The rental return isn't bad, is it?

-I haven't really looked into it.

-It isn't bad.

-OK.

You could start building up a portfolio of properties and before you know it, you've got ten.

-It's a brave thing you have done.

-Yes!

-What have your friends or family said?

-Some have said mad but...

A lot of good wishes but, yeah.

A bit mad.

Well, you've got to make a success of it and then you can show them.

-Yes, exactly.

-Good look with it.

-Thank you very much.

-Nice to meet you both.

-And you.

-Thank you.

So, Annemarie and David going from being employed

to self-employed and becoming property developers.

Good idea to start small

and at the lower end of the price bracket with this place in Stoke.

How will they get on sorting it out? You can find out later in the show.

We've seen how one of the properties turned out on today's show

but what about the others?

Has all the work be done? Let's find out.

Earlier I was on the west coast of Cumbria

to see the former post office of Anthorn

and meet its new owner, retired journalist, Lucilla,

who bought the '50s shack for £16,000.

Well, this is interesting, tell me why you wanted to buy it.

Because I'm looking for a house for my old age.

I mean, my extreme old age.

I live with Richard at the moment.

If he pops his clogs before I do I need somewhere to live.

-This is all pretty cheerful.

-She thinks I'm going to die first.

-Really?

-No, it's an insurance.

When we first saw the post office with outline planning permission

it was pretty clear that the dilapidated building had to go.

Two years and five months later, it has.

Nearly six months later than planned,

there's the shell of a new building.

# So it's taking the long way home

# Because I don't want to be wasting my time alone....#

But don't panic, Richard hasn't, to borrow Lucilla's words,

popped his clogs just yet.

He's busy looking after his sheep and toads.

The building's footprint is definitely larger

but what caused the major delays with the project?

It took much longer to sell my own house than I thought it would.

In fact, it took probably a year

although I had a buyer from day one.

It took them that long to get a mortgage.

Lucilla also had trouble getting planning permission.

In the 1940s, the village was host to an airbase

and transmitting station known as HMS Nuthatch.

There were concerns Lucilla might be building on land

contaminated with waste from the base.

Eventually, she overcame this unforeseen issue.

All I had to do was provide a statement and a map

showing the layout of the old airfield and that was that.

With planning permission granted,

it took just two days to demolish the old building

and work on the new energy-saving building could begin.

It's made of solid blocks with the insulation on the outside,

covered by a metal mesh and then rendered.

This makes the blocks act like a storage heater.

I'm having underfloor heating

and apparently you need very little input of heat of any sort,

whatever sort of heat you have, you need very little of it.

With no gas in the village, Lucilla has opted for electric heating

of the floors plus a wood burning stove.

The solar panels will also help with the economy of the building

but the delays must have had an impact on the budget.

I've never known building materials to get cheaper as time goes on.

I had thought perhaps in the region of 100,000.

But I can see now that was unrealistic.

I've already spent 85,000...

That's everything from the very, very start to now.

Every last little thing has been logged down at 85,000

but as you can see I've still got quite a long way to go.

So, more realistically, and this is clawing back

on some of my original plans and ideas, probably 130.

When Lucilla says everything, she's included

the original purchase price of £16,000 in her total.

But even after clawing back it does seem a generous space.

This is the main bedroom.

Through the door to the small bathroom.

Utility room.

And along the corridor, that's the front door by the way,

main living room, kitchen.

Kitchen at that end, living room with the wood-burning stove there.

Through this door to the study come bedroom.

And she's estimating another six months to completion

of what she calls, her insurance.

# So it's taking the long way home

# Because I don't want to be wasting my time alone...#

Lucilla's never happier than when she's gardening.

She's got grand plans on the horticultural front.

That's the one bit of the house I can actually envisage.

I'm having a paved area surrounded by shrubs and fruit trees,

and perennial, big perennial flowers

that attract butterflies and insects.

At the back I'm having, I'm hoping to have similar fruit trees

and bushes around the perimeter and some raised beds for vegetable growing.

And some grass, of course, as well.

We know it's not finished yet but we asked two local estate agents

to come and imagine it is finished, and given some valuations.

The layout is really nice.

They've got a big open-plan kitchen diner come lounge.

That's quite good. Taking advantage of the views and things

and still two decent sized bedrooms.

One of which could be used as a study. It's looking good.

Selling points of the property are it's simple, compact

and you get a spacious layout

and the views to the rear and side of the property.

If Lucilla does decide to rent the property

what sort of figure can she expect?

Once complete in the rental market I would expect the property

to achieve in the region of £370-£395 per calendar month.

If this property was to come on the rental market once completed

I would expect it to achieve between £450-£500 per calendar month.

I think that's fairly high for around here but possible,

feasible for a nice and decent house.

Assuming her overspend doesn't get any bigger,

Lucilla's total investment will be 130,000.

The average of the rental figures would give her

a yield of nearly 4%.

What about the very unlikely event that she decided to sell?

On the open market in terms of a valuation,

a property like this, it's a little difficult when it's a shell,

but I would imagine it would be somewhere in the region of £100,000.

You'd achieve offers in the region of £90,000 but pricing slightly

higher at £100,000 in order to achieve those offers.

The figures don't sway my opinion at all.

I know what I'm building the house for and I know...

..I know what I want at the end of the day.

And, erm, it's incidental.

Back to Burslem in the Potteries now where this two-bedroom mid-terrace

was snapped up by David and Annemarie for £50,000,

just £1,000 more than the guide price.

The plan was to do up and sell on

but now they're looking at renting out.

It was a brave career changing move into property development

for them both.

You've given up your jobs to do this.

What were you doing until recently?

-I was a probation officer for London.

-Oh, wow. And what were you doing?

Electrician for 30 years but I was a director of an electrical company.

Needing more time together and with family, it was time for a change.

But it was far from a gentle start with plenty of rework to be done.

Re-plastering, re-plumbing, redecorating

besides the more familiar territory of rewiring.

Ten months on, we're back to find out

if David can make sparks fly in the room we last saw looking like this.

# This ain't real, this ain't cool

# This ain't what I signed up to

# This ain't right, it's no good

# No good...#

Let's see.

# Everything is changing

# And I've been here for too long

# Going through the same things

# I've been hurting too long, got to move on

# Say I can't do this any more

# If everything is changing

# And I know

# You've got to let go

# Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh...#

At the far end of the extension was the only bathroom in the house.

This suite may have been de rigueur in the 1980s

but now pampas is definitely past it.

# Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh

# Got to let go....#

The bathroom's taken over part of the largest bedroom.

Ingenious plumbing through the attic makes these facilities much more on-tap.

And for the effect it's had on the bedroom, I think it's well worth it.

# Everything is changing

# I've been here for too long

# Going through the same things...#

The front bedroom decor was definitely '70s vintage.

Time for a change.

# Everything is changing

# And I know, yeah...#

All new electrics, central heating and carpeting

completes the refurbishment of the upstairs.

But what of the rest of downstairs?

Well, Dave's work down here produced results

nothing short of electrifying.

# Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh

# Got to let go

# I've been here for too long

# I've been here for too long...#

A bright colour scheme with contrasting wood floors gives

a contemporary feel to the downstairs rooms.

# I've been here for too long

# Everything is changing...#

Dave's been living here for ten weeks. How's he found it?

We were hoping to take six to eight weeks.

Er, but we decided to extend the kitchen, take the wall down.

By removing this wall they were able to get more galley kitchen area.

Yet, there was still enough remaining space for a utility/cloak room.

All of these things added to the overrun on the time scale,

but how did the budget fare?

We originally budgeted to spend between £8,000-£10,000.

I think it's coming in at around £12,500 which includes the fees.

Annemarie reckons the kitchen tiles and the wood flooring

were the main reasons they exceeded their budget.

To cut costs, David did most of the work himself

apart from the plastering and plumbing.

Speaking of plumbers, what happened about that halfway landing pipe?

The dreaded pipe at the top of the stairs

was the main gas pipe coming in.

When the heating engineers came in they couldn't believe that

a gas pipe was just there.

They installed new central heating, new pipe work throughout.

Stripping out the garden shed was done with

the help of Anne-Marie's son and daughter

and the extension roof ridge has been fixed.

How does it feel after that little lot?

A lot of time, blood, effort, lost 2½ stone. So...

-No, feel really...

-Proud of the end product.

-Really proud.

I think they've got every reason to be proud.

They've done a great job and used the space brilliantly.

However, I'm a bit worried didn't take my advice

about not moving the bathroom.

They may not get back what it cost.

Time to ask two local estate agents that vital question.

Will the plan to sell on be viable?

Firstly though, they must be impressed.

The changes have been really good to the property.

It's modern, neutral, it's all fresh and clean and tidy inside.

It really would appeal to broad types of different buyer.

I feel the main selling points for the property

is the good-sized kitchen and installation

of a first-floor bathroom along with the downstairs WC and utility room.

The total investment so far as up to £62,000.

What's it worth now?

If I were to market the property in today's market

I would suggest an initial asking price of £72,500.

I would place this property on the market in the region of £75,000.

We were hoping for 75,000 rather than 70-72,500.

So, 75 we would be happy with.

And as for the rental?

In today's market, I would suggest for the rental side,

we'd put the property on the market at £395 per calendar month.

I would anticipate a likely rental income

in the region of £400 per calendar month.

Taking the average of those two valuations would give

David and Annemarie a yield of just over 7.5%.

Are they tempted?

After getting the valuations, we will be sticking with our original

plan of selling the property on so we can move on to our next project.

I can't say I blame them.

They're looking at a potential profit of £12,500.

Not bad at all for their first project.

But this project wasn't about the money, what about the time together?

-It's been good working together.

-Yes. Without arguing.

Without arguing.

For me, I just wish they could have stretched

to a normal-sized front door.

Well, more property owners there who took the plunge

and bought at auction.

Make sure you join us next time for more Homes under the Hammer.