Episode 66 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello and welcome to the programme.

Spotting a property bargain isn't easy.

But, sometimes, rooting one out can be half the fun.

Yes, you need to know your budget and believe you can

stick to it, do your research and then try and find a bargain.

But where do you do that?

Well, why not pop down to your local auction house

and buy your next home under the hammer?

Well, property auctions feature all kinds of, well, opportunities

from bits of land, large family homes, even the odd country pile.

The most important thing is that you always buy at the right price.

So let's take a look at the three lots that went

under the hammer on today's show.

In Devon, the location is great and the outside looks promising...

You come inside and you think...

.."Noooo!"

And in Stoke-on-Trent, there's also lots to do...

Whoever takes this house on has got to start from the bottom

and work their way right up to the top.

So, I was hoping to have better luck in Derbyshire.

Well, I'm here to see something that normally

grabs my attention, a former chapel.

All these properties have been sold at auction.

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

when they went under the hammer.

You bought it, sir. Well done.

I'm in Devon, in the pretty village of Feniton.

It's 12 miles from Exeter and the train...

..will whisk you to London in around three hours.

Well, the property I'm here to see is just 10 minutes' walk

from Feniton Railway Station and, in fact,

it was built in the 19th century to house railway workers.

Good news is, lots of off-road parking, bad news is...

..I can't find it!

# I'm looking for love

# To rescue the state of my heart. #

Here it is.

So, access a bit of an issue.

Guide price, though, £125,000 plus.

That seems pretty reasonable for a two/three-bed semidetached cottage.

Looking good.

Hmm...

Or maybe not.

This is the kitchen.

And as you can see, it is fairly shabby.

And straight away, I'm not particularly getting a good

feeling about the layout of this place.

Interesting spot for the boiler.

Good news is, at least it HAS a boiler,

so it's got central heating.

Bad news is, the boiler's situated in the lounge,

or at least one of the lounges, because come over this way and,

separated by this very large chimney

is a second living room area here.

I mean, it's almost like the cottage started quite small back there

and then, over years, it's been added on to and added on to.

Because you come to this rear room...

Admittedly, you've got nice views out onto the garden, but...

..these are the stairs to the bedrooms.

Ah...

The layout downstairs just isn't working for me.

How about trying to move the stairs into the middle reception room?

And make a bit more of the sunny room at the end?

That would be just peachy.

# Moving to the country

# I'm going to eat a lot of peaches

# I'm moving to the country

# I'm going to eat me a lot of peaches... #

So, is the layout upstairs any better?

Something tells me possibly not.

Bathroom's in a good place and it looks to be in reasonable

condition, but then, this narrow corridor... Bedroom there.

Bit dark, bit dingy, bit claustrophobic.

Through to, well, it's actually a bedroom, sort of,

in the fact that it's a through-bedroom.

I guess that's why the cottage was described as two/three bedrooms.

There's a bedroom at the end, but you can only access it

through this room, which makes this room either a study or a work room,

not, ideally, a bedroom.

And, again, it's just on the outside, you think,

"Yeah, great." And you come inside and you think,

"Noooo..." Ugh!

And on top of that dated decor, there seems to be our old foe,

dampness, suggesting the roof might need some work.

So that's a must-do even before you start shifting stairs

and knocking down walls.

So, a bit of a disastrous layout all round, upstairs and down.

It's almost like it's been designed along the principle

of a railway carriage,

very long and thin with rooms that lead on from one to another.

So, are there any solutions presenting themselves?

Well, at the rear of the property, you've got this good-size garden.

But that's not what interests me.

It's at the side of the house where I think the solutions could be,

because, lots of space here to build an extension.

And not just a single-storey extension, I think

a double-storey extension.

Either on that bit at the front, or, why not the whole thing?

The plot is big enough and so that is the solution.

All you got to do is talk to the planners. Oh, yes...

And get on good terms with the neighbours.

We asked along an expert from the auction house that sold

the former railway cottage to get her thoughts.

The accommodation, I feel, could be a little bit reorganised.

But it's got nice accommodation.

You've got the three reception rooms downstairs

and the facility to make it

into a three-bedroom property.

So there's a lot of potential and I think, with a little bit

of tweaking and a little bit of work, it could be super.

Really nice property.

And bearing in mind the £125,000 plus guide price, once done up,

what does she think the property might fetch on the resale market?

I think if you just carry out the replacing of the kitchens

and bathrooms and tidying up the accommodation that's here,

maybe you'd be looking at around about £175,000.

If, however, they extended and did a lot more work, I think

you could be looking at over 200.

It's quite an individual cottage, really.

And on the rental market?

I think, for a property of this sort of size, you'd be

looking at around about

£700-£750 per calendar month.

Well, it does need a lot of work,

but this little railway workers' cottage has a lot going for it.

So I'm sure it was full steam ahead when it went under the hammer.

Lot 131. Lovely little property, this.

It's guiding here at £125,000.

Anybody want to start at 125,000?

On the nose of the guide. 125, thank you, sir. Now, seated here.

Close in at 125.

125 seated. 130 somewhere else.

130. 135, can I say?

Standing. 135, nod of the head.

137,500 now.

Any advance on 135,000, then?

If you're out, he's in.

Sure we're all done at that level?

£135,000 standing and calling for the first...

..second...

..third and last time. It's with sir, here, at £135,000.

£135,000, sold to you, sir. Thank you.

And that successful bid of £135,000

was made by local builder Barry.

I met Barry back at the cottage to find out his plans.

-Barry, good to meet you.

-And you.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

-Well, it's a pretty little spot, isn't it?

-It is nice.

Tell me why you wanted to buy the place.

I've bought it to rent or - obviously - to sell.

One of the two, depending on how the figures stack up.

But, at the moment, I would edge along that we're going to rent.

-Right, OK. Is this something you do?

-Now and again.

In between our other work. We're in the building trade.

So, when we get some spare time, we drop back

and do up some properties, if we can.

-You've got your own building company?

-Yes, I have.

-What, general building?

-General building, small business, local.

-For about 20 years.

-Right.

And how often do you embark on your own projects?

-I would say probably a couple a year.

-OK.

-Generally do up and sell on?

-Yes.

So, who's going to be doing the work?

There'll be a few of us. I have a bit of a team.

Plumber, electrician, carpenter...

Will they be able to sort of dedicate time to doing this?

We don't generally mix too much work.

We'll put our customers first and then, when we get spare time,

we'll be on this one.

I like the fact that Barry is going to fit this around work for his

existing clients, rather than going all out for a quick turnaround.

In fact, Barry's not going to hold back

and has already identified the need for an extension.

There's a lot of garden, there's a lot of space.

-I think we can do quite a bit with that.

-What do you think about

the inside? Because it's sort of disappointing, at the moment.

-It is, very dysfunctional.

-That's a good word, actually. Dysfunctional.

The stairs are in completely the wrong place, which hopefully

we'll move into the new extension, which will open it up.

-Oh, wow.

-And then we can rearrange the bedrooms upstairs, obviously,

and not go through other bedrooms to get to them.

I'm introducing hallways.

I think quite a bit of scope.

So, let's talk about the extension, then. What's the plan for that?

Where will that be, how big, and where will it go?

The extension will go on the side of the property as you approach it.

So it will give it some frontage. A nice front door,

-straight in front of you.

-OK.

It will make the...the garden will become, then, private.

And inside the extension there will be a shower room, toilet,

then main stairs and off of these stairs, you will go off into the

existing property and there will be a fourth bedroom on the first floor.

Looking at the property from the front, on the right-hand side,

-how wide?

-Three metres.

-Three metres. And how high?

-Two-storey.

Two-storey, OK. So, planning permission will

-be required and all that.

-Yes, it will be.

Barry is allowing three months to get the planning permission

okayed and he's hoping to have the work finished within six months.

Let's have a look at the cost, then.

Let's just focus on the extension, first of all.

-How much do you think the extension is going to cost?

-About £17-£18,000.

-And that's your price, because you're doing it as a builder?

-Yes.

-Somebody else, it would cost, what, double that or something?

-23-24.

So, what's the budget for the rest of the works - not the extension?

I think we're probably looking at somewhere around 22, 23.

-OK, so 40 in total.

-Around the 40 mark in total.

-Have you had any

preliminary indication from the planners whether or not they will be

agreeable to what you're planning?

-I haven't, no.

-Neighbours?

-I have mentioned it to the neighbours.

-And they're OK?

-Yeah, I've shown them a few plans

and I'll show them some more elevation plans.

-But hopefully there won't be a problem.

-What about the garden?

Because that is quite a pleasant little spot, isn't it?

I think just a little bit of tidying up, I think. Bit of a patio.

A few borders. But I think, you know, it's not going to take much.

-No. Well, listen, congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

-Good luck with it.

-Thank you.

-Nice to meet you.

-Cheers.

So, builder Barry not going for the quick profit and selling on,

but sticking with the long-term plan of renting this place out.

And what a transformation it could be when we return.

Still a few issues, such as planning permission,

to get through before then.

How will he get on? You can find out later in the show.

So, that Devon house might need a little reshaping.

Is the next property going to get me all fired up?

This is Cobridge, an area of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire.

Now, this area is considered the home of the pottery industry

in England, so I think it's safe to say it's time for me

to potter on and find today's auction lot.

And the property I'm here to see is a mid-terraced house,

just a stone's throw away.

It's got two bedrooms, it had a guide price of £25,000.

I usually know what to expect from a property like this,

because I have seen so many of these before.

From the outside, well, it looks like a standard terrace.

Will it all be as seems, though, inside?

OK, well, some major reorganisation needs to be happening in this house.

It's as I'd expect. But, you know, look at this.

It could do with some modernising. There's beds here,

there's a fridge there... It's all a bit skew-whiff.

So you've got a sitting room, basically.

You walk through the back of the property to a second sitting room.

Now, you've just got to look at the carpet. Go down and look at this.

Carpets are truly worn. They need to be ripped up

and a brand-new carpet needs to be put down.

And right at the back of the property is the kitchen.

Again, that needs to be taken out and something modern

and fresh installed.

That's not the end of the sad news, because right at the end there

is a bathroom, which is in a similar state, and a loo.

So I think whoever takes this house on has got to start

from the bottom and work their way right up to the top.

Well, I suppose if you ever wondered what a two-bed house with

a £25,000 guide price looks like, well, this is it.

And it's not just the general state.

The smell in here is something to behold as well.

I think getting a big skip is first on the to-do list,

and then just rip it all out.

Bathrooms, kitchens, carpets, ceiling tiles, wallpaper,

wood cladding, furniture, the lot.

Be gone with you.

And then you might need to order another skip for upstairs,

because this isn't much better.

Once you've cleared it all, I think

maybe, underneath, there might be a reasonable property.

It just needs some love and attention.

# Gimme some loving

# Do-do-do-do, gimme some loving

# Gimme some loving

# Gimme, gimme some loving

# Gimme some loving

# Every day. #

Outside, it just gets better. I joke.

Somewhere beneath all these overgrown leaves

and bristly bushes lies a back yard.

It's more like a jungle and I'm certainly not going to venture

too far out without my secateurs. Ow, they're quite prickly.

It's great you've got some outside space, but do not underestimate

the effort it takes to clear all this up and tidy away.

Mind you, you might never know what you can find

underneath in the process.

# My head is a jungle, jungle

# My head is a jungle, jungle... #

I'm thinking you might need the local skip supplier on speed dial.

The backyard has certainly got a little wild,

but it's extra space and it leads out to an alleyway.

And I think it's always handy to come in through the back door,

especially on a wet day, or if you have a bike.

But I'm less keen on what's out the front.

Just take a look across the road...

Doesn't have the best view, does it?

No. It's a factory over there.

Now, before buying this place, I would want to find out what

businesses could be inside that building

and are they going to be noisy?

Well, I've done my research and I found out that yes, it's a

manufacturing company for windows

and it includes lots of drilling, which you can hear, banging

and potentially vans coming and going all day long.

I don't think it will put everyone off,

but it certainly will deter some.

Mm. This is a tricky one.

You could be thinking to yourself there's more negatives here than

positives, and you might be right.

But there are positives in that it appears structurally sound,

but most importantly, it's that guide price of £25,000, which could

mean there's room to build a decent return on the outlay.

What does the local property expert from the auction house

that sold it think?

There is obviously a factory just across the road,

which would be a concern to some buyers.

However, from an investor point of view

and a landlord point of view, providing the price

and the numbers stack up, I don't think it would be a huge concern.

OK, the location near to a factory might not be a concern,

but surely the state of the house is?

I think this property really would appeal to somebody who's done

a project before.

It's not just a case of decorating

and perhaps a new kitchen and bathroom.

It does require heating, it requires windows

and it really requires a full hit

from somebody who could do it in a cost-effective way.

Ah, but how cost-effective would they need to be?

What kind of margins are we talking about?

To resell the property after modernisation,

I would anticipate in the region of £55-£60,000.

Alternatively, the rental income would be in the region of

£375-£400 per calendar month.

So, some money to be made on resale.

But, with potential rental yields in the region of 10%,

it's on the letting market that it could really make its mark.

Yes, this terrace certainly needs to be thought through.

It needs a lot of work. But that says "potential" to me.

You can only make this place better and in this popular rental spot,

well, I think it could be a worthwhile investment for someone.

Let's see who agreed when it went to auction.

Lot 30. We now go to Cobridge in Stoke-on-Trent.

It's a mid-terrace house, sitting room, living room, kitchen

and bathroom, with two bedrooms as well. We're guiding it at 25.

20, can I say?

20 on the phone. At £20,000. Going once. I've got 20,000.

21, can I say now? 21.

22.

23. 24.

25. 25 in the corner. 25.

26.

A half. 25 and a half.

26, sir?

26.

26 and a half.

27, 27...

..and a half.

27 and a half. 28. 28.

28 and a half.

29. New bid at 29.

29 and a half.

29 and a half...

30.

30...

..and a half.

No? At £30,000, then. Another 500 anywhere else?

Against you on the phone.

At £30,000, then, once. £30,000 twice, third and final time...

At £30,000, you bought it, well done.

And so, for £30,000, the two-bed terraced house in Cobridge,

Stoke-on-Trent, was bought by Atur.

This was to be a joint property development project,

with brother Altur. And this was to be their first renovation project.

I hope they like challenges.

-Congratulations.

-Yeah, thank you.

So, who was it who wanted to buy this house?

We always looked at these sort of houses, but we've never had

an opportunity, with the budget and everything. And we saw this one

at the auction, so we thought, well,

-let's have a go.

-Did you view this property prior to the auction?

We did, yeah. We looked at it and... The smell wasn't...

-It wasn't in a good state, no.

-So, now you've actually got the

property, tell me, what do you think of it now you've seen it?

-It's worse now.

-It's worse now?

Because at the time, when we viewed it through the auction, we couldn't

get inside into it properly, because of the smell and everything.

Now that we've got the keys and looked at the condition... Oh, dear.

-Some work needs to be done in here.

-Ha! You're telling me.

And oh, dear, it's worse than they remember. That's a worry.

I hope they haven't bitten off more than they can chew.

Why are you doing this?

Are you going to let this out, or are you selling on for profit?

We're going to have a look at both options,

see which one works out the best.

So, our main option would be just sell it out again.

Failing that, we'll be looking at letting it out.

So, what you think you can do to set this place apart?

We're going to be stripping the whole rooms out.

Everything from here.

We'll be looking to put in brand-new radiators, the boilers,

new bathrooms, completely new kitchens,

painting and decorating.

I think it will brighten up the place a little bit more.

So, what budget have you got to spend?

We're looking at about 12,000 max.

And that is to do the whole house?

Windows, doors, kitchen, bathroom, carpets, ceilings,

polystyrene tiles come down...

I mean, the list is endless here.

Yes, most of the physical work, ie the stripping the wallpaper,

that will be done by ourselves. We'll save money on there.

And then the builder themselves,

they'll be doing the electricals and the skimming.

-So, I think we'll save some money here.

-Yeah.

-So, tell me, what is your timescale for the work?

-At least three months.

Yeah, at least three months.

Altur and Atur both have full-time jobs,

so they will work on the house in the evenings and weekends.

And they may get some extra family help along the way.

-So, I noticed you've got your kids with you today.

-Yeah.

They always want to have a look at the house

and they are so excited about this.

It will be good to give them something to play around,

painting perhaps, or stripping the wallpapers off, so... I'll be keeping them going.

You are going to get the little ones involved in this project?

-Why not?

-Are they excited about what Daddy's up to?

Absolutely. They are talking about it all day, so yeah.

-So, you're not daunted, Altur, by the work?

-Absolutely not.

-I'm looking forward to this, actually.

-Really?

-I am.

So are you happy you've got it at auction?

Now that we've got the keys, we just need to get on with it.

-Guys, good luck with this. Lovely to meet you today.

-Thank you.

Congratulations. And well done. Thank you.

So this property marks the start of what will hopefully become

a new career for them both.

I'm pleased to hear they love a challenge,

because I'm sure this will be just that.

I just hope they end up getting a healthy profit.

Otherwise, we might end up seeing the "To Let" board outside.

Join me later on in the programme and you can find out how

they both get on.

Coming up - in Derbyshire, there is a building with surrounding land.

So, I reckon that could be a very interesting opportunity.

We return to Stoke-on-Trent to see how the brothers

got on with their first development project.

It was absolutely a massive challenge for us.

But first, we return to Devon and the pretty village of Feniton.

It was here that we tracked down a former railway workers'

cottage that had, over the years,

been somewhat derailed by a series of add-ons, which gave it a

layout that was a muddle of rooms branching off in all directions.

But, with space at both rear and side,

this two/three-bedroom semidetached cottage did have the chance

to be turned around and made into a decent family home.

And the man hoping to get this house back in line

was local builder Barry, who bought it at auction

for £135,000.

What do you think about the inside? Because it's

sort of disappointing, at the moment.

-It is, very dysfunctional.

-That's a good word, actually. Dysfunctional.

The stairs are in completely the wrong place,

which hopefully we'll move into the new extension, which will open it up.

Oh, wow. Well, what's the plan for that? Where will that be,

how big and where will it go?

The extension will go on the side of the property as you approach it.

-How wide?

-Three metres.

-Three metres. And how high?

-Two-storey.

Two-storey, OK.

-So planning permission will be required?

-Yes, it will be.

Barry runs a building firm and does normally one or two development

projects a year, which he fits around the company's other jobs.

And, provided planning was granted for the extension,

he hoped that with a budget of £40,000,

he could completely refurbish and revitalise the house

in around six months, depending on other work commitments, of course.

Well, his building firm must have been busy,

as we're now returning 13 months later.

And I'm really hoping things have altered.

# I want to see a big change in you, baby

# A big change in you, baby

# A big change in you, baby

# A big change in you, baby. #

Wow! A shiny new side extension is now in place, creating a new,

centrally-positioned front door.

It certainly looks very smart,

but what effect has that had on the inside layout?

# Big change in you, baby

# A big change in you, baby

# A big change in you, baby

# A big change in you, baby...#

The stairs are now in the middle,

with rooms flowing from the hallway.

So, the old kitchen is now a utility area and the rear reception room

is now the kitchen.

Oh, that's so much better. Much more functional.

We looked at the property and realised it needed an extension.

I think we could have gone and not done it

and then kicked ourselves after.

But we went for it and it's really paid off.

The house has got frontage and we've got two storeys.

We've got an extra shower room and an extra bedroom.

And that fourth bedroom now goes alongside three good-sized bedrooms...

one of which is en suite.

And there's a completely new family bathroom.

As Barry planned,

the work's being carried out by his building firm between jobs.

So, was it relatively problem-free?

I think the biggest challenge was actually

getting down into the property.

Before, there was concrete steps, very awkward, very cumbersome.

I think now, by installing part-concrete and part-wood,

I think we've softened the blow and made it a bit of an area,

so they can put some planters or whatever somebody wants to put there.

The chimney has been taken down

and we've worked together with the neighbours to overcome that.

In fact, not only have they removed the shared chimney breast,

both houses have now been properly joined together,

removing that rather odd gap.

And, along with new windows, central heating, damp course,

fixed roof, this is a fairly comprehensive refurbishment.

But, at what cost?

We've probably spent about 20,000 on the extension,

which was pretty straightforward.

But we've gone over budget a little bit on the renovation,

on the old parts. We've spent probably about 32,000.

I think it's the fact we've put a higher spec kitchen in

and the fact that the fittings are of a good standard.

There's lots of insulation in the house now, it's nice and warm.

So, I think we spent our money wisely.

And I think that will show when we come to rent or sell.

A £52,000 budget on top of Barry's £135,000

purchase price takes his total spent £287,000.

So, is Barry right?

Has it been worth spending that little bit extra to get

a better finish?

What do two local property experts think?

This particular property has had the layout changed.

It's changed from being just a small cottage into a family home.

It's fantastic, it flows, it works.

It's just got good size, good-proportioned rooms

and got everything here that's required.

Well, when arriving at the property,

I'd seen photographs of it before, although I hadn't been here myself.

I couldn't believe the transformation, because they

extended the side of the property, which was a very good move.

Because the area itself is actually well-known for having family

accommodation and now it's actually a family property.

Barry isn't sure whether to rent or sell the cottage.

Maybe the numbers will help focus the mind.

The rental value I'd put on the property at the moment

is between £950 and £1,000 per calendar month.

In the current market I believe the property, if it was rented out,

would actually realise £850 per calendar month.

Even that lower £850 per calendar month could see a rental

yield of around 5%. But how about the all-important resale

value on a property Barry's invested £187,000 into?

The value I'd put on the property today, as the property is now,

is between £250-£275,000.

In the current market, I believe the property should

be marketed at £250,000.

I think 250 is around the right mark and if it needs to sell fast,

I think it'll be going on for 250.

And if he managed to sell the house for that £250,000 valuation,

he could see a potential pre-tax profit of £63,000.

Not bad as a sideline project to his main building work.

But what now is his preferred next step with the property?

I think we're going to sell, purely so we can move on

and buy something else and do something else up.

And it's time for us to move on to our next property, too.

This is Somercotes, which is close to the borders of Derbyshire

and Nottinghamshire, and two miles from the town of Alfreton.

Somercotes is a former mining village

and was once surrounded by more than five working mines.

Well, I'm here to see something

that definitely normally grabs my attention.

A former chapel. What's it going to be like?

Well, for a start it's got lots of land attached to it -

this car park's a good thing. Now, this is part of it.

Well, it's not quite living up to my expectations of anything

too grand, but the good news is this is only part of the lot

because the new part of the chapel's actually here.

Still not that inspiring. But, hey ho.

At a guide price of £75,000, let's take a look inside.

# I have to celebrate you baby

# I have to praise you like I sh-o-o-u-u-ld...#

The original chapel at the front was built around the 1890s

and is now pretty derelict and used mostly for storage purposes.

# ..sh-o-o-u-u-ld...#

The replacement, newer, bigger chapel, was built in 1962.

Let's take a look.

So, what have we got? Well, straight into a little entrance area

where you've got loos and a kitchen

and then into the main body of the chapel.

And, basically, 1,300 square feet of space.

Little stage area, some storage behind there.

Not a bad amount of room, actually,

and it doesn't seem to be in too bad condition.

Now, currently it's got D1 class planning permission,

which basically means it can be used as a church, as it already is,

or something like an art gallery, maybe a creche,

maybe a day-care centre.

Good news is that it's also had planning permission approved

for change of use to B1 use, which is office space.

So, all in all, lots of flexibility and options.

Or, of course, you could just keep it as a church.

# All you gotta do is repeat after me

# ABC easy as 123 As simple as... #

It's great there are so many potential options here.

The planning permissions that are already in place could be

a real time-saver for anyone who wants to buy this property.

# As simple as do-re-mi ABC... #

The chapel itself has been empty for almost three years,

although the car park area outside has been unofficially

used by local residents and business.

And there's more to the outside than just the car park.

# Reading, writing, arithmetic... #

Well, to the side and rear of the property,

other potential uses for the site start to become apparent.

It's quite big, 0.2 acres, so one thing you might consider

is actually knocking the former chapel completely down.

What you've got then is a very large, well, large enough,

building plot in a good location.

We've got mixed use around here -

some commercial units, some residential property,

so you'd probably get planning permission for building,

say, flats or houses.

It's a bit long and thin, in an ideal world,

but it's flat and, as I said, it's in a great location.

So, I reckon, that could be a very interesting opportunity.

Yes. Yet another option available to whoever buys this property.

And at a guide price of just £75,000, I imagine there will be

plenty of people taking a pew, ha-ha,

at the auction for this former chapel.

But before that, we asked the auctioneer to take a look around.

It's actually quite an interesting building

because it's a bit of a utility building.

You could almost use it for anything, assuming you got planning consent.

So, its commercial options, I think, are, obviously,

some sort of institutional community use.

St John's ambulance, Scouts, Guides, that sort of thing.

The residential option, I think, is certainly an option

because it's surrounded by houses quite apart from commercial concerns,

a very mixed area.

So, I think, probably, if you were to get planning consent

you probably could demolish the building and start again.

As I thought, lots of options.

But if you were going to go down the residential route,

what sort of value could we be looking at considering

the surrounding area and comparable properties?

I think you'd probably...

You might get two pairs of semidetached houses on.

Alternatively, you might get a higher density of townhouses.

It's got a good access and it's got a lot of car parking already

not that you'd need that for the housing purpose.

However, if you put a semi-detached house on here, three bedrooms,

it would have a resale value probably of around £130,000.

What if it was to become a commercial property and was rented?

If this had consent for office use, and assuming it was adapted

and upgraded for that purpose, I would say it would have

a rental value of probably about £7,500-£8,000 a year.

And you might actually be able to rent out some of the car parking

to other concerns around here.

So, there's the possibility of additional income.

It's not the prettiest chapel in the world,

but it does offer quite a few options for change of use,

either for business or residential.

I think you could knock this thing down and build houses in its place

and I don't think, particularly, that would be too much of a loss.

Getting planning permission to do that, however,

might be a different thing. Who took a chance on the chapel?

Let's find out, when it went to the auction.

Lot number 49 is the former Somercotes Hill Methodist Chapel.

It does have planning consent for conversion to office use.

Having said that,

it's equally suitable to a variety of other purposes.

How much do you want to bid me on it?

75? 70? £70,000?

70, thank you very much. At £70,000, opening bid. 71?

71 I've got, thank you. 71.

72 at the back.

73, 74.

£74,000, 75.

75,000. 76?

76 is bid. 76, 77.

77,000. 78 I've got.

78. 79 for you, sir? 79.

79. 80,000.

After a slow start, the auction room has come alive,

and we rejoin the auction at 100,000.

£100,000. 101.

102.

103. 103,000, and 4?

£103,000, 104.

105. 105, 106?

£105,000. We're selling...

..at 105... 106.

106. 7?

No?

£106,000 in the corner, then. At 106,000, going once...

..going twice, third and last opportunity, all done at £106,000?

GAVEL BANGS Sold to the corner at 106, thank you.

# Take me riding in the car car Take me riding in the car car

# Take you riding in my car car I'll take you riding in my car... #

That final bid of 106,000 was made by local couple John and Jacqueline.

In fact, they're more than local - they're neighbours!

Their garage and car sales business is right next door to the chapel,

so they just popped round to tell me why they bought it.

-John, Jacqueline, congratulations.

-Thank you.

-Well done.

Tell me why you wanted to buy the place.

Well, it's so close to my business next door.

That, um, we really had no option,

we needed to buy it to enhance the business, and to improve it.

Give us a bigger area.

We were using the car park so much that we thought we had no choice

but to crack on and get it bought.

Right, have you known about the property, obviously, for a while?

How long has your business been established there?

Here, it's been seven years,

and this place has been empty for about three years.

So, when it first came up for sale we did make enquiries

but it was a little bit on the high price.

-We made an offer, it was rejected.

-What was the offer?

The offer was approximately round about 138.

Well, you must be delighted then?

Cos you've jut bought it for a lot less than that!

We are, obviously, yes, yes.

MUSIC: Roar by Katy Perry

Well, yes, having paid £106,000 at auction

that's a saving of £32,000 over the original offer price.

Result!

And it should give them more funding to carry out this project.

So, tell me exactly what you're going to do with it, then?

Well, er, at this stage we're probably going to open it all up

on the front, so we can get cars inside.

Take a lot of this area out

so we can have as much space as possible inside.

-And use it as a car showroom.

-Right.

Get the nice cars in here, er, make them safe.

And hopefully people will come in and have a look.

-We're going to put some, probably, some old classics in, as well.

-Ooh!

The front we need to open it up.

We thought we might do away with the kitchen

and have big open glass doors all the way across the front.

So, really spectacular, sort of, showcase for you from the road?

Yes, hopefully. That would be good.

Now, at the moment it doesn't have planning permission

-for anything that you want to do, does it?

-No.

-Not yet.

So, what's the steps to getting that, then?

Well, we did make provisional enquiries before we bought it.

We were told it probably wouldn't be a problem.

If they don't want us to do what we want to do

then we'll have to do one or two other things.

But as long as we can still use it as part of the business,

as in car parking, that's the main thing, really.

So, it's actually in some ways,

-the car park is just as important as the interior space?

-Yeah.

-It is.

In some ways it'd be nice... It's a bit of a...

Whenever anyone's bought a place like this there's an element of,

bit of sadness that it's not a church any more, isn't there?

Yeah, it is really. I mean, there is some stones on the outside buildings

that have been here, I think, from when it was built as a church,

so we do really want to preserve those, don't we?

-When we make the alterations we want to fit those in somewhere.

-Right.

There's people's names and dates on there, so they need to be preserved.

So, what kind of budget have you got for doing the work?

-That's a great question.

-OK, thank you.

-Um...

-We're probably looking at, I think, probably 30,000-40,000 spend.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-That sounds quite a lot.

-I want to do it right.

Want to make it, you know,

I want to make it nice and make it look the part.

What kind of timescale for the work?

Six months to a year?

-That's what we're thinking of.

-Right.

As long as we've got the time and money, we should be fine.

-Presumably you'd want to do it sooner rather than later?

-Yeah.

We need to keep it...

Get it operational and keep the business growing and keep busy.

Are you going to have to take on new staff to man it?

More than likely, yes.

-Yeah, at least, probably, two or three.

-Great.

-So creating a bit of local employment, as well.

-I hope so, yes.

Well, congratulations,

we look forward to seeing how it all goes for you.

-Thank you. Thanks very much.

-Nice to meet you.

-Thank you.

Well, John and Jacqueline certainly seem to have found

the perfect place to expand their business.

But from a chapel to a car showroom, it's one heck of a change of use

and there's no guarantee the planners will go for it.

Find out how they get on later in the show.

Well, we've seen how one project has turned out,

but what about the other two?

Yes, time has passed. Has everything gone to plan? Let's find out.

It was in Cobridge, Stone-on-Trent,

when we first came across a two-bed terraced house, which was,

to be frank, cosmetically in a terrible state.

Kitchen, bathroom, carpets, wall panelling,

the lot had to be ripped out and the whole shebang started again.

But this place wasn't a lost cause because structurally,

it seemed pretty sound.

With a guide price of £25,000, there was

potentially room to do the full refurbishment

and still see some profit, and that's what locally based

brothers Altur and Atur thought when they paid £30,000 for it at auction.

But it was perhaps a harder task than they first envisaged.

So, now you've actually got the property, tell me,

what do you think of it now you've seen it?

-It's worse now!

-It's worse now?!

Because at the time when we viewed it through the auction,

we couldn't get inside properly because of the smell and everything.

Now that we've got the keys and looked at the condition, oh, dear.

Some work needs to be done in here.

Yes, there was loads of work here

and with plans to rip it all out, things would initially go backwards.

# It's about to get worse

# It's about to get worse before it gets better. #

And they had a £12,000 budget to make it better.

The brothers hoped, with the help of their building team, they could

put it back together again to rent or sell in three months.

And now, just slightly over that three months timeframe, we're back.

Well, things are looking promising with the new tiles on the roof,

double glazing, and a smart new front door.

And inside? Well, let's go upstairs first.

That's more like it.

The bedrooms are now clean and fresh and clutter-free.

And there's no longer just the two bedrooms up here.

By taking some space from the back bedroom,

they've managed to squeeze in a shower room.

That really is a great bonus.

But what about downstairs?

Well, that's certainly getting there, with new radiators,

skirting and plaster work.

And the kitchen? Well, I'll let Altur update you on that.

We've got a lovely kitchen unit,

managed to get really good deals on it as well.

Nice worktops here as well.

The door here was actually on the right-hand side.

We've decided to put it in the middle,

so you've got a nice walk-in area here, no obstructions.

So this room, we've had a new door, brand-new windows,

new radiators, new skirting boards, all the four walls, including

the ceiling, had to be replastered and it looks really nice, actually.

I'm quite happy with what we've achieved so far.

Down here, the bathroom is also still a work in progress.

As is the rear yard, which needs slabs to be laid.

But overall, I think

they've done pretty well in their three-month timeframe.

What was it like for Altur trying to project manage this,

along with doing a full-time job?

It's been a bit of a nightmare,

working along with the builders, along with my own jobs,

just trying to fit in with the evenings and the weekends.

So, most of the...

All of the painting was actually done by myself.

So, managed to save quite a lot of money there.

And it wasn't just him helping out. His family got involved.

This was a joint project with brother Atur. So, did that go OK?

Any family fallouts?

It's been quite fun, actually.

Yeah, been really enjoyable, working with my brother, yeah.

He's been supportive and we had ups and downs along the way,

but we got there.

As projects go, this was quite a challenge

and my biggest fear was potentially the house could be a money pit

and their £12,000 budget might just go in the blink of an eye.

Spending has gone up to 15,500 now and this is purely

because of the roof, the tiles that needed to be put on,

as well as the toilet that we had to put in upstairs.

That's impressive. If they do get all the work done for £15,500

and with that £30,000 purchase price,

the brothers' total spend will be £45,500.

What do two local property experts think of the work they've

carried out so far?

There has been changes since my last visit.

It has been done to quite a basic standard.

However, it is close to being habitable.

Had a quick look round the property to see how it's been updated.

It's been replastered throughout, updated with new floor coverings.

The project's obviously set up for a buy to let investor or a tenant.

I think a good feature for the property is to include

a first-floor shower room to service both the bedrooms,

which will be a good selling point.

Originally, the brothers were leaning towards selling

the house, once refurbished,

but have since decided the letting market may be a better option.

So, is that the right decision for their £45,500 investment?

There is a demand for this sort of property,

which would mainly come from landlords,

and I would anticipate a resale value in the region of £50,000.

If the property was to go on the market, I would suggest

that in today's market it's likely to achieve in the region of £50,000.

A little bit less than I would expect,

but with the climate, OK with that. Mm.

Well, yes, resale isn't looking great at the moment in this area.

Those valuations would offer a potential

profit of under £5,000, minus taxes and expenses.

Perhaps the rental figures will be more encouraging.

I would place this property on the rental market

in the region of £375 per calendar month.

In today's market, I would expect the property to

achieve in the region of £350 per calendar month.

Again, I was expecting a little bit more, but we've had some

private tenants offering a little bit more than that.

So I think we're going to go through that option.

Well, even £350 per calendar month would see a rental

yield of around 9%. That's good.

But was it really worth all the effort?

It was absolutely a massive challenge for us,

but at the end, seeing the end result,

I'm very happy with that and looking forward to something similar again.

Ah, well. There's one developer happy with his lot,

but will the same be true for our next auction purchase, which we

first saw over four years ago in the Derbyshire village of Somercotes.

This former mining village was the setting for an unusual property,

a former Methodist chapel,

and it had the holy trinity of property development -

lots of land and space, a good guide price, 75,000,

and potential for planning permission.

Now, currently, it's got D1 class planning permission,

which basically means it can be used as a church, which it already is,

or something like an art gallery, a creche, maybe a day-care centre.

Good news is that it's also had planning permission

approved for change of use to B1 use, which is office space,

so all in all, lots of flexibility and options, or of course,

you could just keep it as a church.

# I've been driving in my car. #

And revving up to get started on this property were John

and his wife Jacqueline.

Their successful bid of 106,000 was to buy the property next door,

as they own the adjacent car sales business and garage.

But they weren't planning the property development of just

an oil change.

It was more like a full MOT.

At this stage, we're probably going to open it all up, the front,

so we can get cars inside.

Take a lot of this area out, so we get as much space as possible inside.

And use it as a car showroom.

-We're going to put some old classics in as well.

-Oh!

The front, we need to open it up.

We thought we might do away with the kitchen

-and have big open glass doors all the way across the front.

-Right.

So, really, spectacular sort of showcase view from the road.

Yes, hopefully. That would be good!

And when we returned, over four years later,

was it the grand prix of showrooms or not off the starting grid yet?

# Nothing changes round here

# Nothing changes round here. #

That's not exactly what I was expecting

when the couple talked about a forecourt of classic cars.

The original building has gone, leaving the land,

but inside, the main remaining chapel is a bit of a sorry state.

John has gutted the place and recycled much of the materials.

And you're much more likely to find logbooks than prayer books

in here today.

John decided not to build the showroom after all.

But why?

I woke up one morning and thought it was the wrong decision.

More a business decision because of how many car sales people

just don't survive in this game. It's very, very tough.

And I thought I've got enough room at the front of my garage to put

all my car sales. So it was a complete change of plan.

Well, the plans may have changed, but they didn't leave the site idle.

We've gutted the Methodist church, we've flattened the land,

we've taken two buildings down, we've built walls, we've put fences up.

We've made it a lot safer.

We then decided that the next plan would be for housing,

which we've now got complete planning permission for.

When I get close to retiring, we're going to look at it then

and whether I develop it, personally,

or we sell the land on for somebody to develop it,

and that is in the next stage, but at the moment,

we're still using it for servicing cars that we have in every day.

Great, but what does he mean by planning permission for housing?

We've got plans for four houses.

One dormer bungalow, where we stand.

And then three houses along the front, with an archway for access.

The planning was a little bit slow for the houses.

We had to change quite a few different designs.

The other thing we might do is to put down some

foundations for one of the houses, so that will keep the planning.

If we do put footings down, then it's work in progress and we can

hang on to it for a little bit longer, so we've got the complete planning.

I think John and Jacqueline have made a good decision here.

Even if they don't build the three town houses and the bungalow,

lots of this size can be very valuable

because of that planning permission.

And if John puts down foundations,

this generally stops the permission from running out.

Very clever indeed.

So, is it best now to sell on the plot with planning permission

or should they develop it themselves?

What do two local property experts think?

I go back to some places that are totally transformed

and they're what you expect them to be.

I think this is one of those exceptions where it's totally

transformed and it's not what you expect it to be.

I was going to be interested to see what had happened here, but not a

lot has happened really, except that a few walls have been

demolished and a few buildings have been taken down.

And this is what we've got.

With a plot like this, they're better on the market

if they've been totally cleared,

so I would have cleared the site totally, making it

easier for the new buyer to get on and start building straight away.

Planning is definitely the best way forward with this particular plot.

There are a lot of similar developments planned in the area

and they have been relatively successful.

John and Jacqueline spent £106,000 at auction

and then spend 25 grand on demolition and planning consent.

So their total spend is £131,000.

So, what is the plot worth, as it is, with the permission?

I would estimate that the value of the site now,

with the benefit of that planning permission,

has got to be in the region of £130,000 to £140,000.

I think you can market this particular plot as it

stands for around £130,000.

£130,000 would mean John and Jacqueline break even, but then

they still have their car park secured for the business as a bonus.

What about the long-term plan? The agents think,

if they carried through the planning permission for three townhouses

and one bungalow, the town houses would have a top resale value

of £125,000 each, while the bungalow could be worth up to £150,000.

That means that the built properties could be worth

as much as £520,000 before building costs, taxes and the usual expenses.

Yeah, I'm pleased with that valuation.

It's roughly about what we thought it would be.

Yeah, I'm pretty pleased with that.

# I know it's gonna happen

# Some day. #

If John and Jacqueline are tempted to build one day,

we'll be back to see how they get on.

But has the site been good for their business so far?

It has benefitted us by, you know, so much, it's given us so much to use.

And I would do it again, if I had to, definitely.

Well, that's it for today's three properties,

but there are plenty more where they came from.

-Join us next time for more tales from the auction rooms.

-We will see you then. Goodbye.

-Goodbye.