Episode 69 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello and welcome to the programme.

Now, Martin, I'm sure you'll agree with me, property developing is

hard work, it's frustrating, but it is never boring.

No, it's a fascinating world to be in.

No properties are ever the same and no two days are ever the same.

That is why we love it - buying homes under the hammer.

Now, there are so many things to think about before you

enter the world of property developing, but to get

a good feel for it you should head down to your local auction.

Absolutely, let's take a look and see what today's bidders bought.

First up in Barons Court, London, it's the outside that's the problem.

There we go, there's the track right there.

But in Abertillery, Wales, it's the inside that needs a drastic solution.

-You are the workforce, are you?

-I'm demolition.

And in Walderslade, Chatham, one side is pretty good,

this side, however...not good.

All these properties have been sold at auction.

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

when they went under the hammer.

Sold to yours...

Barons Court, Kensington, lies a short hop, skip and a jump

from London's shops and museums

and there is an eclectic variety of properties.

Town houses, conversions, flats and mews but, as we all know,

living close to the city centre doesn't come cheap.

The average price of a flat in Barons Court is over half a million quid.

Even in an expensive area, there is sometimes a relative bargain

to be found, and in the auction catalogue, with a guide price

of just £350,000 plus, was this -

a first-floor, one-bedroom flat!

I can't wait to see what you get for that kind of money around here.

This is one of the more traditional buildings in the area.

Brick-built, its style,

detailing and balconies give it a real sense of grandeur.

I love these old mansion blocks, they have such a lovely feeling

and there is lots of light coming in.

Already I'm feeling quite at home here. What's in here?

SHE LAUGHS I am laughing because you're in London

and a lot of estate agents might call that bedroom number two.

Clearly it's not big enough for that, you couldn't get a single bed

in there, but it seems a waste of space to have that as a cupboard,

so maybe in that little nook you could put a computer

and just do something a little bit more interesting with it.

So, the reception room - don't think the green is working.

A nice, muted tone would work well. But a stunning bay window.

That is absolutely gorgeous.

You could start from scratch, you have the floorboards

so you can either put some nice hardwood flooring, but this is a leasehold flat,

so you would have to get permission from the leaseholder - don't forget.

So in here the kitchen.

SHE KNOCKS

Would we like to knock through and make this one great big, open-plan space?

I think so, because it's almost as though there's too much stuff

going on in here and it's not big enough.

But there are doors, so that must mean outside space.

I love this.

It's only small but you do have your very own balcony in London,

outside space, glass of wine, cup of tea, whatever.

From here I can see shops, bars, brasseries and life.

You're in London, what's not to like?

OK, well, the colour scheme, it might not be to everyone's taste,

but it's like I always say, don't let the decor colour your judgment.

MUSIC: A Little Bit of Green by Elvis Presley

# Just a little bit of green

# Clouds my eyes to what I've seen. #

So this is the only bedroom in the flat,

of course it's a one-bedroomed property,

but it's a wonderful space in here - lovely high ceilings,

you have cornicing, and two fabulous sash windows over there,

and the bathroom, again this is a really big bathroom, you have room

for a shower, a big bath, there's even storage in there, which is good.

The downside is, this is the only doorway into the loo,

so if you're in the flat you have to walk through the bedroom to get here.

So I suppose you could create an independent access with

the corridor, but it all depends on the budget

and how far you want to go with a property like this.

I think the interesting thing here is it's London, it's location,

the tube station is literally around the corner,

but when you look out the window...

..there we go, there's the track right there.

I'm just wondering how noisy it's going to be in this flat.

These are single-glazed.

It might be worth spending that extra bit of money

and putting some double glazing in.

The plumbing needs a bit of attention, the cold water feed

to the electric shower is currently routed along the bedroom walls.

Unobtrusive it is not.

The actual bathroom fitments all need refreshing and replacing

and then that cupboard space I mentioned earlier.

Well, a combi boiler replacing that tank might free up some space.

So work to be done, but nothing that appears to make

that guide price of 350,000 seem worrying.

In London, prices can vary enormously within a few streets

so we asked along a local agent to tell us

more about the potential for this one-bed flat.

For instance, if a developer was to buy this to sell on,

what kind of buyer would they be aiming at?

I expect to be selling this flat to a young professional.

Late 20s, really.

They would be expecting quite a high standard of finish.

Perhaps oak wooden floors or even if these floors were refurbished,

a really high-end kitchen, a really smart bathroom.

Yeah, just open it all up.

People really like a luxurious place to come home to.

Luxury might be a relatively easy, if expensive, attraction -

but what of my fears of the noise from the trains?

Some people will be put off by the train line being there,

but they don't run at night, so perhaps people prefer it to

a busy road where you can't really control it.

You get quite used to the train noise, believe it or not, and

people realise when they're buying in this area you've got to compromise.

How much is that compromise going to cost?

If this flat was refurbished to a high standard, I would be

expecting us to achieve, on the sale side, anything between £500,000

to as much as £550,000 if the market continues to go up as it has been.

And as for rentals,

it's a really good rental market at the moment so, if that continues,

I would expect to be achieving £1,500 per calendar month.

So it's not a huge property.

The bathroom might need some independent access.

But there is potential to do it up and make a profit here,

so let's see who wanted this at the auction.

Move on to Lot 56. Around Barons Court area, a good area.

Kensington, W14, near Queen's Club.

Who would like to kick off on this?

400?

300 with you. 305?

Anywhere?

305 with you, madam. 310, 315.

No, it's behind you.

You had your chance. 315, 320.

Well, the bids climb rapidly to where we rejoin the bidding at £450,000.

450.

455.

460.

465.

470.

475?

475. 480?

480. 485?

Have a think. 480. 481 will maybe help a bit?

You never know, it might stop him. 481?

Yeah, 481. 482?

No?

482, yes?

Come on, 1,000 and you're going to miss it. 481.

You're being a gentleman. There's not a gentleman in the room.

481, with the lady. 482?

481 with the lady.

First time, second time, third and last time. If you're all done...

481.

You're very lucky, madam.

MUSIC: Luck Be A Lady by Frank Sinatra

# Luck be a lady tonight... #

And the lucky lady bidder was Cherry.

Her successful bid of £481,000

was a substantial £131,000 over the guide price.

I met her at the flat along with her personal trainer and friend, Charlie.

Cherry and Charlie, lovely meeting you both today.

So this is for you and what's Charlie's input going to be?

So, Charlie is helping me with it

so he's going to help with the project management and also he's

very well connected so we'll be using his contacts to do the work here.

So have you got property interests, Charlie?

I have, yes. I've wanted to do this for a while now. I've always been interested.

My fiancee and I have just bought a place and we've done that up

so it will be a new challenge, and looking forward to it.

So, guys, how did this all come about?

-Was it over a training session?

-Yes.

-It actually was.

-Was it?

You should have been sweating and doing lots of hard work.

She was out of breath so when I put it across to her she couldn't really say no. So, yeah.

So come on, tell me.

When I first met Charlie last year, I had my own business

and I was just in the process of selling that business

so I said to him I wanted to use the money to start doing this.

This is something that my parents have done for years and years,

so I've always wanted to do it as well.

So what makes you think, guys,

that you can add value to quite a small flat like this,

enough to then reap the rewards and move onto the next one?

I think if we get the touch right hopefully someone will come in

and fall in love with the flat and they'll want to take it.

So, Charlie, what is the magic touch? Tell me.

The magic touch is light and airy, I suppose.

We just need to go high-quality and I think that will sell this.

And they have ambitious plans for the space currently

used as a cylinder cupboard.

We thought maybe putting a cloakroom in there would be a good idea

but take the wall back and make it smaller.

That is a great idea to have a secondary loo,

not that you do need it, or you could maybe think about a little

corridor into that bathroom, so it's independent.

So, guys, what is the budget? Let's start with that.

20,000, because we want to have a really nice kitchen and bathroom

because we feel that is really the selling point for the flat.

-And we have a 5,000 contingency.

-£20,000-£25,000 budget. Timescale?

How long are you thinking it is going to take you?

Three months is what we've set ourselves.

That is a fair amount of time.

And time is money, especially

when Cherry will have just over half a million pounds tied up

in this property - so every week the refurbishment takes is

a loss of potential income in addition to labour costs.

-Cherry, have you ever done anything like this before?

-Yes, I have.

You've done this before?

Not for property development, but I've done it to live in.

I've done it three times now and the house that I live in at the moment,

we had to rent a house for six months while it was being done

so I've lived through a huge, huge project of totally re-doing a house.

So, coming in to see what we need to do here is not daunting at all.

What do your family think, particularly your mum and dad, because this is what they used to do?

My mum is really excited about it.

My husband was really cross with how much money

I spent at the auction and so I had to get her on the phone

and she assured him that it's in the blood, so it's all going to be OK.

Yeah, I think she's really excited.

She loves Homes Under The Hammer, so when I was approached to

go on it I had to say "yes" because I felt I had to do it for her.

Well, guys, it's been lovely meeting you both today

and I really hope you can put the Charlie touch to this flat.

I'm sure it's going to look fantastic

and we will be back to check up on you.

-Brilliant.

-Lovely to meet you. Well done.

-Thank you.

Well, Cherry is taking on the family tradition of just

setting off on her first property development venture.

How will she get on?

With Charlie's help,

hopefully she'll turn this tired little flat

into a bijou pad for a king.

You can find out

if Charlie does add his magic touch later in the programme.

Singer Tom Jones has a lot to thank

Abertillery in his home country of Wales for.

# Yeah... #

It was his performance in the Top Hat Club here that led to him

being signed by manager Gordon Mills.

The rest we can say is pop history.

MUSIC: If I Only Knew by Tom Jones

# If I only knew

# What I could do

# To make you, make you love me

# To make you, make you love me. #

£15,000 plus was the guide price for the property that I'm about to see.

What do you reckon you get for that? Can't be much, can it?

Well, it's a two-bed terrace. How bad can it be?

Erm...

..well...seen worse.

It doesn't smell too bad.

So, the corridor - pine-tastic.

The front living room area there - it looks dark, obviously,

because you have those boards on the windows.

Just to take those off would make that room feel a lot better.

But it seems all right. There are bits of wood lying around all over the place.

Stairs up to your two bedrooms there

and it's a pretty traditional layout.

Into the...

Eww.

..into the slightly wonky-feeling back room.

I'm not sure if there is a problem here but it feels,

when you step in here, like there's definitely a slope.

I know the road's on a slope, but I don't think that's an excuse.

So that needs to be checked out, but it's a half-decent-sized space.

So far, so middle of the road.

And then...into the kitchen.

Obviously built into some kind of little extension thing on the back here.

This is the kitchen, there's also a loo there with a shower in it.

Er, OK.

HE INHALES SHARPLY

Erm, a bit of work to be done, eh? Ahem.

# What would you do about you

# If you were me. #

This property definitely needs to be ruled by the head.

The guide price might pull you in,

but this is not for the faint-hearted.

Every basic needs tackling - electrics, plumbing, wonky floors

- and the layout is not great, with the bathroom off the kitchen.

But, on the plus side, the two rooms on the ground floor

are a decent size and maybe opening spaces up would help.

So, upstairs, and in one of the bedrooms, a boiler.

Now, that looks absolutely ancient and it definitely needs to be got

rid of and, I would say, relocate it out of the bedroom.

We don't like boilers in bedrooms ideally.

Erm, up here, again, this feeling, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Upstairs, as well, is majorly sloping.

It's a good size room and then a very traditional sort of layout.

A little danger zone here.

A little mini landing you have to step across to get to

the other bedroom. Not a bad size.

Again, very slopey down this way.

Oh, my goodness gracious, what is that?

Wow. Bare wires. I don't think I'll touch those.

Just something to be aware of when you're looking round properties -

auction ones or otherwise. Just be careful.

MUSIC: Danger! High Voltage by Electric Six

# Danger! Danger! High voltage

# When we touch

# And when we kiss. #

So it's not just the guide price that's shocking here.

Joking aside, there's plenty to do in this house

and making it safe should be the first job on the list.

Behind the property there is a communal lane that has access

from the side of the terrace and up to some higher ground,

from which you can get a clearer idea

of the state the property is in.

Good news. The main roof doesn't look to be in too bad condition.

It's really this one that sits above the kitchen

and the bathroom which definitely needs some attention.

But, you know, is it going to cost a lot? Probably not.

Another bonus when you step out the back here, you have access to this.

This is your garden.

I imagine at some stage that was a garage.

Good news, there's a little access road at the back there,

so you could have it as a usable garage.

It's just a little bonus on a property which doesn't have to

do much to justify its guide price, does it?

Yes, it may be in need of a fair bit of work

but that guide price of £15,000 is hard to argue with.

However, we are in an area which has a ceiling price,

so you will need to watch your budget.

What does a local estate agent make of the property?

This property is in need of complete refurb.

You'd be talking new windows, new doors right throughout.

The roof looks in pretty good condition, however fascia boards,

guttering, external rendering would probably require attention

and a complete refurb right through - new kitchen, new bathroom.

As I thought, a long list of jobs ahead,

but in an area popular with renters

what could it expect to generate once the work is complete?

I would expect this property to rent out for approximately £350 per calendar month.

And how about for resale?

Once this property is completely renovated, I would

recommend that it would achieve somewhere in the region of £60,000.

Potentially a few structural issues

and definitely a lot of cosmetic ones. Oh, boy.

Yeah, new kitchen, new bathroom, walls, plastering, electrics,

all that kind of stuff. Still, what do you expect for 15 grand plus?

Let's see what it actually sold for when it went under the hammer.

It's a mid-terraced house. Requires upgrading and modernisation.

Guided there at just £15,000. Who's going to start me?

Start me at 15, will you?

15. It's cheap at 15. Start me at 15, somebody. Put a hand up. 15, 12.

Make it 10 then, just to get it off the mark, if you like. 10 can I see?

Thank you, I've got you at 10. 11, sir, can I say? 11, thank you.

And 12? Thank you, at 12. And 13. 13, now.

At 12 we've got you there standing. At 12. At 13. Thank you, 13.

14? 14? 14. 15?

16? 16? 16.

17? 18? 18?

18 with you. Thank you, 18. 19 now.

19. 20. 21?

21, now.

I'll take a half if it helps you.

I've got £20,000 on my left-hand side standing here.

For the first time at £20,000.

And for the second time.

Third and last time. Are we all done at £20,000?

Sold, sir, yours. Your number, please?

The successful bid of £20,000 belonged to Chris.

Chris recently took early retirement from the IT and electronics sector

and has been looking for a house to begin property developing.

He's managed to enlist the help of his son,

Dale, for this - his first project.

It was back at the property where I met them both.

-Chris, Dale, good to meet you both.

-Likewise.

-Congratulations.

Tell me why you wanted to buy this place.

I think the first attraction was the price.

To get a house for £20,000 anywhere in the country is pretty good.

I didn't expect to get it,

I thought it would go for a lot more than that, maybe 25 or 30 thousand.

In which case, I would have dropped out. I wouldn't have gone that far.

So I really didn't expect to get this house.

I was quite shocked it just took two bids and the house was mine.

-Are you working together on the project?

-Yes, we are.

-First time working together?

-Yes, it will be.

-So how is that going to go?

Well, we'll find out soon.

LAUGHTER

Chris has earmarked a 15-week timeframe to get this first

venture into property developing done.

So hopefully, the father and son team will run smoothly.

So, Dale, what's your involvement in all of this?

I'm going for the landscaping out the back,

removal of rubble, concrete.

Basically stripping the building back to a frame.

-So you're the workforce, are you?

-I'm demolition.

-Demolition!

Taking it all apart. What do you think the biggest issues are?

I think getting the roof sorted - the extension roof -

that's got to be done up front.

I'm also moving the shower room, which is downstairs at the moment, to a bathroom upstairs.

So that's all got to be put in, all the plumbing.

Soil pipe and everything has got to be done for that.

Where are you going to put that?

It's going to go roughly above us now, in the corner

-of the larger bedroom at the back.

-Where the boiler is at the moment?

-That's right, yes.

-Is it going to be a shower room or a toilet with bath?

-It will be a bath with a shower over the top.

-Oh, great.

And what will you do with the little toilet downstairs?

That will become part of the kitchen,

so it will all be opened up.

Also the window behind me is going to go as well.

The kitchen will be open-plan with a little dining room.

That sounds lovely.

What about the slopes?

There do seem to be quite a few of them, doesn't there?

Yes, I did notice when I viewed it.

It's actually a bit worse than I thought.

It's somewhere between a four- and six-inch drop

going across the bedroom,

so I'm going to have to re-level the boards.

What do you reckon's gone on there? Have you got a bit of subsidence going on?

No, I think it's the way they built these houses.

-What, with sloping floors?

-Well, I think so, yeah! I don't know.

I don't think there's any sign of any cracking or substance,

I just think it was literally the way they were built.

-What's the budget for the work?

-Approximately 15,000.

-OK, so quite a healthy budget for the property.

-Yes, it does need it.

I need to bring in plumbers, gas fitters,

electricians, so that's all part of the budget.

Are you being paid to help?

I don't know. It can vary, like.

If I can get him to dig into his deep pockets.

-You don't know yet, then?

-I'll commandeer some dollar out of something.

-I'll see him OK.

You'll see him all right.

What is the bigger-picture plan for it?

Is it to do it up and sell it on or rent it out?

To sell it on. I'm hoping this will be the first of many projects.

-Actually, it was your programme to be honest...

-Oh, good.

-..that got me interested in wanting to do this.

-Great.

Now is the opportunity to get on with it.

Do you think this will be the first of many?

I'm hoping that will be the case, yes.

-Well, listen, congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

Good luck with it, and we look forward to seeing how you get on.

So father and son team Chris and Dale embarking on their first

property development venture together.

Well, what do you think about the £20,000 price?

There are bargains out there. How will they get on sorting it out?

You can find out later in the show.

Still to come in Walderslade, Chatham, there's trouble in the air.

And the smell?

HE INHALES AND COUGHS

Worse, if anything.

And in Abertillery in Wales, how did the father and son team get on?

We did have some free and frank discussions at times.

It's now back to the sought-after area of Barons Court

in West Kensington, London.

A desirable area of the capital where the average one-bedroom flat

sells for around 500,000 -

so I was excited to look around this first-floor, one-bedroom flat

that had a guide price of 350,000 plus.

So in here the kitchen.

SHE KNOCKS

Well, would we like to knock through

and make this one great big open-plan space?

I think so, because it's almost as though there's too much stuff

going on in here and it's not big enough.

But there's doors, so that must mean outside space.

Ha-ha, I love this.

It's only small but you do have your very own balcony in London,

outside space, glass of wine, cup of tea, whatever.

From here I can see shops, bars, brasseries and life.

You're in London, what's not to like?

There is one bit of liveliness I could live without.

Handy for the Tube? Oh, yes, very.

There's the track right there.

I'm just wondering how noisy it's going to be in this flat.

These are single-glazed.

It might be worth spending that extra bit of money putting some

double glazing in.

Well, someone who was all on board for this property was Cherry,

who went way beyond the guide price with a successful bid of 481,000.

Cherry had with her friend and personal trainer Charlie,

who would be helping her with the renovation.

-So guys, how did this all come about? Was it over a training session?

-Yes.

-It actually was.

-Was it?

You should have been sweating and doing lots of hard work.

She was out of breath so when I put it across to her she couldn't really say no. So, yeah.

So Charlie, what is the magic touch? Tell me.

The magic touch is light and airy, I suppose.

We just need to go high-quality and I think that will sell this.

Once refurbished, Cherry was keen to sell the property

and had earmarked a three-month timescale for the jobs.

But with an impractical bathroom entrance

and a cluttered and dated flat she had a long list of jobs ahead.

It's now six months later

and we've returned to Barons Court to see how the work's gone.

Yup, they certainly promised a little Charlie magic, and there it is.

A terrific transformation,

taking out the wall that divided the living room and the kitchen,

and it's created an up-to-the-minute open-plan space,

perfect for the young professionals they're hoping to attract.

I'm glad they've utilised that cupboard.

It's now part of the living area, not a square foot wasted at all.

The boiler is now a combi and it's in the kitchen.

The bedroom has been tastefully decorated to a high standard

and although I would've liked to have seen

a separate entrance to the bathroom,

there's no doubt that these clean lines are stylish and practical.

Time to catch up with Cherry and Charlie

to find out how it's all been for them.

I'm most pleased with the overall look of the flat.

If we remember what the flat was actually like, with woodchip

everywhere, really revolting green colour.

But just to see the transformation

and, you know, the flat was very sorry for itself in the early days

and now it's just fantastic.

I think anyone would want to live here, particularly

a young professional - which is who I would see living here.

When I was that age, I definitely would have loved to have lived here.

So with this, their first venture into property development together,

how has it all worked out?

My role was pretty much dealing with the builders

and getting the work ready and going,

liaising with everyone,

making sure everyone's on time and what have you.

I actually did a bit of work in the flat, as well.

I had to take some wallpaper down, stripping wallpaper,

clearing some rubbish, some of the tiling. Well, all of the tiling.

But apart from that, yeah, I've pretty much been...in doing the work

and taking Cherry's orders.

Quite right too.

So I have not really been that much involved in what's been going on.

I like choosing colours and deciding

what the carpet is going to be like and which tiles we're using.

I really enjoyed doing all that

but I haven't got my hands dirty at all, I have to confess.

-You did help me with the wallpapering once.

-Did I?

-Yeah.

Oh, I did pull a bit of wallpaper down over there somewhere.

A lady after my own heart.

Because of a change to the permission from the freeholders

to do the work, it actually took five months

and their budget of £20,000, plus a five grand contingency,

came in at £23,000.

Which I think is not bad at all considering the transformation here.

However, one of the big concerns was the sound of the trains outside.

What happened to the idea of double glazing the windows to tackle

the noise?

This is a leasehold flat, it's not freehold,

so the freeholder is Hammersmith and Fulham Council

and they're responsible for all the windows.

One of the things I've been doing is trying to find out from them

when they're actually going to redo all the windows and whether

it was worth it for me to actually invest in doing the windows.

So I have actually got in writing from them that they're going to do

that at the beginning of next year, so all the windows will be replaced.

Putting aside any future costs of the share of the windows,

Cherry has invested 504,000 in this flat.

You may recall Cherry's husband was not best pleased that she

paid 131,000 over the guide price.

So who will be eating humble pie?

Let's see what two local estate agents reckon.

First, the one who visited last time.

The work seems to have been finished to a good standard

and it's been neutrally decorated so it will appeal to first-time buyers,

young professionals that we have in this area, as well as renters.

I think the layout is very good.

It was a good idea to open up the kitchen area.

It gives a better idea and better feeling of space.

So the agents are impressed, but what about those all-important valuations?

Remember, Cherry has invested £504,000 here.

I would suggest a marketing figure between £500,000 and £550,000

and expect to achieve fairly close to those figures.

For sale, I think

this property would sell at approximately £525,000.

I'm quite disappointed with that, with 525,000.

I would like to get more than that and I think, when we originally

started with this flat, we did talk to a couple of estate agents about

how much we thought we would get

and they said more around the 550-plus mark.

So I'd be happier to get something a bit higher.

Well, if Cherry did achieve her preferred 550,000, that would

mean a pre-tax profit of £46,000,

and with the estate agents predicting an average rental

of £1,475 per calendar month, bringing in a rental yield

of over 3.5%, it leaves Cherry with a decision to make.

I think we should put it on the market and just see what happens.

See how much interest there is in it.

If we decide that it's not going to go for as much as we want it to

then we'll probably rent it out.

We're going a little back in time now to February 2014

and the area of Walderslade, only 10 minutes from Chatham.

It's a popular area well served with commuter links.

When the property that was up for auction was

described as substantial, with a guide price

of just £200-£210,000

you've got to think, "Whoa-ho-ho, this could be brilliant."

Behind this rather... mishmash of trees and shrubs

is the property itself, and substantial it most certainly is.

Two doors to go into. Which one should we choose?

Eeny-meeny-miny-mo...

That one!

One side of this property was a semi

and this side was divided into two flats.

But, oh dear.

The first thing is, the moment you walk through the door, this

overwhelming smell of damp,

and it is dark and dingy and... not very good,

but it's not a bad size space.

But clearly, serious things are going wrong.

Shall we tempt fate, shall we?

HE INHALES SHARPLY

I should've brought my umbrella.

Yeah, look at that. Not good at all.

Right. Bit of work to be done then.

MUSIC: Dirty, Dirty Feeling by Elvis Presley

# I got a dirty, dirty feeling

# Dirty feeling's goin' on. #

It was a substantial property,

but clearly there was a substantial amount of work to do.

On the plus side, it had a decent-sized lounge,

bedroom and bathroom.

It was double-glazed and had a garden.

Would it be smelling of roses in the upstairs flat, though?

Worse, if anything. Not good at all. What is good is the size.

Like downstairs, a really nice size living room here.

Through to the kitchen. Now, it's kind of a kitchen with...two sides.

This side here, well, you know, old units but nothing too dramatic.

This side, however...

not good.

So there were some definite issues with the roof.

But at least the bedroom was looking in the pink

and it had access to a roof terrace.

But the bathroom was a little odd, with a bath wrapped in carpet.

Yes, that's a new one on me, and hopefully never to be repeated.

And the outside needed some work for sure.

Next door in this really substantial property was this semi-detached

three-bedroom house and I had my nose at the ready for the smell of damp.

But the air of neglect wasn't present on that side

and the air was fresh and clean.

But it was all a bit dated, especially in the kitchen department.

The only downside I could see was that this property was right next to

a school, but I guess if you had kids the proximity could be a plus.

Upstairs the house ticked all the family boxes,

with three decent bedrooms...

a separate bathroom and toilet...

..and there was double glazing throughout

and what looked like a fairly new boiler.

So this was indeed a property of two halves,

but with what was a guide price of £200-210,000

I expected it to be a popular lot at the auction.

A property developer's dream, I would have thought.

Start me where you will. Good-sized plot.

180? 180 do I say?

180. 180, I'm on the way.

190 I'm bid. 190.

200? 200 if you like.

195 I've got on my right. 200 if you like?

200 I am bid. 205 now if you like?

'The lot did indeed prove popular and we rejoined it at £300,000.'

300. And five.

305 I'm look for.

305. And ten.

307? 307 I've got.

And 310.

312? No, definitely not.

At £310,000 in the front row, then, for the first time.

£310,000 for the second time.

Third and final time at 310 in the front row. Make no mistake.

All done?

-GAVEL BANGS

-£310,000.

The lot was bought for £310,000 by Robin, who works in insurance

but has developed new builds before.

So this was a departure for him

and his two sisters are silent partners in the venture.

The reason why we did it is because it's difficult

to get off plan in London now at a good price,

erm, so it seems a natural course of events for us

to move into auction property.

This was a big property, not Robin's usual territory.

But he did have a secret weapon.

I've got a contractor.

He's worked for me on a conversion that I've just recently done.

The contractor, Paul,

-has done an excellent job in a short period of time.

-Right.

-We work very well together. It just seemed a perfect marriage.

-Great.

-So, has he seen it yet?

-He has.

He came with us

when we viewed it initially before going to the auction.

We got an idea from him as to what it will cost to do it up.

What did he say?

-Approximately 40,000.

-To do both?

-To do all three.

-Everything?

-Everything.

-Wow!

-The grounds, landscaping, the whole lot.

-Bit of a deal really.

It's a bit of a deal. But, with Paul, I've always got a good deal from him.

A 40-grand costing seems like a stonking deal to me

and Robin's timescale of up to six months seemed pretty realistic.

Well, that was in February 2014

and when we returned five months later

things were looking promising.

Or, should I say, part of it was.

MUSIC: Living On A Prayer by Bon Jovi

# Ohh, we're halfway there

# Ohh, livin' on a prayer

# Take my hand, we'll make it I swear

# Oh, living on a prayer

# Living on a prayer... #

The three-bed house was nearly complete and ready to go.

But less ready - well, actually relatively untouched -

were the flats, which were more or less as we left them.

So let us hand over to the wondrous Paul the builder to find out

what he still had on his to-do list.

First, complete refurb, rewiring, no central heating in at the moment.

New kitchens, bathrooms,

turn the upstairs flat into a two-bedroom from a one-bedroom.

So halfway there by the sound and look of things.

Was Robin worried about the timescale having slipped?

The house will be finished in the next seven to ten days roughly.

As soon as they're done, we're going to put this house on the market

and Paul will start on the flats. Paul has already kind of started.

We envisage it will be done within the next two to three months

and then the whole project will have reached its conclusion.

Whilst Robin had experience of off-plan new builds,

he was a novice when it came to renovation projects

and this one proved to be a learning experience.

This is a lot more involved and obviously I'm looking to make a profit from this,

so I'm constantly watching how things are progressing.

We have asked other professionals in terms of the level of work

we should put in and what we would get back in return.

So where we originally thought we might put a granite kitchen in

we've been advised that it's not going to make much of a difference.

So Robin had his eye on the profit margins

and nine months after our first visit we're going back again

and you can see how Robin's project has progressed later in the show.

MUSIC: See You Later Alligator by Bill Haley and the Comets

# See you later, alligator

# After a while, crocodile. #

Well, there you go, that is one property done and dusted.

But what about the other two? How have they fared?

-Have they proved to be good investments?

-Shall we find out?

Let's do it.

# Yeeaaaaahhhhhh... #

That voice can only mean one thing, we're back in Abertillery,

once a venue for the talent of the legendary Tom Jones.

The house we were here to see, though, was far from legendary.

This was a cosmetic catastrophe and with some suspicious

sloping floors this two-bedroom terrace needed a lot of work.

This is the kitchen and there's also a loo there with a shower in it.

Erm, a bit of work to be done, eh?

Not only that, there was a dodgy-looking roof out the back.

So what could possibly interest potential buyers?

Hang on, did I mention the guide price was only £15,000?

I did, did I?

Yeah, that ought to do it.

# It's a steal

# It's a steal. #

OK, so maybe not quite a steal,

but certainly low enough to tempt Chris and son Dale

to make the successful bid of £20,000.

It was a big challenge,

but one Chris had been looking for for a while.

I've been looking for a house for a project

since I took early retirement a couple of years ago.

So, Dale, what's your involvement in all of this?

I'm going for the landscaping at the back, removal of rubble

and concrete, basically stripping the building back to a frame.

-So you're the workforce, are you?

-I'm demolition.

-Demolition!

Take it all apart.

With Demolition Dale on hand,

£15,000 and a timescale of 15 weeks, Chris looked on course.

Nothing could go wrong. Could it?

Eight months later and we return to meet up with Chris

and Dale to see if they made a new home out of that run-down residence.

MUSIC: Something New by Girls Aloud

# We girls gonna run this, run this

# All I want is something new

# Something I can hold on to... #

Chris has done a terrific job,

knocking down walls to open up the space and giving the house

a full modernisation, including moving that bathroom upstairs.

But there was a lot of work to tackle and they're not there yet,

so what have they done?

Since you were last here, we've done a lot of work on the property.

It was a complete wreck when we bought it.

The house has been completely rewired, re-plumbed,

new central heating, it's also been completely plastered,

every wall in the house and ceilings have been plastered.

New windows and doors fitted, outside and inside.

There was a slope upstairs in both bedrooms,

approximately 5-6 inches from one end to the other.

What I had to do is take up all the floorboards

and put timber on top of the existing joists.

It was a massive job, but I did that myself.

MUSIC: Got My Mojo Working by Muddy Waters

# Got my mojo working but it just won't work on you... #

In fact, Chris did most of the work himself, just getting

professionals in for the rewiring, plumbing and central heating.

He even built the new partition wall in one of the bedrooms,

allowing him to move the bathroom upstairs. That's good thinking.

So, how is it working with Dale?

This project is the first father-son project we've attempted.

Erm, we did have some free and frank discussions at times about methods

of demolishing walls, but in the end I just let Dale get on with it.

-Yes, he also helped me fill up a few skips as well.

-Four skips.

-Three.

-Four.

MUSIC: Parents Just Don't Understand by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince

# There's no need to argue Parents just don't understand... #

Oh, don't worry Dale, I'm sure the help was appreciated.

Especially as Chris ran into a bit of bother.

An unexpected problem we came up against was building regulations.

Because we'd opened up the house downstairs, we lost the protected fire escape.

So I had to put in fire doors

and fire escapes to windows upstairs,

which I wasn't expecting and hadn't budgeted for.

Now, here lies a cautionary tale for all you open-plan aficionados.

Because Chris took down the wall

of the passageway from the stairs to the front door,

this meant he'd removed a safe route out in the event of a fire,

hence having to put in windows upstairs to allow easy escape.

There was another planning regulation issue that came up

with that extension roof.

We got a builder up here to look at it

and he said it'd be better to actually replace it.

Buildings Control wanted a flat roof

to add some strength to the roof structure.

I didn't, I wanted a bit of height to the room.

So I came up with a compromise of part flat and part sloping

and they were quite happy with that.

Unexpected budgetary items - that's not good news.

I've actually spent nearer 20.

The extra money has gone into the fact that the plans changed a bit.

Also the length of time it's taken.

Having to change plans can cost money and, of course, time.

As can having to adhere to regulations,

as Chris has discovered.

He's gone well past his original 15-week timescale.

The reason for that was probably the fact I'm new to this game

and I find that things you estimate are going to take one day

take two or three days to complete.

Property developing definitely has a steep learning curve.

Estimating how long things will take is a skill that often comes

with bitter experience,

so it's always worth having a good contingency fund.

Has Chris' total spend of £20,000

on top of the original £20,000 purchase price been worth it?

We've asked along two local property experts to get their opinion.

I'm really impressed with the improvements carried out here.

I think the renovation is a high-quality renovation.

I'm really impressed with the rebuild at the back of the property.

Nice that the bathroom is now upstairs as well.

I like the layout of the property downstairs,

I like the open-plan kitchen with the living area.

The downside of the property is there's no off-street parking

and the garden is relatively small.

They certainly seem impressed with the changes Chris has made,

though David seems disappointed off-street parking wasn't added.

But Chris has looked into that and there isn't room to turn a car.

Chris has spent a total of £40,000.

What do our experts think this property is now worth?

With the current market conditions,

I would recommend an asking price of £57,500.

If this property was on the market, I would expected to achieve

somewhere in the region of £60,000.

Those evaluations are about right, actually.

I would be looking to put it on the market at 60,000

and hope to achieve very near to that.

If Chris does achieve that top valuation of 60,000,

he will have made a potential profit of £20,000,

minus the usual taxes and expenses.

Plus, with both estate agents estimating a monthly rental

of £325 per calendar month,

equating to a possible yield of over 9%,

this project is something of a success.

It's been hard work, it's taken a lot longer than I thought

and it's cost more money.

But I've got no regrets about trying it and I'd like to do it again.

It was back in February 2014 when we first took a trip

to the outskirts of Chatham in Kent.

It was here we saw a large, dilapidated lot.

Essentially two semi-detached houses,

one of which had been converted into two one-bedroom flats.

And so, with three potential properties up for grabs,

the temptation was too much

for insurance claims adjuster and part-time property developer Robin.

Having paid £310,000 at auction, with a £40,000 budget,

he hoped with help from his builder, Paul, he could do up

and refurbish all three properties in just six months.

But when we returned five months after our first visit, well,

Robin and Paul were around the halfway mark

with the three-bed house just about completed.

The house will be finished within the next 7-10 days, roughly.

As soon as they're done, we're going to put this house on the market

and Paul will start on the flats.

We envisage it will all be done within the next 2-3 months

and then the whole project will have reached its conclusion.

So steady progress has been made, but what about those flats?

Were they to have the same happy ending as the house?

Nearly 10 months since I first stepped through into that

somewhat damp and neglected building, we are back.

The whole building is looking great, with new guttering,

roof tiles and windows.

It's ready for whatever the Kent weather throws at it.

And those flats?

Well, the downstairs one-bed flat is certainly looking good,

with new flooring, skirting, central heating, decor, the lot.

But, with no layout changes, this flat was always the more

straightforward of the two.

Whereas the upstairs one was a completely different proposition.

This was the old kitchen where we had units here

and units over this side.

As you can see, it's completely changed.

We had the doorway here,

which led from the living room into the kitchen.

That obviously has all been blocked up and, yeah, you can see

it's a lovely bathroom and a decent-sized one for that.

We've obviously moved the kitchen from here to over here,

which is now the new kitchen.

This has now been turned into a living, kitchen, dining area.

Well, that really works

and the reorganising of the space didn't stop in the kitchen/diner.

One of the biggest changes was to turn this bathroom

into a bedroom and this is what we've done.

It wasn't very hard to do.

We took the bath out, the sink out, et cetera, and here you go.

The layout changes enable them to make this a two-bedroom flat

with the master bedroom having the benefit of access

onto a small roof terrace.

Nice.

And so finally this multifaceted project is nearly finished.

So did Robin's builder, Paul, have a team of builders working here?

There was me and someone else 2-3 times a week. That was it.

The biggest challenge is just prioritising it

and getting everything done in the right order.

It's certainly impressive that Paul has done all the hard work

almost single-handed.

But Robin was there to project-manage the refurbishment

and, having previously invested in new builds,

buying many off-plan, this renovation was a new departure

for him, having to take control of both the budget and the timescale.

With the house we did go over a bit, slightly.

But it's a good thing that we did do because we concentrated

on each property and gave it the attention all of them have deserved.

Ah, yes, the three-bed house.

Last time we saw that, it was nearly ready to go on the resell market.

Since your last visit, the house has been sold.

We got 260,000 for the house,

which is within a reasonable price bracket.

That's good news.

Robin spent £25,000 of his total £40,000 refurbishment on the house.

So is his budget safe? How much have the flats cost to renovate?

I think we spend approximately 22,000 for both flats together.

It's gone slightly above the original budget,

but I think it's still within a comfortable frame.

OK, numbers time.

Robin bought the lot for £310,000

and has spent £47,000 renovating the semi and the flats.

A grand total of £357,000.

But don't forget he's already sold the house for £260,000.

So, to give him any profit,

the flats need to be worth more than £97,000.

Are you still with me?

No? Oh, well.

Let's find out what the estate agents think of the flats.

I really like the changes in the two properties.

They've managed to work the rooms round very well,

moving bathrooms to bedrooms to kitchens.

Everything works very, very well and flows very well.

I think the layout change with the two-bedroom flat was

a fantastic idea.

Flats in this area are really unique, they don't come up.

To change the layout, you've still got a really nice, big bathroom

but added space with two bedrooms. Perfect.

Well, that's encouraging.

It seems he made a good call on the layout change, but more

importantly how much are the flats worth on the current market?

Remember he has to get valuations of £97,000

to get past break-even point.

For the one-bedroom property I would value that

in the region of £155,000.

The ground-floor one-bedroom flat I would value at £140-150,000.

And the two-bed flat upstairs? What's that currently worth?

I would value the two-bedroom property

in the sales market for £180,000.

The two-bedroom first-floor flat,

because of how unique it is, I'd market between £170-£180,000.

And, with a combined valuation of £310-£335,000,

plus the £260,000 he's already got for selling the house,

Robin potentially is looking at a pre-tax profit

of between £213-£238,000.

Whoa! So what does he make of that?

That is more than I had expected, which is obviously pleasing.

Yeah, so, going forward,

this is something that I'm looking to turn into a full-time career -

property development.

Well, that's it for today's show, but we'll have lots more

projects from bedsits to large family homes for you next time.

We'll be bringing their stories to you very soon, so join us then on Homes Under The Hammer.

-Goodbye.

-Goodbye.