Episode 80 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello, and welcome to the show.

Now, you can do all the research in the world

but the only way to really know whether you've done the right thing

is if you're happy in your new home or your investment has paid off.

To give yourself a head start and to get a great deal, why not go

down to your local auction house and buy your next home under the hammer?

Well, a property auction will throw up all sorts of possibilities,

from small, medium, to big houses, with budgets to match.

So, let's see what went under the hammer on today's programme.

This Plymouth property looks straightforward from the outside

but inside there's a bit of a mystery.

There's something on the other side of this wall.

And there could be problems lurking beneath this Croydon terraced house.

I've got a bit of a bombshell to drop. Look down there.

And there's no hiding the signs of damp in this Cardiff new build.

It's not going to be a horrendous job to sort out

but it's just a really annoying one.

Why didn't they do it right in the first place?

All of these properties have been sold at auction.

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

when they went under the hammer.

Yours, sir. Well done.

MUSIC: Cold Gin by Kiss

This is Mannamead, a residential spot only five minutes' drive

from Plymouth city centre, with all its amenities,

transport links and of course, its famous harbour.

But professional that I am, I'll forgo the sea-views and see what

we have going under the hammer in this pleasant residential suburb.

Well, in this popular area, up this hill, with great views,

to be fair, is the property I'm here to see.

It's described as a four or five bedroom house. Four or five?

An optional bedroom? There's a bizarre concept.

But £150,000 was the guide price. Let's go and explore further.

It has to be said, it's not looking its best on the outside.

But it's the inside that counts.

Though, from the enigmatic description,

who knows what that will be?

MUSIC: It's A Mystery by Toyah # It's a mystery

# Oh, it's a mystery

# I'm still searching for a clue... #

OK, so, nice little entrance area here,

with room for your coats and bikes, or shopping, or whatever.

Bedrooms up that way.

A sort of living-y, dining-y sort of room over that side.

The colour scheme is something that strikes you straight away.

You sort of think, "Ooh, blues and greens in the kitchen. Ah!"

We'll come to that in a minute. But the kitchen, very dated.

But a good size.

I mean, the whole house has that sort of feeling of space,

and nowhere more so than in here. Look at this, for a lounge.

Absolutely marvellous.

Again, some great features of their day,

the old classic natural stone and the wood behind it.

But it's of its era.

But it's a good sized space,

nice set of doors out onto the garden there,

lots of light coming in.

For the money, it's a good house.

It's good to see central heating and double glazing in place

and although the kitchen will need replacing

and you may want to tone down that paintwork,

I think the ground floor is full of potential.

So, upstairs and the whole bedroom scenario will hopefully

unfold itself. Bit of a surprise - two bathrooms.

Basically, a bathroom there with a bath in it. There, just a loo.

But great to have two separate places with a toilet in. Fantastic.

Then, four bedrooms. One,

two,

three,

and then four.

Right, so the optional fifth...?

Backtrack, back, backtrack...

OK, I can't see anything there.

Something a bit strange going on here because...

..the house seems wider downstairs that it does here.

That is very odd.

There's something on the other side of this wall.

I need to go outside and explore.

The house was previously used as student accommodation,

which may explain the two WCs and the wear and tear.

But it certainly doesn't explain a missing bedroom.

MUSIC: I Can't Explain by The Who # Got a feeling inside

# Can't explain... #

It's really strange. OK, so what have we got?

This is some kind of utility room at the back of the garage

and then that's the room there.

What?

It's even got a door but you can't get to it

cos there's no stairs, or bridge across the garden...

Or anything.

That's weird.

So bedroom five is obviously reserved for those who can levitate.

Still, if you could create an access so us mere mortals can use it,

it could genuinely become bedroom number five,

one that could even be accessed independently.

It's time we asked a local agent to give us

his opinion on this curiosity.

I think for the size of the living accommodation,

for the amount of bedrooms that this property has,

the kitchen size is a little bit lacking.

I would extend into the garage to extend your kitchen,

giving you a good kitchen-diner. And then the area behind it,

behind the living room here,

I'd make a utility and a downstairs shower room.

There would be a few structural changes that I would make,

for the access into the other room above the garage.

Obviously, it would make it much more suitable for

a family dwelling if they could have internal access.

There does seem good opportunity to add value here.

Is there money to be made on its guide of £150,000?

Once renovated and in a very good modern condition,

I would value this property in the region of £225,000.

Once renovated, for the rental market, I've could see this

property achieving in the region of £850 per calendar month.

Well, certainly a house that's not without its quirks.

A room you can't get to like that?

You don't seem many of those on Homes Under The Hammer.

However, intrinsically it is a good property.

Nice-sized rooms, great location and yeah,

a good guide price.

I'm sure it was popular when it went under the hammer.

OK, ladies and gentlemen.

So, vacant four-bedroom extended end-of-terrace house

with garage and gardens. Anybody like to start at 150?

150 on the wall here, thank you very much. 150, 155 somewhere? 155, now.

155. 160?

OK, 156. 157? Going once.

156, 157. 158.

It's £158,000, 160, now.

160, 162.

162, 164, now.

165.

£165,000, 166, if I can.

At 165,000 standing.

Any advance on that bid of 165. For the first time.

Same time with you, sir, at £165,000.

Third and last time, at £165,000.

Are we sure we all done? I think we are.

Sold to you at 155. Congratulations.

Can we have your bidding number? Thank you.

The successful bid of £165,000, £15,000 over the guide price,

was made by Tony.

However, it was made on behalf of his daughter Abby

and it was Abby who was buying the property.

-Abby, Tony, great to see you.

-Thank you.

-Congratulations.

-Thanks.

-Now, Tony, we've met before, haven't we?

-We have, yeah, yeah.

-2003, I think it was.

-2003. Holy mackerel.

I bought my office where we currently trade as chartered accountants.

Right, I think it's time for one of those...moments

when we look back and see what it was like.

-You'll get out the archives.

-Yeah.

Well, if Tony did seem familiar, give yourself a point.

It was way back in 2003 he was last on the show.

MUSIC: Chip Off The Old Block by Chic # A chip off the old block... #

-So, how's it gone since then?

-Pretty good, yeah. We're still

-working from the office.

-Right.

-So we trade from there.

-Abby now has started an apprenticeship with us.

-Right.

-She's left school.

-As an accountant, is that...?

-Yes, just training to be an accountant, yeah.

-Wow.

So when we last met, you must have been knee-high to a grasshopper.

Yeah, I was only seven.

Oh, fantastic. And why have you bought this place?

Well, because I'm working with them, I'd quite like to move out

and I've always wanted to have my own place that

I can do up myself and have it exactly how I like it.

So we thought this was the perfect property

and I'm going to rent out the other rooms as well.

So I'm actually going to live here.

-So you've bought it for you to live in.

-Yeah.

-Well, it's a pretty impressive first house, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Fantastic.

And Dad's involvement is going to be what?

-Checking I'm doing everything right.

-Yeah.

And I don't suppose there are that many 18-year-olds who have the

nous to go along to an auction, a property auction, and buy there.

-Yeah.

-What led to you doing that?

Well, my grandparents had saved up money for me on each

of my birthdays, and obviously, I got that money when I was 18.

And I've decided not to go to uni,

so I decided to put the money into a deposit for a property instead.

-Wow.

-So, yeah.

-And that's this.

-Yeah.

So why this house, then?

Well, when we first looked at it,

I was a bit put off by the colours, to be honest.

But we went away and thought about it and actually I could see a lot of

potential and a lot of things that I'd like in my house, in this house.

-Hmm.

-So I thought it'd be a good first-time buy.

I wanted to, kind of, have the student kind of feel,

so I'm going to, obviously, rent some of the rooms out.

So that means I'll be living with people as well,

so I won't be so lonely by myself.

-Great.

-Which will be quite nice, too. So, yeah.

So tell me what you're going to do to it, then.

We have a bit of a floating room at the moment.

I was going to talk about that.

OK, you want to talk about it, make sure it's...

-What is going on with that?!

-I know, it's a bit...

There's no access at all.

So I'm going to, with one of the rooms upstairs, I'm going

to change it into an en-suite, slash, like, wardrobe-y bit,

and knock through there.

-So that's actually going to be my room once it's done.

-Oh, OK.

But maybe an external staircase, not really sure about that yet.

And also I'm having a hatch just over here from the kitchen

-into this room, to kind of give it a more open-plan feel.

-OK.

-So, like, a breakfast bar area sort of thing.

-Yes, yeah.

-OK.

So they're probably the main things. The rest is mostly decoration.

-Stone fireplace, is that staying?

-No, that's definitely going.

-So what's the budget for the work?

-About £35,000.

-Oh, OK.

-Pretty healthy, then.

-Yeah.

Cos I'm living here, I want to make sure it's really nice.

With their plans in place and dad Tony overseeing everything,

Abby hopes her renovation can be completed

and she can move in in four to five months.

And how do you feel about

your 18-year-old daughter having her own house?

Well, I'm proud of her, really, because I think it takes...

She's decided not to go to university and do that route

and that's quite a brave decision these days.

Abby was going to do business at university

and her business teacher sort of said,

"Well, if you're going to do business, why don't you just do it?"

-So here we are doing it. I'm glad she's not going away, really.

-Yeah.

But she will be separate, she will have her own property,

so, you know, it'll be kind of a good arrangement, I think, really.

-Listen, congratulations. Good luck with it.

-Thank you very much.

-I really look forward to seeing...

-Thanks, Martin.

..how you get on turning it into your home.

Well, only 18 years old and now the owner of her first home,

but Abby certainly seems to have a sensible head on her shoulders.

And that accountancy background will definitely come in useful.

As will help from dad Tony. How will she get on sorting this place out?

You can find out later in the show.

Addiscombe is an area of South London,

situated in the borough of Croydon.

It's ideal for commuting into central London,

with excellent rail, bus and tram services, all on your doorstep.

Well, this is a quiet, residential street

but you can still catch the bus at the end of the road,

straight to East Croydon station, which is only 10 minutes away.

So far, so good. But what about the property I'm here to see?

Well, it's a two-bed mid-terrace and it had a guide price of £220,000.

But actually, it looks in pretty decent nick from the outside.

New windows, the roof looks OK,

little roses growing in the front garden.

Let's hope it doesn't let me down on the inside.

Oh, well, it certainly doesn't disappoint.

Clean as a whistle inside, which is what everybody likes to see.

Look at this, fantastic.

The original features have all been covered over with all of this. Whoa!

So under here, hopefully, you'll get some really nice spindles.

So yes, we could to with a bit of a modern upgrade with some

new wallpaper perhaps. Lovely reception room through there.

Lots of storage space here but I'm wondering,

it might be worth thinking about a downstairs loo. Right there.

Small kitchen, really disappointing

but I think the good news is that we can take out this wall,

because it's not supporting, and open this space up.

I know I always say that

but don't you think these two rooms as one will look so much better?

You've got lovely new windows here,

you could even replace this with a nice patio door

so you've got instant access out to the garden.

And there you have an improvement straightaway.

MUSIC: Improve by Darrow Fletcher # Take a look around

# See what you can improve Mmm... #

So, a very promising start.

It's great that there is already double glazing in place,

it'll save you some money.

Although, there's no central heating

and that's a cost you'll need to factor into your budget.

Although it's well-kept,

you definitely want to improve the decor and the carpets.

And if you start taking this boarding off,

then who knows what lovely original features you'll find?

And, upon the first floor, you have a bathroom.

A first-floor bathroom always gets the thumbs up from me.

-# Yeah! Mmm. #

-Now, at the back of the house,

is the smaller of the two bedrooms, but it's still a really

decent size with more than enough space for a double bed.

Well, this is the master bedroom and it's a great size

but there's no getting away from it.

Flowers on the walls, flowers on the curtains,

flowers over here on the fireplace. You've got polystyrene tiles.

For starters, you've got to get rid of the wallpaper,

get rid of the carpet, get rid of the curtains,

because it's all just a bit... flower power.

MUSIC: Colours by Donovan

# Green's the colour of the sparkling corn

# In the mornin'... #

Obviously, I'm not a fan of the floral decoration

or these polystyrene ceiling tiles.

They're a real fire hazard and have to go.

But what's the back garden looking like?

To the back of the house, well, you've got this -

a pretty decent-sized garden. Look at it.

Extension potential, you might think.

Mmm, before we all get too excited about that prospect,

I've got a bit of a bombshell to drop. Look down there.

Now, that is a manhole cover, which means that there are

sewage pipes that run underneath this garden somewhere.

So extending out here, well, it might not be something you can do.

So the first thing I would do would be to find out where those

pipes are, before you start drawing up any of those extension plans.

MUSIC: Three Coins In The Sewer by Alain Klein

# Three coins in the sewer... #

And that's not the only problem in the garden.

If I were the new owner, I'd spend a penny

and get rid of this outside loo.

But let's hear what a local property expert has to say.

I think the property's lovely. It is small, so it's

a first-time buyer's property or a second-time buyer's property.

It needs some work but it's in good solid standing.

It's going to need an upgrade on electrics, new kitchen,

possibly a redesign on the kitchen.

It needs redecorating in the new bathroom.

And central heating - that's very important.

So onto values.

Renovating the house, but as a two-bedroom,

what could you fetch on the rental market?

If you are to rent this property as a two-bedroom house,

you'll be looking at around £1,200 per calendar month.

Let's assume you can get around the problem of the sewage pipes

at the back, would it be worthwhile doing an extension to this house?

Doing an extension on the property could cost you £35-£40,000,

so it's very important that if you're going to do an extension

and you're trying to resell something straight after, that you really check

the prices of the resales against the value of actually doing the work.

As the property is at the moment, refurbished,

I'd say it'd be valued at around £300,000.

If somebody did a ground-floor extension,

I don't think it would give any more value,

so it'd still be around the £300,000 mark.

If they did a double-height extension to turn it into a three-bed,

I believe there'd be around £350,000.

Well, this is a sweet, solid little house with a sensible layout

and it shouldn't take too much work to transform

this into a lovely home for someone.

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

Start low, 220, Croydon.

220 down here.

225?

225 anywhere?

225.

230?

235, straight ahead.

235. 240.

245.

245. 250.

255.

£250,000, first-time,

second time, third and last time.

Have you all done? Other crack?

Sold, 250. Well done.

'The successful bid of £250,000

'was made by husband and wife Chris and Pauline.

'I met this property developing duo back at their new house

'to hear all their plans.'

Chris and Pauline, congratulations.

How much did you want this property?

-Were you desperate to buy this on the day? Chris?

-No.

-What happened?

We probably had a list of about, I don't know, ten,

or so that we'd seen. And any at the right price is a buy.

The one that we really wanted, they went about two properties before.

-So this is not the one you wanted?

-So, yeah, we thought it would do.

-But it wasn't really the one.

-It wasn't.

I wanted the lot...the next lot, the Art Deco flat.

But he started bidding, I just...

-And you actually bid up to 250 on the nose, didn't you?

-Yeah.

-So luckily, 1p over that, you'd have paid 3% stamp duty.

-Yeah.

-And luckily you're only paying 1% on this.

-Mm-hmm.

Yes, 250 was my absolute maximum because of that.

Were you happy at the end of the deal?

A little bit of mixed feelings. I think we'll make money on it

but maybe not as much as we've made on previous projects.

This one's a bit of a, just, clean up and move on kind of job,

rather than really renovating.

-So, you guys have bought this property to sell on.

-Mm-hmm. Yeah.

So tell me a little bit about what you guys do.

Exactly that, we buy properties and sell them on.

This is our fourth project since we've been doing it.

-So you're fairly new at it?

-Yes.

We were both in the City and we got a bit fed up with it all,

and after about 20 years we both decided we'd had enough

and went travelling for a year, came back and...

Since Chris has always had his finger in renting property out,

he's a landlord and has been for years, we decided to do something

a bit more interesting. Buy a wreck, make it nice, and sell them.

MUSIC: Living For The City by Stevie Wonder

# Living just enough Just enough for the city... #

So Pauline and Chris have escaped the rat race of City life,

and one year on, they're finding success flipping houses

and finding a better work-life balance with their daughter Molly.

But if they wanted to fix up a wreck, this isn't it.

And if they're not extending, how will they add value?

Actually, that's quite a few more...

There's no central heating so that's the first thing that's got to go in.

We'll do a full rewire. The wall will probably come out

between the kitchen and living room to make a, sort of, family space.

We were thinking about putting an extension on it

but we're not sure an extension's really going to add enough value

worth the, sort of, time and effort to do it.

-So it's going to be a two-bedroom little cottage, really.

-Yeah.

-But just not so much flowery wallpaper.

-Yeah.

It's everywhere, isn't it?

I mean, interestingly, there's lots of things boarded up

and when you pull them away you can see the beauty underneath.

If it weren't for you guys, I'd have been round

with my crow-axe for an hour already, seeing what's there.

-Do you give me permission?

-Yeah, yeah, go for it.

'Well, I'd love to see what features they uncover

'and how they'll redecorate.

'They're looking to turn this floral house

'from bouquet to "wahey" in just eight to ten weeks.'

So, come on, how much are you going to spend? What is your budget?

Hopefully 10, no more than 15. Certainly not more than 20.

-Oh, you've gone from 10 to 20.

-I know.

-Contingency...

How much would you like to sell this property for?

-About 300.

-I was hoping to break the 300 barrier.

And how well do you two know Croydon?

-Our last project was about three streets that way.

-Yeah.

So you knew the road. So you know the area pretty well.

That's why I didn't mind paying what I paid for it, cos we...

Cos we know it's...there's a lot of money being injected here.

And you have actually got at the end of the road,

a bus stop which takes you straight into town, haven't you?

Yeah. Yeah, I think it goes to East Croydon, doesn't it?

-Am I giving you guys some information?

-No idea.

-I know that.

-You should know that.

-I was saying on the way down,

-"Yeah, it could be a bit closer to town."

-Clueless.

I've done more research than you have and you're the owner.

Naughty boy.

MUSIC: Ebeneezer Goode by The Shamen # Naughty, naughty

# Very naughty Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha... #

Well, at least Chris did read the legal pack and he also has

a background as an electrician so that will come in handy here.

But what's Pauline's role going to be?

To me, it's like shopping. It's terrible, isn't it?

You go and buy something and then you go and choose things.

That's awful but... No, I do do bits and pieces.

Painting and stuff, you know, and cleaning.

Cleaning disgusting toilets and stuff like that. I do do all that.

It's a lovely one outside, I've noticed. It's in mint condition.

Guys, I'm so excited by this and it's going to be really interesting.

And I can't wait to see how it all turns out for you. Well done.

-Thanks.

-Congratulations. Thank you.

-Thank you.

One year on, and Chris and Pauline

are full steam ahead with their property business.

And I for one cannot wait to find out

how they make their mark on this terrace.

Now, it might have been a bit of a panic-buy for Chris

on auction day but buying for 250K and not one penny more,

well, it's already saved the couple £5,000 in stamp duty.

A good start, I'd say.

But will that continue

and will they break through that £300,000 mark

when they come to sell this place? Join me later on in the programme

and you can find out how they get on.

Still to come in Cardiff,

there's a garage that's surplus to requirements.

Why not just cut to the chase

and convert this back into a usable space?

And we see how Pauline and Chris get on

taming this Croydon floral display.

The biggest arguments we have over the property is probably decoration.

We're back in Mannamead, a suburb of Plymouth, to see

this end-of-terraced house.

For a guide of just £150,000, you've got some bold colours,

slightly dated features, but on the positive side

plenty of space and four bedrooms.

Erm...or should that be five?

There's something on the other side of this wall.

I need to go outside and explore.

Yes, there was an extra room above the garage

but no, there was no way into it.

MUSIC: Just Out Of Reach by The Zombies

# Just out of reach... #

But this didn't put off 18-year-old trainee accountant Abby,

who bought the property for £165,000 and had some big ideas.

One of the rooms upstairs, I'm going to change it into an en-suite,

slash, like, wardrobe-y bit and knock through there.

So that's actually going to be my room.

Maybe an external staircase, not really sure about that yet.

And also, I'm having a hatch, just over here, from the kitchen

into this room, to kind of, give it a more open-plan feel.

-Stone fireplace, is that staying?

-No, that's definitely going.

So, with a timescale of four to five months, a budget of £35,000

and with a helping hand from dad Tony, it was time to get stuck in.

Just under five months later, we've returned.

Huh, well, I wish my first digs away from home had looked like this.

What a transformation.

Abby's knocked through the WC into the adjacent bedroom to

create a second shower room upstairs.

She has used to leftover space to create a music room

and moved the bedroom downstairs to what used to be the front room.

And as promised, she's created a hatch from the kitchen to the

lounge, opening the space out.

But what I really want to know is,

what did she do with the mystery extra room?

So, what we did is we knocked through here, from one of the

other rooms into this big room, cos this is actually a massive room.

It's one of the best rooms in the house but you actually couldn't get to it.

The property already had planning permission for this bit, it's just

he'd never done anything with it because he wanted it as storage.

So we didn't have to go through

any planning permission, which was good.

Obviously, we carpeted and plastered and made it into a really nice room.

Well, I can't disagree.

Knocking through has not just created the spacious bedroom

but Abby's used the connecting room to create her own

walk-in wardrobe and en-suite.

It's a lovely oasis for her,

should she still intend letting out the spare rooms.

I'm planning to live here for the foreseeable future,

so I've got three rooms that I'm going to rent out.

One is...somebody's already living here

but I've still got two more tenants to find.

So, in the process of finding them.

Well, with a house like this,

I wouldn't have thought she'll have to look too hard.

Dad Tony was trying to stay in the background to let Abby

take control, though I think all the fathers watching this will know

that that's easier said than done.

How did he get on?

I tried to let Abby do her own thing with it, really,

but we've been there in the background to, sort of, help her.

She's been very good with dealing with the builders and plumbers

and whatever, and they've been very good with her, to be fair.

Because Abby works with us, we've sort of released her to come

to the house whenever she needed to, to see builders and other people.

So she's been able to project manage it fairly hands-on.

Abby's done a few touches that that we probably wouldn't have done,

but it's her style.

But it's really smart and I'm very proud of what she's done, really.

She's done really, really well here.

MUSIC: Father And Daughter by Paul Simon

# There could never be a father Who loved his daughter

# More than I love you. #

I think Tony has every right to be incredibly proud of Abby

but has it all been plain sailing?

Most of it was a smooth journey throughout. We had a few hiccups.

We didn't realise we had to have the heating all done,

and also the kitchen was a lot more expensive than I'd originally

planned but it was a kitchen that I really liked.

And cos I'm living here, then I thought that I would get it.

Throughout the project,

I've probably learnt mostly how much things cost.

I didn't realise how much little things like, even,

stuff that's in guttering and curtains and stuff.

I didn't realise how much they actually cost.

So that was a bit of a learning curve.

Hang on, unexpected heating work? Expensive kitchens?

Not knowing the price of things?

I mean, far be it from me to sound like, well, dad Tony,

but did you stick to your £35,000 budget, Abby?

We went over about £15,000.

Most of the things I went over, actually,

weren't to do with my personal preference.

Like the kitchen, I wouldn't have done that as high spec

if I wasn't going to live here.

But it was mostly the heating and stuff,

which needed to be done whether I was living here or not.

Well, she stuck to her four to five month timescale

but her development cost has gone up

to £50,000 on top of the £165,000 Abby paid at auction.

But there can't be any doubt she's certainly added value.

We've asked along two local estate agents to get their opinion.

It's a vast improvement on the first time I visited the property.

The quality that they've done on it now is very good,

especially the bathrooms.

All of the bathroom fittings are of a high quality,

and they really shine out.

The property, it was very well thought out.

You've got some good space downstairs,

particularly the master bedroom, from where it was before.

The way they've sorted that out is tremendous.

Both estate agents suggested a top rental valuation of

£1,000 per calendar month.

But Abby is renting each room individually,

with prices varying depending on room size

and including all bills.

But what would the value of the house be,

were she to sell it?

If I was looking to put this property on the market,

I would look at an asking price of £225,000.

If I was to put this property on the open market,

I would probably range the price between

£220,000-£230,000.

I'm pretty happy with that, cos I spent overall round about 215,

but I've done it up to quite a high standard.

So, yeah, I'm happy with that.

This is Abby's home now but it must be nice to know that,

were she is to sell, using those valuations,

Abby could expect a pre-tax profit of up to £15,000.

Do Abby and Tony see themselves doing more

development projects together?

-My wife doesn't.

-We would.

-But we might. I don't know, maybe.

I mean, we have done a few now and it's nice to, sort of,

bring life back into a place that's been fairly, sort of, run-down.

-So, yeah, we do enjoy doing it, don't we?

-Yeah.

I'm visiting the capital city of Wales, Cardiff,

and a suburb to the south of the city.

I'm in Grangetown, known as one of the five towns of Cardiff.

It's a multicultural, diverse area, close to the city centre

but it's also seen a lot of money being pumped in recently,

to really bring it up.

And that's got to be good news

if you're thinking about buying property here.

With the city centre a short walk away,

and Cardiff Bay on the doorstep, the future looks bright for Grangetown.

So, what am I here to see?

Well, it's a very interesting-sounding property.

A former coach house which has been completely rebuilt.

Guide price was £68,000. This is it. Let's take a look.

So what have we got? Well, lots of pots of paint.

That's an interesting start.

Obviously it hasn't quite been finished, he would hazard a guess.

An open-plan feel, the moment you walk in,

though, with the stairs leading up to the bedrooms there.

And then, basically this one room.

Erm... I, I like it, actually.

I mean, a lot of the windows are boarded up at the moment.

One looks like it's been broken, which isn't too good.

But I reckon with those opened up, lots of light coming into this room.

It's open-plan. Living area stroke kitchen. Nice units.

Well, they're new, anyway, which is good. Erm...

And then through to whatever. Oh, downstairs loo, that's good.

And then...into a garage. Now, these, kind of, in-built garages.

Erm...well... I don't know why people bother

because they never get used for garages, do they?

They end up getting full of stuff.

You put boxes in them, before you know it, they're kitted out.

It's full of that stuff you haven't got anywhere else to put.

So why not just cut to the chase and convert it at the start?

Somebody put it in here.

I reckon this access is going to be really difficult anyway.

So convert this back into a usable space. Well, a proper usable space.

Maybe a bedroom, maybe a second living room, whatever.

You don't need planning permission to do that.

There might be some local restrictions in terms

of conservation zones or whatever.

But you will need building regulations.

But in general, it's a lot easier to go from a garage into a room,

so just a bedroom, rather than the other way around.

Because of things like insulation and safety, and fire safety, etc.

So I would put that on as a priority because I think then,

what you've got is a really nice space.

Indeed, as a garage I think you'd really struggle to squeeze

anything other than a very, very small car down the lane.

Let alone be able to turn it into the garage itself.

MUSIC: Tight Fit by New Young Pony Club

# I want to fit

# I've got to get into it... #

So upstairs, and two bedrooms and a bath stroke shower room.

It's got a nice sort of lofty feel up here, with these rooflights

casting loads, again, of light into the rooms, which is really good.

One thing I have noticed, which is a bit of an issue, though.

Somebody quite rightly has put in some

character double-glazed windows here, with this arch at the top.

But you've already got signs of damp there

and my concern is that that is just literally a single

skin of whatever, brick or whatever it might be. Even cement.

And there's been no damp-proofing at all put in there.

It's not going to be a horrendous job to sort out

but it's just a really annoying one.

Why wouldn't they do it right in the first place?

MUSIC: Get It Right Next Time by Gerry Rafferty

# Cos if you get it wrong You'll get it right next time

-# Next time... #

-So although this may be pretty much

a new-build house, there are still a few things to sort out.

Including the electrics, by the look of it. And that's not all...

Well, if you're under any doubt that the electrics and the gas

and, in fact, probably the water aren't connected,

there's your proof.

The actual meter boxes haven't even got

any meters or pipes running to them.

Now, to actually get that connected is something you

really need to budget for. It can be quite expensive,

depending on where the mains electric water and gas supplies are.

Somebody's done a bit of the groundwork for you.

They've taken out a deep trench, which would lead me

to believe that probably, yes, the gas and the electrics are out there.

But you are going to still have to do quite a lot of work

and it's not difficult but it's...

Time, because you'll have to get in contact with the utility companies

and factor in, you know, when they can actually do the work.

And money, because actually getting these things connected

is not going to be cheap.

But what can a local estate agent tell us about this quirky

coach house, and does he think it could be a good buy?

Going back to the 1900s,

a lot of the houses here had a horse and cart,

so to the rear of the properties there'd be a coach house.

And we now have what you see, this modern mews house coach house.

Are there any improvements he'd recommend?

You've got a small yard.

I think it'd be nice to perhaps think in terms of doing a patio,

timber decking, creating an outside feel.

It has an integral garage, which I think is surplus to the needs

and it'd be far better to consider converting that to a usable room.

Maybe a breakfast room, which would then link on to the garden.

Well, we're all agreed about the garage but what does

he reckon to the value of this place, once the work is done?

In my opinion, if the garage conversion is

done in the gardens, the value of the property

on the open market will be in the region of £120,000.

Well, on the face of it,

buying a new build property should mean you don't have any work to do.

However, that's not quite the case here, is it?

There's some niggly little jobs to finish off.

Some snagging, some issues with potential damp,

and of course, getting those utilities sorted out.

So, it's not quite a case of just buying it and moving in.

However, what you have got here is a good, interesting,

quirky property in a nice location.

So I'm sure it was popular when it went under the hammer.

Lot number eight, modern two-storey coach house with garage.

Guided at 68, start me somewhere near, will you?

Start me at 65, will you?

65, £60,000, can you?

Put your hand up at 60. 60? Thank you. I've got you there, at 60.

And 1 now. 1, I'm looking for. I've got 60 - 1, can I see?

At £60,000. 1?

Thank you, 1, behind. 62, now. 62.

63. 64.

65.

Bidding for the coach house got off to a steady trot and we

rejoin the auction for the final furlong, with the bidding at 76,000.

76. 76½.

76½, 77. 77½.

78. 78½.

79. 79½.

80.

80½. 80½? 80½.

81.

81. 81½.

81½. 82.

82.

82½?

82½, no.

At £82,000, backseated then,

for the first time.

At £82,000 for the second time.

Third and last time, £82,000.

Yours, sir, well done.

That successful bid of £82,000 was made by

first-time auction-goers Kevin and Ally.

A married couple who live in Ross-On-Wye,

Ally is a maths tutor and Kevin spins a turntable.

No, he's not a DJ, he's a potter.

MUSIC: You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) by Dead Or Alive

# You spin me right round, baby Right round, like a record, baby... #

Ally, Kev, great to meet you both. Congratulations.

Tell me why you wanted to buy this place.

Well, we wanted to invest some money

and we've been looking round in Cardiff for a long time.

-I've been a student in Cardiff for the past two years.

-All right.

-Studying ceramics at Cardiff Met.

-Oh, lovely. Brilliant.

So I needed somewhere to live for my last year

-and this seemed like a good idea.

-Right.

So why did you choose this particular place?

Well, it's quaint, it's idiosyncratic,

it's just odd and it's different. And I think that we can actually

say that there's potential here as well.

Yeah, I mean, the fact you're an artist, it actually just...

Now you mention it, you think, actually, as an artist's pad,

maybe, I don't know...

Have you got plans for a studio, or a workshop or something?

I mean, it's ideal, isn't it?

Well, the thing is that there's a garage at the back

of the building so that's going to be used for, probably a wheel room.

-Right.

-There is the potential that I could put a kiln in there

-but just a, sort of, small kiln to do just small stuff.

-Right.

But, yeah, you know, throw pots and the potter's wheel there, and then...

-Stop making a mess at home.

-Ah-ha.

-Yeah.

-Good plan.

# You spin me right round, baby Right round like a record, baby

# Right round, round, round... #

So, from coach house to artist's studio.

This building is going to get another lease of life

as a workshop for Kevin.

But before all that happens,

they're going to have to hook up some utilities.

-There is no water, no electricity.

-Yeah.

-No gas supply.

It's a case of getting the utilities put on, more than anything.

How much have you allowed for doing the gas, electric and water?

We're saying two grand each but we're not sure at the moment.

-We think probably...

-But we can go up to ten.

I mean, that's not necessarily unreasonable.

-It depends when they have to bring it from.

-Precisely.

-Yes.

What about doing inside? What are you going to do inside?

Skirting needs to be done, doesn't it? We were saying...

-As you're living here, probably not too much.

-Right.

She says sweetly.

-With your student parties.

-Well, it's...

Really it's just a case of, sort of, like, decorating, more than anything.

-Finishing it off. Snagging.

-Snagging, ah.

There's a lot of snagging to be done, which

-I will be doing with my caulking gun.

-Will you?

-You like your caulking gun, do you?

-I do.

-Well done.

So, you're actually going to do a lot of the work, then?

-A fair bit of it, yeah. Yeah.

-And then what about the garage?

What's the plans for that?

Well, to put in for planning permission on it,

and just get it...change of use from a garage into a living space.

Probably the thing to do with that would then be to

get rid of the up and over door, put in a...

-..a nice glass.

-Yeah.

-Glass doors in.

And maybe shuttering on the outside, a grill.

-Right, lots of natural light.

-Absolutely, for your studio.

Yeah, this is it, yeah.

So what's the budget, other than the £10,000 that you're going to

spend on the, hopefully not, but the budget that you've got for the...?

-10 per cent.

-What?

-Of the purchase price.

-10 per cent?

-Yeah.

That's an interesting way to go...but you're a maths teacher.

Most people say, "Well, like five grand, ten grand."

But you went DING! 10%. So what's that?

Round about eight to nine.

-Eight to nine grand on top of the utilities stuff.

-Yeah, yeah.

-So what's the timescale?

-Oh...

The utilities are going to take

-probably about eight to ten weeks.

-Right.

And once we've got the electricity on, then we can really,

sort of, crack on with getting stuff

-sorted out on the inside.

-Yeah.

-Great.

Well, listen, congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

-It's all good stuff.

-Look forward to seeing how you get on.

-Thank you.

-And seeing some of your ceramic art.

-OK, yeah.

-Whole gallery.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

Well, once you hear about it, it's obvious that this place is

an absolutely ideal student stroke pottery artist pad, isn't it?

With a kiln, and maybe a potter's wheel in the garage, there.

And, yes, a great place for him to be.

Will it turn out to be a good investment as well and will

they get those electrics, gas and water sorted out in a timely manner?

You can find out later in the show.

Right, so, we've seen one property,

which means we've got two more to go.

Yes, how did they get on in this ever-changing property market?

-Shall we find out?

-Let's do it.

Back now to South London and the area of Addiscombe,

which lies in the borough of Croydon.

It was here that earlier I looked around a two bed mid-terrace

with a guide price of £220,000.

Inside, I found a house that time forgot,

and decor that was more than, well, a little groovy, baby.

Well, this is the master bedroom, and it's a great size.

But there's no getting away from it...

Flowers on the walls, flowers on the curtains,

flowers over here on the fireplace. You've got polystyrene tiles.

For starters, you've got to get rid of the wallpaper,

get rid of the carpet, get rid of the curtains

because it's all just a bit...flower power.

Despite the dodgy decor, it proved popular on auction day.

Sold, 250. Well done.

Bought for £250,000 by

husband-and-wife team Chris and Pauline,

who had left their finance jobs in the city

to become property developers full-time.

This was their fourth property together

but their first house renovation and they were raring to get going.

I mean, interestingly, there's lots of things boarded up and when

you pull them away, you can see the beauty underneath.

If it weren't for you guys, I'd have been round

with my crow-axe for an hour already, seeing what's there.

-Do you give me permission?

-Yeah, yeah. Go for it.

Chris and Pauline had given themselves a budget

of between £10-£15,000, and definitely no more than £20,000.

And a timescale of eight to ten weeks.

But with the dated property in need of a total makeover

and a tiny kitchen, not to mention no central heating,

they really did have their hands full.

Just short of four months later, I can't wait to see what they've done.

Wow, the wall between the kitchen

and second reception room has been taken away to create

a stunning kitchen-diner.

Complete with French doors into the garden, a contemporary

feature wall and a lovingly-restored Victorian fireplace.

Absolutely fabulous.

A beautifully-dressed house can really add value to a property

and so too can mixing the modern with the traditional,

which Chris and Pauline have done really well.

And it's great to see a small loo down here, nestled under the stairs.

Another selling point.

So let's head upstairs.

As with downstairs, the upstairs has been sympathetically renovated,

with a keen eye for design and character.

Along with a lovely back garden, this property has had

a new life breathed into it and is an absolute delight.

So, the changes we've made...

We've taken the kitchen wall out, totally replaced the kitchen.

We've opened up all the fireplaces,

we skimmed all the walls, we've painted.

-We re-plastered ceilings.

-New central heating, totally rewired.

-New bathrooms.

-Oh, yeah, totally new bathroom. Carpeted.

-Toilet downstairs.

-Did the doors, all original doors.

And we dress the flats and the houses that we work on

to the style that we like, ourselves.

But not making it too personal,

but just to show the potential a property has.

The biggest arguments we had over the property is probably the decoration.

-It's...

-I won on this wallpaper. He said it was too busy, I think not.

A woman after my own heart.

While Pauline's been in charge of design,

Chris has been sailing the checks and sorting electrics.

But with a seemingly high-end finish, how is their budget looking?

It's very simple...

Budget-wise, we spent...

..probably getting over £17,500 now, on the house.

Probably the big unexpected cost was the gas.

Despite having a gas pipe and a gas meter,

we had to get a whole new gas supply fitted to the house,

which caused a little bit of a delay to the project

and it added a little lump to the project, so...

Other than, it was all pretty much as we expected.

I think it's a wee bit over schedule.

Probably about 13 weeks, all in all.

We did down tools for a couple weeks for holidays but...

Yeah, not too bad. We were delayed slightly by the gas pipes

and waiting for them to come in and do their bit, but not too bad.

So with a total investment of £267,500

and an eagerness to sell, it will be interesting to see what

two local estate agents think of the property.

Starting with the agent who saw it originally...

Well, I've got to say, I'm very impressed.

Having looked around the property, they've done a fantastic job.

I like the muted colour tones they've used.

I like what they've done with the bathroom and kitchen, fantastic.

Removing that wall downstairs and opening up that kitchen,

then putting in the big double-glazed door

so the kitchen meets the garden, is fantastic.

The layout works really well.

I like the fact that they've added a downstairs WC, that's really good.

Especially in this type of area, people want an additional WC

and an upstairs bathroom.

The property works fantastically well,

having the dining room going straight out onto the garden

and the garden has actually got a lovely decked area,

which is great too.

So, very positive indeed.

And with Pauline and Chris dead set on selling,

I am eager to find out what those figures might be.

In terms of property resales,

I believe the property will achieve £325,000.

This property will sell for approximately £335,000.

Well, we are delighted.

We always wanted to break the 300,000 mark,

but we have put it on the market for offers over 315,000,

so if we get anywhere near those two, we'd be delighted.

Yeah, it'd be great.

Well, if they achieve that higher valuation of 335,000, it would

mean pre-tax profit of £67,500, making their

joint career-changes into property renovation a big success.

But after all the hard work here, do they ever miss their old lives?

No, I don't miss it in the slightest.

It's good to work for yourself.

I only work with him, and I can always tell them to shut up, so...

We're back in the Grangetown area of Cardiff, where earlier we met Kevin

and Ally, who had purchased this two-bedroom mews house for £82,000.

While Kevin is a university student,

he was going to use this as his Cardiff base.

Kevin is studying ceramics, so this integral garage would be

an ideal space for him to throw some pots.

-That's going to be used for, probably a wheel room.

-Right.

There is the potential that I could put a kiln in there

but just a, sort of, small kiln to do just small stuff.

Before all that could happen,

some essential ingredients would have to be added.

-There is no water, no electricity.

-Yeah.

-No gas supply.

It's a case of getting the utilities put on, more than anything.

With around £9,000 set aside

to turn this into a desirable student residence,

Kevin and Ally set off on their first foray

into property renovation.

We came back four months later to see how they'd got on.

MUSIC: Definite Activity by Steve Hillage

# I want to see some definite activity... #

There's not much sign of definite activity

but this overhaul was always about hard work behind-the-scenes.

Unless you ran a tap, fired up the hob or switched on a light,

you'd be hard pressed to notice much difference.

As the kitchen was new, there was no change there.

Similarly, the downstairs toilet has had its broken window fixed

but all else is as it was.

Upstairs, the rooms have been furnished.

One as a double bedroom and the other is set aside as a study.

But no real difference here either.

However, there is one room that has changed significantly.

That was Ally's brilliant idea of actually putting French doors

at the back of the house, rather than having windows

at the front of the house, and just the long slim window at the front.

Because that's east-facing, then it means that the actual light

is diffused, it's not quite so bright all the time, which is great

when you're actually, sort of, working with

shape and form, as far as, sort of, like, pots are concerned.

And it's great for, sort of giving you

a really good, sort of, view of glazes on pots, as well.

Because you don't get that sort of

immediate light that reflects everything back at you.

When we come to sell the property, we'll be using that space.

We'll be dressing it either as a dining space or a workspace,

or a third bedroom. So we've got a lot of options there

-and hopefully we've added value to the property.

-Yeah.

So, a major improvement there.

But the main task was getting power and water to this house.

How straightforward was getting the utilities hooked up?

I didn't actually think it would take nearly five months to

supply the water and the electricity.

That was a bit traumatic because that was actually...

Like, a hole in the wrong place in the road,

and exposing other pipes and cables to the world.

The only people who really good were the gas people.

They were absolutely fantastic

and their utilities went in straight away.

So that unfortunately held us up.

A bit of a utility nightmare, then.

Were Kevin and Ally's tradespeople any more reliable?

Most of the work was done by this builder who

I got to know through living in Cardiff. He's been an excellent chap.

He...he knows an awful lot of other people within the game.

Although, we've...I'll be honest with you, he would admit to it as well,

we've had a lot of difficulty with electricians.

We've gone through about two or three electricians, literally,

in the space of about a month.

And then after that, Kev's actually moved all the rubble

and taken everything away and we've filled the trenches back in.

So we've now gained a patio area as well.

And that's the next project, to get all the outside done

-really beautifully before we do sell, if we sell.

-Yeah,

and I'm just hoping that I haven't ruined the suspension on the car.

And how about the budget?

Did they manage to stick with Ally's ballpark figure of £9,000?

We're still waiting to be reimbursed by one utility company

-so at the moment we've spent 97.

-Yeah.

And that includes mainly the garage conversion,

which we hadn't budgeted for when we spoke originally.

However, we've come in at just under 97 and possibly 95½.

The couple aren't sure about what will happen

once Kevin completes his degree.

Whether to rent or sell depends very much on local market conditions.

Here's a man who can shed some light on the subject.

A visit from a local property expert could be just what Kevin

and Ally need to help make their minds up.

It hasn't changed that much, except for the conversion

of the garage into another reception.

It's a usable area, and probably more beneficial than the garage.

There's plenty of off-road parking in the area,

so in my opinion, it's a better use of area.

And what about sales and rental values for this house?

In my opinion, the sales value of this property in the current market

is £110,000.

And for rental purposes, it's £650 per calendar month.

I think we were hoping roundabout 115 to 120.

The rental value, however, I think is spot-on.

That's what we were looking for.

It gives us the return that we wanted on the investment.

Assuming a final total spend of £95,500,

a sale at £110,000 would net a pre-tax profit of £14,500.

And the rental figure represents a return on investment of 8%.

Does that sway them one way or another?

When I've stopped living here, we'll probably be looking at renting it.

Purely because, at least that way,

we can hold on to the actual property itself

and then we can make a decision about it sometime in the future.

And looking into the future, once Kevin nails his degree,

do they have any definite plans?

Yeah, probably, sort of,

carry on doing some more work on property renovation.

-We want to work together as a team.

-Yeah.

Because I've missed him for the last three years.

Yeah, it'd be nice to be back together again.

That's sweet, isn't it? That's cute.

BOTH: Mwah!

Well, that is all we have time for today.

Yes, but there are literally thousands of properties going

to auction every year, and we'll be featuring some of those next time

here on Homes Under The Hammer.

-We'll see you then.

-Goodbye.

-Goodbye.