Episode 29 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello and welcome to the show.

Everybody has the idea of their dream home.

Is it a cool city pad or somewhere in the country, nice and quiet?

Hmmm, I'd like one of each of those, please.

But your dream could be to build your own home from scratch, perhaps.

Yes, whatever you're looking for,

maybe it's just waiting for you to find it

under the hammer.

Now, buying at auction can be very daunting but getting

something at the right price, well, it certainly makes up for it.

Yes, so who placed the winning bids and what did they buy

on today's show?

I'm intrigued, I think we should find out.

Have the buyers at this Gravesend terrace got their priorities sorted?

It was local and it's near the pub.

And there's no doubt what's top of the list at this

northwest London property.

-Coffee's an important thing for staff.

-Absolutely!

And in Derbyshire the important things are shelter,

warmth and an inside loo.

And, yes, the inside toilet. Get in!

All these properties have been sold at auction. We'll find

out who bought them and what they paid when they went

under the hammer.

It's yours, sir. Well done.

We're off to the bustling Kent town of Gravesend to see

a property that I first visited in April 2014.

It was an end terrace two-bedroom house for sale at auction,

guided at 115-125,000.

With the front door out of action, I got in through the basement.

Dusty, dirty, damp, just a few words that spring to mind

in the first room I walk in.

Yeah, a bit of a disappointment, actually. Not a great space

and, it's clear to see, a lot of work will be done.

Now, you expect basements to be dingy and dark

but this really is something else.

A kitchen which harks back to many moons ago,

so all of this needs to be completely updated,

it's filthy as well.

And up here, what have we got?

A little half-landing and a loo out the back.

I'm going to investigate further.

'So my first impressions were really not that great.

'This property felt a little unloved.'

There was that small loo on the landing but then on the ground

floor there was a pretty good-sized bathroom, minus a toilet.

Hello? There had obviously been a major falling out -

common sense would say, "Get them back together in the same room."

# Hello, is it me you're looking for. #

The lounge on the ground floor was also a decent size

and on the first floor, two generous bedrooms completed the tour.

Now, I usually pride myself on straight talking but this house

soon had me off on a tangent.

It's almost as if this house is slightly on the wonk,

a little bit lopsided even though it's not, it's structurally sound.

But if you look down here, you know, it's very angular.

It's almost as if there's a triangle there, but not quite.

It's making me feel a bit wobbly walking around.

And, you can see, this room here is hanging out over the landing.

I just feel it really does need a major rearrange.

Somebody needs to come in here and sort out all of the levels.

So good luck to that person.

So plenty of work needed to make this place habitable

but, with lots of redevelopment work going on round about,

I felt this was a great investment opportunity.

Now, just because there is a building site next door, it doesn't

mean you should run for the hills.

A quick search and you would discover that this old

council building, right here, is

being turned into some new shiny flats

and it's in keeping with what's happening in the broader

picture around Gravesend,

where just last year local councillors agreed the first stages

of a £120 million regeneration programme for the town,

which is so exciting.

For an investor, a building site is a sign of regeneration

and a helping hand in turning a profit.

When the house went to auction there were a few bidders who

agreed with me and after a quickfire battle,

it was a final bid of 163,000 that secured the purchase.

163,000.

Quite sure all done.

Sold to you, sir. Thank you very much.

The man waving the paddle was Shane, who, together with his three

friends Jay, Martin and Hugh, have pooled their resources to

take a first step into the property development business.

The four have been friends since their school days,

so how did they come up with the idea of working together?

Well, we're still chums and we see each other every

week, we're in a pub quiz team together,

and we just thought one night... At the pub quiz we thought,

"Well, we're all getting old, we're coming up to retirement now,

"what are we going to do?"

Stupidly, and that was after a few drinks, we thought, "Oh, it would

"be a good idea, we'll buy somewhere and see if we can do it up."

We thought about how to deal with it and actually formed a company,

so we have a company that has bought the property.

We formed the company and then we visited, probably,

seven or eight auctions.

I should imagine we've probably looked at about 30 properties

and this was the one that we were fortunate to get.

It suits us because we all live in the area

and so we're all within, probably, a mile of the property.

-So did you all visit the property prior to the auction?

-ALL: Yeah.

We had a bit of trouble, though, because the guy that was showing us

about from the auction company, took us round and said,

"Oh, I can't shut this back door, somebody's opened this back door."

And, of course, it had been shut for a long time.

He said, "Could you give us a hand?" So I went round the back

and he said, "Right, I'll pull it."

I went to push it and put my arm through the glass

and smashed the glass in the back.

MUSIC: "Breaking Glass" by David Bowie

Well, Jay, I know all breakages must be paid for

but buying the whole house, it's a bit extreme!

But, seriously, buying this place was quite a commitment.

Now, I know a lot of people would have been put off on first

glance at this because of what's going on next door.

There's also no parking, it's in a really bad state of repair.

What was it about this that made you guys want to bid on it?

It was local and it's near the pub.

THEY LAUGH

That is the right reason!

Yeah, no, because we all live fairly near,

this was ideal and we know the area and,

despite the building work that's going on, Gravesend

really seems to be quite an up-and-coming place.

It's 22 minutes to London on the high-speed train

and it's a nice part of town, we're near town, it's a nice short walk

-into the town centre.

-So what happens now?

Hugh, talk me through what the next stage is going to be for you guys.

Right, the builder friend has been round and looked at the place

and we've talked through a few proposals.

We have a plan A and plan B.

Plan A is to turn the basement into a one-bedroom flat

and then the rest of the building to be turned into a two-bedroom flat.

That's obviously subject to planning permission,

building regs and so forth.

What is your plan B?

Plan B is to leave it as one unit and just renovate it.

And they had carefully considered

the cost implications for both options.

We've got some indicative prices with regards to doing the two jobs.

If it's a single entity, it'll be about 20,000

but if we were to split it into two, which is what we want to be doing,

-it's about £40,000, we think will be the costs to produce that.

-OK.

That's very much on the basis that the four of us will be

involved as much as we can in terms of the, sort of,

labouring elements of the work.

-Really? I was going to move onto that.

-Mostly the three of them.

-For the three of them and you're just going to be telling them what to do.

-Absolutely, that's the plan.

He'll be making the coffee, that's what Jay's good at.

OK, so with the coffee making sorted,

I wanted to know about the real work.

What skills... What can you each individually bring to the table?

Well, there's a lovely bit of ironwork just outside,

a nice, sort of, wrought iron

railings which I quite fancy, sort of, tarting up

-and making them look attractive.

-That's got your name on it.

So we're taking down the chimney bricks throughout the building and

he's doing a little bit of painting at the back.

Which sounds about right, that doesn't surprise us at all!

So what are you going to bring to the table?

I think, certainly like these two here...

Basically, I had my own house for 30-odd years,

got some DIY skills at home,

this is a great opportunity to hone those skills and,

indeed, develop other skills.

The builder we've been talking to will, hopefully, give us an

opportunity to use the tools a bit more, perhaps a bit of plastering,

perhaps a little bit of brickwork,

I don't quite know, whatever comes along.

But, basically, when we finish this you've got that sense of achievement

and you're in a better position to commence the new project as and

when we sell this and we've got the money left to buy another property.

-You do really want to be hands-on here.

-Absolutely, yes.

-Fantastic.

So what's the timescale, the realistic timescale you've set yourselves?

THEY TALK OVER EACH OTHER

I would love it if you all said different things at the same time.

-A couple of weeks!

-Oops!

-We did discuss this yesterday, didn't we?

-Yeah!

-So, come on, timesescale, all say it together. Go!

-ALL: Nine months.

-Six to nine months.

-Nine months.

Hard to tell amongst all those voices but I'm sure I heard,

"Nine months."

Well, when we came back 11 months later, it was clear the lads

had done a lot of work but things were running a bit behind.

Planning permission had been granted for the conversion into two

flats, a one-bed in the basement

and a two-bed on the ground floor and first floors.

Knowing the team's fondness for meeting up in the pub,

I wondered how much of this had contributed to the delay.

We've hardly ever been there.

I think these things, inevitably, take longer than you imagine,

especially for the first time that some of us have been involved in

the process and then the added dimension

was around this being part of a conservation area.

So where we wanted to change, for example, the front door,

and things like that, we had to get additional planning approval.

We're moving into the finishing, sort of, situation at the moment.

You can probably hear we've actually got builders working

on-site at the moment.

The builders are still putting in radiators, boilers

baths, some electrical work.

We're starting to paint the building from top to bottom,

so these are the sort of tasks we can take on.

To get an idea of how buoyant the market was, we invited two

local estate agents along to have a look at this work in progress.

I think there's always a demand for quality properties

and, at the moment, I believe there is a shortage of properties.

So if you've got something and if it is of good quality,

I think it'll go very quickly.

I think the owners have done a really good job here.

They've converted it into two units, both of which will sell quite

readily or be able to be rented out fairly quickly.

Having spent 218,000 up to that point,

the guys were planning to add a high-end finish to the

decoration, in the hope of reaching the best possible sale price.

Keeping that in mind and looking at the work done so far,

what did the estate agents think the flats might be worth,

starting with the one-bed basement?

That should achieve a price in the region of £90,000.

It should make somewhere in the region of £95,000

and the upper flat should sell for somewhere in the region of £175,000.

That property should achieve a price in the region of £160,000.

But achieving that possible profit of 50,000 would mean ramping up

the action and getting on with the work,

isn't that right, boys?!

We do, of course, have an unwritten rule that every board meeting

-for the company has to be in a different pub.

-In a different pub.

That's the real reason that most of us are involved in the project,

as you've probably guessed.

That's where we're going at the moment.

Well, we'll see the results of those "board meetings"

and, hopefully, quite a lot of work later on in the show.

Harrow Weald, in northwest London, is a busy part of the modern

metropolis that has hidden historical depths.

It's the site of Grim's Ditch,

an earthwork, or man-made hill, that's believed by some

to date back to the 5th century,

though some think it may even be older,

built as a defence against the Romans.

Nowadays, the Romans would have no trouble getting from A to B

as there are good links to the A41, M1 and M25.

And a mile away there is the

Bakerloo and London Overground station.

So what was up for auction?

Well, one of those auction lots you don't see every day,

a former church premises.

Hmmm, interesting, eh? A guide price at £250,000 plus.

This is it, woohoo!

Well, first off, it's worth noticing that

the building looks pretty modern, which has got to be good news.

It's likely to have proper damp-proof course,

the roof is likely to be in good condition, good electrics, etc, etc.

What have we actually got? Well, probably what you might expect.

A little entrance area here, a few cupboards for storage,

a loo, looks to be in fairly nice condition,

lots of oak all over the place and...

Yeah, it's good.

What else is there?

Whoa! One large room here, we'll explore that in a minute,

but, first of all, look at this door.

This is an amazing feature.

How about that?!

I don't know what you'd use it for but I love it.

It's solid oak, it's really heavy and it's...

HE GROANS

..it's like a fortress.

It's solid oak, I don't know if it's soundproofed or anything.

It would be a shame to get rid of it because it probably cost a fortune.

But once you get into this room, well, it's just great, actually.

It's a bit bland, I suppose, but it's clean.

You come in here and you get a size of the building, for sure.

Straight away you're thinking a place of work, offices, or whatever.

It would be really easy to convert it to that, it's almost ready-made.

In terms of something else, eh, yeah...

The fact that you've got this blank canvas is great news.

So, yeah, from the outside...

HE MUMBLES

..in here, this is amazing.

However, as exciting as this space is,

there are some important things to bear in mind.

We have to remember this was a church

so, unless you are planning on buying this to have your own

Sunday sermons, then we're talking change of use.

This lot would be categorised as D1,

it's a non-residential institution.

And when it comes to buying property, check the use class

and if the planning department will look favourably on a change of use.

But if they do, there are some very interesting possibilities.

The one thing that's really in favour of the building is that roof.

It's only a single-storey dwelling and yet the roof height is

almost the same height as the double sized buildings next door.

So when it came to planning decisions,

maybe putting in a second floor,

certainly a dormer window, or something like that.

I don't think the planners would have an issue, so that's great news.

The roof space already has a generous attic

but that possibility to extend

the former church into the heavens means there's huge potential here.

Plenty of parking space, too, that's always an added bonus.

But what to do with all this?

Well, let's listen to the thoughts of a local estate agent.

# Glory, glory

# Hallelujah. #

If you could get the planning permission to convert

it into houses or flats, I would say go with that

because that's what you're surrounded by around here,

that's where, I would say, the main money is.

But if you couldn't and you had to keep it as a commercial property,

I would say going for a convenience store or solicitors

or an office of some sort.

The agent thinks that converting the church into flats or

a semi-detached house is a strong possibility

and he values a two-bed semi in this area at £400,000,

while one-bedroom flats can go for anything between 180-200,000.

It does sound like there might be money to be made

but you'd have to factor in the time for planning

and all the demolition costs before you even start to build.

So if you decide to convert it and turn it into a shop,

what kind of money could it make?

If you do get a convenience store or even A3 or A5 use on it,

you could, actually, probably resale somewhere up to about £380,000.

A3 would mean a cafe or restaurant,

whereas an A5 is a takeaway.

Hmmm, food for thought.

However, what if you just wanted to make this an office of some kind?

If you were to convert this to offices

and put this on the open market, I'd say you'd be looking about £350,000.

Well, a bit of a blank canvas, this one.

Subject to the right planning permission, this could be

a place of business, flats, maybe just a home.

Yeah, a great opportunity.

Let's see who thought it was heaven-sent

when it went under the hammer.

Unfortunately, we're unable to bring you the bidding on this

property, although we know interest was keen.

The building was bought for £365,000 by Kiran.

She paid a whopping 115 grand over the guide price and came along with

Winston, who is the manager of her business, to tell us

what's going to happen to the former church premises.

-Kiran and Winston, good to meet you both.

-Hi.

-Hi.

-Congratulations!

Tell me why you wanted to buy this place.

We wanted to have this to run a fostering service from it and also

for it to be a community based place where we can run women's groups...

-Fantastic.

-.. and run training events.

We're both social workers

and we have been in the fostering field for quite a while.

We recruit foster carers and place vulnerable children with them.

Wow! What a fantastic job.

In this area or a bit further afield?

All over greater London, the outskirts of London.

Is this a charity or is this part of the local authority?

Well, it's an independent fostering agency,

so, technically speaking, we make profits

but, you know, we tender our services

-out to the local authorities.

-Right.

And so people come to you or do you go searching for people,

to find foster parents?

-We go searching.

-Right.

So what were you looking for, then, in terms of a building?

We needed an office space so the staff could

operate from the office space and for foster carers to come here as well.

I would have thought it's an absolutely ideal building.

As you can see, I mean, it's got a lots of potential.

Anything we could imagine that we

could do in here, whether it's partitions, building up, you know,

we can go for it.

Winston's absolutely right, this is a really flexible space.

So what's the initial plan?

At the moment it needs a bit of a refurb.

We need a kitchen area,

we need to make it look a lot more presentable than at the moment.

Maybe go up into the loft space, as well.

And then in the future maybe expand it even more.

Right, but the idea that it is this office space to start off with,

but also a bit of a multiuse building, if you like?

So, in terms of the internal layout, then,

tell me what your thoughts are at this point.

We've had a lot of thoughts around are we going to partition areas,

are we going to make smaller offices,

a nice little boardroom area for

people to meet and have training events?

So it's looking at how we can use this space.

'A little bit of thinking needed on the best layout.

'But they'll need to be quick as they want to move in, in just one month.

'It's a tight timescale but is the budget as tight as well?'

So, initially, we're looking at about £15,000.

And, obviously, if we go up into the roof,

the budget will need to be extended from there.

And what would you put up there?

Would that just be dormer windows and more, sort of...?

-More office space.

-Office space, OK.

First stage is really, sort of, I would say, sitting down,

talking to the staff team a bit more, looking at how we're going to

divide the space, colour schemes,

where's the kitchenette going to go.

-Coffee's an important thing for staff.

-Absolutely!

And how involved in the actual process of the renovations

are you both going to get?

-Very involved.

-Very involved?!

-A hands-on painting kind of thing?!

-Yeah.

-See you in your overalls tomorrow.

-Why not!

That comment might very well backfire, Winston,

looks like you'll all be getting a set of overalls

and hold on to them for a while because if you do decide to go into

that loft space, well, you'll need them to paint

and decorate up there, too.

Obviously, two people of many talents

but I particularly wanted to know what drew them into social work.

We've both been in social work for a very long time, 25 years for me

and, I think...

-About 30 for me.

-Really?! Oh, wow!

-Yeah.

A big step to saying, well, there's a need but then going out

and doing something about it.

Yeah, definitely, but we're very passionate about what we do.

We've got a good staff team that's got a lot of skills

and experience, so that really helps us.

There's a lot of children out there that need foster care,

a huge number of children that need foster care, so...

It's a very fulfilling job you've, sort of,

-taken on, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-Definitely.

-Yeah, definitely.

Well, listen, congratulations, extremely worthwhile

-and wonderful what you're doing. So good luck with it.

-Thank you.

-I look forward to seeing how you get on.

-Thanks very much.

Well, turning this former church into offices is, definitely,

a good move, especially with the close proximity to good transport

links like the underground.

Still, lots of decisions to be made.

Will they get divine inspiration? You can find out later in the show.

Still to come, is there a father/son disagreement in Derbyshire?

Plenty of family arguments about what we should do

and, in the end, we got there.

And in London, all is equally harmonious.

We very much want to be part of the community here.

Back now to Gravesend, in Kent,

where we first met our four old school friends,

who decided to invest their savings in property.

So they took their piggy banks along to a local auction.

# We are the funky men... #

Sold to you, sir. Thank you very much.

The end result was the purchase of this

two-bedroom end terrace house for 163,000.

It was local and it's near the pub.

Proximity to the pub aside,

this house had great investment potential.

The local area was undergoing a face-lift

and the guys' timing couldn't have been better.

Gravesend really seems to be quite an up-and-coming place,

22 minutes to London on the high-speed train.

The plan was to convert the house into a one-bed and a two-bed

flat and the fab four were keen on getting their hands dirty.

# We are the funky men. #

Well, 75% of them, anyway.

The four of us will be involved as much as we can in terms

-of the, sort of, labouring elements of the work.

-Really?

And you're just going to be telling them what to do.

-Absolutely, that's the plan.

-He will be making the coffee.

They had an original timescale of nine months and when we went

back 11 months later, they were well on their way but not quite finished.

Now a year since they started, we're back.

There's a new door, but more importantly, not a builder in sight.

But remember this damp and dingy basement...?

Well, it's now a sparkling one-bedroom flat.

And, above that, the two-bedroom maisonette.

This looks like a spectacular result,

made all the more impressive by the fact that this was the

four friends' first foray into property development.

With builders and other trades handling the technical stuff,

the decorating and finishing touches were left to the gang of four.

There's a variation of input between each of the guys.

You know, there's a couple of younger ones who are stronger,

so they'll do the heavier type work

and a couple who do the lighter, painting sort of work.

And then there's Jay.

And there is Jay, yes, yes.

I fetched the coffees.

-And the rest of us have mucked in and decorated top to bottom.

-Yeah.

To be fair, you know, Jay has enlisted help from his wife

and friends to make up for the lack of input on his own part.

He's been very busy, sort of, going abroad.

He's just recently retired, he's been on lots of holidays, etc,

but he turns up when he's available.

They've never trusted me with the delicate work, apart from the rail

outside that, right from the start, they said,

if I want that done, I've got to jolly well do it myself.

So I'm responsible for that.

I think he's done a good job out there and the rest of us

were keen to keep him out there, to be honest.

# Three's a crowd Four's a traffic jam... #

Oh, poor Jay. I bet your coffee's brilliant.

Anyway, he has made another very important contribution.

We decided quite a long time ago that, I think the quote was,

"You can't decide colours by committee."

So we've largely left it to Jay.

But there's more of a divided opinion.

Some like the green, some like the apricot, not many like both.

And not many that like either.

I think the green, in particular, works really well

and I think it's a contemporary colour for the age of the property.

And I think the apricot is a very, very nice colour

because it's in the part of the house that always gets the sun.

So I think that's quite a cheery room, especially if somebody

decides to use it as a nursery or a study, it's quite bright and cheery.

# Fancy colours... #

Next door, the large development is finally complete

and has paid an unexpected dividend.

Basically, we had an original wall in the back garden and, somewhere

along the line, it was knocked into by the next-door contractors.

And, as a solution, they offered to take the whole wall down

and put the new fencing out there for us.

So that was a bit of a result, really, from an accident.

It's no accident that this development has turned out so well.

The guys have put in a lot of planning

and effort over the past year.

Their budget of £55,000 crept up very slightly by 1.5 grand.

So, adding that to the purchase price of 163,000,

brings their final spend to £219,500.

The boys are just about to put the flats onto the sales market

and so what better time than to ask two local estate agents to

give us their expert opinions.

I think the owners have done a really good job here, actually,

and I think the finish is very nice.

When people are looking on the internet for properties, I think

the actual colours will really stand out and should lead to a lot of new

interest for this property when it goes onto the market.

I think the fact that they've divided it into two flats is

an excellent idea.

It will appeal to investors, particularly,

or if somebody wanted to buy and live in the top

and rent out the bottom, that's an extra income for them.

I think that was a brilliant idea

and something I would have gone along with myself.

Rental isn't the plan for this development,

so for how much do they estimate each could sell?

The studio flat will sell for somewhere between £95-100,000.

The upper maisonette will sell for somewhere between £175-185,000.

I would estimate the studio flat to be worth somewhere in the region of

£95-100,000 and the two-bedroom maisonette

to be worth in the region of £185-190,000.

If the sales reach those top estimates, the four friends could be

looking at a pre-tax profit of just over £70,000.

That surely calls for a celebratory drink.

Oh, yes, a pleasant surprise, to be perfectly honest.

I think the flat, downstairs, the studio, is what we expected but

upstairs, yes, that's pleasant, that's more than we anticipated.

There's clearly a profit there and, as an accountant,

I'm quite happy with that.

And if he's happy, I'm happy.

I'm heading to the village of Shipley

near the former coal mining town of Heanor in Derbyshire.

-# Going underground

-Going underground

# Well, let the boys all sing

# And let the boys all shout For tomorrow... #

Coal mining has helped shape the town since the 1500s and,

although the colliery is now closed, it's still a popular town with good

commuter links to nearby Nottingham and Derby.

So just on the outskirts of town, on this busy main road that links

Ilkeston to Heanor

and opposite you've got some lovely open countryside.

On this street, you've got modern and you've got old

and the modern ones tend to bring in that little bit more money

but look at this quaint row of miner's cottages.

The one I'm here to see is right there.

It's got a guide price of £43,000 plus and it's a two-up, two-down.

Let's have a look.

Now, you've got to remember, this is a cottage so there's not going

to be a huge amount of space in here, in this, what would be,

the lounge area.

My eyes are drawn to this four bar gas fire.

The '70s come to mind, my two brothers and my sister

fighting for heat when we lived in Leicester together

in our small little terraced house.

OK, through into here into the back room or, maybe, dining room,

table and chairs in here, somewhere.

Into the kitchen, you know, the theme runs through here.

This place hasn't been touched in a long time.

You'd need new floors, new windows, practically new everything.

# It's a good tradition Of love and hate

# Staying by the fireside

# There's a good tradition Of love and hate... #

It's all very well me getting nostalgic but it's going to

take a lot of work before anyone can get cosy in this place.

Especially as any heat from the kitchen will go straight up

that staircase next to it, along with those cooking smells - nice(!)

Out front, see the little clips on the roof tiles?

A sign of a temporary repair and elsewhere it looks even more dodgy.

Out the back there's a small garden space and an old outside toilet.

Let's just hope that's not the only loo.

I'm not sure I'd fancy that in the summer, let alone days like today.

OK, upstairs, and yes, the inside toilet.

Get in!

Bedroom, two there, smaller one.

And into the master bedroom, decent size,

got some storage space over there.

It would need new windows, most definitely,

and some central heating.

Here, I can see some concrete flooring as is downstairs.

It's not unusual in Victorian properties.

But, if you lift this lino...

And there's no cracks in that concrete at all.

..you can basically lay anything you want on top of it.

For me, a nice soft carpet, please.

This might be a small cottage

but it's got a very big list of things that need doing.

Yes, the guide price is a reasonable 43 grand

but could this cottage turn out to be an economic basket case?

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

The property's in quite a bad state of repair,

it does require quite a lot of modernisation to bring it up

to a saleable standard and, certainly, a rentable standard.

Looking round the property, there's no actual signs of any damp,

it just wants a really, really good modernisation and makeover.

But if the buyer does do a good renovation,

what chance have they got to rent or sell?

It's quite a popular area, the market's fairly buoyant

at the moment.

We're fairly close to two major cities

as well as Shipley being fairly close to a country park,

we've got open views front and rear.

So we're agreed, plenty of work to do

but once done it could be an ideally placed rental property.

So how much might all that work cost?

I think you're looking in the region of about a £20-£30,000

spend on this particular property.

Assuming the house sells for around the guide price and you

spend £30,000 on it,

that would take you to a 73 grand investment.

Is there a possible profit here and what could it sell for?

Once this property is fully completed to be very, very high standard,

this should be fetching in and around £95-£100,000.

So a lot of work could generate a half decent profit.

What about the rental values?

The rental market is very buoyant at the moment,

this property should fetch £495 per calendar month.

There's definitely room for improvement here and, as we've heard,

the resale and rental markets are buoyant.

Now, there's a bona fide opportunity here for a developer,

if they can get it to the right price.

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

It's a cottage style two-bedroom terraced house that requires

a scheme of updating and improvement.

Who's got 40,000 to start me for it?

£40,000, it's not a lot of money.

40, thank you at the back, I've got you, sir.

£40,000, my opening bid.

40 is my starter. 41 on the left.

At 41, 42.

42,000, 43.

44.

Two competing bidders drove this price up very quickly.

We rejoin the bidding at £57,000.

£57,000, bid's right at the back.

57.5 somewhere else?

At £57,000 for the first time,

£57,000 second time.

500. 58.

58, no.

At 58,000 once.

58.5.

59,000.

59.5.

59.5. 60,000.

60,000. Definite?

£60,000 once,

twice, third time.

It's yours, sir. Well done at 60,000.

Ajab, on the right,

found himself being congratulated on his successful bid of £60,000.

Ajab is a taxi driver and a property developer

and already has nine properties in his portfolio, which he rents out.

I met with him to find out what he had planned for his latest venture.

-Ajab, nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

Let's get back to the auction, how was it?

-It was great.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

And did you only go for this property alone?

Actually, yes.

Tell us why this particular property, first and foremost.

First of all, I don't live far from here,

-I only live 200 yards away.

-200 yards?!

-200 yards, yeah.

And when I saw it, I just...

I said, "That's it, I'm going to get that.

And what about the price?

Did you get it for what you want, did you go over?

I got it cheap, actually. I could go over.

-So you're happy?

-I'm very happy, yes, yes.

Have you saved a little bit of money

-now so you can spend on this property?

-That's right, yeah.

Ajab is happy with paying 17 grand over the guide price

but I'm beginning to worry a bit.

If he intends spending anything like the 30 grand that the agent

thought it might take, then the profit margin is beginning to narrow.

Ajab, tell me a little bit more in depth what you're

actually going to do to the property, how you're going to turn it around.

What things have you really got to do?

We've got to change the windows and put the central heating in.

The first time I saw the stairs going through the kitchen,

I'm thinking about changing them and putting them from the dining room.

What budget have you got in your mind that you'd like...

Well, not like to spend.

Well budget is around about £7-10,000.

Well, he's certainly not going to be risking any profit margin with that budget.

That doesn't sound very much to me for all the work needed here

and he has a tight 6-8 weeks schedule, for a very pressing reason.

I'm going on holiday, I want to finish this project before I go.

-Where are you going to?

-I'm going to India.

-Ah!

# More, more, more

# How do you like it, How do you like it?

# More, more, more

# How do you like it, How do you like it...? #

I think I would like it more if there was more money and more time.

I mean, windows, central heating, roof repairs,

modernisation of bathroom and kitchen,

not to mention the decoration and flooring, is more than enough.

But Ajab is also thinking of repositioning those stairs

off the kitchen.

But he does have years of experience

and has a good relationship with a team of trades people.

And that's not the only relationship tied up in this property.

-It's for my son.

-You bought it for your son? What's he doing to do?

Is he going to live here or do the work on it, or?

No, he's going to rent it out, he's going

to do it up and rent it out, like an investment.

Anybody else in the family going to get involved?

My big boss, my missus.

She knows about property,

you'd be surprised. She's the main man in the house.

So she's the one who, sort of, guides you now and again, helps you?

She helps me, she's done about 14 kitchens...

-You've got your...

-..that even the professionals can't copy.

You can sit back, you can go on the beach and relax.

That's what I usually do.

I buy the property and she does all the work.

-Does she do all the work for you?!

-That's right.

-Fantastic.

-She's brilliant, she is.

Ajab, good luck. I wish you all the best

and make sure you check with your wife before you do anything.

-Thank you.

-Good luck.

-Thank you very much.

-Pleasure.

This is a real family effort but despite the kitchen building talents

of Ajab's wife Harvinda,

I think all this work is a big ask for that budget.

Will they get the whole thing sorted out in time for Ajab's India trip?

Find out later on in the show.

Well, we've seen how one set of buyers got on,

what about the others?

Did they spend more time and money than they were expecting?

Or did they come in bang on target?

Well, let's find out what went on.

We return now to northwest London, Harrow Weald to be precise.

Earlier I cast my eye over this former church premises.

This is it. Woohoo!

From the outside the building was in excellent condition

and on the inside, full of potential

for all manner of businesses or community enterprises.

There was no doubting the star attraction

and I just couldn't resist a trial of strength.

Look at this door. This is an amazing feature.

HE GROANS

How about that?

Phew! That was my day's workout taken care of.

When this lot went to auction it was sold for £365,000 and was bought

by Kiran who co-owns an independent fostering service in Greater London.

Together with manager Winston they saw this building

as an ideal opportunity to expand.

We wanted to have this to run fostering service from it and also

for it to be a community based place where we can run women's groups

-and training events.

-Fantastic.

As you can see, I mean, it's got lots of potential.

Anything we could imagine doing in here,

whether it's partitions, building up, we can go for it.

With a budget of £15,000 and a timescale of seven weeks,

Kiran and Winston couldn't wait to get started.

Almost four months have passed and we've come back

to see how it's changed.

Apart from the decoration and cabling,

the open-plan area is, more or less, unaltered.

No partitions have been put up and no extensions built into the

loft space but several crucial changes have been made.

The main piece of work, actually, is the windows

because, although there were false windows outside

but none on the inside, so that

was the most major piece of work, really.

Getting the windows done may have been important

but when I first met Kiran, she had a more pressing priority.

# Coffee time... #

Where's the kitchenette going to go?

-Coffee's an important thing for staff.

-Absolutely.

And voila! Where once were coats and hats,

it's now lattes,

espressos and Americanos.

# Because it's coffee time. #

It took a lot of thought in terms of where the kitchen area should be

and in terms of trying to maintain as much good space

as possible in the actual main office area.

So we felt that we should have it slightly outside.

But it's also... It's created a good space as well.

And I'm delighted to see my favourite part of the building

is still intact.

# I don't want to lose This good thing... #

We had lots of thoughts about it.

We thought if we break it through we will create a lot more space

but it just looks so nice and you just don't get that wood any more.

Lots of people that have visited,

that's the first thing they notice, actually.

Yeah, so we've kept it.

# I better knock on wood

# Baby... #

So were Kiran or Winston hands-on?

Or did they get professionals to knock on wood?

Oh, and brick and plasterboard...

We sourced local builders and we asked around a little bit

whose reputation was good and we've been really pleased with their work.

However, it's a lot of pushing and keeping on target

and a lot of monitoring, I couldn't leave them to it.

# Don't turn your back on me... #

Ah, well, it was all worth it, even though extra expenses,

like the windows, meant Kiran

went over her original £15,000 budget by 10,000.

But there's no doubting their work has successfully transformed

this into a fitting headquarters with this foster care company.

The new premises have already had a positive effect.

It feels like we've always been here, it really does feel like home.

Since we've been here we've already expanded

and we will continue to expand.

We very much want to be part of the community here, which we already are.

People are dropping in and wondering what we do.

We've had a lot of interest

and that will just go further

and further in terms of the stuff that we're trying to do.

Kiran and Winston have their feet firmly under the table

but we've asked two local estate agents to come along and tell us

how this building sits within a local commercial premises market.

The property is very unusual, it's been well maintained throughout,

it works perfectly as an office space.

They've made various changes with the kitchen to the front,

put in, obviously, all the desks, the computer equipment and

I can see they've wired in all the networks and everything like that.

So they've made quite a few changes, it's quite impressive.

The company have only just settled in but

if a future move was planned, how easy would it be to sell on?

As it's situated in a predominantly residential area,

would there be a high demand for office space in this location?

The main thing that helps this property is the space that it's got,

the location that it's got.

Obviously you've got all the amenities locally

and you've got further potential to, obviously, extend a business

and you've got parking to the front, you've got, obviously,

the kitchen and the space here.

In this area there's a high demand for office space.

It's a very residential area and has good transport links,

so an office in this area is highly sought after.

The strong selling point for this property are that it has

off-street parking, which is an ideal advantage in this area.

It's also in good condition throughout.

Kiran and her business partner bought this

property for £365,000 and they've spent around 25,000 on making it

a good working environment that suits their needs.

It's not going to be sold in the immediate future but how

would this £395,000 investment fare on the commercial market?

I would say that the property could either

sell for £400-£415,000

or could rent for £1,600 per calendar month.

This property on the market today would sell for somewhere

in the region of £400,000

and it would rent for in the region of £1,600 per calendar month.

Of course, it is reassuring that their investment

has increased in value by around £25,000.

But, truth be told, that's not the important factor here.

Yeah, I mean, having a property like this, I think, has enabled us

to operate far more effectively.

I think that's enabled us, as a business, to grow better

and I think as we grow we'll be able to provide

families for the children who need them.

Remember when I went to Shipley?

(Which in old English means sheep pasture.)

I took a look around this former Derbyshire miner's cottage.

This two-up, two-down had definitely seen better days but someone still

paid £17,000 over the guide price for this relic in need of a refit.

That someone was Ajab who paid £60,000

and purchased it on behalf of his son Jazz.

Ajab is local, in fact he's very local.

-I don't live far from here, I only live 200 yards away.

-200 yards?!

200 yards, yeah.

And when I saw it, I just... I said, "That's it, I'm going to get that."

Ajab's main jobs were to sort out the roof, install central heating,

rewire, fit new windows, make the kitchen bigger by moving

the staircase into the dining room and install new kitchen units.

Well, actually his wife Harvinda was going to do the kitchen.

She knows about property.

You'd we surprised, she's the main man, actually.

She's done about 14 kitchens.

You've got your...

Even a professional couldn't copy it.

You can sit back, you can go on the beach and relax.

That's what I usually do. I buy the property and she does all the work.

Did Ajab make it to the beach?

And how did his main man Harvinda cope with her work?

We're back after three months,

which in the history of this old cottage, is but a moment.

# When a moment

# A moment changes everything

# When a moment

# A moment changes everything

# When a moment

# It changes everything... #

Well, I think we can all agree that that bathroom has been changed

for the better.

My favourite changes are the new central heating

and ceramic tiles that cover the old concrete floor nicely.

With our backs to the bathroom,

the new landing carpet and paintwork in soft muted shades also

lifts the cottage from how it looked before.

At the front, the bigger of the two bedrooms was in desperate

need of modernisation.

# When a moment

# A moment changes everything

# When a moment

# A moment changes everything

# When a moment... #

Halfway down the landing, the smallest bedroom wouldn't

frighten your kids anymore if they had to sleep in it.

Instead of a ruin with a view, it's now a room with a view.

Now, to downstairs.

Remember the staircase used to end in the kitchen?

But Ajab wanted to move it to the dining room.

Sounds expensive, doesn't it?

But I'm going to show you how cheap it can really be.

By blocking off the kitchen door

and replacing the last four treads of the existing staircase with

kite steps, the staircase now turns into the dining room.

Just think if the Chinese hadn't invented kites,

Ajab would have been scuppered.

There's new laminate flooring and new doors

on the understairs cupboard

and the lounge has a transparent door to make the most of the light.

# Moment

# A moment changes everything... #

Unlike in the old days, I don't miss the gas fire.

They'll be no huddling up for warmth anymore in this lounge.

And, finally, downstairs.

Let's take a look at Harvinda's piece de resistance.

You couldn't call it a big kitchen

but with the stairs doorway now blocked off,

there's a bit more room for units.

We're finished just in time because here comes Ajab

with his solicitor son Jazz who owns the cottage.

But, hang on a minute, where's Harvinda?

We tried to get her on the camera, she won't come near it!

It's her day off.

And I'm glad to learn that Harvinda didn't do all the work herself.

Ajab has a regular team of family and trades people, who,

over the years, have helped him build his portfolio of nine rentals.

But all the spending decisions were down to owner Jazz.

Clearly he wasn't tempted to take any shortcuts with that roof.

If we'd done a patch up job on it, there's a risk that we'll have to

pay for the roof to be done, in any event, a year or two down the line.

One bad winter and that work's gone as well.

It just was a more common-sense approach.

Did project manager Ajab manage to fit any time in on the beach?

My dad's been to India in the meantime,

my mum's been to Canada, my boy's not been well.

But we've managed to keep on track.

Plenty of phone calls, plenty of FaceTimes,

plenty of family arguments about what we should do.

In the end we got there.

Even so, the 13 week job has only slightly overrun

the original 6-8 week schedule.

But did the overrun affect the spend on the cottage?

I think if I'd been solely in charge of the budget we wouldn't have

kept within in it

because I just don't have the experience of keeping within one.

But, yeah, we're happy with where it is,

paid about 60, spent about ten.

Still within the region that we'd like to be in.

We invited two local estate agents along to help Jazz find out

if his spending for the first time on property development stood to

gain him a profit.

He bought to rent out

but if he wanted his £70,000 spend back now, where would he stand?

First with a for sale evaluation.

The agent who saw the property before.

Property gone on the open market today would be

marketed about 99,500.

In the current market climate it should get very, very

close to the asking price.

I think the property could, potentially,

sell for up to £100,000.

So a potential profit of £30,000 minus the usual taxes and expenses.

It's not bad for two months' work, is it?

Well, I couldn't disagree with that. What about the rentals?

To secure a good quality tenant, £495 per calendar month.

I would market the property at £450 per calendar month.

Taking the average that would give Jazz a yield of just over 8%.

That's a good return for what he invested in this property.

I think it's a very good return.

And what does Ajab think of his son's progress as a property developer?

He's made so much money in two months, I think he's going

to start looking for another one soon.

Will we see some more fairy tale endings next time?

-Yeah, or will they be more of a grim ending?

-Oh, yeah.

Only one way to find out,

join us next time for more Homes Under The Hammer.

-See you then.

-Goodbye.

-Goodbye.