Episode 32 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello and welcome to the show.

Now, auctions offer some really good prices

and some very interesting lots.

Yeah, that's perhaps why they've become so popular.

Yes, and with thousands of lots for sale every year,

auction could be the perfect place to buy your next home.

There's lots of tricks of the trade that property developers know.

Yes, and I hate to break it to you, but if you're a first timer,

there is a lot to learn.

Whether they're old hands or newbies,

who bought and how much did it go for? Let's find out.

In Hastings, this two-bed flat proves to be a good place

to stretch your legs.

Oh, I've just got to stretch my leg.

SHE LAUGHS

'And there's also room to extend in this south-west London

'terraced house.'

You could actually have a proper extension

and you could come as far as here.

'And this Dudley back garden isn't so much stretched as overgrown.'

Tidy this up and you've got yourself a fairly spectacular little plot.

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.

That's yours, sir.

Like many of our Victorian seaside towns,

Hastings is defined by its pier and pavilion.

Sadly, over the years, the pier was increasingly neglected

and a devastating fire in 2010 nearly caused its complete demise.

But thanks to a multi-million-pound restoration project,

this important piece of British seaside history will be

saved for future generations.

This property, a couple of miles east of Hastings, might not need

quite as much attention as the pier, but, on first inspection,

it certainly looks as though it might need a little bit of TLC.

Well, it's a two-bedroom first-floor flat

and it had a guide price of £55,000-£65,000.

Where do I start?

'Well, let's start with the outside.'

What it lacks in charm, it certainly makes up for in situation.

From the back of the building

you can see it sits on an elevated position.

Those windows are tantalising. Could there be views?

So, quite a lot of stairs to climb before you even get inside the flat.

Nice bedroom just off the landing there. There's one behind me here.

Not in bad shape.

The kitchen, off the hall... Not sure about this safety glass.

We'll come back to that in a moment.

The loo...

nice, big window letting in loads of light,

a great bathroom,

nice carpet...

and the lounge - it's in fantastic shape!

The flooring, it looks like it's been freshly painted.

But you can forget all that because come and have a look at this. Wow.

The beach, the sea view.

How jolly nice!

Well, I had my doubts about this place

when I first set eyes on the exterior.

It's not such a handsome building and it looks a bit run down.

However, inside is a completely different story.

What do they say about judging books?

# Can't judge a book by looking at the cover. #

Yes, it's a little bit unusual that I'm out here in the hallway, but

I can see through into the kitchen

and I've been racking my brains to try

and think what you could do to change this

because currently there's no window letting in natural light.

All right, you've got a bit of borrowed light from this,

obviously, that's why that's there,

and you've got a little wincey skylight up there

just allowing a little bit of light to come through.

So somebody, the previous owner or whoever,

has housed the kitchen in here.

Now, it's quite a generous space but I can't think what else

we could put in this room.

It's not as if you can knock through and go into next door because

you've got the little bathroom before you get to the lounge.

You've got a bedroom this side

so I suppose the obvious place to house the kitchen is in here

because you certainly want to make the most of that view

in the lounge, because wow! It's fantastic.

While you enjoy the views from the lounge, I'm going to ponder

why such a good flat carries a guide price of 55,000-65,000.

Hmm, my sixth sense tells me there could be a catch.

Now, from reading the legal pack of this property, there is

a bit of a bombshell in the form of an absentee freeholder.

So, that means if the new owner wants to make any structural changes,

like putting in some new windows,

there's nobody to give legal permission.

And there is currently nobody liable for the upkeep

of the exterior of the building.

There may be trouble ahead.

# So while there's moonlight

# And music and love and romance

# Face the music and dance. #

This one definitely needs the advice of a local property expert.

An absentee freeholder is a practical problem

for a leaseholder.

In terms of maintaining, we have no-one to contact.

This can be overcome by way of obtaining an indemnity policy

or notices can be put in the local press attempting to contact

the freeholder, and if they're still unavailable,

the freehold can be purchased by the leaseholders.

So, there is a solution, but that will cost both time and money.

Does he think this property is worth it?

I like this property a lot. It's got lots going for it.

Superb sea views, there's no-one that would not be wowed

when they come and see those views.

I would value this property between £110,000-120,000.

Wow! That's double the guide price. But what about rental values?

I would value this property to achieve between £600-650 per calendar month.

Well, this property certainly has potential.

But the whole absentee freeholder issue is a can of worms

for anyone that wants to do more than just give

the place a little lick of paint and a freshen up.

So, let's see who liked the challenge at the auction.

We move to Hastings now. It's lot 220. It's two-bedroom accommodation.

Start me, if you will, at 45,000.

Hastings. Lovely part of the world.

45, thank you, sir. 45, 46,

47, 48,

49, 50.

51, 52,

53, 54,

55, 56,

57.

58?

No. Your bid, in the doorway, at £57,000.

58 anywhere else?

First time at 57,

second time at 57...

58. 59,

60, 61.

62?

OK, he shakes his head. Gentleman at the back, standing up, 61,000.

62 anywhere else? First time, second time, third and final time.

£61,000, back of the room.

Sold at 61,000.

With that final bid of £61,000,

the Hasting flat was bought by Michael from London.

Now, in his younger days, he was a professional dancer

and even appeared on Top Of The Pops as a Womble!

# Remember you're a Womble Remember you're a Womble

# Remember, 'member, 'member, what a Womble, Womble, Womble you are! #

As if he's likely to forget!

Michael has hung up the costume

and now earns his living as a showbiz journalist.

We met up with him back at the flat to find out his plans.

-Michael, congratulations, it's lovely meeting you today.

-Thank you.

Well done. So you got this property at auction. Were you surprised?

It was strange, actually,

that particular day, I was interviewing famous people.

David Gandy... There were a lot of supermodels,

couple of film actors...

And then there was an auction up the road,

so I thought, "I could just pop in."

-So I did.

-Was it quite stressful for you, bidding for this?

No, it was quite showbizzy, actually, it was like... Yes. Yes.

I thought, "What am I doing? What am I doing?"

So, tell me about yourself.

-What do you do?

-Right, now, I was a dancer.

I went into property, I got stung in the recession,

I came out of property, I went into showbiz journalism.

I interview famous people - not as famous as you -

and I do property again.

-Do you still dance? You're an ex-dancer.

-Every now and then.

If you see a very old man dancing on television in an advert, it's me.

So you can still shake a leg?

Hang on a second, Lucy.

Oh, I've just got to stretch my leg.

SHE LAUGHS

-I love that!

-I feel better.

Wow! You know what, put it there.

I am impressed. I used to dance and I can't do that any more!

Oh, look at that. Look at the shoulders. You stand up so straight.

Thank you!

# D-D-D-D-Dancing! #

Michael's still got the big moves, but how is he on the finer detail?

More specifically, did he read the legal pack?

-Nearly.

-OK, so no?

Let me ask you this question.

What can you tell me about the absentee landlord situation

-and are you worried about that?

-Don't panic. That's the first thing.

An absentee landlord is not a worry if you're renting.

But if you are selling, a purchaser will worry.

So you can do whatever alterations you like, right, but when you come

to sell it, a purchaser might go, "What if the landlord reappears?"

He might be in Spain, having a wonderful time,

he reappears, he goes, "You've turned the walls around,

"you've knocked a door in, I'm going to charge you £10,000."

You have no recourse, no way of coming back to him.

So there are two things you can do. Indemnify them,

in case he reappears.

Or, which is what I'm doing now, plague him with letters.

Keep sending registered letters and go downstairs, go next door,

knock on doors, put adverts in the paper so eventually,

five months, six months, eight months,

you can go to the courts and say

"I have done this, this, this and this,

"I have tried."

The court will decide what you put aside for the freehold.

Michael's agility on the dance floor is more than

matched by his grasp of the legal situation.

I'm impressed. So, what's he planning to do in here?

# Dance, dance, dance. #

The bedrooms will be done exactly as is.

They will perhaps have cupboards added.

There will be fireplaces down here,

there'll be like a lovely Victorian fireplace put here.

The kitchen will be high-standard with a breakfast bar.

It'll be a wow factor.

The bathroom will have a shower, the bathroom will be rearranged.

It'll be...as marble-tiled.

The living room will have a beautiful fireplace with a mantelpiece.

And it will have a separate toilet.

These sound like big and expensive ideas.

So my slight worry is, does he know who his market is?

Who will buy it?

Definitely going to be a London person

because of the room with a view.

Everything hinges around that one window. You can see the sea.

No Londoner can see the sea.

And Hastings is very interesting cos London has a wonderful road

going that way and a wonderful road going that way to Brighton.

Hastings is the awkward one.

And now Londoners, who have made so much money from an expanding market,

have suddenly got cash.

They can buy boltholes, they are coming to Hastings.

-I think the word is, "Hurry to Hastings!"

-Yeah, yeah, yes.

They are buying up Hastings.

So you are hoping to sell your room with a view.

Once you've put your Michael stamp on it, how much do you think you

could market this property for?

I bought this for 61, I will spend 18,000-20,000,

much higher standard than you would spend

if you were just tarting it up. I'll put it on the market at just

below the stamp duty which is currently, I think, 125, is it?

It will achieve 124,900 and the only reason I know this is cos

I've done other properties here, just under.

So there will be a profit in this market to sell on.

Well, Michael's done his sums

and is ultra-confident of a profit that could exceed 40,000.

He estimates that it could take up to four months to complete the job.

So, any final thoughts?

You look at a building and you think, "What would I do with it?"

And then you go and buy it. I love ugly buildings.

But when you add windows or maybe clapperboard outside,

make it look like East Sussex, white walls, black clapperboard,

-it's going to look fabulous.

-It's been lovely meeting you.

I have smiled a lot during this interview

and I cannot wait to see what this property looks like.

-Lovely to meet you.

-You're the best celebrity I've ever met!

-Oh!

So, Michael has certainly choreographed

the development of this property with great attention to detail.

And I can't wait to see this room with a view once he's finished.

Join me later in the programme.

Norbury, in south-west London, has good commuter links

and you can buy a three-bed house for under £300,000,

and, for London right now, that's pretty good.

The property I'm here to see is a ten-minute walk away

from Norbury station and all the local amenities

in the sought-after residential area. It's a three-bed terrace house

with a guide price of £285,000.

Now, the first thing I've noticed is there's no off-street parking

where there is everywhere else.

More about that later.

Nice generous hallway.

And it looks like somebody's already started work taking off the wallpaper.

Nice high ceilings, as well.

They have got polystyrene tiles on - they would have to come down.

Bit of a fire hazard.

Through into the two reception rooms, which they've made into one,

which is a nice, bright, big space here.

You could actually take these out and put doors in

or just have a nice, big open area to connect the two rooms.

Now, you've got a lean-to here, conservatory.

It looks like it needs a bit of work to it.

And through here we have... DRUMROLL

..the kitchen...

I'm really disappointed with the size of the kitchen.

You can't really call that a kitchen.

This house is generally in good condition

and only needs superficial things doing to it,

but you could actually take out this conservatory and have a proper

brick-built extension and you could come as far as here.

Now, I've seen that they've done it over there, and over there, also,

so why not just keep up with the Joneses and have a nice kitchen-diner

and modernise the inside of this property?

What I would do is I wouldn't get the same people

to build your extension as put this up.

# I can't stand up for falling down... #

Yeah, not the best DIY I've ever seen, but plenty of space outside

and there's plenty of space upstairs.

This property has three bedrooms - all good sizes...

A boxroom and a bathroom that both need updating.

There's a loft, too, and I think you could extend up there.

So, if you extend into the loft

and make the boxroom a bedroom, you'd get a five-bedder.

But if there's five bedrooms, that could be five residents.

Where are they all going to park their cars?

Well, I have a solution for you. Do as your neighbours do.

Drop the kerb and have off-street parking at the front.

You would have to apply for planning permission to drop that kerb,

but it can add value of in and around £5,000

and make this property even more saleable.

Now, for me, it's a bit of a no-brainer.

Two cars, you've got your shopping in the cars, straight in the house...

Perfect.

With a guide price of £285,000, this house is all about potential.

Off-street parking, extending out the back or converting the loft.

What else could add value?

We asked a local property expert for his opinion.

This property definitely needs central heating.

As I walked around, there's no central heating in the property.

Other than that, it looks fairly solid.

A general refurbishment would do.

This property being renovated as a three-bedroom house

would sell for approximately the £425,000-430,000 mark.

Taking down that rear extension... It's not that great.

I'd say extending the back of the house out to the maximum,

maybe three metres, would be perfect.

If this property was extended along the ground floor,

you could approximately resell in the region of £450,000.

The agent believes the property could rent for £1,500 per calendar month

in its current configuration and it probably wouldn't be worth

converting the loft if you were planning to rent.

But how much would a loft conversion add to the resale value?

This property, with a loft extension,

selling as a five-bedroom,

would sell for approximately in the region of £500,000.

This is a popular location and there are plenty ways

you can improve this house which would also add value.

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

A three-bed house, a mid-terraced house...

Where do you wish to start? 280?

I'm not going to go below this. 280. Where will I kick off?

280 with you, sir. 280. 285 anywhere?

Despite Norbury being a popular area, this lot was slow to start.

Bidding soon picked up and we will rejoin with the price at £325,000.

325, 326, 327, 328,

329, 330, 331,

332, 333, 334,

335. Let's round off.

335. I've got a really good feeling he won't go over 335.

335? 334, with the cap.

First time, second time, third and last time.

Are we all done?

Sold 334. Well bid.

The man in the cap was Anis and he was bidding

on behalf of his son, Adz, who was sitting studiously beside him.

Adz is in a property partnership with his wife, Zahra,

and his friend, Nav.

The trio have 11 properties so far and I met Adz and Nav

to find out what their plans were for this one.

-Nav, nice to meet you. Congratulations. Adz, same to you.

-Hi.

Tell us first and foremost what the experience was like

of the auction, cos I believe you didn't go.

-That's right.

-No, Nav didn't go with me this time.

I went along and there was a gentleman who was bidding

against me who actually pushed the price up more than I was hoping,

but I still got the property at a good price. I went with my father.

He came along with me and I let him do all the bidding and I told him,

I said, "Look, do not go above this amount. That's it."

And luckily it went below that.

As professionals, Nav and Adz went in well-prepared

and have done all the groundwork you'd expect.

I go through all the legal packs and I go through it with a fine comb.

-DION LAUGHS

-It has to be

cos there are so many things in there

that can catch you out.

I get a legal solicitor to go through it, as well,

so they can tell me their opinion.

We look at the property values along this street.

We compare them for this property and the potential for the property,

-and, from that, we make our judgment.

-Yeah.

# You got me holding your door

# I can't do my homework any more... #

They bought this house to renovate and sell on

and they have a two-month timetable, but these guys are so organised,

they have already started.

The plumbing is halfway done and the wallpaper stripping has begun.

So, what will we see on our return?

'Plaster the whole property, put a new bathroom suite in,

'new kitchen suite, put a new extension at the back'

and hopefully put a drive up front, as well.

We've got an old extension at the back, which is not sturdy at all,

so we're going to get a solid extension there

and put the new kitchen... We're going to place that there.

If we can create a kitchen-diner, that's perfect...

-Modernise it?

-Modernise the whole thing. New lighting, new units...

There's no gas central heating in the property, either,

so it gets cold in here, so we're getting that sorted out.

There's going to be brand-new gas fires.

-You've got to keep on moving for the plasterers.

-Yeah.

The plasterers have their time, they've got to be in and out.

I've got a deadline to meet,

otherwise Nav will really come and go, "Why have they not come in?"

-Oh, he's the nagger?

-He will nag me.

He will nag me to get it done and you need somebody like that.

So, tell us, have you got an option for a loft extension?

Yeah, we've had a look up there. It's a very good-sized loft

but we're not going to go for the loft extension.

And what about the back garden? Do they have plans for that shed?

I think we're probably going to leave that till last.

We'll level it out, make it nice, and if we've got time...

Open it up, get rid of... There's a shed back there,

-which is like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

-Yes!

-We've got to get rid of that.

-Come on. Bring it back to life.

We'll probably end up putting another shed at the back

so there's more storage or it will be more open.

There's some hedges there we don't like. It's ruining the light work.

We want more light coming into the property.

-So, tell us about the budget.

-Ooh...

-What you're hoping your budget to be.

-OK.

We always have a budget that we start with

and then we try and work below that budget,

so we are allowed 35-40 that we're going to spend on here.

But we want to go below that, and below that...

It could be 30, 35, 25.

-You keep going down.

-No, that's for me to... That's where we win.

That's where we try and say, "Look, that's what we budgeted.

"If we can reduce that, we're better off."

Bit of a fluid budget, then.

I think they'll be closer to 40,000, in my experience.

Extensions always cost more than you plan for.

And what about this dynamic duo? What's their story?

-We've known each other since secondary school.

-Yeah.

We've been friends ever since.

We've moved on to our own things before that

and then slowly we got together

and we decided, why don't we do a few properties together?

-We work pretty well together, I think.

-Yeah, it's pretty good.

It's a good relationship. We both trust each other,

we know how we think, so it's good.

Nav seems like a cool, calm and collected customer.

I'm sure his background in raising finance for business acquisitions

makes him an ideal business partner.

And it turns out Adz has also got something to bring to the party.

I restore classic cars.

I've done about eight of them, so far.

I've got a few at the moment that I'm doing,

which is almost like properties.

Things that have been run down, haven't been looked after,

-and then you restore them. I like it. It's good.

-No cars for you?

Cars, I don't really like them. His cars are great.

Me and cars don't get on. There's just too much travelling in London.

London transport, for me.

It's going to be a success, I know it is.

-Nav, Good luck.

-Thank you.

-Good luck, Adz.

-Thank you.

-Well done.

Adz and Nav, two very experienced guys who know what they're doing

and know how to achieve it.

And they did their research. Take note.

But will they stay within that budget of 40,000 or will it be 30,000?

You can find out later on in the programme.

'Still to come, things are going slightly downhill

'at this Dudley semidetached...'

The floor seems to be a little bit angled that way.

'And have Adz and Nav managed to keep their budget on a level?'

We could spend more if we really wanted to,

but then there's always a limit.

It's time to return to Hastings on the East Sussex coast,

where, earlier, I viewed this two-bedroom flat.

A bit run down on the outside, but inside, full of potential.

But its biggest asset was in the living room.

Come and have a look at this. Wow!

The beach! The sea view! How jolly nice.

Keen to invest in some seaside property

-was the shy and retiring Michael.

-SHE CHUCKLES

Former dancer, one-time Womble,

and currently an entertainment journalist,

Michael paid £61,000 at auction and believed

that the success of this venture rested on only one thing.

Everything hinges round that one window. You can see the sea.

The view would take care of itself, but how would Michael solve

the problem of the property's absentee freeholder?

Don't panic.

Plague him with letters, go downstairs, go next door,

knock on doors, put adverts in the paper.

I was impressed with Michael's knowledge, but I don't think

anyone I've met on the show has come as close to sweeping me off my feet.

# I'm in the mood for dancing... #

Oh, I've just got to stretch my legs.

I love that! Put it there, I'm impressed. I used to dance...

-I could twirl you.

-..and I can't do that any more.

-Oh, look at that.

Oh, dear. Was Michael leading me on a merry dance

with his fantastic property ideas?

Will his fancy footwork let him down?

Six months have passed since we last visited.

It's time for Michael to face the music.

Well, it's a ten from me.

Michael certainly has sprinkled lots of stardust all over the place.

Let's hear from the man himself.

This is the star of the whole enterprise. The idea was...

If you remember, there was that horrible safety glass here,

and the idea was, do something that doesn't cost too much money

to this kitchen. Very nice, white gloss etc, and it looks great.

The kitchen is now very stylish,

but that's nothing compared to how the bathroom has been transformed.

The bathroom was a bit tricky cos it was dark

so we put a sun chimney in so that you get light all day long.

We put in some nice lights, we added a shower,

and we found the one bath in the country that fitted that spot,

added a mirror, so now you can look at yourself,

and it's all white, and it's really nice.

The separate loo has also had a makeover

and the bedrooms have been fully decorated. Plain and simple.

Michael has not only made the inside white and bright,

he's done the same to the outside,

and he's added a few windows for good measure.

Since 2013, all new or replacement windows have had to comply

with energy saving regulations and that means getting them certified.

You can do this by registering with a Competent Person Scheme,

such as Fensa or Certass.

Find a company or go through the whole Building Regulations

and get it done properly cos it'll come back to bite you!

Yes, pay attention to this man. He knows what he's talking about.

And how did he get on with his room with a view?

New fireplace, lovely fireplace, and, of course, curtains, blinds,

and follow me... Look at this view.

THIS is why you come to Hastings. It's gorgeous, isn't it?

It appears Michael has choreographed this project beautifully,

but it didn't get off to the best of starts.

Charlie was our stripper-outer and painter,

and in the first hour, young Charlie went through the floor.

I thought, "Ouch, that's going to hurt."

And, of course, Charlie had some bruises, as well.

# You are falling

# Through a hole

# That ain't there... #

Poor Charlie! But the only lasting damage was to Michael's budget,

which rose from £20,000 to £28,000.

And, as for the absentee freeholder issue, well, tenacious Michael

did carry out some detective work and made contact,

so his "don't panic" approach paid off.

Time to find out if Michael's top-end flat

will get applause from two local estate agents.

First, the agent who saw it before.

It's a great example of a refurbished flat.

It has a lovely modern fitted kitchen, contemporary bathroom pack,

some nice touches in relation to the wall lights

and chrome fittings throughout.

Every box is ticked. It looks really nice.

What he's done is put a really high-quality finish

into this apartment, with the windows, the kitchen, the flooring...

It's just right. Hastings is enjoying a bit of a renaissance

and people are coming down from Brighton and London

and moving around in Hastings.

A resounding success then, but it's all about the numbers now.

Michael bought this flat for £61,000

and has spent another 28,000 making it very high-spec.

How will his total £89,000 investment fare

in the Hastings property market?

The rental market is very buoyant at the moment.

It would let extremely quickly

and, in my opinion, I would value this at £700 per calendar month.

The rent he'd be looking for in a property like this,

in this current market, would be anything from

£675 per calendar month to £725 per calendar month.

I like 725. I really like 725.

I think 700 is probably the right price.

It's a two-bedroom with a view over the sea. 700.

£700 per calendar month would mean a return on investment

of almost 9.5%. So what about sales values?

If it came onto the market now,

I'd be looking to market this property at £130,000.

Based on current market conditions,

I would value this property at £125,000 - £135,000.

I think it's going to get 135,000

only because stock is very low at the moment.

I think 130,000 is probably the correct price.

I think you will get 135,000.

In fact, I think you might get a touch more if we have a nice summer.

At that top figure, Michael could make a profit of 46,000

before taxes and expenses. So, what will he do? Rent or sell?

I'd like to keep this. I'd like to rent it.

I'd like to borrow money from a bank and I'd have loads of properties.

-I'd like to...

-PHONE RINGS

I'll probably have to sell it cos I think that's the bank manager.

Excuse me, I think there's a call.

Bank manager.

I'm in the town of Dudley in the West Midlands

for our next property visit,

and, no, this isn't it. This is Dudley Castle.

Well, they say every Englishman's home is his castle.

I wonder if today's property will fit the bill.

Well, from the outside... Not so much of a castle,

but what do you expect for a guide price of just £45,000+?

Oh, that's nice. A lovely big entrance for you.

That gives a great first impression.

Somewhere to put your stuff, your bags or whatever it is

when you come in. Stairs up to the bedrooms, there.

It has a slight air of being slightly dated.

Front living room... Well, yes, that fireplace...

definitely dates the property.

But, you know, it looks to be in reasonable condition.

Slightly disappointing... That kitchen, there.

Wow, that is pretty tiny for what could be a lovely family home,

so you'd definitely want to spend some time trying to figure out

how best to enhance that.

Then through to your rear living room.

So, straightaway, I'm thinking, "Can you knock that wall down?"

Maybe make it a lovely open-plan kitchen and living area.

And then this room here... Oh...

This room here. That's really weird.

The floor seems to be a little bit angled that way.

Oh, dear.

Ooh. Yeah, no.

If that makes sense. It doesn't get any better at all.

In fact, step out here and it gets worse.

This is an interesting little addition to the property.

It's almost like a sunroom. It's a very useful space.

You've got a downstairs loo, you've got a storage area.

It's been covered with this plastic so it's nice and light and airy

and views out to the garden, and all that stuff.

So, I like it, but really, again...

Out here, even more amplified that feeling

that this corner of the property is really sinking

and, as you can see by that door,

there are some serious issues which need to be addressed.

I'm not liking what I'm seeing there.

# Here comes that sinking feeling... #

It does definitely look like there has been some subsidence here,

but hopefully it's historical because I like this house.

Upstairs, there are three bedrooms and a bathroom,

and I do like an upstairs bathroom, as you know.

And outside there's a nice surprise.

'Can you hear the call of the wild?' Ooh-ooh, ah-ah-ah!

OK, excuse the slightly cheesy bit of jungle sound effects there,

but the garden is quite extraordinary!

Not only is it very, very steeply inclined, it's huge.

But there are some amazing bushes here.

Tidy this up and you've got yourself a fairly spectacular little plot.

# It's a jungle out there

# It's a jungle out there... #

It certainly is a bit overgrown out here, but take my word for it,

it is huge.

Fighting his way through the urban jungle is a local property expert

who can give us his opinion on this property, guided at £45,000.

First impressions of the house are quite nice.

It doesn't need a tremendous amount of work doing to it,

although there are some signs of movement to it.

I would say that the majority of work to the house

is mainly the decorative nature.

The only proviso would be providing that any of the movement

that I've noticed to it doesn't require any serious structural work.

I would imagine that you would spend something in the region of

£10,000 on the inside,

and you'd probably get most of the garden done, as well, with that.

So, fingers crossed on that subsidence issue.

But what about values?

Subject to there not being too much structural work needed

from the movement I've seen, I would envisage the property

realising in the region of £110,000-115,000.

I would anticipate letting it for

in the region of about £550 per calendar month.

Well, it's a great house that would make a lovely family home,

but I suppose the potential problems

are with that subsidence at the back.

It could be one of the reasons for the low guide price.

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

This next lot is a three-bedroomed freehold semidetached house.

Where shall we start, folks?

40. Thank you, sir, at 40,000 I'm bid.

40,000 I have. Is there 50?

50 out on my right. Thank you, sir. At 50.

Is there 55, sir?

55. Thank you, sir. 55. And 60?

New bid at 60. I've got him in the back first there. 65, sir?

65. 70, sir? 70. 75 anywhere?

Number 927, at 70,000 I'm bid. Are we all done?

On sale, then, at £70,000.

At £70,000 once, twice, third and last time...

That's yours, sir. Congratulations.

These successful bidders were Tina and Keith from Surrey.

Keith is a semi-retired window cleaner

and Tina describes herself as a lady of leisure.

Together, they got out on the highway - well, the M40 -

and found an adventure in the shape of this Dudley three-bed semi.

-Keith, Tina, good to meet you both.

-And you.

It strikes me as quite a lot of house for the money.

I know there are a few issues, which we'll come on to in a minute but...

No, I think it was good value.

After the research that I did on the internet as well to find out

what the prices were round here, I was pleased with what it went for.

What did you find out?

Well, next door has recently sold and that went for 120, I believe.

-Right.

-And this had previously been up for sale at 85,

and we found out how much the previous owner bought it for...

-Which was?

-Was it 55 or 50?

50, 55 he paid and that went straight into the auctions.

So your research showed you that somebody bought it

-and put it straight back in the auction?

-Yeah.

Did that set off any alarm bells?

Well, it did at first, cos, on the actual day,

-we weren't too sure because he hadn't registered it...

-Oh.

..but I managed to speak to the solicitors about 20 minutes before

-the auction...

-Wow.

-..and he told us that it was a delay on his part

-and that they were doing it and it should be done by Friday.

-Wow.

All a bit scary bananas stuff, though.

Yeah, then everybody else started bidding on it so I assumed it was OK.

That's a big assumption to make, and, for me,

alarm bells would have been ringing.

First, there's the possibility that the house might have been put

straight back to auction

because there was a real problem with it,

and second, by law,

ownership of any property has to be recorded in the land register.

This provides proof of ownership and helps prevent fraud.

Buying an unregistered property is risky.

So, tell me about you two. Is this something you do all the time?

We've got a couple of properties we rent out already

at the moment. We've been doing it for about ten years now,

but this is the first one we've seen that we've wanted to buy and do it up

-because of your show, seeing the show.

-Really? Oh, good.

-Yeah, we thought, "We could try that."

-Oh, great.

Tina and Keith plan to do all the work themselves

and I would normally be a bit sceptical about this

since they face a daily two-hour commute from Surrey

but they have a secret weapon.

# Get your motor running

# Head out on the highway... #

-Well, we've got the motorhome, so...

-Ah, that is a good idea.

-Yes.

So you can park that on the drive and escape to that in the evenings

-and create as much dust and havoc in here as you like.

-Yeah.

-Yes.

Let's talk through then what you're planning to do with the property.

Generally, it's painting and decorating throughout.

Yeah, the bathroom is partly good, isn't it? It needs a new bath.

The sink and toilet, they look like they've been renewed recently.

The kitchen needs doing up a bit.

We discussed whether to extend it, but that depends

whether we sell or whether we rent.

I think if we rent, we leave it as it is.

-If we sold it, we'd probably knock through.

-To..?

The toilet area, and it looks like next door have done that,

and it does not make a substantial kitchen compared to the small square

that's there at the moment.

Yes. If you extended the rear of the property out

-and encompassed that with a proper roof...

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

It's already quite substantially built out there. It is a solid wall.

But that could be maybe a couple of years down the line

if we decide to rent.

We really need to discuss what we want to do with it.

-We haven't decided fully, have we?

-No, not yet.

And what will you be doing, Tina?

Well, hopefully I'll get in the garden if the weather's good.

That's the bit I love the most, but I'm going to get in there

and probably take a lot of it out so you can actually get a view.

There is a beautiful view out there, which you can't see.

Find out what's living down the bottom there in that big hole,

-and just really tidy it up.

-Yeah.

-Nothing too fancy.

Let's face it, anything would be an improvement on this jungle,

but it's not that sloping garden I'm worried about.

Now, let's come on to talk about the potential problemette

of the downward slopey bit.

I'm hoping it's just a subsidence on the floor joists,

but it might be a bit more than that.

But we think it's a concrete floor, don't we? It's solid.

Yeah, I think it is a concrete floor, actually.

-That throws your theory out the window, then.

-Yeah, it does.

Seeing as it's falling into next door...

-they must be falling into us.

-Do you get on well with the neighbours?

We shall find out!

Well, we've only seen the property for the first time today.

-What do you mean...?

-Well, we saw it from the outside. We never saw the inside.

-You didn't see the inside?

-Other than on photographs.

-Oh, great. Well, they never lie(!)

-We read the legal pack.

-Good.

-We did listen to part of what you said.

Good, good, good.

Well, they read the legal pack and that's the good bit,

but buying without seeing? Tut, tut.

On Homes Under the Hammer,

we three will always nag you to view beforehand. Do not buy blind.

Tina and Keith plan to have the work completed in four months.

-So, what's their budget?

-I think roughly about 15,000.

Is that allowing for doing a bit of work on the slopey floor bit?

I think on floor side of it,

I wouldn't fork much more than about 4,000 to underpin it, really.

Well, listen, congratulations. Good luck with it.

-Thank you very much.

-And I look forward to seeing how you get on.

Thank you.

Hm...

Well, had Tina and Keith visited the property inside

before they bought it, they might have contemplated that subsidence

a bit more, and my fear is that it might take more than they anticipate

to sort it out,

but it's still a lot of property for what they paid,

and when it's finished, it will be a lovely house.

How will they get on getting to that point?

You can find out later in the show.

Now, we've caught up with one of our buyers.

-Let's see what the others have been up to.

-Yes.

Did everything go to plan? Cos...that doesn't often happen.

No, it doesn't. Could it mean there were some last-minute changes?

Just seven miles south of central London

in the London Borough of Croydon lies the town of Norbury.

And it was here, among the tree-lined streets, that we found

this three-bed terraced property that certainly seemed

a little worse for wear.

If this house had a school report, it would have said, "Could do better."

But it was this opportunity to improve it

and potentially increase its value,

that prompted business partners Adz, his wife Zahra,

and old school friend Nav to buy it for £334,000,

and they were planning a comprehensive refurbishment for this,

their 11th property together.

Plaster the whole property, put a new bathroom suite in,

new kitchen suite, put a new extension at the back

and hopefully put a drive up front, as well.

There's no gas central heating in the property, either,

so it gets cold in here, so we're getting that sorted out.

There's going to be brand-new boilers and central heating in here.

And the plan was to renovate it and move it on as quickly as they could.

You've got to keep on moving for the plasterers.

The plasterers have their time. They've got to be in and out.

I've got a deadline to meet, otherwise Nav will really

-come out and go, "Why have they not come in?"

-Oh, he's the nagger?

He will nag me, and you need somebody like that.

-# Get on up

-Keep on moving

# Keep on moving... #

So, with Nav cracking the whip, it was going to be down to Adz

to project manage and to make sure it was not only done

on their £35,000-40,000 budget, but he kept to a timescale

of two to three months.

Well, four months on, we're back to see if that nagging did any good.

It certainly did,

and perhaps the most impressive change is that kitchen.

OK, well, this used to be just a shed, basically.

So, this is a brand-new extension within the permitted development.

There's a dining area there, kitchen area here,

So, it's a very practical bit of space

and we're pretty confident that it will add value to the property.

Hmm, and I think they've not just built in a new kitchen,

they've built in some much-needed wow factor to the house.

But what happened to the space that housed the old, poky kitchen?

This was the original kitchen.

As you can see, we've made it into a playroom, study room.

It's an extra room downstairs, essentially.

The addition was the new downstairs toilet.

We thought it would be quite beneficial to a family home.

As you can see, we've kept the original doors.

We've just stripped them all down

and just kept it all as original as possible.

Well, I think they've utilised the downstairs space to the max.

And upstairs?

Well, that's great, too.

I really like the master bedroom with the big bay window

and that old fireplace is now a centrepiece for the room.

And by removing the cupboards in the other double bedroom,

it feels much bigger and brighter...

..with central heating fitted throughout.

A new contemporary bathroom...

This is now a fantastic family house.

But what about the garden?

Remember that rather wobbly shed?

-The leaning shed had to go, so...

-I wanted to keep it.

No, it had to go, so we'll probably reposition the shed,

once we've done the garden, at the back of the garden,

where it rightly belongs and it won't be leaning.

And not only is there a shed to be placed at the bottom of the garden,

but the back area still needs a bit of work,

which they hope to do in the next few weeks.

The timescales have slipped slightly due to poor weather

and there's been a delay in getting permission to lower the kerb

at the front of the house.

Or maybe Nav didn't nag Adz enough.

He was always nagging me and it's always brilliant to have somebody nagging you.

I had my father behind me nagging me all the time, as well,

which was excellent.

I think it's good just to bounce off each other

and support each other through it, so, yeah.

-I'll continue my nagging.

-Yeah.

And it wasn't just Adz Nav was nagging.

Adz's daughter also helped out, along with their building team.

It might not have helped their timescale

but has it kept the £35,000-40,000 budget on track?

-33,500 is what we've spent, which we're happy with.

-Yeah.

We could spend more if we really wanted to,

but then there's always a limit.

A £33,500 spend on top of their £334,000 purchase price

would take their total cost to £367,500.

It seems like a lot of money, but it is a lot of house.

So, what do two local estate agents think

of this comprehensive refurbishment?

I think the property looks great now. Before, it was very dated.

The property flows really nicely

and having the rear extension with the kitchen is perfect.

It's exactly what buyers want in this area.

It's nice and clean. It's really modern and it looks great.

Well, the vendor's really done a really brilliant job on this.

The quality of the finish is excellent.

You've got a nice big kitchen downstairs,

nice contemporary fires he's put in. No, they've gone overboard.

Adz and Nav plan to sell the house on,

but surely it would have great rental potential.

This property would rent

for approximately £1,650 per calendar month.

Given the level of finish,

we would ask for a rent of around £1,600 - £1,700 per calendar month.

-It's not bad, but it's not what we normally go down.

-Yeah.

We don't like... Well, we do do the rentals,

but not on this project.

That would give them a yield of around 5%

on an investment of £367,500,

so I can see why selling might be more of an attractive option.

This property will sell for approximately £450,000-460,000.

We would market this property at £450,000.

-I think we would be happy with that.

-Yeah, we're happy.

We had a number in mind before we started the project and...

Yeah, they've confirmed it for us, I think.

Well, I think they should be happy with those valuations

because they could see a pre-tax profit of between £82,500-92,500,

less costs and expenses, of course.

So, I'm guessing they might do more properties together.

We already have another project that we purchased

pretty much at the same time as this, which we're working on,

and we're looking for another project, as well.

So it's all go. From here, it's straight on to the next one.

We go back now to Dudley in the West Midlands,

where earlier in the show I visited this three-bed semidetached house,

which I felt had the potential to make a splendid family home.

Oh, that's nice. A lovely big entrance for you.

That gives a great first impression

Yes, it was dated and the small kitchen was out of kilter

with modern family living,

but the upstairs layout was ideal and really just needed redecorating

and all for that guide price of £45,000+. That's value.

However, things soon went slightly downhill.

The floor seems to be a little bit...

angled that way. Oh, dear.

The well-ordered interior of the house did nothing to prepare me

for the craziness outside.

The garden is quite extraordinary. It's huge!

Even Tarzan couldn't find his way through this jungle.

A much more straightforward navigation was made

by Tina and Keith, who headed up from Surrey

and bought this house for £70,000.

Isn't Dudley awfully far from home?

-Well, we've got the motorhome, so...

-Ah. That is a good idea.

So you can park that on the drive and escape to that in the evenings

-and create as much dust and havoc in here as you like?

-Yeah.

With their motorhome acting as temporary accommodation,

and armed with a budget of £15,000 and a three-month timescale,

Tina and Keith set off to make some money in Dudley.

We've come back six months later to find out

if their trip has been worthwhile.

The biggest improvement to the property

is the size of the kitchen. Knocking through to the back reception room

has created a great family space.

But, with no builder on call, it was all up to Keith and Tina.

It was it was an eight-foot hole, an eight-foot RSJ,

but what I hadn't allowed for was the angle when we lifted it up

so you need about eight feet, six inches, actually.

So we had to take some plaster out. There's me, holding it.

Whilst we were holding it in midair. But, yeah, we got it in.

With the hardest graft taken care of,

everywhere it was a case of wallpapering and painting,

and did they get to the bottom of that subsidence?

We weren't worried too much about the subsidence as it was historical.

We believe it's about 20 to 30 years old now.

We found we needed to just raise the floor a little bit upstairs

and level it off in the far corner,

and then downstairs, like I say, it wasn't too bad at all

once we'd taken the doors out and put new doors in.

We could level all the floor off, so we're quite pleased with it.

With various other commitments,

their original timescale of three months increased to six,

but there was better news on the budget.

The original budget was about £15,000.

We did most of the work ourselves, so we managed to save on that.

I think we came in about £5,000 on the actual build,

but with travel expenses, as well as having to heat and maintain

this property, we would add an extra 4,000.

So, I suppose the total spend was about £9,000.

The inside of the house is complete,

looking good and ready to go on the sales market.

But have they found any time to work on the back garden?

# Welcome to the jungle

# We've got fun and games... #

I started on the garden.

The weather got wet so I had to abandon it, but we have a fox

that likes to keep digging the garden

and messing up everything we do.

# Welcome to the jungle Welcome to the jungle... #

Well, maybe the fox is just trying to lend a hand, Tina.

Time to find out if two local estate agents think Tina and Keith

are bright bushy-tailed developers.

This is my second time in the property.

It was a bit rough round the edges, but now they've made

a very, very good job of improving it.

The dining room-cum-kitchen is really swish,

there's a nice lounge at the front for relaxing in

and three decent bedrooms upstairs.

This is my first time inside the property

and I'm very impressed with the work carried out.

The new layout is absolutely fantastic,

suits the modern-day living.

Demand in the area is fairly strong

so I would expect this property to sell fairly quickly.

And what values do these gentlemen feel are appropriate for this house,

starting with rental?

I'd expect this property to reach a rental figure

of £550 per calendar month.

If the property was to be let, it should achieve

in the region of £525 per calendar month.

£550 per calendar month would realise

a return on investment of just over 8%, but what about sales?

If the property was placed on the open market,

I feel it would achieve a figure in the region of £135,000.

I'd expect this property to achieve a sales value

between £120,000 and £125,000.

Having spent a total of £79,000,

a sale of 130,000 would give Keith and Tina

a very nice pre-tax profit of £51,000.

The values don't sway our opinion.

It's just the fact that we would like to do another property,

so, going forward, we would need to sell this one to do that.

Tina and Keith will be heading back to the auctions

as soon as this house has sold,

but they've learnt one important lesson.

Next time we buy at auction,

we would definitely view the inside of the property,

cos, from the outside, we couldn't see any problems

that there may have been. I think we were lucky with this one.

We hope you've enjoyed seeing how our buyers got on on today's show.

And we've got plenty more auction properties where that lot came from.

Yes, there will be plenty more to see next time here

on Homes Under The Hammer.