Episode 6 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello and welcome to the programme. Martin and I absolutely love property,

but, as you know, they all come with their own unique set of challenges.

They do, but despite the different markets across the country,

buying at auction is still hugely popular,

with thousands of people buying lots every month.

Oh, absolutely! And because we've been so busy,

to help us keep up with the challenges is somebody who

loves property nearly as much as we do, Dion Dublin.

-Hello.

-Thanks, Lucy, Martin.

My love of property goes alongside my love of football, as well.

But I'm looking forward to seeing how people get on here

on Homes Under The Hammer.

Now, we know that buying property is not always a straightforward job,

but a good starting point is to do your research

and buy at the right price.

And a property auction is a great place to look.

Yeah, let's see what today's bidders decided to buy.

In Wales, we find a laid-back approach to renovation work.

Probably come up here the odd weekend with my wife and two children.

Whereas it's slightly more swift in Staffordshire.

In six months' time, I'll be very disappointed

if it isn't finished and rented out.

But that's nothing compared to the scramble to sell in Streatham.

-She wants to put an open day three days from now.

-What?!

All these properties have been sold at auction.

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

when they went under the hammer.

Yours, sir, well done.

This is Aberaman, a village in Glamorgan,

situated 20 miles north of Cardiff,

and this now-quiet residential village was once a hive of industry.

# My days were filled with blue skies

# And the evenings drifted slowly and so kind

# I was dreaming about the days I'd left behind... #

Well, like many parts of South Wales,

this area's history is closely linked with the coalmining industry.

Well, the pits have long closed,

but a legacy of coal miners' cottages has been left.

And that's exactly what I'm here to see.

£35,000-plus was the guide price for this,

a two-bedroomed mid-terrace cottage.

Newish front door, double glazing and a roof in good order.

From the outside, it's all looking really rather promising.

So, pretty standard layout.

Entrance hall here, stairs up to your bedrooms

and then into your lounge. It's got a really nice feel to it,

lots of light pouring in through the windows, it's got a dual aspect.

Still got doors on that, to separate out each room.

You may want to increase the size of that gap, perhaps, make it even more

open plan, but it certainly does give the cottage a nice, open feel.

Definitely need to get the fireplace checked out,

but then, typical design.

Through here is the back of the property, where you've

got your kitchen and, well, you know, it's pretty serviceable.

You could live with this, I think. If you're going to live in it,

I think you'd want to spend a bit of money doing it up.

Certainly a bit of time and effort, whatever you are going to do with

the property - rent it or sell it on, or whatever -

would be well spent. But at least you've got the space to play with.

# Play with me... #

Not bad, not bad at all.

Along with the perfectly serviceable kitchen, expensive things -

such as central heating and double glazing - are already installed.

And with what was a £35,000-plus guide price, I think

you could afford to have a bit of fun bringing this up to date

and making it quite impressive. How about a wood-burning stove?

Maybe some modern doors? Contemporary lighting?

Solid-wood floors? Who knows? Let that imagination run wild.

# Play with me... #

So, upstairs, and good news and bad news. The bad news first. The floor.

Just on the landing here, it is very, very, well...

What is the word? Wonky. That'll do. Yes. Angled that way.

It's probably historic subsidence.

A lot of that went on in these kind of properties. That's the bad news.

The great news is, look. Upstairs, here,

you wouldn't have expected this.

You've got a bathroom and a separate loo. An odd bit of space.

I wonder if, at some stage, this was actually a bedroom

and somebody's actually converted it into this. I don't know.

Whatever, it's great that the bathroom and loo are up here.

You would have expected it downstairs, so a real, real bonus.

I don't think the upstairs layout makes good use of the space,

but you could knock through the wall from the toilet to create

a rather spacious bathroom.

You could possibly even incorporate this bit of the corridor

if you really wanted to push the boat out.

# Play with me... #

The two bedrooms, however, are great, with the master bedroom being

really sizeable, and the two large windows make it airy and bright.

So, after a general refurbishment,

the property should be ready for rental or resale.

But there is one issue that might not be to everyone's liking.

Well, the house is located

right on the edge of this reasonably busy road.

There's nothing unusual about that, necessarily,

but something you don't see a lot of is a house which is situated

literally on a bend in the road.

Why is that an issue as far as I'm concerned?

Well, you get cars coming down like this.

During the day, it's OK, but at night, with headlights on,

their headlights will be shining straight into your lounge.

So, it's a classic case of making sure you visit

a property at different times of the day to make sure you've

assessed all the pros and cons.

This is a con.

Sorry to throw in that curveball,

but this could put some potential buyers off.

As could the rather steep incline the house is on, too.

# There's a place up ahead and I'm going

# Just as fast as my feet can fly

# Come on the rising wind

# We're going up around the bend.... #

The plus is that one would hope cars would slow down to

go around the corner, so you won't have them racing past.

But parking near the property is also going to be an issue.

At least there's potentially some good outside space

at the rear of the property, once it's all been hacked back.

And it's surprisingly flat

and level, with quite impressive hillside views.

So, the cottage isn't without its merits,

but what can a local estate agent tell us?

It's a slightly quirky property, I think one would say.

It's a property that does need some considerable modernising to

bring it up to current standards.

There are certainly some sort of unusual angles in this house, and

you do feel that your equilibrium is a little off at certain angles.

It's probably historic,

but any purchaser here should investigate that thoroughly

by getting somebody in from a surveying background

to look at it with some serious detail.

Yes, structural movement is best looked at by the professionals,

but are there any changes to the layout that could improve it?

There is potential with these properties to split

the front bedroom, because it's a large bedroom.

The only issue with that is that you do end up with three smaller

bedrooms, and sometimes it's not that beneficial in doing that.

Yes, sometimes less is more.

But can you build any value into a property that was

guided at £35,000-plus?

If the property was fully modernised throughout and brought up to

a good modern standard, a potential sales value of up to £60,000.

Well, that's encouraging. And how would it fair on the rental market?

If the property was brought up to a modern standard, I would

imagine a rental value in the region of £400 per calendar month.

Well, it's a nice enough little property.

The location on this S-bend might be a bit of an issue for some,

but apart from that, for that guide price,

I don't think you can go far wrong.

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

Brings us nicely then onto lot 31,

which is a house we've suggested may be suitable for owner occupation,

or investment. Can we see 30 to start?

30? Make it 25, if you like.

Thank you, 25 I've got. At 25.

And six can I see? 26.

27? 27.

28, 29?

29, no. At 28, 29 now somebody.

29, thank you. And 30?

30, 31.

32, 33?

So this lot was proving popular and we rejoin the bidding at £42,000.

42. And a half.

43. 43 and a half.

44. 44 and a half.

45?

And a half?

45 and a half, no.

At £45,000 with you, then, for the first time...

second time, third and last time...

-GAVEL FALLS

-Yours, sir, well done.

And so the hammer fell at £45,000.

And the successful bidder for the two-bed terraced house

in Aberaman is Joleon.

Joleon and his family live in Gloucester

and he joined me back at the cottage with his eldest daughter,

11-year-old Yasmin.

-Joleon, good to meet you.

-And you.

Congratulations! Tell me why you wanted to buy this place.

Basically as a bit of a project, a part-time project.

Quite often, in the winter, I get a little bit quiet, work wise.

I thought it would be a perfect little place to come and hide!

-Definitely. What's your work?

-I'm a decorator.

-OK.

-That's convenient, then.

-Yeah.

Have you done anything like this before?

Yeah, numerous projects.

I've done a few extensions on previous houses

-and most recently we bought a plot of land at auction.

-Oh, wow!

-And did a self build.

-How was that?

It was absolutely brilliant, the best thing I've ever done.

-Did it turn out how you hoped?

-Yeah, exactly.

When you build it yourself, you can put it in the right

angle to the sun, the kids get to choose the size of their bedrooms.

It was great.

This is to be Joleon's first property renovation

and he hopes to rent it out on completion.

After doing a new build, this place should be a relative doddle.

What are the main issues, then, and how are you going to deal with them?

Upstairs, the shower that's up there is going to be coming out

-and put a bath in.

-OK.

I was thinking possibly about putting a third bedroom upstairs.

-Where?

-In the main bedroom.

I got my tape measure out today

and I think it could be a bit of a squeeze to put a third

bedroom in so, possibly, that is going to stay as it is and,

obviously, major decoration all round, new doors.

What about the sloping floors upstairs?

To be honest, I think it's been like that since the year dot

and I've jumped up and down up there and it's just a quirky cottage.

-Nothing to worry about?

-No, no.

-What's the budget?

-I'm sort of thinking 5,000, give or take.

-Mm-hm, right.

-What work will you be doing?

-Basically all of it.

In between doing your work?

I mean, this is going to be a part-time project

when I'm a bit quiet, work wise.

I'll probably come up here the odd weekend with my wife

-and my two children and they'll muck in.

-Right.

-I usually make the mess and they help clean up!

-OK!

Yasmin absolutely loves getting involved and telling me,

"I think you should do that, Dad. Maybe how about do this?"

-It's great, isn't it?

-She's bossing you around?

-Of course she does.

I think it's high time we speak to the boss, 11-year-old Yasmin,

and find out exactly what is planned for the house.

Tell me about this house, what do you think about it?

It's got a lot of things to do and there needs a lot of painting

-and more work.

-What are you going to do, do you think?

Designing and decorating the property.

Your dad says that he makes a mess and you tell him what to do

-and you tidy up after him. Is that right?

-Yeah.

-Is it something you might like to do when you're a bit older?

-Yeah.

What do you think you might be, then?

I want to be like my dad and doing a lot of things like that.

# Daddy...Daddy Cool

# Daddy...Daddy Cool... #

With help from Yasmin and the rest of the family,

Joleon is hoping to complete the work in five to six months.

-So after this, then, more projects?

-Yeah, definitely.

-See how this goes and just see what happens.

-Great, congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

-Good luck.

-Thank you very much.

-I look forward to seeing how you get on.

-Cheers. Thanks.

Well, I think Joleon has chosen well with this property

and certainly has the skills to get it sorted after

building his own home and, with Yasmin keeping him on track,

it should be a successful renovation.

You can find out how it all goes later in the show.

I'm off now to another area where coal previously played a big

part in the local industry.

Longton is the southern most of six towns that make up

Stoke-on-Trent which, in the 19th century, was at the epicentre of fine

ceramic tableware production, giving the area its Potteries moniker.

But long before dinner plates, coal was the main product.

A quarter of a mile away from Longton and its amenities

is the former colliery village of Adderley Green.

The property I'm here to see today is a three-bed semidetached

with a guide price of £55,000 plus.

Here it is.

My first impressions are, a little bit untidy, but I've noticed

the off-street parking, which is a massive, massive plus.

A tidy-up here would add value, too.

More ominously, years of frost damage has taken its toll on the clay tiles.

There's only one remedy, like many of the neighbouring houses, reroofing.

Now, the first thing that hits you is the smell of pets.

It's got to be dogs.

I recognise the smell, I've had two dogs myself, and just judging by

the hair on this carpet that I can see on the stairs,

it's definitely dogs.

I'm coming in here to this lovely big living room.

I'll watch my head on this low lampshade

but this is the problem - not so much the height,

it's this electrics would need to be sorted out.

I like this room, it's not too bad. Let's have a snoop about.

OK, kitchen through here.

Nice, big space. Just seems to need a bit of a refit.

Dining room, I would have imagined would've been in here

but, for me, knock this wall through,

gives you a lovely big kitchen/dining room overlooking the garden but

I think my first impressions were dogs and I think that puts me right.

Down here, we've got a little bit of plaster damage,

a bit more dog damage down here and, as I look around the room,

more there. There's a bit of work in here that needs to be done.

# Who let the dogs out? #

By the looks of it, nobody.

# Who let the dogs out? #

These canines have expensive tastes.

# Who let the dogs out? #

Man's best friend? Hmm.

# Who let the dogs out? #

It looks like dogs weren't the only problem living in this house.

I wouldn't want to eat in this dining room any time soon.

The kitchen, as I mentioned, needs more of a standard refurbishment

but there's a lot of problems to see through before any potential buyer

could warm to this place.

And to say the plumbing is decrepit would be an understatement.

On the plus side, the lounge is spacious and bright,

thanks to a fantastic bay window.

Sadly, though, the pooches have put their stamp on the woodwork here.

It looks like upstairs hasn't escaped those munching canines either.

OK, what I can see here is the banister.

Two spindles are missing, a bit more dog damage, a bit rickety.

Replace this, it's not safe.

Master bedroom there, the biggest of the three.

Middle bedroom there, children's bedroom there.

I'm guessing it's children's, it's pink.

Erm, and the bathroom there.

A bit of TLC, a bit of a clean. It seems OK.

I think this bathroom could be revised with a bit of elbow grease

and some good cleaning materials.

Summing up the upstairs, bedroom one is a decent size,

although the dodgy plumbing comes through here.

The black wardrobes dominate bedroom two,

and the boxroom would fit a child's bed fine.

What about outside?

It's a nice space. It needs a bit of tending to.

Behind that wall there, a little bit of patio, potentially barbecue area.

Inside, a bit of TLC, a bit of money spent on it.

This is a lovely family home in the making.

And at the bottom of the garden? A seasonal bonus.

# I'm brought back like a flip

# When it's blackberry-picking time... #

We asked an estate agent who knows the local market

along to give us her opinions on the property

and some all-important valuations.

First impressions of the property - there is

obviously quite a lot of work to be done

but for the area, as a standard three-bedroom semidetached,

it's got a lot of outside space, great for buy-to-let investors

looking to appeal to families.

I'd probably recommend to knock the kitchen/diner through

so you've got quite a large open-plan living space, because it's

more suitable now to modern living, with people with small children.

So we agree on that, then.

Given a guide price of £55,000 plus,

is there likely to be a profit on this investment?

I estimate it will cost somewhere in the region of £10,000 to £15,000

to fully refurbished the property but, of course,

along the way you might uncover some nasty little problems.

I wonder if she's included the electrics in that.

If she has, it would take the total investment to £70,000,

assuming there are no nasty problems.

What would its market value be then?

Once fully refurbished, I'd anticipate this property

would achieve somewhere in the region of £75,000 to £80,000

on the sale market, and somewhere in the region

of £450 per calendar month on the rental market.

So you've got a nice family home.

A little bit of money does need spending on it but, potentially,

if you get your budget right, this could be a nice little investment.

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

Lot 23, Adderley Green in Stoke.

It's a three-bedroomed semi.

There's gas central heating, double glazing, off-street parking

and a large garden.

55 is the guide, can I say 50 to start?

-45.

-45, then. 45 is bid.

At £45,000, seated.

46, 47?

Accepting a lower bid to start, the auctioneer goes in £1,000 steps

up to the guide price of £55,000, where we rejoin the bidding.

55, 56,

57, 58?

Saying 57,500. 58.

And a half?

At £58,000, gentleman's bid seated, no mistake against you, standing.

At £58,000 - are we all done?

£58,000 then once...

£58,000 twice...

Third and last time, £58,000...

GAVEL FALLS

You bought it, sir. Well done.

The successful bidder in from the first bid to the last is Kevin,

who works in digital marketing.

I met him minus his moustache back at his £58,000 purchase.

Kevin, nice to meet you and congratulations, well done.

Tell me what attracted you to this particular property?

I just saw the potential, really.

It's in need of decorative modernisation, as you can see,

but beneath that there's a really solid family home here.

Hopefully, with a little bit of work,

we can bring that family home back.

And your experience in property, how far does that go?

A few years ago, I bought a very similar house and it hadn't been

lived in for two years, hadn't been decorated for 20 years before that.

I took it back to basics - full cosmetic restoration.

It's rented out very successfully, I've got really good tenants

in there, and so I thought about doing another one.

And what do envisage you're going to do with this?

Everything, really.

The roof needs fixing. That's the first and most important thing.

Apart from that, replaster all the walls and ceilings,

new doors, new skirts, new architraves, new door frames.

A new bathroom, a new kitchen.

I've got a 15,000 budget and if I can really squeeze the budget,

maybe do something with the front drive, as well.

Kevin has a huge list of to-dos for that budget.

It certainly seems quite tight

so maybe I shouldn't mention my ideas on how to improve the house.

The kitchen, I was potentially thinking, knock it through,

one big kitchen/diner. Is that what you're thinking yourself?

I had a thought about that and, yeah, a nice kitchen/diner

would look good but I think a lot of people

in this part of the world like the traditional separate dining room

and with the expense of having to do the roof,

I could do with saving the cost, because it is a supporting wall.

Being a supporting wall does mean extra complications and extra expense.

Kevin will need a structural engineer to calculate

the size of the steel joist needed to take the weight,

plus the cost of the steel, and I'd recommend getting

a professional builder to carry out this type of work.

OK, is it just you? Is this a sole project?

I'll do as much of the work as I can

because I value my labour cheaper than other tradesmen

but where a finish is needed, then I will get plasterers to do the plastering.

I'll get professionals to do all of the professional trades,

but as much of the work that I can do - it saves on the budget.

You mention costs. Have you got builders you've used before?

I know number of tradesmen.

-A friend of mine, Scott, is a plasterer.

-OK.

There is a lot of work for him here.

I'll do the manual labour and he can

do the bit which is the skilled bit with his trowel.

What time have you given yourself to complete this one?

Three to six months to do this one.

I don't want too hard a timescale

because you never know what turns up and some things you can do

-quicker, and most things take a bit longer than you think.

-OK.

In six months' time I'll be very disappointed

if it isn't finished and rented out and, hopefully, a bit sooner.

And moving forward, Kevin, is this your last one or do you want to buy more?

Let's see how things go.

I'm not trying to build an empire in a year or two years.

The other property is doing very well.

This property, if it goes the same,

then I probably will in the next year or two look to buy a third

-and just see how it goes from there, really.

-OK.

Kev, good luck, I hope it goes the way you want it to go

-and let's see how you get on.

-Thank you.

-Take care.

So Kevin is slowly building up his property portfolio.

The work he's found and come across doesn't seem to faze him at all

but will the budget he set out bring this house up to scratch?

Or will the house be left begging for more?

You can find out later on in the programme.

Coming up, I'm sensing good things in a house in south London.

I always get a feeling instantly when I walk through a door

and this feels like a very nice home.

We return to Staffordshire to see if Kevin has any new career plans.

I'll keep the day job.

I think if you have too many properties, it'll turn into work.

But first, we travelled 20 miles north of Cardiff to the small

Welsh village of Aberaman

and as it was here that we first came across this two-bed

terraced cottage that, for the most part, was OK

but it did have a few faults that might drive you round the bend.

And it wasn't just the position, or the state, or the interior

that was letting the property down.

Erm, the floor.

Just on the landing here it is very, very...

Well, what's the word?

Wonky, that'll do.

But none of this put off painter and decorator Joleon

from buying the house for £45,000 at auction.

And together with some family help,

he thought he had a good idea of what work was needed.

I was thinking about putting a third bedroom upstairs.

-Where?

-In the main bedroom.

I got my tape measure out today and I think it could be

a bit of a squeeze to put a third bedroom in, so possibly that's

going to stay as it is, and major decoration all round.

-New doors...

-So what about the sloping floors upstairs?

To be honest, I think it's been like that since the year dot

and I've jumped up and down and I just think it's a quirky cottage.

So there are a few tasks to tackle.

But having previously done a self build,

surely this cottage renovation will be pretty straightforward.

# A, B, C

# Easy as one, two, three... #

Joleon's given himself a £5,000 budget to do the refurbishment work

and he was planning to fit it in around his decorating job.

Now, five months later, we're back with Joleon

and his eldest daughter Yasmin to see how they got on.

The improvements I've made downstairs

have been to open-plan the two rooms, put an RSJ up.

Is not just been opened up, it's been replastered throughout

and has new woodwork and doors.

The improvements I've made to the kitchen was just to

basically extend what I already had.

Yes, that's all that was really needed here.

Upstairs, put in a new wall, because it was a two-bedroom,

to make it into a three-bedroomed.

And so did he go for that third bedroom after all?

We decided to keep the bathroom and toilet separately,

purely because it just seemed to work fine.

Yes, I think that's the right decision.

And there was a change of plan for those wonky floorboards.

Lifted all the floorboards up

and we levelled the whole upstairs.

It was quite at an angle, really, so we got it really nice and level.

It's as level as a billiard table.

So a couple of unexpected turnarounds here

but he's put the whole house back on a level footing.

I think changing this into a three-bed house is perhaps

the most significant alteration.

We thought we would go for a third bedroom,

purely because the bedroom was just too big to be just one bedroom

and it was calling out for a third bedroom.

For the sake of putting a false wall up, it was quite easy.

# Easy as one, two, three

# As simple as do re mi

# A, B, C

# One, two, three... #

Even though the third bedroom is really just a single,

I think it probably was the right move, from an investment point of view.

With the rear garden given a good tidy-up,

it makes this now more appealing as a family home.

Talking of family, how involved in this project was

Joleon's daughter, Yasmin?

It wasn't just Yasmin, it was the whole family.

We all made a nice weekend of it.

And we came up here and we even brought the dog Jasper,

our new puppy, he came up and he had a bit of fun outside,

and it was great, yeah, we just all mucked in.

Ah! But what refurbishment jobs

did 11-year-old Yasmin enjoy doing most?

I liked painting the doors...

..and grouting the tiles,

and learning new things about...

all the designing and... renovating properties.

I want to do something like this again when...

Especially when I'm older.

A budding property developer in the making, to be sure,

but has all this family support helped keep the costs down?

We spent just under 6,000, so I was really chuffed at that.

Um, you know. But, no, I said 5,000, give or take, and it was slightly...

But that was fine.

A £6,000 spend on top of Joleon's £45,000 purchase price

takes his total spend to £51,000.

To me, that sounds like good value for money.

But what do two local estate agents think?

First, the agent who saw it previously.

The current owners appear to have a successful renovation here

since our first trip. It's now a very neutral property,

aligning it very well with both the sales and the rental market.

I think the property has been modernised throughout

to a good standard.

The owner has used neutral colours,

making it very bright and airy.

It was definitely beneficial creating the third bedroom here

for the sake of putting up a stud wall here

and creating that extra room.

It will increase the value for both the sales and the rental market.

So far, Joleon has invested £51,000 into this now three-bed property.

He had planned to rent out the house,

but now he's thinking of selling on.

Maybe the numbers will help him make up his mind.

Now that it's a three-bed dwelling,

this property could achieve in the region of £70,000.

I think the property could achieve £75,000,

so I would recommend an asking price of £80,000.

Yeah, I was expecting around about them figures,

so they're sort of, like, spot-on to what I was hoping for. So, you know, great news.

Well, that's a potential pre-tax profit of between

£19,000 and £24,000,

less the usual expenses, of course, so that's not bad.

What about its rental potential?

If they were to place this to the rental market,

I would estimate a rental value of £450 per calendar month.

For rental purposes,

the property's likely to achieve £425 per calendar month.

That's great. So, yeah, we've got something else to fall back on.

And even the lower £425 per calendar month's rental return

would see a healthy annual rental yield of 10%.

So, has that helped Joleon decide what to do with this house?

Yeah, I'll give it a go on the open market, see what happens.

If it doesn't sell, then rent it out.

Whichever road Joleon finally ends up taking with the property,

it looks like it should be a financial success.

So, what's next?

Hopefully back to the auction, find another one

and do it all over again. It's been really enjoyable.

Well, Joleon may be back for more properties, and so am I,

because Streatham in the London Borough of Lambeth

is an area I visited frequently on Homes Under The Hammer.

# You keep me coming back for more

# I can't get enough of your love

# You've got me coming back for more... #

And that's no bad thing.

I've seen it become increasingly popular,

and although it's certainly not cheap,

SW16 is more affordable than nearby Balham and Clapham,

so people are moving here to get a little bit more for their money.

# You keep me coming back for more... #

So, what sort of property prices are we looking at

along this residential road?

Well, I'm here to see a three-bedroom mid-terrace.

Now, it had a guide price of £250,000 plus.

Sounds reasonable for this area, especially when I tell you

three-beds along here sell for at least £350,000 -

100 grand more!

But this is an auction property, so what will it be like on the inside?

-Nobody knows.

-SHE CHUCKLES

The outside, though, shows promise, with a decent roof

and some space that, potentially,

could be turned into off-road parking.

Well, not bad at all on the inside. Yep, feels quite spacious.

I always get a feeling instantly when I walk through a door

and this feels like a very nice home.

Not sure what that door does, not a lot by the looks of things!

And a very disappointing small kitchen.

Now, you can get around that and I've said this so many times

that I know you know what I'm going to say now -

you could knock through here!

But you don't have to knock through here,

but that is always an option to open the spaces up.

This is a great space for a table.

You've got a lovely big area over there for the TV, the sofa

in the family room, and I really think it will work well.

Yes, the space is great, it's just all a little bit shabby.

It just needs a good deal of sprucing up.

# All I need

# All I don't... #

And I don't think you'll need to spend much money here.

The kitchen is one area where I'd concentrate all my efforts -

it definitely needs the appliances and the flooring upgraded.

Yes, and I'm not keen on that aluminium-framed back door,

definitely something I'd change.

Nope, on face value, this property doesn't need too much work,

but one place you're going to have to spend is replacing these windows.

Now... Ugh! I know you can see they're already double-glazed,

but they're old, they're ugly, they're metal!

And if this place is getting a face-lift,

well, these windows - look - they need to be new too.

That's not going to be cheap, but it will help the kerb appeal

and the energy efficiency of the house,

so I think it's certainly worth it in the long run.

And after you've replaced those windows,

well, the main focus should be just getting this place smartened up.

The layout's fine, with the three bedrooms of varying size,

but they're all just a little bit shabby.

The bathroom disappoints, in that it's got no bath, just a shower,

which, as a family home... Well, I don't think it's ideal.

So I would consider finding a way to put a bath in.

And there's another thing to consider with this house,

guided at £250,000 plus.

You might be aware

that stamp duty regulations changed from 4 December 2014,

which means that any property bought after this date

adheres to the new rules.

Familiarise yourself with these new stamp duty thresholds

as it's almost certainly going to affect the price you pay.

But in the meantime, I'm going to give you an example.

Now, with this property, if you pay £250,000,

then you would actually still pay exactly the same in stamp duty -

£2,500.

However, buy for a little more, say £275,000,

and you pay £4,500 less than you would have done

under the old system.

Whether this works in your favour all depends on the purchase price,

so make sure you do your homework and your sums.

Ah, so will this house add up to be a good deal?

What does a local estate agent think?

In general, it's a great property. All the room sizes are very good.

I would say that the bathroom doesn't have a bath,

which maybe is a slight negative factor.

I think definitely to pay some attention to the kitchen,

and if a person really wanted to,

they could build a nice rear extension.

That will definitely add some value.

Ah, yes, but extensions do take time and money.

Are there any other improvements to the layout

that could enhance the house without much building work?

Without extending the kitchen,

I think what a lot of people have done to these houses

is knock the kitchen through to the second reception room

or the dining room

to make that a nice big open-plan kitchen/dining area,

and a lot of people that are buying now are first-time buyers

and also families who like that sort of flexible living accommodation.

Ah, great minds think alike!

But what with that £250,000 plus guide price,

where does this stand from an investment point of view?

Once renovated,

this property would sell for approximately £410,000 to £420,000.

If the owner was to put on a rear extension,

I think you could probably achieve well in excess of 450,

maybe even up to 460.

So, with or without an extension,

those are pretty encouraging figures.

What about its rental potential?

This property, if renovated to a good standard,

would rent for approximately £1,500 per calendar month.

Well, this property certainly gets a thumbs up from me.

It's not in bad condition

and there's no sign of any worrying structural issues to contend with,

but there is still room to modernise it.

I would really think about maximising its end value,

and you can start with replacing those windows.

So let's see what happened when it went to auction.

We move on to lot 31, back to Streatham.

Three-bed mid-terraced house.

Start at...230.

230,000 down here.

235 anywhere?

235. 240, sir.

245. 250.

255.

260.

265.

270...

Well, maybe not surprisingly, there was a real battle

for the Streatham house, and we rejoin the bidding at £320,000.

320.

321.

322. 323.

324.

325, 326.

326, 327.

328, 329.

330.

331. 332.

333...

332, at the end, first time, second time...

Third and last time. If you're all done?

Sold, 332. Well bid.

And the delighted bidder is property developer Shaz,

who, despite paying £332,000 - £82,000 over the guide price -

was clearly pleased with his latest property purchase.

He joined me back at the three-bed Streatham house

to tell me why he wanted it so much.

-Shaz, congratulations.

-Yeah, thank you.

-Well done.

-Yeah.

This is quite a neat little property, isn't it?

Yeah, I'm very happy to buy this place.

Really wanted to get this one and we got it.

So, did you research, did you come and view it beforehand?

Yeah, I came myself and then I sent my brother for a second viewing,

so he came around and said it's a good property.

It just needs cosmetic work

and hopefully we can get it straight on the market.

Cos you are thinking about selling it on?

Well, ideally, I've spoken to one of my friends.

He wants to put an open day three days from now.

-HIGH-PITCHED:

-What?! So, in three days...

You better take those curtains down. You better paint this wall.

OK, you've got a lot of things to do in three days!

Yeah, in three days hopefully we can...

We're not going to do major, major work, so we're going to do...

a clean-up and tidy-up, maybe some paintwork.

And can I be cheeky and ask you -

how much do you think you are going to market this for?

Well, basically, the average house now around here is...

Well, fully done up, is 450,000.

So we've priced it in excess of 400,000 to allow

a 50,000 budget of somebody to come in

and put their own design to the property.

Well, there's no hanging about here for Shaz,

and if he could get anywhere around that £400,000 mark

straightaway for this house, well,

that would be a significant mark-up from the 332,000 he paid at auction.

No wonder he's pleased to get it!

So, what happens if - and this is only an if -

you don't get much interest on your open day, then what?

Well, ideally, we'll have some offers out there

because the market's on fire at the moment,

but if we don't have an offer of what I'm asking for,

then probably I'll do some more work,

depending on what feedback I get from the open day.

-OK then, what sort of budget have you got for the work here?

-OK...

Well, the first budget is approximately £2,000, so...

SHE GULPS LOUDLY

-Yeah!

-£2,000?!

-Yeah, that's the first budget...

-That's low!

I just want to do double glazing,

clean the place up, really, and maybe do some painting, really.

The second budget is about 10,000 to 15,000,

where I can do an extension

and do the kitchen work and maybe knock out the wall, etc.

OK, so you're really hoping for plan A, which is two grand?

I mean, I've got family involvement,

so hopefully I'll be paying them with dinners or something.

-Dinners out in restaurants or something!

-Really?

So there's no cash changing hands, it's all down to the family...

-and a few meals?!

-They have to help out where they can.

I need their help, and then, you know,

when they need help, I'm there for them.

OK. What about that garden? That does need a tidy-up.

Well, luckily my dad, he's an avid gardener and he loves gardening.

He wants to get in there and do some gardening, so...

And does he know he's got two days to do it in?!

Well, that's what he said, and it's a bit cold as well, so I might have

two people working with him maybe, just tidying up the place, really.

So this is going to be a real team effort.

It's all about building what is very much a family business.

Why do you like to do this?

What is it about developing that you love so much?

I've been brought up developing property from a young age.

I've seen my father do it, my grandfather do it,

and he started off this family business of property development.

My father continued it and now I've kind of taken over.

So I just love working with property...

I mean, every property is a new thing -

it's not the same -

it's a new project, it's a new adventure, so...

-Mm.

-So, it's fun.

Shaz, I'm really excited for you, good luck.

-Thank you so much.

-Thank you.

So, property runs in Shaz's blood

and it sounds like he's got his family workforce behind him

with his latest project...at the cost of a few dinners, of course!

But a lot hinges on that all-important open day,

taking place in only a few days' time.

Will he find a buyer, or will he have to spend more time and money

before selling this on?

Join me later in the programme and you can find out.

Well, we've seen one completed project,

but what about the other two?

-Did they go to plan?

-Oh, I think it's time to take a look.

We return to Longton now,

one of the six towns that make up Stoke-on-Trent.

And just outside Longton in nearby Adderley Green

was where we found this three-bedroom semi.

It had off-street parking and a good-sized garden,

but the interior was less a home and more of a doggy-chew!

Well, I think my first impressions were dogs...

and I think that proves me right.

Down here, you've got a little bit of plaster damage...

A bit more dog damage down here, and as I look around the room -

some more over there - I think there's a bit of work that needs to be done.

Yes, as well as the interior looking rather ROUGH,

it looked like the roof was a bit of a dog's dinner

and would definitely need replacing.

The top dog on auction day, with a successful bid of £58,000, was Kevin.

You bought it, sir, well done.

Kevin works in digital marketing,

but had already renovated one property

and was keen to get cracking with his second.

-What do you envisage you're going to do with this?

-Everything, really.

-So this one, the roof needs fixing.

-OK.

So that's the first and most important thing.

But apart from that, replaster all the walls and the ceilings,

new doors, new skirts,

-new architraves, new doorframes...

-Yeah.

A new bathroom, a new kitchen

and if I can really squeeze the budget,

maybe do something with the front drive as well.

Kevin's budget for the work ahead was £15,000 and he'd given himself

a timeframe of three to six months to get it ready for the lettings market.

Three months later, we've returned to see how he's got on.

The downstairs has gone from doggy damaged to rental ready.

Kevin has gutted the property,

removing all evidence of any problem pooches that once lived here

and turned it into a property ideal for the rental market,

with a brand-new kitchen being a particular highlight.

So, what's changed in this room? Well, everything.

So, removed all of the units,

replastered the walls and the ceiling,

put some new lights in and put in a nice, modern kitchen

and I think it looks really nice.

Let's see if the good work continues upstairs.

The three bedrooms upstairs have been neutrally decorated

to a high standard.

And also up here, that chewed banister is a thing of the past.

As well as that, there's a brand-new bathroom to boot.

Out the front, the kerb appeal isn't as good as it could be...

..but the back garden has been cleared up

and reveals a great family-size space.

Kevin has a few bits and bobs to do here...

but compared to how it looked, he's done a great job.

So, in the last three months, a lot's changed in the house, really.

Um... Starting at the top, there's a brand-new roof.

A new kitchen, new bathroom, plaster on the walls and ceilings,

new woodwork...

New flooring, new plumbing,

new radiators, new sockets and switches...

almost everything you see and touch is different to how it was before.

So there weren't any real issues that I weren't expecting,

mainly because I planned on doing everything.

So some of the walls had to go all the way back to brick,

when, you know, I hoped we might be able to get away with

just re-skimming them,

and I thought maybe that getting rid of the rubbish

that was in the house would take two or three skips -

in the end it took about seven, so that was a bit more work.

But bearing in mind that I planned on replacing

almost everything in the house, though,

there weren't that many surprises.

A drama-free project is always a welcome relief for any renovator

and to add to the good news, Kevin has already let the property out.

But with a total transformation, not to mention a new roof here,

there were bound to be a few big bills.

So how is his budget looking now?

Well, I had 15,000, including a very generous contingency.

Seeing as everything's gone really to plan,

it has come in at just under 10,000, including all of the fees

for solicitors and the transaction fees, etc,

which I'm really pleased with.

Not only did Kevin come in under budget,

but he also completed 95% of the work here in just three months.

Kevin has spent around £68,000 on the house

and even though he's found a tenant to let the property already,

it will be interesting to hear what to local estate agents think of

he's achieved, starting with the agent who saw it originally.

From when I initially visited the property,

there was quite a bit of damage from the pets

so I think he's done a really good job of tidying it up

and how he's got it now.

I like the kitchen.

It's a nice clean-lined, fitted kitchen,

overlooking the rear garden, so when you're standing there cooking

and doing the dishes, you've got something pleasant to look onto.

So, the agents are sounding pretty impressed,

but if Kevin was to decide to sell the property in the future,

what kind of value could he place on it?

I would put this on the open market at an asking price of £75,000.

If the vendor was looking at the sale market,

I would recommend it was put on the market in the region of £80,000.

That's more or less what I thought.

I'd lean more towards the 80,000 than 75,

but that's definitely in the area I was expecting.

If you were to take that top valuation of £80,000, it would

mean a pre-tax profit for Kevin of around £12,000.

But having already let the property out,

let's see if what he's getting and the agents' valuations match up.

I'd recommend an asking price of somewhere in the region

of £450 per calendar month, to possibly 475 per calendar month.

I think the rent he should be asking on this property is £475

per calendar month.

I think it's a bit low.

I had a value of 500 to 550, and it's rented out at 500.

Kevin's rental of £500 per month gives it a very impressive

yield of over 8%,

making his second venture into property developing a great success.

But will Kevin be going full time now?

I'll keep my day job.

I think if you had too many properties, it would turn into work.

Ah, yes, but the level of work you need to do

depends on the property you buy.

In Streatham, we came across a three-bed property that was more

Sheppey than chic, but just really needed tidying up.

With the possibility of extending or opening up the kitchen

and with what was a £250,000 guide price,

this actually looked a very attractive proposition.

Sold, 332. Well bid.

And so it was a delighted Shaz who snapped this place up for 332,000.

Now, Shaz is an experienced property developer

and has been part of the family team from a young age

and he had his own thoughts about getting the most out of this house.

It just needs cosmetic work

and hopefully we can get it straight on the market.

Because you are thinking about selling it on?

Ideally, I've spoken to one of my friends.

-He wants to put an open day three days from now.

-WHAT?!

Yep, you heard him right!

Three days, a £2,000 budget and a family team

mucking in to do the work and then he hoped to sell it on.

# Not long now till I step inside

# The place where we all reside

# Three more days and I'm home... #

But could he really make this a home that someone wanted to

buy in just three days?

Well, now, six weeks later,

we're back to find out what did actually happen.

As soon as I had the keys, three days later we had an open house.

We had an offer of 380,000.

I really wanted to sell it for a quick sale,

but, you know, mature heads like my father,

he said, "Why don't we hold onto it? We could get a better rate

"and why don't we rent it out? Because the market is really good."

So, I listened to people who were more senior than me. So...

Hopefully, I made the right decision.

And although Shaz may not have got the fast sale he wanted,

they still haven't hung around here, with the house already let out

and a tenant moved in.

But what work did they actually do in that three-day makeover?

We changed the double glazing on the front

so we've got brand-new double glazing.

We also painted the front of the house.

The back garden needed a bit of cleaning up.

Inside, we just had to shampoo the carpets,

touch up the walls really and, luckily,

this house was a really good, easy, quick job.

Yes, it was very together when we last saw it

so upstairs really just shows signs of a house...

well, turning into a home, I guess.

But who did carry out the small amount of work that was needed?

I had my own dream team of builders, which is my father,

my brother and myself.

We keep it in the family and, hopefully,

they will share in my success as well.

So, for a short burst,

the family team have pulled together to get this place

smartened up a bit.

Mind you, this is a fairly well-oiled team

and they've had plenty of practice after all.

So, how many properties is it you've got now, Shaz?

I have a few properties.

I number them between one and 100.

So, I'll leave it at that!

Well, no wonder he can't hang around.

Shaz is a busy man and he's certainly got the property bug.

# I can't help myself... #

But did the dream team's work keep the all-important costs down?

We spent approximately £2,300 on improving the property.

That includes double glazing, cleaning the carpet,

getting the white goods in the kitchen, which is a cooker,

fridge and a washing machine.

With all the costs and everything, it came to £348,000.

Right, so an all-in spend -

stamp duty, tax, auction expenses,

the lot - for £348,000. That sounds pretty good to me.

But should he have gone a little further with this refurbishment?

What do to local estate agents think?

First, the agent who saw it last time.

The second time in the property now,

looking around, it looks a little similar to the first time.

Not much has changed, apart from when I walked to the

front of the house, I could see that they've changed the double glazing.

Looking around, generally, the property looks brighter

so I believe he's painted it.

The condition of the house is OK.

It's nice to see new windows have gone in,

new appliances in the kitchen.

It would possibly have been beneficial to do a little more work,

maybe update the carpets and the flooring throughout.

Possibly decorate.

Maybe the rear windows as well, but compared to other

properties in the area, this one is definitely of a good standard.

So, it seems Shaz has generally done the right thing here,

but was he right to turn down that £380,000 offer

he got on the house on the open day?

This property would sell for approximately £400,000.

To sell this property in its current layout and condition,

we would expect to achieve around £410,000.

That's exactly what I thought,

but I'm probably going to hold on for 425.

In at least six months to a year, the values are going to go up.

Even if property prices don't rise that much,

that £400,000 valuation could see a £52,000 profit.

Well, that's not bad for three days' work!

But how on the money is he with his rental values?

This property would rent for approximately £1,500 to £1,600

per calendar month.

Rental income for this property,

we'd expect to achieve between 1,500 per calendar month, and 1,550.

That's more or less spot-on, because we got it rented out

for £1,500 per calendar month, so I'm really happy with that.

It's a good rent and probably that's why I'll rent it out for longer now.

£1,500 for calendar month would see a rental

yield of 5%, which is OK,

especially if his 99 other properties

are generating the same revenue. So, what's next?

What I want to do next is probably retire in a few years' time

and just be travelling and enjoying life more.

That's all for today's show, but Lucy, Dion and I will be back

with you with more properties that were sold under the hammer.

-See you next time.

-Goodbye.