Episode 78 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello. Now, property bargains are out there,

but they can be easier to track down some areas rather than others.

But if you are interested in property in your local area,

I know somewhere you can go.

Yeah, get yourself organised and pop down to your local property auction.

Auction buyers could have a few thousand to spend,

or could have a few million.

Yeah, no matter what their budget is,

they're always on the lookout for a good deal.

So, did today's buyers manage to find one? Here's what they bought.

This two-bed terraced house in east London needs

a bit of work inside and out.

It's a jungle out there.

But size is the issue with this one-bed flat in Hertfordshire.

You've just got a little cardboard door and you can hear everything.

I mean, that really is how small the flat is.

And in Wellington, it's a case of buyer beware.

I've really just opened this to demonstrate one thing...

-DOG BARKS

-..and it's that.

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.

You bought it, sir. Well done.

I'm in Plaistow in the London Borough of Newham

which lies just south of West Ham.

During World War II, this area suffered in the Blitz,

which explains why so many of the buildings are relatively new,

but a few of the older ones have survived.

# I'm still standing better than I ever did

# Looking like a true survivor... #

The property I am here to see is a 15-minute walk from Canning tube.

Here it is. Now, I do like a good start on a property.

Brand-new windows.

It's a two-bed mid-terrace property with a guide

price of £195,000.

Let's take a look.

OK, small hallway.

Some old fuse boxes there.

Quite high ceiling, though.

Front room here with an old-fashioned fireplace.

That'd need some work. Just a bit of a tidy-up in there.

Stairs going to the bedrooms.

Into this lovely yellow back room

which looks like it could have been the kitchen. There's a sink there.

There's not much else here. A bit of a unit just over there.

There's a lot of damp that I see on the ceilings, as well,

but this here, this old-fashioned fireplace with a fire which

has just been put in place of that.

It's a bit ugly, but you could restore that

to make it pretty again.

A little bit of work to be done in here,

but I am already thinking that sink might have to go into a room

I can see through there which is definitely the kitchen.

Through into the kitchen.

But it's not a kitchen, it's a bathroom.

I wasn't expecting that. Kind of threw me a bit.

Your bath is here, you've got a sink over there.

And then this little area here you've got a toilet.

Now, the ideal scenario for me is to get the kitchen into here,

get that as another spare room downstairs,

take this bathroom upstairs next-door to the bedrooms.

That would be a perfect scenario.

Now, I'm not sure.

I suppose that's supposed to be the back garden, but...

It's a jungle out there.

# It's like a jungle sometimes

# It makes me wonder how I keep from going under. #

French doors from a bathroom is a first for me.

This bathroom is crumbling.

The garden is completely overgrown.

This house doesn't need TLC,

it needs ER - emergency repairs.

Upstairs to the two bedrooms.

Firstly, I can see these lovely very small saloon doors.

I'm pretty sure that's a wrong measurement there.

Into the first bedroom which is of a nice size.

It's quite big up here with this lovely pony wallpaper.

Not really my taste.

Two big windows which look brand-new,

so they could stay and that would help with the budget.

And an old-fashioned fireplace

which would look nice restored.

Possibly a bit of a walk-in wardrobe there.

Or is it? Stay there.

Yes, on the way, on the way,

on the way to this walk-in wardrobe which is here,

which obviously isn't a walk-in wardrobe.

It's just a walk through.

Now, as I said in the kitchen, I'd like to bring the bathroom

upstairs, but there's not enough room for a bath.

So what I would do,

shower room in there, toilet, sink, perfect.

Bathroom upstairs sorted.

The second bedroom is a reasonable size and it also has new windows.

It's really weird that the windows are the only newish thing

in the whole house.

Still, at least, it's a start

because this house needs the works.

Electrics, plumbing, moving the kitchen and bathroom,

central heating, fireplaces, plastering, decorating.

It is far from purr-fect.

And at that guide price of £195,000,

you might need deep pockets for this one.

What does a local estate agent think?

First impressions, it's a good size as a two-bedroom house,

but it does need quite a considerable amount of work.

There is a possibility you could bring the bathroom upstairs,

but then you would be cutting into the bedrooms,

making some of the bedrooms smaller than they originally are.

OK, good point, but personally,

I still think a bathroom upstairs is always better.

Anyway, what does he think could be achieved here rental wise

once it's all renovated?

If this property was renovated, you can achieve

anything from £1,250 per calendar month

to £1,350 per calendar month.

And resell valuations?

Sales wise, if this property was renovated, you can

achieve anything from £260,000 to £270,000.

So this is a good, solid property.

Only a 15 minute walk away from Canning Town tube,

but there are a few issues to overcome.

The shower room, the kitchen, and that jungle/garden.

It is going to take more than a lawnmower to sort that.

Who fancied the challenge when it went to auction?

Two-bedroom mid-terrace house. Who would like to kick off on this?

I don't know, 195?

195. 200.

200 anywhere?

200 with you.

205.

210, new spot, right at the back. 210.

215. 217, yeah? 217.

Two...

218. 219.

220.

No? £219,000. Anyone else?

220 in the front. 221 at the back.

221.

First bid. 220, sitting down.

Against you, first time.

Second time. Third and last time, are we all done?

Sold, 220, first bid, well done.

Jumping in with the successful bid of £220,000 was husband

and wife team Sue and Ray.

MUSIC: Once Is Enough by Elvis Presley

Ray is a builder and Sue is a part-time chef,

and this was their first time at auction.

I met them back at the property to find out their plans.

-Ray...Sue.

-Dion.

-Nice to meet you both.

-Hi.

Congratulations, first and foremost.

Tell me about the auction experience. How was it?

Nerve-racking, it was nerve-racking.

I had never been to an auction before,

so this was the first one I had been to.

And we had done an awful lot of preparation,

and when we got to the auction, that all flew out of the window.

Why's that? Why did it fly out of the window?

Well, we'd researched extensively the properties

that we were interested in.

We'd been to see them, we'd looked at all the legal

documents, we'd done everything that you were meant to do.

And then by lot 20, it was apparent

that these guide prices were totally

wrong and they were going for 30 or £40,000 more than we could afford.

So we bought...

I bought a house that I had never seen,

or even checked the legal documents, which was very stupid.

The hammer rules. The hammer rules. You broke both of them.

-We did, we broke everything.

-You didn't see the property.

-No, no.

Happy with that? DION LAUGHS

No, at the time I wasn't, I was trying to pull her arm down and say,

"We haven't seen that one."

-But there you go.

-The thing is, it was too late.

It happened instantly and there wasn't...

We'd done it. I'd done it, rather.

-So what made you actually go for this one?

-This one?

Yeah, because did you know about the houses, you know, the area?

Yeah, I mean, to be truthful, I know the area well.

It looked like a really lovely little Victorian house,

needed loads of work doing to it, and it was just impulse, really.

I thought that we could make something out of it.

So you had seen the potential just from the auction. Can you

still see the potential? Yeah, I can, actually, I can. Definitely.

I mean, obviously,

when we saw it at the auction we just saw the front of the house.

We didn't see the inside,

but it just seemed like a good price for this area.

Was there a little bit of,

"I know I've got Ray, who's a builder..."

Oh, yeah. That's it, exactly.

Yeah, couldn't have done it otherwise.

I mean, there's no way that you could buy this property,

I don't think, and then get a builder in, pay a builder

and then make a profit out of it. I don't think that would work.

And expect it to be done how you want it to be done, to your spec,

and keep it within that budget?

That wouldn't happen.

But now you've got this man here, who's going to take the reins.

Or maybe not take the reins, judging by that look.

Yeah, he's going to do what he's told. Aren't you, Ray?

Absolutely, yeah.

# Yes sir no sir

# Where do I go sir?

# What do I do sir?

# What do I say...? #

Well, at least Ray knows where he stands.

And with plenty of experience,

this place doesn't worry him one little bit.

A lot of what we see here is superficial.

You know, bits of paper hanging off. The place is pretty sound.

You know, so just move a few things around, knock a few walls down.

Stick a staircase in.

And we should have ourselves a really nice, top of the range,

-spacious property.

-The challenge is upstairs.

The challenge is upstairs

because obviously we're going to move the bathroom upstairs.

We're going to get an architect in, a friend of ours,

an architect who's going to come in and do some drawings,

because we'd like to play around with the space, move the staircase,

and see if we can potentially put three bedrooms upstairs.

Probably not, but we just want to see.

How long is it going to take you?

Ray, I'll ask you that question, as you'll be doing the work.

Or how long do you hope it to take you?

Yeah, I would say, once we get started about three months.

So within that you've got to do knocking down walls

and a back garden that you can't quite see into yet?

Absolutely, yeah.

There could be an Amazonian tribe in there.

Once again, you know, by the time you have carved through

the garden, bit of landscaping out there, it's only a small garden

so it's not going to be masses of landscaping.

Yeah, and as I say, I'm a builder, so I've got

a team of guys that will come in here and just get it all done.

What about the budget?

Well, we've got a very definite budget, a top end budget of £40,000.

So we haven't got any more money so we've got to stick to that budget.

-So the pressure's on?

-Absolutely.

We think that's feasible, though.

That's not unrealistic.

Bearing in mind the earlier sales valuation of £260-270,000,

even if Sue and Ray stick to that 40 grand budget, it leaves them no room

for error if they plan to make a profit when it comes to selling on.

And profit is important.

Sue's father recently moved into a nursing home and

they hope to offset those costs with the profit made from this project.

Sue, I wish you all the best.

-Thank you very much.

-Hope it goes well for you.

-Ray, good luck being shouted at, sir.

-Thank you.

Sue and Ray, what a great couple.

Very enthusiastic, but it's clear to see who wears the trousers.

That'll be Sue.

But anyway, on the building side of things,

Ray seems to have all his bases covered.

Now, Tony, his son, will be doing most of the plumbing,

but will they stay within that budget and that timescale?

You can find out later in the programme.

I'm in the small Hertfordshire town of Hoddesdon,

about 20 miles north of central London.

The town began as a coach stop for travellers

heading from the capital out to Cambridge.

In the 20th century, gravel was extracted in huge quantities from

nearby pits to supply the massive expansion of the road network.

But today, I am in this estate to visit a property

up for auction at a guide price of 110,000.

So what does the guide price of £110,000 buy you at auction

in this spot, which is only a

five-minute walk from the town centre?

Well, you get a one-bedroom flat in this purpose-built block here.

Now, it really does look well-kept from the outside.

You've got plenty of parking over there,

but I'm not going to dwell on that for too long

because it's up on the second floor and I'm going to get going.

The upkeep of the communal areas is usually

the responsibility of a property maintenance company,

who will charge an annual fee for this work.

And they may also take care of organising things,

like roof repairs, guttering, and drainage, which saves you

the hassle of knocking on doors to get money from your neighbours.

So inside the flat, bathroom straight ahead, which is

actually quite nicely done.

And then in the flat, surprisingly small,

so this is the living room and straight off the living room

is the bedroom and you can imagine at night you've got

the telly on and someone's trying to get to sleep in here and

you've just got a little cardboard door and you can hear everything.

I mean, that really is how small the flat is.

You've got textured ceilings in here as well and you could

probably do with painting it, and replacing the floor,

so a little bit of work to do and then you've literally got

the kitchen just here and again, I mean, it's incredibly small,

but I think that will need updating, so you could spend some pennies

on this property and it would certainly bring it up to standard.

So, you might not be getting any character with a flat like this

and the lack of space won't be to everybody's liking,

but it's a clean and tidy modern building

and the location is ideal for commuting into London.

You know, for that guide price of 110,000,

well, some might consider it a bargain.

So, it needs a new kitchen, a lick of paint, central heating,

and it needs something else.

Can you guess what that is?

It's a longer lease.

Yes, currently there's only 75 years left unexpired

and although that's not too short just yet,

due to something called marriage value, the cost of extending

it will only get more expensive as it gets shorter.

I happen to know this is prime first-time buyer territory

and if you want to sell this on, a longer lease will make it

so much easier and it will add value, too.

But will this gentleman agree with me?

He's as local estate agent and he's come to have a look

at this flat to give us his professional opinion.

The flat is just really in need of a full redecoration

and perhaps some new flooring throughout.

Nothing more than that.

The windows are all UPVC double glazed.

The kitchen and bathroom are absolutely fine.

The size of the property, they're not the largest.

As they were originally designed,

quite strange because you had the bedroom open plan onto the kitchen,

but subsequently, over the years,

people have concealed the entrance from the bedroom into the kitchen

and made the opening onto the living room,

which is much more practical now.

So, assuming the new owner obtains an extension to the lease,

what could this flat be worth on the resale and rental market?

Once the property's refurbished,

I would anticipate a valuation of being £132,000-135,000.

On the rental market, I would expect to achieve £750 per calendar month.

Well, it might be small, but there's not too much work to do here

and being so close to the town centre, well, I think this could be

a great buy-to-let or maybe even the perfect first-time buyer home.

Who saw the potential? Let's head to auction and find out.

Interesting flat, this. Second-floor self-contained flat.

Nice modern-looking building.

Where do we want to be on this?

Let's go 100 and see where we end up, shall we? 100 is here.

Is that 102, can I say?

I can, thank you. 104.

106, 108.

107, then. 108.

109, 110.

Looks a cheap flat, this. Got you.

Thank you. 111. 112. 113.

113, he was first. 114, 115, 116.

Stood over here now at £115,000.

116. Do you want to come back in?

I'll take 115,500. 116.

I took 500 from him. Can you lose it for 500?

You can't. 116. And a half again.

Yours on my... Yes, 116,500. 117.

No? You sure?

Can't buy it in a few moments' time.

It's going now at 116,500 once.

Twice at 116,500.

Third and final time.

Bidder 1173.

Making that successful bid was Kevin

who works for Transport for London by day,

but also owns a few buy-to-let properties.

I met up with him back at the flat for a bit of a chinwag.

-Kevin, congratulations.

-Thank you.

So, why did you want to buy this property?

-Just the potential.

-Yeah.

There was good potential in this property.

I don't know the area very well,

but I just heard about it and the rental yields are very good.

You don't know the area?

Did you literally just have a flick through the catalogue

-and the price was right for you?

-Yeah, pretty much.

The price was good

and it was a few properties in that auction that I went for.

This one was one of the early lots,

so it went at the right price, and that was it.

Did you view the property?

Uh, no.

So, you didn't view the property?!

-No, I didn't.

-You were literally going on the price?

I done research, a lot of research.

And I saw a few photos, and I did come here

and I looked through the letterbox and I think that was enough.

Kevin might be happy with a quick peek through the letterbox,

but, dear viewer, this procedure is not recommended

by Homes Under The Hammer.

Get a proper viewing!

# We're always on the outside

# On the outside Always looking in. #

I mean, what if you'd have opened the door

and it could have been, you know, a burnt-out property.

There could have been leaks and damp and all sorts.

The price. You know, it was cheap enough,

so I had enough contingency plans so if it did...

If it was as bad as that, you know,

I've got a few grand leftover to spend on it.

So, come on, be honest.

When you opened the front door and you walked in, how did you feel?

Relieved?

Kind of, yeah. Fantastic.

When I came in and saw, wow, nothing needs to be done.

So, yeah, it was very good.

Now, there's no central heating in this flat.

That could pose a problem.

Not necessarily.

I've done some quotations.

Probably about £1,000 to fit a central heating.

What about things like the kitchen and the bathroom?

Do you feel they need updating?

Kitchen for sure.

Bathroom, I don't think so.

Just a general tidy up and cleaning and painting. That's pretty much it.

Kevin has set out a straightforward plan of renovation

and has a budget of around five grand.

He hopes to be finished within 4-6 weeks

and then he'll choose between reselling or renting.

But has he given any thought to that lease?

I spoke to two neighbours, they recently...

I read the legal pack, found out which neighbours

have recently have done their lease, so I spoke to them.

The lease is 75 years.

For the extension they will do it straight away.

And that is probably about seven to eight grand to do the lease.

-That's quite a chunk of money, isn't it?

-It is, yeah.

But I heard a maximum limit on my budget

and how much I'd buy the property

and how much the lease and renovations.

So I think it's a good investment.

After a bit of a shaky start,

Kevin has redeemed himself by doing some great research on the lease.

It might sound obvious, but talking to neighbours is a good

way of getting useful local information, and it's free.

Kevin's using experience gained over the past few years.

In 2012, I bought my first property in auction

and I remortgaged 2013, purchased another one,

and then that's it. That's the third one.

-So, this is your third purchase!

-It is.

-Yay, put it there.

That's fantastic.

So, how do you find the time to do this? Because you've got to work.

I mean, you're working full-time

and you've got to balance your family life with meeting builders

and coming onto site. How do you do it, Kevin?

I have a good wife at home,

so she helps a lot with a lot of stuff,

and hard work.

You just have to get up and get on with it. There is no time to waste.

I've got a four-year plan, so I'm hoping to stick to it and retire.

-Not retire, but give up my day job within the next two years.

-Really?

Yes. That's the plan. I hope I can stick to it.

Who gives you the drive? Why do you do this?

My family.

I just want to do good for them

and make them proud and make them comfortable.

And what about your kids? How old are they?

I've got a daughter who's 10 and I've got a little son, he's seven.

Oh, so you'll get to spend more time with the family, as well.

That's right. That's the main thing. They're growing up.

They need their dad at home, so that would be great.

if I could spend time with them.

And are you hoping to keep all the properties or to sell them on?

I have sold one of them.

That's how I raised the equity for this property.

This one, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it at the moment.

So I'm just first going to do it and see how the market is.

And if I rent it, that's great.

Remortgage it or resell it and go back again.

The options are there, so I have to take.

Are you feeling confident?

Very. Absolutely.

There's nothing in this property.

I don't think they will be any surprise.

I'm hoping not, but I don't think there is.

So, straightforward renovation.

Well, I'm really, really pleased for you.

And I'm very happy to say that I know you have learnt

a lot from watching Homes Under The Hammer.

-I did, yes.

-You're an avid fan!

-You started it. Absolutely.

-Is it our fault?

-Yes, it is!

-But, you know, thank you. It's been great.

-Oh!

I learnt a lot from your programme and that's taken me forward.

So, who'd have thought, all the years you've been watching

Homes Under The Hammer, here you are now on the show!

I know, tell me about it! Yeah, absolutely.

-It's lovely to have you today.

-Thank you.

-Thanks for coming.

Thank you. Pleasure to meet you. Thank you, Lucy.

Well, Kevin is almost a gold star Homes Under The Hammer pupil, except

he didn't look inside the flat before the auction. Tut-tut.

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

if this renovation marks his third successful step towards

a future property developing career.

Still to come, the buyer of this

house in Wellington reminds me of someone.

If there was a Frank Spencer of the property developing world,

you seem to be it.

And back in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire,

we find out how Kevin got on with his third property renovation.

Earlier on, I was in Plaistow, just south of West Ham, to see

a two bed mid terrace guided at £195,000.

Downstairs, a damp course and rewiring was needed

and another requirement was a kitchen

and I thought it should be where the bathroom currently sat

because French doors off a bathroom...

Well, that's just not right.

And upstairs felt like something out of a Western movie.

First thing I can see, these lovely very small saloon doors.

I'm pretty sure that's a wrong measurement there.

Pony wallpaper, not really my taste.

# Saddle up...

Possibly, a bit of a walk-in wardrobe there. Or is it?

Stay there.

# Saddle up your horse and ride like hell... #

..All the way to this walk-in wardrobe, which is here.

So, neigh, to that decor

and that old stable of Homes Under The Hammer.

Get a bath in that space upstairs.

At the auction, Sue and Ray paid £220,000 for it, with a plan to

renovate, resell and raise cash to cover Sue's dad's nursing home fees.

But at the auction, it didn't go quite as planned.

We'd done an awful lot of preparation

and when we got to the auction, that all flew out the window.

Why's that? Why did it fall out of the window?

Well, we'd researched extensively the properties that we were

interested in. By lot 20, it was apparent that

these guide prices were totally wrong

and they were going for 30 or £40,000 more than we could afford.

So, I bought a house that I'd never seen.

# You got to look before you leap... #

Buying blind... Oh, no!

But they did have the skills.

Ray's a builder and they have a budget of £40,000.

They were ready to take the leap.

# Look before you leap... #

One year on and we are back to have a look.

The exterior has been painted and some repairs done.

But the key here was to make something out of a bad blind

buying situation and take what they had,

work together and make something special.

# We will take the best parts of ourselves

# And make them gold

# We are made of our smallest thoughts

# We are breathing and letting go

# We will take the best parts of ourselves

# And make them gold... #

Downstairs, the damp has gone.

The decor has been updated and the garden is no longer a jungle.

And where the bathroom once was,

there's now a stylish modern kitchen.

OK, in the kitchen, what we did was actually turn it into a kitchen

because it was a bathroom, or that's what it was meant to be.

In this corner, there was a very old bath.

Here was a concrete dividing wall, which had the toilet in,

which obviously we knocked down.

And the most important thing we did was to make it all one level,

so there was a narrow doorway here with a step down into the kitchen.

And we've made the floor all level, all one level out to the garden

because I think that's really important.

# We will take the best parts of ourselves

# And make them gold... #

Upstairs, the horse decor has rode out of town

and there's now a beautiful new bathroom.

We moved the bathroom upstairs because people don't want to

walk through a kitchen to get to the bathroom.

So, what we did is we increased the soffit over the stairs to come

out and increase the bathroom.

And we took a little bit off the main bedroom and a little

bit off the hallway to get a bathroom in and it worked fine.

And that's not the only place they've increased the space.

By removing the chimney breast upstairs,

they've found room for a third bedroom.

OK. We debated long

and hard about whether to make it into a three bedroomed,

but we decided that this house would appeal to families,

so we decided to leave it one double bedroom and then

we took the chimney breast out and we made it into two single bedrooms.

We already had two windows in that bedroom, so it was quite simple.

It was a double aspect room.

We simply put a partition wall up and put another doorway in.

Sue and Ray have had assistance from an architect friend helping them

design the upstairs,

including a corridor between the new bedroom and bathroom.

Plus their son Tony has done all the plumbing and helped his dad

out in other areas, like a complete re-plaster and rewire.

Just as well, because Tony had other projects to do, meaning the

work only took four months, but lots of gaps with no work in between.

But they did hit their 40 grand budget head on and plan to

leave the carpets and decor to the discretion of the buyer.

They must be delighted with the results.

It's met every expectation.

It's so bright and contemporary.

I'm very pleased with it.

I think Ray's done an excellent job.

I agree.

I agree too, Sue.

Ray has done a brilliant job, so will Ray's hard work impress

two local estate agents as much as it's impressed Sue?

And has adding that third bedroom been a good move?

In this area, you would find most of the houses having two bedrooms,

rather than three bedrooms.

Having three bedrooms instead of two bedrooms,

it will add of course value to the property,

but not as much as you would have three double bedrooms.

By adding a third bedroom, it doesn't necessarily add value,

but combined with the fact that the property's been completely

renovated and the current market conditions,

they definitely will not lose out by having that work carried out.

Perhaps a third bedroom makes things a little tight for space, but

it wouldn't be a major undertaking to put it back to two bedrooms.

Can the couple make a profit

reselling against their £260,000 spend?

We would put the property initially on the market with a guide

price of £350,000 to £370,000.

I would recommend advertising the property at a price

between £350,000 and £370,000.

-Wow, that's amazing.

-That's amazing.

-That's really good.

We are absolutely... In fact, give me their telephone number now!

Yes, I would have thought a potential pre-tax profit

of £110,000 would make you put an estate agent on speed dial, Sue.

That money will help go to pay for her dad's nursing home costs,

so I'm really pleased they'll make a good return

when it could have been so different, as they bought blind.

So, Ray, Sue, promise me

you'll never buy at auction again without viewing?

-No, never in a million years.

-I bet we would.

-I bet we would, but anyway...

-I wouldn't.

I might buy it if it was his money,

but I wouldn't if it was my money, that's for sure.

I'm in Wellington, which sits within Telford in Shropshire.

Telford was named after the famous Victorian engineer,

Thomas Telford, but can you tell me who Wellington is named after?

Anyone?

Well, if you'd have shouted the Duke of Wellington at your TV,

-then I'm sorry to say you're wrong.

-BLOWS RASPBERRY

Apparently, it's named after a Germanic Saxon settler, Weola.

Well, just a short walk from Wellington centre is

the property I'm here to see.

On this estate of brick built houses, it's a

-three bedroom semidetached...

-DOG BARKS

..next-door to a house with a dog by the sound of it,

£75,000 was the guide price. Let's have a look.

So, what have we got?

Well, in case you hadn't guessed, it is

an ex local authority house, which to my mind is great news.

Generally really solidly built, nicely proportioned rooms.

Built to last, they were.

So through the front door to this room here, which is

your front sitting room, main living area, I guess.

I mean, nice features to be discovered.

A nice fireplace there would be good. Lots of storage.

That's what you get with these kind of houses, along with solid walls.

No stud partition there, that's for sure.

So through into the kitchen.

Just two rooms really on the downstairs floor.

Lots of space for family living.

In terms of the units, well obviously, a bit of time

and effort needed to replace the kitchen but apart from that,

I'm just, you know... I'm sold already.

OK, it's a bit tatty round the edges,

but there's a good feel to this house so far.

The double glazing looks pretty sound,

the radiators appear relatively modern

and that fireplace provides a good focal point for the living room.

However, the floral decoration won't be to everyone's taste.

# You are my flower

# That's blooming in the mountain so high... #

So, upstairs and on the way up, that plaster's sounding a bit dicey.

Looks like the plaster's blown.

You don't really want to have the extra expense of that.

It could be a strip off job and start again,

or it could be just a patch up and make do and mend.

A good plasterer will sort that out, I'm sure.

But upstairs here, a little sort of landing and then off it,

three good size bedrooms. And the bathroom.

I don't know if this was originally here. My guess is it was.

Quite an interesting design of the little unit there.

Basically because it's situated that whole room above the stairs, but you

know, obviously, it would benefit from a new bathroom in there.

But it's perfectly serviceable and at least it's upstairs.

As I said, good sized rooms.

Again, coming back to the fact that it is that ex local authority.

And in this bedroom, you have the boiler.

Now, of course, you'll always hear me

going on about making sure that any gas appliances are properly

serviced and if you're a landlord,

you've got to get yearly a gas safety certificate to make

sure that things like this are operating properly.

It's especially important when a boiler is in a bedroom.

I don't need to point out the dangers of a dodgy

boiler in a bedroom. So make sure that's checked out,

if you're buying it for yourself, and if you're a landlord,

you have to.

And don't forget, fitting a carbon monoxide alarm is a must as well.

Never mess with gas. That's the inside taken care of.

So time to see what this house offers in terms of outdoor space.

DOG BARKS

So, there's obviously a rear exit to the property, but this is a side

door and I've really just opened this to demonstrate one thing.

-DOG BARKS

-And it's that.

The house is obviously next-door to somebody who has got a dog.

Now, I am an absolute dog lover.

I've got two golden retrievers and love them to bits.

however, living next-door to a house which has a constantly

woofing dog can cause quite a lot of neighbourly problems

and it's one of those things that you need to know about

before you buy an auction property

and a classic example of why you need to visit the place beforehand.

You need to notice there is a dog next door and decide

if that's going to be a problem for you.

But anyway, at the back of the property,

we have a really nice size garden.

Obviously, it needs a bit of tender and loving care.

But lots of space, nice family home. Yeah, lots of positivity.

Just needs a kind of soundproof kind of thing to be constructed

over the top of it.

Oh, he's quiet now.

# Sshh... #

Even with a yappy neighbour, this property has certainly

set my tail wagging, but it's always good to get a second opinion.

So we asked an agent from the auction house who sold

the property to have a look around and tell us what he thought.

First impressions are generally it's not too bad.

It wouldn't take much to give it a quick makeover, the boiler's

quite recent as well, it's been serviced, by the looks of it.

The double glazing's all fine

and it's pretty much standard cosmetic attention that it needs.

I would actually give it the quick once over,

put on the market for rental. It would go really easy for rents.

In terms of selling on, I don't think the margins are there

really, so the safer bet is to rent it.

So, renting seems the best bet, but what about valuations?

Once the property has been modernised and refurbished,

it will probably rent for about £575 per calendar month.

In terms of selling potential, if the property was given

a makeover, it would probably fetch about £110,000.

Well, it's a good solid house that just needs a bit of modernisation.

Good size rooms and solidly built, so we like that. Who bought it?

Let's find out, when it went under the hammer.

It's a three bedroom semidetached house. It is in need of modernising.

So, lot 61. 70 to get it going.

70 bid, thank you. At £70,000.

72, can I see now? At 70. 72.

74. 76.

It was a case of standing room only at this auction

and there were a few bidders interested in this property.

We rejoin the action with the price at 85,000.

85 to my left. At 85. 86 anywhere else?

Bid's at £85,000. You're back in. 86.

87.

No? At 87 then. To my left. At 87,000.

88 anywhere else?

If not, £87,000 once...

£87,000 twice...

New bidder. 88.

89. 90.

91. 92. 93. 94.

At 94, to my right. £94,000.

95 anywhere else?

If not, £94,000 once...

Twice... Third and last time at 94,000...

-BANGS GAVEL

-You've bought it sir, well done.

It was smiles all round for Ben, Emma and baby Monty.

This £94,000 purchase was the tenth addition to the couple's buy

to let business.

We've met Ben before on the show and the last time we spoke,

his financial arrangements left me speechless.

It transpired in the end, we couldn't get a mortgage

because of it being fire damaged, so we had to buy it cash

effectively, so we've got no money left.

The last £500 came from a payday loan, would you believe it?

Hopefully, this time, he'll be a little more organised

and he's here with Emma, daughter Merry

and young Monty to tell me the story behind their latest purchase.

-Ben, good to see you again.

-Likewise, likewise.

Becoming a regular on the show, actually.

Yes, I'll be releasing a box set shortly, I'm sure.

The first time, my recollection was a bit of a shock to you

and it was all a bit, you know...

How do you feel at this point, as you progress?

Well, it is a little strange.

I wasn't fully intending to buy this house,

much like the other two really, so it's a slight shock.

So, what happened with this one then?

We were buying another house and that then fell through,

but I'd arranged a kind of house of cards of deposit finance

and approved mortgages that I didn't want to let slip away from me,

so went to the auction and saw what was there,

we had a quick look at this the day before.

It looked borderline mortgageable, so nice house, nice area,

thought we'd go for it.

Borderline mortgageable isn't ideal, is it?

You want it to be 100% definite mortgageable.

Yes, I'm always optimistic. When I looked round, it looked perfect.

Much like the last one, on closer inspection, not quite so.

-But it passed the tests.

-Right, this was almost like a rebound purchase.

Yes, absolutely. Very well put. Yes.

So, what happened with the other one then? That fell through then?

No, actually it fell through and then it UN-fell through,

so now we've ended up with slightly too many houses and I'm not quite

sure where we're going to get the money from to renovate this one,

but it'll all be fine.

# Money's too tight to mention... #

I shouldn't be surprised at the news that Ben has ended up buying

not one but two houses this time round,

or that he's not sure where the renovation budget will come from.

Money may well be too tight to mention,

but I'm going to mention it anyway.

How did the finances on that work?

Oh, 0% balance transfer is the phrase.

-Credit cards?

-Yes. But it'll all be fine.

-Right.

Not generally a strategy we approve of on Homes Under The Hammer.

No, indeed, but I'm cautiously optimistic it'll all be fine.

Would you be insulted if I said if there was a Frank Spencer

of the property developing world, you seem to be it?

I... Only slightly offended, I'd say. I've heard worse.

You seem to stumble from one sort of interesting experience to another.

And yet come up completely smelling of roses. Literally.

Everything does always seem to work out in the end,

so, yeah, we'll see about this one.

With money being a bit tight on this project,

an option would be for Ben to do as much of the work as he could.

Unfortunately, this too is problematic.

If I remember rightly, you're not Mr DIY, are you?

No, I am hoping for a comedy moment to do something in this build.

I seem to remember when we first met,

you had a story about your DIY experience.

Yes, something to do with sticking radiators under the wall with

instant grip glue, which...

I am a big fan of instant grip glue, but I'm not sure

I stuck a radiator on with it, I couldn't entirely rule it out.

Gosh.

So, money forthcoming, what would you like to do to this place?

Well, the interim solution might be to do only what's critical to

-get it let out.

-And the budget for that would be?

-Probably about 3,000 for that option.

-OK.

The ideal would be to get hold of eight or 9,000

and put a new kitchen, new bathroom, downstairs toilet,

and fully re-skim everywhere that needs it

and basically make it a nice house that's hopefully worth 120, 125,000.

Right. So, what is the timescale?

I mean, how are things going to pan out here?

Option A, we'd hope to turn it round in three to four weeks really,

just to get tenants in and start getting some money in to pay

-those mortgage payments.

-Sure.

Option B, probably two months.

So, in 20 years' time,

will you be sitting on a 600 property portfolio, going, "I don't

"know quite what happened, but I appear to have got 600 properties"?

We're on ten now and I think that's it.

That's good enough to retire on when they're paid off, so... I think.

Right. Well, listen, in some ways I hope we don't see you again soon.

Absolutely.

-But it has been lovely to see you again actually.

-Likewise. Cheers.

-Good luck with it.

-Thank you.

So, Ben stumbling his way to another

property purchase to add

to his portfolio.

But seriously, this is not really the way to go about it.

He could have got himself into all sorts of financial

problems by not having his finances sorted out before he bought.

So don't do that at home!

How will he get on sorting this place out, if he can find the money?

You can find out later in the show.

So, we've seen how one property renovation turned out.

How was it for our other buyers? Fruitful or fretful?

Was it fabulous or frightening?

Let's see how they got on.

We're heading down south once more to Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire,

where earlier, I took a look around this one-bedroom flat in a modern

block, not far from the town centre with a guide price of 110,000.

You can imagine at night, you've got the telly on and somebody's trying

to get to sleep in here and you've just got a little cardboard

door and you can hear everything.

I mean, that really is how small the flat is.

OK, so yeah, it was small,

but the real value lay in its location, close to the road

and rail links that would take you straight in to

Central London in under half an hour.

There were two drawbacks that the new owner might have to address,

the lack of central heating and a 75 year lease.

And if you want to sell this on, a longer lease will make it

so much easier and it will add value too.

Now, aside from the lease,

the guide price made it an attractive lot at auction and it

was purchased by part-time property developer Kevin for £116,500,

although Kevin hadn't really seen

a great deal of his purchase beforehand.

-So, did you view the property?

-No.

-So, you didn't view the property?

-No, I didn't.

You were literally going on the price?

I'd done a lot of research and I saw a few photos and I came here

and I looked through the letterbox and I think that was enough.

Kevin's plan for this property was to upgrade the kitchen

and give everything a good coat of paint.

And he was going to sort out that lease.

# For ever more... #

So, we returned four weeks later to catch up with Kevin's progress.

# Everything changes but you... #

Mm, well, there's a clue in the song.

And, unless my eyes are deceiving me, it looks like, well,

nothing's changed.

What's Kevin been up to over the last four weeks?

I was planning to change the kitchen

and the bathroom and do the flooring.

Total renovation.

But the experts, the agency, said the condition of the house is,

as it is, good. It doesn't need anything.

So, I decided to go with the opinions of experts.

So, I left it as it is.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the property,

either renting it or selling it,

but, after getting the expert viewing on this property,

I decided to sell it and move on to the next property.

# Look but don't touch

# Look but don't touch

# Look but don't touch

# Look but don't touch me

# Look but don't touch... #

So, Kevin's decided to go for a quick sale.

And is leaving the flat exactly as he found it.

But has he done anything about extending the lease,

to make the flat more attractive just prospective buyers?

I meant to view the leasing.

It's a 75 year lease at the moment,

but, as it stands, it is mortgageable and I

didn't need to do it. So, I didn't want to put the lease in my name.

So, I wanted the new owner to do the lease on their terms.

So, I left it for the new owners to do it.

The only thing I've done that was the cleaning of the property.

The property was in not very tidy condition,

so all I've done is clean the property

and get it nice and clean and tidy.

So, to summarise...

No central heating, no new kitchen, not one spot of new paint

and no lease extension. Kevin has decided to take a gamble

and is placing his hopes of a positive outcome on the upward

direction of the local property market.

And who better to tell us more about that

than two local property experts,

the estate agent who is marketing this property,

but first, the agent who viewed it earlier.

Demand for properties, like this, in the local area is so, so strong.

I've never seen demand as strong locally.

And supply is, probably, at its weakest point I've

experienced in all my years in the business.

The property will appeal to the investor buyer,

because that part of our market is very active at the moment.

As well as the first-time buyers getting onto the scene, because

it is at the end the affordable end of the market in our area.

Kevin will be the first to admit he hasn't really added any value

to this flat. If you hold on to property long enough,

its value may rise right anyway.

He purchased it at auction in early September, for £116,500

and eight weeks later, it's back on the market.

Has two months made much difference to the value?

I think the guy has hit lucky here, really. The markets gone with him.

The current open market valuation for a property such as this,

with the length of lease it has,

I would envisage somewhere in the region of £140,000.

We're currently marketing the property in the region of £150,000.

We've had a number of viewings

and we've had several offers on the property.

I'm confident that we we'll tie up the sale in the very near future.

A pretty staggering result, I'm sure you'll agree.

If Kevin manages to get his preferred value, 150,000,

he'll pocket a profit of £33,500 less fees and tax.

I was right, so, you know.

I had a feeling about the area and the prices.

I went with my gut feeling and there it was.

So, you know, got there.

So, a mix of intuition, good timing, and good fortune

appear to have made this project a success.

So, what's next on Kevin's four-year plan?

As soon as this one goes, I'll be back on auction again

and I should see you soon.

Earlier in the show, I visited Wellington in Telford

and this former, local authority three-bed semi,

with a guide price of £75,000+.

This type of property seldom disappoints

and this one was no exception.

Generally, really solidly built, nicely proportioned rooms.

You know, built to last, they were.

With three bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs,

this house would make an ideal family home or rental investment.

And the sizeable back garden just added to the appeal.

There was, however, one rather noisy fly in the ointment.

DOGS BARK

Living next door to a house which has constantly woofing dog

can cause quite a lot of neighbourly problems.

Not worried in the slightest by barking dogs were Ben and Emma,

who paid £94,000 to add this house to their buy to let business.

To complicate matters, Ben found out he'd also bought

another house, but wasn't sure if he had the budget to renovate both.

How did the finances on that work?

-Well, "0% balance transfer" is the phrase.

-Credit cards?

Yes, but I'm cautiously optimistic it will all be fine.

# What do you say, Frankie? Do do do do do do... #

So, the future of this refurbishment was dependent very much

on how well Ben could balance his credit card debt.

This approach to finance put me in mind of a famous 1970s sitcom

character.

Would you be insulted if I said, if there was a Frank Spencer

of the property development world, you seem to be it?

Everything does always seem to work out in the end,

so yeah, we'll see about this one.

# You gotta have something in the bank, Frank

# Gotta have something in the bank, Frank

# You gotta have something to start... #

Did Frank, sorry, I mean Ben,

manage to find something in the bank to renovate this three-bed semi,

or was it a quick lick of paint and a tidy up?

Six weeks have passed since our first visit,

and we're back to see the results.

Well, the good news is that Ben and Emma found the money,

and apart for some minor snagging to be done, the job's complete.

But what changes have they made in here?

Basically, we've painted, carpeted, put a new kitchen in,

sorted out the strange kind of structure in the bathroom.

Dealt with a bit of damp.

Tidied up the gardens and basically got it ready to let out.

The bathroom was quite an interesting one

because it goes over the stairs,

so we ripped out what was there already,

which was a cheap bit of kitchen unit, and we created a new unit

for the sink and tiled it, and it is looking a lot better than it did.

Clean and tidy.

They've spent £5,000, which is

halfway between their plan A and plan B estimates.

But some unexpected problems did impact on their budget.

In the kitchen, when we pulled up the lino, we found there was

actually three layers of lino, and it had caused a lot of damp and moisture.

So we've had to take all the plaster off the walls to a certain

level and replaster those.

And moved the door, interestingly, just to ease the damp problem.

But it is sorted now.

When we bought the house, the plaster was a bit of an unknown.

We could see there were bits that were blowing,

but we weren't sure what was behind the wallpaper.

We stripped all the wallpaper first and found most of the upstairs plaster was in a bad state.

So we've totally replastered upstairs,

we've ended up doing a lot more plastering than we wanted to,

and than our budget wanted to, but here we are.

Their budget was squeezed and so was their time schedule.

We literally only had two and a half weeks from

when we actually physically started doing any work to today.

We're going away tomorrow.

We really needed to get it let out before we left.

So that posed a few challenges.

Our contractor has been working 80, 90 hour weeks,

but we've got there, and we're pretty happy.

So, Ben and Emma have arrived at a mid-budget,

quick turnaround solution in order to get this

property on the rental market as quickly as possible.

Let's hear what two local property experts

think of the standard of finish.

It is my second time inside of the property,

and it is much better than what I remember it being.

The bathroom is a lot better, it is a bit more practical now.

They've done a good job.

It is adequate for the rental market, I believe.

The standard of finish for this property, for rental purposes,

is certainly acceptable,

and is probably about right in the current rental market.

And what about valuations?

If this was to go on the open market today,

I would suggest a market valuation of £115,000.

In terms of sales, I would estimate the property to be worth £115,000.

Ben and Emma bought this house for 94,000,

and their spend of 5,000 brings the total investment to 99,000.

A sale at 115,000 would bring them

a profit of around 16 grand before tax on fees, but these guys are

in the buy-to-let business, so what rental income might they expect?

For rental purposes,

I would estimate the property to be worth £595 per calendar month.

I would suggest a rental income of £600 per calendar month.

£600 per calendar month equates to a yield of just over 7%,

-and that figure suits Ben down

-to a T. Yeah, very happy with that.

As long as the yield's there, then, you know, things will

pay for themselves, and over time, we'll be in a good place.

When I last met Ben, he had his strategy and his numbers worked out.

Or so it seemed.

So, in 20 years' time,

will you be sitting on a 600 property portfolio, going, "I don't

"know quite what happened here, but I appear to have got 600 properties?"

We're on ten now, and I think, I think that is it, that is

-good enough to retire on when they are paid off, so...

-Right.

-I think.

A mere six weeks later, there have been some interesting developments.

Well, we have another two purchases going through now,

which would bring us to 12.

At that point we are totally maxed out, mortgage, credit profile,

loan-wise, so I think we will be sitting back for quite a few

years and just seeing what happens.

Well, Ben, we've found a song that's perfect for you and Emma.

# Ben, the two of us need look no more... #

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

stories from the property auction rooms for you next time.

-Yeah, we'll see you for more Homes Under The Hammer very soon.

-Goodbye.

-Goodbye.

-Goodbye.