Episode 15 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello, and welcome to Homes Under The Hammer.

Now, one thing we constantly see while travelling round the country

is that every property has a story to tell.

Yeah, and if you know what that story is in your area,

it might just give you a head start.

So, why not gather some local knowledge

and then head down to your local property auction?

Once you've decided to buy a property at auction, go and see it.

-Then do your research, then read the legal pack.

-Yeah.

I hope that's what today's buyers did.

Shall we find out? Let's.

There's not much space on offer in this one-bed flat in South London.

This is the one bedroom of the one-bedroom flat,

and it's tiny!

And in Cheshire, there's plenty of room, but plenty of cracks.

If you can do this,

there's definitely, definitely structural work.

And can you spot the problem with this two-bed semi in Derby?

Exciting news - I think there's a problem with the floor.

All these properties were bought at auction.

We'll find out who got them and how much they paid

when they went under the hammer.

It's yours, sir. Thank you.

Eight miles southeast of Central London is Catford.

Word has it that the name came from a ford

over the River Ravensbourne where wildcats once lived.

Today, the cat theme continues with the famous giant fibreglass cat

that sits above the entrance to the shopping centre.

# And everybody tells me that it's cool to be a cat

-# Cool for cats

-Cool for cats... #

Now, I'm on the prowl for a one-bedroom flat

along this really nice road.

It had a guide price of £100,000 plus,

which sounds like good value for this area,

although being an auction property,

I'm fairly sure it won't be purr-fect inside.

All right, enough with the cat puns. I'm going in.

SHE GIGGLES

The flat I'm here to see is on the top floor,

so there better be some good views.

It's leasehold with 99 years left to run

and is obviously a modern build

that's been designed to blend in with its older neighbours.

And on the inside... Ooh!

On the inside, it's quite compact.

So, we'll come back to this room, but in here,

well, this is the one bedroom of the one-bedroom flat,

and it's tiny! I mean, it really is small.

If you were to stick a double bed down there,

well, it'd be touching three of the walls in here.

You could also think about getting rid of this door

to just create a bit more space,

but do you really not want to have a door on your bedroom?

Probably not. So, very disappointing in there.

And through here? Well, this is not such a bad space.

Although that?

-That's the kitchen area!

-SHE LAUGHS

Look at the little designated area of lino

in case there are any spillages, but there's no oven here.

You have got a little hob,

but I think you need to scrap that whole idea

and think about creating maybe an L-shaped kitchen area

and just put a little bit more in.

But what I do like is the size of this room and the ceiling height.

So, there's not a lot of storage in this flat,

and one thing I have seen done in the past -

and it does look fantastic -

is lots of boxes and storage up above,

so that is something worth thinking about.

Bathroom, I think, is in here.

Now, funnily, the bathroom is so much bigger than the bedroom.

And it's got a really bad smell in there,

I think due to some sort of sewage pipe,

so that definitely needs to be looked at.

Rather unusual, but that bathroom's a whole lot bigger

than that bedroom.

So, this flat pretty much does what it says on the tin,

but for a one-bedder, it's fairly small.

# Got my nose open, baby

# Got my nose open, baby... #

Unfortunately, in a small flat like this,

there's no escaping the smell,

so until it's fixed, best keep that door shut.

Now, another downside is the lack of central heating.

These electric wall heaters will have to suffice,

unless the new owner wants the upheaval

of having a boiler system installed.

But there is one thing that I do love,

and it's a real bonus about being on the top floor in a flat -

it's the view outside.

You can see right across London, which is fantastic.

Yup, I could sit here all day and just watch the world go by,

but I need to head down to ground level

and check out the back of the property.

# I've got a room

# I've got a room with a view... #

Now, the good news is that out the back here,

well, you've got access to a communal garden.

But the bad news is, well,

-it looks like that.

-SHE CHUCKLES

Outside space in London, now, it usually adds value,

but right now, I don't think you'll be paying much

for the privilege of sitting out here, do you?

He's not exactly running,

but here comes the local property expert

who we've invited along to take a look around the flat.

# Be running up that road

# Be running up that hill

# Be running up that building... #

There's been a lot of changes in the area.

I mean, Lewisham's had a lot of regeneration,

and that seems to be coming down to Catford now

and regenerating the area.

They've redone the high street and the paving and stuff like that,

so the area's coming up.

They've got new coffee shops and stuff like that,

we've got some of the bigger brands,

which is always a good sign that an area's on the up.

Catford sounds like a good place to buy at the moment,

but what are his thoughts on this flat?

It's a small, compact flat. Probably the size of a studio flat.

However, whoever buys this, with some very good planning,

they could get a double bed in, sofa, a decent-sized kitchen in.

Just for one person, it's fine.

For two people, well, you've got to really like each other.

And for a guide price of £100,000 plus,

what could this flat potentially be worth?

Once renovated, I believe the flat would sell for

between £200,000 and £210,000,

and rental-wise, depending on the seasons,

it would be between £900 and £995 per calendar month.

Well, there's only so much you can do to a small flat like this,

but it does mean that it shouldn't take too much money

to turn it around.

So, who was ready to pounce on this in the auction room?

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

Top-floor flat in need of modernisation.

Offered with vacant possession.

Who'd like to give me a start on this?

120 anywhere?

Yeah? You having a crack? Thank you. 120, I've got.

122, thank you. 124. 126.

This proved to be a popular lot.

We rejoin the auction with the price at £150,000.

150. 152. 154.

No? It's with you, sir, in the grey jumper here on my left.

It's £152,000 against the gentleman here.

Bid's £152,000. Anybody else?

If not, 152 for the first. 152 for the second.

152 for the third and final time. All done?

Sold, 152.

And it was Steve who made that successful bid.

He was bidding on behalf of his partner's daughter, Jackie.

Jackie is a 19-year-old drama graduate,

and this top-floor flat

represents her first leap onto the property ladder,

and a cat from Catford even turned up to welcome her.

-CAT MIAOWS

-# Black and orange stray cat

# Sitting on a fence... #

Jackie, congratulations. Well done. You got a London flat for £152,000.

-That's brilliant!

-Thank you.

-Tell me the story.

How did you find it? Why did you want to buy it?

Well, I had a bit of a problem with...

I was going to buy a studio on the market in Crystal Palace,

but that failed, so we thought we would go to the auction market,

and, luckily, this was the best-suited studio/one-bedroom.

So, it's not too small for you? You're happy with the space?

Well, I think it's perfect for one person.

I've been kind of struggling with places to live for five months,

and this is perfect.

So, where have you been living for the last five months?

I've been kind of bouncing in and out with my friends

and my boyfriend, so it's nice to have your own space,

and soon, this will be my own space.

So, are they quite relieved, as well?

-They're like, "Yes! She's got a place now!"

-Yeah.

So, when the hammer went down on auction day, how did you feel?

Um, it was kind of exciting.

It's a bit like gambling. SHE LAUGHS

Like, it's crazy at auction

because you look at other properties going up and up and up,

and you're a bit scared about your property

kind of reaching that high level.

-But it did stop, and it stopped at 152...

-Yeah.

..which I think's not a bad price.

-I mean, it's a very respectable road, this.

-Yeah.

So, tell me, how well do you know Catford

and why have you chosen to live here?

Um, I've chosen to live here because my friends -

most of my friends - live around here.

And also because I went to the BRIT School.

That's kind of how I met my friends,

and they all kind of live round Croydon,

East Dulwich, Crystal Palace.

So, hold on. The BRIT School.

Now, that's for talented actor, singer,

-dancer-like theatricals.

-Yes.

So, tell me what you were studying at the BRIT School.

This is my first TV break, as I am an actor.

So, this is your first telly break,

-being on Homes Under The Hammer?

-Yeah, yeah.

And is it an actress that you aspire to be in the future?

I want to be a theatre maker and make my own company

and travel round and inspire different communities.

So, I mean, that's really exciting for you

and I'm sure you've got a lot of hard work ahead of you.

And it's great that now you've got your base

from which you can work, live and play.

Yeah, yeah. This will, yeah, be my hub.

# I got cat class and I got cat style... #

Jackie's got her hub, but how does she plan to turn it into her home?

Well, obviously, I would love a new kitchen.

SHE CHUCKLES

The floor needs to be redone. I'll be putting wood.

A paint job, but I think that I could bring some friends around

and do it myself to save money.

Also, a lot of the plumbing needs to be done and fixed and figured out.

So, tell me about that pipe

because it's in that large bathroom in there,

-and it is causing a bit of a stir.

-Yeah.

You get used to the smell, but it's not a very nice smell.

-Drains.

-Yeah. We had a builder who came round

and said that my bedroom was a bathroom

and this bathroom was a bedroom.

-So, it has been swapped over?

-Yeah.

-OK.

And I wonder what the reasons for that are.

I'm not too sure, but downstairs, the neighbours,

all their toilet is on this hand side...

-OK.

-..where my bedroom is.

Mystery solved, although why someone would choose to make

the smaller room a bedroom is anyone's guess.

With space in the flat at a premium,

does Jackie plan to venture outdoors?

I will be using the outside area.

What I would like, and would be a dream,

is to maybe even plant some vegetables outside there,

and even have, like, the neighbours kind of join in on that

and kind of help out.

We could have our own kind of food system going.

That would be amazing!

I would love to come back and see all that up and running.

Jackie hopes she won't have to spend

more than four grand renovating the flat,

and she's equally hopeful with her timescale.

Well, my timescale would be completed in two weeks...

-Two weeks?!

-..but obviously, I think that's a dream,

and it'll properly take much longer -

maybe up to a month - but because I am moving in,

I do want it to be done as quick as possible.

Jackie, congratulations.

I'm really excited for you and I hope you meet that timescale.

-Thank you so much.

-Good luck. Congratulations.

Thank you, thank you.

Only 19 years old and already,

well, taking her first step onto the property ladder.

Jackie certainly gets a thumbs up from me.

But after only four weeks,

will this flat really be at the stage

for her to make her grand entrance?

We all know there's often drama in the world of property developing.

Join me later on in the programme

and you can find out how Jackie gets on.

This is Sale in Cheshire,

which sits five miles southwest of Manchester.

This desirable area isn't far

from where some of the wealthiest footballers in the country live.

Just for the record, I live nowhere near here.

I'm here in northeast Sale, Ashton upon Mersey.

What a lovely place this looks, by the way.

Lovely residential area, lovely gardens,

some old houses, some new houses,

but I'm here to see a three-bed detached

with a guide price of £130,000.

It's not the prettiest property, but looks can be deceiving.

Let's have a look.

# This old house once knew my children

# This old house once knew my wife

# This old house was home and comfort

# As we fought the storms of life Whoo! #

This certainly doesn't look as cared for

as the surrounding properties.

Well, they do say it's better to have the worst house

on the best street.

Let's see what's shaking inside.

That's the first thing you get -

that the floor is sloping back towards the back of the house.

And the smell, it's so pungent in here.

This has been like this for some time, I would imagine.

High ceilings, which everybody loves.

Nice bit of floor space.

Lounge, living area maybe here, same height.

Another living area here with a huge crack in the wall,

which is not a good sign. Into the back here, another room.

What they'd use it for, I don't know, but it's a good space.

Two big windows, which is nice.

More cracks. Sloping floor.

Ceiling work over there,

which is going to need a full repair.

And I've just caught, out of the corner of my eye,

the kitchen, which looks like a 1980s kitchen.

Sloping floors, cracks in walls - it's looking like subsidence.

There's a lot of work that needs to be done to this property.

# Crawling, crawling, crawling from the wreckage

# Crawling, crawling, crawling from the wreckage... #

So, the early signs aren't great.

The ceilings may be high,

but they're barely holding on at all.

And there's signs of damp everywhere.

On the positive side,

there are three large reception rooms on the ground floor

and the kitchen is in a side extension.

And if you nip down one floor,

there's a huge basement, so plenty of space.

My concern is that the space that is here

is trying to move elsewhere.

OK, is this going to get any better or any worse upstairs?

First thing, which is a bit of a surprise to me,

is a sturdy banister. I wasn't expecting that at all.

But everywhere in this property, there's cracks.

Cracks there. The ceilings are falling in.

In my experience, if you can do this

and get your fingers within a space that big in a wall,

there's definitely, definitely structural work.

# Cracking up

# I'm getting ready to go Had enough

# I can't take any more... #

So, there's no denying it any longer -

this looks like a bit of a structural nightmare.

In a period property,

a few cracks shouldn't necessarily be cause for alarm,

but this property is something else.

On the outside, there are further signs of movement.

The kitchen extension has definitely had enough of the rest of the house

and is trying to make a break for it into next door's garden.

-# I don't think it's funny no more

-Cracking up... #

I do love an old property, and it pains me to say it,

but I think the damage to this one might be so severe

that the costs to save it don't add up.

But all is not completely lost.

Thinking about that guide price and taking a look outside,

there could be a glimmer of hope.

OK, this property is absolutely huge,

towering over me.

They've got a boundary that spreads all the way to the trees.

In the front of the house, they've got space as well to build.

There's even a few metres at the back of this property as well,

so whoever has been brave enough to put their hand up at auction

to buy this property will have a nice, big plot to work from.

But there's something you haven't seen. Follow me.

# Oh, tiptoe by the garden

# By the garden of a willow tree

# And tiptoe through the tulips with me... #

Now, I know you weren't expecting that.

I wasn't expecting it either. The house is just there,

the boundary to the property is somewhere along that line there.

If you can imagine, on a Sunday afternoon,

nice cup of tea and biscuits -

in my case, it'd be a nice pint of ale -

but the views you could get over that.

Of course, recent events with flooding

have made us all a bit more wary about living near water,

and potentially, this lovely view of the River Mersey

could have some bearing on the subsidence issues here,

but there's no denying this is a great plot in a nice spot.

Does a local estate agent agree with me?

Well, the property's obviously suffered from an awful lot

of structural movement - historical and current as well -

but it's a big, substantial family house with a great location.

There are advantages and disadvantages

being next to the river, one of which is

that it offers great opportunity for views.

Some of the disadvantages -

it can cause problems when it comes to house insurance.

So, what does he think would be a sensible way forward?

It's one of those properties that

either you're looking at substantial redevelopment,

which is likely to cost in excess of £100,000

to deal with the structural problems,

as well as the modernisation.

But because of the size of plot and its location,

it's probably better dealt with by redeveloping the site altogether,

removing the property and actually building a new one.

We'd probably recommend to look at family housing -

four bedrooms, two bathrooms

with the car parking that's needed for it -

and we'd expect those to sell in the region of £450,000.

There's plenty of issues with this property - we know that -

but the potential is huge.

But let's see who had the vision to take it on

when it went under the hammer.

Very significant building, this, in Sale.

Will you start me at 120?

You will. Thank you, sir.

120, I'm bid. 121? Do I see somebody on my left?

You were first. 121. 122. 123. 124.

125. 26. 27. 28.

The bidding for the property was frantic.

We rejoin the action at £140,000.

At 140, then, once.

140, twice.

Third and final time at £140,000.

141, new bid. 142. 43. 44. 45.

46. 147. 148. 149.

150. 51. 52. 53.

152 is stood at the back, is buying it at the moment.

For the first.

152 for the second.

Third and final time.

Yours at £152,000.

That successful bid of £152,000 was made by Nick, here on the left.

Nick owns a Cheshire property development company,

and I met up with him and his project director, Colin,

back at the house,

and it turns out Colin and I have a bit of shared history.

# The boys are back in town The boys are back in town... #

Nick, Colin, before we start, I'm sure -

I know - that we've crossed paths before.

Yes, yes, I was security at Man United

whilst you were a player there.

-For the very short time that I was.

-When you weren't injured, yeah.

Exactly. Thank you very much for that.

Why the big change?

Just for the fact that, when I left school,

I did a plastering apprenticeship,

got a job part-time at United doing the steward and security

and ended up with a full-time job there doing the recruiting.

Spent ten years there and then went back to plastering,

started working with Nick on some other projects,

and then got together doing the property development

with him full-time about 18 months ago.

Good on you. Good on you.

Nick, what have you brought to Colin's expertise?

Why did he need you to help him out?

-The money.

-THEY LAUGH

Always a good start.

Yeah, basically, I've always loved property.

I've done property for many years, but I sold my previous company.

With my business partner, we had an event agency.

Sold that, and wanted to go into this a bit bigger than we were.

So, going from a company with about 100 people

to Colin and I is interesting.

-So, you've come from events.

-Yeah.

-You've come from the security world.

You know, what do you bring together as a team?

I mean, the reason we work so well together

is we have completely different skills.

We find the properties together, but I do the interiors

and Col looks at everything that needs doing within the property

and manages that throughout to completion.

Colin does all the work...

-No.

-..and you watch Colin do the work.

-Absolutely.

-HE LAUGHS

-Yeah, 100%.

OK, so, why? Why did you take it on?

It's a fantastic location.

The price we paid for it at auction was far under

what we would have paid for it.

Even if we were going to do this property up,

there's still a lot of profit in it. But the plot is so good.

Out the back, you directly overlook the Mersey,

you've got a really nice village just up the road,

so it ticked all the boxes.

And once you'd seen the property,

did one say one thing and one say the other?

Straightaway, I thought, "Flatten the house and build."

-What, before you'd even...?

-Before I'd even got through the gate.

And then I text Nick, and as I'm replying to Nick's text,

then the text came through from Nick saying,

"Two or three properties"

and I was actually writing the same text.

-To...?

-To Nick, yeah.

-THEY LAUGH

So, tell us what you're going to do with this.

We sat down with the architect, which is the first thing that we do.

We can save the property, but it's financially not worth it.

It's hard to resurrect something that has so many problems.

-This house needs to be dropped.

-Yeah.

We've had a word with the planners, we've had, you know, discussions,

and we're now drawing up the plans

to put two four-bed, three-bath properties on the plot.

# The boys are back in town The boys are back in town

# The boys are back The boys are back... #

Based on the estate agent valuation, building two houses on the plot

could mean a resale value of 900 grand.

But, of course, you need to factor in planning,

demolition and building costs,

which Nick has budgeted for up to £500,000.

How long does Nick think this will all take?

It's not a quick project,

but the only thing that will really hold us up is the planners,

so we're going into planning within the next sort of two to three weeks.

-OK.

-We've got the initial designs.

So, as soon as we get the go-ahead from there,

we imagine that'll be about three months...

-OK.

-..and then we want to kick straight in.

It's going to take us probably six to eight months then

to actually build houses and have them finished.

So, we're working on a timescale of about 12 months.

-I wish you all the best.

-Cheers, Dion.

-Good luck to you.

-Thank you.

-Good luck to you, Colin.

-Thank you.

Colin and Nick, they've got the expertise.

Can they stay within their budget

and can they get the planning permission?

That's the big question. Find out later on in the show.

Still to come, persistence pays off for this Derby couple.

We bid on the first two or three, didn't get them, and this was

-the first one that we did get.

-HE CHUCKLES

And we return to Cheshire

to see if Nick and Colin have managed to turn this...

..into this.

Back to South East London now,

where earlier, I took a tour of this top-floor flat in Catford

with a guide price of 100 grand plus.

The tour didn't take very long.

Ooh! On the inside, it's quite compact.

This is the one bedroom of the one-bedroom flat,

and it's tiny!

-That? That's the kitchen area!

-SHE LAUGHS

For a one-bedder, it's fairly small.

So, if you were looking to swing a cat in Catford,

this wouldn't be the place for you.

Lack of space didn't bother drama graduate Jackie one bit.

She used an inheritance to buy the flat for 152,000.

So, it's not too small for you? You're happy with the space?

Well, I think it's perfect for one person.

This flat had a room with a view, but also a room with a phew.

-So, tell me about that pipe.

-You get used to the smell,

-but it's not a very nice smile.

-Drains?

-Yeah.

Plenty of things for Jackie to be getting on with,

and she couldn't wait to get started.

With a budget of 4,000 and a very wishful target of two weeks,

we left her to get creative.

Three months on, will this budding thespian's work

be getting five-star reviews?

# Can't beat the feeling that I get

# When I'm with you... #

Well, the changes in the bathroom look pretty smart.

It's been completely rearranged to create more space.

No more smelly pipes either.

And in the living area,

Jackie's wish for a new kitchen has been fulfilled.

It's even got an oven.

Um, so, basically, obviously,

it's been a really big refurbishment to how it used to look.

But over here, as you can see, a new, little bit bigger kitchen.

My floors are done.

Nice coloured grey, which fits nice with the decor.

A lot of nice furniture.

I tried to keep it as minimalistic as possible,

so there is just enough space.

I'm very pleased and proud of how it's all looking and worked out.

The bedroom is still on the cosy side,

but with clever storage,

Jackie has made the best of the available space.

But there are a few very important touches still to add.

There needs to be a lot of art put on the wall.

I feel like it's a little bit bland.

It still doesn't really shine through who I am

because it would be nice to have someone walk into the space

and really have a good feel of who I am without even meeting me.

So, the styling is still a work in progress,

but at least the hard work has been completed,

but not without complications.

We thought we found some builders with a nice rate,

but the work was looking very sloppy,

as well as they started overcharging us.

# This is where the cowboy rides away... #

Thankfully, rogue builders are in the minority

and help was at hand to put things right.

We have had one brilliant builder who has been finishing up the jobs

the cowboy builders have left,

which have been cleaned up and made to look very nice.

Jackie hasn't had to do all this on her own.

She's had a few shoulders to lean on.

My mum and her boyfriend have put a lot of energy and input

into really helping me and making me move in to this amazing place.

My mum has styled my apartment,

and you can't really argue with your mum.

SHE LAUGHS

It's taken two and a half months, which isn't bad,

considering her problems with her first builder.

But how realistic was her four-grand budget?

It actually cost £10,000,

but that's including all the furniture...

..everything that's within the space.

Well, a bit of an overspend there, but as well as moral support,

Jackie's mum, Maria, and boyfriend, Steve,

were also able to chip in financially.

And once Jackie gets the chance to cultivate this back garden,

well, she can pay them back with her vegetables.

I haven't really thought about the garden yet

because I've had this big project on my hands,

but soon to be...

I really want to grow some vegetables outside in the garden.

But I feel that I'm very lucky, as I'm only 19 years old,

to have an apartment like this...

..and I think many great things and experiences,

I am bound to have here soon.

# I can't beat the feeling that I get

# When I'm with you... #

It may just be a top-floor flat in Catford,

but for now, Jackie's on top of the world.

To see if we can keep Jackie flying high,

we've asked two estate agents along

to tell us what they think of this bijou pad.

My first impressions of this flat

is that they've done a fantastic refurbishment job.

It's very light, very airy,

and they've utilised the space fantastically well.

The bathroom was quite horrible before,

and they had numerous problems with the sewer pipe.

It looks like they've rectified all those

and they've redone the bathroom.

I like the way they've used textured tiles to give it a bit more depth.

Really good. Really nice.

The washing machine's in there too, which is fantastic.

Best place for it.

And what's the demand for flats like this in the local market?

The demand for flats like this in the Catford area is very high.

We have a lot of first-time buyers coming in from Central London

and also buy-to-let investors

that are looking for something exactly like this.

So, we must assume there'll be good news on the valuation front.

Having looked at the current market, this flat would sell for £225,000.

I believe that this flat, on the current market,

would achieve between £205,000 to £215,000.

Given Jackie has spent a total of 162,000,

a sale at that top figure of £225,000

would leave her with a pre-tax and fees profit of £63,000,

and all in the space of three months -

a sobering fact for this 19-year-old.

Obviously, I feel very lucky, because of my given circumstances,

that I have a property,

but it does make me wonder how my friends

are going to actually afford to live in London.

We're heading to Derby now,

and its central position in the country

means the city has long been a stop off on journeys

between North and South, but none more dramatic

than the stopover taken by Bonnie Prince Charlie

and his army in 1745.

They were marching on London to seize the Crown,

but Derby was as far south as they managed

before abandoning their quest.

# We're on a road to nowhere. #

I'm in Alvaston, three miles southeast of Derby,

here to see this.

It's a two-bedroom semidetached. Had a guide price of £72,000 plus.

Let's have a look.

Ooh, ah. Sorry about that.

That's not a very...

Oh, for goodness' sake. Erm...I already hate the place.

No, I'm joking, I'm joking. It just needs a bit of door work.

It's definitely not working for me.

In fact, the moment you come in here, it's just so cramped.

You've got a door there, you've got a door here, living room here.

Hmm.

That's interesting. We'll come back to that in a second.

Let's try and fathom the layout out.

Now, this is actually quite nice.

This is a sort of kitchen/dining area thing,

but there's all this woodwork, and it's dark.

And it's begging to have lots of walls knocked down, isn't it?

There's certainly space for it.

Out here towards the back of the property,

you've got a downstairs loo,

and then out into a little conservatory,

so lots of space.

I just don't like the way it's all fitted together,

and clearly, this place is door-tastic.

Opening and closing all those doors

certainly keeps you on your toes in this place,

but there's plenty of other exercise to be had in here.

# Let's get physical, physical

# I wanna get physical... #

Hmm.

Well, I'm back in that front room with exciting news -

I think there's a problem with the floor.

It should not be that bouncy. Now, that is a bit of an issue.

Maybe it's caused by damp penetration

causing the floor joists to rot. Who knows?

You need to take the carpet up and do some investigation.

I might stay here for a bit. It's quite fun.

MUSIC: Bounce by Calvin Harris

The living room has certainly given me some bounce,

but it's time for my step class. I'm off upstairs.

# Bounce. #

Well, upstairs, the slightly claustrophobic feel

sort of continues. Again, too many doors.

You've got two bedrooms -

a reasonable sized one at the front, a small one towards the back there.

One good bit of news - at least the bathroom is upstairs.

There's no bath in it, but at least you've got all the plumbing,

so you could actually improve that.

And then here into your small second bedroom.

Now, up here, though, there's something I need to tell you about,

which I noticed on the way in.

I'm definitely getting my suspicions confirmed.

This house was built in an era

when they used a construction called hard-to...

Well, it's been now given the name

hard-to-treat cavity wall construction.

You know what a cavity wall is, right?

You have a set of bricks there, a set of bricks there

and a gap in the middle.

Well, the gap's good because it provides insulation.

You can also fill it with things to provide even more insulation.

And it also provides a natural damp-proof, if you like, barrier.

Well, during a period of construction,

some houses were built with those two sets of walls

very close together, so virtually no cavity wall.

Now, that isn't necessarily an issue,

and there doesn't seem to be too many signs of damp.

The problem is, when it comes to insulating this house,

and as you will be aware, nowadays, insulation,

thermal efficiency is really, really important.

There's an EPC - an Energy Performance Certificate -

which is produced when you sell the house.

Also, there's running costs while you live in it.

So, if you can't treat that cavity - if you can't fill it with something

which is going to improve your energy efficiency -

the only option is to basically stick insulation on the outside.

That's expensive.

And so it is, intrinsically, not -

but actually is - a bit of a problem.

I hope that's filled a gap in your knowledge about cavity walls,

but now it's time for me to head outside.

Well, at the back of the property,

you get to see this rather questionable lean-to

that probably wants to go.

Should you put an extension in its place?

Well, that's definitely something to consider.

Out here, then, quite a large sort of concreted area.

You've got a garage. The only hiccup on that one is

you can't actually get a car to the garage,

so it'll actually be, like most people's garages,

somewhere to store stuff.

In fact, store stuff that you'll probably never ever use again.

-HE CHUCKLES

-So, that's it.

Or so you would have thought. But no.

Through this gate, there is...

..a secret garden.

How about that?

An unexpected gem to round off my tour of this house.

But we've asked

the auctioneer who sold it to take a wander round too.

I wonder what he thinks of this place.

My first impressions of the property -

you walk in the front door, you walk into the front room

and you smell damp, which is fairly evident,

particularly because I think the floor joists have probably rotted.

In terms of a renovation schedule,

you've really got almost everything here to do,

maybe apart from the windows.

I would be rather surprised if there's much change out of £20,000.

How does he assess the problems facing a potential developer?

To me, the most difficult feature about renovating this property

is that timber lean-to.

You can't leave it as it is - it's substandard -

but I think you need to be careful what you spend.

If you take that lean-to off at the back

and you make a far better dining/kitchen arrangement,

retaining your ground-floor toilet, I think that's going to cost you

somewhere between £18,000, £20,000 to do it,

depending where you take it.

What's it going to add to the house? Maybe £10,000 or £12,000.

So, you're not going to do it if your intention is to buy the house,

spend money on it and try and resell it.

Finally, what could this house be worth on the sales market?

If you'd renovate the house as it is now,

it will have an ultimate value, on today's market,

I would say, of about £105,000 to £110,000.

And if you were to take down that lean-to

and then replace that area with a proper brick-built extension,

it would have a value of between £115,000 and £120,000.

Well, a few years ago,

the whole issue of that cavity wouldn't have been a problem,

but, of course, with everyone's concern about energy efficiency,

these days, it is a problem.

Will it put off a buyer? Who knows?

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

Two-bedroomed semidetached property.

Double-glazed, but otherwise needing some improvement.

Start me on this where you will, ladies and gentlemen. 72,000?

Who's got 70 to start me? £70,000? It's got to be worth that, surely.

68? 68, I'll take, thank you. At £68,000.

At 68,000. 69 there. At 69. At 70.

71 is bid. 71,000. And two.

72. 73. 73. 74. 75.

At 75. 76. At £76,000.

77 somewhere else?

At... 77, thank you.

At 77. 78. At 78.

78,500. 78,500. 79. 79,500.

80,000.

Shakes his head at 79 and a half here.

80,000 somewhere else? It's going to go.

At £79,500 for the first time.

Second time. Third opportunity.

It's yours, sir. Thank you. 79 and a half.

Making that final bid of £79,500 was Ian,

seen here with his son Neil.

Ian bought the house as a family project,

and I met him and his wife, Anne, back at the property for a chat.

-Anne, Ian, great to meet you both.

-Nice to meet you too.

-And you too.

Congratulations. Tell me why you wanted to buy this house.

We looked through the auction catalogue

and identified a number of properties

that we thought were suitable for what we wanted to do,

and we went to the auction.

I went to the auction with Neil, our middle lad,

and we bid on the first two or three,

didn't get them,

and this was the first one that we did get, so...

-So, it's fourth choice, then?

-Well, I wouldn't say that

because we were prepared to go for any one of them

-that we'd looked at.

-Oh, OK.

What was it about this one that made it into the shortlist?

I think it's the size.

It's a family-sized house, although it's only two bedrooms,

but the rooms are quite generous.

The kitchen is very generous,

and I think it's got a lot of potential.

-Mm-hm.

-Yeah, yeah.

It wasn't sort of a tear down and rebuild

sort of extensive project, but it was one which we felt

was well within our capabilities and means.

So, just run me through exactly what you're going to do to the place.

Essentially, it's going to be decoration.

This sort of room is basically painting and decorating.

The floor, we'll have to deal with as to what we find.

-Central heating.

-Central heating, we need to put in.

We need to put new electrics in

because the box in the hall there is just the old-fashioned fuse box,

and that needs a new consumer unit.

So, there are things like that that we know we've got to deal with.

-And a big new kitchen and new bathroom.

-Yeah.

That goes without saying, really.

Yes, yes, it's a new kitchen, new bathroom.

And who's going to carry out all this work?

Well, being a family project,

Ian and Anne don't have to stray too far from home.

Sons Neil and Russell are going to help out with the renovation.

-One of them is a plumber with a kitchen fitting...

-Oh, right.

-..and bathroom company.

-So, very relevant.

-Yes.

-Absolutely.

-And a plasterer.

-And a plasterer as well.

Blimey. You are well set.

The other lad is a landscape gardener,

but they've both done up their own houses,

and refurbished, renovated,

-you know, to their own liking in the past, so...

-Right.

So, they're both experienced in dealing with this sort of thing.

-We help as well.

-Yes.

I mean, Anne's excellent at doing all the painting and decorating.

-Right.

-And I'm just sort of odd jobs with woodwork

-and some electrics, but not much.

-Right.

So, what about the lean-to?

-Lean-to, we're...

-Well, we're not sure...

-No.

-..whether to keep it, open it up a little bit.

-Yeah.

We'll have a consultation with the boys

and see what their opinion is of it.

It needs something doing to it.

So, what's the budget for the work?

-We reckon on about 15,000.

-OK.

But we recognise that estimates tend to go over rather than under,

-and we wouldn't want to go more than about 20.

-OK.

-And what about timescale?

-Sort of two to three months.

-Yeah.

So, if this is successful, then,

will it be same time next year, another property?

-With a bit of luck, yes.

-That's the general plan.

Well, listen, congratulations, and good luck with it.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-I look forward to seeing how you get on.

-Thank you.

-It was nice to meet you both.

-And you.

So, Anne and Ian have got a ready-made team

in the shape of sons Russell, a landscape gardener,

and Neil, a bathroom fitter.

Handy when there is so much to do here.

They don't seem too fazed by the potential issues.

How will they get on? You can find out later in the show.

Well, we've seen what happened to one of our properties.

-What about the other two?

-Yes, did everything go to plan or not?

Let's find out.

We're now heading back to beautiful Ashton upon Mersey in Cheshire,

where I visited this three-bedroom detached property

with a guide price of £130,000.

From the outside, the house had clearly seen better days,

but it was a beautiful plot of land overlooking the River Mersey.

But inside, the reason for that low guide price

started to become very clear.

# Swallowed by the cracks

# Swallowed by the cracks

# Never been swallowed by the cracks... #

In my experience, if you can do this

and get your fingers within a space that big in a wall,

there's definitely, definitely structural work.

This was one of the worst cases of subsidence you could imagine.

In my opinion, knocking it down and starting again seemed the best,

indeed, the only sensible option.

Property developer Nick and his project manager, Colin,

figured the same.

And ain't it a small world? Colin was a familiar face.

I was security at Man United while you were a player there.

-For the very short time that I was.

-When you weren't injured, yeah.

Exactly. Thank you very much for that.

Yeah, thanks, Colin.

But we're here to talk about the property's injury problems,

not mine.

We can save the property, but it's financially not worth it.

We've had a word with the planners,

we've had, you know, discussions, and we're now drawing up the plans

to put two four-bed, three-bath properties on the plot.

After speaking with an agent,

we found out the boys could be onto a resale value

of £900,000 for the pair.

Of course, planning would be the key

and would definitely take up most of the time for this build,

so the guys factored in a timescale of around a year

and a budget of £425,000 to £500,000.

So, how would they get on?

We returned 17 months later to find out.

MUSIC: Feel Right by Mark Ronson

MUSIC STOPS

Hmm. Let's try that again.

MUSIC STARTS UP AGAIN

Yes, it looks like, well, nothing has happened.

I think we better get some answers from Nick and Colin.

We went in for planning with the first planning application.

Basically, it was two four-bed, three-bathroom,

three-storey properties. Erm, very nice-looking.

Looked similar to the development we've got to our right-hand side.

And the planner just felt it was just too much

for the size of the plot.

Hmm. As I said, planning would be key here.

So, after the two-house plan went out the window,

-what happened next?

-We went back to the drawing board,

had a conversation with our architect,

sat down with the planners

and just got more detail of what they wanted to see here,

which was a single dwelling -

a five-bedroom, three-bathroom property.

The second planning application

went in about four months after the first one.

Took a couple of months extra, really got things right,

but when it went in, the planners, again, wanting some alterations,

so we stuck with that planning application,

just made the alterations and, last week, we got planning approval.

So, now the decision's been made to sell it on,

maximise our profit, which, in turn, allows us to put that money

into the other sort of nine, ten properties

we've got on the go at the moment.

So, now the plans are in place,

they are hoping to sell it for a higher price

and reinvest the profit into their other projects.

Over the past 17 months,

the guys have been using the site to house their building supplies.

This is the first storage facility I've ever seen with a chandelier.

With all that time and money spent on planning,

how much have they invested in the house so far?

With everything, including the planning,

the applications and the fees, spent just under 10,000,

so the plot stands at 162,000.

And what would it have cost to build the house?

To build a single house,

we're looking between £200,000 and £225,000.

Let's not forget demolition costs.

That could add another £30,000 to the expenditure,

bringing their total investment to 417 grand.

So, what could they have made if they'd saw it through to the end?

We invited along two local estate agents

to get their values on the five-bed,

three-bathroom property on this site.

Having seen the designs

for the proposed property here,

I think that a five-bedroom property in this location in today's market

would be worth in the region of £730,000.

Completed, I think a property like that -

a five-bed detached -

would be worth in the region of 700,000.

So, seeing the project through and selling for that top figure

could mean a potential profit of around 313 grand.

But the guys have decided to move on

after spending 162 grand on the purchase and fees.

So, how much can it sell for

with the planning permission now in place?

So, this plot, I would expect to achieve,

with planning permission for a five-bed detached house,

something in the region of 325,000.

The value would be around £325,000.

So, if the guys were to hit £325,000,

that would give them a profit of 163 grand.

But with the biggest profit in the build itself,

I wonder if the lads could be tempted to hold on

and do it themselves.

We thought about doing the build, but as we say,

we've got two other plots at the moment,

both with planning permission. One's four barn conversions,

which are going to give us, you know, £1 million net profit.

If we did this, carried on, we'd have another 200,000,

so commercial decision is sell this, use the 325 with the other plot

and, you know, triple the money on it

rather than adding another 50% to it on the side.

Can't argue with those figures.

It's time to return to Derby now, and the southern suburb of Alvaston.

If you were on the lookout for a bit of a project,

this two-bed semi ticked all the boxes -

new kitchen, new bathroom, new electrics, central heating.

Yes, a total revamp was required.

Out in the back, things weren't much better.

Well, at the back of the property,

you get to see this rather questionable lean-to

that probably wants to go.

All in all, not too promising,

and when you have trampoline floors, you know there's trouble.

MUSIC: Riverdance by Bill Whelan

Hmm. It should not be that bouncy.

Now, that is a bit of an issue.

Question is how far would the rot extend?

The couple that would find out were Ian and Anne,

who bought the house for £79,500

as a project for them and their sons to get their teeth into

and hopefully make a little profit on the way.

But they were undaunted.

It wasn't sort of a tear down and rebuild,

but it was one which we felt

was well within our capabilities and means.

With sons Neil and Russell's experience in the trades,

they'd be tackling the big jobs,

which would leave Ian and Anne with the finishing touches.

Aiming for a spend of between £15,000 and £20,000,

the couple hoped to have everything complete in two to three months.

How did they get on? We're back four months later to find out.

It's clear the family enterprise

has been fully occupied for the past few months.

There's quite a difference from the last time we were here.

Anne and Ian are very pleased with how the kitchen has turned out,

and considering what was here before, I'm not surprised.

He cleared the kitchen completely so that we had a blank canvas,

and moved the kitchen door to where it is now

to give a bit more room to allow a table and chairs.

-Well, actually, it gives a lot more room...

-It does.

..because the door opened into that space originally,

-which meant that you couldn't really have a...

-It was wasted space.

Nice, new kitchen. What more could a lady want?

Or a gent? SHE LAUGHS

Upstairs has been completely revamped.

A new bathroom was an essential,

and they've even managed to reinstate a bath too.

The bedrooms have been redecorated and carpeted,

but much of the work has been carried out behind the walls

and under the floorboards.

-The other thing was, of course, the rewiring.

-Yes.

-That was done by a separate contractor.

-Yes.

But it was certainly an essential part

of the work that had to be done

because when the electrician came in,

he said it was actually dangerous and...

-He switched it off, didn't he?

-He switched it off,

so we were without power for the...

-Starting.

-..tools and things, all sorts.

-Yes.

-So...

So, that had to be done pretty well straightaway.

That was the major thing to do first.

A central heating system has been installed,

and I guess, while the floorboards were up,

they would have sorted out the living room floor.

When our middle son sort of stripped the carpet back,

it was absolutely rotten, and I think,

if we did a little dance on it, we'd have gone right through.

Ah. Something like this, you mean?

-Well, this room's looking nice now, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-And the fireplace sets it off all right.

-Yes.

-Nice gas fire and the floor.

-The floor's now sound and...

-Whoo! Whoo!

-Yeah, yeah.

-I don't sink in.

We'd have gone through it, wouldn't we?

-We would have, yes.

-We would. Could practice our dancing on it.

MUSIC: Riverdance by Bill Whelan

-I don't think so. Not here.

-SHE CHUCKLES

It's taken eight weeks to complete the work,

and Ian and Anne have carefully supervised

every stage of this project.

Well, apart from the first five weeks.

We went on holiday for five weeks and left the boys to do the house.

-SHE LAUGHS

-They made all the decisions, really.

They made all the decisions,

so we came back and we'd just the painting to do, basically.

And painting is really all that's happened to the lean-to.

Ian felt that it wasn't economic

to replace it with a brick-built extension.

With a landscape gardener on the team,

you might be expecting some wow factor in the back garden.

Well...wow!

Russell has...obviously been a bit busy

with the inside of the house to worry too much about the back yard.

But have there been any worries with their £15,000 to £20,000 budget?

-We are over the 15,000 that we hoped to keep it down to...

-Mm.

..but not really by very much.

It's probably about 16 and a half, 17. Something like that.

On budget and on schedule,

but can Ian and Anne make a profit on this project?

We've asked two local property experts along

to see if the improvements made here

have added enough value to this house.

I think the standard of finish is absolutely perfect

for this type of property.

In this location, it's just what you would expect to find. It's perfect.

For me, there's a lot of positives with this property.

The garden's bigger than you'd expect,

but internally, I think the kitchen

and the bathroom being brand-new, and the heating system,

are going to be real positives.

Having bought the house for 79,500

and spent a further £17,000 on its renovation,

how much could Ian and Anne

expect to sell it for on the current market?

I would anticipate a sale being achieved

somewhere in the region of £105,000 to £110,000.

In the current sales market,

I would expect this property to sell between £110,000 to £115,000.

A sale at 110,000 would mean a profit of £13,500

before fees and tax.

We would want to put it on the market at 115,

and ideally, if we got 110, that would be...

-Maybe.

-That would be fine.

It would mean that we'd make a bit of profit

-and cover expenses as well.

-Yes.

This renovation project has kept the family busy for a few months,

but what are their overall feelings?

Well, it's very satisfying doing a house up

and making it habitable and clean and nice.

Erm, and, actually, with going away on holiday

-and leaving it for the boys to do...

-It forced the situation.

..it was very satisfying. SHE LAUGHS

There are lots of people buying all kinds of property

-at auction every day.

-Yeah, and we follow many of their stories.

-They have so much to tell.

-Yes.

So, join us here on Homes Under The Hammer next time

for more stories from the world of property.

-See you.

-Bye-bye.

-Goodbye.