Episode 21 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello. Now, there's a wide range of renovation projects out there,

whether you're an old hand or you're a newbie.

Yes, some projects need a back-to-brick approach.

Others, well, a slight lick of paint will do.

Yes. One place you might stand a good chance of finding

either of those extremes is at your local property auction.

The auction room is an action-packed place with lots going on.

Oh, yes, there's a roomful of properties with buyers

-usually trying to outbid their rivals.

-Yes,

so let's see who was successful

and got what they bid for on today's show.

In Greenwich, I see a property where it's definitely time for a change.

This is one of those that, once renovated,

it's going to look great.

In Chatham, Kent, I'm also keen to make some alterations to this house.

I'll tell you what, that wants to go completely.

And in Norfolk, I think a complete change of tack

is needed for this auction lot.

What could this place be next?

All these properties have been sold at auction.

We'll find out who bought them

and what they paid when they went under the hammer.

Congratulations, sir. Well done.

Welcome to the place where time as we know it began,

South East London's Greenwich, home to Greenwich Mean Time.

Downstream, there are lots of riverside developments,

but it's for its heritage that this area is best known.

Rowing has been part of life on the river at Greenwich

for hundreds of years.

And the annual Great River Race, well, it finishes at the Cutty Sark.

Something else Greenwich is known for,

well, it's giving its name to Mean Time.

And on that note, the clock is ticking,

-so I better get going.

-CLOCK TICKS, BELL RINGS

Now, there's no excuse for being late,

as the property I'm here to see,

well, it's only a couple of minutes' walk from the river.

Wow, what a great spot this is, and it's such a pretty street, too.

It's one of these lovely Victorian terraces.

It's got three bedrooms and a guide price of £425,000.

And look at the beautiful detailing up there. It's gorgeous!

Well, I'm hoping for lots of lovely character inside, too.

Oh, and there's lovely, stunning features

on the inside of this property, too.

Wow, and look up there - absolutely gorgeous.

So, straight through into the lounge.

But, oh, no, I'm not going to use this doorway.

I'm going to come through this doorway.

So, you can see, it's already been knocked through

into one big, large, open-plan room.

And it's lime green, don't know if you noticed that(!)

Boy, look at the colour! That's quite bright, isn't it?

So, obviously, it needs a lot of decorating and renovating,

and it's going to need plumbing and it's going to need rewiring.

I mean, look at these old fires. Wow, that's incredible.

Hopefully, behind here, you might get some nice, old fireplaces,

but what I absolutely love are the two chimney breasts in this room.

You know, if you renovate those and you strip them back

and you have them as bare brick,

two in one room can look absolutely fantastic.

You could also maybe hang two separate little chandeliers,

and it would just look stunning.

I could really get carried away with a house like this.

This is one of those that, once renovated,

it's going to look great.

Exactly the same can be said for the kitchen

and, predictably, the downstairs bathroom.

The stairs are steep and narrow,

but there's a large, blue double bedroom at the top of them

with a nasty crack, which will need an expert's opinion.

The smallest bedroom has damp on the chimney breast

as well as a rather large wardrobe.

Well, call me silly,

but this is a rather unusually strange set-up here.

You've got a corrugated, partitioned wall

right in the middle of the bedroom.

Now, in there, you've got peeling wallpaper, it stinks of damp,

you've even got an outside tap stuck on the wall.

So, hopefully, whoever takes this house on will get rid of this

and sort out the damp problem at the back.

You've also got damp problems up here.

I mean, look, that's the chimney.

You got bits of the plaster just crumbling away.

That worries me slightly.

But the blessing about this room is that it's so large.

What could you do with some of this space? Well, I know.

You only need to look at what the neighbours have done next door.

You could put a little window in here if you really wanted to

and steal some of this space

and bring that bathroom that's downstairs upstairs.

Voila, problem solved.

Yes, I am an old-fashioned girl,

but there are limits to my retro inclinations,

like braving those stairs

to come through the kitchen for the morning's ablutions.

Hm, not for me.

The bathroom and kitchen extend into the garden,

where there's a hothouse.

Well, this is not one of the largest London gardens

I think I've ever seen.

And that's because this greenhouse takes up most of the space.

Look at it! It's absolutely enormous!

Once this is taken down,

I think it will be a really lovely, adequate little garden.

You all right in there?

I think he's just doing his warm-up routine.

At the front of the house, there's a local estate agent

we've called in to check out some of the issues

and to give us a valuation.

It will be good to have a second opinion on that damp.

The damp, I would assume, is going to be from a roof issue,

an issue on the roof, so I would get that looked at,

get a roofer round.

It could possibly be a chimney breast that's leaning or damaged.

So, again, get that fixed. And then repair the damage inside from that.

OK, let's cut to the quick -

what would it be worth after a scheme of renovation?

On the resale market, once refurbished,

the property would be worth between £800,000 and £850,000.

OK, so, it needs a lot of work,

but underneath its current condition,

well, I think there's some lovely character.

It's really quite charming, isn't it?

Who was ready to tackle the layout

and take on the renovation challenge?

Let's head to auction and find out.

So, 101 to Greenwich.

Nice-looking property.

Mid-terraced house, three beds. Start me at 375.

Opening bid at 375.

I have you, sir, by the pillar at 375.

And it's 380.

380. 380, ladies. OK, lady in the red scarf, 380.

385? 385. 390?

390. 395 and 400. And five. And 10.

The bids soon overtake the guide price

and we rejoin the bidding at 550,000.

550, lady in the red scarf is back. 555. And 60.

For the first time...

Now she's bid 560, but I suspect a little reluctantly. 560. 65.

And 70.

570 she's bid me. 575 now. Madam, don't stop.

575. 580?

580. Back in. 585.

First time at 585, your bid.

Second time at 585.

Third and last. 590.

First time at 590.

Second time at 590. Third and last time at 590,000.

Are you going to bid again?

£590,000, lady in the red scarf. Have we all done at 590?

-We have.

-GAVEL BANGS

590, you got that?

The successful bid came from Elizabeth,

who, along with her husband Neil, paid 590,000 -

£165,000 over the guide price.

Elizabeth worked as an oil and gas trader

until becoming a lecturer, and she's just about to go

on maternity leave with her second child,

due in two and a half months' time.

-Elizabeth, congratulations. Well done.

-Thank you.

So, how much did you want this property?

Because I know you live locally, don't you?

Yes, it was really the only property that I was looking at

because, yeah, as you say, I live just up the road and I've got

another house just on the other side of the street over here.

So, I was looking for something local.

So, what was it about this property in particular

that you loved so much?

Well, I think it's got great character. As soon as

you come into the house, it's got a nice feeling.

It's an old Victorian house, still got some of the old features.

Yeah.

The bedrooms are nice and big.

Obviously, some things need moving around

and lots of refurbishment work needs doing.

Ooh, yeah!

I don't think the green will fit particularly well

with anybody I know. So, what have you found so far?

Because I know there's a crack upstairs.

It's an old house and there was a lot of bombing in this area,

so I think a lot of the houses in Greenwich are quite cracked.

Both my other houses have got cracks in them.

So, I've got a structural engineer coming to have a look at it

to give us some really proper advice.

There's some nasty damp upstairs.

I think the chimney's a bit dodgy,

so that's going to certainly need some work.

Elizabeth does seem to be tackling all the right issues here,

and getting professionals like structural engineers in

to check things out is definitely to be recommended.

How much money have you got to spend here?

-I'm hoping to do it at about 85 grand.

-OK.

It depends on how much the structural work will need,

and that's a slight unknown.

But what sort of new ideas have you got for this property?

Well, there's lots to do with this.

There are things like putting the old fireplaces back in,

which would have been here originally.

I think the house deserves to have those back in.

-Absolutely.

-The clear thing that I need to do

is move the bathroom upstairs.

There's certainly room in the back bedroom to put it in there

and probably leave a downstairs loo

roughly where it is at the moment, so I don't have to re-plumb it,

and put a small utility room in there,

and then knock through the back wall,

so you've got French doors at the back,

so when you come in the front door,

-you can see all the way out to the garden.

-Fantastic.

-So, visually, your eye carries all the way through.

-Hopefully.

So, what are you most worried about with this project, would you say?

What you might find when you take all the wallpaper off.

I think that's my biggest concern.

Elizabeth's right to be worried -

old houses do have a habit of bringing up unwanted concerns.

But overall, I'm loving her plans for the house.

It sounds great.

Along with her £85,000 budget,

she's hoping to get the work done in a timescale of six months.

-Now, I've noticed you're pregnant as well.

-Yes! Seven months pregnant.

-That's fantastic! Congratulations.

-Thank you.

So, how is that going to work in tandem with the baby

-and the property?

-Well, I've had strict instructions

that I'm not allowed to do very much from my husband,

so I've got an amazing girl that's going to project manage it for me.

Is that until you've had the baby?

Until I've had the baby, and maybe then I might be a bit busy.

So, I think my involvement will be fairly small.

Elizabeth, I'm so excited for you.

Good luck with the project and good luck with the baby as well.

-Thank you.

-Congratulations.

-Thanks very much.

So, Elizabeth has a few concerns about what lies beneath

that lime green wallpaper. Still, she's got a healthy budget

and she knows this area so well, so that will help.

Join me later in the programme and you can find out how it all goes

and maybe even meet the little one!

Ooh, I can't wait.

Off to Kent now, and Chatham,

where the historic docks have become a favourite film

and TV location for productions including Bond films

Diamonds Are Forever and The World Is Not Enough.

I'm here to try and spy a bargain.

Well, half a mile from the town centre,

close to good transport links

and also some nice local schools is the property I'm here to see.

This is it. Three-storey, brick built,

split into a one-bedroom flat downstairs

and a two-bedroom upstairs

with a guide price of £160,000 plus.

Mm!

-Ah, OK.

-HE CHUCKLES

That's a bit alternative, isn't it? Straight through the front door

and there's kind of this opening into the lounge. Hm.

I tell you what, that wants to go completely, doesn't it?

In fact, the moment you walk in here,

well, I get the idea,

take all these walls out, make it completely open-plan.

You know, most of us spend our lives living in one room in a house -

it's usually the kitchen or the lounge -

so make that one room absolutely massive.

Take out this wall as well.

Yeah, it's a bit of work, but, wow, how spectacular would that be?

But anyway, stairs up to your bedrooms there.

A few nice original features still here,

like the old fireplace. Reasonably high ceilings.

With that gone, can you imagine how fantastic this would be?

At the moment, it's a little bit of a sort of jiggle

and it's kind of quite strange that you come

underneath the stairs here to get to the rear of the property,

where the kitchen is situated.

Now, it looks like somebody has started

some kind of renovations on this place, so it's quite nice.

You've got these new units and it's all looking fairly spick and span.

But I don't think they've gone far enough.

Definitely some internal modifications.

Take out walls before you go any further.

# And sometimes I play the fool

# Play the fool. #

Of course, you would have to weigh up the loss

of some of these rather nice original plaster features,

but still, I think it's the way to go to give some flow to the space.

So, upstairs, and what delights are in store?

Well, actually, a semi delight.

That's a really nice-sized family bathroom.

Possibly a little bit too big,

so that opens up some interesting potential.

Great, huge room towards the front.

So, you know, a real big bedroom, which is good.

And then an equally -

well, not quite but almost - sized bedroom here.

So, immediately, I'm thinking, "Hm, is that a little bit too big?

"Is there a bit of playing around with internal walls where

"you could potentially have that as a third bedroom,

"sneak a little space off one or both of these rooms here

"to create an alternative bathroom?"

Now, it's going to cost quite a lot

cos you're having to move things like all the pipe work and the soil,

all that kind of stuff, and actually redo the bathroom as well.

But you know what? To gain an extra bedroom?

In this instance, I'd say, yeah, definitely worth doing.

Before taking on too much work, though,

you need to consider that the basement flat

is in need of much more work.

The layout is different from upstairs

in that the bedroom is at the front

and what I think is meant to be the living room is behind that.

At the moment, the very back is probably where

you would put the kitchen and loo,

as the soil pipe and drains are here.

The stairs have been blocked off but not removed.

So, when are two flats not two flats?

Well, access to the small little garden area

is through some doors out of the lower flat area.

So, let's just look at this for a second

because at the moment, it's a bit confusing.

The property itself is freehold, and yet we've got a downstairs flat

and an upstairs flat. That doesn't actually work, does it?

What's probably happened over time is that the building was separated

into two and everyone just kind of muddled on,

"It doesn't really matter. Leasehold, freehold, who cares?"

Well, of course, the person who's buying it definitely cares.

And if you're looking at having two properties here,

then you need to separate the one into two separate leaseholds

and the freehold is then retained either by a separate person

or one of the owners of one of these properties.

That will take a bit of time. It'll take quite a bit of money.

Solicitors need to be involved, da-da-da-da-da.

But it definitely needs to be done.

# Come-a-come-a Down-dubby-du-down-down

# Breaking up is hard to do. #

Of course, there is an alternative.

You could turn it back into one bigger house,

but would that be right for this area?

Who better to ask than a local estate agent?

It does warrant it staying as two dwellings.

The house is too big for the area.

And also, the problem is, is parking.

What work would the agent recommend in each flat?

I think, with the bottom flat here, as it is at the moment,

I think it definitely does need some double glazing to the front

because of the noise of the road.

The upstairs one is on two levels and a really nice size.

The bathroom is far too big,

so I think what they should do is make that a little bit smaller

and give it another room.

The agent thinks, once done up, the big flat could rent

for around £850 per month and the small one for 600 to 650.

Both flats could potentially sell for a total of 250,000,

so there is plenty of room for profit

if you can get this property

for anything like that 160 grand guide price.

Well, it's a convenient location

and a property that has the potential,

in the right hands, to, I think, make some money.

But first of all, you do need to sort out those legal issues.

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

It's a freehold house

with accommodation over three stories.

It's vacant possession of the whole.

And where are we going to start on this one?

160 I have, and five do I see?

160 I've got, and five I'm looking for.

With you at 160, in the pink shirt.

Five do I see? 165? 165.

170? 170. And five? And 80.

And five. And 90.

And five.

195. 200.

205. 205. 210 in a fresh place.

210 at the back for the first time.

215, I'm bid.

220, it's against you now at the rear.

At £215,000 in the third row for the first time.

215 for the second time.

Third and final time at £215,000...

-GAVEL BANGS

-Yours at 215.

Paying £215,000 was Bernie, who has varied business interests

and a passion for muscle cars, as you can see here.

# Hey, goose monkey, show me what you got. #

More of that one later.

-Bernie, great to meet you.

-Great to meet you too.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you very much, I think.

Yeah, no, definitely. Yeah, you did well.

Paid a little bit over the guide price.

-But you were happy with what you paid?

-Yeah, yeah,

very happy with what we paid.

Why were you so keen to buy it?

Well, it's part of a business aspect.

-Actually, I run an IT recruitment agency...

-OK.

..and a couple of children's homes, which...

-Through the wife.

-Right.

-And the property side is the third side of my business life.

-OK.

So, we buy stuff that is, obviously, in need of doing up,

do it up, make a profit.

And what do you think the potential of this place is, then?

Right. Well, we were prepared to go to 240, 245.

250 - we're figuring about 35 on the building costs.

There's going to be some more costs, obviously, in, you know,

stamp duty, estate agents, etc, at the other end, some legal costs.

This one's got a particularly interesting legal issue with it.

And then we're looking, at the end, that the house, this main unit,

will hopefully go for about 230.

Right.

And the basement flat, the second unit underneath,

probably about 120.

And I hope I'm being conservative on those numbers.

Bernie had his builder Ray do all the costings

and has clearly done his homework.

Consequently, he's not been caught out

by the lurking legal issue over the freehold.

We bought the freehold,

but it's clearly been two units - the house

and the basement flat - for many, many years.

But it doesn't appear to be legally two units.

So, hopefully, a solicitor can get a certificate of lawfulness

-to make it two units legally.

-Right.

In the worst case, we'll have to go for planning permission.

Assuming the planning and legalities are sorted,

what are Bernie's plans for the two flats?

Obviously, it needs a complete refurbishment throughout.

It needs a new kitchen.

It's almost certainly going to need rewiring, re-plumbing.

We're potentially going to open this downstairs,

-the two rooms into one.

-Oh, nice.

-Make it a through lounge.

-Yeah.

And upstairs,

we're going to convert the two-bed upstairs into a three-bed upstairs.

How are you going to get a third bedroom in?

Well, the bathroom up there at the moment is extremely large

-for the property.

-Yes.

So, we will take the bathroom away, make that room into a bedroom.

And then where the other two bedrooms are connected by a wall,

we'll lose that wall and take half of the bathroom

from each bedroom, so, effectively, creating a bathroom in between.

Bernie has plans for the basement flat, too.

It's going to be the traditional white and magnolia,

refurbish everywhere, make it all nice.

Apple Spring Blossom White and Kensington Cream,

or white and magnolia, as everyone else knows it.

And just make it all nice, clean, fresh,

and as if new.

Bernie and Ray also plan to erect a staircase

from the kitchen in the upper flat

that will mean the flat has exclusive access to the garden.

This is going to be a three-bedroom unit,

-which is going to be family.

-Yeah.

Difficult to sell without a garden attached.

-OK.

-Or easier to sell with a garden attached.

-Yeah.

And then the basement loses the garden.

-It's going to be a one-bed...

-OK.

-..flat down there, so...

But competitively priced, so people would be happy not to have a garden.

Yes.

Bernie's clearly all over the research on this

and he's planned a £35,000 budget for both flats.

Builder and friend Ray, along with his team, will take it from here,

as Bernie doesn't get involved on-site.

After this stage, I'll probably come by at the end and have a look.

-Really? Leave them to get on with it?

-Yeah.

Buy Ray a pint occasionally, update the spreadsheets.

But you don't get the saw and the drill and the hammer out?

I try to avoid walking round building sites,

you know, as often and as much as possible.

-Good. But you're excited about it, obviously.

-Very excited.

-It's got great potential.

-Yeah, very excited. Yeah.

So, two new flats with quite a lot of structural work planned.

How long does Bernie think it will take?

We'll be aiming for about three months.

It may take a touch more,

but I think the real timescale on this

is going to be that paperwork on the leases...

-Right.

-..and the certificate of lawfulness or planning permission.

Bernie is used to things being a bit speedier than the rest of us -

he loves American sports cars, otherwise known as muscle cars.

So, the big question is, how fast is it?

It does nought to 60 in 3.8.

-Wow!

-Which is probably... It took me longer to say.

THEY LAUGH

-Well, listen, congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

-Good luck with it.

-Look forward to seeing how you get on.

-Yeah. Brilliant. Thank you.

Well, Bernie certainly got the fast car.

Will this place provide him with a fast buck?

I think it might, actually.

It was a good buy and he's got the right ideas to sort it out.

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

Coming up in Norfolk,

is it a case of water, water everywhere,

but not a drop to drink?

BANGING Service!

And we return to Chatham in Kent

to see how Bernie is motoring on with his two flat conversions.

But first, it's time to return to Greenwich.

And it was here we first clocked a three-bed mid-terrace house

which was perhaps best described as vibrant.

Boy, look at the colour! That's quite bright, isn't it?

# Just a little bit of green

# Clouds my eyes to what I've seen. #

And the person who saw past the colour scheme

and some worrying cracks was Elizabeth,

who bought it at auction for £590,000.

And although she has delved into property development before,

this was her first major renovation project.

And with her second baby due in a couple of months,

her timing was challenging to say the least.

So, how is that going to work

in tandem with the baby and the property?

Well, I've had strict instructions

that I'm not allowed to do very much from my husband,

so I've got an amazing girl that's going to project manage it for me.

-Is that until you've had the baby?

-Until I've had the baby,

and maybe then I might be a bit busy.

So, I think my involvement will be fairly small.

So Elizabeth, a former oil and gas trader,

had roped in her friend Katie to project manage,

and she was going to be taking a hands-off approach.

But she did live nearby,

so she could at least keep a watchful eye

on her six-month timescale

and determine how her £85,000 budget was to be spent.

Five months later, we're back to see if this tired old house

has been woken from its slumber.

Outside, the fresh paintwork, new windows and a splash of colour

from the flowers give promising signs.

Let's hope, though,

no green fingers have been at work inside.

Hooray!

The bright green has gone.

Instead, there's a muted and calmer colour scheme,

and much more to my liking.

It's fantastic.

And the freshly stripped back floorboards

lead now past a downstairs cloakroom to the kitchen.

Oh, this really is fantastic.

It's completely unrecognisable from before.

So, we've got a lovely new kitchen/diner down here.

It used to be a very small kitchen, a downstairs bathroom,

and a water tank cupboard that's all been taken out

and opened up to create this lovely new room.

And this light, inviting kitchen space

now leads out to a more user-friendly outside area.

So, we made a big change out here. We've put in bifold doors,

and we've taken out the greenhouse that was here,

and Katie's brother put in this amazing patio garden.

What about upstairs?

Well, the three bedrooms continue

with the same sympathetic mix of old and new.

Hang on a minute. Where's the bathroom?

Well, one of the big changes is that there was a chimney breast here,

so we took that out, which gave us space to put a bathroom in.

I'm really, really pleased with the way it's worked out.

And so she should be.

This house really has been taken up a notch or three.

And she's got her project manager Katie

and Katie's business partner Bish to thank for that.

Using a mixture of traditional and contemporary,

they've produced an elegant, modern home.

The whole project's been a real restoration

as opposed to a refurbishment,

which is what we thought it would be,

based on the fact that, every time, you'd unearth something new.

-So, the floorboards were one of the first things we unearthed.

-Yeah.

We didn't know that they were in such good order.

So, we restored those, sanding those back and then varnishing them.

We also found the tiles out the front,

which had four layers of paint on,

which I had to sit and scrape off with a heat gun.

-The fireplaces, we put back in again.

-Yeah.

Cos they were just gas. There was no heating -

central heating - so we've had to put that in.

And the windows. We put in double glazed original sash windows.

Other good news was that the crack turned out to be historical.

By repairing the roof, they sorted out the damp.

But for all the good things you do unearth in an older property,

there's also the less desirable finds,

and in this case, the plaster came off with the wallpaper,

most of the ceilings needed redoing,

and Katie also made a rather more painful discovery.

I might have stood on a four-inch nail,

and it might have done something to my blood vessel.

But never mind. It's fine, it's fine.

So, a night in A&E.

# Everybody hurts

# Sometimes. #

What is it they say? No pain, no gain.

And there's still a couple of weeks' work

to sort out some snagging issues.

But overall, Katie and Bish have delivered the house

Elizabeth was looking for.

What about Elizabeth's own little project?

I was quite heavily pregnant when I bought this house

and then have since had a little boy,

so that's kept me fairly busy.

So, I've really been in the background,

well, buying things and paying for things.

Well, you can't put a price on baby Benjamin.

But how much was that bill for all Katie and Bish's hard work?

-84,560.

-There we are.

So, practically spot-on

at the £85,000 proposed budget.

And that spend on top of that £590,000 purchase

takes Elizabeth's cost to just under 675,000.

So, has bringing this Greenwich house up to date

been time well spent?

What do two local estate agents think?

The refurb in general is a really high spec.

The kitchen's a really nice spec.

Really good changes.

Refurbished the property throughout. Nice flooring.

Kept the original features as well.

The period pieces most certainly add value to the property,

and it adds character.

And she's also done the perfect blend and mix

between the contemporary and the period features.

Encouraging comments, but with plans to sell the house on,

it's how that translates into cash

after Elizabeth's spend of £675,000 on the property that really matters.

To put the property on the market for sale,

I'd look to put it on for offers over £800,000,

and I would look to achieve between this figure and £825,000.

She should be asking around £815,000 to achieve around the £800,000 mark.

That would be really good.

You have to actually sell the house for it to matter, though,

so let's see what we actually get for it.

Well, that's true,

but an £800,000 sale price could see a whopping pre-tax profit

of 125,000.

Not bad for five months of just supervision work.

With possible rental returns between £2,200 and £2,600

per calendar month, giving a yield of around 4%,

I'm guessing Elizabeth might plan a few more.

It's been a great success. I've learned so much along the way.

There have been lots and lots of problems that have come up,

but we've managed to get through them,

so I think I would like to try it again

when the right opportunity comes up.

DION: The Norfolk Broads has a special place

in our natural heritage.

Incredibly, the Broads were widely regarded as natural features

right up until the 1960s

when it was proved that they were actually created

by medieval monks digging peat for fuel.

# Sail away, sail away, sail away. #

Sea level rises subsequently flooded the excavations,

leaving the incredible network of wetlands that we see today.

The property that I'm here to see is this bar/diner

that sits alongside the River Bure

about six miles inland from Great Yarmouth.

It's also the last place you can moor your boats on the river

before getting into Great Yarmouth.

It's got a guide price of in between £150,000 to £170,000.

Let's take a look.

# Sail away, sail away, sail away. #

OK, now, this has surprised me.

I wasn't expecting it to be as tidy.

There's carpet on the floor,

the seats seem to be in an OK condition.

There's a few panels missing in the ceiling,

but everything seems OK so far. It needs modernising.

Everything's dated. Furniture's dated.

But it must have been used recently

cos it's not in a dishevelled condition.

Service!

Not like the local.

# Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps, please

# Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps, please!

# Why won't you serve me?! #

Despite the terrible service, you can see the potential in here.

Around the corner from the bar/diner area

is an even bigger function room.

This place could cater for hundreds of punters,

but that's not all that's on offer.

The property also comes with a three-bed flat as well.

From what I can see, it's in nowhere near the same condition.

It's a pity, really, it's not on the same level

as the front that I've already seen.

You've got a toilet and bathroom,

and a strange place to have a sink.

It needs a proper reconfigure. It needs a bit of money spent on it.

But if you're looking to use this as a commercial venture,

you do have the option of living in.

So, this property is definitely going to cost the owner a few quid.

Apart from renovating the flat,

there are a few jobs in here that do need urgent attention.

But the bar/diner isn't the only revenue stream.

# When the weather is fine

# You know it's a sign

# For messing about

# On the river. #

Out here by the river, you can see the full extent of this lot -

six acres of land and 400m of moorings.

I know how important boating is for tourism on the Broads,

and I know it's a valuable part of this lot.

However, having lived not too far away from here,

many years ago, I might add, I've seen many businesses try

and make money out of this stretch of moorings and failed.

What could this place be next?

To help answer that, let's hear a word or two

from the auctioneer who sold the property.

With no residential area close by, presumably,

it's completely dependent on the holiday trade.

I think it's fair to say that the seasonal trade is very much

a reason why this hasn't necessarily worked in the past.

In the summer months, it's been busy,

but during the winter, especially on a bleak winter's day,

there's not much going past here

in terms of trade.

I think this property really deserves a bit of further investment

to turn it back into a successful eatery.

It needs to be somewhere where people come all year round

rather than just a seasonal audience.

Yes, you need to cater for the Broads trade along the river,

but in the wintertime, you need the local people to be using it -

somewhere to come and eat and relax.

That sounds like a reasonable plan,

but how much does he reckon will need to be invested here

to bring commercial life back to this place?

You probably would need to spend circa £100,000 straightaway

on the whole building.

I'd be surprised if you could get away with much less than that,

and I'm sure you could spend an awful lot more

if you went to town on the surrounding area

and the grounds itself, cos with six acres,

that needs an investment as well.

And can he estimate how much it would be worth after a face-lift?

I would've thought, probably,

if you could get a rental income of around £20,000,

which is what I think you would probably get for it at the moment,

you could be looking at an investment worth

somewhere between £250,000 and £300,000.

There's so many appealing factors to this property -

the commercial space, the flat, the moorings and six acres of land.

Loads to entice prospective commercial buyers.

What's in store for this riverside gem?

Let's go to auction and find out.

Lot 16.

It's a substantial building, been many things in the past,

but obviously, ready for a new lease of life.

Put me in at 160, someone.

150 then. £150,000 to start me.

140.

140,000. Thank you, we're away. Seated at £140,000.

I'm going to take it in twos.

That cut of 20 grand was enough to get the bidding started,

but there wasn't a great deal of interest

in this commercial property.

We rejoin the auction with the price at £167,000.

£167,000 I've got.

For the first time...

Sorry, 168.

Yes, 168. 169?

169. 170? At £169,000.

We're in the room, make no mistake.

It's against you, against you at 169 on the right.

At 169 for the first time.

169 for the second time.

At 169,000, third and final time.

Congratulations. Well done, sir.

It was Hamish who made that final bid

on behalf of these two ladies, Sunita on the left and Vandana.

They have big plans for this property,

so I met up with them for a bit of a chat.

-Sunita, nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you too, Vandana.

-Nice to meet you too.

-And congratulations. BOTH:

-Thank you.

-You got a big property.

-It is, yes.

-It is.

Tell us what it was like at the auction.

Going to auction was just destined, probably.

And it was out of the blue

because the property, we had seen a few years ago -

three years ago - but at that time, it was on a very high budget

and we could not make our mind to go for it.

But this time, when she saw, she said,

"Hey, it's come up again. Do you want to come?"

-We saw this on Tuesday and then I was motivated...

-Yes.

..and supported to go on to auction on Wednesday.

And between Tuesday's viewing and Wednesday morning,

we had made up our mind - this is the place we have been looking for.

So, this is no spur of the moment purchase.

Sunita, who is a GP, and Vandana, who works at Lowestoft College,

have had their eye on this place for three years

and have bided their time until they've had the money to afford it.

They bought this unusual lot

as a centre for their Hindu prayer group.

There's been an increase in our population with the children,

so we've been doing our prayer ceremonies once a month

in one of the church halls for the last 13 years,

but as the numbers have increased, parking becomes a problem,

children want more activity, adults want more activity.

And as we are all getting older,

we're going to need a place where we can all, you know,

sit in the evenings and have a talk with each other and meet socially.

And obviously, we do like to eat together as well,

so this has been a bring-a-dish party with a social event,

which we've been doing for 13 years once a month...

-Wow.

-..in the church hall.

-What a great idea.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

We do a prayer and we finish with a communal meal.

Everyone brings a dish, we plan the menu,

and then we all sit together as a community and share that.

It seems like the perfect solution for the building

that just wasn't working as a commercial enterprise.

But what changes do they plan to make here?

There's a plan because, obviously, you can see this is a diner place.

It's got lots of other areas where people can sit.

So, what we've done is we're going to make this as a stage

where we will do our regular prayer ceremony,

and we're going to make this into a small hall

where people can sit either on the floor or on the chairs,

which we'll have enough place there.

There's a plan to put a place of worship right at the back

because we've got, like, three societies in Norwich area.

Eventually, we'd like to amalgamate everyone.

And hopefully, everybody can come together here

for the various functions that we do.

So, tell us, who's going to do the work?

Now you've got it, who's the main people?

OK, we have people already involved

and there are some builders that we have known for a long time.

So, the main work which needs to be done is of the roof over here

and also, obviously, making this hall to be for people

to be able to use it.

We have plans, if we can get this working

within the next couple of months,

to start our usual prayers that we do,

which is usually on the second Sunday of the month.

Time will tell us, hopefully, soon.

-You've got three bedrooms back there as well.

-Yes, yes.

That will be for people...

We'll hopefully have a caretaker

or if any visitors come, they come and do a talk or anything,

so there will be room for them to be staying overnight.

So, there's enough room to do lots of things in here.

And how much money will the group need to spend on this place

to make it fit for purpose?

At present, our budget, I think,

is going to be £50,000 to start with,

to get the place off and running.

And then we will be seeing, over a period of time,

what needs to be done.

So, we're going to do things in stages

because, otherwise, we'll be running out of money

because at present, we have put in the money ourselves.

We will be looking to raise some funds from the local community

and also we've been asking our local council,

see if they've got any funding available

for community halls and things

cos I believe there is some money through the lottery funds

-are available, but we have to resource that.

-Yeah.

But at present, we can manage with that,

and then let's see what happens.

Well, I can see the commitment from both of you,

I can hear the passion in your voices,

and if the community's anything like you, you're onto a winner.

-Thank you.

-Good luck. Good luck, ladies, both of you.

-Thank you.

Vandana and Sunita have got grand plans

to turn this into a community space and a religious centre.

And having lived - many years ago, mind -

not too far from here, I've seen many businesses come and go

trying to make it in this particular spot,

so I think it's a great idea

that they're keeping it relevant to the local community

and stopping a building like this fall into disrepair.

You can find out how they turn it round,

how they transform this building later on in the programme.

So, now we've seen what happened to one of those properties,

what about the other two?

Yeah, did they stick to their plans or did it all go wrong?

Let's go back and find out.

Welcome back to Chatham in Kent,

and this three-storey townhouse with a guide price of 160,000.

It had been split into a two-bedroom house upstairs

and a one-bedroom basement flat.

The upper property was a good size,

but it definitely brought out all my hidden wall-demolition tendencies.

Eat your heart out, Lucy!

I'll tell you what, that wants to go completely.

Take out this wall as well. Take out walls.

Is there a bit of playing around with internal walls?

Take all these walls out, make it completely open-plan.

# Walls come tumbling down! #

Ah, this programme's not called Homes Under The Hammer for nothing,

you know. Anyway, quite apart from dismantling the floor,

I thought there was more to do by creating a third bedroom upstairs.

But this wasn't a project for the faint-hearted

as the basement was in need of a lot of work too.

Racing to tackle this property was Bernie,

an experienced property developer and car enthusiast

who paid £215,000 for it.

His experience told him that the property's configuration was

not going to be straightforward to resolve.

It's clearly been two units - the house and the basement flat -

but it doesn't appear to be legally two units.

The real timescale on this

is going to be that paperwork on the leases...

-Right.

-..and the certificate of lawfulness

or planning permission.

Bernie's experience told him this configuration wrangle

might take longer than the renovation,

which builder Ray had costed at £35,000

with a timescale of three months.

Well, almost three months later, we're back.

Did they get over the finish line in time?

MUSIC: Open Up by Leftfield

The shell that was the basement flat has been completely transformed.

It's bright, clean and, thankfully, has had a bathroom added.

Moving to the upper property, and what do you know,

those walls have been removed.

Just look at the difference it makes.

The house feels so spacious now.

There have been layout changes upstairs, too.

What's changed upstairs here

is that we've created a third bedroom.

We've moved the bathroom into here.

We've left the master bedroom -

we have taken a small amount of space from it,

and it's grown a built-in wardrobe -

and created two smaller bedrooms to make it a three-bedroom place.

I knew that would be worth doing.

The old bathroom has become bedroom number three

and Bernie's builder Ray has pinched some space from the master bedroom

and the other bedroom to create a decent-sized bathroom.

And it's not just the inside that's been reconfigured.

Well, the garden was originally associated

with the basement flat.

And we thought, with a three-bedroom property,

it's got to be more of a family home,

and therefore, it needs a garden.

So, we switched the garden,

for the bulk of the garden to be associated with the main house,

but we had to put in these stairs here to allow access to the garden.

And we fenced off a small section there,

which is still attached to the basement flat,

so they have a barbecue area,

a smoking area, a small area outside.

-# Let's go outside

-Let's go outside

# In the sunshine

# Take me to the places that I love best. #

Bernie and Ray clearly have this renovation lark sorted,

and I'm betting he won't be far off that £35,000 budget.

We've actually spent 36,660.

A perfectly acceptable overspend in my book,

and the work actually only took ten weeks.

But just as Bernie predicted,

it's sorting the lease issue that's taken time.

A bit of a backlog at the Land Registry, apparently,

and the solicitor who's working on the leases for me

couldn't start that

until the property was formally registered in my name,

and that only came through last week.

So, we've literally really just started

the application for the two leases.

Fingers crossed it all comes good soon, Bernie.

But in the meantime,

let's ask some agents what they make of the renovation.

First, the agent who saw it previously.

I think the changes

to the flats are amazing.

They have done so much work in such a short time.

And I love what they've done

cos they've kept all the features,

which I think is the main thing you needed to do.

The one-bedroom flat below is a good size.

It has a nice-sized bedroom and has also been fitted out quite nicely.

The three-bedroom property is nice.

It's also been done neutrally, which will appeal to a lot of people.

The standard seems to be really good

and it's a nice size with a good garden.

Both agents thought the flats combined could earn £1,600

per calendar month. That's just over a 7.5% yield.

But Bernie wants to sell them

after he's sorted out the lease issue, of course.

He spent a total of just under £252,000 on the entire project,

so what could the flats sell for?

I would say the one-bedroom flat is worth between £110,000

and £125,000, and the three-bedroom property -

worth between £200,000 and £215,000 in today's market.

The lower flat, I would be looking to market at £110,000 to £120,000,

and the upper flat, in the region of £180,000.

We're looking at if we can get 300 in total for the two,

then that's where we were aiming.

And frankly, anything above that is a bonus.

That's a top combined price of £340,000.

And with a total spend of just under 252,000,

that would give Bernie a pre-tax profit of around £88,000.

That is a great result.

But let's remember, he will not be able to sell

until that freehold situation is sorted.

And the longer it takes, the more it's going to cost.

So, will Bernie be heading to the car

or the property auction next to spend his profit?

HE LAUGHS I'm going to go with both.

Houses, I do for money,

and the money that comes from the houses

helps pay for American muscle cars and holidays.

DION: We're heading back east to the Norfolk Broads.

This bar/diner was the property on offer,

and on first inspection, it seemed in perfect working order.

The question is, could I sneak in a quick pint before lunch?

Service!

Not like the local.

Alas, while the bar was dry,

the same couldn't be said for the kitchen.

# Drip, drip, drippity, drop

# Oh, well, the roof is leaking

# And the rain's falling on my head. #

So, some major roof repairs to be undertaken,

but overall, plenty of space inside and out.

It seemed like the ideal opportunity

for someone to relaunch this place as a food and drink outlet.

But its location in the heart of the Broads meant that,

whilst in the summer, it would flourish, in the winter,

I think would be a little bit more challenging.

Thankfully, a solution arrived in the form of Vandana and Sunita,

representatives of the Hindu community in Norfolk

who have been searching for a number of years for a premises

that could be used as a religious centre

for their worship and community activities.

We've got three societies in Norwich area.

Eventually, we'd like to amalgamate everyone.

Purchasing the property for £169,000 at auction,

Vandana and Sunita hope that their 50 grand budget

would be sufficient to turn around the building

for its new purpose within two months.

Well, one year has passed

and we've come back to see how things are going.

The fabric of the property hasn't changed a great deal.

It's still very recognisable as the bar/diner it once was,

but this was never going to be a bricks and mortar transformation.

What has made a difference is how people are using this building.

It's now a fully functioning centre where people can gather

to worship, meditate, socialise and hold events.

It's the flexibility that makes this building ideal

for the local Hindu community.

Hinduism is very diverse.

Every Hindu has a different way of practising Hinduism.

It differs from every person to person

how you believe in your faith.

But having this place, you can just be here,

and by chanting, once you can feel that inner peace within yourself,

probably, you touch the Hinduism in the right way.

But before the Hindu community could move in,

there were a whole host of serious issues

that needed to be addressed.

When we acquired the building, there was no heating,

or no electric connections in the building.

There was no hot water.

So, the basic things needed to be done.

Also, there was a problem with the roofing.

There were quite massive leaks in the entrance reception,

kitchen and the hall at the back.

So, that has been sorted.

Outside of the building needed the security gates to be done

and we have got an intruder alarm and we have got CCT cameras

put in place to keep the building safe and secure.

The ladies were keen to be able to use the adjoining flat

as visitor accommodation.

And with the installation of a new kitchen

and a bit of a spruce up when it comes to decoration,

this place is much more habitable.

This is a long-term project which recently secured charitable status,

so much more work is planned for the future when funding is assured.

The group had an initial budget of £50,000

to make the building viable,

but have so far spent in excess of £70,000,

and that will no doubt increase as time passes.

However, to offset the spending,

there was a little business opportunity out back.

The river is used for the mooring.

We've got next door - the windmill -

and as we share the mooring, he collects the rent of the boats

and then we share the money which comes in,

which is not a lot, but that can go towards the charity

for any little purpose that we have.

The pub over here before was busy at times, but not all the time.

In fact, we've had visitors from the boat area,

when they see us here,

-in case there's some food being served.

-Yes.

I think, on summers, we do plan to offer the food to them

because that's the time...

That's what we are here for - the community.

It'll be nice to have other people join in as well.

Despite running 20 grand over budget,

Sunita and Vandana are delighted at how the project is developing

and by how they have been received by the local community.

We've actually had quite a few local people from the village

who came on Sunday to actually see what the temple was like

because they had never seen a temple in Norfolk.

So, that is what has been a big achievement for us here,

-so we're very happy to have this.

-Yeah.

Time now for some property expertise,

and who better to look around this rejuvenated building

than the auctioneer who sold the property in the first place?

What does he make of the changes they have made?

Well, I think it's a work in progress.

I think what they've done so far is a bit of a Make Do and Mend job.

It's certainly improved.

It's a little bit warmer than it was when I came before

and it's watertight now.

And decoratively, it's improved.

I think there's still plenty of work to do to the property

to really bring it into the way they'd really like it in the future,

but as a community property, it's moving forward quite well.

This is a very unusual renovation for Homes Under The Hammer.

I don't think we've featured a temple before.

Money is a secondary factor, but let's find out

what the hard work has meant for this building in terms of values.

Adding that 70 grand spend means the total investment here

comes to £239,000.

What does he think the building is worth in its current condition?

It's a bit difficult to put an accurate value

on this particular property because of its community facility,

but from a commercial point of view,

I'd have thought round about £250,000 as it stands.

With a few more improvements,

certainly to the general area and the car park etc,

it might move up to £300,000 by the time they've finished.

So, a small potential profit here,

but the Hindu community in Norfolk

have found something much more valuable -

a space that works for them and the tranquil setting

with enough flexibility to adapt to their future needs.

You might be able to put a value on that,

but I'd say it was priceless.

That's probably how we look at it - as a blessing,

something which was meant to happen at the right time

and is a dream come true, definitely.

Well, property developing is full of trials and tribulations.

Yeah, it can require stamina and endurance to get to the end.

Yeah, join us next time on Homes Under The Hammer

-to see who's got what it takes. Bye.

-Goodbye.

-Goodbye.