Episode 23 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello. Buying property can be a complicated business

and it can sometimes feel like forever just getting the deal done.

Yes, I know one way you can make it easier and quicker.

Yes, if you want a speedy property purchase,

why don't you head down to your local property auction?

Property developing might sound simple.

You buy somewhere, you do it up, and you sell it for a profit.

But we all know there's a bit more to it than that.

Yes, there's always pitfalls awaiting the unwary.

So let's see if today's purchasers get it right.

I'm giving you the unvarnished truth about this

flat in Pegswood, Northumberland.

Yes, that is a wardrobe.

At this three-bed in Swadlincote, Derbyshire, I'm trying hard

not to beat about the bush.

HE GRUNTS

And in Chatham, Kent, I'm hoping

no-one has papered over the cracks in this three-bed terrace.

Look. Look at the different wallpapers. It's amazing.

All these properties have been sold at auction.

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

when they went under the hammer.

You all done?

I'm in Pegswood, a small former mining village near the town

of Morpeth in England's most northerly county, Northumberland.

Although mining has long since stopped in the village,

this stunning sculpture, known locally as Robin of Pegswood,

celebrates its mining heritage.

The property I'm here to see is in this quiet little cul-de-sac,

which is always great for family living.

One of the issues is - parking can be a problem.

But it's not a problem for the property I'm here to see.

And here it is.

We have off-street parking, which is always a bonus.

It's a one-bedroom flat on the ground floor

and has a guide price of in between £25,000 and £35,000.

Yes, that is a wardrobe.

It's definitely not a walk-in wardrobe. It's more of a

walk outside to your wardrobe.

It's not a feature that's going to catch on.

# So I'm redoing my wardrobe I've had enough

# I'm going to fill up my closet with brand-new love. #

OK, what has this flat got to offer?

You're straight into a narrow hallway.

And here we have the bathroom, which is a little bit small.

But it's to be expected, it is a one-bed flat.

You could possibly salvage this if you wanted to rent it out.

But it's not the size or the bathroom suite, it's the colour.

It's in a nice shade of chocolate.

-# Come on!

-A choco-choco

-Clap-clap

-# A choco-choco

-Clap-clap

-# Everybody say chocolate

-Here we go!

-# A choco-choco

-Clap-clap

-# A choco-choco

-Clap-clap

-# Everybody say chocolate

-Come on! #

Anyway, what else have we got?

Down the hallway, into the bedroom.

Which is an OK size.

It's got a nice big window there. Double-glazed window as well.

Central heating. Yes, not bad at all.

Not a bad start.

The decor needs a bit of updating on these rooms,

but so far, there's nothing that's worrying me.

But what about the rest of the property?

OK, through into here.

To the lounge-kitchen area. It's not a bad size at all for a one-bed.

And straightaway, you can see there's a bow in that ceiling there

over the kitchen.

And a telltale sign there with a bucket catching the water.

So there's been quite a severe leak in here somewhere.

Kitchen looks a little bit dated.

So I personally would want to put a nice brand-new kitchen in,

brighten this place up,

and get some new tiles as well, cos they've been painted black.

Could have a nice little kitchen in there if you get it right.

And the lounge area, again,

there's a little bit of water on the floor there as well.

So get a professional in to find out where that water's coming from.

Over here, you've got some big patio doors

out into a courtyard area.

It's not a bad size at all.

And it's quite well-proportioned. I like it, actually.

When I say I like it, I'm not a massive fan of the stripes,

I've got to say.

But the outside courtyard -

although split between upper and lower flats and in need of a

bit of a spruce up - is well worth a whirl

at a guide price of £25,000 to £35,000.

"So what's the catch?" I hear you ask.

Well, it's a 66-year lease, which is just under what most

lender's minimum requirements of 70 years remaining is.

This one might be for someone that's got a bit of cash in their pocket.

A local estate agent came along and gave us her thoughts.

First impressions of the property are

it is quite a generously-proportioned

one-bedroom ground floor flat.

It could benefit from a little bit of updating,

mostly to the kitchen and bathroom areas.

I would hope that a budget of about £5,000 would be enough to

smarten it up throughout and replace the kitchen

and bathroom to a standard that would be acceptable.

The agent thinks, in the current market,

renting this property out is the best option.

So what kind of figures could we be looking at?

I would imagine that once the works are completed,

you would be looking at an estimated rental value

of £350 to £375 per calendar month.

That could offer a good yield,

if you get it in that guide price range.

What about sales?

The sales value for the property is likely to

be around £55,000 to £60,000.

It would be reliant on the lease being extended

on the property as well.

This a nice little flat, but you have got that issue of that leak.

So I'd get that sorted out as soon as possible.

If it were mine, I'd want to put a new bathroom in and a new kitchen.

And I think the rest is just cosmetic.

Let's see who made that winning bid when it went under the hammer.

One-bedroom ground floor flat.

This is one of two. This is the ground floor.

Got a telephone bid on it. Who's going to start me?

First bid of the night.

At 25 then. Need a bid.

At £25,000. Am I bid 20?

It's not where we start, it's where we end up.

At 20,000. 20 here seated. At 20 I'm bid. In ones then.

At £20,000. Are we done?

At £20,000 then. First time.

Second time. Stop them. It's too cheap.

At £20,000 then. New bidder at 21. 22.

22 bid. 23. Where are we? 23.

24.

25. 26.

27. 28.

29. 30.

31. Shake of the head here at 30.

At £30,000. With you, madam, been with me all the way.

I'll take a half if it helps.

I'll take 250. I'll take owt, really.

Selling away then at £30,000.

All done. All out.

Well done, madam.

The successful bidder getting a property was Kim,

who was accompanied by her wife, Jane.

Kim and Jane paid £30,000, right in the middle of the guide price range.

But it seems they didn't really set out to buy this flat.

-Kim, nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

-Jane, nice to meet you.

-Hi, thanks.

-Congratulations to the both of you. BOTH:

-Thank you.

Tell us about how you came about buying this place.

Well, we were trying to buy next-door.

And we came up with so many problems along the way.

And Jane mentioned that there was this one coming up at auction.

And I thought, "Ooh. If we don't get the other one in time,

"then we'll just see if we can get this at the auction."

So we went along and we did get it.

-You got lucky.

-We got very lucky.

-You got lucky, yes.

A little birdie told me that you've saved a few quid as well.

Absolutely. The flat that we were trying to buy,

the price that was accepted was £66,000.

-You see? Being clever, you see?

-Yes.

-Very clever.

And what was it about this flat that you liked, Jane?

For me, it's about location. I've recently, nearly a year ago now,

started a new job in Morpeth and I've been renting round the corner.

And we've been looking for something more permanent for me.

Jane will stay here Monday to Friday for her job

with a drinks company that's based in Morpeth.

But it's a four-hour drive from where they both live.

-We're from Leicester.

-You're both from Leicester?

-My home town!

-That's right.

-Yes.

Are you Leicester fans?

-No.

-No.

-THEY LAUGH

That doesn't work.

How come? Who do you support? Who do you support? Who's your team?

-Newcastle.

-Newcastle? How about you?

I support Man United.

Oh, my gosh. Everywhere you go, United fans, aren't there?

There is indeed.

I can't believe they're not Foxes fans.

But they have certainly been bright-eyed

and bushy-tailed about getting this flat.

If the deal for the one nearby hadn't fallen through,

they would have paid an extra 36 grand.

This was definitely a case of where it was worth going to the auction.

But did they bag a bargain because of that short 66-year lease?

We're quite happy with the length of lease.

I mean, our intentions are for Jane to have the

flat as long as she needs it.

I think you've got to be in somewhere for two years

-anyway before you can extend.

-Mm-hmm.

But then I'd be looking to extend it

and keep the flat on longer than Jane needs it, probably.

Good on you.

And what are you going to do to this place now you've got it?

Well, it needs a new kitchen. A new bathroom.

You're not keeping the chocolate bathroom?!

-It's lovely.

-It's a delight, isn't it?

It's got to be the most horrible bathroom I've ever seen.

Well, that's a bit harsh.

Unfortunately, I've seen a lot worse than this chocolate suite.

# Sweet like chocolate

# Ah-ah

# Da da da da da da da... #

And they have also investigated the leak,

which it turns out is coming from the flat above

and can easily be fixed.

Although they will need to replace the floor damaged by the water.

They also have to repair the patio doors that led to the garden, which

reminds me about that dodgy-looking brick wall I spotted earlier.

They're hoping that all the work can cost no more than eight grand.

Do me a favour, would you get that wall checked outside as well?

Yes, absolutely. Cos it needs to keep the dogs safe, you see.

Oh, you've got dogs?! What dogs have you got?

We've got a Springer spaniel and a Cocker spaniel.

Our cameraman's got a spaniel.

He says it's an absolute nutter.

-Yeah.

-Is yours?

-Yes.

-One's just like me, so yes.

-They've got energy to burn, haven't they?

-Yes.

-Yeah.

How long is all the work going to take you?

-Six to eight weeks.

-OK.

-Yeah, six to eight weeks.

Will you get involved with doing the work yourselves

-or are people going to...?

-I have a chisel in the cupboard right now.

Ready to go.

Keep your chisel where it's nice and safe, just for the moment.

Are you getting involved as well, Jane?

Yeah, we're obviously going to have a plumber to fit the bathroom

and a joiner to come and fit the kitchen.

But the decoration and everything else we're going to take care of.

We won't be going for top-notch.

But something a little bit more robust that looks nice.

We'll rent it on at that point. With my career,

-I never know where I'm going to be technically for a few years.

-OK.

So it's not forever, this. It is literally just a stop-gap.

But it's still part of Kim's portfolio.

-So it'll be a good investment.

-You've done well.

-You've saved yourself a few quid.

-Yeah.

Got yourself a nice little flat.

-Yes.

-Are you happy, Jane?

-I am. I'm very happy.

-See?

You've done something good there, Kim. Well done.

Made her happy. Yay!

-Well done. Kim, I wish you all the best.

-Thank you very much.

-Jane...

-Thank you.

-Good luck.

So, Kim and Jane got lucky.

By going to the auction house, they saved themselves a lot of money.

It just goes to show there's still bargains to be had.

But will their luck hold out?

And will they come in on time and on budget?

You can find out how they get on later in the programme.

Swandlincote, in Derbyshire, boasts a proud heritage of industrial

beginnings in the coal mining, pottery and brick-laying industries.

But nowadays, it's better known as a good place in the region

to bag a bargain.

With relatively low property prices and good local state schools,

it's beginning to attract young families back into the area.

So, will the property I'm here to see fit into that category?

Well, if proximity to a local pub is high on your list of priorities

when it comes to looking for houses, then the property I'm

here to see is definitely going to tick that particular box for you.

Because, literally, you are, what, 30 metres away from it.

What am I here to see then? It's a three-bed mid-terrace.

Guide price - £50,000-plus.

Looks quite nice on the outside.

Nice bit of brick.

Let's have a look inside.

Ah.

Not quite as cutesy-wootsy

the moment you come through the front door.

What is that all about?!

Get rid of that.

Straight into your front sitting room. Gas fire.

It feels a bit wibbly-wobbly.

Clearly some issues with damp. That is... Hey, wow! That's wet.

Why is that wet? It's like an internal wall.

What is going on there?

Polystyrene ceilings. Get rid of them.

Through to your second sitting room.

Now, straightaway I'm thinking, "Get rid of that wall!"

Open the whole thing out to create a really nice open space.

There's a few cutesy-wootsy things.

We like that window there and these doors are rather pretty.

Stairs up to your bedrooms there.

And then...

It sort of goes all downhill.

Actually literally, because the floor is all over the place.

This little area here...

Goodness knows why, but you've got a door on each side.

This is kind of like an extension thing

which houses the kitchen, which is fairly eurgh.

And onwards to a toilet.

But that's it.

But that is actually the only toilet in the property.

HE SIGHS

Why couldn't it live up to what it looked like on the outside?

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

Yes, as is so often the case on Homes Under The Hammer,

I'm greeted by a charming-looking little house on the street,

only to find who knows what on the inside.

In this case, a pokey kitchen extension

and a solitary ground floor loo.

But the strange ground floor layout here really begs the question -

what's the upstairs like?

So, upstairs, no landing to speak of.

Just straight into the three bedrooms. One there.

Smaller one.

Reasonable-sized one towards the front of the property there.

Another reasonable-sized one towards the back.

So we like the sizes. We just don't like this layout.

And it gets worse because the only bathroom,

as in a place where you could wash, is situated here,

off this third bedroom.

It doesn't have a loo in it. As I mentioned before,

the one downstairs is the only toilet in the property.

So there definitely needs to be some major re-jigging up here

and downstairs. Apart from that, it's perfect.

Always the optimist, me, eh?

Ah... No.

This house is going to need a lot of work

if the buyer is going to want to appeal to today's market.

And typically, people like toilets in their bathrooms.

Time for a peek outside.

Well, at the very back of the property it gets even weirder.

Not only do you have two doors to this little extension,

but the garden scenario is dead odd.

Yes, this bit you own. Then you come out through the back gate here

to this bit of land here, which is actually co-owned.

You sort of half own it, I guess.

It's a communal bit.

So where's the garden? Is that it? No, no, no.

Your actual garden... Da-da-da.

Eurgh. Ugh.

HE GRUNTS

..is through here.

So you get this bit, you get that bit. It's quite a nice garden.

But you've got that bit there you have to go over.

As I said, weird.

So layout issues on the ground floor, first floor and the garden.

Let's hope the buyer has a good imagination and, dare I say it,

a good chunk of money to spend

on this peculiar three-bedroom property.

So, what are the possibilities?

We asked an agent from the auctioneers who sold it

what he reckoned needed doing.

Having had a look around the property,

I would say that it really does require some TLC

to bring it back into use.

The layout needs to be considered

as well. It doesn't really work at the moment.

And I think that that's a major factor in getting it

back into good order.

Some thought needs to be put into how you can create separate

bedroom space with access to the bathroom

without passing through another bedroom.

I would certainly look at the ground floor layout as well.

Again, I don't think it really works for modern occupation.

We've got two quite small reception rooms.

A small, narrow kitchen space here,

with two doors leading off to the toilet.

I think it could be reconfigured to provide better use of that space.

So, if the layout was re-jigged and the property renovated,

how much could it be worth?

Once renovated,

I believe this property would sell for £85,000 to £90,000

and would rent for £525 per calendar month.

Well, if you're after a property with a whole checklist of kind

of interesting issues to resolve, well, this is certainly the one.

However, at least you're very close to the local pub so you can go

and mull over the problems over a nice pint.

Who bought it? Let's find out

when it went under the hammer.

Lot number 42.

Start me at 55.

50,000 then on the guide price

to put it into the bidding.

50. Thank you. £50,000 is the opening bid.

51? 51.

At 52.

53.

54.

55.

56. I've got you.

At 56.

57? 57.

57. 58.

58. 59.

59, it's here to go.

60,000.

At 60. 61, sir?

60.5.

At £60,500.

61. I've got you together.

61. 500? 500.

61.5.

62? 62.

62.5.

63.

63.5.

64.

64.5.

65.

65. Is that it?

At £65,000. It's going to go.

At 65. Going once, twice...

Third opportunity.

Sold at £65,000. Thank you.

And with the successful bid of £65,000 was Mark.

Mark has bought this lot as a project to share

with his brother-in-law, Pete.

This will be their debut as developers together.

I met them to find out about the house,

and also, where have they been soaking up the sun?

# If you steal my sunshine... #

-Mark, Pete, great to meet you both.

-And you.

-And you.

-How are you?

-Fine.

-Now that's not a Derby tan.

-Definitely not.

Where was that from?

-Tenerife last week.

-Right.

So you went on holiday after going to the auction?

After the auction, yeah. And completion date.

And hopefully to try and get it down while we were away.

-Great.

-So, took a bit of doing.

-Right.

So how did you sort of broach the idea of working together?

How did that all come about?

I did a house about 12, 18 months ago.

And then Pete's obviously come in and said,

"I wouldn't mind doing it with you..."

-Right.

-"..the next one." So we plan to do a few, hopefully.

Depending on how this one goes. We'll see where we go from there.

-Helps with the finances. It's a good way to split it.

-Yeah.

-So, it was just you at the auction?

-Yeah.

And how was that, Pete, leaving it in the hands of...?

Every faith in him. Every faith in him.

And were you happy with what you paid?

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

-Yeah, we had got a price we'd agreed that we would go up to.

-And it was under the budget.

-Oh, great.

-So...

-Result.

-Yeah.

Mark and Pete have got the first thing right.

Never pay over your budget.

So now they have got it, where will they start?

Kitchen, bathroom, damp. It's got quite a lot of damp in it.

So, obviously take it all back to brick.

All the way downstairs. And upstairs, there's no toilet.

So we're thinking we're going to put a corridor through

the bedroom that goes through to where the shower room is.

-Otherwise it's a bit...

-It's not ideal, is it?

-No, not at all.

-And keep the loo downstairs here?

Yeah, potentially. We're just debating whether

we actually get rid of the toilet downstairs

and make that a utility room. Or leave it as a toilet downstairs.

Right. And how will you decide?

-THEY LAUGH

-It'll be a debate.

What about taking the wall in-between the two main

downstairs rooms out?

I thought that would be a nicer idea to sort of open it all up.

-So did I.

-Well done.

-Did you agree?

-Yes.

-Oh, good.

-Yeah, in fact, we've got a builder coming round tomorrow.

-Tomorrow.

-Oh, wow.

-To come and look at it and tell us how far to take it back

-and whatever.

-Right.

-And open this up.

-That's a great idea.

Well, hopefully they'll continue to be in agreement for the rest

of the renovation.

Pete and Mark aim to have the place finished

and back on the market within 12 weeks.

And on a conservative budget of £10,000.

They'll be hoping to keep the cost to a minimum by doing

much of the work themselves.

It's an obvious question,

but when family members join to do things, there's always

a teensy-weensy issue if you do something which annoys each other.

Cos it makes Christmases rather sticky.

Do you reckon you're going to get on?

This will be the tester. You know. The first one will be the tester.

-Well, listen, congratulations to you both.

-Thank you.

Good luck with it. We'll look forward to seeing how you get on.

-Thanks very much.

-Thank you.

So, the first joint venture for brother-in-laws Pete and Mark.

I'm a little bit concerned that they might have slightly underestimated

the amount of effort it's going to take to sort this place out.

But at least if it all goes horribly wrong,

it's not far to go to drown their sorrows.

You can find out how they get on later in the show.

Still to come in Chatham, Kent, I hope

I have much more than the keys to success in this end-terrace.

A door here that's locked.

And have Mark and Pete had an eye-opener at their three-bed

house in Derbyshire?

We came into it, I would say, not totally blind,

but a little bit blind.

But first, we're back in Pegswood,

an ex-mining town in Northumberland...

..where I saw this ground floor flat.

And despite it only having three rooms, it had a few issues.

Firstly, it had a short-term lease of only 66 years.

Then the colour of that bathroom suite.

It's not really me.

Uh, you could possibly salvage this if you wanted to rent it out.

But it's not the size or the bathroom suite, it's the colour.

It's in a nice shade of chocolate.

I'd want that changing.

But I spotted a bigger issue in the kitchen.

Straightaway, we can see there's a bow in that ceiling there

over the kitchen. And a telltale sign there

with a bucket catching the water.

So there's been quite a severe leak in here.

Kim and her wife, Jane, weren't put off by this

and both made the four-hour drive from their home in Leicester

to buy this flat for £30,000.

It's both a temporary place for Jane to live while she works

in Morpeth during the week and a future rental investment for Kim.

Kim is actually really keen to get stuck in

and get started with the work here.

A bit too keen actually, if you ask me.

I have a chisel in the cupboard right now.

Ready to go, have you?

Keep your chisel nice and safe, just for the moment.

And are you getting involved as well, Jane?

Yeah, we're obviously going to have a plumber to fit the bathroom

and a joiner to come and fit the kitchen,

but the decoration and everything else we're going to take care of.

Kim and Jane planned to get right on it

and have the work done in six to eight weeks.

Three months later and we are back.

I hope Kim has put that chisel to good use

and got rid of those terrible tiles in the bathroom.

That's more like it.

This fresh, white colour scheme works much better.

And the kitchen has also been given a makeover.

That cracked ceiling has been fixed

and those horrible painted tiles have gone.

There's new flooring in the living room

to replace the old water-damaged one.

And new doors that lead out to the garden,

where they got rid of that unsafe wall and put up a nice, new fence

which means Maisie and Tiffin can run around safely.

Have a look, they're loving it.

Let's head back inside

as I want to find out how Kim and Jane got rid of that leak.

When we took the floor up,

we could see that the water had sort of remained under it for some time.

So it was all smelly.

There was mould coming over between the kitchen and the lounge.

It was just nasty.

Getting all of the ReBoard done

and the plaster was quite a quick process.

But you have to wait for it to dry off before you can do

anything else.

Everything else had to stop while that was doing.

The kitchen units at the bottom were ruined.

So it had obviously been leaking for quite some time.

And when we stripped the wall down

we could see that there had been significant leaks from the bathroom

into the kitchen.

So we had to redo all of that as well, didn't we?

We did, yeah. But it wasn't expensive.

It was just time consuming.

To make matters worse,

they discovered that the wiring in the bathroom was unsafe

and the cabling to the electric shower was on the wall

and running down over the bath.

So they got the professionals in to get that sorted.

Easy enough, right?

So, the tradesmen, we found that they could almost pick

and choose their jobs. So they can be quite selective.

So when they came to have a look at the bathroom, two of them ran away.

-But then luckily, we got lucky with a local joiner...

-Called Dave.

Yeah.

..who helped us connect with other tradesmen and did a fantastic job.

-Really good.

-Yeah.

-Really good.

-It would have been a lot harder without him.

-Yeah.

Good on you, Dave.

Others ran away, but Dave stood firm and helped Kim and Jane out.

They weren't just planning on sitting on the bench, though.

Between them, they changed light fittings

and did a lot of the cleaning, painting and tiling themselves.

Not a bad job either, may I say.

Could Jane have, dare I say it, enjoyed herself?

-You found it quite good cos it was a stress reliever.

-Mm.

Stress buster after work, even though it was long hours for you.

-Mm.

-It just took your mind completely off it, didn't it?

It did, yeah.

I found it very therapeutic, the manual elements of it.

And it did... It was great, actually.

It was really good for me mentally and physically.

-Yeah.

-Although the tiles might not have been so mentally stimulating.

-No. Bit more...

-Challenging.

-Challenging.

But, you know, I don't think there's anything nice when you're doing

DIY than when you set tiles and then you grout them and polish them.

And they just look phenomenal.

I'm glad Jane is pleased. But is Kim happy with the spend here?

After all, it is her long-term investment.

And the plan was to spend eight grand on all the work.

I did a tally of the budget just a couple of days ago

and it was standing at just over £5,000. £5,050.

That includes fees. So I'm quite happy.

Three grand under budget then, eh?

Not bad at all.

I'll forgive you for being a few weeks over that

two-month timescale then.

So that brings our total spend here to £35,000.

And, of course, 50 quid.

So let's find out if that was money well spent.

We've invited along two agents to get their thoughts on the flat.

The property has been made to look modern.

It's bright, it's neutral most of the way through, which is

what appeals to buyers.

The main selling points are the fact that it is in a popular area

and having an enclosed garden

and also off-street parking facilities as well.

Kim would like to rent the flat out for a number of years

once Jane is no longer using it.

So what kind of figures could she get back on that £35,000 investment?

On the rental market, traditionally,

this type of property is achieving around £350 per calendar month.

On the rental market, I would expect the property to

achieve between £350 and £375 per calendar month.

That's really good.

It's probably what... It's slightly more than we thought.

Yeah, we thought it was probably going to be about 325 to 350.

-So, 375, yeah, it's good.

-Yes, it's really good.

-Pleased with that.

Hopefully, they will also be pleased with the sales figures.

Both agents said that this would be in between £55,000 and £57,000,

which would give a profit of at least £20,000 less taxes

and fees, of course.

-I'm really pleased with that.

-Yeah.

-It means that Jane has done good.

-It means Kim's done good.

-Oh, yeah, sorry, yeah. Kim's done good.

Smiles all round them. But what's next for these two?

-I think for us, it's to find our next opportunity.

-Mm.

-And enjoy it as much as we enjoyed this.

-Yeah.

And keep growing our portfolio. So it's good.

Today, I'm in one of the Medway towns in the South East of England,

in the county of Kent.

There used to be a naval dockyard here on the river

and Charles Dickens once lived here too.

Yep, I'm in the historic town of Chatham.

So I have great expectations about the property I'm here to see,

even in the rain.

Although, it is a bit of a steep climb up this hill to get there.

No gym membership needed for whoever bought this one.

It's a three-bed end-of-terrace

and it had a guide price of £75,000-plus.

Some big windows to the front.

But will it be bright and airy on the inside?

'Spot the superstitious one.

'Never open a brolly on the inside of the house.'

Well, it's drier on the inside.

But it's certainly not bright and airy, is it?

My goodness!

Dirt, dust and debris are the three Ds that sprung to mind there.

Yep, it's in a bit of a state.

You can see, look, somebody has just taken this back to bare brick.

There is rubble on the floor, it's dusty.

But if you are very clever and you see beyond that, you have got

lovely big windows to the front, a really nice square-shaped room.

And I can imagine, with a property like this,

you could certainly inject a little bit of character to the

staircase. You've got the room at the back, very similar.

Nice sort of fireplace area over there.

But properties like this, they really intrigue me

because you can just see past history.

Look, look at the different wallpapers. It's amazing.

You've got wires hanging down, there is no ceiling.

Gosh, there is just electrics everywhere.

A door here that's locked.

But I know this door leads to what's round here.

And it is absolutely pouring outside.

But if you can see, there is a little room in there.

And at the back of that room there is a little toilet.

So that goes through to that area.

And that is the garden.

I mean, that there is it.

Not what the eye can take you to see beyond that.

Literally, this little bit of space here is the garden.

So there is no kitchen, no bathroom and no garden.

Yeah, I know they say less is more,

but this is taking minimalism to a whole new level.

Eventually, we got into the rear extension which, as I said,

has a toilet.

Unfortunately, not connected to its plumbing.

Back to the central property,

the stairwell is adorned with our old nemesis, polystyrene tiles.

But on the left coming up is the master bedroom,

which is a decent size.

And I don't think it will be light work to get this shipshape.

Across the landing, bedroom two is also well-proportioned.

But bedroom three leads off here,

so it has no independent access.

There's a cellar too, which is quite large and seems damp free.

But funding a purchase like this can be problematic.

Now, if you are thinking of buying a property that needs renovation,

hah, like this, there is something you need to be aware of.

You won't be able to get a mortgage unless lenders deem it habitable.

That means the property should be watertight with the roof in

good repair, it must have access to running water and mains electricity.

And a big uh-uh in the box for this property, well, it needs

to have a basic kitchen and a functional indoor bathroom in place.

I think it's safe to say this house

will have to be a cash purchase only.

And this is definitely something to take into account

when you are deciding how big a renovation project to take on.

Wondering what the local estate agent would advise?

Well, we are about to find out

as we've invited this one along to give us some advice and values.

The problem with this particular road is,

and it's like Chatham itself, it's very hilly.

And you have to be fairly fit to go up and down this road

and have a car perhaps with good brakes.

But generally, you know, it takes you up to Gillingham

where you've got your hospital,

or down to the Luton Road area where you've got a lot of shops.

What's the best way to proceed with this slightly unusual layout?

I think what I'd be inclined to do with this property,

it would be very easy to just turn the dining room

downstairs into a kitchen and then put a bathroom on the back.

But I think it would be far better and give it much more space

if you left it as a lounge-dining room and kitchen downstairs.

Upstairs here, put a corridor through

and make this third bedroom the bathroom instead,

which would make it really nice.

I don't think it's going to make too much difference

on the values between two- and three-bedroom

with this particular property

because the third bedroom comes off the second bedroom.

Had it been three separate bedrooms, then there would have been

considerable difference.

The only way to get a separate bedroom would be to add

a corridor to access this third bedroom.

But that would greatly compromise the size of the second bedroom,

which is not ideal.

So, with the bedrooms as they are,

how much could this house fetch in today's market?

I think once this property is renovated,

we would be looking somewhere in the region of £130,000 to £135,000.

Well, unfortunately, my great expectations have been dashed.

This is definitely more of a bleak house at the moment.

Still, you do get a spacious shell of a property with

plenty of potential to add value here.

Starting by putting in a kitchen and bathroom.

So, who could see past its current condition?

Let's head to the auction and find out.

Lot 14 we go to, which is

an end-terrace three-bedroom property for improvement.

Start me where you will.

I'm not going below 70. £70,000 bid I've got.

73 I will take.

73. 73. And five.

75. 75. 78.

78. And 80.

At 80. And two.

82.

81. 82.

82.

83. 84 in a fresh place.

85 with you, sir, again.

The £75,000 guide price is soon a distant memory.

We rejoin the bidding at £98,000.

98 there. 99 I'm looking for.

It's to the gentleman standing on my left by the door

at 98,000 for the first time.

98,000 for the second time. Unless I get another one.

99 I'm bid.

Are you going to go up to 100?

£100,000 I've got somewhere else. Thank you. 101 now, sir.

No? At 100,000. First and last bid maybe.

£100,000 I've got.

One from any of the other three of you?

If not, at £100,000 I'm bid for the first time.

£100,000 bid for the second time.

It's being sold. It's just in the gate of the room there.

Third and final time at £100,000.

-Are we all done? Are we all done?

-BANGS GAVEL

£100,000. One bid only, sir.

And your number, please?

The lucky one bid securing the property

came from security manager Herman.

# Something tells me I'm into something good

# Something tells me I'm into something... #

He bought with his wife, Nadia, who was at work on auction day.

They paid £100,000 for this hilly location,

where I met Herman to talk about the work he'd already done

and what else he had planned.

-Herman, congratulations.

-Thank you.

So this is the property you won on auction day.

Why did you want to buy this?

Well, I was looking at various different properties

and, in the end, this one was in my reach.

Before that, I went to three or four

different auctions and looked at loads of properties.

Did my research. In the end, this was within my budget.

Where is the potential? What do you want to do with it?

I really like all the space.

I'm going to do absolutely everything.

All the ceilings are going to come down.

Re-plaster the walls. New kitchen. New bathroom.

Basically, it's just an outer shell and I'll redo everything.

What I want to know is, how are you going to add value?

Well, I always think a new kitchen and space, like I said before,

-really adds value to a property.

-Mm-hmm.

-That's what they say, the

kitchen sells properties. So the kitchen is very important.

Then obviously the bathroom

next-door is going to be a very important room.

So I'll just keep the layout as it is upstairs

and then have the bathroom in the extension at the back.

Yeah, that's what you've got to realise,

where is the value there to have the third extra bedroom?

But who is going to access that bedroom

and how are you going to get across?

The third bedroom would mostly just be for a child.

So it would probably be a young family, someone with small kids,

it would probably suit them most.

So how much value can you realistically add to this?

I mean, what would you like to market it for?

I was thinking of maybe selling it in the region of 140 to 150,

depending on what the market does in the next six months.

-Mm-hmm.

-So that would maybe be a little bit overestimating it.

But I'm pretty confident I can make at least a good 20 grand.

How long do you think it's going to take you to get this shipshape?

I was hoping maybe three to four months, but even if it does go a

little bit further, I don't mind. Time is not really an issue for me.

I don't have a lot of time,

so if and when I get the chance to come out here, I will.

The reason Herman doesn't have a lot of time is because

he and Nadia have a two-year-old son, Alex.

If that wasn't enough to keep them occupied,

Nadia is now six months pregnant with their second son.

So it's perhaps a good thing Herman is not worried about his timescale.

Where are you going to put that kitchen?

-You are standing in it.

-Eh!

-This here is the kitchen.

-Fantastic

-space.

-Yeah, it's very spacious. Again, like all the other rooms.

So it's going to be an open-plan kitchen

-with a little dining room area.

-That's going to be fabulous.

-As you walk in, that will be the lounge, the sitting area.

-Yeah.

Kitchen at the back. And then right through this secret door here,

-there will then be the bathroom.

-The bathroom.

And at the back of the bathroom,

there is a little utility room as well,

where the boiler is going to be, washing machine etc.

How much of the work are you going to do? Come on then,

you obviously can't do the electrics and the plumbing.

-I would say the majority of it.

-Really?

Probably about 75%. Maybe 80%.

Are you a plasterer? Can you sand floors?

Yeah, sanding is not an issue.

I can re-do the stairwell. Like I said, plasterboard.

I might need a little bit of help with plastering,

-but I'm going to give it a go.

-How much are you going to spend?

-What is your budget for the work?

-My budget would be,

I was hoping initially, between ten and 15 grand.

However, ten grand was a bit... You know, that's not enough.

-So maybe 15.

-Oh!

-HE LAUGHS

I don't think that's enough. Do you think you can do it on 15?

I mean, it would be amazing to see.

I would be happy to do it in a budget of 15.

But I do have some spare cash if needs be.

I would like to sell it on. We have another project in mind.

So I would like to use the capital for the next project.

However, if I can't get the price I want, I'll still rent it out.

I did look at the rental market

and it's quite good in comparison to what you get in other places.

Herman, it's been fabulous meeting you

and I'm so excited to see what you do.

And I'm really intrigued to see if you can bring it in

-within a £15,000 budget.

-Thank you very much.

I am going to do my utmost best to stick to my budget.

-Good stuff.

-So we'll see how it goes.

I look forward to seeing the project when it's finished.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

Well, Herman certainly has his work cut out

with his latest and his biggest renovation project,

especially as he plans to do most of the labour himself.

Now, will he really complete all of it with £15,000?

There's a lot to do here.

Join me later on in the programme to find out if Herman does have to

struggle through some hard times during this project.

We followed the journey of one of our buyers,

what about the other two?

Yes, did they have the Midas touch

-or did everything crumble around them?

-Let's find out.

We're heading back to Swadlincote, in Derbyshire,

to see a three-bed mid-terrace property that I thought was

pretty cute from the outside.

Inside however, it was a different story.

Not quite as cutesy-wootsy

the moment you come through the front door.

What is that all about?!

It got worse. There was quite a bit of damp.

The only loo was downstairs

whilst the only bathroom was upstairs

and was situation off the second bedroom.

But the third bedroom can only be accessed off that.

Yep. It was a real layout nightmare.

HE SIGHS

Why couldn't it live up to what it looked like on the outside?

That didn't put everyone off, though, as Mark

and his brother-in-law, Pete, paid £65,000 for this at auction

and decided that this was the right property

for their first venture together.

It's quite a tricky property for the first go,

so how were they going to sort the layout issues out?

We're thinking we're going to put a corridor through the bedroom

that goes through to where the shower room is.

-And keep the loo downstairs here?

-Yeah, potentially.

We're just debating whether

we actually get rid of the toilet downstairs

and make that a utility room. Or leave it as a toilet downstairs.

-Right.

-And how will you decide?

-THEY LAUGH

-It'll be a debate.

Mark and Pete said it would take 12 weeks to get the house

back on the market, as they plan on selling it on

and starting a new project with their potential profits.

So it's time for us to find out how they've got on.

We're back 15 weeks later and it's as pretty as ever on the outside,

but does it match up on the inside?

This looks so much better.

But there's more to this renovation than good looks.

Mark and Pete have put in a new damp course,

rewired and replastered.

But have they resolved the configuration conundrum upstairs?

Oh, yes! They have. There's a smart new shower room.

And that third room now has its own access.

While some space has been pinched from the bedroom,

I think it's well worth it.

Through newly double-glazed windows, we can see the garden has been

given a makeover too.

It's so much neater now, and you'd be daft not to sprout legs

and take a short walk on over to enjoy it.

Now I am loving the changes,

but I seem to remember that we all agreed that the two separate

reception rooms should have been put together into one.

So what's happened there?

We were going to knock this wall out here.

But when we called a builder in,

he said we'd have to have planning permission to get it done.

Then the cost of it.

So we thought we'd just leave a bit of an archway, an open doorway,

not put a door on there.

Widen the door a little bit, you know, with taking the frame out.

So it made it nice, flowing through from one room to the second.

We didn't think we were going to get any benefit from it.

Mark and Pete have weighed this one up,

and they've decided that spending time on planning permission

and building regs would cost them money and more.

Given their aim was a quick turnaround, that makes sense.

So who did the work?

We had a specialist in to do the central heating,

the plastering, and the electrical side of it.

Everything else that you see has been done by ourselves.

I think the biggest challenge was the floor in the middle room.

We didn't realise when we bought it where all the damp was coming from.

As I say, we had specialists in and they advised us

to rip all the floor up.

Which we did. You know, we did it ourselves and it was hard work.

But nothing's phased us.

Pete was in charge of managing the money for this project.

So has he managed to bring it in under budget?

We set out to spend 10,000,

with a contingency of five.

We've actually come, I think, to the middle. Cos it's £13,467...

and 40p.

Well, look after the pennies

and the pounds will look after themselves, eh?

I think that's a good spend considering the amount of work

that was needed here.

How are Mark and Pete at time management, though?

We are a little bit late at coming back to see the finished article

when they thought it would take 12 weeks.

It's been about 14, 15 weeks.

I think it was just not realising first off how much work

did want doing to it.

We came into it, I would say, not totally blind,

but a little bit blind.

It pushed us over by three weeks or whatever, so not too bad.

I think they've done a really good job.

But what do two local estate agents think of it?

Let's find out.

Well, first impression is - pretty cool, very good, very good.

It basically says, it's that neutral that says, "Come in and live in me."

You know?

I think the main selling point, for me, of a property like this,

in this location, are its neutral decoration,

modern kitchen, modern bathroom. It's nice and warm.

Central heating. PVC double glazing. I think it's absolutely superb.

Very positive feedback there.

But does it mean a good resell value,

which is what Pete and Mark are after?

They've spent nearly £78,500 here.

In the current market, now the property has been renovated,

I would anticipate a sale being achieved

somewhere in the region of £110,000.

I believe,

because of the way that this is presented in such an immaculate

way, that the seller could market this for as high as £118,500.

Yeah, I'd be pleased with that. You know. When we came into it,

we were planning on somewhere not quite there.

-Not towards the top end. But, yeah, it's a good valuation.

-Yeah.

Very good, I think.

It is very good.

That top valuation could mean a potential pre-tax profit of £40,000,

which for a first project is great.

This will certainly give them

enough capital to get on with project number two.

So, what advice would these successful novices pass on?

Have a go at it. You know?

It is hard work, but it can be enjoyable as well.

It's a good experience.

And if you can turn it round and do it well, have a go.

Welcome back to Chatham, in Kent,

where we're here to see what's happened with this three-bed

end-terrace that didn't quite deliver on the promise

of the outside.

Yep, it's in a bit of a state.

You can see, look, somebody has just taken this back to bare brick.

There is rubble on the floor, it's dusty.

But if you are very clever and you see beyond that, you have got

lovely big windows to the front, a really nice square-shaped room.

And I can imagine with a property like this,

you could certainly inject a little bit of character.

Yes, it also needed an injection of cash.

This shop conversion was missing everything,

including the kitchen sink.

With no working kitchen or bathroom,

mortgage lenders would deem it non-habitable.

So, cash required only for this one.

The buyer was Herman, a security manager, who paid 100 grand.

And he seemed pretty laid back that he could do this job himself.

Are you a plasterer? Can you sand floors?

Yeah, sanding is not an issue. I can re-do the stairwell. Plasterboard.

I might need a little bit of help with plastering,

-but I'm going to give it a go.

-How much are you going to spend?

What is your budget for the work?

I was hoping initially between ten and 15 grand.

However, ten grand was a bit... You know, that's not enough.

So maybe 15.

Oh! I don't think that's enough!

Herman certainly had enough on his plate.

His wife, Nadia, was expecting their second son.

So even though he'd hoped to do the work in three to four months' time,

he wasn't in a rush, which is a good thing

as we're back ten months later to see how he's got on.

Well, the sun's out and it's certainly brighter inside.

Before, it was just a shell.

And now there's a lovely, big, family-size dining-kitchen,

and there's more changes upstairs.

Although, I have to admit, looking around the house,

I can see quite a few jobs still to be completed.

But Herman thinks they should all be complete in a few weeks.

# Give me just a little more time... #

We'll give Herman a bit more time and head off to see what he's

done with the unplumbed toilet at the back of the house.

While I was initially locked out of this area when I came to see it,

I think we may have a different access issue this time.

A door for access to the outside? Herman?

This was just an empty room and I decided to have the bathroom here.

I wanted to make it a bit of a feature room.

That's why it's quite big and it's got all the open spaces.

That's why I tiled it all the way up to the ceiling.

Just to give it that wow effect.

And in the end, it came out brilliantly.

I think this is probably my favourite room in the house.

And I really like it. I think it makes an amazing family bathroom.

Well, yes, it certainly takes

Jack and Jill bathrooms to a whole new level.

I would have considered putting up a wall to create a little

hallway to the back door. I mean, it's not very handy

if someone wants to come in the door and, well, you know.

I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

I was worried about Herman's tight budget, and when you don't have a

lot of money, you need to spend every single penny wisely.

So, did he save some by doing all the work himself, as he intended?

In the end, I probably didn't do that much.

I did try, but it's quite hard.

They call them tradesmen for a reason.

I found that out the hard way.

In the end, I got someone to do the plastering, electrician to do

the rewiring, and then just people

to help me with the final bits as well.

It was quite hard.

And I probably did learn a few more skills.

But it was a lot harder than I thought it would be.

And if all that wasn't hard enough, there has, of course,

been another big change.

Well, the newest member of my family, his name's Maximus.

Little baby boy.

He's six months old.

And Alexander, he's two-and-a-half years old.

They really keep me busy.

It's great being a parent, but it's such hard work.

That's how it's taken nine months to complete.

So, in the end, I'm a little bit disappointed it took this long,

but I'm still happy with the final product.

There were also some hidden nasties that put things back too.

There were damp issues caused by the roof and chimney,

so although they are being repaired now,

the water ingress meant the joists in the floor downstairs were rotten.

So they all had to be replaced as well.

This can't have been cheap.

My original budget was about 15,000.

But it's gone up to about 18, 18,500.

In the end, I did go a little bit over budget, but not too much.

So I'm quite pleased with that.

Herman bought the house for £100,000,

so that meant a total investment of £118,500.

And his hope when he began his project was to make

a profit of 20,000.

Let's see if two local estate agents think he's cracked it.

The refurb is a fair refurb. But I think, personally,

I would have changed the front windows

cos it still looks like a shop.

This is a nice, sensibly-sized family home.

Two good-sized bedrooms.

It's obviously been refurbished.

And the bathroom is an exceptionally good size.

The downstairs bathroom isn't an issue, but what is an issue

is that the back door comes out of the bathroom.

I think they would have been far better putting a little lobby there

and keeping the bathroom totally separate.

Herman decided against putting in a corridor upstairs

to give separate access to the third bedroom.

Now, could this be an issue?

I like the bedrooms, the two bedrooms are good sizes.

The third bedroom being off one of the bedrooms may or may not

be an issue for some people.

Although for a family with a young child,

it may actually be an advantage.

Hmm. So a bit of a mixed bag there.

But the house isn't quite finished yet.

What could it be worth when the works are complete?

Once it's absolutely finished and it's looking clean and presentable,

then I'd be looking to put it on the market in the region

of £160,000 to £170,000.

Once finished to a suitable standard,

we would market this property at £175,000.

The second estimate is probably a lot closer to what I would get.

I've already had an offer which matched what the first agent said.

I've learned from past experiences

that being too greedy doesn't pay off.

So I think once you have one in the bag, it's better to go with it.

It may have been an uphill battle,

but having accepted an offer of 160,000 means Herman

will have a pre-tax and fees profit of £41,500,

which he plans on investing in a new project.

Could this eventually become a family business?

'Yeah, of course. Well, my two boys are definitely

'going to play a big part in my life.'

And if I am going to develop a company and grow it,

then I definitely want them to be part of it some day, of course.

Property auctions attract a diverse range of people.

Yes, and we love following their stories.

Yes, and we'll have more of those stories next time for you here

-on Homes Under The Hammer.

-Goodbye.

-Bye.

-Goodbye.