Episode 31 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello and welcome to Scotland and a fairy-tale castle.

You might think buying a property seems like a fairy tale.

But you can possibly make that fairy-tale dream come true by buying your next home under the hammer!

Auctions are full of all kinds of different properties.

They certainly are, Dion.

From mansions to plots of land.

So let's find out what's on offer for today's buyers.

It's cupboard love today on Homes Under The Hammer.

And I'm in Northwich, Cheshire, at this two-bed terraced house.

You've got a bit of folding space there for your clothes.

And in Deal, Kent, we finally return to a former

ambulance station that came with plans for

houses brimming with more of the same.

You've got a cupboard here, a cupboard there...

Well, that's lucky for some,

as the cupboard at this two-bed terrace in Derby is disturbing my chi!

It's the opposite of feng shui, it's like feng rubbish!

First time...

All of these properties have been bought at auction.

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

homes went under the hammer.

It's gone.

No, your TV isn't in black and white.

You're looking at the Cheshire town of Northwich.

The town's salt mining past meant that there were serious issues with subsidence.

So they got around this by using the medieval timber frame method.

This meant that they could have jacking-up points instead of foundations.

So rather than the building falling down when the ground moved,

they could raise the house to make it level.

Or if it was too bad,

they could simply put the building on rollers and change the location.

Now, that's what I call moving house!

The house I'm here to see is on the outskirts of the town centre,

just round the corner from the train station and the A roads will get you

on the motorway networks in no time at all.

And here it is.

It's a two-bed property and has a guide price of £55,000.

Let's take a look.

Oh, I do like this. A bit of space!

Wow, you've got lounge, dining area, all as one.

Looks like it's a working fireplace.

But I would imagine it wasn't built like this years ago,

there would have been two rooms, one there and one there,

would been a wall here and a wall here.

And the stairs would have come from the bottom all the way to the top.

And they've moved the staircase over there and made good use of two rooms.

Bit of an issue here maybe with safety.

And no banister as well, here. Maybe dangerous for children.

But, I like what they've done.

Let's explore a little bit further.

Through into the kitchen, which looks in decent condition.

It might need a bit of a clean-up,

but I think you'd get away with keeping most of it.

You've even got a bit of space underneath these cupboards here for a bit more storage.

Once you've done that, you have yourself a nice kitchen.

But, I've just got to do this.

Wait there.

Let's see what's through the round window!

THEME FROM PLAYSCHOOL

Although it's not a terrible state,

getting this kitchen back to its best won't be child's play.

In fact, I'd toy around with a complete revamp here.

It's certainly a great size and I do like that quirky window.

Time to test those stairs.

And I don't think they're going to meet building regulations.

Let's hope the bedrooms and bathrooms are both OK.

I can see as I come to the top of the stairs, signs of subsidence.

This is bedroom one at the front of the house. It's a decent size.

Nice big window again.

You've got that sink in the corner,

it's not really a modern-day feature.

Let's see what else we can find.

And in here you've got the bathroom,

which doesn't look in too bad condition.

You might get away with resurrecting that and keeping it.

And here you've got the back bedroom which is nice and bright.

Big window looking out onto the back garden.

You've got a bit of folding space there for your clothes and hanging space.

But all in all, it's not too bad up here.

I like the configuration, and the bathroom upstairs.

Billy bonus.

The compromise here is that the bathroom is internal,

which a lot of people won't like.

I must admit, I do prefer a window to an extractor fan.

There's no shower either, so not ideal.

However, this configuration means that the bedroom space hasn't been compromised.

So whoever thought this up didn't have their head in the clouds!

# Little fluffy clouds

# Little fluffy clouds... #

Time to plant our feet firmly on the ground.

So I'm out in the back garden, and normally with houses of this period,

you get a bit of a postage stamp for a back garden.

Not in this case.

This one does stretch some distance and is quite long.

Now, there's decking as well, which looks in good condition.

Bit of a jet wash would tidy this up no problem at all.

You've got a bit of a void here as well,

maybe it was a veggie patch or might have been a pond or something.

But you could actually cover that up, level it out with the decking

and I think you'd have yourself a nice, tidy, back garden.

Before you give this place your stamp of approval,

there is something I haven't owned up to yet.

Northwich has a proud history of salt mining, but that has come at a cost.

The properties here are prone to subsidence due to the coverings below ground.

Now, I've built myself a bit of a plumb line here with some string

and some keys.

I'm just going to show you, give you an example of how the property has moved.

I'll just drop that down.

Hold it against a wall.

And you can see there's a little bit of movement.

# I've got the key

# I've got the secret

# I've got the key to another way... #

The doorframe looks pretty off as well.

But, of course, houses move or settle for lots of reasons.

Now, a structural engineer can do a more scientific test than mine,

but it's just something to be aware of.

An agent from the auctioneers who sold it came round to give us his key points.

Historically, there has been salt mining in the area.

That is now finished quite a long, long time ago.

And there has been residual movement of certain areas,

small pockets of Northwich, due to this.

You would find out about the previous mining with a solicitor,

who will do a brine search.

What's a brine search?

Well, one method of extracting salt is a process called brine pumping.

In the '50s, a compensation scheme was set up called the Cheshire Brine

Subsidence Compensation Board.

A solicitor can check the Brine Board's records to see if the property is affected.

Assuming all is well,

it would appear that there is very good reason for you preserving

your stake in this area.

The town centre is undergoing quite a regeneration programme with

considerable investment in the town centre itself to utilise more use of the river frontage.

If you did want to sell this house, once renovated,

the agent's opinion is that it would sell for around £95,000.

But that regeneration sounds pretty tempting,

so what could the rentals be?

Once the property has been refurbished,

I would expect this property to achieve comfortably £525 per calendar month.

Dependent on the quality of the final fittings,

it could even achieve as much as £540 per calendar month.

This used to be a standard two-up two-down terraced house.

But somebody has taken the time to reconfigure it and bring it into the 21st century.

It does need a bit of TLC, though, to bring it back to its best.

Let's see who wanted it when it went to auction.

43. 50 to start.

50 bid, thank you. At £50,000.

I'm going once on this.

Bid is at 50.

Looking for 51.

52. 53.

54. 55.

56 anywhere else?

If not, £55,000.

56.

57.

58.

59, seated now.

60. 61.

No? At 61, in the aisle then at £61,000.

62 anywhere else?

At £61,000 then for the first time.

At £61,000...

62. 63.

64. 65.

Sure? 65 then, in the aisle at the back.

At £65,000 then for the first time.

At £65,000 for the second time.

Third and final time at £65,000.

Your lot, sir, well done.

The successful bidder who paid 65 grand for this house was joiner Will,

who went to the auction with his dad, Steve.

This was the second property in ten days that Will had bought.

He wasn't hanging around.

I met him back at the house to find out what his plans were and why he was so keen.

Really nice to meet you, congratulations.

-Thank you.

-I do like this property very much.

What enticed you into it?

Just the opportunity to move on from what I'm doing beforehand,

just doing joinery day in day out,

I don't want to keep up with it when I'm 60.

-You've got a long way yet!

-I know,

but if I don't sort a retirement idea out sooner or later,

I'll soon be trying to cut and fit doors when I've got a walking stick

in one hand and a saw in the other.

So when you actually saw this one,

what was it that you said, I can do this to this, I can do that to it?

Did you think about changing it, or...?

The layout is going to just stay the same.

-Yes.

-The bathroom will be taken out.

There's no shower in there.

There was a shower screen, there's a bath with like a shower thing in it,

which you probably just use to wash your hair.

Do you remember washing your hair?

It was a while ago, to be fair. I did have a little bit of a baby Afro.

-Oh, yeah, yes.

-Many years ago.

-I like it.

-Washed it now and again, thought,

-too much like hard work...

-Shave it off?

-Get it off.

-Yeah.

-Thanks for that, Will.

-Yeah.

-We were close before, but now...

-Yeah, I'll step back a bit.

-So you're going to change it completely?

-Yeah, mainly decor and things like that.

The soffits and fascias outside, nice shade of teal.

So, yeah. But, yeah, this will all be stripped out.

I've got a tenant lined up for it and

as soon as he said about

coming back from Australia and said he needed a place to live,

I showed him the house and he went online and looked at it and said,

can we get rid of the wallpaper?

-And I said, yeah, that's fine.

-So is it a mate of yours?

Yeah, I played rugby with him for years.

So... Although he is better than me.

It pains me to say.

-Don't tell him that, please don't tell him.

-He'll never find out.

I think the cat is well and truly out of the bag, mate.

Will is going for a conversion of this property,

and although he's only 32,

he's got 11 plus years in the trade and he's got plenty of mates who

will come together and tackle all the other work.

Did you read the legal pack, anything in the legal pack?

Oh, yeah, I downloaded the legal pack and anything I wasn't sure of,

I just sent it over to a friend of my sister's, Kirsty,

who is a solicitor.

She just said it cannot be used for brewing alcohol.

So that was in the legal part.

-It's out then, isn't it?

-Yeah, yeah. So, yeah.

Anything in the legal pack about the salt mining issue at all?

If you look at a map from above, there's red rings and the further out you go,

the less likely they're supposed to be.

And this house is about 50 metres outside of the last ring.

-OK.

-So it tends to be you should be OK.

I mean, they've been here for so long,

the chances are that it's not going to affect it now.

So how much are you hoping to spend and get all the work done?

Probably maybe four...

-Four-grand budget?

-Yeah, about four, four and a half, around that.

-Everything?

-Maybe a bit more.

And what about time scale? Four grand-ish.

-What about time scale?

-Timescale,

well, Chris comes back from Australia in about eight weeks.

-OK.

-So...

he gets back and then we go on a rugby tour and then he comes back

and that's when he's said he'll move in.

But if it's ready beforehand, he'll move in.

He even said if it's not ready, because he's an electrician,

he'll help and get it ready to...

-There you go.

-But I said he's not having any discount on the rent for that.

There's your labour, get him over early.

-Yeah, I'll get him here now.

-Ready to get stuff started?

Yeah, ready to roll my sleeves up and get stuck into it, basically.

-You haven't got any sleeves on.

-No.

-But that's because you're a rugby player.

-Yeah.

And you're a lot stronger and tougher than me.

-Yeah.

-Good luck, Will.

-Thank you very much.

-Hope it works out, mate, I really do.

I do like Will. Confident young lad,

knows what he wants to achieve and anybody that goes to the auction house

and buys two properties in ten days will have a few issues to tackle,

but I think he'll be fine. He's used to that.

You can find out how he gets on later in the programme.

Back now to Deal on the Kent coast, where in 2013,

I first saw this row of garages,

large storage unit and a rundown St John's ambulance headquarters,

which was beyond resuscitation.

So what are we looking at?

A building plot, of course!

Which had a guide price of £100-£105,000.

Walking around the plot,

it unfolded as an L-shape with two road access points.

One on the main street and the other at the side.

Good news.

But not so good news for the existing buildings.

They would all clearly have to be the casualties here.

# Doctor, doctor

# Can't you see I'm burnin' burnin'? #

So what was the plan to replace this assortment of broken-down buildings?

The planning permission is for a row of three three-bedroom terraces

and one detached two-bedroom house.

Now, the reason you have this slightly odd arrangement

is the shape of the plot, which is a dogleg,

so the terraces go along that side and the detached sneaks in along the back here.

Now, the designs themselves are actually very nice.

I love the layout downstairs, you've got a nice big lounge,

then a kitchen and the back with a dining area and I really like that.

You've got a cupboard here, a cupboard there. Nice and practical, actually.

So, if new-builds floated your boat back in 2013,

this site seemed perfect.

It's in a residential area and ideal for development.

If you could only get it for the right...deal.

It's the former St John's premises

and garages and it's got

the planning for the redevelopment

for the terrace of three and the detached house.

So we're going to say £100,000 for it.

£100,000, where's my builders?

£100,000, can I say?

Give me 90, then. Start me at £90,000.

90, I'm bid.

95 bid I have, £100,000 I'm bid.

105 now, if you like.

At £100,000, 105 right at the back, I've got.

108. 110 is standing at the back.

110. Can I see 110?

And 12, and 14?

And 14?

114. And 16?

Now there was a lot of interest in the plot pushing the bids up to

142,000, where we rejoin.

142 and four and six.

146 and eight and 50.

150, and two and four.

And six. And eight.

158? No.

At £156,000 I've got - 158 anywhere else?

If not, at £156,000 for the first time,

156 for the second time,

third and final time at £156,000,

Well done, madam. You stuck with it and you got it.

Sticking to the end was Tracy with her builder, Paul.

That successful bid of £156,000

smashed the guide price by more than 50 grand.

Tracy has been on the show before with her business partner Martin.

Back then, they had 21 rental properties and although they ran the

property business together,

Tracy also worked for Martin in his full-time role as a criminal lawyer.

Tracy had worked for him for over 20 years.

MUSIC: Nine To Five by Dolly Parton

Tracy, we meet again!

-Hello.

-I think it was 2008, the last time we met.

That's right, in Dover.

So have you been property developing ever since?

Back in that time, we'd done a bit of renovation work, but since then,

we've been doing new-build properties, building flats around Dover.

Now, the thing that took my eye about this plot is the planning that comes with it.

You've got a really nice house at the back,

a nice big detached house and three nice houses that sit in the front.

Is that something, or WAS that something that particularly appealed

-to you with this?

-We like the idea that it's got planning on it,

but it wouldn't appeal to us to have that particular planning on it,

because we tend to specialise in building flats,

because we don't sell our properties on,

we deal with the rental market

and we find that the rental return on flats

is much better than it is on houses.

So you're not going to go with the plans that come with this site?

No, we've already spoken to an architect and he's drafted plans

with potential of nine flats on the site.

Wow, that's incredible.

I'm stunned actually that you're not going to go with the plans that were

here, cos I actually thought, looking at them,

they were quite good and they'd really been thought about.

Well, they had. And if you were selling the properties,

then that'd probably be the way forward.

But if you want a good rental return on what you're building on the site,

then to build two-bedroom flats in Deal,

it's a very sought after rental area here.

Tracy clearly knew her stuff.

But we knew that changing plans can not only be time-consuming,

but budget consuming, too.

So getting the planners involved at the earliest possible opportunity

is what I always advise.

So, have you spoken to the planners?

Have they given you any indication whether they'll pass

something like this?

The architects had an initial chat with the person from the council

and it's looking very hopeful that they will agree the new plans.

How much would it cost to build what you're looking to do on this site?

Generally speaking, we estimate about £70,000 per unit.

-OK.

-So we've got two separate units - phase one and phase two.

Phase one of the five units,

you'd be looking at about £350,000

and the second of the four units, that's about £280,000.

Wow!

Ready for some 2013 figures?

Well, based on our research at the time,

rental rates on Tracy's projected total costs gave a yield

of nearly 9%. They say there's no room for sentiment in business.

But Tracy had discovered, by a twist of fate,

that this development was personal.

Well, I grew up in the north end of Deal,

so I was fairly familiar with this end of Deal,

and it was only after I bought this place at the auction

and I was telling my family about it,

that I found out my parents had their wedding reception here,

-back in 1968.

-That is amazing,

to think that once upon a time they sat in here

having a wedding reception, and now you're going to knock it down!

How do they feel about that?

I did ask if they wanted to come and have one final look down...

for old times' sake,

but they said it was pretty grotty back in 1968

and it wouldn't have improved since then!

And now you're about to improve it completely.

The best thing we can do with this is knock it down.

How long do you think it will be before this development is finished?

I would think it would be about 20 weeks

until we've got the plans and we are in a position to proceed

and then phase one, I would think,

is about six months, 26 weeks, and similar or less for phase two.

-Well, good luck.

-Thank you.

-It's going to be really exciting

coming back and seeing this not being here,

and a lovely block of flats in its place.

Good luck with the project and hopefully it won't be so long

-next time I see you.

-Thanks very much.

-Thank you.

We returned to the site in November 2014,

more than double the time that Tracy and Martin thought it would take.

Apart from boarding up, there had been little progress on the project.

We hope to have planning by the end of January of 2014.

That didn't happen.

And the date was extended and extended

and then the local planning authority said

they wanted a viability survey carried out,

which was at our expense, and that led to discussions then

about a payment which eventually emerged

and was agreed as a figure of £20,000.

So, that was agreed in May,

so we thought we'd have the planning very shortly after that

but it wasn't in fact until October that...October 2014,

that planning was finally granted to us.

But would it be worth the wait?

Tracy and Martin's original plans were for nine flats,

but their architect had suggested

this could be increased to ten flats.

Back at the office, Tracy took us through the plans.

# Everybody's gotta have plans

# She said everybody's gotta have plans... #

So, looking at the plans now,

we've got the driveway through the front of the property

under the archway to the rear of the property.

On the ground floor we've got three two-bedroomed flats.

When we move up to the first floor,

we've got three two-bedroomed flats and a one-bedroom flat.

Moving to the second floor, which is effectively the loft area,

there's a large three-bedroom flat

with one very large bedroom with an en suite

and two separate double bedrooms with a shared bathroom.

All the property has got lounge-diners

as an open space, and separately,

there's a stand-alone two-floor, two-bedroom unit.

Once upon a time, you could assume, rightly,

that you would receive rich rewards with a project like this.

But after all these trials, would this project leave developers

Martin and Tracy happy ever after?

You can find out later on in the programme.

# In the land of make believe... #

Still to come, in our two-bed terrace in Derby,

there will be no cries of, "Timber!"

So, you might think, out with the chainsaw, here we go.

Back in Kent, we find out if Tracy and Martin finally cut the ribbon

on their development of flats, which has been three years in the making.

Time to go back to Northwich in Cheshire

to see what happened to that two-bed terraced house which had a nice,

big open-plan living room and a decent-size kitchen.

It might need a bit of a clean-up,

but I'd think you'd get away with keeping most of it.

But I've just got to do this. Wait there.

Let's see what's through the round window!

What also got the thumbs-up were two decent-sized bedrooms.

Thanks to the staircase having already been moved,

although I didn't think it was going to pass building regulations.

But rugby playing joiner Will thought this place was worth a try.

And I think he's scored with this 65 grand purchase.

He was ready to tackle that staircase himself,

and he also planned to convert the bathroom

into something more user-friendly.

The bathroom will be taken out.

There's no shower in there, there was a shower screen,

there's a bath with a shower thing

which you'd just use to wash your hair.

-Do you remember washing your hair?!

-It was a while ago, to be fair!

-To be fair, I did have a little baby Afro, many years ago.

-Yeah.

Washed it again and I thought, too much like hard work.

-Shave it off.

-Get it off!

-Yeah.

I do shave, from choice, Will!

Anyway, you said two-and-a-half months.

It's been just over a year, and we're back.

The outside looks much smarter.

New guttering and new door and some work around the windows

are a vast improvement.

But has rugby player Will got it match fit and ready for selection?

Well, Will, you have scored a great try here

and a great conversion, to boot.

In the living room, the old stairs wouldn't have passed building regs.

So to keep things above board here,

Will boxed them in and added a cupboard underneath the stairs,

just for a bit of storage. The handrail will go on

once the new tenants have moved in their furniture.

Now, I was warned

that the round window that I loved had been taken out.

But they haven't taken it out.

They've replaced it with a brand-new version.

What a result. And the new kitchen looks pretty smart, too.

Upstairs in the bathroom, things remain largely the same.

Although now, you can have a shower and wash your hair at the same time.

If you've got any! And if you thought the work in the bedroom

seemed simple enough, think again.

The biggest issue we had was a patch of damp coming through on the wall.

I realised there was a couple of weeds growing out of the brickwork,

so we got up on the roof at the back to repair it, and,

in pulling the plant out, it was like taking a plug out of a bath.

It just let the water come into the house a lot easier and quicker.

So we had to re-point up the back of the house

and then, while we were up there, we realised the roof over the extension

was on its last legs, really,

so we re-insulated the whole of the extension,

and felt and battened it and got all the roof redone.

Will has been lucky enough to have a bit of help from his dad, Steve.

Together, they have moved loads of rubbish and rubble

from the back garden and now it looks...

bang on.

However, Will found his ambitious,

two-month timescale going a bit pear shaped,

as he had another project to work on, which did come first.

We basically packed the van up, came here and just started here,

so, from starting here, I was then working through winter,

where my own business was a lot busier,

so my time that I had to get here was a bit more constrained.

So it still took the same amount of hours.

I just couldn't get here as often as I would have liked to have done.

I'm really pleased with the finished product,

considering the money that was spent and the time we put in it.

I'm emotionally drained and I'm shattered after doing it,

and if anyone is thinking of doing it and thinks,

if you watch the show and think, "This is easy," it really is not.

It really is hard work.

Wise words, Will!

It's a lot harder than it looks.

And another thing people find hard

is setting the right budget and sticking to it.

Will thought he would spend £4,500. So...?

To do the work on the house has probably cost about £4,500.

Including the legal fees, mortgage payments and insurance,

we're probably pushing up to around six, seven.

So it's still been a low turnover.

But I'm doing the house up to rent out,

so you can't get carried away, you've just got to be realistic.

Inside, I always knew it would look like this,

because that's how I planned it.

Outside, I never thought I'd get the garden to look how it does

and you always need to work on kerb appeal at the front of the house,

cos when people are online, looking for somewhere to rent,

you've got seconds to grab their attention,

when they're scrolling past terraced house after terraced house.

And all of a sudden, you see one with a nice, new front door

and a new little roof over the bay window,

new gutters and facias, and that's all it needs,

and then they click on it, and once they're inside,

they can see that everything's finished.

But will it catch the eye of two local estate agents?

I wonder what their first impressions are.

It's nice. The bathroom being upstairs is a massive advantage.

A lot of the properties around this area have a downstairs bathroom.

Downstairs layout - nice, big room. Yes, it's a nice property.

I think the way the spec's been done, it's a very good job.

I think the garden's a real selling point.

So it's a score on the first impression front.

But with Will's mate Chris still potentially moving in,

let's find out the agents' rental valuations

and if they match Will's plans.

I would expect this property to achieve on the rental market

between £550 and £575 per calendar month.

My estimated rental valuation would be £595 per calendar month.

Yeah, that's above what I was going to ask anyway,

but this house is bigger than the previous house that we bought,

which we're charging £525 for, so I'm pleased with those figures.

If Will changed that top valuation to £595,

he could be in for a yield of nearly 10%.

And while he's not planning to sell,

the agents thought that he could achieve £100,000.

A potential profit of around 28 grand, minus taxes and usual fees.

So, a good result, but clearly, it's been tough.

What has he learned from this project?

The biggest thing I've learned is trying to balance your time with family life,

but, over the whole period of it,

I promised my wife I wouldn't work Sundays,

so we could have a bit of family time,

and we've got a baby due in July,

so my wife's 29 weeks pregnant at the moment so she's desperate for me

to get this finished so that we can have a bit more time at home

and get the house ready for the baby that's on the way.

Best wishes for the baby's arrival, both to you and Danielle.

However, if Will's friend Chris moves in,

they won't be wetting the baby's head with home-made brew.

In the legal pack, it states that you cannot brew alcohol in this property.

So I'm just going to have to tell him that,

that he can't take up that hobby.

See? What do we always tell you?

You must always read the legal pack.

Cheers!

-# California...

-#

Not a palm tree in sight. But this really is California.

California, Derby, that is.

An area that first appeared on the map in the 1880s.

We'll be hoping for something of a gold rush with today's auction lot.

Well, it may be known as California,

but most people call it the West End.

And a very popular area it is, too, especially with students.

So, student market straight in the mind there -

renting out a possibility.

Especially when you think about the guide price -

£46,000 plus, for a two-bed mid-terrace.

Mm-hm!

So, a very standard layout with this one.

Through the front door into your front lounge.

Obviously an open fire at some point.

There's a gas fire or an electric fire there.

That needs to be checked out, for sure.

And put something dramatic there, it'd be really lovely.

A nice, welcoming feature.

There's obviously central heating

although the radiators look quite old,

so you'd definitely want to have that checked out as well.

And there's just a general feeling

that the house is in need of some updating.

The fireplace has been taken out there, in this rear room.

Which probably would have been the kitchen at some point in the property's life,

but, as many of these properties have had over the years,

probably an extension here to create the kitchen area right at the back.

No loo so far. Well, that's good news

cos there can only be one place where it is and that's upstairs.

Well, I suppose it could be in the garden, but unlikely!

-# Toodle-oo to you...

-#

Well, an alfresco toilet may be the least of the issues here.

You'll need new decor, a new kitchen

and, at the back of the property,

a lean-to area that I think you need to lose.

Speaking of "loos", let's take a look upstairs for that bathroom.

Well, as predicted and suggested,

the bathroom is exactly where you'd want it to be, upstairs.

And it's a good size, so double thumbs up.

Well, not quite because you have to access it

through the second bedroom, so that isn't ideal, is it?

It's an en suite to this bedroom, almost,

but it's a family home, it just doesn't work.

There is, of course, an easy solution.

You build a stud partition here

and you put a separate door into that room there.

You are obviously going to lose that space, but then, at least,

people can easily access that bathroom.

But while I'm in here, look at this!

What a great bit of design this is.

You've got this huge cupboard blocking the light from this window.

It's like the opposite of feng shui, it's like feng rubbish!

Anyway, that needs to come out and that would give, again,

the room a really nice feel.

There's lots to do with this house, but you know what?

I think it's worth doing.

Feng rubbish?!

Somehow, I don't think that style of design will ever take off!

And the chi is somewhat off in the other bedroom, too.

Upstairs in general needs some serious reconfiguring.

Much like the back garden.

Well, at the back of the property,

a little courtyard and then

two really potentially huge problems for such a small space.

One is that tree.

It totally dominates the space here.

So you might think, well, out with the chainsaw, here we go.

Hmm. First of all, you've got to check that any large tree

doesn't have what's called a tree preservation order on it.

Cos if you touch a tree that's got one of those,

you're in big trouble.

So, first of all, you need to check whether or not it has one of those,

then you can decide what you're going to do with it.

That's the first issue. The second issue is this.

It's a shed. What could be the problem there?

Well, actually, it's the roof.

Look at that corrugated material.

My guess is that that is asbestos.

It has to be taken away by a specialist contractor

who will treat it with the care it deserves.

Who would have thought such a small space

could throw up such big problems?

# Don't cut me down

# Don't set me free

# Don't walk away Don't let me be... #

Just make sure to check with your local council

that any tree is not covered by a TPO.

Meanwhile, we're going to check out this property

with an agent from the auctioneers who sold the house,

guided at £46,000.

There is some work needed to the roof.

The soffits and fascias need to be treated.

There will be some damp and timber work to be done

and it certainly needs a kitchen and bathroom.

I would think, to get this property up to a good standard,

you would need a budget somewhere in the region of £15,000.

15 grand on top of the £46,000 guide price

would mean a total outlay of £61,000.

So, could you see a return on the sales and rental markets?

If this property were renovated to a good standard,

I would expect it to achieve £95,000 on today's sales market.

I would anticipate it to achieve somewhere in the region

of £500 per calendar month.

Wow! So, potentially a £34,000 profit

or a 10% yield in a popular rental area.

You could be California Dreaming of a good profit here!

Well, some work to be done, not least with the internal layout

and some unanswered questions in terms of roofs and trees,

but apart from that, it is still an attractive property

in a popular location for a very good guide price.

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

Lot number two, who's got 50,000?

50,000? 45, then, to put it into the bidding, thank you.

£45,000 is the start.

46 is bid.

At 46, 47, at 47, 48.

At 48. 49.

49, 50,000.

At 50. 51. 52. 53.

54. 55.

56. 57.

I've got two of you at 58. Are you going to separate them, sir?

59. At 59.

60, one of you?

60, identical.

61, thank you. 61.

62 at the back.

62. 63, a new bidder here.

At 63, 64?

64.

At 64,000.

Five, Sir? 65.

Bid's right at the back at 65,000.

We're going to sell at £65,000.

Once.

66. 67?

500?

66,500.

The same, no?

At £66,500 once,

twice, third chance?

Sold at the back at £66,500, thank you.

And that nerve-racking auction ended with Paul's £66,500 bid.

£20,000 over the guide price.

He came along to tell me about the auction experience

and his plans for the property.

Paul, good to meet you.

-Good to meet you.

-Congratulations.

Tell me why you wanted to buy this house.

I've always wanted to do a house up to sell on, really.

-Right.

-I've done one previously before, which I rent out.

Really enjoyed it,

and it's something I'm really looking forward to doing.

So what is it that you enjoyed so much?

Doing something different than electrical work.

I'm an electrician by trade.

-Right.

-But I enjoy doing the general building work as well.

-So...

-But you're actually qualified to do wiring on houses?

-Yes, I am.

-Oh, that's very convenient, then, isn't it?

-It is, yeah.

-Great.

So what was it that made you want to buy this house?

To be honest, it was the guide price, really.

I thought, if I could get it as close as I could to the guide price,

there's potential to make a bit of money on it.

-So...

-You paid a little bit above the guide price, didn't you?

-Yes, I did.

-20-odd thousand.

-A bit of auction fever, I suppose.

-Was that your last bid?

-Were you going to carry on?

-No, I wasn't going to carry on, no.

-I'd set myself a limit of £65,000.

-Right.

It went for £66,500.

-So...

-What are you going to do to sort it out, then?

It needs a new bathroom, kitchen,

windows, general decorating everywhere.

Obviously, it needs rewiring.

So, pretty much the main things you'd expect from modernising.

Any plans to change the internal layout at all?

Yes, I am. In the upstairs bedroom, currently,

you have to walk through the bedroom to get to the bathroom.

Erect a corridor in there.

It will make the bedroom slightly smaller, but it's more practical.

What about downstairs here?

Any plans? There's this strange little lean-to out the back.

Yes, it's falling to pieces anyway. It's got to come down.

And perhaps put a little wall in between the next-door neighbour's.

There's currently part of one anyway.

Then sort of open all of that area up.

Being an electrician will save Paul plenty,

and he plans to do most of the other work himself.

But he'll still need to find cash

for a gas engineer to check the boiler and a plasterer.

So what's the budget going to be?

I've set myself a budget of £10,000.

-OK.

-Obviously, I'm hoping to spend less than that

by doing most of it myself, so...

And the time scale?

-Three months.

-OK.

So, are you doing it in the evenings, weekends, or what?

Well, the work I do currently, I tend to not have much work around,

December, January time.

-OK...

-So that should give me plenty of time to do some full days on it.

-Right.

-But, other than that, it'll be nights, evenings and weekends.

One issue that was flagged up is the tree at the back.

Do you know anything about that?

I just know that it takes up most of the garden.

Do you know if it's got a preservation order on it or anything like that?

There was nothing in the legal pack that mentioned the tree.

-So what are you going to do with it?

-First of all,

I'm going to have the lower branches taken down,

just to see what it looks like.

Just tidying it up, really.

So, what about the shed? I was a bit concerned about

whether that might contain asbestos.

-I've found that it does.

-Oh, right.

A friend of mine has had it sampled.

And it does contain asbestos,

so I've got to get a specialist contractor to remove it.

And once it's done, the plan is to sell it on?

-Yes, it is, yeah.

-What kind of profit are you hoping to make?

-£10,000 on it.

-If it does that for you, then you're happy with that?

-Yes, I'll be well happy with that.

-And move on to the next one.

-Yeah.

Well, listen, congratulations, good luck. We'll see how you get on.

Thank you.

Well, lots of work to be done, but Paul doesn't seem too fazed by it.

One unknown sorted.

Yes, the shed does have asbestos.

The other, when it comes to the tree,

well, I think some more investigation is required.

Will this turn out to be a Californian dream for Paul,

or a nightmare? You can find out later in the show.

Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, well,

a plan just won't come together.

How many property projects become derailed?

-Oh, quite a few.

-Yes, time, money, life just gets in the way.

But how did our next two buyers get on? Let's find out.

We'd already been back to Deal on the Kent coast

to track the progress of the former

St John's Ambulance station and surrounding land.

The plot was auctioned with planning permission for four houses.

But the company who purchased the lot, represented by Tracy,

weren't keen on the existing plans.

We like the idea that it's got planning on it,

but it wouldn't appeal to us to have that particular planning on it

because we tend to specialise in building flats,

because we don't sell our properties on - we deal in the rental market.

Tracy and her partner Martin submitted plans for ten flats

in December 2013, hoping for a relatively quick turnaround, but...?

Then the local planning authority said they wanted

a viability survey carried out, which was at our expense.

Martin and Tracy then engaged an independent assessor

to do the viability study,

and a planning advisor to ease the flow through planning.

So we thought we'd have the planning very shortly after that,

but it wasn't in fact until October 2014

that planning was finally granted to us.

With that permission finally coming through when we met up with them

again, it had by that time taken 14 months,

and we all know that, before a brick can be laid...

# Everybody's gotta have plans... #

To see if the plans have turned into a reality,

one year, five months and eight days since we last visited,

we're back.

Construction is almost complete,

with block A containing eight flats and block B containing

a two-bedroom flat upstairs and another one downstairs.

# I got friends

# I got family here... #

The buildings tie in with the company's signature style

of yellow bricks, black-tiled roofs and red brick

which illustrates where one dwelling ends and another begins.

It's taken a great deal of tenacity and vision

to develop this troublesome site.

# When the water is too deep to swim

# We still swim... #

The site's side entrance is also much improved.

# I got friends

# I got family here... #

Let's start at the top of block A,

and the only three-bedroom penthouse flat.

There are en-suite facilities in one of the three bedrooms.

There are six two-bedroom apartments in block A,

three on the ground floor and three on the first floor.

This is a typical example.

# I got friends

# And I got family here. #

So, how do Tracy and Martin feel to finally have it almost finished?

It's been a very interesting project.

We've built a building which has

concrete floors on the basis that it's a build to rent property,

we intend to keep the property and rent out over many years.

The noise levels should be well contained

as a result of there being concrete floors.

And we feel that's going to be much easier to manage,

so far as tenants are concerned.

In respect of the roof,

because we've built this penthouse suite into the roof,

it's contained a considerable amount of steel

and the roof itself, the woodwork into the roof,

was really quite complicated to do,

and we're really pleased with the result.

That sounds expensive.

And for a project that has taken almost three years,

how are the finances bearing up?

Before we started on build costs,

we'd got to a figure of approximately £200,000.

We agreed build costs totalling £804,000.

And then the finance for the bank

has been about £40,000 to get to this stage.

And that includes the legal costs, the build costs in total,

interest to the bank, solicitors' fees.

The land was purchased at auction for what seemed

a relatively small sum of 156,000 grand.

But by the time all the planning issues were solved,

that became £200,000.

Now, the £804,000 not only covered building costs,

but, among other things, clearing the site and installing utilities.

All in all, a whacking grand total of £1,044,000.

But don't forget that there are ten flats and Tracy has a favourite.

The one-bedroom flat is probably my favourite one in the block.

It's very light, airy,

it's got beautiful Juliet balconies with a very nice view

and the sun comes in there in the morning.

A sunny outlook regarding prices of fixtures and fittings

is also evident throughout the development,

as the same tiles, kitchen units

and bathroom furniture have been used throughout,

enabling a bulk purchase.

Pardon the pun, Deal price to be obtained!

Martin and Tracy have been in regular contact with the site,

although not directly project managing themselves.

The work's been carried out by our builder, Paul.

We had an agreement with him at the outset

whereby he would be doing the on-site project managing.

Some of the project managing so far as the bank's surveyor was concerned

was carried out by way of a desktop arrangement,

so we would come down and take the photographs

and supply them to the bank and the bank's surveyor.

Tracy and Martin have been getting regular valuations

at various stages of the build.

An agent from the company they have chosen to market the properties

agreed to give us his current valuations.

We know the intention has always been to rent.

But, if they did want to sell now, would they make a profit?

I'd put the one-bedroom on at £120,000,

the two-bedroom at £130,000

and the three-bedroom at £140,000.

Going by those figures,

that would make all ten properties worth a total of £1.3 million.

Their total spend on this project is £1,044,000.

So that's a potential profit of £256,000.

But it's the rental values that matter most to Tracy and Martin.

They would range between £575 per calendar month

and £725 per calendar month.

Which is much in line with what Tracy and Martin are getting.

They have the one-bed rented at the low end, at £575 per month,

six two-beds at £650 per month,

and the biggest flat at £725 per month.

Across all the flats, that would mean an income of £6,600 per month,

or a yield of nearly 7.5%.

So how do Tracy and Martin feel

the project has gone after all this time?

Well, I'm really pleased with the outcome.

I'm really pleased with the finished product.

The fact that they were rented out immediately,

the moment we advertised them,

including the two that aren't quite finished yet.

Martin and Tracy have done well on this project,

even though it did take them three years to complete,

but the world of property development is an uncertain one.

So would they buy at auction again?

We may be now quite close to the top.

It's difficult to know where property prices are going to go.

There's been pressure on the buy-to-let market.

As a result of that, it may be that we are close

to the top of the cycle.

And if we are, then it may not be the best time to buy at auction.

I hope that's not the case, Martin.

We'd love to have you both back on the show again soon.

# California... #

We're heading back to California -

California, Derby, that is -

where I saw a classic two-up two-down

that was very tired and dated,

but it did have an upstairs bathroom.

So, good news, right?

Well, not quite, because you have to access it through the second bedroom.

So that isn't ideal, is it?

What also wasn't ideal was this large tree in the back garden,

taking up most of the outside space

and a shed with a potentially dangerous asbestos roof,

which would need to be removed by professionals.

Someone who wasn't put off was Paul,

who spent £66,500 on this at auction.

He's an electrician by trade and that certainly sparked my interest

on how he was going to add

a little bit of Californian sunshine to this house.

It needs a new bathroom, kitchen, windows,

general decorating everywhere.

Obviously it needs rewiring.

So pretty much the main things you'd expect from modernising.

Any plans to sort of change the internal layout at all?

Yes, I am. In the upstairs bedroom,

currently you have to walk through the bedroom to get to the bathroom.

Erect a corridor in there.

It will make the bedroom slightly smaller, but it's more practical.

Paul thought he would be done in three months,

but it's now been six months, so how has he got on?

New doors and windows are a welcome sign,

but inside, has Paul managed to sort out that upstairs layout?

# I've found a new way

# I've found a new way... #

He has indeed.

This corridor is a new way to a fresh and reasonably sized bathroom.

# I've found a new way, baby! #

Yes, it is at the expense of some space in the second bedroom,

but I think it's a sacrifice worth making.

Downstairs in the living room,

things were even worse than they seemed on the surface.

Once Paul pulled up the old carpets,

he discovered that the floorboards were rotten

and that rising damp was the cause.

So, a full damp-proof course and new floorboards were required here.

The changes in the kitchen are also pretty impressive.

The doorway was widened,

and this really helps make the space feel much more open and bright.

And, as you can probably tell,

that rotten old lean-to is, thankfully, gone.

Out here, the issues were a big tree and that shed with an asbestos roof,

which are always a potential hazard if in disrepair.

Paul got a specialist contractor in to take the shed away

and, as planned, he has trimmed the tree,

so there's more space and light in the garden.

I'd still keep my eye open

for any damage being caused to paths and drains,

but this is a vast improvement.

So much work has happened here,

and Paul had hoped to get it all done for £10,000.

Has he managed to keep to that budget?

I've spent £10,500.

In total. But that's obviously with doing most of the work myself.

I basically worked evenings and weekends

in order to get it complete.

I've enjoyed doing the work.

I find it a challenge.

Doing something other than electrical work is quite refreshing.

Much like the rest of the house, then,

every surface has been refreshed all right.

It may have taken Paul six months

rather than the three he had planned,

but he has had to do a lot more than he first thought.

The biggest challenge was we had to replace all the plaster

on all the walls, upstairs and downstairs.

While I was stripping the wallpaper,

large chunks of plaster were coming off the wall,

so we knew that we had to remove it all.

I'm pleased with the finish.

It's taken a lot of hard work but I think it's all worth it in the end.

Well, Paul really has got a lot out of this project,

but has it been worth it financially?

Will two property experts we ask along

be impressed by Paul's hard work?

First an agent from the auctioneers who sold it.

My thoughts on the property, coming back today,

are that an excellent job's been made.

I think it's great, the way that it's presented.

Modern kitchen, modern bathroom.

It's truly wonderful throughout.

The standard of finish, I've had a look round and it is nicely done.

Neutral colours, attention to detail, the finish is good.

And, yeah, prime property.

So, there you are, Paul. Nice feedback on all your efforts.

And what about those layout changes?

I think the new layout changes upstairs are exactly what was needed -

to create the passage through to the bathroom,

without having to go through the second bedroom,

is really what people are looking for, for modern occupation.

Paul plans to sell the house on to fund his next project,

and he said he was hoping to make at least ten grand profit.

So, has he?

He bought the two-bedroom house for £66,500

and has spent £10,500, a total of £77,000.

So what could it sell for?

I think, with how the property's been done up,

we would look to achieve a price in the region of

between £95,000 and £100,000.

On the resale market, in its current condition,

I would anticipate a sale being achieved of somewhere

in the region of £100,000.

Wow! It's taken six months hard graft,

but he could potentially realise a profit of £25,000,

before taxes and expenses.

I'm quite pleased with that.

That's sort of what I was looking to achieve.

So it's round about the figure I thought it would be worth anyway.

I'd like to buy another property to do it up.

I've really enjoyed this project and I'd like to do another one.

This hasn't exactly been an easy project,

and Paul faced some unexpected hassles,

so when he comes to buy that next property,

what lessons will he take from this one before

sticking his hand up at auction?

I'd just check all the walls and floors

for rot and damp.

I'd be a little bit more thorough in looking at them first.

Did today's buyers inspire you?

Could you take on a project of your own?

Well, there's nothing wrong with being an armchair expert instead.

Yes, and we'll always bring those stories to you,

whatever your attitude is, here on Homes Under The Hammer.

-Goodbye for now.

-Goodbye.