Episode 56 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello. Whether you're an experienced developer

or starting a new business, the auction room could be just the place for your next purchase.

Yes, but whatever your level of experience,

there will always be unexpected things lurking to catch you out.

Yes, dealing with problems efficiently and effectively

can be the difference between making a profit or a loss

when you buy your home under the hammer.

Well, property auctions throw up all sorts of lots.

From the good, the bad, to the, oh, yeah...

HE WHISTLES

-..ugly.

-I like that.

Hey, look, options are endless. Opportunities are as well.

So what lots are on offer on today's show?

Today, I depart to Derbyshire to see this three-bed chalet bungalow.

And in case of an emergency,

straight through the door, you've got the kitchen

on the right with an exit.

Well, Dion, I think Lucy has pushed the call button

at this mid-terrace in Surrey.

You can put your glass of wine there.

There's even enough room for a bowl of crisps.

And while you both live the high life,

I'm on track to see a bungalow in Cumbria,

but I haven't worked out how to get the train to stop.

Maybe I'll wave a flag like in The Railway Children.

All these properties have been sold at auction, and we'll find out

who bought them and what they paid when they went under the hammer.

-GAVEL BANGS

-You've got it, sir.

Sandiacre sits just within the Derbyshire side

of the Nottinghamshire-Derbyshire border.

Passing through the town is the Erewash Canal,

which in its day was busy with commercial boats.

Now it's enjoyed for sheer pleasure.

I won't need my sea legs today, though, as thankfully,

the property I'm here to see is on dry land.

So, not far from the M1 is the house I'm here to see.

And here it is. And as you can see, it's got a bit of a chalet look to it.

It's got three bedrooms and a guide price of £125,000-plus.

Now, in the auction catalogue,

it says it needs total improvement and modernising throughout.

What I will say is, look at the size of this front garden

and all this off-street parking.

I would challenge any of my football pals to try

and fill this up with cars. Let's have a look inside.

This front garden is long enough for a good kickabout,

but let's hope the inside is more Premier League than Sunday league.

OK. In we come, into a small hallway.

We've got the kitchen to my right-hand side,

which is an OK-sized kitchen.

Downstairs toilet, which is good, and sink, but have a look at this.

This is definitely not going to pass safety regulations.

There are gaps everywhere, in the stairs and in the banister as well.

So this would definitely need changing.

Down the hallway, two more rooms to my left, which I'll come back to,

and into this sizeable room, which would've been the lounge.

That looks like it would have been a leak rather than damp.

It's all very '70s in here.

Look at this wood panelling as well.

Big double doors going on to the back garden as well.

It's not a bad room, but it's definitely '70s.

Time to fly to the rooms I passed earlier.

It looks like whoever lived here before had a real passion.

OK, and over this side of the hallway,

we have the office space there. Good-sized office space.

More signs of planes as well.

Model aircraft, and a nice big window.

Again, into what looks like it would've been the dining room.

And a few signs of damp, and as you can see here,

there's been some work done here as well.

Whether that was a leak or damp, something's been done.

More model aircraft, everywhere you go, everywhere you look.

Look at that for an old-fashioned lampshade,

and table and chairs as well.

This is some pad which hasn't been touched for some time.

Old-fashioned again, with more...

Yes! There's more model aircraft as well!

Look at that! So, let's just recap.

Straight through the door, you've got the kitchen on the right,

with an exit out to the back garden.

On the left-hand side, you've got a downstairs toilet.

Further on, right-hand side, you've got the lounge.

Left-hand side, you've got office and dining room.

I'm going to taxi into the main hallway

and see if it's first-class upstairs.

# Plain parade

# Plain parade, ooh... #

Now that we've landed at this house,

please remember to set your watches back to 1970, and unfortunately,

not all the doors are set to manual.

OK, upstairs, we have got two bedrooms and the family bathroom.

So what is now the office is the third bedroom.

Right, this bathroom is a decent size,

but it tells me that the leak that's gone into the lounge

has come from that bath.

This bedroom here, another good-sized bedroom.

Into the main bedroom, and, again, it's the same story.

Look at that. All this would have been...

Yeah. That's come from the boiler in this cupboard,

and that would have been a leak that would have gone down

into the dining room. Wow.

It's really come into the bedroom here and destroyed this carpet.

And - surprise, surprise - you've got a few more aircraft as well.

This is a decent-sized house, but you'd have to start from scratch.

You might have to spend a few quid on it, but I think

if you get it right, it could be a really nice family home.

Lots of legroom, and you've also got a window seat

if you're claustrophobic.

The house does need clearance before you can really take off,

but a substantial garden at the back could give you a runway to success.

While it's never plain sailing,

you could get permission to land an extension right here.

I think you could add an extra two bedrooms to let this house really

spread its wings. A local property expert has jetted in

to tell us more about the extension idea for this house, and thankfully,

you'll be glad to hear, I'm out of aeroplane puns.

Well, almost.

I think this property lends itself to an extension.

The way that the roof works means you can pull out

a two-storey extension and make this into a good-sized family home.

I think if you were to extend this property,

it would cost in the region of £50,000 to £60,000 to do that.

So, an extension wouldn't come cheap,

but what could the house be worth once renovated and extended,

bearing in mind that guide price of £120,000-plus?

Without extending this property, I believe, once refurbished,

it would be worth around £200,000.

Extending this property to make it into a four-bedroom family house,

I think it would be worth around £220,000 to £230,000.

This house hasn't been touched in decades,

but I think below the surface,

there's a really nice family house to be had.

It just needs modernising.

You might have to spend a few quid on it,

but if you get your figures right, you could be flying high,

so let's take off to the auction and see who fancied it when it went under the hammer.

So, plenty of potential. A good residential location.

115,000 to start. 115,000, thank you.

£115,000. 116 somewhere.

Down at the centre at 116. 117.

118. 119. 120. 121. 22. 23.

There was plenty of competition in the room

and from an internet bidder.

The initial challenger dropped out and we are left with two parties

bidding in the room. We rejoin the action at £153,000.

153. 154. 154. 155. 156. 57.

158. 159. 159. 60?

Sure? At £159,000 for the first time,

second time, third chance...

-GAVEL BANGS

-Well done. £159,000.

At 159 grand, the successful bidders were George and Petros.

Petros here on the right has an accountancy background,

while George on the left is semi-retired

from his fish and chip shop business.

But this house is more flying than frying.

So why did they want to purchase this property?

-Petros, nice to meet you. Congratulations.

-Nice to meet you.

-George. Same to you, sir.

-Likewise, Dion.

Let's start at the beginning. Why did you buy this particular house?

Well, we have a local church for the Greek community group,

in Nottingham, near the town.

We had the house next door, which was unsuitable.

You know, quite expensive. A lot of money.

So, we managed to sell that early in the year. We had a balance of just

over £100,000, so we decided to buy a house for the local priest,

because we're renting at the minute, so the money is just

-sitting in the bank doing nothing.

-It makes perfect sense.

-It does make sense.

-So the Greek community is in Nottingham

and Derby, and this is very conveniently suited to us, because it is in between the two cities,

and it is convenient for the priest to move around.

So, George, you actually bought this for the priest?

It's for the community, for whichever priest is in at the time.

So, if the reverend, you know, the priest, decides to leave,

we'll have somewhere for him, which will be inviting for him

-to want to come if he's got a family, especially.

-Of course.

George is the committee chairman of the church and Petros is a trustee.

I think they've made a good investment with this house

for their community.

They've set an 80 grand renovation budget, which makes me think

big plans are afoot.

What are you going to do? Tell me specifically

-what you're going to do to the house?

-Well, we've got plans.

We've got five metres to the rear of the building.

-Yes.

-A five-metre extension.

All being well, we'll have three bedrooms upstairs.

With the extension downstairs, we'll have a bigger lounge, kitchen, dining.

-The kitchen will properly be turned into a utility room.

-OK.

So that can be classed as a five-bedroom,

but we'll have one of the bedrooms downstairs

-as an office for the priest.

-Yes, of course.

Everything will be ripped out and put in new.

Plus the extension, and we are confident we can do all that

with less than £80,000.

-Really?!

-Hopefully.

-I'm going to do that for you

as well, because it's going to be a little bit tight

-with an extension as well.

-Well, the architect gave us a figure

-of about £55,000...

-55 to 60,

but with that, we've got to keep some money for cosmetic...

You know, like, beds and furniture, TV...

because where we're renting now, it's got a bit dated.

Our budget is £80,000

on top of the 159 that we bought it for.

But even if that £80,000 includes furnishings, as they intend,

that should be a healthy budget.

They've already submitted plans to the council.

So how long's all the work is going to take you?

It's going to take us about four to five months,

but we are giving ourselves a bit longer.

-So we are budgeting to move in in seven to eight months' time.

-OK.

So, what part are you going to play,

and what part are you going to play with this little collaboration we've

-got here?

-I think all the fingers are pointed at me for some reason.

-I don't know. I'm committed now.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-You know, we...

-Got it all sorted.

-I will be keeping an eye on the money.

-Oh! I knew, I knew...

-He will be supervising the work.

I knew that would be your job. Keeping an eye on the purse strings.

-That's right, yes.

-Don't give him too much.

-Not too much, I hope.

So, 80 grand, hopefully, budget.

-Yeah.

-Six months?

-Confident.

-Are you confident, Petros?

-Yes, yeah, I'm confident.

We do have an option B plan.

Go on, tell us what option B is.

If the council doesn't give us planning for upstairs downstairs,

you can more or less guarantee with building regs the ground floor.

-OK.

-And we use the utility room,

extend it a little bit for the fourth bedroom/fifth bedroom,

and use the kitchen-lounge diner at the back.

-OK.

-So that might even happen quicker.

So we'll be in before...

That will be definitely within our budget.

And be done by Easter, minimum, one would presume, yeah.

Well, I've got to wish you all the best either way.

I think it's a great project that you're trying to do.

I really do. So, Petros, I wish you all the best.

-Keep an eye on him.

-Will do.

-George, be a good boy.

-I'll try my best.

-Good luck.

Petros and George have made the right decision,

going from renting to buying a property as an investment for the church.

Big question is, will it be plan A or plan B?

I think they'll be OK,

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

Not far from the M25, with good rail links into central London,

Reigate in Surrey is certainly not lacking in transport links.

It is not short of history either,

with the town's origins traceable to the medieval period.

But what era would Lucy find today's auction lot from?

Well, this is a street of '60s-built houses,

so not as historic as some parts of Reigate, but I like that the houses

are set back from the road by these large front gardens.

Now, I'm here to see a three-bed terrace that went to auction

with a guide price of £200,000-plus.

'60s on the outside, so hopefully not too medieval on the inside.

Surprisingly for a terraced house, it's quite spacious on the inside.

Wow! It's orange.

Really orange.

Everywhere. So, the colour scheme, I think, needs to be toned down,

but you've got a lovely big kitchen through there

and a wider than average staircase.

And the orange continues right the way up the stairs.

Gosh, it'll look so different once that is painted.

Now, here's the sitting room.

Again, there's lots of attention to detail here.

You've got the crisscross windows, the leaded light windows there.

With a lovely little tiled ledge.

Lots of detail going on.

It's a really clean and tidy room, but it's dated,

so I'd like to really come in here and change things up.

You've got textured ceilings.

(Not a favourite of mine.)

But you've got a nice new little fire surround here, which could be lovely.

Great space. And out the back, you've also got

this little conservatory with a corrugated plastic roof,

so you might want to change that.

But it's great as a little extra room.

You can shove all the kids' toys out there.

You've got separate access here into the kitchen.

So all in all, with a bit of money spent on this, updating it,

it's just got a really good family feel to it.

This house seems in pretty good condition, and once you bring it up-to-date,

it'll be a lovely family home.

Especially if the kids love the great outdoors,

because the garden just goes on and on and on.

What's more, it's got a shed-load of...well, sheds.

Three of them, in fact.

# So leave your house Come into my shed... #

And after you've toiled away doing the garden,

what could be better than a nice hot bath?

So at the top at the stairs, we have the family bathroom.

It's an oyster suite.

And we have the famous corner bath.

Now, I have to admit, I'm not a fan,

although that does look so comfortable.

Because I can really imagine myself in there having a really nice

comfortable sort of lay-down. You know, look!

And the bit I love the most about this bath, there's a ledge.

So you can put your glass of wine there.

There's even enough room for a bowl of crisps.

Imagine that on a Friday evening.

How decadent.

OK, maybe a rethink of crisps is required.

Think about all those salty crumbs.

Well, you could shower them off in this, I guess.

The shame is, it must have been nice in its day,

but like the rest of the house, it is from another era.

The same applies to the three bedrooms.

Once upon a time, the fitted wardrobes were de rigueur.

And the other thing is the number of mirrors. There are loads of them.

-# It's like you're my mirror

-Oh-oh

# My mirror staring back at me... #

SHE HUMS

Oh! No, don't worry, you haven't just caught me prettifying myself

in the mirror. In all honesty, trying to find the fuse box.

And I've got a sneaking suspicion I know where it is.

Behind the mirror.

Dun-de-nuh!

What an unusual place to hide a fuse box, but how brilliant.

Why didn't I ever think of that?

That's just genius.

# I live in a hiding place

# It's the only way I feel safe

# And I'm safe in a hiding pla-ace... #

So far, this house promises quite a lot of space upstairs,

downstairs and outside.

And the guide price of 200 grand is pretty attractive.

So what can a local estate agent tell us about the area?

This part of Reigate is one of the least expensive.

And you get very good value for money here.

They're very affordable, which is why we see a lot of families

moving here as their first home.

This house is spacious and the garden's pretty big.

Would there be any point in extending the house?

There are not many houses around here that have been extended,

and you wouldn't increase the value much by extending a property

in this particular part of the world.

Could you add much value if you got it for anything like

-the 200 grand guide price?

-If it were renovated,

I think we might achieve £350,000 in the sales market,

or maybe £1,100 per calendar month in the rental market.

That leaves plenty of room for a decent renovation budget

and a healthy profit.,

and a house with a mystery is always a bit of fun.

I have to say that finding the fuse box in this house

was one of the most challenging things

I've ever done in estate agency.

Well, I really like Reigate, and you know what?

I really quite like this house.

And with a bit of work, well, it could be even better.

So, who was ready to take it on? Let's head to auction to find out.

Right, down to Reigate is lot 49.

Three-bed, mid-terraced house.

See in the photograph, nice-looking mid-terraced house.

220, go upwards from there.

220. 220 on my left. 220.

225. 225. 230. 230. 235.

240. 240 at the back.

OK, sitting down. 240.

245. 250.

Well, with the £200,000-plus guide price left well behind,

we rejoin when the bids had reached 270,000.

270. 272, sitting down.

272. 274 at the back. 274.

276. I think you're nearly there. 276.

276. 278 at the back.

276, sitting down.

First time, second time, third and last time.

If you're all done.

GAVEL BANGS

276.

The hammer fell at 276,000 on the three-bed semi in Reigate.

The successful bidders were father and son building team

Cliff and Nigel.

Cliff has been running his own building firm for 26 years

and son Nigel became a partner in the family firm six years ago.

Nigel and Cliff, congratulations. So you're a father and son duo.

-Yes.

-Is this the first time you've ever invested together as a family?

-Yes, yes.

-And whose idea was that?

A bit of both, really. We sort of do general building anyway,

and just sort of thought we would make the move into doing it ourselves.

-So you are a hands-on builder?

-Yes.

-And you?

-Half and half.

-A bit hands-on.

-So what's the other half, then?

-Office work.

-So are you trying to pull back a little bit now?

Yes, yes, trying to slow down to retire and hand it over.

So it's all about the investment opportunity, really?

-Yes, yeah.

-So the hammer went down and you got it.

-Yeah.

-So what about the price you paid?

-Were you happy?

-It was a bit more than I'd like to have paid.

Yeah, it wasn't a steal, was it?

-No.

-We had a budget, and he was like, "Stick to the budget,"

and then when it went over...

And it was always going up two grand at a time.

And then cos we were conferring, a couple of other people jumped in

and it went up quite a bit.

And he was like, "Oh, go once more," so I went once more.

So Nigel, tell me, how much over did you go?

-16 grand.

-£16,000?! What?!

So you've got to make that extra £16,000 on this?

-Yeah.

-So why did you decide to do it?

What was it about this house that made you want to jump up 16 grand?

Just, it's local to us.

We've got other jobs we're running in the area

so we can flit between them a lot easier.

And that is so key when you're developing.

I mean, after speaking to an agent in the area,

they've already said they've got someone interested, actually, already.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-So you're going to do it up and then hopefully they might

-want to buy from it you?

-Yeah. Hopefully.

-It's an investor.

Good news for this father and son team.

And welcome, too, because the costs are starting to rack up.

Not only have they paid 76 grand over the guide price,

they've also had to pay 6,000 in sellers' fees.

Thankfully, that didn't come as a nasty surprise

because they read their legal pack. Ten out of ten, guys.

Right, so what's the grand plan for this house?

Are you going to banish the orange?

-Yeah.

-It's a bit orange, bit tangerine out there.

Yeah, just a tad. It's going to be new kitchen, new bathroom,

and just sort of modernise everything.

It's just very, very dated in here.

-Yeah.

-You need to bring it back into the 21st century.

-What about the layout?

-Keeping it the same.

-Just try to turn it round as quick as possible.

-OK.

-And sell it on.

What about the lovely corner bath upstairs?

-That's going.

-Is that going?

-Yeah.

-You see, I actually

am not a fan of corner baths, but there's such a nice little ledge

that you can just put your cup of tea. I do like it.

-Glass of champagne.

-Yeah. Is that going?

-It's gone.

-Yeah.

Right, let's talk about the budget, then,

because you want a new kitchen, a new bathroom, redecoration all over,

clean the place up.

How much money?

-15?

-Yeah, 15. Maybe 20.

So what sort of timescale do you envisage?

Hoping about two months.

And are you prepared to get down and crack the whip and project manage?

He's going on holiday.

So you're going to come back and it will all be done?

-Well, don't know about all...

-I think your dad's earned the right.

-Come on, don't you?

-Yeah, he has, yeah.

I hope you take notice of what your dad says.

-Yeah, generally.

-Who tells who what to do?

-It's 50/50.

-Is it?

-Yeah.

-So do you listen to him?

-No.

-He pretends he does.

-Sometimes I do, yeah.

So, is this quite an exciting venture for both of you?

-And do you hope to do many more of these?

-Yes, in future.

If this one goes well, which hopefully it will,

we'll look for another one.

Well, I'm really excited to see the outcome and to see

how you do this place up and to see if you can stick to that budget

-and the eight-week timescale.

-Yeah.

-Thanks a lot.

-No worries.

-Thanks for coming.

-Nigel, Cliff, lovely to meet you.

-Thank you.

Well, Nigel and Cliff might have overspent a bit at the auction,

but if they can keep to that £20,000 budget,

they should still do well.

Join us later in the programme to find out

how this first joint project goes for the father and son team.

Coming up, I get to the bottom

of this Cumbrian three-bed bungalow's garden, eventually.

It just goes on and on and on.

And Nigel and Cliff find doing their own project

a bit less stressful than working for a client.

Obviously, you don't have anyone breathing down your neck.

Back now to Sandiacre in Derbyshire,

where I landed at a chalet bungalow where it was plain to see

the place hadn't been touched in years.

And there's a few signs of damp, and as you can see here,

there's been some work done.

The leak from the bathroom seemed to have been fixed,

but another from the boiler definitely hadn't.

Now, at the moment, this property certainly wasn't flying first-class.

So let's just recap.

Straight through the door, you've got the kitchen on the right

with an exit out to the back garden.

On the left-hand side, you've got a downstairs toilet.

Further along, right-hand side, you've got the lounge.

Left-hand side, you've got office and dining room.

The house needed a bit more than a hot towel

and a complimentary packet of peanuts.

It needed someone to take it to new heights.

That didn't put off George and Petros, who paid 159 grand at auction.

They were buying this house on behalf of the local Greek Orthodox Church.

George runs a fish and chip shop, while Petros is an accountant,

so not exactly property developers.

What part are you going to play

and what part are you going to play with this little collaboration we've

-got here?

-I think all the fingers are pointed at me for some reason.

-I don't know. I'm committed now.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know, we found the house, we brought the priest to have a look.

Then I approached the trustees, so it's all on my back now.

I will be keeping an eye on the money.

-Oh! You see, I knew, I knew...

-He will be supervising the work.

I knew that would be your job.

Keeping an eye on the purse strings.

-That's right, yes.

-Don't give him too much.

-Not too much, I hope.

They had big plans to extend the house,

as it was to be used for the home for the priest and their family.

We're back ten months later,

so let's hope they've managed to navigate any turbulence

during the renovation. And fingers crossed they've landed safely.

# You were in my heart

# And all my life

# I'm coming in on a wing and a prayer

# And I hope in my heart that your love will be there

# Coming in on a wing and a prayer... #

Well, it looks like their prayers to the planning department

have certainly been answered, with the addition of this extension.

This was the end of the house, so all this now is new-build, you know.

We're talking a five-metre...

a span of six and a half metres across, which never existed.

Overall, it's a lovely space.

You know, we're very, very happy with it.

But it's not just here they've added space.

Upstairs now has a massive en suite bedroom.

This means the property now has four bedrooms in total.

Two upstairs and two downstairs.

Talking of stairs, they replaced that dodgy staircase

with a brand-new one. In fact, everything in this house is new.

But with some finishing touches still to be done,

will it be ready for the priest to move into?

I think we're about 95% finished.

We've pushed the builders right to the limits.

So we've had them over the weekend, you know,

where I think they got a bit of trouble from their wives.

As you can see, we would have liked you to have come after finishing

completely, but the priest has got to move in.

He's given notice to the rented accommodation.

The idea of buying the house is to save that money on rent going to waste.

Overall, we're fairly on-budget, and I think everybody seems pleased.

Fairly on-budget? That doesn't sound good.

Accountant Petros had the task of making sure

chip shop owner George didn't fritter away the 80 grand budget.

George found builders who did a good job, and once the finishing touches

are complete, they should be around three grand over budget.

I kept an eye on the money.

George was informing me all the time about the extras.

And I expected something above the budget, anyway.

And it is reasonable, really,

considering how we hear stories about builders exceeding all the time the cost.

I think we are very happy, everybody is, yeah.

He's done an extremely good job and he's spent his time voluntarily

like everybody was, and well done, George.

He keeps telling me, like, "You can't spend the money.

"It's not your money. It's not your money." So I'm going...

You know? So... You know.

I'm glad George managed to rein it in.

And I'm sure the church's congregation feel the same.

So, now the work is almost complete

and just in time for the priest to move in.

Surely they'd consider this a success.

So, have they thought about renovating another house?

Uh...

Don't do it again!

No, I... If I didn't have other projects...

If I didn't have other commitments, I'd probably like to do this, yeah.

It would be a thing for me, yeah.

I'd like to see an alternative, you know, that's for the future.

The pressure on us was tremendous

from the community as a whole.

All the eyes were on us, basically, us two, really,

cos we initiated the purchase through the auction,

and it was stressful, really. But everything worked out.

And we had the house blessing. We had...

maybe 30 to 40 people come round, so we blessed the house,

and it was a little bit more mess than what it is today, you know,

but overall, I think everybody was quite impressed.

Well, it's time to see if two local estate agents give the changes here

their blessing. First, the agent from the auction house who sold it.

I think the selling points of the property,

the main one has got to be that superb extension to the rear.

With the open-plan living-kitchen area,

it really does enhance its prospects.

Yeah, the layout of this property works really well. At the moment,

it can be divided either into four bedrooms, if a family

or new owner-occupier requires that,

but also, it would work well as a ground floor playroom

or a study or home office if required,

so I think the changes they've made to the layout are fantastic.

Big thumbs up for the layout.

But what about the outlay?

When complete, they will have spent 242 grand here.

Was it worth the investment for the church?

If I were looking to offer this property onto today's sale market,

I would anticipate a sale being achieved

somewhere in the region of £240,000.

On the sales market, I believe this property would achieve

in the region of £250,000.

My God! We were expecting a little bit more, to be honest.

Well, at the end of the day, we have made a bit of a gain

on top of what we expended,

and it's a long-term asset for our community,

so I don't think there is a major problem there.

So, they've pretty much broken even, give or take.

I think everyone involved in this community project should feel proud.

Well done to you all.

Welcome to Braystones in Cumbria.

A picturesque little village that sits on the West Coast and boasts

a lovely sandy beach, along with idyllic British countryside.

# Down by the seaside

# See the boats go sailing... #

Well, with dramatic coastline like this on your doorstep,

you may think that getting here would be a little bit tricky.

But no such thing,

because this part of Cumbria benefits from its own railway line,

which runs right along the coast here.

Great thing is, this is a request stop.

Basically, if you're trundling down on the train, you say to the driver,

"Any chance we can stop here?" He goes, "Yeah, sure."

Now, what happens if you want to get on?

I'm not so sure. Maybe I wave a flag, like in The Railway Children.

And don't worry, the crew were checking that no train was coming.

These stations are cute, but you do have to be sensible.

It might not be King's Cross,

but having a little station in such a secluded spot is a real bonus.

Just make sure that you check the timetable.

Well, a short distance from the train station,

if you can call it that,

and the beach, is the property I'm here to see.

It's a bungalow in this quiet cul-de-sac.

Three-bedroom, detached. Guide price, 100,000 to 120,000 quid!

The property also has a garage and a nice little front garden.

So, what have we got? Well, through the front door

into this little sort of central area off which various things go,

as is the wont in bungalows.

Bathroom here... Straight away,

I'm getting the impression it's going to need a bit of a refurb.

Doesn't even have a bath in there, just a shower at the moment,

so spend a bit of time and money sorting that out.

You'll always get your money back on bathrooms and kitchens, as we know.

Three bedrooms off here, look to be a decent size.

Again, it's really going to benefit from,

so far, just a bit of modernisation.

That said, when you come into here, which is your living room,

this is a good-sized room.

But then there's this thing.

Massive, solid, piece of something, which separates that from this,

and it creates just a strange...

Why? Huh?

They need to get rid of that, somehow.

But it's obviously big and thunky. I don't know what it's for.

So, you need to find out what it's for before you take it out!

Obviously!

Somebody's obviously tried to make the most of the location as well

by putting a little conservatory on the back, there.

Needs tying into the rest of the house, as far as I'm concerned,

but then through into the kitchen,

which benefits from, again, lovely views out over the countryside,

and, again, it's a bit dated.

Spend some money on this, sorting it out,

and that would be definitely paying you dividends.

But overall, quite a lot of space, and nothing too super scary so far.

There's a little bit of damp in one of the bedrooms,

but nothing too much to worry about.

The whole property just needs to be lifted out of

the time warp it's stuck in.

Well, one thing you certainly can't fault with this place

is its location. Ten minutes to the coast,

you are surrounded by lovely, lovely Lakeland scenery,

but actually, you don't even need to go there or to the coast, because

the garden itself is enormous.

Not only have you got this bit, towards the left of the property,

or even right of the property...

Never can tell those two apart.

..but there's more through here!

It just goes on and on and on.

Now, I don't think it's actually being utilised as well as it could be.

There's sort of various shrubs around the edge,

but this is one of those instances, I think, where

it would be really worth getting a landscape architect involved,

to come up with some really imaginative plans

because if they had their say,

I'm sure this could be quite simply spectacular!

Of course, non-gardeners might be put off,

and it doesn't look like you can turn it into a plot, either,

due to lack of access.

What this really needs is a house that lives up to the garden

and the terrific location.

We asked along a local estate agent

to give us his opinion on this property

that was guided at £100,000 to £120,000.

Well, I mean, the locality itself is quite special.

We're sandwiched between the sea,

at Braystones, with a nice, sandy beach,

and we've got the Lake District fells to the other side.

The views are spectacular, and so the positioning is good.

So, if you're after peace and solitude, then this is really for you.

This is, undoubtedly, an early retirement bungalow.

Something that is fine for two people the majority of the time,

but then they can get stuck into this wonderful garden.

The agent seems pretty keen on this one.

So, after refurbishment,

what kind of values is he thinking it could command?

Rental first.

As a three-bed detached bungalow,

I'd expect it to achieve £700 to £725 per calendar month.

OK, what about the resale valuation?

In the current market, I would

expect the property to achieve between £180,000 and £185,000.

Well, it may be slightly dated,

but what you've got here is a really well-proportioned bungalow

in a truly spectacular location.

Yeah, a really nice property.

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

Two telephone bids in this.

One is sitting in the room. £100,000 to £120,000, your guide.

Let's spend our money, folks.

Start me, 110.

100 here.

At 100, I'm bid. Had £100,000.

105. 110.

With bids flying in across the room and on the phone,

this lot soon heated up.

So, we rejoin the action at 124,000.

Put your hand up, man!

124. 124 in the room, I'm rooting for you.

125, 126. 27, 28.

29.

At £128,000, are you out, madam?

129. I knew you'd come in at some point.

129. 30. 31.

32. 33. 132. It's all about the right bait, isn't it?

At £132,000, are we all done now?

In the room, first time, second time, third time, selling away...

Well done, sir. Congratulations.

That bid of 132,000 was made by wife and husband Andrea and Tony.

Andrea is a training coordinator and Tony is a mechanical engineer.

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

Andrea, Tony, great to meet you both.

-Hi there.

-Same here.

-Congratulations.

Tell me why you wanted to buy this bungalow, then.

I think we had a criteria.

I think it's just that point in time where we need to...

..put our roots down, if you like, and just semi-retire.

Just get into that...

-How old are you?

-A mere 54.

Right. So, planning ahead?

-Setting the stall out.

-OK.

So, you bought it for you, then?

-No, it's Andrea's.

-It's mine.

-It's Andrea's.

-My project.

-For both of you, then.

Absolutely, yeah.

Peace and quiet. That's what we need.

So, what was it about this place

that you thought, "Yeah, this could be our dream home"?

Quiet countryside, wasn't it, really, for us?

It's got a certain amount of charm. It's got quite a large garden.

We've got a dog which loves to...

He loves to play, and he's got all that,

plus there's all the wildlife in the garden, so he'll be very busy.

-Not for long!

-With the wild rabbits!

-Sure.

-What's he called?

-Bob.

-Bob. Bob the dog.

So, partly for Bob the dog, then.

But what was it about the house,

other than the Bob-the-dogness, that you liked?

It's got a lot of potential. The footprint is very '70s.

And we understand that.

It's when it was built and hasn't really had a lot of changes since.

But we think we can change the footprint

and put our own stamp on this in a way that

we can both live comfortably for a number of years to come.

Fantastic. So, tell me the plans, then.

A lot of assessments, initially.

We've got to just really understand what we've got

and avoid the hidden nightmares.

Do you have any ideas of what you might do to the internals?

I know you haven't finished off your plans yet,

but what might you consider doing?

We're hopefully going to be knocking this wall down,

knocking the existing garage wall down, knocking through,

and making that part of the living room.

We want to be knocking the kitchen-dining room wall down,

pushing that wall back into the bedroom,

just so I can have my corner chill-out suite...

MARTIN LAUGHS

..in the bottom end.

Pretty much making the bathroom a lot bigger than what it is

and keeping the third bedroom the same size, aren't we?

-Wow.

-Yeah.

-So, quite a lot of work.

-But creating very much a sort of open-plan feel, if you like.

-Yeah.

Some big plans afoot, then,

and why not, if it's going to be a home for years to come?

Tony and Andrea have a healthy budget of £30,000,

which could rise to 50,000 once their current house is sold.

This is ideal as, of course,

it's not just the house they have to contend with.

So, what about the garden, then?

I think that's going to be a second phase.

We'll keep the grass short. And Andrea's got a lot of...

She'd like to put a pit as well,

because we can divide that where we've got a second half

where Andrea's fire pit is going to be going.

-Fire pit?

-Fire pit and decking.

Love it. I want to come here!

-We'll send you an invite.

-Thank you very much.

Your party's going to be brilliant.

So, what's the timescale?

-Six to seven months, we think.

-OK.

But, you know, we're flexible.

And as long as we can live here, we can continue to work.

-OK.

-If we get a working little kitchen in

and somewhere to sit and sleep,

then we think we'd move in on the job

and get all the dirty work done first.

Black and white television in the corner,

sleeping bag on the floor...

42-inch 3-D up on the wall, I'll be happy.

OK, let's get your priorities right.

-Started to buy things already.

-Have you?

-Yeah.

-Built-in coffee machine and...

-Oh, yeah!

-Priorities sorted.

-Something like that, yeah.

You've got the 3-D plasma and you've got the built-in coffee machine.

-What more do you need?

-What more do you need?

Well, listen, congratulations. I'm really delighted for you.

Good luck with it all. Don't forget the party invite.

-Party shoes on!

-Thank you! Look forward to it.

Well, how nice that Andrea and Tony have found what will become

their dream house to retire to.

And it's good to hear that Andrea's got her priorities sorted.

Get the TV in and the coffee-making machine.

Actually, it sounds like they are great plans,

and I can't wait to see how this place turns out.

You can see later in the show.

Well, we've already found out how one of our new owners got on.

What about the other two?

Have they played a blinder or have they come unstuck?

Well, wait no longer. Let's find out.

Back now to Reigate in Surrey, a popular area, thanks partly to

its rail links to the city and its proximity to Gatwick Airport.

It was here that Lucy swooped in to look around this three-bed terraced

that had a guide price of £200,000-plus.

Whoa! It's orange!

It's really orange everywhere!

So, the colour scheme, I think, needs to be toned down.

# Tangerine... #

Aside from the terrible tangerine, it had good proportions,

although it was clearly dated throughout and would

need a thorough modernisation.

Step forward father-and-son team Cliff and Nigel.

The local pair were builders and partners in their own company.

However, this was to be their first property investment together.

Despite all their experience, they got off to a wobbly start.

What about the price you paid?

-Were you happy?

-It was a bit more than I'd have liked to have paid.

-It wasn't a steal, was it?

-No.

-Because we had a budget.

I was like, "Stick to the budget." And then when it went over...

And it was always going up two grand at a time.

And then cos we were sort of conferring,

a couple of other people jumped in and it went up quite a bit.

It was like, "I'll go once more," so I went once more!

So, Nigel, tell me, how much over did you go?

-16 grand.

-£16,000?! What?!

Oh, yes, auction fever can get hold of the best of us.

Cliff and Nigel wanted to modernise and update the property,

and had given themselves a £15,000 to £20,000 budget

and a timescale of just two months

to get it ready for the sales market.

Well, it's now three months later

and time to see if this dated property

has been woken from its slumber.

What an improvement!

Bright, fresh and appealing.

With these new light units, it certainly feels...well, lighter.

Tastefully decorated throughout and re-carpeted,

this is perfect for the sales or rental markets.

In the hallway, the tangerine terror has been dealt with,

and it's nice to see the hidden, secret fuse box remains intact.

The corner bath may have gone, but this modern,

slick bathroom suite is bound to have broader appeal.

All three bedrooms are looking a lot better

with brand-new carpeting throughout.

Out the back, and the garden has had a nice makeover.

And they've wisely got rid of the third shed.

This is a fantastic transformation.

But if you wanted to nit-pick,

you could argue that more could have been done with the sunroom.

But, overall, they've done a cracking job.

So, how's it been, Nigel?

First one... I mean, we've done... Obviously, we work together.

We've worked together for a few years now, so

it's no different to really working for anyone else, but obviously,

you don't have anyone breathing down your neck.

You can do it at your own pace and how you want to do it.

So it's been really good and, hopefully, we'll do another one.

I've tended to let Nigel get on with the work.

I'd done some hands-on when it's become necessary,

we've got the time available,

but I've tried just to organise materials and labour

and the finances.

The biggest challenge we've had with the work here

is fitting it in amongst our day-to-day work for the business.

But apart from that, everything's gone quite smoothly.

Glad to hear it. But what about their budget?

Remember, they went 16 grand over the budget at the auction,

and they'll be looking to make that back.

The budget...

came out about £15,500.

Obviously, we've kept the prices down with people that work for us,

so rather than getting companies in,

and, also, we did a lot of work ourselves,

we were here weekends and stuff,

trying to push the job on when we were busy at other jobs.

So, we managed to do a lot of the work ourselves.

Timescale's been about ten weeks.

But that was only because of work we had,

which meant we couldn't be here working.

So it's been delayed by a couple of weeks.

But not too bad.

And, hopefully, we'll be able to get it on the market soon now.

We hope to achieve in the region of 350,000 to 360,000.

We'll have to wait and see what the agents say and take it from there.

But, hopefully, that's what we'll get, in that region.

Well, no time like the present.

Cliff and Nigel have invested a total of £291,500.

So, let's get the thoughts and opinions of two local estate agents.

Having seen around the property, I think it's a good,

spacious house that's nicely refurbished throughout.

The selling features of the property are certainly the kitchen,

which has been done to a very high standard indeed.

A wide range of units and appliances.

It looks very nice. And the same with the bathroom.

Well, the estate agents are impressed with the changes.

But will this be reflected in their valuations?

This property could sell for around £335,000.

I think this property would sell in the current market

for £355,000 to £360,000.

Well, I think the lower one is too low.

I think the higher one is about the right value for it.

We had marketed it at 360.

And since we've been filming, we've actually had two offers come in,

and one is in that region.

Yes, estate agents don't always agree.

But if they did achieve the higher valuation of 360,000,

that would mean a pre-tax profit of £68,500,

making their first investment together a big success.

Well, we're very pleased. It's gone quite well.

And if we sell it through these offers we've had,

we'll be over the moon.

Now we are choo-choosing to head back to the Cumbrian coast,

where I saw a three-bed bungalow which had a bit of damp,

a dated bathroom and a kitchen which had seen better days.

Overall, nothing too troubling, though.

But then, there's this thing.

Massive, solid piece of something which separates that from this.

And they need to get rid of that somehow.

But it's obviously big and thunky. I don't know what it's for.

So, you need to find out what it's for before you take it out.

Obviously.

Somebody's obviously tried to make the most of the location as well

by putting a little conservatory on the back there.

Well, it would be folly not to

when the house sat in a countryside setting and came with all of this.

Oh, and all of that, too.

This was a big reason for Andrea and Tony paying £132,000 for the house.

It's got a certain amount of charm. It's got quite a large garden.

We've got a dog which loves to...

You know, he just loves to play.

-He's got all that.

-What's he called?

-Bob.

-Bob. Bob the dog.

Well, Bob would have all the space he wanted to run around outside.

But Tony and Andrea were hoping to rejig the layout

to suit them inside.

We are hopefully going to be knocking this wall down,

knocking the existing garage wall down, knocking through

and making that part of the living room.

We want to be knocking the kitchen-dining room wall down,

pushing that wall back into the bedroom,

just so I can have my corner chill-out suite.

Andrea had hoped she'd be chilling out in that room in six or seven months.

Well, now we're back to see if they've relaxed and settled down

a year and three months later.

# You know I ain't got no chill tonight

# No chill, no chill, no

# Got no chill tonight

# No chill, no chill, no

# Got no chill tonight

# People searching for answers while... #

Wow. No sight of anyone chilling here.

So, let's find out what's been happening from Andrea and Tony.

Initially, when we took the property over,

it was a start with a series of assessments to really understand what we had, the condition of this,

which revealed some high hazard work.

The garage, which was integral to the building,

it was the blue and brown asbestos, which are the really nasty ones,

so once we got the report back and understood what we had,

we had to walk away, get the asbestos contractor in,

and it was months before we got clear,

but that was removed,

which then let us get into a controlled dismantle state.

So we spent the winter, really,

taking it apart to the state it is now.

It wasn't just asbestos they had to deal with.

When lifting the floors up,

they discovered dreaded dry rot in a quarter of the building.

And, of course, there was that giant old chimney stack,

which wouldn't go without a fight.

I think the cement was made out of kryptonite,

because everybody just about bust themselves getting it out.

But that projected through the roof.

And we had a young chap coming in, he was...

Demolishing was his trade.

He took it down in one night, something we couldn't do in months.

He just dropped it in a night.

So we were quite embarrassed about that.

The brother-in-law finished off the bottom bit.

The last course of bricks.

And claimed it. So, yeah, that was a massive challenge.

I think it's been motivation, sometimes, hasn't it?

When you're coming straight home from work, getting changed

and coming back out again has been a little bit hard sometimes.

-Bit of a drag, absolutely.

-Yeah.

We're now in a position where we're rising it up again.

And to see something new be in front of us, it's aspirational, really.

It motivates you to carry on.

Thankfully, it looks like the worst is over,

so Andrea and Tony can crack on with getting trades in to have this house

finished in four months' time.

While the house isn't done, the back garden is certainly taking shape.

We've took out all the bramble bushes in the garden

and all the overgrown trees and things like that.

Because the garden was quite enclosed in when we first got it,

so we've opened it right out and planted some new bushes

and plants at the back of the garden to start with.

And now it's all been tidied up, it can be enjoyed by Andrea, Tony,

and a certain four-legged friend.

Yes, it's Bob the dog!

# Through the fields and the streams and the lakes and the trees

# Home again... #

Whilst Bob and Andrea play outside,

Tony has some plans to help us see how it's all going to look

when it's complete.

OK. In terms of the kitchen

and how we're going to move forward with this, we've reconfigured it.

It used to be on the front of the house.

It's now this side.

You get a lot more light in this side.

Ended up with exactly what the wife wanted, which is her island,

she must have an island, so that's now in in this part of the config.

And I think we'll be happy with that.

The new plans mean that the house will lose a bedroom and its garage.

But it's Andrea and Tony's forever home, so it fits their needs.

So, OK, they're not intending to sell,

but it would be interesting to know how much this could all be worth

once complete. We've asked along two local estate agents

to get their thoughts on the property.

The new concept seems to work really well.

Obviously, it's a very modern way to live, in terms of open-plan living.

That seems to be what's in store here.

And judging by the amount of work and care that's gone in so far,

it looks like the finish is going to be a really high spec, which, again,

is going to be great. I'll look forward to seeing that.

With the work they've still got to do, obviously,

they've made some changes to the original design,

so they've lost the garage and lost the bedroom,

which, potentially, could alter the value of the property.

The agents both thought that in the current market,

the two-bed ceiling price would be £200,000.

So far, they've spent £8,000,

and they're still hopeful of sticking

to their £50,000 top budget,

which would make their total spend here £182,000,

so it does look like a sound investment.

Yeah. And I think that's fair and reasonable.

The thing is, we've increased the value.

But, importantly, we've got the space that's right for us right now,

so we're not going to sell, but it's interesting.

And I think, all things considered, that's about right.

Things are looking up for this development, then,

as trades are about to come and get started on the first fixes,

so they should be flying from there.

So, what's the first thing Tony will do

when the house is finally complete?

Weather-dependent, we're going to throw that big sliding door open,

crack open a cold one and just take in that view.

Well, that's it for today.

Three more auctions stories in the back of the net.

Yes, but fret ye not, dear viewer,

because we'll have lots more for you in the twinkle an eye.

Indeed, so make sure you join us next time

-for more Homes Under The Hammer. Goodbye.

-Bye.