Episode 78 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello and welcome and to the show.

Now, if you've ever tried to buy a property but been stuck in a chain

then you'll know what a palaver if can turn out to be.

But one way to cut through that chain

is to buy your next home at auction.

If you make that winning bid in the room,

in essence, the property should be yours within 28 days.

Then why not buy your next home under the hammer?

People go to the auction house with different budgets

in the search of different properties

because there is so much to choose from.

Sometimes the choice can be bewildering,

so it's really important

to do your research before you settle on a decision.

So what did the buyers on today's show decide to go for?

In Cumbria, I see what you may be able to get for £45,000.

Views across the Lake District.

But it's a bit of a shame about the road in the way.

Whereas I count the cost of refurbishing

this Derbyshire building.

I'm looking forward to seeing this one.

It's got two bedrooms and has a guide price of £70,000.

Well, Lucy, Dion's is 70 grand, how much is your London property?

£355,000-plus.

I never said it was going to be cheap, did I?

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.

Well done, sir.

This is the small village of Bigrigg in Cumbria,

located about half a mile from Whitehaven

and close to the northern lakes of the Lake District.

From as far back as medieval times, iron ore has been mined near here,

and indeed, by 1829 there were eight pits in the area.

Over the next 100 years, they all closed down

and nowadays the village has a sleepy rural feel to it.

So here's a classic example of why you always need to visit

an auction property before you buy it

because situated at the end of this fairly quiet little country lane

is the property I'm here to see.

And that would have been pretty much the picture

that was in the auction catalogue.

It's a two-bedroomed detached house.

Looks pretty good, eh?

But what the auction catalogue doesn't show you is this.

It's situated on a busy junction. Oh, dear.

Although the traffic does slow down at this junction,

this is the main road to Workington

all the way down to Barrow-in-Furness.

So from dawn till dusk, it's busy.

The guide price at auction for this two-bed cottage was £45,000-plus.

I hope whoever viewed this remembered their Green Cross Code.

You really have to take care when viewing this from the outside.

Time, I think, to find sanctuary inside.

So what have you got when you step through the front door?

Well, a tiny little entrance area there

and then you've got a lounge over to one side. Not a bad size.

It's a very traditional layout.

In some ways, though, it feels a little bit smaller on the inside

than it looks on the outside.

One bit of good news, you have got central heating.

Although judging by this radiator,

I think it might be quite old.

And then I guess that is where the property originally would have ended

and at some stage in the recent past, or relatively recent past,

somebody's actually built on this area here

which now forms the kitchen,

which, as you can see, is not particularly brilliant.

And also not particularly brilliant, the bathroom...

which is not ideal.

So it's a house that

you are going to have to do a bit of reconfiguring.

Certainly kitchen, certainly bathroom and, you know,

a bit of updating to be done. But, you know, that's just the start.

So far, the only attractive thing about this house

is that £45,000-plus guide price.

It's more than tired.

It's exhausted.

Well, up a slightly dark stairway to two bedrooms.

Both a similar size and actually both really quite pleasant.

A cottage like this can often be quite dark and dingy

but you've got this dual aspect window on both sides

letting loads of light in here, so we really like that.

And, of course, there are added advantages of views

across the Lake District.

But it's a bit of a shame about the road in the way.

The house may not be particularly massive

but the garden, on the other hand, is quite a surprise.

Rather unusual layout.

Very high up there, a steep bank and then down to this little area.

But this could be really, really pleasant.

And a look at the back of the house indicates just how tricky it would

be to increase the kitchen area.

Building out onto the slope would be an expensive proposition,

although there is space to extend to the side where the garage currently

sits. But what I have not told you is that there is planning permission

in place to knock the whole lot down

and have a new three-bedroomed house.

But in this location, would that make any sense?

Time to speak to a local property expert.

First, can he give us a snapshot of the local area?

The majority of people that live in this area do work for Sellafield,

which is the nuclear plant a few miles south.

But it is very accessible to the A595

which takes you right up the coast, up to Carlisle.

And what about the property itself?

The property in the state that it's in,

it would make sense to completely redo everything.

The heating, the electrics, damp-proof course, kitchen,

bathroom, possibly a small extension onto the back.

How much are renovated properties in this area worth?

I feel that the property, once renovated,

if it's renovated to a high standard,

could achieve somewhere in the region of 120 to £125,000.

-And for rental?

-'The rental demand for this property would be strong.

'We would estimate to get somewhere in the region of'

£550 per calendar month.

Well, intrinsically,

it's a nice little house with a pleasant enough garden.

Obviously the major downside for this property is its location

on this busy junction.

But I guess if you plonked it somewhere else, then you wouldn't be

looking at a guide price of £45,000-plus.

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

Got a telephone bid on this.

Detached house.

Planning consent has also been granted to demolish the property and

rebuild a new house.

45 is the guide.

Start me. Let's not mess about.

40? Straight in at 40.

At 40 I'm bid.

Take it in ones, nice and easy.

41, 42, 43, 44, 45,

46, 47, 48.

Not sure. With you at 7.

Phone at 48, 49,

50, 51. 50 here.

50 on the phone, against you and against you.

Take a half. Half, 51.

Phone at 1. £51,500, here to sell, first time, second time.

Are you done? Are you sure?

All out, selling then.

Phone.

# Mr Telephone Man... #

And that telephone bid of 51,000 was made on behalf of Sally and Simon.

Originally from Hertfordshire, they moved to the area in 2003.

They came for a quiet country life.

So I need to find out why they've gone for this far from quiet house.

Sally, Simon, good to meet you both.

Congratulations.

-Thank you.

-Tell me why you wanted to buy this house.

Well, it was Simon's idea. I was actually away on holiday

and he'd passed it and seen it in the paper

that it was coming up for auction.

Then we found out that it had been there before for auction and hadn't

sold so we thought we might be in luck with a bargain.

Right. So it was your idea?

-He persuaded me.

-Yes, it was my idea.

We bought it and she hadn't even been in it.

Oh, really. You knew where it was though, did you?

Yes. I pass it every day to work.

Do you? OK, so you've seen it on the side there.

So what was it that attracted you to it?

I just like the corner plot, to be honest with you.

Like Sally said, we passed it day after day

and thought it was something we couldn't afford.

But we saw it coming up for auction so we thought, "Let's go and see."

Obviously the biggest hitch when you get here is the fact that

it is right by the side of the road and also a junction and blah, blah,

blah. A concern to you or not?

No.

-Quite simply.

-End of story.

Great. Fantastic.

It's a busy road but this bit is generally

-fairly slowed down through the village.

-OK.

Sally works as an administrator at a local company

and Simon delivers antiques across the UK.

But the couple also run an alpaca farm.

Sally bought a couple of these South American creatures

to keep her old horse company. But when it passed away,

the alpacas did what comes naturally and now there are 15.

People talk about llamas, which are kind of similar

but probably different. What's the difference, by the way?

They're the same family, they are all camelids.

Llamas tend to have the bigger ears.

They're taller anyway.

They are actually pack animals.

What are the ones that spit?

-All of them.

-Yes, they all can.

-Really?

-But the alpacas seem to be,

unless you're in the wrong place at the wrong time and they're having a

bit of an argument between themselves...

Fantastic. And do you make things out of them?

That jumper you're wearing, is that knitted from alpaca?

-Unfortunately not. No, not this one.

-But we do.

-We have lady locally that knits for us.

-Brilliant.

Now if you've just tuned in, this is Homes Under The Hammer.

Honestly. We've just been talking about alpacas for a bit.

But now we will get back to talking about property.

What are Sally and Simon's plans for this place?

First thing is obviously strip all the walls and make sure everything

is sound and sort out any floors and ceilings issues.

The main thing you want to do initially is the stairway behind us.

That is really dark and dingy. There is no window at the top.

So we'll put one of those sun tubes in.

-Yes, OK.

-The father-in-law has got one in his bungalow and it's brilliant.

-Yes, they are very clever.

-So we'll put one in.

Maybe extend out the back because the kitchen is so small.

You can't actually get a kitchen in the kitchen.

-Right.

-We plan to just decorate throughout.

We don't think there's any hidden problems.

And then this is going to be your home?

-Yes.

-So what's the budget for what you're going to do?

-HE CHUCKLES

-Ah.

-Well, yes.

-She's got the purse strings.

-I'm holding the purse strings.

It depends what we sell ours for.

We hope to get it in less than 20,000.

Wow, OK. That's a reasonable budget.

Just sell a few more alpaca jumpers!

-Get knitting!

-Or sell the alpacas,

-or some of them. Yes?

-We could do that.

It would be great, trade in an alpaca for a house.

-How much is an alpaca worth? I've got no idea.

-All sorts.

If you just have a pet one, it could be like £350.

The top studs go for anything. 20,000, 40,000, 60,000.

We haven't got one of those, though.

-Unfortunately.

-But one alpaca stud and that's your renovation done!

-Yes. I wish.

-OK, so what's the timescale?

I said four to six months.

-She says 12.

-Right.

-So somewhere between four to six months and 12.

-Yes.

It depends when you're doing it, how you are doing it.

We'll strip it ourselves and then it depends if we actually decorate it

ourselves or get tradesmen in.

I mean, I think we'll get someone in to do the kitchen and the bathroom

and it's just a case of time

-because we both work and we've got the alpacas.

-Sure.

So we'll see how it goes.

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

And thanks for the alpaca chat. Great to meet you.

Thank you very much.

So Sally and Simon didn't find too much a-llama-ing about this place

and they'll soon be alpaca-ing their bags and moving in.

Just got to sort it out the bit before then.

How will they get on?

You can find out later in the show.

The town centre of Church Gresley in Derbyshire

has a fairly traditional feel and with good road links,

it's an ideal place to enjoy the country vibe

but still have easy access to larger towns and cities.

Yes, Church Gresley is a great place to congregate.

# Meet me in church. #

Now the house I'm here to see is a bit of an unusual one

as it was part of this school.

The school closed down two years ago.

Originally the caretaker's house,

this lot has been used as part of the school.

More recently, however, a change of use to residential has been granted.

Now I'm looking forward to seeing this one.

It's got two bedrooms and has a guide price of £70,000.

I'm intrigued.

OK, we're in and we have the stairs straight in front of us going up to

the bedrooms. Two reception rooms.

One here with a nice sort of old-fashioned sort of tiled fireplace.

You may want to take that out, depending on your taste.

But I can see a bit of damp on the back wall.

In fact, there's a lot of damp on that back wall.

That would need to be sorted.

Find the source of that as soon as possible.

Into the second reception room.

It's exactly the same size

and there's signs that this must have been used as a classroom.

You've got the numbers and letters on the wall,

the storage heater and radiator as well.

So through into the kitchen and what have we got?

Not a bad size.

More than enough space to start again in here,

put a brand-new kitchen in,

maybe even a breakfast bar as well.

And as I think about it,

could you knock that wall down to have a kitchen-diner?

I don't know, but it's worth a thought.

Right, no talking at the back please

because Mr Dublin has an important lesson today.

There are numerous causes of damp.

The most common of all are roof defects like missing tiles,

problems with blocked or damaged gutters

or it can even be the material of the wall.

Rising damp occurs in porous materials like brick and sandstone

so get a moisture meter or, better yet,

a damp expert to have a look at it.

Right, lesson over.

You lot, you've got double maths.

Only kidding. Let's have a look upstairs.

OK, up the stairs to the bedrooms.

Unusually wide staircase.

Let's go in here first.

See what we've got. A good-sized bedroom.

Nice high ceiling as well.

And a beautiful shade of yellow.

More signs of damp on this back wall.

Maybe this could be the source of the damp.

You've got some ivy growing up this back wall.

It's actually coming in the window so if it's coming in the window,

it may be coming in through the brickwork as well.

Let's check that out a little bit later.

Over the other side of the landing

you've got another bedroom.

A good size. Nice high ceiling again.

In a shade of pink this time.

Into this really nice big bathroom here.

Lots of floor space

and what looks like an old original bath and sink as well.

I'd look to try and resurrect them and keep them if you could.

But this is a big house and it only has two bedrooms.

So would you look to try and squeeze a third in?

I know I would and I'd put it right here

and try and configure the bathroom elsewhere.

I think a house of this size deserves it

and it's something to think about.

Now you might think that ivy looked bad from the inside.

Wait until you go around the back.

Now all that greenery is the cause of that damp.

What I would do is, I'd get rid of the lot of that

because it would have eaten into the brickwork.

You'll definitely need to get it repointed,

get this place watertight again.

Anyway, out here you've got a decent-size back garden.

You've even got some outbuildings as well

which you could put to good use.

It would have been connected to the school.

The school is now a day-care centre and as you can hear,

the kids are having a good time on their toys

and playing a bit of football, hopefully.

# I never thought I'd cry

# For the love of Ivy. #

Common ivy supports itself by rooting into the brick

and can also cause problems

with properties which have shallow foundations.

It's best to cut it back where it looks to be damaging the building.

Time now to go to an agent from the auction house that sold the property

guided at 70 grand.

What's his opinion of it and how much does he think it would cost

to get it up to standard?

I think this property is a great, honest, solid property.

It offers excellent potential for someone to put their own mark on it.

But it's an excellent property.

I would say to do the work to a good standard and to turn this around,

I would have thought a budget of about £20,000 would be appropriate.

So once you've spent that money,

what could it sell for as a two- or three-bed?

I would say that on the current market,

if this were offered for sale as a two-bedroom property to a good

standard, it would have a resale value of £160,000.

Three-bedroom on the sales market,

I would say that this property would achieve £170,000.

From the outside, this property is very pretty

but on the inside it does need a bit of work doing.

I would look to try and squeeze in a third bedroom upstairs somehow

if you could rejig those bedrooms.

But if you got it for anywhere near that guide price in this lovely

location, I think you'd get yourself a bit of a bargain.

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

Lot number 50.

It's a double-fronted semidetached former schoolhouse,

in fact, to the school next door.

Proxy bid in on this property, ladies and gentlemen.

I will start the bidding on the proxy bid at £72,000.

73 somewhere else?

73 I've got there.

74 with me.

At 74. 75. 76.

With the proxy bidder dropping out at £80,000,

we rejoin the bidding in the auction room with the lot now at 87 grand.

87. And a half, sir?

87, 5.

88. And 5.

89,000.

And 5. 90,000.

90 and a half.

91.

91,500.

92. 92, are you sure?

92,000 for the first time.

Second time. Third time.

Sold at 92,000. Thank you.

So, for 22 grand over the guide price at £92,000,

the successful bidders are property developers James and Michelle.

The couple normally buy land and construct new builds.

Renovating an existing property is something new for them.

# I gotta go back

# Back to school again. #

-James, nice to meet you.

-Hiya.

-Michelle, nice to meet you too.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

Tell us why this house and why this particular house?

Daughter and son went to the school here until it shut 18 months ago.

This was, after the caretaker retired,

it was used as extra sort of classroom space,

just for small group work, nurturing groups.

So yes, I'd actually been in here before.

My daughter had been in here,

so we did know it well.

What are your plans for this building?

We've seen it as potential...

It's currently a two-bed with a large bathroom upstairs

so we saw its potential to move the stairs.

-The stairs are a bit comedy stairs.

-Yes.

The bathroom was originally a bedroom so we want to convert it

back to a bedroom to make it a three-bed,

then move the bathroom into the centre where the stairs were.

So we'll move the stairs into the dining area.

And then under the stairs, where they are now,

-there will be a downstairs WC, hopefully.

-The damp.

It does seem quite severe.

-How are you going to deal with that one?

-It's predominantly been caused

by the plant growth on the outside of the building.

A lot of ivy that is growing up and out of control.

It's not been touched for a few years.

So that's got to be removed to have a look at the brickwork behind.

That will be repointed up and put back to its original glory.

The couple have set themselves a three-month timescale for the works

and they'll be helped by the usual tradespeople that normally

help them on their new builds.

But James is a joiner by trade

and will be doing a lot of the work himself.

How does this relationship work away from the private relationship?

How does it work in business?

Who takes responsibility for what?

You like to be in charge

but, obviously, I don't let you be in charge!

There's nothing new there!

You're looking at the boss!

You tend to do more of the actual full-on work,

dealing with all the trades which come in.

I tend to do a lot more of the administration side.

There is a lot of administration, especially in new build,

let alone obviously this project.

I certainly do an awful lot of cleaning and tidying up as well.

I'm a messy builder!

Purse strings? You've got the purse strings?

Oh gosh, yes, definitely. I'm always the one who does the finances.

-I work for my pocket money!

-THEY LAUGH

With regards the purse strings, I'm asking you, Michelle, this question,

how much is it going to take

or how much is it going to cost you to turn this round?

We do hope to get it within a £15,000 budget

for what we want to do.

We've obviously had some trades out already just to give us a rough

indication so we're hoping we will stick to that.

What are you doing - are you selling, are you renting?

We'll be selling to move on to the next project.

So what was it that made you guys think, "We can do this"

and go into property developing yourselves?

I think it stems back from when we first met a good 18 years ago.

We used to just find properties,

they would be all run down and we would just be really intrigued,

wouldn't we? We always said one day we'd like to do up properties

or build our own properties.

It was very much a shared interest really, wasn't it?

-Yes.

-We know you're a carpenter.

How long have you been doing that and what was your job beforehand?

I was a carpenter and a building site manager.

-That's my background.

-OK.

-And yourself, Michelle?

-I was an event coordinator

and then I was Mum for a number of years.

Then obviously I've now joined the family business.

So hopefully the children will obviously be just as much into

property as they get older.

And just pass down all the money you've made to the children

-and they can continue it.

-Yes.

Yes, that would be the plan, wouldn't it?

Definitely our son is very much going to follow

in his dad's footsteps. Definitely a watcher at the moment.

Intrigued by everything he does.

-Good.

-Asking thousands of questions.

-Which is good, James, isn't it?

-Yes.

-It's very good.

-I dare say both of them will come on site

-and see what's going on.

-Good on you.

I think you're a good partnership.

I've got a good feeling about this one.

Got a good feeling about this one. James, I wish you all the best.

I hope it works out. Michelle, good luck to you.

-Thank you.

-Keep an eye on the purse strings!

-Will do.

THEY LAUGH

I'm pretty sure Michelle and James have made a very shrewd purchase

buying this house. Yes, it is a big job.

But if your business is building houses

then this shouldn't be a problem.

The only question I have is

how much money they're going to make.

You can find out later in the programme.

Coming up, Lucy is trying to find the positives

in this ground-floor London flat.

Any outside space is a true bonus in London.

And we return to Derbyshire to find out what lessons were learned

with this property renovation.

But first, we're back in Cumbria and the small village of Bigrigg,

where earlier, I visited this two-bedroom cottage

located on the corner of a busy junction.

In addition to the heavy traffic,

the building was a bit, well, oppressive.

It feels a little bit smaller on the inside than it looks on the outside.

A tiny kitchen and awkwardly placed bathroom didn't help matters.

But all that didn't deter local couple Sally and Simon

buying this place at auction for 51,000.

We passed it day after day

and thought it was something we couldn't afford.

But we saw it coming up for auction, so we thought, "Let's go and see."

Despite having their hands full

with their jobs and their 15 very cute alpacas,

they were going to have to take on the vast majority of the

renovation work themselves to make it their home.

There wasn't much consensus on how long the project would take.

Anything from 4 to 12 months.

But they did hope to keep the spend below £20,000.

16 months later, we're back and we're eager to see how they got on.

# You turn a light on

# Turn a light on

# You-ou-ou

# You gave a reason

# For me to hold on

# I came alive then

# And it made me feel

# Like you-ou-ou

# You turn a light on

# Turn a light on. #

Well, this is an absolute delight.

Sally and Simon have turned this dark and dingy cottage

into a wonderfully warm and welcoming home.

Each room has its own unique style

reflecting the personality and humour of its owners.

But the most challenging space they had to deal with was the kitchen.

The kitchen was so small

that it wasn't big enough to actually fit a kitchen in.

There wasn't enough room for your basic fridge-freezer,

sink unit and washing machine.

-We knocked that wall out.

-There was a pantry section

so we knocked that wall out as well and put a support in

to get a full-length kitchen as well.

They decided against extending the building because the cost didn't

justify the extra space they would gain.

But a compact kitchen has its advantages.

For the two of us, everything is right there where you need it.

Just turn round and get what you need and you're done.

Make a sandwich without moving!

Next door to the kitchen, the bathroom is no bigger than it was

but it has been completely modernised.

Stripped out the bathroom.

-That was...

-Horrible.

-..rank.

THEY LAUGH

That was really bad, yes.

Again, stripped that out, took it back to brick and started again.

I take my hat off to this couple.

They rolled up their sleeves and ripped everything out themselves.

They got in a local electrician, plumber and builder to help them

put it all back together again.

Oh, and Sally's dad helped by repairing all the floorboards.

Thanks, Dad! One space they haven't quite finished with is the stairwell

but the installation of a sun tube has already made a huge difference.

Like everything else, it's totally transformed the space.

It's quite dangerous coming down the stairs because the stairs are pretty

steep so that's done a really good job.

We even get a glow at night

because there's a street lamp just across the way!

Letting in light is a big theme in this house. And in the dining room,

the couple have installed French doors.

That was like a room to nowhere.

You walked in and that was it.

You didn't like it at all, did you?

So we put a couple of French doors in that take you out onto a patio

which will be really nice.

In an effort to keep costs to a minimum,

the couple have done as much of the work as possible.

The kitchen and bathroom are examples of not only

Simon's impressive handiwork,

but also of how the couple have made some very savvy Internet deals.

The kitchen was free, so you can't get much cheaper than that.

-We got it off of Freecycle.

-All the cupboards for free.

So I think the only thing we bought was the sink and the worktop.

The timescale has overrun by four months but how close did they manage

to stick to their 20 grand budget?

From the 20,000, I would say we've come in under budget.

I think it's about 17-and-a-half.

Outside, the house has been painted and the leaks in the roof fixed.

But the garden is a project in waiting.

And while Sally and Simon have been juggling property renovation and full-time jobs,

the alpacas have been busy too.

There are now a couple of new additions to the herd.

We've got two young baby girls.

We've got Demi, who's brown and she's got a white slash.

And then little Daisy, who is white and very dainty and tiny.

This house oozes character and country charm

and is as cosy as an alpaca jumper.

But will it be able to thaw out

the cool and calculating property experts

we've invited to take a look around?

First, what are the thoughts of the property expert

who saw it last time?

The new owners have made good improvements to the property.

They've improved the kitchen, they've improved the bathroom.

More importantly, the character has been retained

when the improvement has been made.

So I think, yeah, overall I'm quite impressed.

First impressions of the property, it's a nice,

lovely cottage-style property.

It's been done up

to quite a nice high standard

whilst keeping a lot of the original features

in keeping with the age of the property.

Sally and Simon have spent

an impressively modest £68,000 on the purchase

and renovation of this house.

What do the agents reckon it could be worth on the local resale market?

If the garden and the outside space is renovated to a similar standard

to inside, we would realistically expect to achieve around £125,000.

If it were to go on the market,

I would expect it to achieve around £125,000 to £135,000.

If the couple chose to sell their home now

that could mean a potential profit of £56,500

before any fees or taxes are taken off.

Yes. Really good.

-Really happy with that.

-Yes.

-We're not selling, though.

-Nice to know, though.

-Yeah.

And we know you're not renting either but it's also nice to

know that the agents reckon on a rental figure of

550 to £600 per calendar month,

which would mean a yield of over 10%.

But it's all academic for Sally and Simon

as this is their home.

But after taking this house back to brick

and doing much of the graft themselves,

what would they say to any other

would-be first-time property developers?

If I ever did anything like it again,

I would give up work somehow and do it en bloc.

Yes. Yes, do it in one hit and get it finished.

-That would be my advice.

-Get it finished.

-Get it finished.

-You could do it from scratch in the time it took us.

This is the famous Queen's Club in London's West Kensington.

Opened in 1886 and the first multipurpose sports club

to be built anywhere in the world.

# Do you like tennis?

# Yes, I do. #

Anyone who is familiar with the London property market knows that

Kensington is one of the

most desirable and expensive locations in the city.

The property Lucy is here to see is actually in Hammersmith,

just over the border from Kensington.

It's still as desirable,

but perhaps a relatively cheaper place to build your London nest.

So this is still a desirable area and, yes, this is a lovely street.

But it doesn't quite have the same price tag as West Kensington.

That said, what do you think the guide price of a

two-bedroom ground floor flat in need of modernisation was?

£355,000-plus!

Well, I never said it was going to be cheap, did I?

It's lovely to be in London but space is often at a premium.

So if you want to go into the lounge in here... Hello!

..you've got to make sure this door's shut.

And if you want to go in the bedroom, well,

you've got to come round here like this.

So you've got two rather good-sized rooms

but they're just a bit awkward to get to.

So you could have that as a lounge or bedroom one, bedroom two,

however you want to configure the space.

Rather narrow corridor.

And right at the back of the property, well, a reception room.

But when you see how tiny the kitchen is, I mean, it's tiny,

you might want to actually open this space up

and incorporate this room as part of the kitchen.

Something else that bothers me in here, it's really dark.

There's not that much daylight coming through and that's because

up there, there's a big old dark wooden fire escape

really blocking all the nice natural daylight.

So it needs reconfiguring, it needs opening up,

it needs the light to come shining through,

and that's just for starters.

# Let the sunshine in

# Come on, right away

# Let the sunshine in

# Brighten up my day

# Send those clouds away

# Let the sunshine in. #

Nope, you don't get a lot for your money in this area.

But you will be pleased to hear that I haven't quite finished yet.

Because outside...

Ta-da! ..you get this little garden.

I've said it once and I will say it again,

any outside space is a true bonus in London and this is perfect just for

a little barbecue, your table and chairs over there.

In the summer months, perfect.

Deckchairs and a barbecue are one use for this garden.

But subject to planning permission,

it looks like there is space out here to extend. Food for thought.

Some people might be thinking that the guide price of £355,000-plus

sounds pretty reasonable for this part of London,

even for a small flat in poor condition.

Well, there's a reason for that.

Now, there's something I haven't told you yet.

This flat, wait for it, has a short lease of less than 63 years.

Now with anything less than 70 years,

it affects your ability of getting a mortgage

and that will reduce the market and limit the end value.

So not good news and something that needs to be addressed straightaway.

Just remember, the shorter the lease,

the more expensive it is to extend.

So we've got a classic case of good location, not so good property.

What does a local estate agent think?

In my opinion, the property would be improved

by extending the kitchen into the garden.

You would still have a nice section of garden left.

I also feel that it would be best to keep it as a two-bedroom flat

so that you could keep the bathroom where it is or perhaps turn it into

a large shower room. It has great opportunities.

Yes, there is a great opportunity here indeed

but you'll need deep pockets.

But if you got it for anything like the guide price of £355,000,

refurbished to a good standard, how much could it resell for?

Once renovated, you should be able to sell this flat for £525,000.

If you were to extend the property further to the rear and make the

kitchen bigger, I would expect a sale price of £535,000.

I would expect to achieve a rental price of £2,000 per calendar month.

Well, this flat is not without its issues.

It has a short lease and you're going to need to start from scratch.

Everything needs doing -

from insulation to electrics to plumbing,

and that's just the beginning.

Still, if you can afford to buy here, extend the lease

and do the work, there could be a tidy profit to be made.

Let's head to auction and find out who agreed.

Ground floor flat. Interesting lot, good lot.

Really hot lot, this one.

I don't know, start at 300.

At least you can get a bid in. 300? Not going to go below three.

300?

300.

305. 305. 310.

The auctioneer was right to describe this as a hot lot.

The bidding was fast and furious and we rejoin when things have settled

down a bit with the price sitting at £425,000.

425.

426.

427.

428. 429.

430.

Take a choice. 430.

431.

432.

431 in the front.

432.

431 for the first time. Second time.

Third and last time. If you're all done...

Sold for 431.

The flat was bought by married couple Sam and Claire.

# I got my mind set on you

# I got my mind set on you. #

And they had their mind set on buying this flat

for a very special reason.

Claire and Sam, congratulations.

You guys really wanted this property, didn't you?

Yes. The reason being is

my son lives upstairs and we thought it was a good idea to

have a downstairs venue for him,

and for us, and maybe for rental.

Wow, so this really was worthwhile to you on that day, wasn't it?

We did want it at a price

and then the price went past my budget.

That happens quite often!

And I heard somebody still bidding on it, which was me.

And then we won it.

Now, currently, as it stands, it's a little bit awkward, isn't it?

What sort of plans have you got for the property?

My view is that if we did a very nice one-bedroom flat

fitted out to a high standard,

I think that's the best opportunity to maximise rental income.

Would you think about an extension at the back?

Yes, I definitely think there will be room for extension,

just a small extension.

# Small world

# Small, small world. #

But even a small extension

will require some negotiation with upstairs.

The building's back garden is split up the middle

so Mum and Dad will have to ask nicely

to get son David's permission to build on his land.

My son's an accountant so he's already working out how much

he can sell that part of his property to us for!

He's not thinking how he can nab the downstairs flat off Mum and Dad?

-That's a possibility.

-Maybe he's one step ahead.

So what's your budget for the work here?

I think we'll spend, by the time we finish,

I think we could spend up to £75,000.

OK, so you've got a really healthy budget, which is fantastic.

That's quite a lot of money to spend here

but you do need to do everything.

We need to do everything plus the extension.

And, of course, let's not forget,

this property comes with a very short lease.

What are you going to do about that?

Are you going to extend it or leave it?

We need to extend it and part of the purchase consideration

included the option to extend it.

So we need to approach the freeholder and have negotiations

there about how much it will cost to extend it.

-So have you not had those chats yet?

-No.

Have you made any rough assumptions as to how much it might cost?

£40,000.

So you've got to put the £40,000 aside out of the £75,000 budget?

In addition to the 75.

In addition? This could turn out to be a very expensive flat, Sam.

It is an expensive flat, without question.

The numbers are beginning to stack up.

Add the purchase price to Sam and Claire's £75,000 budget

and then factor in another £40,000 to extend the lease

and they are looking at a possible total of £546,000.

# But it's gonna take money... #

Do you think there would still be profit in this flat

that you're doing up here if you were to then sell on?

Not in the short term.

So you think you would have to hold on to this?

Correct. This is a five-year project.

I hope I'm here to see it!

Don't work too hard!

THEY LAUGH

How long do you think it's going to take you to do the extension

and reconfigure the flat?

I'm actually meeting with the builder on Friday.

And an architect. So obviously the ball will start rolling

of what they think we can do and what the architect can put together.

I would hope a six-month project.

Good luck. It's been really lovely meeting you both today.

And I'm really excited to see the outcome and how you all get on.

It's been lovely meeting you. Claire, well done.

-Sam, nice to meet you.

-Thank you very much.

So, Sam and Claire paid a lot of money for not a lot of space.

I think they've got to remember that profit is the name of the game here.

They need to keep a close eye on that budget so they don't overspend.

You can join me later on in the programme

to find out how they get on.

Well, time has passed

and we're hoping the money has been well spent.

Have those fine-sounding plans worked out?

Time to go back to the final two properties

and find out what happened.

It was in the Derbyshire town of Church Gresley

where I continued my property education.

Now, the house I'm here to see is a bit of an unusual one

as it was part of this school.

The school closed down two years ago.

# School's out forever

# No more pencils

# No more books

# No more teachers... #

Built originally as the caretaker's house,

in recent times this was integrated as part of the school

and used as additional classroom space.

But with planning permission already granted to turn this into its former

residential status, its days as a house of learning were history.

Its geography was a little weird

with just two bedrooms and a large bathroom upstairs.

That didn't really add up.

The people who had done their sums and all their homework on the property

were local property developers Michelle and James,

who bought it for £92,000.

Daughter and son went to the school here until it shut.

So, yes, I'd actually been in here before.

My daughter had been in here, so we did know it well.

What are your plans for this building?

We see it as the potential for...

It's currently a two-bed with a large bathroom upstairs

so we saw its potential to move the stairs.

The bathroom was originally a bedroom so we want to convert it

back to a bedroom to make it the three beds.

Then move the bathroom to the centre where the stairs were.

So we'll move the stairs into the dining area.

Michelle and James had previously specialised in doing new builds

which they sell on.

They are hoping to go back to school and learn something new with this

renovation project.

And they figured out that a 15 grand budget and working to a timescale of

three months ought to do the trick.

Now, 16 months later, which seems like a lot of detention to me,

have they finally got it right?

# When will I learn my lesson?

# When will I learn my lesson? #

So they certainly have learned their lessons well,

creating a bright, open hallway.

There is even a downstairs cloakroom added.

Top marks for this.

It's looking great downstairs.

But what about upstairs?

We changed the layout completely.

The stairs were up the middle of the building but were far too steep

and there was a bathroom at the back of the house which was oversized.

So we converted the bathroom into a bedroom

and we moved the stairs from the middle of the house

to go off the dining room.

That created extra space for an en suite and a bathroom.

So they've managed to end up with three bedrooms upstairs,

one of which has an en suite.

And a bathroom.

That's clever stuff.

BELL RINGS Do I hear the bell?

Is it time to rush outside and play?

In the garden, obviously, it was used as a courtyard for the school

so it was laid to tarmac with side borders and a ramp up the side

to get into the school access. So we took the ramp out,

opened the garden back up and put Astroturf down.

We just wanted to inject some greenery into it

and make it more like a nice garden you could sit out in.

# Do you remember the days of the old schoolyard

# We used to cry a lot

# Oh, don't you remember the days of the old schoolyard? #

That's a good practical solution.

Digging up that courtyard would be a massive exercise in itself.

You know what they say, keep it simple, stupid.

But who was the head teacher here?

I don't know who would really be the boss, to be honest with you.

We both know our roles and what we're best at doing within the house

so I think we just keep to what we're best at doing.

It's not just the house itself because we've got a family,

so we run a family life as well as the building life.

I certainly do all the admin

and then I come and help you as often as time allows.

You're definitely a dab hand at everything.

Well, their skills seem to have complemented each other perfectly.

But previously they had been applying them to new builds.

Indeed, other projects delayed the start of work by over nine months.

So what did they learn here?

The difference between new build and the renovations is

new builds are all clean material,

we're starting from afresh on a clean piece of land.

With renovations, it's not step-by-step.

Everything you do can change each day.

If you take a wall down and realise there is something else there,

you've got to do something to rectify that

which isn't in the order of works if it was new build.

And those unknowns can make it harder to stick to the budget.

Originally, we thought we'd spend about 15,000.

It's come to about £17,000

but we're perfectly happy with that to achieve the standard we wanted.

A 17 grand spend on top of their £92,000 purchase price

takes Michelle and James' total cost to 109 grand.

So is this a top-class refurbishment?

Why don't we ask two local property experts what they think?

First impressions of the property, it's very good.

I'm impressed with the fact that it's contemporary

but also...a few original features.

I think, overall, the standard is very high.

I think the overall finish is really beautiful.

It's light, airy

but it still has the modern feel

but with still the wealth of character the property deserves.

This property is all about resale.

So what could Michelle and James' 109 grand investment

currently sell for?

With regards to selling this property on the open market,

I see this within the region of 165 to £170,000.

On the sales market,

this property could achieve in the region of 190 to £195,000.

I suppose if you sort of took it in between the two it would probably

be about where we were thinking it would definitely achieve.

-What do you think?

-We would probably say about 185, 190.

-Yes.

Yes, a bit of a range with a potential pre-tax profit

of between 56 and £86,000.

And the agents also thought

a rental value of around £800 per calendar month

would be possible, which would generate over an 8% yield.

So with their schoolwork done and lessons learned,

it's now home time at last.

So how do they feel about their first renovation project?

When we first met,

which was at the nice young age of 17 and 18 years of age,

we shared the same passion of just going...

We'd see an old rundown building,

it would be up for auction and we'd just go and view it.

We've always wanted to do a renovation

so it's nice to actually achieve that,

see the final look of what a house can actually become

from such a poor state into such a lovely family home.

It was in the Hammersmith area of London where Lucy saw a two-bedroom

ground-floor flat which clearly had a few issues right from the off.

It's lovely to be in London but space is often at a premium.

So if you want to go into the lounge in here... Hello!

..you've got to make sure this door is shut.

And if you want to go in the bedroom, well,

you've got to go around here like this.

No, clearly the layout wasn't working.

Along with a small kitchen, compact bathroom,

it was really quite gloomy.

And if that wasn't enough, the lease was a mere 63 years.

But the people not put off by the flat's catalogue of woes

were Claire and Sam, who bought it for £431,000.

Having taken guidance from above.

My son lives upstairs and we thought it was a good idea to have a

downstairs venue for him and for us and maybe for rental.

And they weren't holding back on the refurbishment work with

what seemed like a healthy £75,000 budget and a six-month timescale.

But now, two years on -

yes, I did say two years -

they have finally completed it.

Well, the outside looking great

but it was the muddled, awkward internal layout

that was the main issue.

So have they been able to sort that out?

They sure have,

with a beautiful large extension that houses a modern kitchen.

And the kitchen's complemented by a modern bathroom.

And then there are still two bedrooms.

One of which not only has French doors to the rear

but is also an en-suite.

And the whole flat seems brighter, lighter, bigger and better.

But why did it take so long to complete?

It took us two years to complete from acquisition

but the building work only to us five months.

So the remaining 19 months was taken up through acquiring the freehold.

Then because we had parties on either side,

we had to agree party wall agreements with them because

we were restructuring the house. So that took months.

And then we had the architect and the engineers.

So it all took a long time.

# Take some time

# Just hang around a while... #

OK, so that does make sense.

By buying the freehold

that means between themselves and their son

they have more flexibility on how to divide up the space

both inside and out.

Initially, the garden was split into two

and we negotiated a deal with our son.

So we were able to make our extension as we wanted it.

However, he has now gained a nice roof terrace.

And the project wouldn't have worked without having the whole garden.

We couldn't have done the extension without the whole garden.

So an outcome that hopefully suited both Sam and Claire and their son,

David. But who actually oversaw the work in Sam and Claire's flat?

The role we had was not to project manage. We had Jack,

who was going to be the project manager,

who was excellent.

So our role was really to come down and inspect,

pay the bills and make a few decisions.

But employing a project manager adds to the cost.

Mind you, this was never going to be a cheap project.

Not only had they allowed £75,000 for the work but they thought that

extending the lease would cost them around 40,000.

So how have the sums stacked up?

We ended up spending in total,

including the acquisition price, £700,000.

And that was made up of the price of 431,000

plus legal fees and stamp duty.

Then we had to buy the freehold, which was £75,000.

And then the building work,

which we had budgeted somewhere between 70 and £100,000,

came to £175,000.

OK, so a massive overspend all round.

But, you know, taking two years to complete may have just worked in

their favour with the way the London market has been rising.

But what will two local estate agents make of this flat?

Will it sit well in the London market?

This is my second visit to this property and I must say

I've seen amazing changes.

The property has been refurbished to a very high standard

and I'm extremely impressed.

My first impressions are,

he's done an absolutely stunning job throughout and I think it's very

saleable and the finish is of a very high standard.

Despite the level of investment in the flat,

Sam and Claire really want to rent it out.

But could that £700,000 investment

actually produce a profit on the resale market?

In my opinion, the resale value of this property

would be in the region of £800,000.

I would expect this property to achieve in the region of £795,000.

I'm impressed. It's more than I thought.

There you go, then. That's the London market.

Despite a huge overspend,

they could still make a profit of £100,000

minus any taxes and fees, of course.

They want to rent

but could that overspend really dent the rental yields?

The rental value for this property, in my opinion,

would be in the region of £2,100 per calendar month.

For rental purposes, I think this property would achieve

£2,100 per calendar month.

Yes, we had other agents in

and they quoted a similar price for the rental.

Yes, but those rental values represent just over a 3.5% annual yield.

There certainly would be more money to be made in a resale.

But they want it as a long-term investment.

After all, it took long enough to complete.

So would they ever consider doing anything like this again?

Would we do it again?

I'm not that sure.

It's not impossible.

I think that once we get over this, which may take a few months,

we'll probably go and visit a few auctions and see if there are

similar properties available.

That's all for now but did we inspire you to buy at auction

-or have we put you off completely?

-Hopefully, the former.

And we'll have plenty more auction properties for you next time here on

-Homes Under The Hammer.

-Bye-bye.

-Goodbye.