Episode 9 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello and welcome to the show. Now, when it comes to buying property

at auction, not everyone considers it

a viable option.

Yeah, but the process is more simple than you think.

So why not pop down to your local auction house

and see what's on offer?

Bidding at auction can be a surreal experience.

One raise of the hand, and, well,

-you could bag the property of your dreams.

-Uh-huh.

It can be as simple as that. But buyer beware,

there are all sorts of things you need to consider.

Yeah, what did the buyers on today's show go for? Let's have a look.

In Newcastle-under-Lyme, my senses take a battering.

What I haven't talked about is the overwhelming smell.

From smells to trains.

This one-bed flat in Richmond has a noisy neighbour.

You're looking from your bed straight out onto the train track.

And from trains to stains.

There's plenty of them in this Nottingham three-bed semi.

There's a bit of staining, there's

a bit of a smell as well, which isn't very pleasant at all.

All these properties have been sold at auction.

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

when they went under the hammer.

You bought it, sir, well done.

This is Chesterton, a small village in the borough of

Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire.

A former mining town until the collieries' closure

in the late '80s,

it is also the birthplace of singer-songwriter

and coal miner's daughter Jackie Trent.

She wrote for many of the great,

from Petula Clark to Dean Martin, but is perhaps best remembered

for co-writing the theme tune to much-loved TV soap Neighbours.

So I wonder what the neighbours will be like around here.

Well, judging by the gardens, they're neat and tidy,

that's a good start. I'm here to see a three-bed end terrace.

Guide price, £65,000. Here it is.

Ah, well. Our garden, not quite as neat and tidy.

Oops, doesn't bode very well.

So, well, yes, as predicted, it doesn't look like it's in that

brilliant a condition, but what have we got?

Central heating for a start, which is always a good point.

Stairs up to your bedrooms there.

And a fairly nice-sized little entrance area.

Your main living room off to the right.

Again, definitely needs a bit of work.

But it's spacious, which is good.

Likewise in here, I mean, a really good-sized kitchen.

I think that's one of those old-fashioned larders.

So that's a bit of extra space there.

Your initial thoughts are, "Would you knock this wall down?

"Maybe incorporate that little bit of extra space?"

I think probably not cos this is big enough as it is.

And you're going to have to factor in the fact that

if you did that, you'd have to move the boiler,

and that's going to be a bit of a devil of a job and extra expense.

I don't think you necessarily need it.

Because yes, again, space, space, space.

It's got it by the bucket-load. Hm, fab.

-WHISPERS:

-Just needs a few more...

..units and stuff.

Well, you can't have everything, I suppose.

Yes, it definitely is in need of some upgrading,

but as expected with an ex-local authority house like this,

the room sizes are great, especially in that kitchen.

Let's have a look upstairs to see what it's like.

So, upstairs, and three decent-sized bedrooms, a bathroom.

It's not huge but it's in the right place and all the pipes

and everything are all there for you to make life a little bit easier.

Um, so all in all, what we've got here is a really nice, solid house.

Now, at this point,

if you are at all squeamish or you're in the middle of eating

a biscuit with your coffee, you might want to fast forward.

Or just turn the TV off because it's going to get a bit...

What's the word?

Let's just assume you've done that now.

Yes, it's going to get smelly because

what I haven't talked about is the overwhelming smell.

This is a house which has had probably dogs or whatever

running around doing whatever they do inside the house,

so you have got a house that is literally saturated

with pee and poo.

I mean, there's no other way of saying it.

Now, you've got a big problem. It's gone into the floorboards.

Look at this.

Now, you think you could just maybe put a bit of bleach over

the top of that and everything will be fine.

No, it seeps into the wood.

It's there, it's going to stay there smelling.

It's a really serious issue.

And clearly somebody walking around this...

The majority of people, I would imagine, would be seriously put off.

So if you're a developer, you're an investor,

is this the sort of thing you should go for?

Well, you just need to factor in time, money and expense.

Get rid of the floorboards where they're damaged,

get rid of the skirting boards,

industrial quantities of biological cleaners and disinfectant,

endless hours of scrubbing, and eventually, you'd end up

with a house that smelled like a rose garden.

Well, I have to say, a rose garden feels a million miles away

at the moment.

# I beg your pardon

# I never promised you a rose garden... #

Time for some fresh air, I think.

Well, at the back of the property, a little lean-to area with

a couple of useful storage areas - that one a storage area,

that one a loo. So that's good. And then out into the back garden.

Well, no surprises, it is in a bit of a state.

But it's a good size. And sort this out, and you would

definitely have a nice sort of play area for the kids or whatever.

For now, I don't think I'll venture into that grass cos,

judging by the state of the house, I just don't know what I might find.

Yes, "Tread carefully," would be my advice to the person

undertaking the clean-up of this garden.

We invited along a local estate agent to get his opinion on this

well proportioned,

but shall we say pungent property?

First impressions of the property,

it does need

a lot of work doing throughout the property internally,

but they're good, solid houses and it's got

good benefits of the off-road parking at the front

and garden to the rear.

I think the condition of the property as it is at the moment

will put off some buyers, but I think the likelihood of the buyers

who will be interested in this property

will be able to look beyond that.

The guide on this property was £65,000,

so would the potential profit be one to, ahem, be sniffed at?

Once fully refurbished,

I would expect the property to sell in the region of £90,000.

So if you got it for the guide price and were careful with

the refurb budget, you could come up smelling of roses on this one.

But what about rentals?

I would expect the property to rent between £450 per calendar month

and £475 per calendar month.

Well, apart from the pong, this is a really good house.

It's solid, nice-sized rooms,

yeah, and it would make a great family home or a good investment.

So who had the rubber gloves at the ready?

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

Lot nine is a three-bedroomed end townhouse,

gas central heating, double glazing,

off-road parking.

I'll say 60 to start me here.

60 bid, thank you. At £60,000.

I'll go in ones. 61, can see you now. At 60,000. 61 now.

At 60. 61. 62. 63.

64.

At £64,000. At £64,000.

65, anywhere else?

65. seated, at 65.

66? 66, anywhere else?

At £65,000, and selling it, then, for the first time.

£65,000 for the second time.

Third and final time at £65,000.

You bought it, sir, well done.

Getting the property for bang on the guide price of £65,000 was Mike.

He's brought along daughter Hayley, who's going to be helping

with the renovation.

But this isn't their first property renovation together,

having bought three previously, two of which Mike now rents out.

I met up with the duo back at the house to find out what

they had in store for their new venture.

Hayley, Mike, great to meet you both.

-BOTH:

-And you.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

-So, tell me why you wanted to buy this house.

Well, we were looking for something in this kind of area where we

could maybe, you know, make a little bit, add a bit of value too,

and this one came up at auction.

We looked at a few others, but this was probably our favourite one

-out of the four or five we saw.

-Right.

It is in a bit of a state at the moment,

but we think potentially it can look nice.

So, what do you do when you're not doing this, Mike?

I do odd jobs for people,

and also I help a friend who does alarm systems and satellite systems.

-OK.

-But I just sort of help out.

But you'll be fitting this around that.

I'll be fitting this around that.

And financially, how is it working, then?

Are you in this as a joint venture?

No, it's you and my mum, isn't it, that are together.

-I'm just the helper.

-Right.

-Yeah.

-So you were drafted in as sort of cheap labour, were you?

-Yes.

Free labour. There's nothing cheap about it. It's free.

You'll get as much coffee as you like.

There must be an upside for you, though, is there?

Oh, it's just... Keeps me busy.

I'm on maternity leave at the minute, so it'll keep me

-out of the house.

-Oh, great, so when was your little baby born?

-Oh, two months ago.

-Oh, really? Oh, wow. What's he called?

-George.

Fantastic. And is he helping you out as well?

He will be. Well, he'll be sitting in the room, anyway.

So with the help of Baby George, Mike and Hayley

will gut this place from top to bottom,

installing a new kitchen, bathroom, as well as redecorating throughout.

They will also have to tackle that overgrown back garden.

And at the front of the house, they plan to drop the kerb to

allow for off-street parking.

Semi-retired now, Mike plans to complete the renovations over

the course of six months around his part-time work schedule,

and with a budget of £10,000, with a £5,000 contingency.

Now on to something that might not be as easy to correct.

You are struck by, amongst other things,

-a rather overpowering smell, aren't you?

-Yes. Oh, gosh, yeah.

It has had about a gallon of disinfectant on it but...

-This is after that?

-This is the improved version, yeah, yeah.

-So what was it like before?

-Eye-watering.

Yeah, I was going to say exactly the same thing.

Joking aside, it is quite a hard thing to get rid of, isn't it?

The smell.

What have you found has worked

and what are your hopes from this point on?

Well, obviously disinfectant,

but in some areas, obviously,

the skirting board is going to be coming off,

-and that's going to be thrown away.

-Yeah.

There may be areas of floorboarding that'll have to be chopped out,

and we'll see where we go from there.

Oh, I don't envy them the task.

Mike retired from his full-time job in admin as he wanted to be

away from a desk.

Well, he certainly achieved that.

I do sort of odd jobs for people,

and this is just like a gap filler, really.

So I'll be doing this when I'm not busy doing other things.

And then to sell it on afterwards or to rent it out?

I'd like to sell it on, but I'm

-keeping my options open on that one.

-Yes.

-Right, OK, see how it goes.

-Yeah, see how it goes.

-Well, listen, congratulations. Good luck with it.

-Thank you very much.

-I'm looking forward to seeing how you get on.

-Thank you. Thanks.

So, Mike and Hayley, ready to take on the pong of this

particular property. And they can see there's money to be made.

And it is one of those great tips, isn't it?

If you can find a place that instantly people perhaps

would have been put off by, there is possibly an opportunity for you.

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

# We are fresh strawberries

# Fresh burst of red strawberries... #

The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames has many

affluent areas, and one of these is Strawberry Hill.

Like many suburbs of London, it was the arrival of the railway

that brought about its very existence.

The area is named after Strawberry Hill House,

a villa built by Horace Walpole.

Now, he was a few decades ahead of his Victorian peers

in his passion for Gothic architecture. And this, well,

it holds a bit of a special place in my heart

because I got married here.

Oh, yes, a fairytale location for a day I will never forget.

But moving on now, the location of the property I'm here to see

is slightly - ha - less romantic.

It's a ground floor one-bed flat in this building which sits

alongside a busy train line and level crossing.

Not exactly a recipe for peace and quiet, but if you want to

get into Central London in a hurry, this could be the ideal place.

Anyway, the guide price for the flat, well, £200,000 plus,

so let's see what you get for your money.

Now, inside... Ooh, I'm getting a good feeling about this!

It's feeling all rather new. You've got lovely storage there.

Oh, I do spy a little bit of damp down there,

and it's sort of wet to the touch.

I wouldn't worry about it too much, but

I'd certainly get that looked at.

A bedroom through here, which we'll come back to.

And, ooh, the bathroom, fantastic.

Rather snazzy blue lights along the bottom of the bath.

I mean it all looks like it's in really good condition.

You could probably instantly rent a place like this out. I mean, look.

It's even got the furniture in situ.

Gosh, it even looks really comfortable as well.

Anyway, I won't sit down, otherwise I'll never get up.

Storage, again, which is fantastic.

Every inch of this flat has been thought out,

which is really what you want when you've got a small property.

Now, it's an irregular shape, but it doesn't not work, funnily.

And tucked around here, you've got the black, shiny kitchen.

But you know, it really does work, and it's really functional.

Outside, you've got a lovely little view of, well,

it's a view of a bike store.

Beyond that, you've got the train line, but we'll come back to that.

So this flat, it does what it says on the tin.

So here's your one bedroom, in your one-bedroom flat of course.

But what I really like is the way that

the furniture demonstrates the space.

And it is quite spacious, actually.

I know it's an irregular shape, just like next-door

but it seems to work, weirdly.

Now, you could put a desk here.

There's certainly enough room for that.

Bit of a downside, though, is that view out there.

You're looking from your bed straight out onto the train track.

But what I do like is that you can wake up to the

sound of the 8.20 in time to hop onto the 8.30,

ready for work. Perfect.

# Catch me if you can

# Catch me if you can

# Catch me if you can... #

Waking up to this commuter cacophony every morning might not be

everyone's idea of a dawn chorus.

But with the train station next door

and journey times into Waterloo around 30 minutes,

this flat ticks all the boxes for a professional working in the city.

What does the local property agent think about what's on offer here?

It's a fantastic property.

There's minimal amount of work that needs to be done to it,

and they could turn it around really quickly to either resell or let it.

How much does she think it would take to turn this flat around?

To get this property back up to its best, it really depends how

much you want to spend.

You could obviously spend thousands on expensive paints,

fixtures and fittings.

In my opinion, it would need a good quality emulsion throughout,

keeping the colours plain, and some simple, smart fixtures and fittings.

And once renovated,

how much could this flat be worth on the rental and sales market?

On completion of the work, I'd recommend marketing the property for

lettings at £1,000 to £1,100 per calendar month,

and for sales, £239,950.

Well, this flat's in a great area and it's in good condition.

A little bit of elbow grease and a bit of paint and I think it could be

ready to go. Although, I would get that small area of damp checked out.

I don't think you need to spend much more than about £1,000 to get this

ready for rental or for the sales market.

And who is not going to love Strawberry Hill?

Let's see what happened when this flat went under the hammer.

A ground floor flat, this one,

as you see it in your catalogue.

Start me around 210 for it, if you will.

You will, thank you. 210, I have. 212, do I see?

£210,000, I'm bid. I'll take 211.

212. 213.

214.

215.

216.

Despite a bright start to the auction,

the torrent of bids soon turned to a trickle.

The increments dropped to £500 and progress was slow.

We rejoin the auction with the price having reached £224,000.

224.

224 and a half.

224 and a half.

Now, with you, then, at £224,000 for the first...

..224 for the second,

third... 224 and a half. 225.

225 and a half.

Go through it all again. At the front, then, 225 for the first,

225 for the second...

..third, final time, 225.

That's yours at 225, well done.

It was Miriam and her fiance, Ben, who made that final bid of £225,000.

Originally from Berlin, Miriam lives in London with Ben

and their young daughter.

So what's the plan for this Strawberry Hill commuter pad?

-Miriam, lovely to meet you today.

-Very nice to meet you.

-What a fantastic flat. Clean as a whistle.

-Thank you.

A great find in the auction room.

What's the back story and why did you want to buy this?

Well, we were looking to buy something fairly quickly.

So that's why we went to auction.

And then, of course, the location and the condition of the flat was

so good that we really thought we should go for it.

Did you expect to get it?

Well, we had three properties on the list we would like to have,

and this was the one that was first up at auction

and in the best condition, so we're really happy.

-I mean, you got it for 225. It's quite incredible, isn't it?

-Yes.

And there is nothing really you need to do here.

I mean you can upgrade it, if you want to,

-but it's kind of ready to go.

-Yes.

So is your intention to eventually move into this flat?

No, not ourselves because we are three of us,

so it would be too small.

I was going to say, there's not a huge amount of space for you

and your little one.

So you've bought this just to rent out as an investment?

Yes, for the future.

So how well do you know Strawberry Hill?

We've looked for ourselves in the area of Barnes.

We're looking to move here potentially at some point to

-be near the German school.

-Aren't you going abroad soon?

Yes, for a little break, we're going to Berlin,

but don't know for how long. Let's see how we like it.

# Don't you know you really gotta

# Get up, get up Turn it around... #

Having lived in London for a number of years to be near Ben's parents,

the family are now planning to relocate to Germany to be

closer to Miriam's mum, which means this flat needs to start

earning rental income.

# Such a long, long way to go... #

Now let's talk about the downside of the property

cos we've, you know, touched on the fact that

it's clean and you could rent it.

-It does have a train track right there.

-I know!

It's very busy, you've got people walking

past your window right there.

It's not everybody's cup of tea, this.

Well, are we thinking, at least it's a train line and not a Tube line.

So the trains do stop running at 11 o'clock in the evening.

And ideally, it would be a professional living here.

So hopefully, they wouldn't be here all day watching the people.

So is that what you see?

A professional person renting this flat?

I would think so, yes.

And are you intending to spend any money here at all?

Well, we are looking to give it a new lick of paint.

And we do have to do a little bit of plumbing. And that's it.

What about the little area of damp as you walk in, in the hallway?

That's something that I'm not too worried about, but

I would like to get investigated.

Well, that's happened over the weekend.

So basically, the previous tenant moved out

and the toilet was constantly running, and that's why it's wet.

So that wasn't there when I first saw it and when we bought it.

That's literally just happened now.

OK, so how much money are you going to spend? You said a lick of paint.

Give me a figure.

Well, let's add plumbing, painting, maybe £1,000,

professionally cleaning it.

Yeah, absolutely, I mean, that's all I've said, £1,000.

as I think that's all you need to do. Clean the kitchen.

I mean, you've got a washing machine in there. You've got furniture here.

Really nice grey sofas. I mean, so what was the plan there?

Well, basically the previous owner asked us

if we would like to keep some of the furniture,

and so we haggled him down and we've taken them.

-So how much did you pay for the furniture?

-Everything, £400.

-400 quid for everything else in the flat?

-Yeah.

That's so worthwhile, isn't it?

Something else worthwhile is reading the legal pack.

While Miriam saved a few quid on furniture, unfortunately,

she lost a whole bundle of cash

because she missed a very important detail in the document.

A dispute between the previous owner and

the buildings management company left three years' worth

of unpaid service charges.

A total of three and a half grand!

And guess who was liable for that?

-I had to pay for it.

-So you had to pay for that? Oh, dear!

So you paid 225 and then you had to pay an extra three and a half grand?

Yeah. This legal pack, actually, was quite overwhelming

because it was page, after page, after page,

where others are quite short so...

That's the biggest tip I can give you.

Read the legal pack. If not, give it to somebody else to read.

Because things like that do crop up all the time at auction,

and that is probably why

it did go into the auction, you know, anyway.

So that must have been a bit of a bummer for you guys,

-really, to find that out.

-Yeah, but it is OK. It's OK.

-Do you still think it was worth buying this flat?

-Yeah.

So tell me about your timescale. You've got £1,000 to spend.

-You want to paint it white. How long is it going to take you?

-A week.

Literally, you're going to be in here a week, done.

-Yes.

-Renting it out.

-That's the plan.

-Time is of the essence with you.

-Yes.

Listen, good luck with this project

and I hope everything goes really well for you in Berlin.

-Thank you so much.

-Congratulations. Thank you.

What a lucky find for Miriam.

A great flat in a great area

and only £1,000 to spend on the property.

Shame about that extra three and a half grand

that was lurking in the legal pack, though.

Must have left a bitter taste.

Other than that, everything else in Strawberry Hill seems sweet.

Join me later in the programme and you can find out how Miriam gets on.

Still to come, someone was itching to buy this

Nottingham three-bed semi.

I was getting a bit itchy and it came up

and I thought, "Let's just go for it."

And in Strawberry Hill, does Miriam think her decorating

has come up to scratch?

Yeah, it's very pleasing.

It's time to return to Chesterton in Newcastle-under-Lyme and a

property I wouldn't honestly want to visit twice, if I had the choice.

A perfectly good area and, on paper at least, an attractive house.

But, oh, my goodness, the mess!

And the smell!

This is a house which has had dogs or whatever

running around doing whatever they do inside the house,

so you have got a house that is literally

saturated with pee and poo.

# Betty Boo

# Betty Boo just doin' the do

# And you are through

# And there's nothing you can do... #

Well, the pets had already done

the do, and in large quantities, judging by the stench.

But this three-bed property had many good points.

Plenty of space inside, especially the kitchen, and both front

and back gardens were a really good size.

It was Mike, here, with daughter Hayley

who saw the potential of this place,

paying bang on the guide price of £65,000.

Bought jointly with his wife, Kathleen, the idea was to

fully refurbish and then take a decision on whether to sell or rent.

But first, they'd have to sort out that smell.

In some areas, obviously, the skirting board is going to be

-coming off, and that's going to be thrown away.

-Yeah.

There may be areas of floorboarding that will have to be chopped out.

With a maximum budget of 15 grand

and a completion target of six months to aim for,

Mike and Hayley donned the protective clothing and got to work.

Almost exactly six months later, we've come back with clothes pegs

at the ready, just in case. Let's find out how they got on.

# Sun is shining in the sky

# There ain't a cloud in sight

# It's stopped raining

# Everybody's in a play

# And don't you know

# It's a beautiful new day

# Hey, hey, hey... #

The sun is shining outside and it's pretty cheery indoors, too.

Mike and Hayley have done a terrific job in here and,

you'll have to take my word for this,

the house smells of nothing but fresh paint and new carpet.

So how did they set about the daunting task of fumigation?

We tried to get rid of the smell with disinfectant.

-Lots of disinfectant. Yeah.

-Lots of disinfectant.

But that didn't seem to have much effect, so it ended up that we had

to bring down a third of this ceiling

and some of the other ceilings...

-Yes.

-..also the floorboards, or getting underneath

the floorboards as well, and actually scrubbing the joists.

It was just soaked through with urine, everything was,

-wasn't it, basically?

-It was really bad.

-Horrible.

It was quite disheartening at first, wasn't it?

When every time you walked back through, you could still smell it.

You thought, "It's never going to go." But it did, eventually.

It sounds like a bit of an ordeal

but something you'd have to be prepared for

if you bought a house in such a state.

With the dark days far behind them,

what's their favourite part of this rejuvenated property?

I quite like this front room because when we first came in here,

-it was so dark even on a light day. The walls were so dark...

-Yeah.

I think it really looks nice now with the laminate floor

-and the light colour scheme.

-Yeah.

Mike was able to spend a lot of time working on the house,

and the fruits of his labour are impressive.

He brought in a plumber to help with the kitchen

and bathroom fitting and also hired an electrician to check

the wiring, which turned out to be

in better condition than he'd expected.

However, Hayley found that Baby George wasn't too keen on mum

disappearing to help Grandad.

When I was able to, I helped with a little bit of cleaning

and things. The garden,

I helped with a little bit of gardening as well and just

general tidying up where I could.

And that was it really, unfortunately.

-And plenty of pastoral care with tea and coffee.

-Teas, cake, yeah.

With Hayley's help, the back garden has been completely cleared

and the lean-to area has been tidied and painted.

But it's at the front of the house where most of the landscaping

work has taken place.

We completely stripped the front

and put in the new block paving.

We decided to drop the kerb because the kerb was quite high, which is

something you have to go through the Council for.

And a contractor came along and did that for us

over the space of a couple of days.

Mike had hoped to keep his budget to £10,000

but was realistic enough to have a contingency fund of

a further £5,000. But in the end, how much did he actually spend?

What we've actually spent on materials and everything is £10,400.

£400 over budget, he's hardly scratched the contingency fund.

Mike and Kathleen have decided that they'll put

the house up for sale, which seems like a good time to cue the music.

We asked two local property experts to come along

and evaluate Mike's work.

Will they like what they see and, more importantly, with Mike's

total spend of £75,400, do they think there's a profit in it?

The sanded finish has been done to a good standard.

It's been kept very simple and very tidy.

And it's due to appeal to the

market audience of first-time buyers

and young couples who are likely to move in.

My first impressions of the property, that the property's been

updated, so it's been redecorated throughout, floor coverings,

new kitchen, new bathroom

and certainly looks well outside with the new block paving.

Of course they like it. He's done a great job.

But let's get some rental values.

In today's market for rentals, I would expect this property to

achieve in the region of £525 per calendar month.

If the property was placed onto the rental market, we would hope

to achieve somewhere in the region of £495 per calendar month.

Had Mike and Kathleen decided to let this house,

that top rental figure would earn them just over the 8% mark.

What about the all-important sales values?

We would look to put the property on to

the market in the region of £95,000.

In today's market,

I'd expect the property to achieve in around £92,000.

We put it up for sale on the Friday, and by the Monday,

we'd had four offers, and we accepted an offer for £94,000,

although 20 minutes later we got an offer for £95,000.

But it was too late then.

# The sweet smell of success... #

So with a profit of £18,600 before fees and tax,

Mike is keen to revisit the auction rooms

and would even consider taking on another property with odour issues.

-I think we've learned a lot on this one.

-Yeah, yeah.

And the next time round, we wouldn't waste so much time

on disinfecting the place and

-just get down to actually ripping it out.

-Yeah.

Four miles north of Nottingham, Bestwood Park and its surrounding

areas were once a hunting reserve in the medieval Sherwood Forest.

But today it's me hunting for a bargain.

MUSIC: I Do It For You by Bryan Adams

And so to the auction lot I'm here to see.

It's a three-bed, semidetached, ex-local authority property,

probably built some time in the '40s.

It has a guide price of £68,000 plus.

Let's get inside and see what you get for your money around here.

Back in the '40s, you got a lot of council house for your money.

# All of me

# Why not take all of me... #

OK, we're in through a small porchway.

And the kitchen's right in front of you.

Long galley kitchen, not in great condition.

That would definitely need replacing.

Stairs up to the bedrooms and into the main living room/dining area.

Pretty typical local authority,

or should I say ex-local authority, property - lots of space,

doors going into the kitchen,

central heating there at both ends of the room.

A little bit of plaster damage as well,

either side of that front window.

And I'm not quite sure what this staining is on the wall.

It looks like it's some kind of burning here.

I can't quite figure that out.

I wouldn't want to knock any walls down or put any walls in, down here.

So if you can see beyond what it looks like, it's not a bad start.

Let's go upstairs.

OK, upstairs, you've got the three bedrooms

and a family bathroom as well,

which is a good size, but you would have to replace it.

A bedroom behind me there.

A bigger bedroom to the front of the property,

and bedroom three just here.

And just like downstairs, there's a bit of staining and

there's a bit of a smell as well, which isn't...

isn't very pleasant at all.

But if there is one bonus -

there doesn't seem to be any structure work needed at all,

maybe just a bit of elbow grease.

The clue to the staining might be in the melted candle wax

in the room next-door to the bathroom. But this,

like everything else here, is entirely fixable.

There's plenty of plastering and painting to be done here,

that's for sure.

Overall, the house is in a really poor cosmetic state,

but the proportions are great.

# All of me

# Why not take all of me?... #

So out into the back garden, which isn't a bad size at all.

As you can see, it's been left for some time just to grow wild.

But if you roll your sleeves up,

you'll get this done in a couple of days.

But look at those double doors.

That's actually the lounge.

Now, get rid of those doors, put some nice patio doors on

or a big window, but you would have to factor that into your budget,

and those kinds of things don't come cheap.

We invited an estate agent along for a viewing.

With her local knowledge of values

and markets, she's best

placed to advise on the type of buyer

this property is likely to attract.

A lot of first-time buyers are coming into the area cos

it's good schools and commute to the city centre.

Some areas have poor sales markets

and good rental markets, or vice versa.

How does this area fare?

Sales are quite strong. They've been strong for about 18 months now.

Lettings have always been strong since the downturn on the market,

but it's a very sellable property and it will let out also.

I'm sure that would be valuable information for anyone

wishing to bid on the property,

but they need to take into account the cost of the renovation.

I think the cost for renovation on the property would be

anything between £7,000 and £9,000.

So with a guide of £68,000, that's a potential cost of 77 grand,

if you get it for the guide price.

But what would it sell for?

Once the property's been totally renovated,

I think it would be worth on the open market

between £110,000 and £120,000.

And if someone is buying to let, what rental could they expect?

On the rental market, I think

the property will achieve anything around

£550 per calendar month.

So on first impressions, it does seem pretty grim.

But on the inside, I think most of the work would be superficial.

Like most ex-local authority properties, it is

well-proportioned and could be a lovely family home.

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

Lot 21. Back to Nottingham postcodes.

A three-bedroomed semidetached property.

It needs upgrading and modernisation,

but it does have gas central heating,

double glazing and there is off-road parking within the site.

Who's got 68 on the guide, then, to start me?

Thank you, £68,000 is the opening bid.

At 68. 69, somewhere?

68, I've got...

With the guide price now history,

the bidding continues to £77,000 where we rejoin.

£77,000 for the first time. 500.

78.

At 78. 500 again?

78,500? Yeah? 78,500.

£78,500. £79,000.

£79,000. All done?

Going once,

500. 79,500.

80, sir?

£79,500 at the back of the room,

at 79,500,

once, twice,

third time,

sold at £79,500. Thank you.

And the successful bidder was Mick with a bid of 79 and a half grand.

Mick used to work for the HMRC, that's the taxman to me and you.

And he was a football referee at championship level,

so he's obviously not seeking popularity.

Only kidding, Mick.

-Mick, nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

-Do you know this area?

-I do, actually, yes.

I grew up on the next estate and I played football a lot

and still knock around with a lot of lads from this area,

so I know it quite well, really.

Is this the only area you look around

when you're buying properties?

Anywhere in Nottingham, or Sheffield as well at the moment

cos I'm living up that way as well.

So I'm always keeping my eye out on all auctions, really,

Sheffield and the surrounding areas, really.

-Checking the catalogues and seeing what's going?

-Indeed, yes.

-Tell us why you decided to buy this one.

-I was getting a bit itchy.

I've seen a few properties come and go lately in the last few months,

and it came up and I thought, "Let's just go for it."

Did you go, "I'm missing out, I'm missing out?"

Yes, that's the one, yeah. I was getting itchy.

And are you happy with what you've got?

It's an opener, it's an eye-opener surely.

But I think it's just cosmetic, really.

So, yeah, I think I'm quite happy, really.

Up until now, Mick has only bought houses to live in

but held on to them and rented them out when he's moved on,

rather than selling them.

This is the first time he's bought something to sell on,

so how's he going to tackle the work and prevent an own goal?

I'm going to pull in a lot of favours from people,

-let's be fair.

-Mates?

-Yes.

Tap them up for their time and their expertise

-cos I don't really have any.

-OK.

-But I'll lend a hand, when I can.

So the idea is, literally, let's just skim the walls, you know,

new fresh of paint, bathroom, kitchen.

Just flip it around very quickly if I can, really.

-No structural changes of any kind.

-But what's your budget?

-Erm...

I don't want to go over seven by rights.

I want to keep it under five,

but, you know, you give yourself a bit of leeway

and take it maybe to seven.

I don't envisage spending that, to be fair,

but you never know what might unearth itself.

And where's the majority of that money going to go, Mick?

I think on labour because, although I'm calling in favours,

-you know, people need to be paid.

-Yeah.

There are obviously some windows that need replacing,

obviously the bathroom and kitchen and just to replaster everywhere.

And how long are you expecting that work to take?

I would like... People seem to think between eight and 12 weeks, really.

I would like eight weeks, but, you know, let's say 12.

It's how quick you can get the boys in.

It is. And let's be fair, most of it is internal work that needs

doing, so weather shouldn't be a problem to anybody.

Any change out the back at all?

Not really. Again, it looks worse than what it is just

because I think it's been left to overgrow.

You know, if you flatten that grass,

-tidy that shed up a bit, get rid of the blue fence...

-HE LAUGHS

-..cos round here we're all red, we're all Forest.

-Yes.

-Cos it's a decent size out the back, isn't it?

-It is, it is.

To me, it appeals to families.

And it's very big for families around here, you see.

So a perfect garden for a family.

I reckon Mick has done well.

Seven grand isn't a lot of money for what needs doing here,

but he seems pretty confident.

There is one thing I should give him a yellow card for, though.

He didn't view the property before handing over nearly 80 grand.

-Cardinal sin.

-Exactly, that's one of the Hammer rules.

HE LAUGHS

Read the legal pack, view the property.

Yes, I was... I did read the legal pack, but I didn't get

a chance to look at it,

and I thought to myself, "How bad can it be?"

How bad can it be?

Well, it can be very bad, and Mick has been very lucky.

Do not try this at home. Well, at least he read the legal pack.

And tell us why you started.

What made you go into property in the first place?

I think the reason is the fact that

if you've got anything sitting there,

at the moment, property is the only thing to put money into.

The banks don't give you anything, so if you've got anything sitting

there, you've got savings or you can steal

from your parents or whatever, let's put it into a bit of property.

-Ask first.

-Yes, of course.

Ask first before you steal. "Would you mind?"

So, Mick, what do you do when you're not buying property?

I work up at Sheffield.

We have a company up there that deals with...

An international refereeing and training company.

-Referees, you say?

-Referees.

-Yeah, my mates...

-Yes, some of your mates. Mr Halsey, if you remember him.

-No!

Yes, and Keith Hackett and Jock Waugh.

See, Keith Hackett's a nice bloke. Mark Halsey...

Not for me, Mark Halsey.

Sent me off, he did. Good luck, Mick. I wish you all the best.

-Thank you.

-Well, it's a definite yellow card for Mick for

not viewing the property in the first place.

If he does it again, I'm going to give him a red.

But I think he's right. The refurb on this looks pretty cosmetic.

Once he's got his pals in at mates' rates,

I'm pretty sure he'll get it done within that seven grand budget.

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

One property down, two to go.

Have they stuck to their plans or have their plans become unstuck?

Well, I think we'd better find out, don't you?

Back to the Borough of Richmond, Greater London, where,

in Strawberry Hill, I looked around this one-bedroom flat

bought for £225,000 with a railway station literally on the doorstep.

Now, inside... Ooh, I'm getting a good feeling about this!

It's feeling all rather new. You've got lovely storage there.

Ah, I do spy a little bit of damp down there,

and it's sort of wet to the touch.

I wouldn't worry about it too much,

but I'd certainly get that looked at.

A bedroom through here, which we'll come back to.

And um, ooh, the bathroom, fantastic!

I mean it all looks like it's in really good condition.

You could probably instantly rent a place like this out.

I mean, look, it's even got the furniture in situ.

Gosh, it even looks really comfortable as well.

Anyway, I won't sit down, otherwise I'll never get up.

Storage again, which is fantastic.

Every inch of this flat has been thought out.

But would the price of the trains' proximity prove to be

a bridge too far?

Bit of a downside, though, is that view out there.

You're looking from your bed straight out onto the train track.

But what I do like is that you can wake up to the

sound of the 8.20 in time to hop onto the 8.30,

ready for work! Perfect.

Well, the flat was bought by Berliner Miriam

and her fiance, Ben, to do up

and rent out in the mid-term before their imminent move to Germany.

-I mean, you got it for 225. It's quite incredible, isn't it?

-Yes.

And there is nothing really you need to do here.

I mean you can upgrade it if you want to,

-but it's kind of ready to go.

-Yeah.

So is your intention to eventually move into this flat?

Not ourselves because we are three of us, so it would be too small.

I was going to say, there's not a huge amount of space for you

and your little one.

-So you've bought this just to rent out as an investment?

-Yes.

For the future.

After living near Ben's mother in London for a number of years,

the couple want their daughter, Angelica, aged three and a half,

to learn German

so they're going back to Berlin to be nearer to Miriam's mum.

But before that, they had a refurbishment to do.

We are looking to give it a new lick of paint.

And we do have to do a little bit of plumbing. And that's it.

OK, so how much money are you going to spend?

You said a lick of paint, give me a figure.

Well, let's add plumbing, painting, maybe £1,000,

-professionally cleaning it.

-Yeah, I mean that's all I've said, £1,000.

I think that's all you need to do. Clean the kitchen.

-How long is it going to take you?

-A week.

Literally, you're going to be in here a week. Done.

-Yes.

-Renting it out.

-That's the plan.

-Time is of the essence with you.

-Yes.

Even though it's a small flat, if you're repainting all the walls

and ceilings in brilliant white, there's still a lot of work to do.

This won't be a colossal transformation, but we're back

six days later to see if the flat's...

Well, what's the word for it?

# I'll be redefined

# It's shaking the sky

# And I'm following lightning

# And I'll recover if you keep me alight

# Don't leave me behind

# Can you see me?

# I'm shining

# And it's you that I've been waiting to find... #

Well, a week ago the toilet had a leaking cistern,

which had caused the damp I'd spotted in the hallway.

But now it's replumbed and boxed in, and the bathroom's refreshed.

In addition to the paint job,

Miriam employed professional cleaners

to do a deep clean throughout.

Overall, the overhaul has given the apartment a chance to really shine.

# I'm holding it all tonight

# Unfolding it all tonight

# You know that

# You make it shine... #

So, has it been a busy week?

To redecorate and renovate the place,

it's taken four and a half days.

The paintwork and surface has taken four days.

And to get the plumbing fixed has taken two days.

But Miriam did get help from an unexpected source -

her daughter, Angelica.

She's been painting little elephants and castles on the wall

and I repainted them. So she really enjoyed it.

Nothing's worse than repainting the repainted bits.

Shame Miriam didn't have a decorator in the family. Or did she?

Even though my fiance has been a painter and decorator

in the past, he's been so busy packing and organising

our own move that I've been quite happy to paint it myself.

Time now to call in the property experts to find out the added

value gained from a lick of paint,

some deep cleaning and a bit

of plumbing and how much rent Miriam and Ben can reasonably expect.

First up, the agent who saw it before it was polished.

I think the renters finished the property really well.

It's an ideal property to get on the rental market,

and it's a blank canvas.

You don't need to come in here and do that much to it,

but equally, you can put your own stamp on it.

I was really pleasantly surprised by the property.

It's a really good size. I feel that it's very airy,

bright and spacious

and the layout really works.

I guess the brightness is a reflection of the two coats

of white paint.

I know Miriam and Ben don't intend selling,

but let's get a measure of the Strawberry Hill sales market.

They bid £225,000 at auction,

but then had to stump up three and a half grand for past service charges,

plus that grand brings their total investment to £229,500.

On the current sales market,

I believe this property would achieve around £300,000.

If this property was on the sales market now,

I would put it on the market at £239,950.

Crikey, what a difference!

And at the top figure, that's a potential profit of £70,500.

Gosh, not bad for a lick of paint and a week's work.

Any thoughts, Miriam?

I actually haven't thought about selling it at all,

so I guess it's a long-term investment for me.

So, yeah, it's very pleasing.

And so to the main interest - the rental figures.

I'd recommend putting this property on the rental

market now £1,050 per calendar month.

I believe, in the current rental market,

this property would achieve £1,150 per calendar month.

Again, taking the top figure, that equates to a yield of 6%.

So when will it go up for rental?

We put it on today, on the market, and we're hoping to get £1,050.

Um, I'm confident we will.

Before you hop on the train, any final thoughts?

Handing over the keys today to the estate agent,

knowing that I'm moving to Berlin tomorrow, has been a great relief.

And everything's been done and it's perfect to go,

for somebody to move in.

Now back to the Bestwood Park area in Nottingham, where

earlier in the show, I looked around this three-bed semi,

which looked like it'd had

some smoke damage earlier on in its life.

Just like downstairs, there's a bit of staining

and there's a bit of a smell as well,

which isn't very pleasant at all.

But if there is one bonus,

there doesn't seem to be any structure work needed at all,

maybe just a bit of elbow grease.

That and a full replaster.

The highest bidder at auction was local lad Mick,

who paid 79 and a half grand

with a plan to renovate and sell on, or rent

if he couldn't make enough profit.

Mick had all the right ideas to turn this former local authority

property into a modern, spacious home.

Tell us what you're going to do.

-Well, I've got to pull in a lot of favours from people.

-Mates?

Yes, tap them up for their time and their expertise

-cos I don't really have any.

-OK.

-But I'll lend a hand, when I can.

So the idea is literally just skim the walls, new fresh of paint,

bathroom, kitchen. Just flip it round very quickly if I can, really.

No structural changes of any kind.

Well, the quick flip wasn't to be.

Mick's eight to 12 week timescale expanded somewhat.

We're back, eight months later, to see

the love and care he's put into this renovation.

# Show me a better love

# Show me a better, better love

# Show me a better love

# Show me a better, better love... #

The new plaster work, paintwork, windows and flooring

give the shine to where there once was soot.

With a very long, thin kitchen area,

design options were bound to be limited,

but Mick's new kitchen definitely makes the most of the space.

# Don't ask me how

# But I always thought that we could have

# A better love... #

There are a few finishing touches still required like

the fitting of kickboards.

# Show me a better love

# Show me a better, better love

# Show me a better love

# Show me a better, better love... #

The upstairs has improved also, with a new bathroom suite,

tiles and flooring.

The bedroom opposite was the epicentre of the smoke problems.

No more.

The neutral colours and carpets run throughout the other bedrooms.

Mick had a landscape company sort out the garden,

providing a new vista for the new windows.

# Show me why... #

But what caused the large overrun?

With getting people involved that have full-time trades as it is,

it's getting them to squeeze in

and fit you in around their working time schedules.

So I think, all in all, the actual time spent on the house is

probably 12 weeks, but it's took seven months turnaround.

And did that delay have an impact on the budget?

The initial budget, I would like to have kept under seven,

I was hoping round about five.

But as you can see, with new radiators, new windows,

you know, a fantastic kitchen in there,

new bathroom, I've took it to probably around about 15.

But I knew that, to be fair, what was in the property,

that it was worth spending on.

Well, we'll see about that when we get the valuations.

Anything learnt in the process?

The main thing that I've obviously learned from this,

the first time experience, is to come and look at the property

and judge what it is that you need to do on the property.

I think because I knew there was a potential profit in the property,

I was probably a little bit lax on the spending,

thinking there's still profit to be made, that's not a problem.

I am quite relaxed, but I think in future, I need to set myself

goals and targets to say it needs to be in for that, and then I have a

potential overrun of a couple of thousand and not overrun by seven.

The initial intention was to renovate and resell quickly,

known in the trade as flipping. So has the overspend compromised this?

I'm looking to still sell the property.

There's still a nice little mark-up here for me.

I'd like to release some money and either put it into another property

to renovate or maybe split that between two properties to let out.

Time to find out the money situation.

We called in two local property experts

to get their opinions and valuations.

We have got a very high demand of the properties in this area

because it's close to city centre, close to school, close to parks.

The layout of the property does work for me.

I think it would be really good for families, especially with

the open sort of kitchen/diner and then through to the lounge as well.

And Mick's overspend? Was it offside?

He's hoping to sell, but just for nosiness,

what could this house rent for?

This property can achieve a rental value of £550

per calendar month.

On the rental market, I think this property would

achieve £500 per calendar month.

Taking the top figure,

that makes Mick's potential yield just under 7%.

The evaluations are coming in as I would have thought,

between five... I was quite surprised about £550, to be fair.

But if someone wants to pay £550,

if I was letting it, that would be great.

Now the all-important sales figure.

Mick's total spend to date is 94 and a half grand.

I would put this property on the market for £115,000.

On the sales market, I think this property would achieve £110,000.

Again, taking the top figure, that gives Mick a potential profit

of £20,500 minus the usual taxes and expenses.

I think the valuations that they've given at the moment

are a little low. To myself, I've been marketing

it round about the 120 mark.

If they want to come down a little bit...

But I think they're getting a brand-new house here.

If you buy a house for 110 or 115 anywhere near here,

you've got a lot of work to do to it.

You've got to change somebody else's colour scheme,

make some alterations. This is a brand-new house.

Any flipping tips going forward?

Auctions is the way forward for me.

I think that's where, if there is any market or

any profit margin to be

made on a property, then I think you have to buy from an auction.

If you read the packs and look at the property.

Well, that is today's auction action over.

Yeah, well, don't worry cos

-we've got loads more stories to tell.

-Oh, we certainly do.

So make sure you join us next time for more Homes Under The Hammer.

-We'll see you then.

-Goodbye.

-Goodbye.