Episode 22 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello and welcome to the show.

One of the reasons we love property is that it's an ever-changing world.

Yes, there's never a dull moment

finding out what and where is going to be the best deal.

And one way you can find, possibly, that best deal

is to head down to your local property auction.

Every type of property can be found at auction,

from city studio flats to country mansions.

Yes, and everything in between.

You never know what you're going to find

when you open the auction catalogue.

Here's what we found for you on today's show.

In Kent, Lucy sees a bright, clean property

that just needs some extra space.

To completely transform this into something utterly amazing.

Whereas in Stoke-on-Trent, I'm optimistic that everything

in this house eventually could scrub up nicely.

Excuse me, a bit of privacy, please!

And it's a return visit to Cumbria to a large house awash with options.

Straightaway, I'm thinking about all the potential uses

for this house and there are many.

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.

We are sold! Well done!

Folkestone is a port town on the English Channel in South-east Kent.

It's a popular place to visit

and this is one of its suburbs, Cheriton,

which sits on the Folkestone Downs.

This range of chalk hills are famous for the White Horse,

which overlooks Cheriton.

Cheriton's also home to the Channel Tunnel terminal,

but there was to be no trip across the Channel for Lucy.

No, she had a house to seek out in this pleasant seaside suburb.

# I'm going nowhere

# I'm going nowhere... #

Well, this seems like a quiet residential street

and, as it's a cul-de-sac,

there'll be no through traffic, which is good.

I'm here to see a three-bed semi

and it had a guide price of £140,000 to £145,000.

So, there's plenty of off-street parking here,

which you can see, which I love. So far, so good.

With what looks like relatively new double glazing,

it appears to be in pretty good fettle, from the outside, at least.

So, straight into the property.

You've got a little porch area here, which is great for rainy days.

But today isn't rainy, it's glorious,

and it always makes houses look better, funnily.

Now, I'm feeling that this is a nice, sunny, big, open room,

which I love. You've got a little fireplace here.

I think you could do a bit better with the mantel,

but there's something there to work with, which is good.

Not sure about the colour, you could paint that.

You've got the stairs, leading up there.

Again, you could do with maybe covering this up,

some new carpet, some new paint, but you've got a really good space here.

Into a second reception room.

This is ideal as a dining room.

You can imagine a big table here, all the kids.

And the great news is, you've got lovely doors

that lead out to the garden and through here, the kitchen.

So, there's such a nice sense of flow with this property already,

but you could do much better with the kitchen.

None of the units and the cupboards and the worktops match.

It's a bit of a mishmash, but not a bad space.

So, I'm liking it but it could certainly do with some upgrading.

# It's all mixed up

# It's all mixed up

# It's all mixed up... #

That kitchen looks like it was put together from odds and sods

left over in a DIY shop! Not a look that works.

But it's not just the pick-and-mix kitchen that needs some thought.

You may have realised, yep,

there's a downstairs bathroom in this property - not ideal.

I've not been upstairs yet,

so I'm wondering if you can squeeze one in there.

But if not, you've just got to work with what you have.

Now, the good news here is that there's this little lobby area

which is quite nice, because it really does separate

the kitchen from the bathroom and from the loo, which is always ideal.

Something that does stand out in here is that there's no shower

so, whoever takes this on,

I think the best thing to do would be to reconfigure

and put yourself a nice over-the-bath shower in somewhere.

Of course it would be even better if this could be part of a kitchen

or a utility space but that would be dependent

on finding room for the bathroom elsewhere.

Let's see what upstairs has to offer.

There are three bedrooms and you could sacrifice one of those

for a bathroom but that would be a shame and, actually,

the balance of the house would probably be better left as it is.

But I've got an idea how you can actually give this house

a bit of a wow factor.

How about building a single-storey extension out the back here,

opening up this kitchen into a lovely large kitchen-diner,

a high-spec kitchen, lots of lovely light from windows?

You could have some big bifold doors, which you know I really like,

leading out onto this lovely spacious garden.

You could have a little decked area round here.

You see, I think the extra extension space could allow you

to completely transform this into something utterly amazing.

How lovely!

And if you were really going for it,

you could make a double-story extension

to house that elusive upstairs bathroom.

And with the bonus of a garage at the rear and that garden,

this looks like a really good family house, with room for improvement.

But what does a local estate agent think?

First, what can he tell us about the Cheriton suburb?

Cheriton is a sort of family area. There's good schools,

good access to the mainline railway station

at Folkestone West, and we're very close to the motorway

and the Channel Tunnel.

This is a really good road. It's very sought after.

It's a cul-de-sac, so no through traffic.

It's got some alleyways at the end of the road,

which lead to both the school on one side,

and the centre of Cheriton on the other,

so very popular with families.

OK, so how would the local property market view

that downstairs bathroom?

The bathroom is situated on the ground floor in this property.

To bring it upstairs, you'd either have to lose a bedroom,

which would not be ideal, or you'd have to do an extension to the rear,

but it would have to be two storeys and would be rather expensive.

It's not in a bad location cos it comes off the utility space

but it's not ideal.

But really, other properties in this road are very similar,

so it's what families expect.

Well, good news in some respects,

as that would reduce the amount you'd need to spend here.

But it was guided at £140,000 to £145,000,

so is there much uplift in value to be had?

Fully renovated, I feel this property would sell

for £225,000

and we'd be looking at a rental of £750 per calendar month.

Yes, this house could do with a refurb

but, if you wanted to take the works further and extend out here,

there's certainly the opportunity to do that. So, who saw the potential?

Let's head to auction and find out.

And we move now to the three-bed semi.

Double-glazed windows, gas heating, parking at the front,

rear garden and a garage.

Start me at £140,000 again.

140 anywhere?

Thank you, £140,000 is bid.

145 do I see?

At 145, I have.

And 150? 150 is bid.

155? 155.

And 160 in a fresh place.

165? Or 162?

162. 165.

167?

167. And 170?

170. 172.

175? Take 174.

174. 176?

176.

You said no that time, before he even had a chance. 176, I'm bid.

178 for you.

At £176,000, gentleman in the blue and red.

At £176,000 for the first time.

£176,000 for the second time.

176, third and final time. Are you all done?

-HE BANGS GAVEL

-Sold at £176,000.

And your bidder's number, sir? T262.

So, the hammer fell at £176,000 and the successful bidder,

along with help from sister, Debbie, was John.

John works nearby, dealing with sea imports for container shipping.

He bought the house to be his home.

-John, congratulations. You did it!

-Thank you very much.

So, what was it about this house that you liked

so much enough to want to bid all that money?

I liked the cul-de-sac location,

I wanted three bedrooms and the bonus was a garage.

So, before the auction, did you look inside the property?

-Did you do the viewing? Please tell me you did.

-Er, I didn't personally.

I came and looked round the outside. On the day it was open,

I was at work and I couldn't get any time off,

so my sister and my brother-in-law came round and had a look

around inside and, essentially, gave me the thumbs-up.

Fantastic. Did they film it?

-Did they get their phones out?

-Yes, they did.

Cos the things you can do today,

-it's almost like you can be here in person.

-Yeah, they did.

They filmed it all for us inside,

so I had a good idea of the layout before I went to auction.

So, no great surprises here for John

and he knew what he was letting himself in for

and what rooms might need a little bit of thought.

-The downstairs bathroom - shall we start with that?

-Yes.

-Do you see that as a negative or not really?

-Um, I'm open on it.

I'd ideally like to move it upstairs

but if it's got to stay where it is, budgetary-wise, then fine.

-So, what is the budget?

-About 15K.

So, for £15,000, you've got to think what you can do to improve this.

-Absolutely.

-So, what's most important to you?

Extending the kitchen and dining area. I want it open-plan.

And, basically, just refreshing a lot of the decor,

bringing it up to scratch and putting a shower in somewhere.

OK, so you're thinking about an extension, so going out?

Yeah, I want an open-plan kitchen-diner

with the kitchen off to one side.

I may put an island in. I haven't really...

I'm getting some plans drawn up soon, but we'll see from there.

-Colour schemes - is it going to be a man's house?

-Very much so.

-Very much so, so very dark colours.

-Well, bright red.

-Bright red?!

-Really?

-Yeah, bright red cabinets, yeah.

-Interesting.

-And what are you going to do with the garden?

-Not a lot at the minute.

I need to put a new fence up out there.

I was thinking about maybe a shed. I may build a man cave out there.

It depends, again, on budget, but...

What is the big thing with man caves?

Everybody at the moment is building man spaces. It's not fair!

We need space too!

Yeah, I suppose I don't really need much space in here,

as I'm on my own most of the time, but no, I was thinking

I wanted to do that in the last house,

so it's kind of like my idea from the last house.

Have a little shed at the back of the garden

-with all your toys in there.

-Yeah, absolutely.

Have you got experience in building homes and creating lovely homes?

No, none at all, but I've got a lot of friends in the trade,

so I'm relying on them coming in and doing me a lot of favours.

It's been lovely meeting you. I'm so excited about this project.

How long is it going to take you?

Hopefully, about three or four months, tops.

I'm pulling in a lot of favours with a lot of friends,

so it may take a bit longer than I hope.

-Congratulations and well done.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

So, a new challenge for John,

with his first refurbishment, but also a project that will,

hopefully, mark the start of a happy future for him in his new home.

But how much work will he actually get done for that £15,000 budget?

Join me later on in the programme and you can find out how he does.

Stoke-on-Trent is a city in Staffordshire, made up of six towns.

Today, I'm in Hanley.

Hanley is home to lots of shops,

including the famous Potteries Shopping Centre.

So, hopefully, someone will bag a bargain at today's property.

Just a stone's throw away from the city centre

is the property I'm here to see.

But when I say "a stone's throw", I mean it's just there.

I think I could hit it myself. And here it is.

It is a two-bedroom terrace property with a guide price of £25,000 plus.

It's not the prettiest looking property I've seen

and it also has this incredibly high step.

I'm going in.

-Oh.

-# Step up... #

That is not good.

That cup is going to need some serious attention.

On a serious note, some real bad damp in here.

That wall has been stripped back to the bare brick.

And that is a single-glazed window. That's got to come out as well.

It's a decent size room but not a great start.

And talking of starts, it looks like, by the line of tools

on the mantelpiece, someone's done exactly that here.

Let's hope the back sitting room is in better shape.

It's not a bad size but it doesn't get any better at all.

In fact, I think it's just a little bit worse.

They've obviously had a lot of damp in this property

and I'm taking a guess there's no damp-proof course at all.

Kitchen is just through there, quite tight, quite small.

And no signs of a toilet as yet.

But I do like what they've done with that radiator.

# Bend me, shape me any way you want me

# You've got the power to turn on the light... #

Let's call it inventive engineering.

However, I'm not sure how safe it is. I'd get it checked out.

Better still, why not change it?

And I'd definitely want to check out the electrics,

the heater system and that damp course.

You know the drill.

So, bedroom number one very similar to downstairs, but it's a good size.

All the same, you see there, been stripped back to bare wall.

There's been some damp in here at some stage -

quite significant damp, as well.

And over here, a bit of storage in here as well.

No, it's not... HE LAUGHS

No, it's not storage. It's a shower!

There's a shower in the cupboard!

Er, strange. But no sign of a toilet.

OK, the search for the toilet goes on.

# It goes on

# On, on... #

If there is one, it's not up here.

The only other room here is the second bedroom

which fortunately, on the surface, doesn't seem to be suffering

from the same damp problems as the rest of the house.

# On... #

So, outside into the back garden and I'm hoping that this...

And it is. There's the toilet.

And it's the only toilet and it's an outside one at that.

And the other half to the back garden is that.

Er, slightly overgrown and it's going to need

a few weekends' hard graft to clear that lot.

One thing I do need to tell you

is this house is sold with a prohibition order in place,

which means no-one can live in this property until that has been lifted.

Might sound a bit scary, but it's not.

What you do get is a list of works that need to be done

before this place can become habitable.

Across the UK, there are a number of powers

allowing local authorities to issue various types of orders

protecting occupants' health and safety.

In England, a prohibition order can prevent a building being lived in

and can restrict who lives there until the place is sorted.

Landlords can be prosecuted

for failing to comply with prohibition orders.

Anyway, this place needs gutting

and an inside toilet

but it does have a fairly attractive guide price - 25 grand plus.

So, let's hear from an agent from the auction house who sold it.

The property really requires full renovation, from windows,

electrical check, kitchen, bathroom -

really a full renovation project.

Depending on who does the work,

you could easily spend between £15,000 and £20,000.

I'd agree, and I think you'd need the top end of that budget.

What could it sell for?

Once renovated, I would anticipate a resale value

in the region of £65,000.

DION WHISTLES A TUNE

Excuse me, a bit of privacy, please!

But while you're here, this house needs a total overhaul.

You've got to bring that bathroom from outside to inside,

the damp needs sorting.

This shower is the least of this property's worries.

Now, this is a project not for the faint-hearted.

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

This is an unmodernised two-bedroom mid-terrace house.

Who's here on guide? Who's here on 25?

25, thank you. 26 anywhere else?

£26,000, thank you. Do I see 27?

28? 28, I have. Can I take 29.

There's a lot of interest and the bidding climbed quickly.

We rejoin at £41,000.

41, I have. And a quarter. £41,250? 41.5?

No, you're going to let him have it? £41,250 then.

For the first time, second time.

Last chance for anyone who wants to come in for another £250.

Let me know right now, please. Are we all done then? Third...

Oh, I saw the hand. £41,500. £41,750 now. 42, may I say?

No. We'll go through it again. At £41,750, row one.

For the first time, the second time. Last chance. This is it, sir.

I want to see you again if you're going to come in.

If not, third and final time. YOU'RE now back!

At 41... Where were we? 42, wasn't it?

42. Another quarter, sir?

Frustrating this, isn't it? £42,250. 42.5?

No? You said no the last four times and then you came back in.

Here we go then. £42,250 once.

I'm pointing to him but I'm looking at you! £42,250 second time.

It's going to go, you know that, don't you?

Third and final time, right here at £42,250...

-BANGS GAVEL

-You got it this time! Well done!

Finally, after that tussle,

the successful bid of £42,250 was made by Keith.

He came along with his daughter, Rachel, who is studying politics.

Keith already has two properties,

but it turns out his third one might give someone a step up.

-Rachel, nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you too.

-Keith, nice to meet you.

-And you.

-Congratulations to you both.

-Thank you.

-Why this particular house?

They talk about original features in the state agent's blub,

but it's got some very nice features.

Secondly, location is brilliant.

And the guide price was interesting, at £25,000.

It is actually a proper stone's throw, isn't it?

You're literally actually in the centre, aren't you?

What do you like about it?

Oh, am I allowed to say things I don't like?

You can say whatever you want!

-The original wallpaper.

-The wallpaper's interesting.

But I think it's a good size.

I think for, like, a small family, or a young couple,

-I think it's a really good size.

-What made you go into property?

What made you want to buy this property in particular?

Stoke-onTrent is one of the places in this country where refugees

who are seeking asylum are sent for the time being

and, therefore, there's quite a demand for property in this area.

And they tend to be at the bottom of the priority list,

in terms of housing, so we thought it was the best way

to make sure they DO get housing, safe, affordable housing.

Keith, although now retired,

has spent many years working with homeless people

and now runs a cafe in Birmingham with a group of volunteers.

He already leases a house to a Stoke charity

working with homeless asylum seekers.

He's hoping the same's going to happen here.

He's got a budget of £10,000 to £12,000,

but they do have some fairly ambitious plans.

First of all, as you can tell by the plaster

hanging off the front and back walls,

-it needs a damp-proof course.

-Yes, yes.

It needs a kitchen. It hasn't even got an inside loo, this property.

-Mm, I noticed.

-So, it needs a bathroom and toilet,

which will be put into where the kitchen currently is,

and the back room will become the kitchen.

OK, so you're actually moving the kitchen sort of this way slightly.

Yes, that's right. This will be the sitting room

and that will be the kitchen-diner, with a bathroom off it.

And what's currently the loo will become the garden shed.

We're going to sort out the garden, which you might have seen...

-Yes, briefly.

-..is horrendous.

-Yes.

-Most of it you can't see at all.

And upstairs, are you changing anything upstairs at all?

I don't know if you saw the shower in the cupboard?

Yeah, we're going to be getting rid of that in the cupboard.

What else is going to cost you?

We haven't been in the roof space because the shower's in the way,

but we'll certainly want to do something about lagging the roof,

insulating it, and also, the front and back walls

will have insulation, as well as being replastered.

And it's got a prohibition notice as well.

It has because this property has been vacant

for the last 15 years, at least, and the neighbours complained

and so the council have compulsorily purchased it

and the prohibition order, whilst a bit of a problem,

at the same time is actually just a good list of works

that needs to be done.

OK, and who's going to do the work for you?

-I've got a brilliant builder, Simon.

-OK.

He's got a sparks and a plumber and a plasterer

and I can, I think, build a kitchen myself, so we're there.

-Tell me a bit more about Simon.

-Simon's a very interesting person.

Simon has founded a business-cum-charity

which works with people who have been in prison.

He meets them at the prison gate, he gives them a home,

he gives them a job and he teaches them a trade.

That's where the plumber etc has come from.

And how long are you hoping this work's going to take

Simon and his recruitment team to get everything done?

I think we could do it in three months, maybe four.

I've got my fingers crossed for you, both of you.

I think you're buying this property for an amazing reason.

First time I've come across it and well done to you both.

-Rachel, good luck.

-Thank you.

-Hope it all works out.

-And you, Keith, good luck.

-Thank you very much indeed.

-Pleasure.

What a great reason to get into property

but, as first projects go, they have got their work cut out.

There's a lot of work that needs to be done here -

new windows throughout, all that damp

and sorting the bathroom and toilet downstairs.

Will they get it all done?

You can find out later in the programme.

Coming up, we return to a large house in Cumbria

we first saw in 2012, but does it fulfil its potential?

And we catch up with the trails and tribulations

of a rundown Stoke-on-Trent house.

I've really enjoyed doing it, apart from the times when I haven't.

It was in the Folkestone suburb of Cheriton

where Lucy first saw a three-bedroom semi.

Like many an auction property, it fell into the category of tired,

but it was sound enough and, though there was a downstairs bathroom,

there was plenty of room for improvement.

You could have some big bifold doors,

which you know I really like,

leading out onto this lovely spacious garden.

You could have a little decked area round here.

You see, I think the extra extension space could allow you

to completely transform this into something utterly amazing.

How lovely!

And our man who knew a good thing when he saw it

was local port worker John,

who bought the house at auction for £176,000 to be his home.

-So, what's most important to you?

-Extending the kitchen.

I want an open-plan kitchen-diner, with the kitchen off to one side.

-Colour schemes - is it going be a man's house?

-Very much so.

-Very much so, so very dark colours.

-Well, bright red.

-Bright red?!

-Really?

-Yeah, bright red cabinets, yeah.

So, John clearly wanted to put his own stamp on the house.

# Now we're giving you the look, look

# Giving you the look... #

He also had fashionable plans for the garden space.

I may build a man cave out there.

That is the big thing with man caves?

Everybody, at the moment, is building man spaces. It's not fair!

We need space too!

Yeah, I suppose I don't really need much space in here,

as I'm on my own most of the time,

but I was just thinking I wanted to do that in the last house,

so it's kind of like my idea from the last house.

Have a little shed at the back of the garden

-with all your toys in there.

-Yeah, absolutely.

# Lord, I'm gonna build myself a cave

# Lord, I'm gonna move down in the ground... #

And, with a £15,000 budget,

he hoped to have his bespoke semi ready in three to four months.

But now, nine months have ticked by and finally, we're back.

Well, the outside might not show many changes

but it was inside where John really wanted to make his mark.

Well, there's definitely signs of a few personal touches

in the front room, but I wouldn't call it radical.

Perhaps we'll find more uniqueness in his lounge.

# This is me, this is me

# This is me, this is me... #

Ah, that's a bit more like it.

Did he continue to see red in the kitchen?

# What you get is what you see

# This is me... #

Oh, yes!

# This is me, this is me... #

Basically, we knocked down the wall that was across here,

created the extension, put a new roof on to open up the room,

created a utility room in the back there,

put in a new kitchen.

I love the oak and the red and the white.

I think it's very, er, very me.

# This is me, this is me

# What you get is what you see.. #

So, the kitchen is completely ready. And the bathroom?

OK completely retiled, moved the bath,

we've put underfloor heating in,

complete new bath suite, integrated shower.

We kept it downstairs, purely for budget reasons.

Also, if we'd moved it upstairs, we'd have lost a bedroom.

John really didn't have much choice moving the bathroom,

but it does at least benefit from having a lobby area

between it and the kitchen.

# I'm going nowhere

# You're going nowhere... #

So, what about those three upstairs bedrooms?

Well, two are looking good but the third is a bit of a storage space.

I thought that's what the garden shed-cum-man cave

was supposed to cater for.

The man cave went by the bye because, as it transpired,

I could have my man cave in here with my music room

and have a living room and have a dining room,

so everything worked out for the best, I suppose.

So, no high-tech Batcave here,

but he is planning a bee-friendly garden,

with decking and, perhaps, a small shed.

Fair play to him, he's been pretty busy.

But was this a single-handed crusade or did he have help?

Anything that was beyond my abilities like, you know,

ground work, brickwork, I used friends. That was Russ and Mick.

Big friend, Chris, came in - Chris the carpenter.

At the beginning, I wasn't very hands-on

but, as the project moved along, and I could get more involved,

I have been. I've done some crazy hours on it,

but loved every minute of it.

John and his friends have done a great job

but, with his friends busy on other projects,

he hasn't exactly finished it in record time.

Then again, getting mates' rates does keep the cost down.

So, did John stick to his £15,000 budget?

# You spin me right round, baby

# Right round, like a record, baby

# Right round, round, round... #

Yep, I got it in under budget.

I've been able to buy some furniture with the money that's left over,

so I'm very happy, you know.

In fact, without furniture, the actual spend on the house

was £14,000,

which takes John's total outlay to £190,000.

And it might not have a man cave,

but it's got most things for modern life.

So, what did two local estate agents make of the house?

First, the agent who saw it last time.

It's as if it's a different house.

The property is completely different to when I saw it last time.

The kitchen is quite whacky, with the red and the tiling,

but it's very on trend to what people like.

The feature wallpaper - again, it might be personal taste,

but these are all things that people look for.

I've had a look round the property

and I think everything's been done really carefully

and with a lot of thought,

so I'd be quite pleased with it if I'd done it myself.

Yep, kitchens and bathrooms definitely sell houses,

but what value have they added to John's £190,000 investment?

I think, on the open market, this property would sell for,

in the region of £235,000.

If I put this house on the market today,

I would recommend it to be in the region of £210,000.

Two somewhat different values,

but both showing a healthy return for John,

should he sell the house on.

So, what does he make of the potential pre-tax profit

of anywhere between £20,000 and £45,000.

That's really good, yeah. Yeah, I think...

Yeah, good, I added some value.

And the agents also reckon on a rental value

between £795 and £900 per calendar month,

which would generate, at the very least,

a yield of 5%, so it's thumbs-up all round.

Has this rookie renovator now got the taste for more?

Oh, definitely, yeah.

I've learnt loads of stuff from my friends,

I've built my confidence up on various things

and would I tackle it again?

I think I probably would now.

MUSIC: Echo Beach by Martha And The Muffins

We're off to the windswept Cumbrian village of Seascale

to see a property that I first visited in September, 2012.

Built over three floors, it had four reception rooms,

eight bedrooms, a garden room and a flat at the back,

all for the tasty guide price of £100,000 plus.

So, we know it's going to be big but how's it laid out?

Well, nice, large entrance, as you'd hope for,

a big sort of reception room over that way

and an equally big one over that way.

Straightaway, I'm thinking about all the potential uses for this house,

and there are many.

# Empty rooms... #

A third reception room and a large kitchen at the back of the house

gave a tantalising glimpse of the space offered by this property.

And what do the upper floors have to offer?

Up here, nice landing area. A room there - the first of your bedrooms.

And then through this way, a really interesting kind of layout.

I think this house has lots of hidden features,

just waiting to be discovered.

It's nice that all the fireplaces are still there.

It's got double glazing but it looks fairly old,

so I don't know if that's due for replacement,

but the layout here is quite interesting,

cos you've got that room there and you come through

to this extra bedroom here.

To create an extra room, you might want to separate those off.

But then this leads back out into a little landing area.

Another really good size room there.

Absolutely amazing - enough room to potentially put an en suite in that.

And here, bathroom, shower room... Wow!

Yep, I was exhausted and that was just the first floor!

The word "substantial" didn't really do this house justice.

So, up onto the top floor

and if you were expecting just a little attic bedroom,

you are going to be in for a surprise,

because it just goes on and on up here.

More bedrooms - count them. One there, a little bathroom there,

you've got another bedroom over there, bedroom there,

bedroom there, another one here.

They've all got loads of character cos they were built into the eaves.

And really nice. Nice, nice, nice.

As well as numerous rooms in the main building,

there was also a sizeable extension to the back of the house,

complete with more interesting period features -

the period in question being the '70s and '80s.

I think this could be a little, well, self-contained unit

in its own right. You've got a kitchen area there, a loo,

this slightly odd area here, with these huge great windows.

And then, at the back, look at the size of this!

An absolutely massive, massive room.

Certainly enough space in here to create a bedroom

and a separate living area.

As a bonus, on top of everything else you've got,

how absolutely fantastic.

And here, some real absolutely classic decorating touches.

We like the louvered doors and how about this?

Rocks.

Not quite rocks. Got to keep that!

# Get your rocks off Get your rocks off, honey

# Shake 'em now, now Get 'em off downtown... #

Get the rocks off or keep them on?

That was entirely up to the new owner.

Perhaps the bigger decision would be...

What are you going to do with this place then?

It's probably not going to be one house.

I don't think that really maximises the potential of this place.

It's screaming out to be a house of multiple occupancy - an HMO.

Rent out these rooms individually

and you could be generating who knows what.

If you rented them out for £50, £60, £70, £80 a week individually,

this house is going to start delivering some serious returns.

A massive house and a potential for massive profit

if the new buyer got it right.

Who fancied the challenge when it went under the hammer?

Spacious detached property. Massive property, this.

£100,000 plus then is the last quoted guide.

Got a telephone bidder on this. Are we in?

Who's here for this at 100?

95 then. 90, get me started.

At £90,000, anybody here?

90, I've got in the door. At £90,000 then.

91 here. 92. 93.

94. 95. 96...

And, with the bidding going up in £1,000 increments,

we eventually reached £130,000.

130. 131.

132. 133.

134. 135. 136.

Shake of the head at 136. With you, sir, at 135.

At £135,000 for the first time.

At £135,000 for the second time.

£135,000, third and final time.

All done, all out, selling away.

-HE BANGS GAVEL

-You, sir, thank you.

And the successful bidder was Peter.

Peter paid £135,000 for the lot

and this project would be fitting in with his other jobs

as an arts centre manager and freelance cameraman.

He came along with daughter Sienna

to explore what he hoped would be his pension fund.

# Cos I'm a real straight shooter

# If you know what I mean... #

-Peter, good to meet you.

-And you.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

-Yeah, big house.

-Yes, it's substantial.

So, why did you want to buy it?

Well, I just bought a house with my partner in Gosforth

and we saw this come up and decided

it was an opportunity too good to miss

because of the number of rooms

and the possibility of renting the rooms out to local contractors.

So, do you know the area

and the need for that kind of accommodation then?

Yes, I've lived up here about nine years now

-and we know a lot of the contractors anyway...

-Right.

-..through meeting in the pub, etc.

-Oh.

And, um, I know there's a good market for that

if you price the rooms right and provide the right facilities.

Peter had set himself a very sensible budget

of £2,000 to renovate each room,

which would come to around £25,000 in total,

and, in terms of timescale, take it on bit by bit.

# Ooh-ah, just a little bit

# Ooh-ah, a little bit more

# Ooh-ah, just a little bit

# You know what I'm looking for... #

It's going to take a couple of years, I think, to come to fruition,

but I'm going to try and get one or two rooms sorted out

and get the downstairs presentable and the kitchen sorted

and get a couple of rooms going,

and then, once that's bringing in a bit of income,

then I'll start to do other rooms.

So, tell me what you are going to do, in terms of sorting it out.

This room that we're standing in now,

-I'm actually going to keep for myself.

-Oh, right.

So, it'll be a kind of den for me really.

The other reception room, I'll have as a lounge-dining room,

plus a dining-kitchen.

And then each bedroom will be en suite,

-so I think, ultimately, I'll have eight rooms to rent out.

-Right.

-Plus the flat.

-Right.

-The flat will be the last thing we do.

-OK.

Cos that needs more work doing to it really.

This was always destined to be a long-term project.

Of course, there's always events to contend with.

In this case, Peter had been made redundant from his arts job,

so he had more time but less cash.

But still, when we returned in June, 2014,

he had made some progress, with one room on the first floor underway

and with one room totally completed and rented out.

I'm very pleased with the way this room has turned out.

I think we chose a good colour. It's quite restful.

Restored the fireplace, made of cast iron.

And the en suite worked out very well.

I managed to cram in a shower, a WC and a basin.

It took me ages to design that cos it was a very tight space,

and get all the plumbing in.

But the rest of the house was pretty much a building site.

Peter had unearthed a house of horrors.

We thought we'd get one entire floor done in the space of 12 months,

which I didn't think was particularly ambitious,

but the plumbing was in a terrible state.

The hot water tank had been leaking for years.

When I rolled the carpet back, it was black with mould,

so that had to come out as well,

so I had to do the entire plumbing system again

and it was quite a monstrous plumbing job.

I managed to get the pipework inside the lath and plaster wall there.

If you look down here,

you can see there's the main supply to the tank,

that's the vent and the hot supply to the top floor

and that's the cold from the tank.

But a few floorboards had already been taken up,

but I had to remove quite a few more

and I'm very careful when I remove old floorboards

because you can't get these sizes any more

and, obviously, in an old place like this,

you can't just go out to a DIY store and buy something off the shelf

because things like the door surrounds, the architrave,

are no longer available in that size.

If the plumbing wasn't bad enough,

the electrics were an even bigger nightmare.

# Oh, no, we're gonna rock down to Electric Avenue

# And then we'll take it higher... #

I started taking up floorboards

and discovered that the electrical work was, um,

put in by a cowboy, let's say.

The worst part of it was the lighting circuit,

which was the original 1920s lead-wrapped wire,

which uses the lead wrapping as the earth

and the junction boxes that that was going into

were showing signs of burning already.

So, it wouldn't have been long before a fire had started.

So, I decided just to take all the electrical circuits out

and start from scratch.

Peter employed a qualified electrician,

but doing all the labouring himself meant long hours

and it turned out having a tenant in situ was a mixed blessing.

The main problem is, as we get more rooms finished,

there's less room to have all my tools lying about

and, of course, at the end of the day,

I have to tidy everything away

cos I can't leave floorboards up and tools lying out

when there's someone coming in to sleep at the end of the day.

With the unforeseen costs of plumbing and rewiring,

how was Peter's original budget holding up?

Initially, I'd reckoned £25,000 would do it from top to bottom,

with a lot of the work being done by myself and my partner.

At this stage, I'd say we're about £7,000 in at the moment,

so I think we'll do it.

That optimistic statement was made in June, 2014.

Join us later in the programme

to see if Peter has managed to complete this mammoth project.

Well, I have learnt to expect the unexpected

when it comes to timescales on development projects.

Yes, as have I.

Now, did our two remaining projects stick to the schedule

or did they just rip it up completely? Let's find out.

It was in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire,

where I first saw a two-bed terrace house

just a stone's throw from Hanley town centre.

Now, it's not the prettiest looking property I've seen

and it also has this incredibly high step. I'm going in.

# Step inside love

# And stay

# Step inside love

# Step inside love

# Step inside love

# I want you to stay... #

And, judging by the state of the inside,

I'm not sure how long you'd want to stay

and you'd certainly have to go outside at some point.

# Let me turn down the light... #

There's the toilet and it's the only toilet

and it's an outside one at that.

And the other half to the back garden is that.

Er, slightly overgrown and it's going to need

a few weekends' hard graft to clear that lot.

One thing I do need to tell you

is this house is sold with a prohibition order in place,

which means no-one can live in this property until that has been lifted.

In essence, the prohibition order meant

you'd need to get everything done to bring it up to modern standards.

But you didn't need a prohibition order to see what was necessary.

And the person undaunted by the house was Keith.

He bought it at auction for £42,250.

Keith and daughter Rachel were hoping

that the house could be used for a very specific reason.

What made you go into property?

What made you want to buy this property in particular?

Stoke-on-Trent is one of the places in this country

where refugees who are seeking asylum are sent for the time being

and, therefore, there's quite a demand for property in this area.

And they tend to be at the bottom of the priority list,

in terms of housing, so we thought it was the best way to make sure

that they do get housing, safe, affordable housing.

And, along with the hope this could be a sanctuary for refugees

or people who are struggling to find somewhere to live,

Keith had lined up builder Simon,

who trained and supported ex-prisoners to do the work,

and he guessed at a budget of around 12 grand

and a very hopeful three-month timescale.

# I'm gonna get myself in

# I'm gonna fix up the yard

# And not fall back again... #

Now a year has slipped by and it's time to check on the progress.

The new double glazing and front door bode well

and inside, the back reception room, that's now a sleek, modern kitchen.

It has allowed the old kitchen space to be transformed

into an all-important shower room and indoor toilet,

with new plastering, wiring and replumbing.

That means 15 years of neglect have been eradicated.

# I feel it's never too late

# To make a brand-new start... #

So, where did they start?

# To make a brand-new start... #

The builder who came, who I was given, who was excellent

and had done other work here and there,

he came and looked at the thing and said,

"Of course, the best thing to do to start is put a new roof on."

That was great, but it took a lot longer

than I thought it was going to and also, he didn't quite remember

to put the gutters on, originally, so that took a bit longer as well.

So, we now have a dry house, from which we then began,

but we're already three or four months down the line,

if not five or six.

And after his builder, Simon, had completed the roof,

he was busy on other projects,

so Keith needed a new team of tradesmen

to create the downstairs bathroom, kitchen

and, of course, the bedrooms.

In terms of the bedrooms, I think there's been two main changes.

Firstly, the wallpaper going.

Also, the shower in the cupboard has gone,

so it's now just a closet and a cupboard.

# It's a jungle out there... #

And, with a second bedroom refurbished,

the inside of the house was coming along nicely.

But it wasn't just the inside that was neglected for a long time.

The outside was too. So, how did Keith sort that out?

# It's a jungle out there... #

I paid somebody to come and chop it all down

and I dug a tunnel through it, initially,

and found an ex-loo at the bottom of the garden.

It used to be a two outside loo house, this.

# Too good to lose

# You're too good to lose Oh-oh... #

So, two loos have now been found and a yard unearthed.

There is still some work to do,

tidying up the outside and in the front reception room,

but this was a baptism of fire for Keith,

so what tested his resolve the most?

The biggest challenges here were A, the fact I live in Birmingham,

which is 40 miles away.

The second is that I had never done this before

and I think I bit off rather more than I could chew

and got to the point where I didn't know what to do.

And thirdly, the finances slightly ran away with themselves

and £12,000 was an amateur guess

at what we hoped we might manage to limit it to and it was quite naive.

I think we've come in over 18, probably heading towards 20,

but I haven't paid the final bills for the last bits yet.

£20,000 doesn't seem too bad with the amount of work carried out

but with Keith's £42,250 purchase price,

his total outlay will be £62,250.

So, money well spent?

What do two local property experts think,

starting with the expert who saw it originally in its awful state?

The property's certainly changed quite a bit

since I last saw the property.

There is now a shower room to the rear

which, obviously, was a vital addition,

and it has been done to a reasonable standard.

It's been modernised so it's ready to move into.

I also like the garden as well. It's unusual

to find a garden of this size with a terrace property

so close to the city centre.

Keith bought this with a view to lease it

to a charity who might house people who are currently homeless,

so this is not about a quick profit.

But how has the £62,250 investment fared?

Once the property's completed,

I would anticipate a resale value in the region of £65,000.

If we were to place the property on the sales market,

I would look to a figure in the region of £60,000.

That would mean a loss at worst and a small profit at best.

Given the work that was needed to bring this house up to scratch,

it's hardly surprising. But what does Keith think of those values?

That's about what I think we've spent

but we're going to rent it to a charity

which will have people who, otherwise, would be homeless

and that's terribly important. Everybody deserves a good home.

Absolutely spot-on there, Keith.

But having spent a fair amount of money,

he needs to recoup some of that back,

so what kind of rental income could this house bring in?

I would anticipate rental income

in the region of £400 per calendar month.

If we were to place the property on the rental market,

I would recommend a figure in the region of £395 per calendar month.

I've been offered £425 to £450.

Keith's top figure would mean a yield of just under 9%

and he's hoping that the property will house people

who find it harder than most to find accommodation.

So, on reflection, what does Keith feel about this project?

From the moment I first walked in this house,

I realised it was a delightful little house

and even though it had massive problems, it's turned out great

and I've really enjoyed doing it, apart from the times when I haven't.

Now it's time to return to Seascale in Cumbria,

where we've been following Peter in his quest

to turn this huge detached property into a room letting business.

It was back in 2012 when Peter bought the house at auction

for £135,000.

With four reception rooms and eight bedrooms,

plus a substantial extension and a garage at the back,

he certainly had the space to play with, but what about time and money?

It's going to take a couple of years, I think, to come to fruition,

but I'm going to try and get one or two rooms sorted out

and get the downstairs presentable and the kitchen sorted

and get a couple of rooms going

and then, once that's bringing in a bit of income,

then I'll start to do other rooms.

And when we returned two years later,

Peter had been true to his word.

He'd managed to complete one bedroom of the planned eight,

with another just about ready,

and there was good reason for the delay.

The plumbing was in a terrible state.

The hot water tank had been leaking for years.

I started taking up floorboards and discovered

that the electrical work was put in by a cowboy, let's say.

It wouldn't have been long before a fire had started.

-MUSIC: Theme to Psycho

-Peter's job as a film cameraman

means he's no stranger to drama, jeopardy and cliff-hangers.

MUSIC: Theme to Jaws

-IN DRAMATIC VOICE:

-Well, sit back, grab some popcorn,

as we reveal the final act in Peter's very own epic production.

Five years after our first visit, we're back to see

if Peter has finally managed to finish this project!

MUSIC: Theme from Lawrence Of Arabia

Well, it all looks pretty impressive on the first floor.

As well as the bedroom Peter completed in 2014,

there are now two more rentable rooms,

one with an en suite and one with a separate shower room.

But the first-floor bedrooms didn't tell the whole story

as, much like Hollywood, if you sneak a look behind the scenes,

you'll begin to see the real picture.

Peter has done a great deal of work in this place,

but it's still far from the eight-bedroom HMO that he imagined

when he first bought at auction, and the reason is very simple.

It took far longer than I expected, so then it took longer

to get the money coming in from the rented rooms.

The biggest challenge, really, was putting the hours in

cos working on my own, it's very time-consuming

cos, if you've got a couple of people with you,

then things happen more than twice as fast.

If you're plumbing and you have to run some pipe

under a floor or something, it's much easier with two people

because one person can be at one end and one at the other.

When you're on your own, you push the pipe in and it gets stuck,

then you have to go the other end and try and get it out that way

and it's a nightmare.

The kitchen's been given a modest makeover

to service the needs of his tenants

and Peter has installed an ultra-modern biomass boiler.

But the extension at the back of the house

is currently being used as storage.

MUSIC: Shape Of You by Ed Sheeran

On the second floor, the rooms are a lot tidier,

but most of the work here has been to the fabric of the building -

fixing the electrics and plumbing and dealing with damp.

Rather than plough on, Peter has decided

it's time to sell up and move on.

I decided to sell for various reasons,

one of which was that I might be getting

a long-term assignment down south

and I couldn't really face managing a rental accommodation

and working 300 miles away.

That wouldn't have been too good for me, I don't think.

And just over two weeks after putting it on the market,

I received an offer which I accepted and that was that.

MUSIC: Don't Look Back In Anger by Oasis

As he prepares to hand over the keys, Peter is philosophical.

Well, as I'm moving on, I won't look back in anger, as they say.

The place has been fine to work on and it's been a good experience.

I've learnt a lot of skills and refined skills I already had.

It kept me fit to a certain degree,

carrying things up and down the stairs, you know.

We took a fireplace out on the top floor.

It was about 15 trips with muck buckets

down the stairs with all the rubble.

A few weeks off here and there for filming assignments,

which was a nice break.

# But don't look in anger I heard you say... #

Five years in the making and for Peter, at least,

this low-budget feature is finally over.

But will there be a Hollywood ending?

We invited a local estate agent along

to take a look at Peter's progress

and give us some up-to-date valuations on this property.

First impressions, there's plenty of space.

There's been work done but there's still a lot to do.

The big selling points of this place are its location.

It's close to the local nuclear plant.

Also, the size of the building offers options,

in terms of the use of the rooms,

so people won't feel squashed into this place.

It'll be comfortable for different people to live here.

Peter bought this house for £135,000

and has been frugal with his refurbishment,

spending only £9,000, to bring that total to £144,000.

He's now moving on, but what kind of rental income

could a new owner be expecting?

The income depends on the standard of the rooms.

The ones that have been done have been done to a really good standard.

That needs to continue.

It may well be worth sacrificing some of the rooms upstairs

because en suites will attract a higher rental.

In terms of the value, I would imagine

that those rooms could be £200 to £220 per calendar month.

Rooms without an en suite would be £150 to £170 per calendar month.

Those figures are not including council tax and utilities,

but, based on eight rooms, the agent's higher figure,

well, that's potentially around £1,700 per month.

And what about a sales value?

In its current condition, this property would sell

for somewhere between £220,000 and £225,000.

That's a coincidence.

Yes, £220,000 is exactly what I've just sold it for.

Which means that Peter has realised a profit of £76,000,

before fees and taxes.

What is he planning to do with that hard-earned windfall?

Well, I've spotted a house in the next village along

which has potential to have a photographic studio in,

also a three-bedroom house and a garage, so that suits me.

Now I'm involved with some local filmmakers

and we want to pursue further projects,

so a studio is going to be very useful.

Every auction property comes with its fair share of twists and turns

and the odd unexpected bump in the road.

Yes, so join us next time, as we follow more auction buyers

on their renovation journeys, here on Homes Under The Hammer.

-Bye-bye.

-Goodbye.