Episode 59 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello, and welcome to the show.

Now, I've been in the world of property long enough

to know that things don't always go to plan.

Yes, you've got to take the rough with the smooth,

and everything in between.

But get it right, and it can be a worthwhile and lucrative experience,

especially if you try your luck under the hammer.

Another day, another three properties

waiting to be transformed.

But hopefully, it's not just the properties that are transformed,

but also the lives of the auction buyers.

Yes, I can't wait to see the plans for their projects and the stories

-behind each of them.

-Yeah, well, we don't have to wait much longer -

here are the three properties we are featuring on today's show.

Things are too good to be true at this three-bed terrace in Liverpool.

What is wrong with this house?!

Nothing.

And I'm green with envy at this end terrace in Derbyshire.

If green is your colour, you might go crazy when it comes to bidding.

Green is everywhere!

And I'm rambling in the countryside in Cumbria,

but looking around this former pub is thirsty work.

Wonder what time last orders were.

All these properties have been sold at auction,

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

when they went under the hammer.

It's gone, it's yours.

I'm visiting Liverpool, famous of course for the River Mersey,

The Beatles, and two little local football teams.

Well, if you're looking for an affordable home or somewhere where

the buy-to-let model still stacks up financially,

you are not going to go too far wrong here.

You've got Anfield football stadium around the corner,

shops and amenities close by, and this is the house I'm here to see,

three bedrooms, mid-terrace, guide price, wait for it, 40,000 quid.

# I'm going down to Liverpool... #

So for that kind of money, you probably think it's going to be a disaster,

but you know what? First impressions are not too bad.

I like the parquet floor, that would be really pleasant it was cleaned up,

just get a sander and sort that out.

Stairs, again, if they were stripped back, they would be rather beautiful.

In its day, I'm sure this would have been a pretty grand house.

Look at this staircase.

It's little things like that.

Yeah, pretty nice. Anyway, interesting layout.

Two doors, there's one there, that is a bit weird.

Another one here, and unfortunately...

Major health and safety advisory here.

That is not safety glass.

You fall into that at speed, it would smash.

Gosh knows what it would do to you.

So that needs to go, obviously.

But then continuing the good news into this room,

more of this parquet flooring. Aren't they beautiful, honestly?

But, yeah, it is a good-sized front living room,

and then through to the rear one.

Rear living room, pretty pleasant as well,

and again the parquet floor continuing through,

I really want to see that cleaned up, it would be spectacular.

And then through into the kitchen.

Now... This is going to need a bit of work, but...

You've got to love that! Right, OK.

That's an old doorway.

Clearly either block it up properly,

or maybe reconfigure this to have that as the entrance,

I don't know how that would work.

You would need to sit down with a pencil and paper and work that one out.

But at least there is a doorway there, gives you a few options.

And then the size of the kitchen itself, not too bad.

Clearly you're going to make a big difference with what you do in here.

Doors, doors, and more doors.

Sliding doors, glass doors, doors boarded up,

and then there's the kitchen.

Those units, and the doors need to go, but so far,

this is not too bad at all.

Time to go out...

doors.

Well, at the back of the property, not exactly a huge garden,

but at least it is some outdoor space,

and you have got this all-important door leading onto an alleyway out the back,

which is another access to the property, which is quite good.

Looking down the row of properties,

a few people have actually done extensions,

and that is something you might consider - maybe a single-storey extension.

But otherwise, just some nice planting in here,

and it could be a really pleasant little space.

A small extension under permitted development might be enough to make

that kitchen a bit more family-friendly.

After all, this is a three-bed house.

So, upstairs,

and I've just got to show you this amazing bit of decorating.

Now, this is a decorating technique I have not seen in the 14 years of

doing Homes Under The Hammer before.

It's... Well, basically, nice embossed wallpaper,

but then, at the joints, instead of matching the joints up,

what you do is you stick a bit of polystyrene ceiling tile on there.

That's a new one on me. Absolutely love it.

But anyway, obviously that's all going to be stripped back, but it's

just really interesting the ideas people come up with, isn't it?

So into the first floor, of course.

Bathroom, you know, funnily enough,

these tiles are very much back in fashion.

I don't know if you'd be able to re-do the bathroom and keep those tiles.

Probably not.

New suite in there and all that kind of stuff.

Some reasonable sized rooms.

Rear bedroom there, a really nice size, you've got these floorboards,

which look, again, in pretty good condition.

Bit more of a box room at the front on that side, but I've seen smaller.

And then into what is, I suppose, the master bedroom.

It mirrors that great bay window which you've got downstairs.

And the windows themselves, double glazed, fairly new,

so that is a big expense that has been saved.

Doesn't smell of damp, doesn't look like it's had any leaks.

What is wrong with this house?!

Nothing.

It's a good one.

But did a local estate agent agree?

What did he make of what I think is a rather fine house,

guided at £40,000?

My first impressions of the property is it is definitely a project

property, for someone who wants to get stuck in.

It is going to need everything doing - kitchen, bathroom, rewire,

replaster, plumbing, so it is quite a lengthy process on this one.

So it is not for the faint-hearted.

For the more bold amongst us,

what could the options be for this house once refurbished?

Most people tend to buy to rent these out,

because it is very much an investors' hub at the moment,

there's quite a lot of activity with buy-to-let investors.

So that suggests there might be good yields here at present.

So, what could this house achieve?

On completion of the work, with a full refurbishment,

I'd expect this property to rent for

between £500 and £550 per calendar month.

And what about sales?

On completion of all the work,

I would anticipate this property to sell in the region of £85,000.

Well, that initial guide price of £40,000 might have had you thinking

this place is going to be an absolute disaster,

but you know what? It's not. It's a good solid house.

Yes, it needs a bit of tidying up, but that's about it.

Can't go wrong, really.

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

Three-bedroom terraced house, 40,000 is our guide.

That seems like the right place to start for all of us, I think.

Can I see 40 anywhere? Thank you, sir.

The bid is 40. Can I see 42?

44. 46. 48. 50.

52? 4? 53 is a fair bid. 54?

54, Cathy. 55, sir.

With telephone bidders competing against people in the room,

the 40 grand guide price was quickly left behind.

We rejoin the bidders in the room at 59,500.

59 and a half.

60. 60.

And a half? 61?

No, you sure?

Here we go, then, at 60,500.

Gentleman right in front of me for the first time. Second time at 60 and a half.

Back to you if you want to come in, you've got about three seconds.

Third and final time at £60,500, with you, sir, are we all done?

We are.

Sold, well done.

Not present at the auction, but having his dad make

the successful bid of £60,500, was Harry.

He's a sales executive for a door company,

and I met up with him for a chat about his new acquisition.

Harry, good to meet you.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

Tell me why you wanted to buy this house.

I've just been looking in the area,

I fancied a bit of an experiment over in Liverpool,

because I've got other houses in Warrington and in the north-west,

and looking at what you can get rental markets,

what you've got to buy the house for,

that was my main interest for coming over here.

Right, so do you know the area particularly?

Not really. I used to work in Aintree, which isn't too far away,

so I kind of know it a little bit,

and obviously near the football ground,

but I don't have a great knowledge of the area.

But I did enough research to give me a good feeling on it.

So, talk through your research process and what you found out,

and give me some actual numbers.

Yeah, just looking on different websites in terms of rentals

and speaking to estate agents.

It's got a good rental income between 500 and 550,

so I knew I could base my figures on that.

Right, OK. And that's based on it being, obviously, done up.

How much do you reckon it is going to cost you to get to that point?

I shouldn't spend any more than 8,000 on this.

-Eight?

-Yeah, without a shadow of a doubt.

-Right.

-So I'll be disappointed if I go over eight

because a lot of the work I'll do for myself.

Obviously everyone in my family is in the trade as well.

-Oh, are they?

-So I get a mates rate on, er...

but I know it looks bad, but if you know what you're doing,

this doesn't need as much spending on it as what someone

would look at it and think.

It's a surprisingly modest budget,

but Harry has a few cards up his sleeve,

as he works in the building industry,

so he'll be getting mates-rates on trade and building materials.

And, rather handily, he's done an apprenticeship in joinery.

So tell me what you're going to do to sort it out.

Everything! Everything.

So, I mean, tomorrow, I've got electricians,

got the plumbers in tomorrow.

So it's that first fix, that will be done come Monday, so within the first week,

I can get it skimmed.

I'm not going to the extent of doing it back to brick,

but everything needs to be done.

Right. And you can do what?

You can't do the electrics or the gas, obviously, but apart from that,

can you fit kitchens and bathrooms?

Yeah, so obviously anything which needs a certificate, I can't do,

like you said, the electrics and what have you.

But as soon as it's skimmed, every bit of joinery work I will be doing,

the kitchen, can do the tiling in the bathroom, any flooring.

So that is where I come in to it,

and obviously all the painting, stripping

and general labouring work, I can take that into account.

And I'm hoping that doors are on his to-do list,

but as he does doors for a living, I'm sure they are!

But he'll be doing this as well as his day job,

so he has a timescale of seven to nine weeks.

What do you do when you're not doing up houses?

Chilling, recharging the batteries.

I'm mad on football, and to be honest with you, it's kind of got to a point now,

it got to the end of the season, within a week,

I was looking online for a house.

And now I've bought one, so it's like, I need to get this done,

eight weeks, season starts, and then, yeah, I can kick back and relax, then.

You're a massive fan. Who do you support?

I'm a Villa fan, so it is people like me who keep football going,

isn't it? Because I've got Liverpool and Everton right on the doorstep,

so I don't want to be seeing them going to the games when I'm working on that.

So that's where I'm going to be with that.

Oh, fantastic, and who is helping you?

My dad's recently retired,

and he's been touching his fingers for a part-time job,

so we finished one up in September, and I got him working on that,

so I have employed my dad now, you know, he's kind of carried me,

and I give him a bit of money back by giving him a part-time job.

-Oh, great.

-And he's handy, he's handy,

so a lot of stuff like the painting and what have you,

and the general stuff, giving me a lift, he can definitely help me out with that.

Great, and probably quite nice that you can work together as well.

Yeah, I spend a lot of time with him.

They are big Villa fans as well, so we go to the games together,

so we are very family-orientated.

-Brilliant.

-So, yeah, it's good. It's a bit lonely, as well,

if you're grafting on a house on your own,

so it is good to have someone here with you.

Good, well, great. Congratulations.

-Good luck with it.

-Thank you very much.

-Looking forward to seeing how you get on.

Well, Harry certainly seems to know his stuff,

and he's done that all-important thing, which is his research.

He knows that buy-to-let in this area definitely works out well

from the numbers point of view. How will he get on sorting it out?

He seems to have the skills as well.

You can find out how it all turns out later in the show.

Off to Derby now, and the town of Alfreton,

which is said to have been founded by King Alfred the Great.

So, will today's property be great, or not?

The property I'm here to see, well, this is it.

It's an end of terrace three-bedroom house with a guide price of £72,000 plus.

Let's see what you get for your money.

OK, what have we got?

Pretty green wallpaper, which reminds me of my gran.

In fact, I think my gran might have that exact same wallpaper.

You have a wee cupboard here.

Somebody has used it for their coats to hang up, and your fuse box.

And then... Hmm... This is interesting.

It's a shower room, it's only got a shower in it.

So if you have somebody round for tea,

there is nowhere to wash their hands or go to the toilet,

but they can have a shower.

Back through to our hall,

and you have some wasted space under the stairs.

If you want to keep the stairs as is,

and it is always a bit of a job to reconfigure them,

you could shut that off, somewhere to put a pram or a bike.

And then you have two doorways.

Let's go through this one first, into your reception room.

Now, I can tell this has been knocked through.

It was two smaller rooms.

The wall was here, there's a beam across the roof,

and also you can see the remnants of that wall,

where it was on the ground.

Central heating, lots of ticks so far,

and then through this way brings us to our kitchen, and this kitchen...

It is dated, it could do with being taken out, a new one,

but if you just put in new appliances, it's perfectly serviceable.

And there's an awful lot about this house

that just needs a lick of paint.

You certainly have a blank canvas to work with here,

and I'd like to paint you a picture of this shower room with a toilet and wash basin.

I reckon if you knocked into the cupboard next door,

you'd have space. You might even be able to install a window.

Time for me to paint a picture of what's on offer

in the rest of the house.

If green is your colour, you might go crazy when it comes to bidding.

Green is everywhere!

I kind of like it. You have a good-sized bedroom upstairs,

and you also have built-in wardrobes and another good-sized bedroom.

Now, your third bedroom is narrow, definitely more of a single.

OK, you've got a toilet, little room for a toilet,

and then another room with your bath.

You definitely want to look into whether you can take down

this wall and just open things up.

Why not make it one spacious bathroom?

Outside, you have a good-sized garden, pretty overgrown,

needs some love and attention.

But actually, it's not the weeds that are catching my attention.

Up there on the roof are solar panels.

A good thing for the planet, but you need to do your research.

Do they comply with the microgeneration certification scheme,

and have building regs?

If the panels are leased and not purchased,

the lender should always be asked for permission,

because it's creating a long-term lease

against the roof and the roof space.

In the past, it has put mortgage lenders off,

so make sure your solicitor checks the finer details,

that all the guidelines comply with the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

An estimated 1.5 million homes in the UK have solar panels,

so it's certainly becoming ever popular,

which should also make any lenders less worried.

Although, on a day like today,

they won't be generating that much energy!

MUSIC: Sunshine On A Rainy Day by Zoe

But they will be getting a good clean.

We wanted some advice to see if this house has a bright future,

and asked along an agent from the auction house

who sold it for his opinion.

Demand for this type of property is always very good.

It is quite basic at the moment.

Kitchen's OK, bathroom ready to be replaced, general decor inside,

new flooring, and outside garden tidied up, really.

So, with a strong demand and with a 72 grand-plus guide price,

could this be an ideal quick-flip project?

In my opinion, the resale on the open market is likely to be

in the region of £120,000.

This is a solid house that wouldn't take much to really make it sing.

The layout could be improved,

and you would have to look into those solar panels.

Let's find out who saw the potential when it went to auction.

Well maintained, double-fronted three-bedroom end town house,

guide of £72,000.

Where do you want to be with this?

Bid me at £70,000. 68.

£68,000. 68 here, thank you, sir.

£68,000 is bid.

69 now.

70,000. 71, if you like.

71 is bid.

A couple of interested bidders took the bidding to £90,000.

90,000. 91. 92.

No? Thank you, sir. At the back of the room, £91,000 is bid.

92 in a new place.

93, sir. 94 now.

94. 95. 96?

No. At £95,000, I'm with you, sir.

For the first time... For the second time...

For the third and final time,

to paddle number 918, £95,000, it goes,

it's gone. It's yours. Well bought, sir.

The successful 95-grand bid was made by Steve,

who was bidding on behalf of his daughter, Lottie.

She's just 18 years old,

and came along with her 16-year-old brother, Luke.

They are amongst the youngest property developers

we've had on the show,

so I was keen to find out what they had in store.

Pleased to meet you. You're far too young and good-looking, surely,

to be owning a property.

Tell me the story here.

Well, we're both starting higher education in September.

I'm going off to uni, Luke's going to college, and we wanted something,

just a little project, to keep us occupied until we start.

So how have you got into it?

Is this something that your folks do?

My mum and dad have two apartments already, in Chesterfield,

and one abroad, which we didn't really renovate,

but my dad rents them out, and he's a landlord for those.

So it's sort of something we have a little bit of an idea of,

but it's a learning one to start off with.

Well, if you've been growing up with that from a young age,

you kind of soak it up, don't you?

Yeah, there's a lot of little things that we looked for when we actually

came to view the property,

which my dad had sort of told us about

before we initially chose this one.

And what was it about this property in particular that attracted you?

Well, my dad actually used to work in Alfreton.

He's a full-time firefighter, so he knows the area,

it is close to the A38, the M1, so we came with Dad.

Dad's sort of overseeing it with my mum, but you know,

we are taking the reins,

-as you would.

-Taking the reins, OK.

Now, Luke, how did you get involved?

Did Lottie say, "We got it, I need your help?"

Sort of, yeah. She was just like, me and Dad have bought it,

and roped me into doing it, you know, and here I am.

What would you have been doing in your holidays to make a bit of cash

if it wasn't this?

I clean part-time, so I'm a cleaner, just odd jobs,

so it would have just been that, really.

-Yeah.

-I don't do a great deal, to be honest.

I would sort of just be wandering around aimlessly,

-so just something to do.

-I love the honesty.

I clean, I work hard... I wander around aimlessly.

I don't believe that's all you do.

What are your hobbies, Luke?

I do play in a couple of bands, and I enjoy it,

so I do that from time to time.

I sometimes make money off it, but I mostly do it for fun, really.

What do you do in the band?

I play guitar and I sing.

What kind of music do you play, Luke?

Well, we play a lot of ska music, so like Madness and The Specials,

and stuff like that. It obviously gets people dancing,

-and it's fun to play.

-Is he good?

Very good. He's very modest.

All the band are very modest, but they are very good.

MUSIC: Our House by Madness

Yeah, it would have been "Madness" not to play that tune there.

Apparently mum Jane is the one they get their love of music from,

and Luke's going to study music performance in Nottingham,

whilst big sister Lottie is going to be studying nursing.

But before they start the new term,

they have got this house to think about first.

So what are your plans here?

Just cosmetic work, really.

Stripping the walls, repainting, new carpets.

Possibly a new kitchen, depending on, sort of, finances.

-Bathrooms.

-Yeah, the bathroom upstairs.

There is a wall partitioning the toilet and the rest of the bathroom,

so we are either looking at taking that wall down

or putting a small sink into the bathroom already.

-And then possibly taking the shower downstairs and putting a bathroom in there.

-OK.

Will your dad oversee a bit, because he's got experience?

Yeah, my mum and dad are overseeing quite a lot of the work that is going to be done,

but we will be definitely getting stuck in and helping out

-as much as we can.

-OK. And your budget?

10,000, including all the fees and costs.

OK. And your timescale to turn this around?

Two to three months.

Two to three months, OK.

And what's your plan for this when it's done?

We're looking to sell it on sort of straightaway,

and look on to the next project.

This is a great house.

I don't foresee too many problems.

-No, hopefully not!

-Hopefully it's your first of many.

-Yeah.

-Best of luck.

-Thanks, Lottie. Thanks, Luke.

-Cheers.

So, this is a first project for young siblings Luke and Lottie.

With their lack of experience, it could be worrying,

but then they seem really driven and mature.

And with a helping hand from Mum and Dad, they should have no problems.

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

Still to come, I'm weighing up the pros and cons

in this former pub in Cumbria.

At the moment, it is 2-0 to the pros.

I do like a pub, and I do like a pint.

And we will find out if there were any positives to working with family in Derbyshire.

Family bickering, family project, a lot of bickering.

Earlier in the show, I took a look around this three-bedroom terrace

with lots of original features,

but I wasn't keen on the non-safety glass doors, and where was I?

# There's things I'd like to say to you when you're back in Liverpool. #

Yeah, it is a good-sized front living room, and then through to the rear one.

Again, the parquet floor continuing through, so I really want to see that cleaned up,

it will be spectacular. And then through into the kitchen.

Right, OK. That's an old doorway.

Either block it up properly or maybe reconfigure this.

And who better to solve these glass door and blocked doorway problems

than Warrington-based sales executive to door manufacturer, Harry?

Who bought the house for £60,500 to add to his rental portfolio.

How much do you reckon it is going to cost you to get to that point?

I shouldn't spend any more than 8,000 on this.

-Eight?

-Yeah, without any shadow of a doubt.

-Right.

-So I'll be disappointed if I go over eight.

I know it looks bad, but if you know what you're doing,

this doesn't need as much spending on it as what someone would look at it and think.

Every bit of joinery work, I'll be doing, so the kitchen,

I can do the tiling in the bathroom, any flooring,

so that's where I come into it.

And obviously, all the painting,

-stripping and just the general labouring work, you know...

-Oh, great.

I can take that into account.

As an Aston Villa fan,

Harry wanted to complete the refurbishment in under eight weeks,

ready for the new football season.

Bet you wish you'd done this one, Dion,

to meet one of your former club's fans.

So let's see what Harry and his family did when we went back

14 weeks and one day later.

Well, I think Harry's done an amazing job refurbishing the parquet floor.

Parquet in French means,

"a small compartment," and this herringbone pattern

was most popular in the 1890s.

Harry did all the joinery in the house,

including the replacement of the glass doors.

Unbelievably, the kitchen cost just £350, and it's much brighter,

and the old doorway has been partition-walled properly.

I'm glad to see the back of the old polystyrene/wallpaper combo,

and the staircase has been painted and come up a real treat.

In the bathroom, old meets new, with a modern-designed suite,

and tiles sympathetic to the old style.

There's good news for original-feature fans,

because Harry's retained the upstairs doors, and they look great.

Harry calls himself a part-time property developer,

and he has the help of his retired dad.

He did have specialist trades in for the new heating, electricity,

and plastering.

But don't just take my word for it - let's hear Harry's highlights.

OK, so the general plan with the kitchen was to just try and open

everything up and make it nice and bright.

First thing that we did was we opened the doorway here,

and it had a false wall, so we reconfigured that round.

Then we get the light from the living room and the lounge

which is all coming together,

and it also means we can have the appliances in the corner,

so we can have the fridge over there, washing machine underneath,

rather than being in the outhouse outside,

so that's obviously a massive plus to have.

I'm so glad the parquet floor was restored,

but it's not necessarily a job I'd tackle on my own.

In the past, I think people had put dark layers upon layers,

and I definitely felt that in my shoulders

a couple of days after sanding it all down.

But, you know, we got it back to its original state,

and it's come up really nice.

In the end, Harry had to go back to the brick because of the damp issues.

They ended up having to do a full damp course,

which meant he had to delay other work until it was sorted.

Obviously, I had people booked in,

tried to be really organised with it,

but obviously putting them back two weeks, then they had work booked in,

there was a bit of toing and froing between tradespeople.

But it has been all right going over,

it's just a couple more weekends I've not been able to have a lie-in,

-but that is about it.

-In fact,

Harry reckons he has had just one full weekend off in the last three months.

He renewed the guttering and painted the exterior,

but were there any issues working with mum Kerry, dad Paul,

and girlfriend Katie?

The help that they've given me throughout it, you know,

was second to none, but this isn't the first,

it probably isn't going to be the last,

which they probably won't want to hear.

But they're well vetted in what they've done, and they've done a good job.

They're always learning as well, making mistakes,

but I'll sweep up after them, it's fine.

Harry said he'd be disappointed if

we went over his forecasted £8,000 budget, so did he?

I was able to penny-pinch a couple of times.

Obviously, the damp course set me over, so at the end of it,

I did it for 8,700.

Let's find out what kind of rental deal two local estate agents would

say would be appropriate for Harry's fifth rental house.

Having been in the property before, it's a total transformation.

It's nice and bright.

Kept the original features of the property, I really like it.

It's bright and it's light.

Seems to be a lot of windows.

I like the idea that the kitchen runs into the dining area,

it's nice and open-plan.

It makes for a nice lifestyle.

It's very popular lately, that sort of layout.

And I'm sure Harry could arrange to fit sliding safety glass doors in

the lounge, if being able to separate the rooms

would mean sealing a deal with a tenant.

Harry purchased the property for £60,500,

and spent £8,700 refurbishing it, so onto the figures.

It would be an easy let, between £500 and £560 per calendar month.

For the rental market,

I would put a valuation of somewhere in the region of £550 per

calendar month.

Harry's total spend, excluding taxes and expenses, is £69,200.

Taking the top rental figure,

that would equate to a yield of nearly 10%.

-How does that sound?

-Yeah, that's exactly what I budgeted for,

and that's what I'll be striving to get.

Now, why am I not surprised that Harry's not surprised?

That's because he did his homework thoroughly,

so will he be opening new doors in the near future?

I think there is just a certain element that is how far can I go?

How many can I build to a portfolio?

And I just love seeing the finished article,

taking the worst house in the street and then making it the best.

I do get a kick out of that.

And I'm assured by Dion that all the Aston Villa fans will get a kick out

of this piece of music, especially Harry and most of his family.

MUSIC: Ghost Riders In The Sky by Johnny Cash

We have one brother who's a West Brom fan,

but he gets neglected from the games,

but even he says he's going to come to a Villa home game with us,

so we are definitely going as a family to the next game.

Here's to part-time property developing.

MUSIC: Ghost Riders In The Sky by Johnny Cash

I'm in Cumbria, 15 miles north of the city of Carlisle,

in an area known as Debatable Lands.

Once a dangerous frontier where powerful warring families rustled

livestock and generally created mayhem.

Thankfully, the days of border reivers are well past,

and it's nice and quiet.

This is real countryside.

All you can hear are the birds, and the views are amazing.

This is proper ramblers' and dog-walking territory.

The property I'm here to see is a former pub,

with live-in accommodation.

It went to auction for £65,000 plus.

Wonder what time last orders were?

Sadly, time was called on this place two years ago,

and with an average of 27 pubs a week closing in the UK,

it's not uncommon to see them at the auction.

This one is starting to look a bit worse for wear on the outside.

OK, into the pub.

Could you restore this place and make it into a pub again?

You possibly could.

But it hasn't worked before, will it work again?

It's possibly going to be a bit of a gamble.

As there is a pub only two miles down the road,

which tells me two pubs in a small area, just isn't working.

But it is sad, isn't it? Sad to see another pub close.

I do like a pub and I do like a pint.

Well, there's no beer here and given the decline in this sort of business,

I reckon the sound of pork scratchings being crunched

will never be heard again.

What there is, is a very tired and dark space, and I do mean space.

Lots of it. This lot doesn't just come with a bar,

there's residential space as well, a lounge, kitchen,

bathroom downstairs and three bedrooms upstairs.

And if that wasn't enough, at the other end of the building,

there's yet more room.

OK, downstairs, as you come in the door,

you've got a bedroom and bathroom.

Down the corridor there, I can see three further rooms,

and in there we have another bedroom.

Into what looks to me like a dining sort of lounge area,

with kitchen over here.

Now, from what I've seen, there's a lot of space here

and don't forget, this is separate from the pub

and the accommodation over there.

The guide price is £65,000 plus. Bonkers.

MUSIC: Bonkers by Dizzee Rascal

It's certainly a gigantic bit of property for the guide price.

There's also a fairly big garden with some lovely views.

But there's a reason for that guide price.

This place is pretty remote,

so anyone looking for a business premises

couldn't rely on passing trade.

Potential buyers could be limited.

Perhaps a business that could utilise the land could work.

A small transport business or a market garden might work.

But what could a property developer do with it?

I think it's too big to be one dwelling.

You could break it up into two but I still think it's too big for that.

Three maybe, you might get away with it.

Not for me, I would completely total the building

and I would build three separate houses.

Two/three bedrooms,

a bit of parking at the side of the property

and back here you'd have yourself

a beautiful back garden overlooking scenery like that.

Which isn't bad at all.

Obviously, it would all be down to planning permission,

but that would be my choice.

With the ever-increasing demand on housing,

I think a nice two to three house development

would be right on the money.

But does a local estate agent agree?

If I was going to develop it, I would look at three units.

I wouldn't try and make one big house

or even two reasonably-sized houses,

I would go for three more modest dwellings,

appealing to local buyers.

This area tends to be expensive,

because the majority of properties are larger homes,

so younger people who want to stay in the area have very little choice,

so this would be an ideal spot,

because there are views

and reasonable sized gardens to go with each property.

This lot was guided at 65 grand plus,

so taking into account site clearance and building costs,

which could amount to around 300 grand,

could this approach work financially?

Prices in this area for two to three bedroom properties would be

in the range of £125-150,000.

So that does indicate there could be some profit to be made here?

What about the rental potential?

Three-bedroomed properties in this area would let for

between £500-550 per calendar month.

Right, where do you start?

This is a massive challenge and quite daunting.

You've got the pub, you've got the living accommodation

and you've got all this out here as well.

I can't wait to find out who was brave enough to take it on.

Let's go to the auction house and find out.

Nice one this. A lot of property for your money this.

£65,000 a guide, former public house,

occupying a pleasant rural site.

Let's not mess about, 55?

55 here, right, 55 I'm bid.

56, 57, 58, 59, 60, one...

So there was a real battle taking place for this pub.

We rejoin the bidding at £80,000.

80, 80 I'm bid.

One, two, three...

83 bid, 84, 85, 85 bid.

86, 87.

Here at 86.

At £86,000, on my left then, first time.

Second time, are we done?

At £86,000, all done, all out.

Cheers, madam, congratulations.

So the hammer fell at £86,000,

and the job lot of pub, house and land

were bought by local resident, Anthea.

So is it time for a celebratory drink?

Or has she got the bulldozers revving up as we speak?

I caught up with her to find out.

-Anthea, nice to meet you.

-Pleased to meet you.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

-Happy?

-Very happy.

This is an unusual building.

What attracted you to it?

Ah, well, this is only about 2.5 miles away from the family farm, so,

and... I used to drink here.

-Oh, did you really?

-And it was a fantastic place!

-Really, you used to drink in this pub?

-Yes.

-What was it like?

Oh, it was great. The steaks in this place that Kenny used to cook were

phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal.

People would come from miles around to come and do it.

So have you had your eyes on it for sometime?

Yeah, yeah, we've been looking to buy a property in this area

because it's quite close to the family business, so,

it's nice for us all to be together.

And this whole place has been a success

due to my mother-in-law who has been fantastic.

How come, tell us more about your mother-in-law?

She is a very generous lady.

She has actually fronted up this money for us.

Will she get involved as well?

Um, no, I don't think she will because she's far too busy enjoying

her retirement, and enjoying herself.

-Oh, good on her.

-She's jetsetting around everywhere.

-So what are your plans then?

-Well, hopefully, if the planners allow us,

we'd quite like to de-license it and turn it into

a bed and breakfast.

For walking holidays, dog walking, bring your own horse along,

go riding through the Kielder Forest.

That's cool, that's a very cool idea.

Would you run this place yourself

-or would you get someone to manage it for you?

-We'll run it ourselves.

My husband is in the army and also, obviously, works on the farm,

so I'd probably run this myself, but it would be ours.

Well, I think there's plenty of room to turn this place into many things,

and if you fancy running a B&B,

you might be surprised to know you need planning permission.

The planners will take into account the impact it might have on the

neighbours, and if you're in a tourist spot,

the amount of accommodation nearby might mean you get refused.

You'd also have to apply for change of use.

Drinking establishments are classed A4,

so if you wanted to turn it into a restaurant, you'd need a class A3.

Before this property can be put to any use, it needs a lot of TLC.

Tell me how you're going to reconfigure,

are you reconfiguring it?

-Are you changing the layout?

-Yes, I think some rooms,

like the one we're standing in is possibly going to be made into a

bedroom with an en-suite.

Knock a few walls through, maybe do a few en-suite bedrooms.

And how many bedrooms do you want to find?

Hopefully four or five for the bed and breakfast side,

and keep the pub area and bar area as a restaurant.

It's going to brightened up, spruced up,

it's going to have some lighting and a big sports screen put in.

-Yes.

-Obviously the end is going to be for our own living accommodation,

because we'll need somewhere to live!

Oh, so you'll be living on-site?

We'll be living on site as well, yes.

So what will your accommodation be like then?

Well, we've got three bedrooms upstairs and a little kitchenette downstairs,

and the sitting room, so,

a little log burner in the very small sitting-room, wood.

I can see a lot of country style coming in there.

And you've got the outside space as well.

You've got, you know, a car park on both sides, as well?

We've got the car park on both sides, we've got,

hopefully we're going to have some garden out the back,

I've got stables out the back that need to be re-done.

But, you know, the stables can wait.

They can just wait until everything else is up and running.

Tell me about the budget for this place.

It's not a small property.

There's a lot to do, there's a lot of planning permission

that's got to go ahead.

Um, we think that it's probably going to take 30,000

-to get everything done.

-OK.

I know, I noticed you'd like that.

Yes, yes.

I'm thinking yes.

I hope so for you. I hope so for you, I really do.

Well, you know, we've got our own earth movers and things like that,

being on the farm, we don't have to hire out for diggers and tractors.

Ah, that's where you'll save your money, then.

We'll save quite a bit of money using our own facilities.

And the work itself, who's going to carry out all the work for you?

Well, a lot of it's going to be done ourselves so...

You know, if you put a bit of graft behind it.

Yes, that's one of those things that doesn't seem to

frighten you at all, I'm getting that graft.

-Yeah. Farming does it to you.

-You just get on with it.

You just get on with it.

With horses, you don't have money!

That's very true! What about timescale?

30 grand budget, what about your timescale?

We're hoping to have everything done in three months.

OK. When we come back in three months, what are we going to see?

Well, I'm hoping that you'll just see a whole new bright and fresh,

you know, loved, lived-in place,

rather than this sad building that

-has just been left for a couple of years.

-Listen, good luck.

-Thank you very much.

-I've got confidence in you.

-Thank you.

-Take care.

All I can say is good luck, Anthea.

30 grand and a three-month timescale to turn this into a working B&B?

I'm not too sure myself.

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

Approaching a property renovation can sometimes be a bit daunting,

depending on where your property journey is taking you.

Yes, but those decisions can be really exciting,

like choosing between a high spec finish

or no frills to maximise that return.

Yeah, we've seen how one property got on,

but what decisions will have to be made on the other two.

Let's find out.

We're taking a trip back to Alfreton in Derbyshire,

where I saw a three-bed house that despite being tired,

was in generally OK condition.

There was a downstairs shower room which was a bit unusual,

and I also found a few issues with the layout upstairs.

OK, you've got a toilet,

a little room for a toilet, and then another room with your bath.

You definitely want to look into whether you can take down this wall

and just open things up.

Why not make it one spacious bathroom?

That aside, there wasn't too much to do here,

which was one of the reasons 18-year-old Lottie

paid 95 grand for this property.

She and 16-year-old brother Luke

were taking on a first project together.

You're far too young and good-looking, surely,

to be owning a property.

Tell me the story here.

Well, we're both starting higher education in September.

I'm going off to uni, Luke's going to college, and we wanted something,

just a little project to keep us occupied until we start.

It's certainly a different summer job,

and with the help of their dad Steve and mum Jane,

they hope to get the work done in three months' time

and for ten grand.

So it's time to check in four months later and see if this young brother

and sister team's first project has gone to plan.

# Like you imagine when you were young

# Can we climb this mountain I don't know

# Higher now than ever before I

# Know we can make it if we take it slow

# Let's take it easy Easy now, watch it go... #

There is still work to be done here,

but the finishing touches,

like the floors, are being picked by the new owners.

Yes, incredibly,

they sold the house just four weeks after purchasing it at auction.

This has meant the new owner has been able to have a big input into the renovation works.

So, we spoke to the buyers regarding downstairs, and they decided that

instead of having the new shower and toilet facilities,

they'd rather have it as a utility room,

so we're leaving that and just going to put sockets in for that.

And then the upstairs, the buyers said they'd rather have

the separation wall between the toilet and bathroom,

so we're leaving that as it is,

and it's turned out it's a lot less work

and a lot less money for us to spend.

Their initial budget for the work was ten grand,

and they've managed to come in just under that at £9,500 total spend.

The whole family has chipped in to keep the costs down.

I've done sort of mainly the

stripping and taking everything off.

Me and my little brother, Will, painted the fences at the front.

My dad cut the hedge, reseeded, cut the rose bushes back.

My mum's done all the gloss. Me and my dad have done all the painting.

-Luke's done...

-A lot.

-A lot of the garden work!

But as, sort of, time progressed, he had music commitments,

so he's not done as much in the house as he could have done,

but he did quite a lot of the more difficult and labour-intensive work outside.

As well as the fact I can't paint at all, so...

Yeah, Luke is not allowed

within two metres of a paintbrush when Mum's here.

Luke might have been banned from the paintbrush but he did a lot

of good work in the garden, which is looking much improved.

And although things have taken a little longer than the initial

three-month timescale,

firefighter dad, Steve,

had good reason for not being able to crack on with

the work straightaway.

Well, when we first started the project, my dad had

just had an operation on his back to have some of his discs removed,

so he wasn't sort of able to do some of the heavy lifting stuff that me

and my mum had to do sort of do together, but,

he's been a real help getting some of the more intricate jobs finished.

He's pretty much recovered now,

so, he's been doing loads of tiling upstairs.

It's nice to hear the whole family have been getting in on the act,

but there's one thing that's certainly not been fun for the whole

family - stripping back wallpaper!

I think the first initial big challenge

was getting the wallpaper off.

There were four or five layers of wallpaper, which when you steamed

half came off, and then the other half had to come after that,

so that was very time-consuming.

If any of us were doing things lower down,

Luke would be doing the higher-up steaming

and he would drip the hot water on my back!

Yeah, a lot of bickering, as well.

Yes, family bickering, family projects, a lot of bickering, but,

-we've had a nice time.

-Yeah.

I think the finished project looks really good.

It's everything we sort of hoped it would look like

and we're really, really pleased with it.

I think they've got every right to be pleased with their first project,

and for coming in under budget, and for selling it, too.

So what do two estate agents think of their handiwork?

The changes on this property are looking pretty good.

It's nice and fresh, nice and light, easy just to move straight on in.

The selling points of this property are, it's on a quiet street,

it's got a lovely front and rear garden,

and it's very sort of spacious throughout.

The standard of the finish is fine for this kind of project.

It's clean, it's tidy.

The layout is a classic layout of this style of house.

There's no reason to change it,

it works fine and it would cost a lot of money to change it

and I don't see it making much benefit.

Sounds like keeping that bathroom set-up the same

is a good move after all.

But have these first-time developers made good financial decisions

with their £104,500 investment?

On the open market, I would expect this property to sell somewhere between £115-120,000.

I envisage this property would sell between £115-125,000.

I think that's a pretty good sort of estimate,

for what the house is worth.

We're right in the middle of the valuation

which I think is really nice.

It's been a really nice family project that we've all had a lot of fun doing,

and it's definitely encouraged us to look for other projects.

Yeah, we all really enjoyed it, I think.

They sold the house for £120,000,

which means they made a profit of £15,500, minus taxes and fees.

Not bad for a first project.

So, what's next for this brother and sister team?

Well, next for me, I guess,

I'm just going to do as well as I can on my course, see where it takes me.

And I'm hoping to be a qualified nurse in three years' time,

and maybe move over to Australia once I've completed my degree.

Earlier in the show, I was 50 miles north of Carlisle,

looking around a former pub, with attached living accommodation

that had a guide price of £65,000 plus.

Unfortunately, I'd missed closing time by two years.

This watering hole had been empty all that time.

So I had my reservations about it working as a future boozer.

Could you restore this place and make it into a pub again?

You possibly could, but it hasn't worked before, will it work again?

It's possibly going to be a bit of a gamble.

MUSIC: Closing Time by Semisonic

What also wasn't working was the dingy living accommodation

attached to the pub.

But it wasn't exactly pint sized as it had three good-sized bedrooms.

Further to that, was a separate flat at the other end

the building containing another four bedrooms.

But I thought I'd best call time on this unconventional building.

I would completely total the building

and I would build three separate houses.

However, local horse-riding instructor Anthea,

who bought this place for 86 grand at auction wasn't going to get her

family's tractor and earth movers to flatten the pub.

When it came to this place, she'd had a serious case of nostalgia.

I used to drink here and it was a fantastic place!

-What was like?

-Oh, it was great.

The steaks in this place that Kenny used to cook were just phenomenal.

Anthea and her husband Richard now own a stake in this joint,

and she had plans for it.

We'd quite like to de-license it and turn it into a bed and breakfast,

for walking holidays, dog walking, bring your own horse along,

go riding through the Kielder Forest and...

-That's cool. That's a very cool idea.

-Yeah.

Obviously, at the end, is going to be for our own living accommodation,

-because we'll need somewhere to live!

-So you'll be living on-site?

We'll be living on site as well, yes.

She hoped to do the work in three months and for 30 grand.

A year and a half later, how's it gone?

There's no sign of a B&B.

But instead, the place is now one large house.

Anthea has raised the bar in style.

Transforming the accommodation from the dingy rooms

that were here before,

the living space has had a full damp-proof course,

and a log burner stove is to be installed.

It's going to be a cosy country retreat.

The downstairs bathroom looks sharp

with a new suite in contemporary colours.

While the master bedroom upstairs channels peaceful country living.

The rest of the upstairs is a work in progress.

But the wall dividing the two properties has been removed.

But did Anthea call time on the property's one defining feature?

The pub is de-licensed, but it's been kept as an entertaining space,

and I have to say I'm pretty jealous,

even though the taps are no longer operational.

So Anthea's rather unique country house is shaping up,

but this happy hour home has taken

far longer than the three months planned.

We did have a little issue with planning,

because we didn't actually start doing the building,

because we realised if we did start and the planners wouldn't allow us

to change the usage of it, then we would end up having to resell it,

because we couldn't keep it as a business.

Waiting for the change of use from commercial to residential delayed

the renovation by eight months.

Once they got the go-ahead,

family friend and builder Harry came in

and completed the works with his team.

But that's not to say Anthea didn't lend a hand.

Being as, you know, we are Cumbrian,

we have to do everything nice and cheaply,

so I did all the painting myself.

And being in Army quarters for years and years and years,

it's just magnolia, everything is magnolia,

so I was let loose with a whole new colour palette and, um...

I started off never painting anything in my life,

and as I've gone through the whole place,

I've actually got better and better and better.

But I do have a new respect for painters and decorators!

Despite Anthea's best efforts with a paintbrush,

the budget grew from 30 to £45,000.

We ended up going over because there was far more rewiring, and far more,

um, knocking back of walls than we thought there was,

and there was absolutely no point of, you know,

painting it and doing it if there's damp coming through.

So we just bit the bullet and said, right, knock them all back,

get them all damp proofed,

then we've got a building that's going to be, you know, warm.

In that case, let's give a warm welcome to two local estate agents

who we invited over for their

thoughts and opinions on the seven-bed house

which has cost £131,000 so far.

First impressions of the property are really good.

I do know the property, I haven't been in it before,

but I do know the house itself.

They've created really good residential space upstairs.

They've got bathrooms and bedrooms and all this kind of thing.

But I think what they've done with the bar as well,

keeping the bar in situ and having a games room, things like that,

-is a fantastic idea.

-First impressions of the property,

there's obviously an awful lot to take in,

very impressed with some of the alterations that have been made,

particularly the kitchen,

but the real centrepiece for me is

the fact that the bar area and pool table have been retained.

The entertaining space has won the agents over.

But the work upstairs is ongoing,

so what could the house be worth once complete?

When the property is completed, if it's carried on to the standard,

that the likes of the kitchen, the lounges and that sort of stuff,

if that carries on throughout the whole house,

I see no reason why you couldn't

market this property at probably £350,000,

maybe a little bit more.

If the property were finished to a high standard and specification,

I think we'd be looking at a guide price between £350,000 and £400,000.

I'm very happy with the valuation of 350 to 400.

I think that's fair.

Of course, Anthea's living in the house

but the higher value of 400 grand

could give her a potential profit of 269 grand, minus taxes and fees.

That's a good incentive to get the finishing touches done and dusted.

But in the meantime, Anthea, get the drinks in.

I love the fact that this place has

now got a new fresh breath of life in it,

and we haven't really changed much about the bar.

The bar is still exactly the same as it has been

for years and years and years.

And, of course, we've got a lot of friends round here,

so they come in and join us for a few drinks on a Friday night,

and it's just like old times.

Have today's property stories filled you with inspiration to pop down to

your auction room?

Or perhaps you just like watching the buyers

with a cup of tea in hand.

Either way, we have plenty more renovation stories for you,

so join us next time on Homes Under The Hammer.

-Bye-bye.

-Goodbye.

-Bye-bye.