Episode 6 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello and welcome to the show.

It can be difficult to judge

the property market these days.

And you can't always believe what you hear

and what is written in the paper.

It can be a bit of a minefield.

Yes, the only way to really know is to see for yourself, and a great

place to go looking is your local property auction.

Well, a massive range of properties sell under the hammer,

so why not head down to your local

auction house and see what's on offer?

Yeah, you might be pleasantly surprised at the prices that you

come across. So what got today's bidders excited?

Lucy's enjoying the features of this 1930s semi in Hertfordshire.

Look at that stained glass window behind me!

A gorgeous door.

There is a centrepiece I could do without

at this two-bed flat in Croydon.

And then you see that.

Which is not good at all.

And I'm trying to focus on the positives at this plot in Derby.

What I haven't told you yet is

the good news that this thing has planning permission!

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.

Your lot.

Post-war Britain saw a massive housing crisis and the solution was

to create 28 new towns, built in three waves from 1946 to the '70s.

Today Lucy's visiting one of them, Hatfield in Hertfordshire.

Nowadays it's very much in demand as it's 20 minutes from London by rail

and hosts the University of Hertfordshire.

It's a great location but, walking up to the property, well,

there is something that's concerning me.

And that is the yellow line running all the way up this road.

Now, it's a quiet residential street so,

why are there parking restrictions? Well, I've done some research.

And it tells me there's a university nearby and it is to stop

the students using this street as a giant free car park,

so, I think it's a good thing, but it does mean

I'm hoping for plenty of off-street parking.

Here's the property and, so far, so good.

The parking situation is sorted. It's time now to look at the house.

So, what have we got here? It's a three-bed semi,

and the guide price was £335,000 plus.

Well, it looks really nice from the outside.

Let's see if there are any other

problems inside that could be easily fixed.

Well, I've got real fond childhood memories of growing up in a '30s

house like this and they're just so lovely and welcoming.

And the thing I love...

Look at that! Stained-glass windows behind me.

A gorgeous door, you've got the stairs leading up,

they're just really great houses.

And they really do lend themselves to families living in them, I think.

Or, is that just me and my memories?

But you've got a really good size in here, great lounge.

No central heating, I've noticed.

You've just got an old gas fire and some storage heaters back there.

But look at this.

This really is the focal point here.

A fantastic box window.

Absolutely beautiful, with all this leaded light, original windows.

My only worry would be that they're only single glazed.

Now, there are a few options.

You could get secondary glazing.

I'm not really a fan.

Or you could take them out and put double glazing in behind them,

but that is quite a costly thing to do. But whatever the weather,

I would keep them - I'd probably just stick an extra jumper on, to be honest.

A great room, lovely and sunny and I can imagine sitting in here with my

family watching the telly, having a really nice time.

# So full of beautiful memories

# Isn't it nice to be home? #

Well, a bit of a negative is the kitchen.

Not just the kitchen itself, the units, and...

Oh! A bit of a sticker collection going on in there.

I think the kitchen is just too small.

It's not even a little bit small.

It really doesn't lend itself to family living.

So, you know what I'm going to say.

You've got this fabulous big space in here.

You could call it a second reception room,

but I really do think that if you did take this wall down here between

the kitchen and dining room,

you could create some really rather lovely open-plan living.

It's so much of a better use of space.

I just think it would really work well with this property.

So, wouldn't it be lovely to come straight out from your open-plan

kitchen/diner into this garden? Check this baby out!

I reckon it's about 75 foot.

This really is a fantastic family space.

But I'm going to go back round here and say,

I think what would be the optimum thing would be to extend out.

You only need to look that way and look that way.

And you can see the neighbours have done exactly that.

The precedent has been set, so a single-storey extension

out this way to create extra space is exactly

what this house needs and will add a certain amount of value, too.

There is plenty of opportunity to add value upstairs.

While the three bedrooms are all a decent size

with some 1930s character,

there is the potential to go into the loft space,

as many in the area have done.

You might need to create some more landing space for proper stairs and

also address the separate bathroom and toilet dilemma.

Both feel quite small at present.

Time to get the thoughts of a local estate agent.

What would she do with this property, guided at £335,000?

It's a great 1930s semidetached house.

If it was me, I'd extend the property.

I'd definitely extend downstairs at the back of the house,

creating a large kitchen/diner.

That's a really popular layout for families.

I think creating another bedroom is always a good thing.

It always adds more value to the property.

So creating a fourth bedroom in the loft would be a good idea,

as long as the costs weren't prohibitively expensive.

This house oozes character and potential,

but you could lose your head.

So let's be sensible and look at the numbers.

The guide was £335,000 plus,

and extending out and upwards would not be cheap.

If you did, how much could it be worth?

With an extended kitchen/dining area and a loft bedroom,

I would expect to achieve a sale price in the region of

£525,000.

I'm quite fond of this house.

There's certainly so much you can do here.

You could extend up, you could extend out, you could knock through.

But, you know, you could do just a straightforward refurb on

what's already here, because it all seems to work.

So let's see who wanted to buy this property

and drive it forward when it went up for auction.

Freehold two-floor semidetached house, this one,

does need a bit of TLC.

Do you want to start me around 335 for it?

Let's see where we go.

You do. 335, I'm bid. 337, somebody?

337. 340?

340. 342, 345, 348, 350.

350. 352? 355. 355

in a new place. 358?

358. 360?

No? 360 from you?

Yours, then, at £358,000 at the moment.

360, new place.

362. 364. 366.

368. 370. 372. 374.

376. 378.

377, if you like. Doing so well.

377. 378?

377, then, with you at the moment.

For the first, at 377 for the second,

third and final time at 377...

GAVEL BANGS

Your lot, sir, at 377. Well done. Your bidder number is?

And you got a kiss as well.

I did all the hard work, you've just got to pay for it! 377.

Buyer Gaynor was clearly excited about the £377,000 purchase

she and her husband Philip had made.

Gaynor is an administrator while Philip has been around

the property scene in many forms - as an estate agent,

in land acquisition and he's now a property developer.

But they have never bought at auction before.

Gaynor and Philip, congratulations.

-Thank you.

-Tell me, guys, why did you want to buy this?

Start with you, Philip.

We wanted to buy it for somewhere to live.

We've been, over the years,

we've done a few sort of do-ups which we've tended to sort of do up,

stay for a short time then sell on.

We've had a bit of enough of it, so we thought we'd buy this.

It's still a project.

Lots to do. But we're going to stay here for a couple of years,

-perhaps two or three years.

-The idea is to be over this way because of

the grandchildren. The family's over this way.

So this is why we moved over this way.

And I want to stay settled for a little while,

to have the kids round and just to enjoy it a bit,

as opposed to just doing it up and moving on.

You need a breather, guys, come on!

You're doing up and selling, and doing up and selling.

I mean, this really is a great project.

-And it's a smashing house, isn't it?

-I think it is, yes.

-We think so.

I really like the house. Now, let's talk about what I think is the nicest thing about this house,

those beautiful old stained-glass windows with the leaded light.

-Are you going to keep them?

-We'd like to keep them,

but we've made inquiries as to

whether it is possible to incorporate

the original windows into double glazing,

rather than having them sort of made to look like the old ones.

We're still not sure yet whether we can do that.

-We'll try hard.

-But the windows need replacing, so we'll have to see.

While the windows are still to be confirmed,

they definitely plan to extend.

The idea is to extend down the side of the property and,

at the back of the property, single-storey,

and then upstairs, loft conversion.

I've got an architect working on it as we speak.

Not sure whether we're going to have to extend the first floor slightly

to get the staircase in or whether we can do that within the space we have.

So that's basically it.

So, can I say, guys, you are going for it on every level!

-We are.

-You're doing everything.

-Yes.

-Yes.

-Wow. That's really good.

So you're going to just max it out,

-just get as much space as you possibly can.

-BOTH: Yeah.

So what is the budget?

Well, we're sort of thinking 80,000 - 100,000.

-Something like that.

-So a real healthy amount, which is fantastic.

-Yeah.

-So, how would the downstairs layout be?

-Talk me through it.

-We're going to keep this room on its own.

We thought about knocking through,

but then that would just make it too open.

-I agree.

-So keep this as the grown-ups' room.

And then the dining room, still have a dining room,

but that will open out onto the garden, hopefully,

and then there'll be a kitchen/breakfast room,

coming round to a utility room, downstairs cloakroom and study.

So you're going to have one grown-ups' room and the rest of the house is for the grandchildren?

-Yes, exactly.

-Is how I see it!

It's a big job and the couple hope

to complete the project in nine months.

But who's going to be doing all the work?

I do the donkey work.

I do the clearing up and stripping off the wallpaper.

I'm not normally allowed to do topcoats.

I can do the undercoating, I'm not

really allowed to do the topcoating. (He's very fussy.)

Maybe on this job you might get a promotion!

-Maybe!

-You don't know.

He might promote you.

I'd like to think that she could do a topcoat in this house.

Would you let her do just one?

-I'll give it a try.

-So when we come back, you can say...

I did the topcoat.

-That's a deal.

-Can you do that for me?

-Yes.

Go on, shake on it!

Brilliant. See what I do for you?

And remember, Philip, a handshake on TV makes it official!

I'm so excited to see the outcome. I can't wait to see what it's like when it's finished, and I'm sure

the grandchildren and your own kids are going to love this house.

So congratulations and well done, Philip.

Lovely to meet you. Gaynor?

-Nice to have met you.

-Good luck with the topcoat.

Well, I think Philip and Gaynor are going to have so much fun with this

property and it's clear that they're going to make it look great.

But will Philip gloss over his promise of letting Gaynor

do that final topcoat?

Join me later on in the programme and you can see how they get on.

Today I'm in Croydon, the south-most borough of Greater London.

It's also the second most populated

with an estimated 380,000 people living here.

Croydon town is enjoying a bit of a revival at the moment,

with millions of pounds being spent on a new shopping centre

and other building projects.

I'm a 20-minute walk away from the centre of Croydon.

The property I'm here to see is a ground floor two-bed flat with

a guide price of £170,000 plus, and here it is.

Now, I'm not a massive fan of the pebbledashed look but I do like

the bay windows. What's inside got in store?

Let's find out.

OK.

So, two, from what I can see,

good-sized first rooms which I'm pretty sure are the bedrooms.

Nice, big window. Very bright in that front bedroom.

But I can see quite a severe crack, there.

Nice ceiling rose on there.

A few things to deal with in there, but a nice room, nice and bright.

Second bedroom, again, another nice ceiling rose in the middle.

This is a double bedroom as well.

Excuse me.

OK, one of the skirting boards has rotted away.

Get to the bottom of that sharpish.

Down this very narrow hallway with lots of woodchip on the walls.

You then enter this huge...

..room. It's a lounge, it's a living room.

It could be a living room/dining room.

And then you see that.

Which is not good at all.

That looks like it has been a very severe leak.

The whole of the ceiling has come down.

You can actually see straight up

into the upstairs flooring.

You can see that the carpet has been

taken out as well because the water

must have spread, dampness must have spread all over the place.

But this is a really good-sized room, all the same.

Again, it's reasonably bright for the size of room.

You've got a door going outside.

And we keep going in this really long, large flat.

You've got the family bathroom.

You need to make that nice and modern and fresh in there.

But there's enough space to play with.

And right at the end, you end up in the kitchen.

Now it's a lovely sort of shade of blue and brown.

The units, everything in here, is completely dated.

Get it out. Put a nice, fresh kitchen in here.

I'm surprised.

I didn't expect this flat to be so big.

But, then again, I didn't expect to find a view of the neighbours' flat

upstairs, either. There is an under-the-stairs cupboard,

which usually gets used for maybe hanging coats up there,

or storing suitcases,

but there are other uses for this kind of space under the stairs.

I've seen it being used as a utility room, put your washing machine and your dryer in there.

Or even as a bit of a pantry.

Think about it. Just a bit of food for thought.

And by the way, I thought he'd left the building!

# Baby, baby, baby, baby Baby, baby, baby, baby... #

And, with that, I think I'll leave the building too, and head outside.

# Come back, baby, I wanna play house with you. #

So I'm out the back now.

It's a bit of a bonus if you get that with a ground floor flat,

and it's a really good size as well.

It doesn't look much at the moment, because you can't see how big it is,

but I'm guessing this is at least 30 foot.

Now to get that with a ground floor flat has got to be a massive selling

point. Well, it would be, to me.

What will a selling professional think?

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

two-bed flat in Croydon.

# In a house that has everything

# Everything but love... #

First impressions of the property are the space.

The space is actually fantastic.

The downside is that it does need a lot of work.

There's holes in the ceilings, there's cracks along the chimney,

resin on the ceilings and I think probably a surveyor needs to be booked in to have a look at that.

Once renovated, who might be tempted to buy this property?

This property, once renovated, would definitely appeal to

maybe even another investor looking for a good

rental return, because it's that area where rental really works well,

and possibly first-time buyers, as well.

If this flat was refurbished to a good standard,

what would its value be on the sales and rentals market?

This flat would sell on the open market at approximately £300,000,

and would rent for approximately £1,250 per calendar month.

So, there are a couple of things I don't like about this flat.

One is the crack and the other one is the damp.

But there are a couple of things I really like.

The sheer size of the inside of the flat,

and you get some outside space as well.

Let's find out who else saw the positives when it went under the hammer.

310.

Unfortunately we missed the bidding for this particular lot at auction.

But the successful bidders, paying 226 grand,

were Genghis and his father, Tops.

Tops is a builder and a Genghis is a property manager.

But the flat is their first purchase as a team.

I met them for a chat to find out more. Tops, nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

-Genghis, nice to meet you, too.

-You all right?

-Congratulations, chaps.

Tell me, firstly, how's the father-son relationship in business working?

So far, so good! It's good, for now.

It's good for now.

-Tops, you agree?

-Yes, absolutely.

At the moment, eh?

What roles are we taking? Who's taking charge of what? Tell me.

I'm dealing mainly with the finance, legal side, all the paperwork,

bits and pieces like that.

When we get the keys and we're ready to start,

the keys get handed over to Dad, and off he goes.

Are you the hands-on, get involved...

-Correct.

-Knock things down.

-Correct.

-I can tell by the frame, you see!

It's a bit of a giveaway!

Tell me about this flat, then. What made you want to buy this flat?

In particular, I mean, we know the area fairly well.

We've always had our eye on properties in and around this sort of area.

But the kind of thing that was a deal breaker for us was the space

that it had to offer. Obviously the added benefits of the private

-garden at the back.

-Yes.

-So, yeah, quite a few reasons, really.

It's a surprise when you come through the door, isn't it?

You come through the door and you think, "OK, fair enough,

"it's a ground floor flat," but it stretches back quite a long way.

-Quite a bit.

-That's the first thing I said. When I walked in, I thought, wow, this is spacious.

And it's a dump. Basically, I can get in there,

and just gut the whole lot out so when you start from

scratch, it's easier rather than, like, you know, thinking,

"Let's do this bit, this bit is OK, let's leave this bit."

-So you start from scratch. And it's all your work.

-Correct.

-And then you know it's done properly.

-That's it.

As soon as I walked in here, I could smell damp.

When we actually viewed the property

there was an active leak from the first-floor flat down into our flat.

As a result of that, it did kind of

wet the entire carpet in the property.

Obviously, the property is empty. There's no windows or doors open,

so the smell of damp has sunk into the carpet and it's kind of

spreading around, but the leak has now stopped so, hopefully

once we get the carpets changed, and the floorboards removed,

-that should eliminate the smell.

-I see the crack in the front room, as well.

-Yes.

-Severe? Anything to worry about?

-No.

We did have a surveyor in, before, obviously, we went to the auction.

He said there was some evidence of subsidence previously but that's now

settled and there hasn't been any movement for a while.

So, again, it's not severe,

but it's something we're definitely going to attend to.

Internal, gut it all out, have a look at what's behind there,

redo it, plaster the outside, render the outside...

Get rid of that, and make it look a bit prettier.

-Yeah. Exactly.

-So, in here, then, with regards to decor, carpets,

what are we going to go for?

What kind of finish will you go for?

Neutral. I mean, I love neutral.

Obviously I've got the majority of the final say when it comes to the

-interior stuff! But...

-He's got more colour sense than me.

-OK, OK.

-The finishing touch,

"Let's have this colour, let's have this bit like that."

Nothing too jazzy. Just very neutral and nice and modern.

Just try and keep it plain and simple, really.

You've got a little bit of outside space as well, which must've been a bonus.

Yeah, of course. And we actually found, after we bought the property,

that the front garden also belongs to us, as well, so we've got the front and the back.

Which is good, but, again, it's more work.

So you've given me a bit of a list,

there, of work that needs to be done.

Dad's just going to pull things down and start again.

How much is it going to cost?

-What's your budget?

-Well, ideally,

we don't want to go anything above 25,000 for the lot.

So it's a reasonable budget.

It's a fairly healthy budget.

Again, we've kind of given ourself some allowance there for unexpected

things, but again that's, hopefully, obviously, the top end.

I agree with you. That's a healthy budget.

-It's quite a lot of money. Yeah.

-We don't want to cut corners.

We want to do the work completely and we want to do it to a good standard,

so we don't really want to cut any corners.

Hence, we've given ourselves enough to do what we want.

The father and son developers

are hoping this job will take a very sharp eight weeks

but know they might have to allow a little more time

if they uncovered something unexpected.

Have you got a team of builders that you pull in and they do the work for

you, or do you keep an eye on things, or...

I'm sort of more on-site. My brother is involved.

So he's a bit of a general builder, all-rounder.

So I do my bit.

-He does his bit.

-DION LAUGHS

And I will bring in the subbies and then he does his bit.

-It's like a team.

-I like that,

because you've got the destroyer and then you've got the creator.

-That's it, that's it.

-And then you've got the money man.

All within the family.

-Exactly.

-Good shout.

-All within the family.

Once the renovation is complete,

the guys intend on selling this property and using the profits to

take on to another project.

But this is still a part-time venture for both the men.

Well, I'm actually involved in property in terms of property management

and maintenance and stuff, so that's what I do on a full-time basis.

Dad is a builder,

so he's always got projects on the go as well but property development

is definitely something we kind of want to get into,

-on a full-time basis.

-Good for you.

He can't wait to get his hands dirty,

and I can't wait to see the end result.

-Exactly. In the bank account!

-Exactly.

-Listen, good luck.

-Thank you very much.

-All the best.

Tops, good luck, sir.

Thank you. Cheers.

So father and son team Genghis and Tops have got themselves a decent

first project to be getting on with together.

Now, there are a few issues to overcome, but what I do like is they've both

got their own skills. Genghis is going to look after the money,

and Tops is going to knock things down and start again.

But will they get everything done within the timescale of 8-10 weeks?

You can find out later in the programme.

Still to come, this plot in Derby is working its magic on me,

but you might need a helping hand.

Now it's time for me to cast a bit of a spell on you...

And we will find out if there are any cracks

in this father-son partnership.

Dad's answer has always been, "I'm working as fast as I can, please get off my back!"

Back now to the town of Hatfield in Hertfordshire, just 20 minutes from

London by rail. It was here that Lucy saw this marvellous 1930s

three-bed semi that had a guide price of £335,000 plus.

Like many houses of this era, it had pros and cons.

The first con was no central heating and single glazing.

However, it has to be said, very beautiful single glazing,

while the separate bath and toilet were not so desirable.

That layout is typical for the 1930s period house this is, and the same

could be said for the pokey kitchen.

But there was a solution right out the back.

Check this baby out! I reckon it's about 75 foot.

This really is a fantastic family space,

but I'm going to go back round to here and say,

I think what would be the optimum thing would be to extend out.

You only need to look that way and look that way.

And you can see the neighbours have done exactly that.

A precedent has been set so a single-storey extension out this way

to create extra space is exactly what this house needs and will add

a certain amount of value, too.

-Third!

-By all accounts, it was a sound investment, and husband and

wife Philip and Gaynor agreed, by paying £377,000 on auction day.

I did all the hard work...

Although they have renovated properties in the past,

this one had a difference.

The idea is to be over this way because of the grandchildren.

The family's over this way and I want to stay settled for a little

while, to have the kids round and just to enjoy it a bit,

as opposed to just doing it up and moving on.

They had a budget of 82,000,

which included plans for the extension and loft conversion.

And they hoped to complete the work in around nine months.

Well, 19 months later, we're back.

The front living room is so much brighter

and has a sophisticated look,

thanks to Phil and Gaynor's collection of antique pieces.

It's a shame that the original windows have gone,

although they have kept the front door, which is a nod to the past.

Nice job. But, have they managed to extend out back?

Yes, they have. Wow, what a difference.

There's now a stunning kitchen/diner in a new single-storey extension

with bi-folding doors out to the garden.

The formal dining area has been separated from the cooking area,

giving it some escape from

clattering dishes and cooking smells.

They've also squeezed in a small utility room,

a downstairs WC and a small study at the front of the house.

How is it looking upstairs?

The good news is some more of the original glass has been retained.

The old-fashioned bathroom is now super modern, super stylish and,

well, just super.

Like the rest of the house,

upstairs has all been rewired and replastered.

They stuck pretty closely to their plans although the loft conversion

was deemed too expensive, so they haven't bothered.

They hired a local builder

and sought out tradespeople to do the plumbing,

electrics and plastering, but most of the interior was done by Philip,

and Gaynor got stuck in, too.

I did get to do some painting with a roller,

and I did get to do a little bit of gloss work in the bedroom because I

like to do gloss marks, because I'm not very good.

But Phil has done the vast majority of it.

Mainly at the weekends.

But he's very particular.

Every skirting board, every crack, has been done by Phil.

He's worked really, really hard.

You did your fair share.

Don't undersell yourself, Gaynor.

You made that gloss work look easy.

But did the pair face anything more challenging along the way?

The biggest challenge was living here.

I think we were quite good to the builders,

but obviously it's not ideal for

them and they were very good in

leaving it each day, fairly tidy, for us to live in.

I think, also, it does cause a bit more delay

if you're living in the property

and the builders are trying to accommodate you,

keeping the power on and the water supply,

and other sort of facilities.

It does sort of hold things up for them a bit.

And trying to impress my four-year-old granddaughter

was a challenge, because she just could not get her head round

that this could be anywhere nice, ever, and continually told me,

"Well, it's still dirty."

So I was very pleased that we finally finished and she likes it.

Well, who wouldn't?

What I also like is that the couple came in on budget at £100,000 -

less the cost of the loft conversion, of course.

So, what is the secret to their success?

It's a joint effort, really.

We both know what we like and so we...

Phil's more cautious.

I'm slightly more...

Well, I don't know if flamboyant is the right word,

but want to push it a little bit more, so he's one side,

I'm the other and we meet in the middle.

They've definitely found what works for them.

But will the house work for the experts?

We invited along two local estate agents to give us their thoughts on

the couple's £477,000 investment.

The property's finished to a very good quality and a high standard.

It's a very spacious, extended,

semidetached house and it will be

appealing to a lot of potential buyers.

They've done a fantastic job.

The selling points are certainly the kitchen and dining area,

the bi-folding doors leading out into a fantastic garden and they've

really transformed the property.

The layout works very well for family life.

It's been extended on the ground floor so it's got additional living

space, which is what families are looking for and it has a nice flow,

and it's nice and light and airy.

There's an incredibly high demand for properties such as this -

we have many buyers moving up from London, wanting space

and this really falls into that bracket.

Philip and Gaynor have spent a total of £477,000, so,

will the agents' positivity extend to the valuations?

I would value the property somewhere in the region of £575,000.

In my opinion, the current market value would be £575,000.

That's a potential profit of £98,000, not including taxes and

fees. Is that enough to tempt them to sell up?

Ooh, that's great, oh, that's good.

-Smashing, yeah.

-Pleased with that.

-We'd take that.

We're not selling, though.

Well, that's him told.

Will they have another go in the future?

Towards the end of the project you think, I'm not doing this again,

but time goes on and

we quite like doing it, so I think, probably there will come a time in

the not-too-distant future when we'll

-be looking at...

-And having just heard those prices...

-That's encouraging.

-Yes.

Although I can't believe I'm saying it,

I think we probably will be doing another one!

Ask people from the Derbyshire town of Heanor which city is closer,

Derby or Nottingham, and you're likely to get two different answers

depending on which side of the town they're from.

Today I've found one of those lots that might also split opinion.

So, is the auction lot I'm here to see worth haggling over?

Well, quite possibly. £48,000 plus

gets you, potentially, this.

Hmm.

Well, currently on the site is this former workshop.

And, as you can see, it's in a pretty poor state of repair.

So immediately this is looking like a knock it down and start again kind

of job. Well, what I haven't told you yet is the good news is that

this thing has planning permission!

For the creation, he says, avoiding drops of water, of two three-storey,

three-bedroom semidetached houses.

And, actually,

suddenly...it becomes very interesting. We don't care any more what this looks like.

All we're thinking about is

how much profit in building those would you get?

One thing for sure - location, nice views out of the window,

so, yeah, apart from the mess,

it's an interesting start but you do have to have slightly rose-tinted

spectacles, oh, yes, and an umbrella might help, today!

# Raindrops keep falling on my head

# But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turning red... #

Actually, the holes in the roof and the general state hasn't dampened my

enthusiasm for this lot at all.

It's all going to be knocked down and cleared anyway,

so that's suddenly lifted my spirits.

# It won't be long till happiness... #

Now it's time for me to cast a bit of a spell on you,

and use your imagination...

from this to what we're hoping this place could become.

Because, as I've said, it has got planning permission

and all you see here will go, to be replaced by this.

Now, we've obviously got quite an interesting plot here.

Very steeply angled down.

Right by the road. It does need

a bit of careful planning and that's exactly what's been done here.

Believe it or not, we're getting two properties,

three bedrooms and you might think,

"How are they going to manage that in a normal, terraced property?

"Maybe two, possibly three?" But, again,

it's making the most of the topography of the land by actually

doing something quite unusual,

and that's by sticking this, here, this third bedroom on the basement

underneath the lounge and the living room area,

which is this area here, and then the next two bedrooms up on the top

floor. Two bedrooms on the top floor

with a bathroom, then down to the living room area

which I presume will be on this floor and down into the lounge

to create your third bedroom.

A lot of people don't like having bedrooms that you go down to

but it is only one,

so it might end up being used as a study or something like that.

Basically, I don't see how else you could make the most of

this fairly interesting and quite challenging plot.

# I-I-I I have some problems

# If you had the answers

# We could solve 'em, yeah... #

There are definitely challenges here.

The asbestos roof, for one, will need specialists in to remove it.

The incline of the plot will make it difficult to work on.

But, being previously a workshop, there are likely to be services,

gas, water, electricity etc.

Its proximity to the road does allow easy access in and out of the site

so, for me, there are more positives than negatives.

But what does a local property expert think?

Are the two three-bedroomed houses

the right size and design for the area?

This site is quite an interesting one with the levels,

the different levels.

And there are a few properties further down the road

that are split levels with three storeys.

So it isn't unusual for this particular road.

And, yeah,

I think although there is quite a lot of work to do on the site itself

to get it into some sort of shape for the two properties,

I think it will be a great place.

Getting the plot into shape will cost money -

demolition costs and clearing the site

and then there are the build costs.

But the guide price of £48,000 plus does make it all seem tempting.

What kind of value could the two three-bedroomed houses have?

I'd say that, once they're complete,

the houses would sell for somewhere between £125,000 - £130,000.

And the rental would be circa £525 per calendar month.

So with a possible 260 grand in sales versus the costs...

would you take a punt?

Well, it may not look like much at the moment but this has got huge

potential, primarily because it's got that planning permission already

in place, and, for a fairly low guide price,

I think whoever bought this is onto a bit of winner.

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

Lot 15 is a parcel of building land which has got planning permission

for a pair of three-storey semidetached houses,

each offering three-bedroomed accommodation.

I'll take 42, to put it into the bidding.

42, thank you, sir.

At £42,000 is the opening bid.

42,000, 43 somewhere else?

43 in front of me.

At 43,000. 44, on the right.

At 44, 45.

45,000. 46 is bid.

At 46,000, 47?

47. At 47,000, 48?

47,500. 47,500, 48. 48,500. 49.

At 49,000. And a half.

£50,000.

At 50, and a half again?

Shakes his head. £50,000.

Right in front of me. At 50,000, it's going to go.

50,000 once...

-Twice, third chance.

-GAVEL BANGS

Sold at the back for 50,000, 448, thank you.

Sold, for £50,000, the old workshop and land were bought by Ashley.

He lives just four miles away,

but this was to be his first property development project.

Talk about jumping in at the deep end!

I met him back at the building to find out his plans.

-Ashley, good to meet you.

-Nice to meet you, too. Likewise.

-How are you?

-Very well, thank you.

Are you cold?

It has been a little this morning but it's been with us,

-the elements are with us now.

-You could do with some windows in this place, really, couldn't you?

-Um, yes.

-Tell me why you bought it.

-Um, basically, Martin,

-I've had a sandwich business for the past 20 years.

-Sandwich business?

Yes, sandwich factory where we supplied wholesale sandwiches

-out to universities, schools, vending machines, shops.

-Oh, wow!

And I just decided it was time for a career change.

So, this...

I've always wondered...

We'll talk about this in a minute, I'm more interested

-in the sandwiches for a second.

-Sure.

-I've always wondered,

-do you have like production lines and bread and people spreading butter?

-It is handmade,

but it is all production line.

You've got the actual conveyor,

you've got machines that deposit mayonnaise,

-fillings.

-Squelch!

You've got the packing machinery at the end.

-It's quite complex.

-Wow, and what was your most popular sandwich?

Believe it or not, cheese and onion.

-Really?

-Simple cheese and onion, yeah.

You can't get away, yeah.

-Second best?

-Ham salad.

-Right.

There you go. Anyway, why move out of sandwiches into property?

OK, just wanted to take life a little bit easier,

to be honest with you.

Seven days a week, running your own business.

Come to that age, early 40s now, so I'm just looking at something,

taking life a little bit easier.

Yeah, I was going to say the "easy" route into property was probably

buying a little lick of paint kind of touch-up, two-down terrace.

Not this sort of... Yeah, bit of a larger project.

But I've got friends who do ground works and demolition.

So, I've brought them up, they've had a look at the plot.

-It doesn't really faze them, really.

-Right.

So, I'm looking to bring those guys in and then maybe bring the builders

in from there. I'm not sure yet at this stage, but we shall see.

Right. So, are you going to be managing the project rather than...?

I want to learn, I want to use this as a learning experience,

learning curve. First project.

I'm not worried too much financially about making too much money.

-It's the learning process I'm really interested in.

-Right.

So, this isn't about the dough for Ashley, it's about learning

and going back to basics to earn his bread and butter.

Sensibly, he's sticking to the approved plans

for the two three-bed houses. He's not rushing this, either,

with a realistic nine months to one year timescale.

So, have you got a fixed price from the builder for doing it?

No, again, once we have completely gutted it, we'll have a better

understanding of where we are going to be financially.

The sort of quotes I've been quoted,

I'm going to be looking around the 160-170 area.

-For the whole thing?

-For the whole thing.

-OK.

So, it's stacking up OK.

And what about the demolition costs?

Erm, again, that's going to be in that 170.

-Oh, OK.

-I'm calling in a favour, yeah!

Somebody you've made a lot of sandwiches for?

-Yes.

-What price do you think you might get for the finished things?

Again, talking to the agent, doing my research,

going to be looking around about the 125 area for each property.

-So, if you've got two...

-Yeah. Looking about 250.

So, potentially an 80 grand profit?

Potentially. Obviously, there's all the legals and tax to come out.

Of course. But that would be all right for your first one.

-Wouldn't be bad.

-It'll be a nice little start.

And is this is the way you're going to go?

Buying plots of land and developing them, or would you...?

I would look at renovations.

Obviously, I've seen the show many times, and I'll look at

-whatever I think looks a nice little venture.

-Right.

Ashley ran his sandwich business seven days a week,

so in selling that on and moving into property,

he's hoping it will give him more time with his family

and a chance to return to his previous passions.

I've just started to play basketball again.

When I was in my early 20s and teens,

I used to be an avid basketball player.

-Oh, great!

-I went over to the States on a scholarship.

I've just gone into playing in a vets' league,

over 40s, where there's tournaments throughout the UK.

Ireland, just come back from Ireland and played for a tournament a couple

of days. And I've got quite a few planned,

going over to the States for a tournament next year.

-Wow!

-So, this sort of job will give me the flexibility to be able to

-do that as well.

-Listen, congratulations.

-Good luck with it.

-Thank you.

Really looking forward to seeing how it all turns out.

-Nice to have met you.

-Yeah, you too!

-Thank you.

Well, I certainly think that Ashley has bag-uetted himself a bargain

with this place, but I'm not so sure it's going to be that much easier

than running his sandwich business.

Still, he seems to be on a bit of a roll,

so you can find out how he gets on later in the show.

Well, earlier on, we saw how one property turned out,

but what about the other two?

Yes, will they look any different now,

and has all that money been well spent? Let's find out.

Now back to the two-bed ground floor flat in Croydon.

It had some big problems which needed a new owner who had belief

in their own property developing skills.

Nice big window, very bright in that first bedroom.

But I can see quite a severe crack there.

Ah, nice ceiling rose, though, in there.

'There was a nice ceiling rose in bedroom two also,

'but this double bedroom had problems of its own, too.'

One of the skirting boards has rotted away.

Get to the bottom of that, sharpish.

Father and son team Tops and Genghis paid £226,000 for the flat.

That was 56 grand over the guide price.

They plan to do it up for resale and as Tops is a builder

and Genghis is a property manager, they were not fazed by what needed

to be done on their leaky, creaky, smelly flat.

When we actually viewed the property, there was an active leak

-coming from the first-floor flat down into our flat.

-OK.

As a result of that,

it did kind of wet the entire carpet in the property.

Obviously, the property is empty, there's no windows or doors open.

So the smell of damp has kind of sunk into the carpet and is kind of

spreading around. But the leak has now stopped, so hopefully,

once we get the carpets changed and the floorboards redone,

it should eliminate the smell.

So, they were on top of the damp issue,

and they already had a surveyor out to establish that the cracks

were nothing to worry about, so Tops was ready to get stuck in.

First, bedroom one.

Gut it all out, have a look what's behind there, redo it,

-plaster the outside, render the outside.

-Get rid of that,

-and make it look a little bit prettier.

-Yeah, exactly.

Tops and Genghis reckoned around an eight-week timescale.

We're back 15 weeks later,

and the outside has certainly had an overhaul at the front,

and the back.

# Everything is changing, and I've been here for too long... #

Inside the flat, there has been a full refurbishment.

New plumbing, electrics, tiling and flooring throughout,

carried out by Tops and his contractors.

A damp-proof course and special rot treatment for the ceiling joists

sorted out that damp problem.

It was similar treatment for bedroom two, and thankfully,

there's no more woodchip on the walls.

To the front of the flat now, and the large crack in bedroom one

has been sorted, as Tops predicted.

New coving and ceilings meant the ceiling roses I admired had gone!

# I've been here for too long, I've been here for too long... #

The kitchen had definitely been around far too long,

but I'm glad to say it is a goner,

and Genghis' wife has put her stamp on it.

Over to you, Tops.

Completely redone.

Done the whole thing new again.

Erm, we had to create an opening to get to the garden.

New door, window.

New plaster, throughout the ceilings.

Floors, new tiles.

Erm, purple tiles, as you can see.

I was more into the red burgundy, but it had to be purple.

I'm happy with it. I'm happy with it.

Erm, brand-new kitchen.

-And that's it, really.

-He makes it sound so simple,

but it did require some changes to the layout.

Where the bathroom was initially,

there was an entrance into the rear garden from a passageway.

We basically incorporated that area into the bathroom and we removed

the access to the garden from the bathroom into the kitchen, so

you're kind of giving yourself more space throughout the flat in total.

I think it's worked out pretty well, in terms of changing the layout.

As project manager, Genghis was effectively his dad's boss.

How did that work out?

Where I've not actually being involved in the actual labour side

of things, I was very conscious about timing.

So, it was always a repetitive conversation about, you know,

"We're running behind schedule, we need to get a move on."

And Dad's answer has always been, "I'm working as fast as I can,

"please get off my back!"

Er, well, they still appear to be speaking.

So, how long did the work actually take?

It has been around 12 weeks, but saying that,

Dad and his team of builders have had other emergency jobs

they've had to attend to.

So, all in all, in terms of working weeks, it's been about eight weeks,

so we're pretty much bang on schedule, really.

Yeah.

Well, that is a good way of looking at it.

What about that 25 grand budget?

Is that bang on, too?

I think we've ended up spending about £4,000-5,000 over that.

So, it's not a massive, massive increase. We would have liked

to have stayed within the budget but, again,

there's some things that you can't really budget for.

We called in two local estate agents to see if it was 30 grand well spent

on their £226,000 purchase.

With regards to the standard of finish,

everybody loves a new kitchen and a new bathroom.

The floors are great, all the carpets are new,

the walls have been re-plastered.

I think the purple tiles in the kitchen really make it stand out

and are a real statement factor on it.

So, it's definitely a first-time buyer's dream.

I think the layout works well for the property.

You've got a very nice big living room,

you've got two decent-sized bedrooms,

and a very spacious kitchen.

Tops and Genghis bought this to sell on, so how will their £256,000

investment fare on the current Croydon market?

I believe this property could sell for anywhere in the region of

£325,000-£330,000.

This flat should be on the market for £325,000.

Yep, 330 sounds OK.

Yeah, we basically based our figures around that sort of resale value,

so I think that ties in pretty well with what we were trying to achieve.

Mm-hm.

In fact, the chaps have already got the flat on the market,

and should it go for that top valuation of £330,000,

they will stand to make a profit, before taxes and fees, of 74 grand.

Is that good enough for them repeat the process?

Yeah, investing in more properties is something that we're definitely

going to continue doing. We had a lot of fun with it, and obviously,

we have got some personal things.

I've just found out my missus is pregnant, so again,

exciting times to kind of get a few more out of the way while we can,

before things start settling down.

But, yeah, definitely, we'll be looking to continue.

Time to pop back to Heanor in Derbyshire now to find out

what's happened to this derelict workshop and land,

which, surprisingly, seemed to have some real potential!

All you see here will go, to be replaced by this.

Now, we've obviously got quite an interesting plot here,

very steeply angled down.

Right by the road, it does need a bit of careful planning, and that's

exactly what's been done here.

But believe it or not, we're getting two properties, three bedrooms.

And you might think,

"How are they going to manage that in a normal terraced property?

"Maybe two, possibly three?"

But again, it's making the most of the topography of the land

by actually doing something quite unusual, by sticking this here,

this bedroom, the third bedroom actually on the basement.

So, one hurdle surmounted, in that it had planning.

But with asbestos roofing and a sloping plot,

clearing the site and preparing it for the build

wasn't going to be a picnic.

The man who thought this challenge was right for him was Ashley,

who bought it for £50,000 at auction.

Ashley previously owned a sandwich business, but he fancied a new role

as a property developer.

This was to be his first taste at the business.

Why move out of sandwiches into property?

OK, just wanted to take life a little bit easier,

to be honest with you.

Seven days a week, running your own business.

Come to that age, early 40s now, so I'm just looking at something,

taking life a little bit easier.

Yeah, I was going to say the easy route into property is probably

buying a little bit of a lick of paint, kind of touch-up

-two-down terrace.

-Not this sort of... Yeah,

bit of a larger project but I've got friends that do groundworks and

-demolition.

-So, I've brought them up, they've had a look at the plot.

It doesn't really faze them, really.

So, I'm looking to bring those guys in and then maybe bring the builders

in from there. I'm not sure yet at this stage.

So, hats off to Ashley. Taking on such a development isn't for the

faint-hearted. But he had given himself up to a year to complete

the build of the two three-bed semidetached houses.

He was hoping to get the site cleared and the houses up

for a budget of £180,000.

But had he bitten off more than he could chew?

Well, just over that one-year mark, we're back!

# Nothing's changed, nothing's changed,

# Nothing's changed, girl, but the weather

# The weather, the weather, the weather. #

Look, don't shout at the television. It's not MY fault!

Not a lot has changed, other than the further decay and neglect.

Looking around, I'm pretty sure the groundwork hasn't started either.

So, has Ashley had a change of heart?

Me original plan was to invest around about the £180,000 mark.

But when I got builders' quotes in, around about the £200,000 mark,

which would have taken the actual whole spend up to 250.

So, bearing all things in mind, if I was lucky,

I'd have walked away with this project perhaps breaking even,

so I decided to resell it.

# Nothing's changed, nothing's changed

# Nothing's changed, girl, but the weather

# The weather, the weather, the weather. #

Of course, reselling comes with costs, too -

legal and auction fees and taxes.

So, is Ashley's property development career over

before it's even started?

Having taken this 12 months out,

it's given me time to think about things.

And property is still something I want to go ahead with and move into.

It just... This wasn't the right one, initially.

The sort of property I'm looking for is a three to four-bedroom detached

house already, with scope for extending at the rear.

Something like that.

Yes, so Ashley is considering a more manageable three-bed

house refurbishment. But part of the reason for selling

his sandwich business was to have a more stress-free life.

So, perhaps staying away from complicated developments

would be a wise thing to do. But how does he fill his time these days?

I've really been enjoying the last 12 months, to be honest with you.

I've travelled quite extensively,

I've been over to the United States three times, I'm getting back into

playing basketball in over-40s veterans' tournaments,

which I'm really enjoying, I'm making new friends.

So, getting back into that.

But was he right to pass this opportunity on?

What do two local estate agents think?

First, the agent who saw the former workshop last time.

It's unfortunate that the project didn't go ahead,

and it's unfortunate it deteriorated since I was here last.

On visiting the site,

it isn't one that is an easy development and I think this is why

the original drawings were done for three-storey.

I do feel that might get adjusted,

this being because the neighbouring properties are two-storey.

And once you start going into three-storey,

there are more costs involved.

There might be some merit in reassessing what to build here,

but I think this is a site that's crying out to be redeveloped.

But can those current plans pay their way?

Based upon the plans that I've seen and the potential finish of

the properties, I would believe that they would be valued

at somewhere between £130,000-£135,000.

Two three-bedroomed semidetached properties within this location,

we would be looking for them to achieve around the £135,000

each per unit.

So, the sales values have crept up a little over the last year,

now with a total value of 270,000.

But again, the potential total investment of 250,000

is not including costs like marketing and legal fees.

Is Ashley happy he made the right choice?

Definitely, definitely.

Erm, I think it's good news, it's pretty much what I thought.

But, yeah, I'm happy.

Those resale figures are where I still thought the market was.

A project as extensive as this is perhaps more suited to someone who

has skills and resources to do the groundwork and build the properties

themselves. But as a first-timer,

Ashley couldn't be certain he could make it work.

Sometimes, it's just best to cut and run.

It's definitely not put me off.

If anything, it's just whetted my appetite,

but I've learnt a lesson from this one.

Just do as much research and talk to estate agents.

Just make sure that any money you spend on a potential project

you are going to get back, and then some as well.

Well, that's it for today's show, but we'll have plenty more stories

from the auction rooms for you next time.

Yes, please join us again here on Homes Under The Hammer.

-See you.

-Bye for now.

-Bye-bye.