Episode 76 Homes Under the Hammer

Hello. Welcome to the show. Anyone who's ever bought property

knows there's lots of red tape and fees to deal with.

Yes, but one way to avoid the majority of the hassles is to

head down to your local property auction.

Yes, in under a month, that house should be yours,

so you can get to work that bit quicker

when you get your property under the hammer.

There are countless stories behind properties bought at auction.

It never ceases to amaze me about some of the plans I hear about.

Let's find out what stories are in store on today's show.

First up, in Stoke-on-Trent, first impressions are not the greatest.

What do you get for your money?

You get an almighty smell.

And in Liverpool, for once in my life,

I'm almost at a loss for words.

Wow!

Whilst in Ward End, Birmingham,

I think it's pretty clear what needs doing.

Make better use of this space. That's very, very strange to me.

All of 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.

£50,000.

Today we're in Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire.

The city has many famous sons from all walks of life.

From entertainers such as Robbie Williams,

or from the world of sport like Sir Stanley Matthews.

Another person from Stoke

who can lay claim to being both an entertainer

and an athlete is Peter Thornley,

the man behind the mask of the famous British wrestler, Kendo Nagasaki.

He had many battles with the legends of wrestling.

His most famous was in 1975,

when Big Daddy removed his mask during a match

watched by more than 12 million people on TV.

Time for us to grapple with today's property

to see if we can unmask a bargain.

This is the property I'm here to see.

It's a traditional three-bedroom terraced house with a guide price of

£46,000 plus, so what do you get for your money?

Let's find out.

What do you get for your money?

You get an almighty smell.

I'd imagine there have been animals of some sort in here.

Now, this is what I would call an awful lot of electrical gubbins.

Good word. Probably one fuse box would suffice.

You've got an electrical heater down here which is old.

Claw marks.

Very odd. Lots more claw marks.

This place is in decay, at least cosmetically.

Everything must go.

Look at this wallpaper.

Do you ever get the feeling you're somewhere that's stuck in a time warp?

I mean, the carpet, the wallpaper, the slidey doors?

Time just refuses to move on.

# And the hands on the clock going round and round and round

# The time don't seem to be moving at all... #

It's certainly time for a change in this house,

which needs wound forward into the 21st century.

It needs a modern central heating system

and this bathroom could do with a full upgrade.

Although, once you strip it out,

there should be plenty of space to play with.

I think it's time to CLOCK the rest of the house.

Upstairs at the back of the house, an OK-sized bedroom.

You'd definitely get a single bed in there, wardrobe.

Double might be pushing it.

The second bedroom, it's a bit bigger, that's good.

Woodchip on the walls, you want to get that off.

And then through to, OK, this is the best sized bedroom.

Lots of light coming in.

I quite like the fireplace.

A bit of character. I'd like to see that kept.

Not a great deal of character in this place, but there is that.

And how's this? How did they get up there?

More scratch marks.

I mean, what was it? A werewolf?

# I'm on the hunt, I'm after you

# Mouth is alive with juices like wine

# And I'm hungry like the wolf. #

Well, that's one way to strip wallpaper.

Now we're on the hunt for the opinion of a local estate agent

to see if this property is worth getting your teeth into.

We asked an agent from the auctioneers selling the property for her thoughts.

The property needs complete renovation.

New kitchen, new bathroom, new flooring and carpets.

In my opinion, to get the property to a good standard,

I would say you would need to spend between 15 to £20,000.

That top figure plus the guide means you'd be investing

around £66,000 in this. Would there be enough profit for a quick sale?

As a three-bedroom property,

sales valuation would be between 85 to £90,000.

And if this was to be put on the rental market,

what kind of return could a long-term investor expect per month?

The rent we could achieve would be £525 per calendar month.

This is a great-sized house on a lovely quiet street

but there's an awful lot of work that needs done.

In fact, I don't think there's anything inside that is salvageable.

Let's hope that when it went to auction, there wasn't a full moon.

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

In fact, let's do that now. Ow, ow, ow-oooh!

# Hungry like the wolf. #

A large three-bedroom mid-terrace house.

Two reception rooms, needs modernising.

What's this, 40 on this?

40, going to say?

40 bid. Bidding at £40,000.

At 40,000. I'm looking for 42 now.

42.

44, 46,

47 in the middle. 48.

49. 50?

Half, you're saying. 49 and a half.

50 in the middle? Yeah, 50? 50.

Another half?

No. At £50,000 right in the middle.

At £50,000.

If not, £50,000 once then, £50,000 twice.

Third and final time, £50,000.

Yours, sir.

The successful bid of £50,000 was made by Shahzada.

He has been in property development from a young age

and has actually been on the show before, back in 2012...

..when Shahzada tackled a mid-terrace in Hanley, also in Stoke.

This time, Shahzada, who's also known as Shaz, has come along with Mukhtar,

so I was keen to find out more.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you very much.

So, is this a father and son team?

Yes. That's my young man.

-That's your young man?

-That's it.

Are you working on this together?

Well, hopefully he is going to be doing all the job!

Just moral support. Mum and Dad doing moral support.

-Moral support?

-Yeah.

We've got a team of builders, all different labour workers.

Electricians, plumbing, everything's part of different teams.

Sounds like you know what you're doing.

So, Mukhtar, you have worked in property for your career, too?

Yes, I started in 1963, 1964 from Rochdale,

when I came to this country.

Then on and off.

You saw from your dad, were you inspired?

Very much. He is my role model,

my inspiration and where many people have to go outside of the house for

advice, I've got a guru at home.

-It's nice.

-Just now it looks like you're scared he's going to do a runner.

-Yes!

-"Don't go, Dad, please help me!"

I need him for this one. I've got a lot on my hands with this one.

A bit of work to do, so talk me through this house.

One of the main costs are going to be,

I'm going to build a room in the loft so I'll be taking stairs

from one of the rooms upstairs and making it into a four-bed property,

which is going to make more rental from the property.

The only thing about creating another bedroom

is that's four lots of people in bedrooms

coming down here through the kitchen to get to the

bathroom. Have you had any thoughts about getting a bathroom upstairs?

That's something I'm going to be looking at, yeah.

We're going to try to get it upstairs.

Just giving it a nice, spanking new bathroom downstairs?

We'll have a walk-in shower downstairs and there will also be a bathroom

and hopefully it will look the part.

I noticed some interesting sort of clawing,

scraping marks at the very tops of the rooms.

I don't know if there was a werewolf here.

They had actually a few cats that we know,

which the neighbours have also said

that they had some cats in this property.

You can see the marks everywhere from.

The cats were literally climbing up the walls.

MUSIC: Puss 'N Boots by Adam Ant

I can only offer my humble apologies to any werewolves

FELINE offended by my HOWLER.

I was just clearly crying wolf, so scratch that theory!

Shaz runs an online wholesale business so is a very busy man.

Will he be getting a team in to deal with this catalogue of jobs?

Do you do any of the hard graft in the places you do up yourself?

Yeah, sometimes I will get in and do the dirty work as well.

Otherwise I try not to because I've got other things to run as well.

So what's your timescale for turning this place around?

We're looking at between two to three weeks.

Two to three weeks?

OK, that's quick. Is that how you roll normally?

Yes. The property is purchased now,

I need to start getting the money back.

So the only way is to get it let out as soon as possible.

There really will have to be a fair amount of money going out the door

before he can get some coming back in though.

Shaz ideally wants to spend ten grand, which is quite tight,

considering the work he wants to do here,

but he's got a lot of experience

behind him and has learned a lot from his dad, Mukhtar.

He gave me two options.

Either I work hard now and then relax later,

or relax now like everybody else does at my age and the age before,

and then I have to work hard for the rest of my life.

I thought, I'll pick the option of working hard now so hopefully by

another three years, by the age of 30,

I don't need to work as much as I'm working now

and I can just take it easy.

It sounds like the work ethic has really been instilled into you.

What great advice!

Shaz has clearly been inspired to work hard by his dad and his mum,

Tasnim, who also plays a part.

I get the feeling she plays a big part, too?

She is the interior designer and I would say the architect

-and one of the unsung heroes.

-Nice.

You must be very proud of your son?

Yes, yes, yes.

More than proud.

Brilliant to meet you both and I can't wait to see what

-you do.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

-Nice to see you.

Thank you.

Shahzada clearly isn't lacking in confidence.

And, also, what's clear is his father's been a huge inspiration,

which is lovely to see.

He's no newcomer to this game.

But ten grand in three weeks, really?

You can find out if happens later in the show.

To the fifth largest city in the country now...

Liverpool. A key trade and migration port

from the 18th to the early 20th century,

today Liverpool is perhaps most famous for two of the Premiership's

biggest football clubs, Liverpool and Everton.

It's also of course home to these four chaps.

Mm, who were they?

# I'm going to stand the test of time

# Like Beatles and Stones... #

So, what does 30 to £35,000 buy you these days?

Well, you know, when it comes to property, not very much.

And yet here I am, just six miles outside Liverpool city centre.

And this property is up for auction.

It had that guide price.

I'll repeat it - 30 to £35,000.

It's got two bedrooms, it's a mid-terrace.

Yes, it looks a bit like Fred Flintstone

would be delighted to live here.

But how bad can it be, really?

Hopefully, there's not much to yabba-dabba-doo inside.

Wow!

Metal treads on the stairs.

That's a bit weird.

Wow! Ah, interesting design.

It reminds me of like, er, something

you'd see in some sort of fairground,

like the house of fun, or something.

Wow, where can I look where I'm not distracted?

The floor, that's it.

This is a really good room.

It's got a very nice floor.

No, it hasn't got a very nice floor. I can't even look at the floor,

for goodness' sake. There's a problem with the floor over there.

OK. So, it's a nice-sized room with a bay window

and a thing under the stairs,

and lots of stuff on their ceiling.

HE MOUTHS

Into the kitchen.

Wow! Probably going for seaside arcade kind of feel.

OK. So, we're ripping it all out.

Downstairs loo, though, which probably means there isn't one upstairs,

which isn't ideal,

so I'll be probably exploring upstairs

and seeing if we can move that.

Again, to imagine this just stripped out back to plain,

plastered walls, just take yourself there for a minute.

# We can't tell our left from right

# But we know we love extremes

# We want to but we can't look away

# What were you thinking of

# When you dreamt that up?

# What were you thinking of

# When you dreamt that up? #

Let's head up the metal tread stairs, shall we?

It just...

You come upstairs not knowing what you're going to find,

which is kind of interesting.

But, surprisingly, a relatively calm, large,

front bedroom, which is good.

And then into this room here,

where we have an obligatory archway.

Well, of course, you would, wouldn't you?

I'm just trying to work out how this sort of fits together because,

because, because, this seems like a really big bedroom,

and I'm wondering if...

HOLLOW THUDS

Oh, oh, oh!

Hollow, hollow, hollow.

Solid, solid, solid. My guess is there was a door there previously and

that was across there as a wall.

This would have been a bedroom, that would have been a bedroom,

that would have been three bedrooms.

To me, that's the logical way to have this house.

HE LAUGHS

Just when you thought you'd seen it all,

there's French doors out on to a flat roof.

You've got to say, this property's one in a million.

There's some interesting ideas here for sure but, more worryingly,

some dangerous ones.

Those French windows out on to a flat roof are without a guard rail

of any kind but is that flat roof even able to take anyone's weight?

I won't be risking it.

# There's danger at my door

# And I don't need no more

# Of her danger at my door. #

Other than the funfair of design, and not so fun design,

there's a huge potential here as I think you might be able to turn this

from a two-bed to a three-bed quite easily.

But what does a local estate agent think of that idea,

in this property guided at 30 to £35,000?

Obviously, the property does need an awful lot of work doing to it

but it can be achievable within a good budget, you know,

and I'd say between 10 and 15,000

could easily cover any modifications

that you wanted to do,

especially if the upstairs layout

could be reverted back into a three-bedroom property,

which is only going to enhance the property's value.

Yes, it does seem like a no-brainer,

but what would the rental values be first for a two-bed?

Property in this location

should fetch between £425 and £450 per calendar month.

A three-bedroom property in this location should fetch between £450

and £525 per calendar month.

And sales?

OK, a two-bedroom property in this location should fetch in the region

of £65,000.

And a three-bedroom property should fetch in the region

of 70 to £75,000.

Well, you've got to absolutely love the design process

and thought process that went into creating this house, haven't you?

Although it does teeter on the edge of being a little bit

too personalised for most people's liking.

And those French doors out on to that flat roof, got to go.

The whole thing really, let's be honest, has got to be gutted.

Still, it's a good price.

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

Where would you like to start?

Can I say 30?

May I say 30,000? Thank you, sir.

Straight in at 30. 32? 32. 34. 36. 34 then.

36 anywhere else? Thank you.

38, 40. 42.

44, sir?

Against a couple of you now. 46, new bidder.

48. Thank you.

48, madam.

No. The bid's currently stood right at the back of the room, £47,000.

It is against all of you guys sitting down.

Anyone want to make it 47 and a half?

No, everyone's saying no. You're not.

You're back in. 48, Sir?

Oh, £47,500.

He's now saying no,

so it's back to you at 47,500 for the very first time.

Second time at £47,500.

I'm looking to you to come in with another 500.

Anybody else at 48?

You're bidding now, at 48, with the catalogue in the air.

48 and a half? Any of my other bidders want to make it 48 and a half?

Let me know right now. If not, for the first time at 48.

Second time at 48,000.

Last chance for any of you to come back in?

Third and final time at £48,000.

It's gone. Well done. 48,000.

So, for £48,000, Gary bought himself a characterful property.

He knows a bit about refurbishment as he works in property maintenance

and runs a company carrying out renovations for clients.

But this one he's bought for himself

and he's certainly got his hands full.

# Welcome to the house of fun

# Now I've come of age

# Welcome to the house of fun... #

-Gary...

-Hi.

-Good to meet you.

-And you, too.

Welcome to the fun house.

Yes, definitely the fun house.

Have you ever seen anything like it?

It certainly a few different shades of colours, isn't it?

Yeah, it is a bit like a fairground attraction or something.

Yeah. Tell me why you wanted to buy it?

Um, well, I didn't see it before I bought it.

-Oh, no.

-The fatal "didn't look at it before I bought it."

Did try to get in but unfortunately

they couldn't get the keys to me to get in and have a look at it.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall when you walked

through the door the first time.

Yeah, it was definitely interesting.

But, also, I sort of expected it.

I bought it thinking it wanted everything doing to it, so,

just worked from there with it.

I can't imagine what Gary thought.

He actually lives near Brighton but was attracted by the property prices

in Liverpool, as he looks to expand his own portfolio.

Being a five-hour drive away on a good day, he's planning wisely, I think,

to enlist local tradespeople and a property management company.

The plan is to totally gut it.

Strip it out, and new kitchen, new bathroom.

Complete redecoration, rewire, replumb.

Upstairs, what are you going to do about the French doors out on to the

slightly dodgy-looking flat roof?

Well, the French doors are definitely going.

Bricking up the bottom and putting in a new uPVC window in there.

And that room will also become back a room as well because it was actually

bought as a two-bedroom in the auction but all these properties are

actually three bedrooms.

So, we'll just open up the doorway at the top of the stairway again,

brick up where the archway is,

and turn it back into a three-bedroom property.

It sort of works as that, doesn't it? And then the bathroom?

Ideally I'd like to move it upstairs

but I've still got to get my head round where I can actually put that

up there at the moment but, if not, it will stay downstairs.

Tell me what you're going to do downstairs then?

It's going to have a new kitchen fitted in there.

All the lovely panelling's going to come off and it's all going to be

taken back to neutral colours with laminate flooring downstairs and

-carpets upstairs.

-OK.

-What's the budget?

-Um, the budget is going to be between 12 and 15 now.

Um, and, in terms of the timescale?

Hopefully going to do it in 12 weeks.

OK. You've got friends who are in the same world?

Are they looking further afield from the south and south-east?

I've got one friend down on the south coast,

who's very interested in what I'm doing up here to follow as well.

I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't follow me.

More people trekking up the M6 and the M5.

Hopefully, they'll get a coachload in the end.

Yes. Yes.

Property investors' coaches.

You never know.

Exactly. But, you, personally, more properties in this area?

Yeah, if this one's a success, I don't see any reason why

I won't be looking for more properties up here.

Congratulations. Good luck with it.

-Thank you very much.

-I look forward to seeing how you get on.

Well, I've just discovered that Gary only saw this house

20 minutes before I interviewed him there.

Can you imagine what he thought when he walked through the door?

But he doesn't actually, in those circumstances, seem that fazed.

As he says, he's going to gut it and start again.

You can find out how he transforms this place later in the show.

Still to come, in Ward End, Birmingham, I'm turning on the charm.

I started buying properties when I was 19.

Three years ago?

I wish!

Whilst in Liverpool, Gary needed more than charm on his side.

I wondered if Gary really realised the enormity of what he'd taken on.

Back to Stoke-on-Trent now, where I visited this mid-terraced house,

guided at 46 grand plus, that had me asking...

# Who's afraid of the big bad wolf

# The big bad wolf, the big bad wolf

# Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?

# Tra la la la la. #

Claw marks.

Very odd. Aside from the claw marks,

there was nothing to be frightened of in this house.

It just needed a little love and care.

Shaz and his dad Mukhtar came to the rescue to save this house

and bought the property for £50,000.

Shaz has experience in developing to back him up,

and something else important.

He is my role model, my inspiration.

And, you know, where many people have to go outside their house for

advice, I've got a guru at home.

With his dad's support, Shaz had big plans.

I'm going to build a room in the loft.

Shaz gave himself a rapid three to four weeks to turn this place around.

So, it's no surprise we're back later than that.

Six months and 18 days later, to be precise.

But, remember, time did stand still in this place.

Has he managed to move this home from past to present?

# Just move on up

# Move on up

# Towards your destination

# Move on up... #

They've moved this home back to the 21st century.

I love that they've built a stud wall to create a separate hallway

and you don't walk into the front sitting room off the street.

Great move.

# Just move on up... #

And, as for the second reception room, it's goodbye busy wallpaper,

hello modern, airy ambience.

The old kitchen has been replaced with light-coloured units

which help to make it feel bigger.

And that downstairs bathroom looks completely transformed.

Is there anything we should know, Shaz, before going upstairs?

The staircase, to be honest, didn't look in the best of states.

As you can probably see, I'm not a fan of stairs,

but my father is always at the gym, always on the stair machine.

But, yeah, these now are OK.

Before they were very, very steep,

so we've had to sort the stairs out completely.

Now that we're upstairs, I feel that I'm forgetting something.

# You may find, from time to time, complication... #

Ah, that little complication - the loft conversion.

-Did they do it?

-So, we've done a full loft conversion.

Planning permission is not needed, which we knew before anyway.

It comes under permitted development.

The window that we've had to put in is a dormer window,

which acts as a fire escape also, and the fire alarms,

which adhere to the fire regulations,

as they are mains connected.

240 Volts.

And also battery backed up.

And, if we come downstairs, into the middle floor,

we've replaced four joists.

The joists were actually in a bit of a mess.

So, we probably needed to replace three,

but we ended up doing four joists that we've replaced.

Full new flooring.

The floor has also been RSJ-braced as well.

Obviously, it's been..

All the walls and everything have been redone anyway.

We've also seen the new toilet and shower that we have done

in the middle floor, which I think...

..really does add value to the property.

So, we've got... It's basically a four-bedroom property now.

The garden has gone through a transformation, too.

Decking has replaced the solid concrete

and they've even created an outside utility area with electrics.

Speaking of which, the property has undergone a full rewire.

A lot of work has gone into finishing this house.

So, who's responsible for it all?

In terms of the project management, and that's mainly my mother,

who has done that, Tasnim.

And, in terms of the building works,

the main person involved in that is my uncle Dave,

with the help and guidance that I've got from my father and mother,

it's tremendous support.

All credit go to him.

We are only doing the bodily support.

Shaz and his family are clearly a great team.

They initially planned to turn this place round quickly,

but plans evolve,

along with changing timescales for most developers.

So, what does Shaz intend doing with the house now it's finished?

This house, most likely, I was actually thinking to sell but now,

due to the extra work that we have done to this,

we probably will end up letting it out. With the extra money spent,

I think I would probably want to keep this now.

Speaking of money spent, did they stick to that ten grand budget?

It's actually about around 20 to 25,000, I think,

we have probably ended up spending on it.

Taking Shaz's top estimated spend, that's a total of £75,000.

But he does have a smart, four-bed house.

We asked two local estate agents along to take a look.

The best thing that I think that they've done is basically that the

property has got new laminate flooring, spotlighting which is new,

a new kitchen and an extra bathroom

with an extra bedroom with the loft conversion.

It's been thought through very well.

I'm particularly pleased there's now a shower room on the first floor

and very impressed with the loft conversion also.

Shaz wants to put this property on the rental market.

So, what return could he expect?

I would recommend a figure in the region of £600 per calendar month.

As a rental, I would expect this property to achieve

£650 to £700 per calendar month.

That would be excluding any utility bills.

With £700, you're talking over 9%,

which I think is very reasonable

and I think it's a job well done for everyone.

Actually, Shaz, I make that over 11%,

which is a great return indeed.

What if Shaz changed his mind and decided to sell?

What could his £75,000 investment turn into?

I would recommend a figure in the region of £85,000.

I would expect this property to achieve a sale price of £104,950.

I think it's pretty reasonable between the two,

even if we can get something around the 95 mark, maybe,

I think that would be a good sale price.

Taking Shaz's figure of £95,000 would mean a potential profit

of 20 grand, minus taxes and expenses.

So, what's next for Shaz?

My parents are very eagerly looking for my life partner.

She may be out there somewhere,

maybe she's looking at this programme.

So, if she is, please come and find me because I have been searching

-for you for a while.

-Well, good luck, Shaz.

But, remember, just like the work on this house...

# You can't hurry love

# No, you'll just have to wait

# She said trust in a good time

# No matter how long it takes... #

Birmingham is renowned for being the second largest city in the UK.

As you'd expect, at this size,

many people born in the city went on to become famous all over the world.

Ozzy Osbourne and Jeff Lynne of ELO and, of course, the late,

great television star, Tony Hancock, all came from this vibrant city.

I'm in Ward End, about 15 minutes away from the M6.

And I am here to see this mid-terrace house,

which has three bedrooms and a guide price of 74 to £78,000.

And we're not too far away from Birmingham Airport, either.

Now often, on Homes Under The Hammer, when we come and see

a terraced house, the front door's normally here,

and you walk out on to the pavement.

This is a pleasant surprise.

Somewhere to put your bins, just that little bit of outside space

at the front.

Now I'm going to make my way to the front door, so hold that shot.

Hold that shot.

Not there yet. Uh-uh.

I'm there now.

Right then.

Because we are that little bit further away from the pavement,

it's a little bit quieter,

and you've got two doors before you get into the house,

which keeps the heat in as well.

And then you're into this quite tight hallway.

I can see that we have got central heating

and then we're straight into this first reception room.

Very '70s-looking reception room as well.

Down the hallway, into the second reception room, and again,

this isn't a bad size.

We have got an '80s fireplace, '80s decor...

..and you've got stairs behind this door here.

I don't mind this room but I don't like that.

It's a little bit quirky. I don't like that glass.

It's not very safe. I'll tell you what else I don't like.

You just pop round there.

I don't like this bit.

That's a little bit quirky.

And not very safe.

OK. Into the kitchen.

We've got a good-sized kitchen, lots of space to work with.

You've got these tiles, that would definitely have to come down -

they're not safe. Fire hazard.

If you were to take all this out, start from scratch,

put some new flooring in,

put a whole new kitchen in, you would be flying.

And, you know what? I think those windows are relatively new as well.

So, that will save on the budget.

Not bad. I'm pretty happy.

The glass in those internal windows and doors will more than likely not be safety glass.

And the old polystyrene ceiling tiles will definitely need

to be binned, as the older ones weren't fire retardant.

There are decor touches that are a...

# Step back in time... #

Upstairs, the bedrooms,

and the first one of the three is this front bedroom.

And it's not a bad size at all.

They've got central heating.

They've got good windows as well, which I'm really pleased to see.

And then you see this.

They've done... It's neither here nor there.

They haven't got rid of the chimney breast.

All they've done is just cover up this fireplace.

Looks messy. You either keep a fireplace, make a feature of it,

or get rid of the chimney breast, and create some more space.

Not a bad-sized room anyway.

And then you've got...

A very, very, very long hallway to the other rooms.

Via this.

Look at this here!

A bit of a crack here.

And it gets even deeper just here.

Look, I can get my fingers in there.

And it does travel all the way from the top to very close to the bottom.

Get that checked out and make sure

it's not going to cost you too much money. Bedroom number two.

Very similar. They blocked off the fireplace.

Looks messy, looks ugly,

but it's a double bedroom and it can be used better.

Family bathroom just off to the left.

Tiny.

Again, that hasn't been touched in years.

That is very early-'70s finish.

There's a better way of using the space in there.

And then I'm through into the third bedroom and we've got the loo,

as it says on the door.

This is actually in the third bedroom.

It's been put on at a later date, as you can see.

Just taking space from the third bedroom.

It's not working. Incorporate that toilet in with the bathroom..

..make better use of this space.

That's very, very strange to me.

# Ain't it strange

# Ain't it strange

# What some people will do? #

This is just odd and messy.

There surely is a better way of laying out upstairs

and the space at the back of the house is also a bit of a mess.

Outside loo, falling down outhouse and an overgrown garden.

It all needs some attention.

# Ain't it strange?

# Ain't it strange? #

But strange as it may seem,

I think this house still has a lot going for it.

What can a local property expert

tell us about the area and the house?

The street that it's currently on is one of, I suppose,

many typical streets in the area.

The properties are all very, very similar

but they're very much sought-after.

This place did have a 74 to £78,000 guide price attached to it.

So, could there be room to make any money

on either the rental or sales market?

If the property's all done up to a reasonable standard,

I would imagine that they would achieve in the region of

130 to £135,000.

As a three-bedroomed house on the rental market,

then I would assume they will get

something between 600 and £650 per calendar month.

Now, if this house was in a dating ad,

it would read something like this.

Little bit rough round the edges, needs a bit of TLC,

and a little bit quirky.

Would like to meet someone that likes a night in, bit hard working,

but has got a big heart.

Let's see if love was in the air when it went under the hammer.

It is a three bedroom, freehold, mid-terrace property.

We've got to start at 80, haven't we?

Is that 80, sir? Thank you.

At 80,000 I'm bid.

Is it 90?

90, thank you, sir.

At 90. 100?

Ooh. Can we go two, then?

Thank you. 92.

So, there was steady bidding on this Birmingham house.

We rejoin with the lot at £120,000.

120. 121.

121. 122?

500. 121.5. 122, madam? 122.

Is there another five? No.

At 122,000, are we all done?

Hammer's its way down. One, two, three.

You fought very hard and you got there in the end.

-Well done.

-Well over the guide price, and for £122,000,

the Birmingham terraced house was bought by local couple,

Supreet and Mike.

They join me back at the house to tell me their plans

for their latest acquisition.

-Mike, nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

Supreet, nice to meet you, too.

Congratulations to the both of you.

Tell me why you started buying property?

Well, I started buying properties when I was 19.

-Three years ago?

-I wish!

And, um, I renovated the first one myself, pretty much everything.

Then slowly, slowly, bought a few more of the properties,

and then we got married and Supreet started her own business,

-now we manage the properties ourselves.

-OK.

And the reason why we bought this one was...

Supported accommodation.

We run supported accommodation,

-which we started about two years ago.

-OK.

Before that we done asylum, students, normal rent.

And then we've gone into this one, as we do fostering as well.

So, I thought, OK, just come and...

So, who goes into your property then?

-Who do you...?

-Homeless people.

Yeah. Mental health.

Addiction. With alcoholic, or any, 18-plus.

-Really?

-Especially with the fostering,

we have noticed when children turn 18,

and they go out and there's nowhere to support them.

So that's how we've gone.

So, we get care leavers as well.

-OK.

-So, that's what we decided to go into.

And what's your part in this?

-I know that you...?

-I look into referrals,

who's going to come into the property, their day to day,

and their support and everything.

This is an interesting and commendable business model,

so it's a win-win situation.

They have a business and supply a very much-needed facility.

Not only do they find time to foster,

they have two children of their own to look after.

Eight-year-old Prince and four-year-old Bhavjeet.

But, what does Mike think the house needs to be fit for purpose?

Going to knock a few walls out, like, um, in this room,

going to take it and make it to open plan.

Living room, kitchen.

Put a washroom downstairs.

Upstairs as well.

Um, the washroom, it kind of goes into the rooms as well.

So, we're going to take out the walls

and make it a proper washroom in the middle.

And, yeah, re-skim, rewire, replumb, new flooring.

Everything.

If you're wondering about the crack,

that's been professionally checked out and it's not a major issue.

They've given themselves a 20-grand budget and hope to complete the work

into two to two and a half months. But they're not stopping there.

We'll fully furnish the whole room and the house, dining table, beds,

cupboards, everything,

we provide all of that as well and we give them the bare essentials

like cereal, bread and tea for them first coming in.

-Wow!

-So, all of that is there for them.

Because when they initially come in,

most of them will just come in with the clothes on their back.

They won't have anything.

So you're actually giving them somewhere to live

and you're starting them out in life again

with a bit of food, a bit of drink and heat, water...

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-I wish you all the best.

-Thank you.

Absolutely fantastic story.

Good luck.

That is really nice to hear, people choosing to give back,

because there's lots of easier ways to make money out of property.

They've got a good business model, it works for them,

and it works for the people that need their houses.

Fair play to them. I wish them all the best.

You can find out how they get on with this one later in the programme.

Now, when you're renovating property, you need to think about the endgame.

Yes, the standard of work you do should reflect what the property will be used for.

We've seen how the decisions affected property number one,

but what about the other two?

Back to the home of the Fab Four now, Liverpool.

Six miles out of Liverpool city centre was this two-bedroomed mid-terraced

property that had a guide price of 30 to £35,000.

Inside the living area,

there was a decoration style which reminded me of a fairground attraction.

The interesting colour schemes continued into the really tired kitchen,

and it also had a bathroom off the kitchen - not ideal.

And upstairs, strangely, a three-bed house had been made into a two-bed.

But it got even stranger.

# Twist and shout... #

Just when you thought you'd seen it all...

There's French doors out on to a flat roof.

You've got to say, this property's one in a million.

# Don't push me cos I'm close to the edge

# I'm trying not to lose my head... #

Strange and dangerous, with no rail to stop you falling off the edge,

and I, for one, wasn't going to test the roof to see if it was

load-bearing. So the guide price all began to make sense.

The issues didn't deter buyer Gary, though, who paid 48 grand.

Gary, an experienced property renovator from Brighton,

had turned to the Liverpool market to get more for his money.

That was the plan, anyway.

Well, I didn't see it before I bought it.

-Oh, no!

-Yeah, the fatal "didn't look at it before I bought it".

Did try to get in but unfortunately they couldn't get the keys to me to

get in and have a look at it, so...

Oh, to be a fly on the wall when you

walked through the door the first time!

Yeah, it was definitely interesting, but also sort of expected it.

I bought it thinking it wanted everything doing to it so,

just work from there.

Level-headed Gary wanted to do a complete renovation on the property,

which would include converting it back into a three-bed,

as well as possibly moving the bathroom upstairs,

all of which he hoped would be complete and ready

for the rental market in three months.

Well, it's just been over five months,

so will this Liverpool property be a case of Love Me Do,

or has it been a Hard Day's Night

to get it done?

What a difference.

Gone is the questionable decor, replaced with a neutral,

professional finish.

Ideal.

The kitchen has been completely replaced,

and the new units have sleek, clean lines.

And whilst the bathroom remains downstairs,

again it looks much more user-friendly.

While upstairs...

This lovely master bedroom now has an en-suite,

which is a fantastic addition.

And I'm glad to report that this is now a three-bed property again,

with that archway bricked up and plastered over.

And, even better news, those dodgy French doors are long gone,

thank goodness.

At the back, and the garden has been completely paved,

which of course is practical for a rental property.

But, you know me, I do like my gardens, so a bit of a shame.

Gary's team have done a fantastic job here,

and Gary himself has been pretty busy, too.

Since we last saw him, he's got married to partner Melanie.

Lovely news.

Since you were last here, we've done a complete restoration on the place,

we've started from the ground up with a chemical damp course,

replacement windows. It's had a full rewire,

it's had complete new central heating, new kitchen, new bathroom.

We've been then able to create an en-suite upstairs where

there was a cupboard, and a complete redecoration, flooring and blinds.

When we first came, I was absolutely aghast,

and I wondered if Gary really realised the enormity of what he'd taken on.

But, true to form, he's worked very, very hard on it,

and this was the first time I've been up since the work started,

so I was very pleasantly surprised, especially by the en-suite upstairs.

-I love it.

-There was more to do here than Gary initially thought,

including connecting the property to a mains gas supply,

which was an unforeseen expense.

So how is his budget looking?

The original budget was 12 to 15,000,

but with putting the en-suite on,

having to put new windows in, totally transform...

Transformation on the property, the budget hit 24,000,

so it's almost doubled, shall we say.

I suppose in total it's taken about four months,

so we're into just over 16 weeks.

But, then again, we haven't been here full-time.

Gary's invested a total of £72,000 and plans to rent,

but how will his increased budget affect his profit margins?

It's time to hear from two local estate agents.

First impression of the property, it's really fresh,

nice and contemporary, nice and bright.

I think the buyers have made...

They've concentrated on the areas

they need to concentrate on to get it lettable,

so it looks really smart, I'm really impressed.

Converting this property into a three-bed was a very good move.

It's definitely added value to it,

and it will appeal to a wider audience.

So, yeah, good move.

I like the idea that there is the en-suite bathroom upstairs,

that's really practical.

I like the way they've laid out the bathroom downstairs.

I like the open-plan kitchen set-up here.

The whole layout feels good.

It's going to be an easy one to sell or let.

Good response from the agents.

Gary has spent £72,000.

Let's get some valuations

to see what the agents think it could sell for.

Because it's so nicely presented,

I think that the property could fetch £70,000 quite comfortably.

In the current market we would expect to achieve £75,000.

That top valuation would mean a pre-tax profit of just £3,000.

But it was rental that Gary had his eye on.

If we were to put this on the rental market,

we would expect to achieve in the region of £500 per calendar month.

As far as rental is concerned,

it would easily achieve £500 per calendar month.

£500 per calendar month would mean a yield of just over 8%.

A little bit lower than I anticipated, but, you know,

everyone's opinion's different on it,

so just got to try the market and see what we can get for it.

Will he be heading back to the auction room?

I have no problems with buying from auction again.

I've thoroughly enjoyed the process and recommend anyone to do it.

Time to return to Birmingham now, where we went back to the '70s.

No, wait, were we in the '80s?

Either way, this terraced house

with two reception rooms and three bedrooms,

with a guide price of 74 to £78,000,

was a mixture of different decades,

and left me confused about its features.

I don't like this bit.

That's a little bit quirky.

Quirky, but for aesthetics and safety, the glass had to go.

Upstairs, the long hallway revealed a strange little loo

carved out of the third bedroom.

The bedrooms had fireplaces, but they were covered up.

I'd hoped they'd be hidden gems.

But there was no hiding a very deep crack.

I thought this place was crying out for someone to take it on.

# Take on me

# Take on me

# Take me on

# Take on me

# I'll be gone

# In a day or two... #

Paying £122,000, considerably more than the guide price,

were Mike and his wife Supreet.

It was destined to become another part of their business model,

which provides housing for people

with issues like homelessness and mental health.

-And the reason why we bought this one was to do...

-Supported accommodation.

DISCO MUSIC PLAYS

This would be a home for homeless

and vulnerable people in need of support.

So the plans were for the back sitting room and kitchen to be

open-plan, and to create

a downstairs washroom using the outside loo.

All in a timescale of two and a half months,

and for a budget of 20 grand.

It's been six months since we were here, so, first things first,

stop that '70s music.

MUSIC: Uptown Funk

And let's start a 21st-century beat.

Well, this is looking so much smarter.

By getting their building team to take away the chimney breasts,

they have created a spacious feel,

and they've done the same in the upstairs bedroom.

However, after Mike and Supreet took advice,

there's been a change of plan with the open-plan living and dining room.

Fire regulations apply to this kind of accommodation,

and a fire door would need to be installed, so they remain separate.

The back sitting room will be a communal area for the residents,

while the front living space will become a fourth bedroom in time.

They are just awaiting a risk assessment to be carried out.

It is going to be a fourth bedroom because we have one communal area,

so it's going to be four bedrooms.

But sometimes when they come for inspection again,

they sometimes put an objection to say,

either it's going to be a bedroom or not.

It depends, really depends on them when they do the inspection.

As a provider of this kind of supported housing,

they are awaiting the go-ahead from the council on this.

They have to, of course,

adhere to all the other health and safety regulations required for

accommodation intended for multiple occupancy.

This includes fire safety measures like fire doors and alarms,

as well as some additional ones needed for vulnerable residents,

like security cameras in communal areas.

Upstairs, the bedrooms have been re-plastered and painted,

with new laminate flooring throughout,

making a practical and easy-care environment.

And it feels spacious,

with the chimney breast and fireplace having been removed.

And that crack proved to be historical.

The building was re-skimmed to fix this.

Now, what about that upstairs loo?

The upstairs bathroom,

and they had the toilet that was in the actual bedroom, third bedroom,

so what we did was we took that out and extended the bedroom,

and then did a proper bathroom for upstairs.

And then downstairs we had the outhouse,

which we took out and we put a washroom in there.

The shrubs and trees in the back garden have been cut right back,

and the space has been made relatively maintenance-free.

Lots of work has been done to bring this house up to the standard of

supported accommodation,

but did they experience any problems during this project?

There was a delay in the building work because the builders originally

were going to start the work, they didn't turn up,

and so we got the other builders in and agreed the date,

that took a long time,

so the build didn't start until a good two months later.

Mike and Supreet managed this renovation

on top of taking care of their foster children

and their own two kids, Prince and Bhavjeet.

With many balls to juggle at once,

how was the line of communication between both of them?

I didn't put my hands here anywhere, so I just said,

it's good to just pick a phone and go to stores and say, OK,

just give a call to Mike when he was here, "Is this OK?"

Show him on Facetime, "Choosing this one," and he says, "Yeah,

"that's fine," so, yeah, was good.

Modern technology really is a marvel.

But did these fixtures and fittings

take them over their budget of £20,000?

We went slightly over 20, but still under 25.

We got about 23,000, around that mark?

Yeah. My book says 22,600, so, yeah!

I'll take your precise maths, then, Supreet!

All in all, that gives them a total spend of £144,600.

So we've asked two local estate agents along

to look at the property and give us their thoughts.

On first time visiting this property,

it's become quite apparent what the purchasers' intentions are,

I believe. They are potentially looking at a HMO property,

which is a house of multiple occupancy,

which I think, in this particular area,

would be a very wise thing to do.

First impressions are it's been done to a reasonably high standard.

The advantage I think is having a hallway to the property

which allows the front room to be allocated potentially as

another bedroom, which I think the owners are possibly looking at.

And it works very well as a potential four-bedroom property.

So, this property could be of interest

to a buyer looking to own a HMO.

How much could it sell for as a going concern with tenants?

I think we'd be looking in the region of

somewhere around £145,000.

I think on the current sale market,

this property could achieve offers over £135,000.

We think that's a bit low, because the house next door sold for 140,

and that needs a lot of work doing to it,

that was about three months ago.

That top valuation would mean a tiny pre-tax profit of just £400.

Looking at renting each room for around £350 per room per calendar month.

I would possibly look at figures over £1,000 per calendar month

-for the whole property.

-Yeah.

-What we expected.

-Yeah.

That top rental valuation

would mean a potential yield of 11% on the HMO market.

However, this accommodation

will be rented to people in need of a home and support.

So now it's ready to go, how do they feel?

It's something that you enjoy, you've got to enjoy it.

And we do enjoy it.

-What we do, yeah.

-Time flies when you're having fun!

Now, I'm hoping that all you budding property developers are inspired by

the properties on today's show.

Yes, and even if you're just thinking about

doing up your own home, I hope we've given you food for thought.

So join us next time

for more inspiration on Homes Under The Hammer.

-Bye.

-Bye-bye.

-Goodbye.