Clapham To Buy or Not to Buy

Good morning. I'm Ed Hall and I'll be one of your presenters.

I'm Rani Price, your co-presenter on today's To Buy Or Not To Buy.

-So return your seats to the upright position.

-Stow away your tray tables and prepare for take-off

to find three fantastic properties.

-One of which, today's buyers can get the chance to try...

-..before they buy.

We are currently cruising at a rate of one estate agent every ten minutes!

With a constant speed of three viewings per show!

-Why are we talking and shouting in aeroplane analogies?

-One of our buyers is an airline pilot.

-Clever. Never let anything get in the way of a good theme.

-Exactly.

-Some things in life can be black and white.

-Like today's buyers?

-Yes.

-His name is Alistair Black.

-And her name is Liz White. If they get married, will they become Grey?

I doubt it! Anyway, Alistair is a real-life airline pilot

and flies all over the world.

Liz is a musician and works in the marketing department for musicians at the South Bank.

-She's rather adept at the violin.

-But what we need are properties to whet their appetite.

-Is that so we don't STRING them along?

-Enough punnage, Ed, or this duet will be over!

You seem like go-getters,

youthful...but why can't you find a house? Why are you struggling?

-Mainly budget.

-Location.

-Anything else?!

Laziness!

I guess you're very busy. Do you feel you need to farm this job out to us?

-Yes!

-Yes!

-I in no way led you to that conclusion.

So you're having problems with your budget and location. So location...

I want to be quite central into London. I work there. Or an easy commute is important.

And for me, getting to Heathrow and Gatwick is the compromise.

-Do they not give you a helicopter or landing strip?

-Every other day.

-OK.

-50/50. I can see why you want to move.

What zone do you want? London is broken up into transport zones - zones 1 to 6.

-Six is out where Heathrow is.

-We would look for a Zone 2-4 kind of area.

-Have you looked at any areas?

-Clapham is quite good for us both. It's easily commutable.

-Right.

Wandsworth, that kind of area. Any part of the south-west of London!

South-west is a good place for us to start. The property itself...

-How many bedrooms? What are we looking for?

-Two would be nice,

but we're very open to everything.

OK, so two bedrooms. Do you need a garden? Do you want to be modern? Old? You just really don't mind?

We're really open to whether it's modern or old.

Most important is location. A garden would be ideal. We'd eventually like to get a dog.

We've got the area, we've got the style of property. Now you're a musician.

-Violin, yeah?

-Yes.

-Do you go to any of the bigger ones?

-Cello I think he's talking about!

-Do we need storage for these things?

Not really, no. Storage isn't really a problem.

-OK.

-Ally's got a guitar as well.

-And you don't have to bring the...home.

-No, no.

So you've had a little look. What would make you go, "Yes!"?

It would be nice to have somewhere where we could go out, a nice pub, a few bars.

Is there anything else we need to know before we ask the rudest question, about money?

-Is there anything else?

-Probably not.

-I don't think so.

-All right. Do you want to do it?

-I don't mind.

-It's rude.

-How much have you got to spend?

-We're looking between sort of, ideally £185,000-£200,000.

Cos...depending, you know... it's London...

-Could you go any higher?

-We could nudge not much further than 200.

-Say, two...

-Ten. 210 at a push.

-We'd like to say yes, but...

-OK, I'll tell you what we'll do.

The credit crunch is still happening. You can have a haggle zone for things beyond that.

-Maybe around 210...

-But if you find somewhere for £185,000, you'd do work on that property?

-Would you be willing to do that?

-Yeah.

-That may be the situation.

I'd quite like to do that with all this free time I've got(!)

I think we're quite realistic. We know our budget's limiting. We're open to doing some work.

-OK, wish us luck. See you later.

-Good luck.

We are not going to get two bedrooms plus space for a woof woof. It's not going to happen, Ed.

No, we need to do the haggle zone. We need at least 225 or 30.

We need to look up to that and then maybe haggle back.

And if they do some work, we could get it, possibly. It is London.

-So shall we go to Clapham?

-Lovely place. We'd be fools not to.

Clapham is a town in South London and it's famed for having a Common and a Junction.

-World-renowned for them.

-And it has some very famous residents indeed.

-Tell me more.

Ainslie Harriott likes to rattle those pots and pans here.

And when he's not filming New Tricks, Dennis Waterman's here.

-A real home to the stars, then.

-A veritable hotbed, Rani. We'd fit right in.

-Won't we just?

What about Clapham Common? It's just over 200 acres of land

between Clapham, Battersea and Balham, but it stopped being a common in 1878.

How uncommon. Clapham Junction is reputed to be

the busiest train station in Britain with 2,000 trains a day.

A trainspotter's paradise. However, these are interesting facts but I have to point out

that Clapham Junction isn't in Clapham - it's in Battersea.

In 1863, a junction was added to the Battersea line to cope with the trains, but was named after Clapham,

hence the name Clapham Junction.

-All this train talk has got me thinking.

-About what?

-The prices of houses in the rest of the country!

-What?

Don't look so confused. I meant houses in the rest of the country that are near train stations.

If you like your stations close - and your airports - this four-bed terrace in Newton, West Lothian,

would be ideal. The train is 2.9 miles away and the airport 10 miles.

The price?

Not bad, Rani, but this two-bed semi-detached bungalow in Cheadle

is a trifling 1.8 miles to the nearest train station and 2.6 miles to Manchester Airport.

This three-bed semi in Birmingham is right on the doorstep of the train, just 1.2 miles away,

and Birmingham International Airport is 3.2 miles away.

-3.2 miles is an advisable distance to be away from an airport.

-Agreed!

-House prices are on the rise.

-And they're being driven up by the resurgence of London.

In particular, the scrubbed-up suburbs such as Clapham.

One reason is greater availability of credit. And the estate agents know it!

Your average house hunter here has the three Cs.

Cash. Clean credit record. Chunk of equity,

which is technically an E, but it is kind of three Cs - two Cs and an E.

So lenders are happy to lend and agents put the prices up.

And Clapham becomes even more desirable.

Prices are rising, but it could still be a good time for a bargain.

But our idea of a bargain might not be the same as those estate agents.

A two-bed maisonette in the old town is on the market at 400 grand.

-£400,000. And we've only got 200 and a bit. Fingers crossed we can do it.

-I'm sure we will.

-So, Ed, was I right?

-Well, you were kind of right.

I've pushed the haggle zone a bit. Remember, this is London.

£210,000 maximum. It's not a lot. But for London it's nice.

I am in Battersea for the first one. A lovely little building.

-Purpose-built apartment block with lots of history.

-Nice.

-No garden, perfect for them.

-Like it?

-I actually really like that.

-Battersea and Clapham border.

OK, same area for my property. This one is a bit of a project.

This is a fantastic opportunity for a first-time buy.

-I love that building.

-It's similar.

OK, the Wild Card. Everyone loves it. A house split into two.

It has two bonus features.

-Yes, it does!

-I won't tell what they are. Very lovely.

I think they might like this. Clapham/Brixton borders.

-Where shall we start?

-Why not at Property Number One?

-Your choice.

-The beauty.

Ladies and gentlemen, Property 1 - my choice.

This ground-floor flat in Lucas House is screaming out for some first-time buyers to snap it up.

Cabin doors to manual and prepare for viewing.

Ally and Liz, welcome to Property 1.

Look at this oasis in the middle of the Clapham/Battersea zone.

It's Battersea post code. What do you think?

-It's amazing.

-Very nice.

-OK, down there,

that is the beauty. That is the one we've gone for.

Ground floor, two bedrooms, this is the most garden I could get.

It's communal space. And the future dog could cock his leg over any one of these.

Or whatever it would do. You'd have a plastic bag.

What do you think about the area, the whole idea of living here?

Half a mile from the Tube.

I think it's nice. Yeah, it looks nice and bright. And quite a nice location.

-I like it so far.

-Liz?

-It's perfect to have this little green area on your doorstep.

-And the area seems great.

-It's even got cat flaps!

-If you wanted a cat as well...

-Or a little dog.

-This is perfect. Enter that dream house.

-Thank you.

-I've got to say, Ed, fantastic location.

-Brilliant.

-I really like this place.

-You never normally agree.

-I love it.

-So it IS lovely.

-Good call, Ed, on the location. You're very clever.

-Very clever.

-Why are you being so complimentary?

-I just think you've done... I'm just surprised. It's really good.

-I like...

-All right! It's lovely.

Mmm.

OK, nice snug living room in here.

-Yeah. We could just about get the telly in here.

-Yeah.

-That'll be that half of the room.

Then we can live in the other half.

How big is his telly? How big? He's got a TV that is half the size of that room? Ridiculous!

-I like that Liz has described it as snug. Not the normal cosy, but snug.

-Snug.

It still means "small and I like it".

Quite small. Not sure when we have friends over. Depends what the rest is like.

They've got two sofas in, and a table.

-Yeah.

-And then just the telly.

They've never lived together properly. We can spot that.

They don't know what they're talking about! He's an aircraft pilot.

And she's a lovely musician. But when it comes to moving in together, they know nothing!

-It would probably need decorating, a bit of a spruce up.

-Yeah.

Wooden floorboards.

OK, right. What have we got here?

This looks like it might be a good bedroom.

-Bedroom?

-Bedroom number one.

-You'd fit a nice double bed in here, I think.

-Yeah.

-It might need a bit of work.

-Sprucing up. I don't think there's a lot of work needs doing.

When they open their Christmas presents, you'd be hard pushed to know what they thought about it.

-"Do you like that?"

-That's maybe because of what you're showing them.

I think this is perfect, but they're not revealing much.

Fireplace as well.

We could put in a few shelves.

It's not a bad size room. In fact, it's a pretty good size.

-A-ha!

-Kitchen.

-Right. It's not massive.

-No.

-But it's not a bad size.

-I quite like the old school-ness.

-Especially the cooker! Can't get more old school.

So they want the retro-style oven with the grill on top.

-It does look sweet, but no. Really.

-It's good for cheese on toast.

-It IS great!

-Cheese on toast.

-But you've really got to get your timing right with toast.

But my grill's underneath, I close it, forget my cheese on toast. Up there I see it happening.

We'd put a new kitchen in.

We'd get something nice in here. New cooker, new cabinets.

-Probably a little breakfast table.

-Yeah, that would be nice.

-It'd be nice.

-Yeah, but again I don't think it's actually immediate. We could live in it.

-We could start here

-and do it as we go along.

-That's nice - the window will overlook the garden.

-That's the kitchen discussion.

-Totally enthusiastic.

-Is that enthusiasm?

It's hard to say with youth these days.

-OK. A little bathroom!

-Yeah.

It's not bad. You've got a bath.

-A bath's very important.

-Yeah?

Shower.

-Actually, the shower looks pretty good.

-It would do us for a while.

-It just needs some colour in here, maybe.

-Yeah.

-The appliances look OK.

-Yeah. It's in very good condition.

-Nice little window.

-Yeah.

-Good size. Well done. Well done, bathroom.

Very strange thing to say. I'm sure the bathroom would say, "Thank you very much."

-A-ha!

-Second bedroom.

Two bedrooms.

-What do you think?

-I think it could be the master bedroom.

Yeah, it looks bigger to me.

-You did tell them there was a second bedroom?

-Yeah!

-They seem quite excited.

-They are.

-Might be a bit quieter as well.

-Yeah, the view's definitely a little nicer than the other one.

But maybe we could have one of the bedrooms as a dining room where we could all eat.

-Or a study?

-Hmm. Less keen on that idea.

That was an uncomfortable moment. Did you hear that?

Ally just knocked back Liz's suggestion.

If we twisted the bed that way this would be a master bedroom.

-It's a great size.

-Yeah.

-It's a great size.

-Again needs a lick of paint.

-Yeah.

-Some Arsenal framed pictures.

-Yeah.

-Would be nice.

-Good.

-OK.

-Hello!

-Hello.

-How are you?

-Very good.

-So you're wandering round the flat, there's really nothing in it.

An it's probably smaller than you're used to because you've not lived in London together.

-So what do you think?

-Really, really like it.

-Really? OK.

-It's like you said. The living room is quite small,

the kitchen's quite small, but the two other big rooms counterbalance that.

-It's ideal, really, for us.

-I quite liked it. A blank canvas.

You were talking about doing the front bedroom as the living room. Would that be a possibility?

-You didn't like that idea.

-I like the idea, if we've got the space, of two bedrooms.

So your maximum budget for your new property is £210,000 at a real push. Right?

-Yeah.

-Are you competitive? Who wants to go first?

-Very competitive, but Liz can go first.

You're forcing her to... Right, go on.

OK, well, a gut feeling for this is 195.

-£195,000. Right, Ally?

-I was thinking similar,

but probably just a little bit higher, I think. Maybe 199,950?

-Playing it safe!

-You're being cruel there, Ally.

You've won it based around Liz's price guessing,

but you still have won. The actual price, right, you're not that near.

It's £225,000.

Sob!

-Sob, indeed!

-There's no-one in it. And that would imply someone owns it, with no mortgage or rent.

So that's a good position to have. And you've got nothing to sell.

So you could get some money off it.

-Don't cry too much!

-OK.

-Tell them Uncle Edward the Haggling Man told you it would be fine!

OK? Yeah? Do you want to see Property 2 anyway?

-Absolutely.

-Well, let's go to Property 2.

-And...we're here! This is it.

-No, no, mine's there. Can't be.

Ed, Property Number 2.

The very short journey from Ed's choice leads you to my choice.

Again a ground-floor flat, but a far more challenging prospect awaits.

We'll be landing shortly so please prepare yourselves for a viewing.

Right then, Ally and Liz, surprise, surprise!

I loved Ed's location and the reason being, Ed's property is just there,

-Property Number 2 is just here.

-OK!

It is still a two-bedroom flat.

-The layout is slightly different.

-Just...

-What do you think of the location?

-Brilliant, yeah!

-Great for you to get to work. What are your thoughts?

-It was so fast to get here!

It's like deja vu a little bit.

It's a shock, I know, but it is a fantastic little place, so we thought why not show you

two properties? It's slightly different. OK.

I can't sell it any more outside. Would you like to look inside?

-Let's go.

-Go on, then! Love it! What a great location!

They'll like this one so much better. It's so much better.

We normally show them three properties and they're different.

-Mine's there. You're showing it again!

-No, it's very different on the inside, Ed.

And it's a fantastic location.

Well done. I love this location.

-Nice red door.

-Welcome mat.

-It's a bit different.

-Much more of a hallway this time.

-Natural finish.

-Shall we look in here?

-Let's go for it.

We're like the album cover of a progressive folk band.

-Shall I do this?

-I'm wistfully thinking up my next lyric.

-Snug!

-Ah, yeah.

-It's quite cosy.

-So we've got the bathroom, which is nice.

-Toilet...

-It's got a bath. No shower.

-No.

-You need a new bathroom.

-Yes.

-You can do that up, make it lovely.

-It's small. Or we could say it's compact.

-Or beautifully formed.

Either way, you've got to spend minimum...400 quid in there.

-It's cosy, but it's got everything we need.

-Does the job.

And again a lick of paint to brighten it up a bit.

But again it's decent.

Yeah, I agree. Let's see what else we've got.

-Great. Shall we have a look?

-Yeah.

Let's have a look in here.

-A-ha! Kitchen.

-Kitchen.

-Wow.

-Similar size.

Yeah. It's a bit...disjointed, isn't it?

It doesn't have much of the... much working surface or anything.

-We'd have to do a lot of work here.

-Second World War feel to it.

-But actually a good size.

-Yeah, not bad.

We'd have to replace everything and put a nice little kitchen in, but we could live in here.

Yeah. This would need a lot of work.

The only work you've got to do is put a new kitchen in.

So far, you've got to buy a new kitchen and new bathroom. Kitchens and bathrooms sell houses, Rani.

-Really nice view out the window.

-Yeah.

-We'd have to do a lot of work, invest a lot of money.

Yeah, it would need a lick of paint and probably a new kitchen unit put in.

-But it's an OK size for us.

-Oven, fridge.

-Yeah, OK. Shall we see what else they've got for us?

-Yeah, OK.

OK, after you.

Wow!

Yeah.

-This is an interesting room.

-Living room/library.

A good way of describing it - the library room.

-An OK size.

-Fantastic size. It's really big.

-Get the telly in here,

-get some sofas in here comfortably.

-Yeah.

-Table over there?

-Dining table in the corner.

-This is a really good size for socialising in, you know, having people over.

-Yeah.

Yes, thank you, this is a great size living room.

There's space to entertain, to socialise.

To read books in. You could have the entire librarian conference of... It's near Battersea and Clapham.

All the librarians from Battersea and Clapham could fit happily in that room.

-A bit of potential.

-A lot of potential, I'd say.

And nice, open windows that really let the light in.

-Again, could probably do with a clean.

-Yeah.

-He's right.

-When you move into a new property, you'd probably give it a clean.

At least give it a once-over with a brush.

What else have we got? What's in here?

OK, we've got a nice bedroom in here.

-A bedroom.

-Very nice size.

Again, nice size. Could do with a bit of work.

-Yeah.

-Not keen on the colour.

OK, so a lick of paint, definitely.

Are they on a sponsored "lick-of-paint-athon" and a "nice-size-athon" now?

She's done it in the room. Both of them.

It's probably some trigger for I don't know what.

Maybe she gets a pound from her friends every time she says it.

-We've got enough book shelves.

-Yeah. We'd obviously put some storage in.

Good windows. I think there's more work to be done in this place than house number one.

-This room has huge potential.

-Yeah.

-That was the P-word.

-It was and it was a "huge P" as well.

-Yeah, "huge potential".

Bigger or smaller than the other ones? Similar size, isn't it?

Well, it's more square.

That's a very good answer to Ally's question. If you don't know the answer, give a different answer.

"Do you think it's bigger or smaller?" "It's more square."

"Does that help?" "No, that's not an answer." "It is more square though."

Right, probably this way if we can get through.

Ah! Or not.

Yes, it does have dual access, but if you've got a big pile of books next to it,

it just has singular access.

And more books!

-Right.

-Incredible.

-Another library. I think I've discovered why we couldn't get through the door.

OK, so this could be a second bedroom. Um...

-Yeah.

-Single bed.

-I don't know. I think you'd just get a double in.

If you put a double that way, it would be against the wall.

I don't think the bedrooms are quite as big in this place.

It's quite an interesting shape, actually.

-You could have a bed here and have some storage round there.

-Imagine it without as many books.

We need to start collecting books to fill all these bookcases(!)

Rani, I went to the liberty earlier on of conducting a small competition which we could do now.

-I'd love a small competition.

-It's "guess how many books there are in this property".

I went round, gave a rough estimate. How many do you think?

-When I go too high, you usually yell at me.

-Go on. How many?

I'm going to say there is 984.

That's Rani's guess. And you at home, how many would you like to say? Higher or lower?

They're saying higher. They're right to say higher. 1,200 books in there.

I'm just thinking maybe if we wanted to not have this as a second bedroom,

whether we could make this an en-suite kind of bathroom

-and use that for storage or a small practice room for you.

-Yeah, it would be a lot of work.

-Oh, oh, oh! Did you just hear that?

-I did hear that.

-He's just done it.

What he could do is turn it into a Jack and Jill bathroom, so it would almost be an en-suite.

-That's a good idea.

-Very good idea.

-We could put a big corner bath in here, a big, nice bathroom in here.

-Yeah.

That's definitely a possibility. That is a bit small for a practice room.

I don't think I'd be able to move in it, but a cupboard definitely.

-Yeah. Shall we see what they've got to say for themselves?

-Yeah, excellent.

Ally and Liz, we didn't move too far for property number two.

-But it's quite a different property. Would you agree?

-Yeah.

-Definitely, shape-wise.

It's a different shape. Yes, it does need a new bathroom.

-Would you agree?

-Yes.

-And probably a new kitchen and some other work.

However, Ally, you did say you wanted a project, something to do.

-Does this interest you?

-A little bit. Certainly the floors.

-Lovely floors.

-They could be really, really nice.

With the walls, there isn't too much that needs doing, just a clean.

-Or a lick of paint maybe?

-Yeah.

-You said that a lot in there.

-Yeah.

-What did you think of it, Liz?

-I really liked it. I loved the living room space.

-Great space.

Yeah, fantastic space. I could just see it as... We could have friends over.

It could be a good place to socialise.

I liked also how you went from the living room straight into the bedroom.

Yeah, it does need a lot of work, but the key to that place is the living room and the space.

-I think you like my one more, Ally.

-I think I did.

-And Liz, you like this one more?

-A bit.

Maybe when you guess the price, you will come to a different conclusion.

-You have to go first, Ally.

-Put the finger away.

-Sorry.

£210,000 to spend... How much?

-I'm going to say 210,000.

-You'll say this is £210,000?

-Yeah.

I'm going to say 235.

-235?!

-You really did like this place, didn't you?

-I was so off last time, I've gone up, I've gone up!

-Listen, why not be off in a different way?

-Liz, the good news is you're £15,000 out, way over the budget.

-OK.

That means, Ally, you're closer, just £10,000 below.

-This property is on the market at £220,000.

-OK.

-It does need the work which Ally wanted to do.

-Yeah.

-That's why I picked it.

-This is embarrassing.

-He's changed his mind now!

-Shall we go to the wild card?

-Yeah.

-I think so.

-Which one is it?

-None of these.

Well, if properties one and two were Learjets, then the wild card is a Harrier jump jet.

-Why?

-Because it goes up.

-I see. Then it goes down again?

-Yes, it does.

-In between, there are rooms as well.

-Brilliant.

Ally and Lizzie, Lizzie and Ally, many, they say, love the wild card.

It is often the favourite part of the programme.

OK, this is a different style of property. It is not the other flat which is the same as the first flat.

This is a house. What do you think about this style?

It looks amazing, really nice. Nice pillar outside.

-Nice and old. It's good.

-Lovely.

-What do you think, Ally?

-Yeah, it looks nice. Intriguing.

-It certainly is.

-Are you ready to enter the wild card?

-We certainly are.

It is everyone's favourite part of the programme, so don't let them down.

Three, two, one, be that wild card!

You told me there was a special treat about this. What is it?

-It's a garden.

-What? Round here?

Here we go, Ed. This is said garden. Are we impressed?

-This is all of theirs?

-Yes.

-And that bit up there as well?

-Yes, that's the roof terrace.

-Very posh, isn't it?

-Yes.

Wow, that's a bright wall!

-It certainly is.

-That would wake you up in the morning.

-Yeah.

Nice sense of mystery and discovery there from Lizzie. "A-ha!"

Wow, another big room!

All right, yeah. Again, possibly bedroom?

-Mm-hm.

-Possibly living room.

-Possibly a bedroom, possibly a living room.

-Could be a kitchen as well.

-Could be a bathroom.

-Could be.

It's got huge potential, this room.

Ah! We've got a view of the prison from here.

What everyone wants(!)

-The road doesn't seem too busy, which is good.

-And the parking outside.

-Yeah.

OK, let's be honest, we didn't say Brixton Prison is just over there.

-I could see this working as the living room.

-Or the bedroom if we go with next door for the living room.

I think the bigger front room should be the living room, whereas you think that should be the bedroom.

-Room number three.

-Oh!

-Right...

A lot smaller.

And green.

-It is inspiringly green.

-It is, but do you know what she hasn't said?

-What?

-It needs a lick of paint.

-Because it really, in our world, does.

But what Lizzie's doing when she says that is painting everything that colour.

She's not said it there, so that's the colour she likes.

This would be perfect for, like, well, I don't know...

a kind of storage area or practice room.

Maybe you'd get a single bed in here.

A nice little window at the top.

-It is a little window.

-It is.

And into the kitchen...

Ah!

-Wow, it's nice.

-Yeah, it's not a bad size.

Really good fittings. Wouldn't have to do a lot of work.

Washing machine, dishwasher from the looks of it.

I quite like this.

-I quite like the fittings.

-Really good size, actually.

-You could have a table in there.

-Definitely.

In every other property, they've had to change all of the kitchens.

In my one not so much as your one. Here, they like 'em.

-Right, there's probably a bathroom round here somewhere.

-You'd hope.

Here we go. This must be it here.

And here's the bathroom.

-This is a good size.

-Yeah, it's OK.

-Similar size to the others, but it's got a bath, it's got a shower.

-Toilet.

-This'll do us.

-Very nice fittings. We could leave these.

-I really like it. The purple's lovely, the purple floor.

-Looks like there's an attic there as well to climb up into, so some storage space upstairs.

-Possibly.

-You look down the street to see if you could go up and extend. No-one has.

-They have across the road.

But not on this strip and sometimes they're a bit pernickety about that,

but they've got permission to do it within the property.

They won't pay for them to do it, but they're allowed to do it.

-Will it be big enough for them?

-Enough for a bedroom and an en-suite.

-No!

-Looks like we've got an extra door.

-OK. What's through there?

-Oh, wow!

-Wow! Look at this bit out here.

-A little balcony.

-Yeah.

-This is nice.

-It's very sweet, very sweet.

-I like this.

-Yeah.

You could have a table out here and have a few drinks in the summer.

-Yeah, a barbecue out here maybe, a few pot plants.

-Yeah, little bit of a garden.

Could do with a bit of work. Probably get rid of the two gnomes.

-Thank you very much(!)

-Are you talking about us? Get down here!

-All right...

-I was looking for gnomes then, Ed.

-Welcome to your garden.

-Thank you.

-Is this impressive or what?

-It's very impressive. I like it.

-You've got the roof terrace as well, or balcony as you called it.

-Sorry. Very nice.

-You can call it whatever you like.

-If you owned it, you'd want to call it a terrace.

In London, not many folk have a roof terrace and a garden. Not even Elton John.

He'll be watching this livid right now! What did you think?

-Different style of property. How did it go?

-I really liked it.

I mean, there are two really large rooms.

The smaller room is a little bit of a problem.

It's time to find out whether the price might help.

-Lizzie's really excited about "guess the price". She loves guessing.

-I love it.

Your maximum budget, £210,000.

-I tell you what, I'll say 210,000 again.

-210,000, OK.

OK, I'll go 225.

-225...

-LAUGHTER

-I mean, you've kind of lost...

-Go again?

Go higher. Just go a lot higher.

-It doesn't matter because someone's got it right and it's not you.

-No.

It's 210 on the knocker and also, 210, you've got nothing to sell.

You're in a great position for haggling. And it's empty again.

-Empty properties, they want to get rid of them quickly.

-Yeah.

-So, are you happy about the price?

-Very happy.

-Does that make any difference about the transport links?

-No, no...

-Free parking outside?

-You're hard to please.

-Get a bus to Victoria?

-The pub nearby was good.

-All right.

You've seen all three properties. You've got to wander off and make the biggest decision of your lives.

-Use whatever you need to make that decision. Good luck and we'll see you later.

-Thank you.

-Good luck.

And here's a quick recap for you at home.

Will it be a simple short haul to my choice, the two-bed flat in Clapham?

A tiny amount of work, but ready to move into.

And if you like shiny floorboards, it's got 'em.

Ally and Liz will need to haggle back from £225,000.

Or will they make property two their destination of choice?

It needs a bit of love and attention, but I'm sure Ally has the inclination to make this flat

his and Liz's first home together.

Or will the wild card fly on to their radar? It's a two-bed flat, but in a house conversion

-and has the added benefit of a garden.

-And a roof terrace

and a more realistic price tag of 210 grand.

-So which one will they test-drive?

-I don't know. Let's ask 'em.

We are at the test-drive point and for the viewers at home, this could be very tense

-because there are two flats here - Rani's one which is...

-Just over here.

-And my one, which is...ta-da!

-OK, which one have you chosen to test-drive?

-Which one will it be? Will it be mine, will it be Ed's?

-Lizzie?

-Property number one.

-Thank you very much.

-Shame, shame!

How come you've chosen property one when property two was so much better?

-Ally?

-I don't know. We obviously made a mistake! We just preferred the first one.

-Yeah, so learn from that.

-I have learned from that. OK, fair enough.

We've had our mystery surveyor go round. He's given it a once-over and it's not legally binding.

-But he has picked up on a few points.

-OK.

-These are quite useful.

If you look at the roofs on the flats here, they all look fairly nice,

but they don't look like they've been replaced recently.

The block of flats over there has got a new roof on.

Because it is local authority, some people here, if the roof does go on it, they won't have to pay.

The council will cover that. But if you own the flat, you will have to pay for the roof to be mended.

He doesn't know if it needs replacing, but you want to look into that because that can stack up.

Find out if the local authority have any plans to do that.

-A good piece of information.

-It was a very good piece of information.

He had a look inside the property.

He did say the kitchen and bathroom probably could do with a facelift.

He talked about the electrics. He figured they could need testing to check they're up to regulations.

There's like a pipe coming out of the light switches.

They're the wires and all the tubes coming out there, so you would probably need to get them redone.

Best to get them buried in the walls.

All these things could be seen as negative or as good bargaining tools.

-Are you still ready to test-drive it?

-Yeah.

-I think so.

-Three, two, one, get in there!

-Thank you.

First up, aisle or window seat?

We could also have a table here.

'I'm not sure the bookshelf looks right there.'

I think we'll move this bookshelf.

'Told you!'

-This used to be a fireplace.

-There's a fireplace there.

-We could get that back.

'I never knew this could be so complicated.'

-If we had the sofas there, we could maybe have the TV...

-Yeah.

'No, no, put the TV in the other corner.'

I'm not sure about the sofa back against the window. It could work with the TV over in this corner.

That's what I was talking about.

I think that looks better with less shelves. Definitely looks better.

'At this rate, they'll end up with the room like it was at the start!'

-This wouldn't work.

-It's a bit tricky for the door.

-Actually, this is perfect.

-'Excellent. What next?'

-I'll go and do some violin practice. See you in a bit.

-I'll stay and have a kip.

PLAYS CLASSICAL PIECE

'I bet you don't get that on a 747 very often!'

-Lizzie!

-Yeah?

-Can you do the Dam Busters?

-Hmm.

SHE PLAYS "DAM BUSTERS" THEME

Ah, the Dam Busters! Ed, whenever I hear this tune, it just makes me want to hand over my money.

'I think they'll need a bigger deposit than that!'

-Looks like the Wandsworth Road down here. Shall we have a look?

-Yeah.

'They're really checking this place out, Ed. I've got good vibes about today's test flight, I mean, drive.'

Battersea Power Station in the distance there.

-Wandsworth Road Station. Perfect.

-Yeah, it's not far, is it?

Well, I think it's time to enter the arrival lounge.

During the test-drive, you've been violining and moving around furniture

because there was debate as to what room was going to be what. Now you've done that, what do you think?

Yeah, I'm even happier with this room now. We've moved the furniture around like you said.

On first appearances, it seemed really small, but this room has a lot of potential.

-Just the power of placement.

-Exactly.

-It really is a potent force.

-And making it your own.

-What about you, Ally?

-Yeah...

Have you just done what men do?

-As soon as there's any talk about soft furnishings, you've fallen asleep?

-I did what I was told.

That is the role of the male in a household.

-Is there enough space in this place for you to get your guitar out and for Lizzie to play her violin?

-Yes.

-It's quite a big flat.

-And Tube-wise, do you think this is a good location?

We looked across all of London. What do you think about this location?

It's really well located for what we're looking for. It's a good location which was our key thing.

It sounds really positive. I think you should ask the big question.

-Are you ready?

-Yeah.

-To buy or not to buy? Don't let the viewers down.

I think it'll be difficult. We'll go with "maybe buy".

-A bit more work and maybe we'll look into it.

-"To maybe"?

-Is that not an answer?

-Non-committal.

-Can we...

-To maybe buy.

-Give us the factors that would make it a "maybe".

-If they come nearer to what we value the property at.

With the knowledge you've got from the things that could need doing with the wiring and the boiler,

-it's a good negotiation point, isn't it?

-It is.

-If you could bring the price down and we asked you the question again...

-Here we go.

-Don't let the viewers down.

-If you get everything you want, to buy or not to buy?

-To buy!

Yes!

We didn't in any way have to force you to do that, which was good.

-Has this got everything you require apart from the price?

-Yeah.

-It's great.

-OK, shall we take off?

-Yes, up like a plane. See you later.

-Thanks very much.

-Bye.

-Bye.

Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd 2010

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