Yorkshire Penines To Buy or Not to Buy

Today we are in Huddersfield in colourful West Yorkshire.

We certainly are -

looking for a characterful property for a lovely couple,

nestled within the bosom of the Pennines.

The north of England and tropical summer time,

yet Jonny and I find ourselves in the estate

where today's owners live, the houses are lovely.

It's exactly where they want to be, but the question is -

why do they want to move?

Well, we'll have to ask them - them being Emma and Alan.

They've lived in this four-bedroom house since it was built

-two years ago.

-They've got two daughters, Rebecca and Emily,

and there's also two cats, a kitten and Amber the dog to consider.

OK, so Alan, Emma, here we are in your lovely kitchen/diner.

The question normally is, "Why move?"

but it's more accurate for me to ask, "Why don't you want to stay?"

-Crafty.

-See what I've done.

I'll let you answer that one.

Right, we've been here two years now,

and although we do like the house we just find it characterless.

That's quite harsh to say about a house. Devoid of soul.

That's it. We've tried putting in some colour,

but there's nothing to it, we don't feel particularly settled.

It doesn't feel very homely.

What were you thinking when you moved into it?!

It's the most amount of money you'll ever spend in your life

and you've bought something you call "characterless" within two years?

I think the idea of having a new house appeals to everybody

when everything's fresh and new.

Emma, is it fair to say you've not settled here

because Alan is constantly starting jobs and never finishing them,

so it's never quite felt like home?

You could say that, definitely. He's done a very good job on the garden.

The decking. Rustic decking.

That's it, very good. But we keep thinking of ideas -

replace the carpets, the laminate. Nothing ever gets done.

And DIY is an issue, and you want to move to an old house with character,

surely you'll have to do more DIY.

That pleases me.

-Alan's convinced he can do it.

-OK.

What style of property do you want?

What kind of age of house are we after for you?

We're looking for a character period sort of cottage.

Something you could walk up to and say,

-"That looks quite quaint or nookie."

-Nookie?

-Not nookie as in nookie, but...

-LAUGHTER

..cute!

Like a traditional village style cottage? A little school, I guess.

Definitely.

-Schools are very important.

-Rebecca is due to start school in January.

We just think the whole village location where everyone knows

everyone is where we want to be.

We've got nice neighbours but it doesn't feel like a community.

It's a new estate this, isn't it?

-It takes time.

-You're almost getting out just as it's starting.

-Possibly.

-Maybe I want the day off, if I convince you to

stay here, that's job done. You've got a lot of space.

Normally with these things you get more for your money.

With your character world, you're probably going to get less,

have more, you know...

You will be moving to a smaller house. Does that bother you?

It doesn't.

At the moment, we're rattling around a bit anyway.

We acknowledge we're going to have to downsize. We got our heads round it.

What we're looking for is more the location.

What sort of rooms are you expecting within a property?

What do you want? Sell me the dream.

We just need that extra space, downstairs.

At the moment we've only got one reception room, so perhaps two would

be nice, or a larger kitchen/diner.

Living space is more important than bedrooms?

-That's right.

-You talk about downsizing,

but you want a larger downstairs than you've currently got.

-That's not downsizing. You want a big-bottomed, smaller house.

-Yeah.

-You want a J-Lo house.

-Like that.

So kind of like a pyramid, but smaller.

Are you sure you're convinced about this smaller house?

How much is it going to cost?

We could push to 180,000.

But ideally we would like to come in a little bit lower.

-Stamp duty at £175,000.

-That's it.

But I think there's a lot of flexibility in the market

at the moment so if we look at 180, we might bring that down.

So, hopefully, we spend a bit less and Alan then with

his wonderful, majestical DIY skills will make the house worth more.

You're more committed than Emma makes out.

That's pretty much everything we need to know.

-Let's look for the dream.

-I'm excited. See you later.

Right, Huddersfield. During the Industrial Revolution,

it was at the centre of the textile industry.

The Huddersfield Broad Canal provided a lifeline for the mills,

bringing in coal and shipping out textiles.

Today, it's mainly used for leisure purposes.

The riches of an industrial past

have left a legacy of Victorian buildings.

The railway station's just one example of an amazing

1,660 listed buildings, the third largest in the country.

Now some of these have recently been given a new lease of life.

The old Titanic textile mill

forms part of a swanky multi-purpose apartment block

along with its very own eco-spa

which I, naturally, feel duty-bound to check out.

Well, I'll catch up with a local property developer then.

Everyone knew the market was getting difficult, but it's not a bad time

to get into it because people are getting keener to sell,

prices are coming down, which they had to do anyway.

This is, I guess, the north-west version of what happens

down in the Docklands,

where they've done a whole lot of regeneration.

Do you see that in other towns

throughout the West Yorkshire area as well?

Yeah, it is starting to get that way.

If you look at five years,

property developers have been from any walk of life,

buy a house, turn it round,

no matter what you do to it you've turned around a profit

because the market's risen.

Now it's dropping, you've got to make a better job of it.

Very nice indeed, beautiful example of a factory conversion -

chic, stylish, very contemporary.

I can see myself here.

With enough money, you can buy good properties,

renovate them to a good standard and sell them.

The selling part has just become far more difficult

because mortgages have become far harder to come by.

This is research. Now go on, go.

Great legs! After a bit of R&R

it's time to hit the road, find some houses,

and start the viewings, beginning with my offering,

a late 1920's house, three bedrooms,

a spacious downstairs, and a great garden for the animals.

I think it ticks all the boxes, but will they agree?

OK, well, you sold me the dream property you had in mind

before we got here,

I took those words, I've turned it into this.

What do you think? First impressions? Your lovely cottage.

-Yeah, it looks very nice on the outside.

-It does.

I like the area,

a nice cul-de-sac, I saw the park at the end, perfect for the dog.

You're locals, this is one of the villages we spoke of, isn't it?

-It is.

-The school is good round here as well?

-Yes, it is.

-Perfect.

So this looks smaller, let's say, than your current house,

so this will be...you're walking into the downsizing idea slightly,

to hopefully get the character that

Jonny will have undoubtedly given you inside it.

I'm going to throw out an estate agent term for you -

-"deceptively spacious".

-Right, OK.

-Is that good?

-From outside, it looks smaller than what we have got,

from the outside.

-Get in there and prove yourselves wrong! Go on. Have fun.

-Thank you.

Despite your negativity

-and the bad weather, I've got a good feeling about this.

-Really?

This is nice, I like this.

It's very bright.

-The fireplace is nice.

-Pretty.

I wonder if we could turn that into a real fireplace, you know like...

It's got the chimney breast.

I expect so, yeah. I don't think it'd take that much, really.

It's probably gas. It would give a really homely feel, then,

-wouldn't it?

-Yeah.

It isn't the character I would have imagined they wanted.

There is character,

more than they've got, but is there enough to necessitate the move?

-Wow!

-This is lovely.

-This is what I'm talking about.

Most definitely.

-The floor, that wouldn't need changing. A feature fireplace.

-Yeah.

This is just an ideal size, this.

-What have we got here? Wow! A nice storage space. Lovely.

-Yeah.

There we go, our first wow.

Nice and bright, though, isn't it?

A separate room, a study there, as well.

That's right. It's perfect.

-You don't need the extra bedroom, then.

-No.

They're excited because this is what they wanted -

more downstairs space,

not so fussed about the upstairs space. And you've delivered.

-This kitchen isn't far off what we've got now, size-wise.

-Yeah.

It's double size, isn't it?

It's not very different to what we've got now.

Well, it's actually bigger because the downstairs

-is pretty much what we were looking for because it is bigger.

-It is.

You've got a large dining area, whereas ours is attached

at the moment, so it looks like you've got a large kitchen,

but this is separate.

So downstairs nailed. That went pretty well.

Yeah, I think downstairs is the most important thing,

and the area, realistically.

So you've kind of got them on the run now. If this goes well,

-you're hot. He's on fire.

-Ow!

Right, I'm assuming this is the master bedroom. It's a nice size.

Look at the depth of those wardrobes.

It's deceptive, it's actually bigger than it looks.

Deceptive. It was deceptive.

Really, you're like Derren Brown, aren't you?

You're sowing words in their heads

and then when they say them, you're reaping a reward.

This window's huge, isn't it?

Lets in plenty of light.

I'd be tempted to bring a mirror there.

That would make the room look even bigger.

These are lovely. I wonder if they'd come in the sale.

The vendor selling the place has been here four years

and spent a lot of money giving it a lift.

It was as dark inside as it is outside when he first got here.

It's great - light, fresh, contemporary feel to the place.

Right, this must be the bathroom.

Wow.

That's bright.

Very bright.

It's clean, though. Nice cupboards underneath.

-That's something we lack in our bathroom.

-That's right, yeah.

It's got a shower, bath, looks a bit skinny on the bath.

Do you think you've not given Alan enough work to do in this house?

Alan likes the idea of flexing the old DIY muscles.

-There's not much to do.

-You're right.

-You could actually fit a larger bath there.

-I would.

Or even a corner, you could probably fit a corner bath in.

A wicked bathroom, lovely and light, and Alan, with his DIY head,

is thinking corner bath, shower cubicle, make the most of the space.

It is a pretty big room.

-This is quite something.

-It's unusual.

-Very different.

-It's very different.

-Is this the extension, then?

-I'm not sure.

-I'm not sure either.

-I'm not sure.

-It is different.

-I actually quite like it. It looks, er...

-Like a feature.

-Yeah, I actually quite like it.

-Better than your average doorway.

-That's right.

This is what makes British people British, things like that.

We look at a doorway and say, "No, we could jazz that up a little bit."

The owner currently has,

and makes it look lovely, kind of like a cave almost.

Alan's seen it, loves it.

That's deceptive.

-I thought that was going to be smaller than what it was.

-Yeah.

You could do a double, but we wouldn't need a double.

Bit of a paint job.

She's only small, so it would be ideal.

The bedroom seems all right. As they pointed out, the child's small,

she will grow eventually, but it's an adequate single bedroom.

-When she does grow, totter upstairs to bedroom number three.

-I like it.

It's a little bit awkward, actually,

because it's got no railing from there.

-You can't grip on to anything.

-Yeah.

-This is really pretty.

-It is.

That's really unexpected.

-I think there'd be a fight for this bedroom.

-Definitely.

There would be a fight.

This is so quaint and these little bits in here that

Rebecca could put all her books up...

Oh, there's a cat as well.

The only problem I can see is we are not adopting another cat!

No way!

OK, Alan, look, The wardrobes are staying, we know that,

but the cat definitely isn't. Let's go.

I feel pretty good about this.

I thought that was a pretty good tour.

How did it feel for you?

Really liked the house.

From the outside, I was thinking

this isn't going to be you at all, but you've proved me wrong.

You were right, Jonny. You said it was deceptively spacious.

The downstairs space is perfect.

You're not going to spend two years, if you do live in this,

and then say, "I hate it," because it's all of that? This is good?

-It's along the right lines?

-Yes.

The garden is pet-friendly and child-friendly.

And Alan, as you can see out there,

there's enough space to fashion another rustic decking area

out there. You had one go.

-It was brilliant.

-Jonny has delivered you this glorious place.

The question is, does it cost more than you've got?

Now, we are playing with a maximum budget today of £180,000.

We are hoping he hasn't done that because that would be awful.

-We don't want him to have spent more than that.

-That's it.

Emma, what do you think?

I think because of the location,

the nice views, the extension they've done,

the space you've got downstairs, I would say about 175,000.

-OK.

-And I would have probably gone a little bit lower.

-Go on.

-Perhaps, maybe, 17... no, sorry, 168.

-OK.

I have taken you to the top of the budget here.

-It's on for 179,950.

-Right, OK.

-What do we think about that price?

-I think that's not too bad.

With the stamp duty, everything coming down, I think we'll be able

to push for 175,

-which is what I think it's worth.

-OK, we have property two,

as I have exposed, I thought you'd hate this.

You love it. I'm not holding out much hope for that.

Fingers crossed, I'm lying.

Of course I'm not not telling the truth!

I think they'll love it -

in the rural area of Longwood, an old textile village.

They wanted character.

I've found a three-storey mill-worker's cottage

with great views across the valley.

And to coin Alan's expression, I think it's got bags of nookie.

Here we are in lovely rainy, rainy, rainy Longwood.

This is the kind of area I'd imagine Compo could have come past

in a wheeled bath, causing all manner of trauma.

Now, outside Jonny's one,

I had reservations, cos I didn't think it had enough character,

If you're moving out of your house, you need to move into

-something quite spectacular, in order to make it worth it.

-Yes.

I'm partially still plumping on the "stay in your own house",

but actually this beast behind you is a cracker.

OK, I want to know what you think.

-First impression, nice quiet road, great.

-Good.

-Looks like it could

be a little bit dark, though.

-I'm going to reserve judgment...

-Right.

-..until we're inside.

-OK, you're refusing to judge this book

by its cover. Get in the mill-worker's cottage,

think 1877 and have fun in that period.

-Think dry, have fun.

-In three, two, one, and pity us,

-cos we're going to be out here. See you later.

-OK.

-Oh, dear!

-Ladies and gents,

if you're wondering why we're in the back of an estate car,

it's cos it's throwing it down out there.

Go through. Oh, this is nice.

I love this.

Look at the, er...the ceiling features, again,

-it's a high ceiling.

-It is, yes.

They're having fun in there.

Three levels, they enter

the middle level here, which is quite interesting, isn't it?

Actually, I think that this living room's slightly smaller

than what we've got at the moment.

Negative number one, the lounge is smaller than their own lounge,

-and smaller than the one that I showed them.

-They're downsizing.

-It's nice.

-It's quite narrow.

-Yeah, I don't think that helps, that seems a bit...

-No.

..large. Is that a front door?

-What's that?

-Let's have a look.

Is it unlocked?

Oh. Patio.

Oh, wow.

Let's have a quick look.

-It's a cracking view.

-That's lovely.

Now, views-wise, Jonny, see if you

can take us yourself out of the competitive area that you're in.

-Yeah.

-That view's nice, isn't it?

-Superb.

OK, so this is...a toilet.

Oh, there's a shower in here as well.

That's a nice shower.

Very clean. But I wonder if that's the only shower in the house.

The middle floor comprises of what?

Lounge, balcony, shower room...

And two sets of stairs,

stairs to take you up or to take it down.

-Ascending and descending.

-Which way will they go?

OK, so this must be the top floor,

-cos we've come in in the middle.

-In the middle, yeah.

OK, so this...

I'm not sure which room

this would be, whether this would be the master or...

It's a nice size double room, but if it's the master,

I think it would be a little bit small.

I think it's a bit cluttered!

-What have we got here?

-Ah, so that wasn't the master bedroom!

-This is the master.

-This is the master, this is slightly bigger.

-Still not...

-Still not massive.

But again, it's quite chunky furniture,

which does take up a lot of room.

It does, yeah, yeah.

Very light.

I like the views you've got out the window.

-Do you think it would be too small for us?

-Yeah, er...

-We're used to larger.

-We're used to having quite a large bedroom,

but what we've got to remember is that we did...we were saying

that we weren't too much bothered about upstairs.

-Yeah, but it's now reality kicking in, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Yes, they're sensing the rooms are little bit smaller,

but I did warn them at the start -

they would need to think about downsizing.

Ah.

Right, so it wasn't the only shower.

-That's quite a small bath.

-It is.

Well, we haven't seen a kitchen yet so...

This is the basement we're going into.

Not sure about this for Rebecca.

It feels like I'm going into a dungeon.

Let's have a look.

What's in here? Oh, wow, this is nice. This is actually quite...

-This is unexpected.

-This is quite nookie!

-Yeah, it is.

If you've just tuned in

and wondered why Alan's described the basement as "nookie",

-it is apparently a phrase that is...

-It's a colloquialism.

..used around these parts

to describe quaint, quirky, cute, lovely.

-There is nookie in the basement.

-Yep.

That's lovely. That's really nice,

cos you've got somewhere separate for entertaining,

which is, I think, very important.

Again, the furniture feels a bit...

-A bit tight, cos the furniture is quite big.

-It is.

And the rooms are quite small.

The current dining room could be turned into -

just an idea I've got - third bedroom. Catch.

Ah, it's hot. Do I want my bedroom next to the kitchen and dining room?

Yeah, I'm hungry in the night, midnight snack, where to go?

It's only there.

Oh!

-What...?

-Now that's what I'm talking about!

Where's the kitchen, then?

-I was expecting this to be the kitchen.

-Yeah.

This is a really nice surprise, lovely surprise.

Do you think they're in the middle of the game?

Oh, there's even a darts board.

-This...

-You can have your own room for entertaining now,

you wouldn't even need that dining room.

You didn't even put this on your want list. Ed's done extremely well here.

How did he know you were into pool and darts?

This must be like a conservatory through here.

Let's have a look through.

Ah.

-This is the kitchen.

-The kitchen.

That's very, very unusual.

It is, actually, isn't it?

I'm quite lost for words now, that's really surprised me.

-Never seen anything like it before.

-No, I'd never have expected it.

-Another door into the garden.

-Yes, you can go down

the centre of the garden there.

-That's really unusual, that's really surprised me.

-Yeah!

Boo!

-Right, I believe...

-Left you alone for a few minutes and you...

You made yourself quite at home here.

We have, yes, very much so.

Right, have I given you too much character?

That's the question,

-cos this has got it coming at you from all angles.

-It has.

I love the character of the property.

-Very unusual.

-Mm-hm.

The layout, it's...it's not what we were kind of imagining,

but the character, yeah,

definitely hit the nail on the head of the character, most definitely.

Alan, what you think?

I'm not convinced about the size of the rooms.

You're downsizing, aren't you?

But I think it's more the furniture,

there's some real large bits of furniture,

and I don't think some of the rooms require that much furniture,

and I think if you stripped all that back, you'd have larger rooms.

If you did like the furniture and the house, all the furniture

and everything in here, including...and...

is up for sale, all up for negotiation in with the property.

What do you reckon Ed's property is worth?

I'm going to hazard a guess at 170.

So £2,000 more than you thought mine was worth.

He likes it £2,000 more, OK. Emma?

I think this is top of the budget.

It's really characterful.

I think it's in a nice location, excellent schools,

so I would put this at the top of the budget at 180,000.

Ed Hall, like a scratchcard, reveal the price.

Erm... Oh, I didn't write it there.

The actual price of this is £175,000,

which makes this a tie for guess the price.

-Pool table included.

-Everything.

-Apple tree.

-Everything.

-Shall we go?

-Cat?

You don't need any more, Emma, I thought you wanted a horse!

Yeah, I don't think that would fit in the garden, though.

Right, the wild cards - yes, we did say plural - are in Almondbury.

Just a few miles out of Huddersfield town centre,

the area is an unspoilt gem and on the up.

We agree the location will suit, but disagree what

actual houses to show them.

-Mine is perfect for Emma, it's lush.

-But, Jonny...

I've plenty for Emma - chickens, fields, horses,

and loads of scope for Alan's DIY skills to run amok at my wildcard.

OK, well, in that case, let's show them both, one for him

and one for her, you first.

Can you believe it? Look at the weather.

What has happened here today?

It looked like it was going to be the bleakest ever

To Buy Or Not To Buy on record,

obviously only weather-wise. OK, tout le monde aime le wildcard

if this show was being broadcast in French.

Do you love THIS wildcard?

It is requiring...some work, Alan.

-OK.

-Entirely.

-Excellent.

-Everything.

-Brilliant.

-So we'll find out who the liar is here.

-I'm happy with that.

Really? I bet Emma's thinking,

"He'll never do this, we'll be living in hell if we live here."

Emma, up there I've got you something -

not actually bought you a horse,

but there is a horse there you could look at, pretend it's your own,

-or maybe, maybe, just maybe get a horse and have it here...

-Yeah.

..which is bad news for you, Alan -

you've got to do the house and buy a horse.

It's a nice compromise, he does the house, I look after the horse.

Lovely. In a rather radical twist on the show, Alan,

and I don't know why, because I've not got any DIY skills,

I'm going to go in there with you,

and then Jonny is going to be with Emma outside,

and we can just find out where the honesty is in the whole DIY story.

-Yeah.

-I've seen this place,

-I'm convinced that you're not going to enjoy this at all.

-OK.

So you stay here with me.

We'll listen to these two fellows talk shop DIY style in there

and will put the headphones on.

-Wish us luck.

-You'll need it.

-See you later.

-Right. Cup of tea?

-Yeah.

Right then, Alan.

What do you think?

You weren't kidding!

If I give you this, then we know what we're working with.

Obviously what you'd have to do here is everything.

From scratch.

Yes. Have you ever done the kitchen before?

I have put a kitchen in before.

Let's come round here and work out where you would want your kitchen.

I think this would be easier

because I took a kitchen out to put a different kitchen in.

You've got kind of a blank canvas really, haven't you?

In his head, he wants a complete blank canvas, start from scratch.

I think practically he's thinking, "Oh, my God, what am I taking on?"

Yes, I agree.

They always say they like a sink by a window.

It would be a good way of getting Emma to do the washing up

because you pop that there,

she can look at the horse, Daphne, whatever the horse is called,

she's laughing and you get your washing done, everyone's happy.

Yes.

The situation with this property is,

it's on the market at the moment and it is in the process

of being developed, clearly at the beginning of being developed.

There are two options.

You can buy it and the developer will do it to your specification

or sold as seen and Alan can indulge his DIY fantasies.

I guess I suppose it would depend on the price, wouldn't it?

It is all the price dictating.

Is it daunting you?

-It's quite exciting actually.

-Look at that!

Ladies and gentlemen, an excited Alan. Where shall we go next?

This is your house. Where do you want to go?

Might as well stay downstairs.

This is, I'm guessing, going to be your lounge-cum-family area.

Here we are. This is the old part.

There is an extension that side. This is the old part.

-Go on, let your creativity run wild.

-It really opens up, doesn't it?

Everything needs to be stripped back even further than is already it is

so we can start afresh with decorations.

There's actually so much you can do with it in here.

Is it big enough? That is my one concern

cos I've gone slightly over-excited on the idea of doing stuff up.

-Do you think it is big enough?

-I think it is.

It looks bigger because it is bare.

There are no kiddies or animals running around.

Blank sheet. Plenty you can do with it. Start with scratch.

How do you think Em's going to be thinking?

I think she's going to be terrified!

No, I am extremely worried.

Alan seems to have fallen in love with it

and certainly thinks he can take it on.

Let me take you into the bathroom.

As you can see, not much needs to be done here.

You can pretty much turn the tap on and have a...hole in the floor.

THEY LAUGH

OK, the hard thing when you are doing places up is your pipe work.

Here, it is all there.

It is kind of choosing your suite and stuff.

I think this would be the most exciting room for Emma.

She's always wanted to choose the type of bathroom

that SHE wants, really - corner bath, large shower.

Because there is nothing in here,

she can just go wild and choose whatever she wants.

Is that true?

It that pretty much a rock and roll Saturday night for you,

-choosing your own bathroom suite?

-And my own colour schemes as well!

-Does it really do it for you?

-Yeah.

"Oh, God, I could have a pedestal sink! No, I'll have a cabinet one."

-That's what he thinks.

-I look forward to being married(!)

Let's get in this beast, shall we?

Right, Alan.

One of your bedrooms. Right?

-Haven't seen the others yet.

-That's the thing with this.

You're guessing how many bedrooms. How many do you think?

Two or three I would've thought.

It's only two bedrooms which is the weakness.

This whole thing sounds like a risk.

Yeah. Could be dangerous.

OK. This could be two rooms. It could be bedroom number two.

Number one I would say. Or a bathroom,

as they have got the bath in here which presumably was ripped out.

This is actually a good size.

Good size, I do like this one.

Sell this to Emma, just by words. Describe the room to Emma

so she can get an appreciation of this.

The brand new bed you've got would fit lovely in the centre.

It's a blank canvas, you can do whatever you want,

whatever decorations. You've a perfect view out of the window,

you can wake up every morning and practically smell the fresh air.

She could look at the horse.

-You can look at the horse. Go for it, girl.

-I like it.

There are the highlights.

He'll be moving to this house, I'll be moving to the other house.

We have experienced the house. You've had a look round it as well.

Are you as excited as Alan is?

Has Alan managed to bully you into excitement

or is it natural excitement?

I love the cottage. It looks like a cottage from the outside.

It's got some great fantastic beams and character on the inside

but it is pretty much starting from scratch

and it worries me, having a youngish family.

He's not worried!

I know, I know, but the actual location,

only a couple of miles from the town centre,

you certainly wouldn't feel it

or hear it and it has a rural feel to it. The location, I love.

The deal with this, we are playing for the prize

because a developer has this at the moment.

He has got a completed development price for this property.

You've got to imagine all the things that Alan said he would do

having already been done and then value the property at that price.

-This is really estate agent hats on.

-Right, I see.

-Right.

-Do you want to kick-off?

-That's it, the pressure on me.

I think if he does it to a high specification,

it will look really nice

-and I think it will be worth about 174,000.

-OK.

I think it would be at the top end of our budget. 180.

You've gone right at the top there.

OK, well, somebody is out by £1,000.

-It's me.

-It is you.

Emma, congratulations, it is £175,000, all singing, all dancing.

Which leads you to believe, we mentioned the money

he might have to spend on this to get it up to scratch.

You have a rough idea if you do want to do a doer-upper project,

kind of how much money you should be buying a house for.

Normally now we'd send you off

-to make the biggest decision of your adult lives.

-Not today!

-Not today!

We're mixing this whole thing around.

You're going to see the final wild card, my choice,

all about you, kind of about you as well.

OK, my wild card is also in the village of Almondbury.

School's important to them so I've only gone and found them

a converted one with more character than you can shake a cane at.

Let's see how it passes the test.

OK, so, we've experienced...not an abomination that was Ed's wild card.

-It's gone down phenomenally well!

-Certainly a project, let's be fair.

I think it's fair to say this is the opposite. This place is stunning.

This is a place, from a wild card point of view, you're going to love.

What are your first impressions?

From the outside, love it.

It's great, it ticks all the boxes, different kind of...

It's not a predominantly character cottage

and still looks like it has the period features in there.

-Alan, what do you reckon?

-Certainly looks like it has the character.

Doesn't look like there's much needs doing to it.

I can go in with a sledgehammer and smash it around a bit.

The owner is going to be livid.

That would be vandalism but I am prepared to do that for you.

You must be thrilled that there's not too much

for Alan to get his hands into! It is a converted school.

Turn of the century property,

one of ten in this development and they're all gorgeous.

I won't say too much

but when you get upstairs, look out for that arched beam. It is superb.

You're going to love it so much,

you're both going to go in and we're going to stay here.

-Have a great time. We'll see you in a bit.

-Enjoy.

-Wow.

-That's nice.

What's in here?

Let's have a look. Downstairs toilet.

The wallpaper is quite lively.

Awesome, isn't it?

I like this.

-Huge windows.

-Very bright.

I'm speechless,

it's completely the opposite to what we have been seeing before.

But it seems to work. It's a nice size...

I love the light you get from the windows.

Rebecca's going to love that window seat.

She will, won't she!

Thing is, because it's a converted school you have lovely big windows,

lashings of light and because of the shape of them,

you get the main square downstairs

and the beautiful arch in the bedrooms, wait and see.

Wow.

This is great. Proper separate dining area.

Great size. That's a huge table.

Emma and Alan, they are entertainers,

they are dinner party type people.

It is a perfect dinner party-sized dining room

This is a lovely size.

Not sure about the tiles. It seems to work actually.

The flooring as well is perfect. There's nothing to do in this house.

-There's nothing to do at all.

-No DIY!

Emma's driving us along. Alan is now saying, "What can I do?

"I want to get my tools out.

-"I want to drill something."

-He has left his heart at your property.

He kind of has.

So, first bedroom.

This is a good size office.

Also, they have done it with a pull-out bed.

This is like a guest room.

-I like the quirkiness.

-This must be the arch beam.

Yes, that's the arch beam I was talking about,

or a king post truss, as it's officially known.

Ooh, this is... Windows...

-I'm distracted by the wallpaper. 1930's.

-It's right in-your-face.

-Yeah, it is.

-That's quite bulky.

It's all built-in wardrobes.

You've still got enough room to walk around. Oh, my God!

-Look at this!

-How did you find that?

I thought it was just a wardrobe.

Oh, you step down into it.

En suite. Look at that.

That's gorgeous.

That's a lovely surprise.

At home, were you aware that both wild cards

-were going to be as exciting?

-You had no idea, did you?

I think this could be the master.

-Is it?

-Yeah.

-Look at this.

-It's got another beam.

This is gorgeous.

And I actually like the colour as well.

Yeah, I prefer this.

There's little nookie bits and real sort of quirkiness there.

This is really unusual.

-I love it.

-This has got to be my favourite room so far.

-Love it.

There's plenty of room for storage.

Alan could build all this stuff back in my wild card.

Oh, wow! This bathroom's gorgeous.

Love it.

Look at the size of it!

I've never had a bathroom like it.

-It's huge.

-It's very big, yeah.

And you've got a separate shower.

-Apart from changing the decorating in a few rooms...

-That's it.

..there's nothing that you have to do here.

No. You could move straight into it and it would just be done.

I just worry about the price. I think this could be...

-Quite...

-Yeah, over budget.

Don't think you can afford it? Let's find out.

How was this tour?

Gorgeous. Loved it. Love it, love it.

-You liked it from the word go.

-Yeah, I did, yeah.

The question is, does grumpy old DIY man like it?

To be perfectly honest with you, it is the other extreme.

There's nothing to do apart from, you know, your personal choices.

It's a really nice property. It's got the character throughout.

You were right about the beam that goes through in every room.

Upstairs is just gorgeous. Really spacious as well.

-Where are we at? It's 2-1 to you, isn't it?

-Yes.

So we could have the tie on this, Alan, fingers crossed.

Let's play "guess the price" for the fourth and final time.

Do you want to go first or second, Alan?

I'll stick with the format.

You can go.

I think this is over budget, so I would say it's 185.

The maximum budget was 180. Alan, what do you think?

I'm going to go with probably... Like one of the other properties,

I think this is at the top end of our budget,

possibly a little bit over, maybe. 180, 182.

OK, I'm going to lean across and give you some knuckles. Come on.

At long last, you're paying a victorious price.

This property's on the market, offers in the region of £180,000.

So you're right, it is bang on top of the budget.

Initially, your reaction to that price?

It's probably about what it's worth. It's a really good finish.

Lovely space, lovely location.

You could move in. You wouldn't have to do anything.

So I think the price is about right. I certainly think it's worth it.

You have now seen

all four properties today, which is quite a treat,

which makes it even harder about which one you wish to test-drive.

While the guys do that, here's a recap of the properties.

My first offer in house one in Brighouse

had that great open-plan living space and three bedrooms.

Its price, 179,950.

Property two was a cottage in the village of Longwood.

It's got more character than your face, Jonny Boy,

and available for 175 grand.

And just when I thought I couldn't do any better, I did.

A detached cottage in Almondbury. It needs a bit of work.

All right, a lot of work. But finished,

it would cost 175 grand.

Yes, but you could learn a good lesson for me, Mr Ed,

in my historical school conversion.

Features in abundance. On for offerings

in the region of £180,000.

Alan and Emma and the good viewers at home,

what one do you think they've chosen?

You've only gone and chosen it, haven't you?

-Yes, we have.

-Alan's dream and your potential nightmare.

How has this happened? How have you come to this conclusion?

Yeah, how has this happened?

We love the location more than anything.

The location is perfect and it really does look like a cottage.

So what I'm trying to do is just ignore the inside at the moment...

-That's Alan's.

-..and just go from there.

-Are you excited, Alan?

-Yeah, absolutely.

-Can't wait to get in there and get the feel for the place.

-I like it.

Before you go in,

we've had our To Buy Or Not To Buy surveyor give it a once-over.

It's not legally-binding,

and if you went ahead with this purchase,

we recommend you get a full structural survey

to ensure there's no problems for the future.

He's come up with a few things. The place is in good order.

It's undergoing refurbishment so there are things to do.

Two things to mention - there are two boilers.

One's sorting out the heating and one's sorting out the water.

Not efficient. If you were going to buy this place, get one.

It's much more economical.

The other one is, if look at the side road,

that is currently higher than the floor level inside the house,

so damp may be a problem.

So get someone round to check

if it has had all the correct damp-proofing injections, etc,

but it might not be a problem.

It's just something that is worth looking at. And there it is.

It is your dream, or is it?

Get in there and find out whether Alan can actually do this.

In three, two, one, test-drive the living daylights out of that house.

Thank you.

Well, it seems that Alan might

actually get to realise his DIY dream,

and he's bringing along daughter Rebecca and family friend Mel

to see if they'll live the dream too.

Maybe they will, Ed, maybe they will.

I think he's pinning his hopes a bit too much

on those horses winning them over.

Now, whose wild card did they choose, Jonny? I think it was mine.

Didn't get that wrong, did I?

So let's find out if we can close the deal.

So, you have test-driven the property.

We have seen the family turn up.

How did it go? Is it too much?

Have you got more...scent of developing in your nostrils

or are you thinking about running away?

I'm certainly not thinking about running away.

Still excited about the fact.

I think, being here for a while,

it's just given us more ideas, really, hasn't it?

Yeah, it has. I do certainly love the house.

I'm worried about the amount of work.

The developer's looking at refurbishing it himself

-or there could be a compromise there.

-He wants to do it.

I don't know if it's worth thinking about getting certain bits...

-Half-and-half?

-Yes.

So let's have the big question. Jonny, do you want to do it?

-To buy or not to buy?

-Come on, come on!

I think we're going to see if our house sells,

and if it does, we would consider putting an offer in.

Is this spurring you on to push your house, try and do all you can to try

-and sell it?

-Most definitely.

At the start of the show,

I was thinking you should still stay in your own house,

but you've seen the character properties and what's around.

-Has that made you decide even more?

-Yes.

It's made us realise that we definitely do want to move,

that our house really is characterless.

It's a soulless, modern-build property.

-LAUGHTER

-I liked it.

We're going to head out now and we're going to come back

maybe in six months' time.

And if there is a deal and you've bought this

and there's jobs that still need doing, Alan, you're in trouble.

-There will be.

-You promised us you were good at DIY.

We need this proved, all right?

-We'll see you later. Thanks very much.

-Bye now.

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