Homes Under the Hammer: Retired buyer boosts house price by £30k despite losing a bedroom


Homes Under the Hammer host Martin Roberts said: “I’m in Chesterton, a small former mining village in Staffordshire, situated in the borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme. So I’m here in this popular residential area to see a kind of property that’s becoming as rare as hens’ teeth…bungalows. Believe it or not, they don’t build them anymore. So, if you want to buy one, maybe head to the auction.”

The bungalow had a guide price of £60,000.

Upon entering the home, Martin showed viewers around.

He said: “We’ve got two bedrooms. Both are pretty good sizes. We’ve got a walk-in shower/toilet there.

“The living room is a good-sized space, and if you were to get rid of the cupboards in the hallway, you could free up even more space for the living room.”

READ MORE: Mrs Hinch fans share ‘cheap’ hack to unblock drains

With a budget of £20,000 to £30,000, the homeowner had a time scale of around six months.

Homes Under the Hammer caught up with Brenda a year later to see the property transformation.

Inside, she had managed to create the apartment-style layout she was after.

The kitchen, dining room and living room were all open-planned with neutral colours running throughout.

Where there were two bedrooms, Brenda had transformed the space into a single bedroom with an en-suite.

The garden had also been renovated, with new turf and a nice new decking area.

Brenda also installed a pink summerhouse.

The whole home had new insulation installed as well as a new boiler.

In the end, she spent a total of £40,000, which is £10,000 over her original budget.

A local property expert who visited the home before the renovation headed to the home to see the transformation.

He said: “What a transformation. It’s completely different, in terms of the layout, it’s really nice to see the use of the space, and the overall finish, to my eye, looks absolutely fantastic.

“As a one-bedroom property I would expect on the sales market to achieve somewhere in the region of £100,000.”

Brenda said: “I think it’s grossly under. One next door that’s pretty similar was valued four year ago at £120,000 and it is a desirable area to live.”

If she were to achieve £120,000 on the sales market, it would give her a pre-tax profit of above £10,000.

However, Brenda intends to live in the bungalow long-term.



Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.