At the end of a quiet cul-de-sac in a residential area of Swansea known for its distinctive mock-Tudor facades boasting timber beams, Homes Under the Hammer's presenter Martin Roberts found a two-bed semi-detached house that, despite its rather tired exterior, he rather liked the look of.
The timber beams had seen better days, with Martin describing the state of them as 'not good at all' and inside he found evidence that the house had not been a home for some time - a mountain of unclaimed post and marketing fliers.
The kitchen at the front was compact but had potential and the single reception room at the rear had space for two sofas and a dining table and chairs in one corner. In this room it is where Martin first glimpsed the garden, or, more accurately, the jungle.
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"Well, at the back of the property there is a garden but right now it is bramble-tastic!", Martin exclaims, "Oh my word! You're going to have to spend some time out here, definitely, but it wouldn't be a bad sized space, I'd probably want to get rid of these conifers.
"And it goes round to the side here so I suppose there is the possibility of some sort of extension on the side, not really enough (space) to do an extension on the back but I think get (the brambles) sorted and then you'll have at least a garden, as opposed to a prickle patch!"
Upstairs, the house offers a double bedroom, a single bedroom and a family bathroom and as a package Martin has fallen for it. He says: "I really like this little property, yes it needs some tender loving care, but intrinsically it's in a nice location, it's a little bit quirky, I think it would be a really good one to go for."
And new owner Chris agreed, paying £94,000 via online auction on the house that had a guide price of £77,000 and he bagged it with his heart as well as his head, having grown up in the local area and remembering the house and the estate being built.
He decided to go for the mock-Tudor house with the view of upgrading it to add to his rental portfolio of seven homes, but he wouldn't be doing too much of the work as he also runs an IT company full-time.
Chris estimated that the work would take between three to four months and need a budget of around £10k, with the outside space a priority as he described it as being 'in a right state', and he wasn't wrong.
And Chris was right to have the garden at the top of the 'to do' list as when the programme returned after four months it was completely unrecognisable and much bigger than expected, sweeping around to the side of the house.
Chris says: "We've stripped back all the vegetation and the weeds that were here, we've stripped everything right back, there were a lot of trees as you can see on the border that were encroaching on the boundary, which we've had removed and then a new fence has gone up to re-establish the boundary and it's turned out really, really well."
There's some landscaping still to do to finish the side area of the garden, transforming it into a usable space, but the discovery of the size of the garden Martin quite rightly described as 'remarkable'.
But the list of work completed continues inside, including a new boiler, new kitchen and bathroom, new flooring throughout as well as replacing some of the rotten floorboards.
Outside, the house needed the wooden boarding on the façade replaced with the cement filled in, weather-proofed and repainted, new fascias, soffits and downpipes, plus new windows had to be installed which were an added expense.
The budget spend came to £15,000 and Chris was shocked at how the cost of materials had gone up. When added to the sales price of £94,000 his total outlay came to £109,000.
The local estate agent valued the house at between £115,000 - £120,000, generating a profit of between £6k-£11k, but this house was always destined for the rental market where the yield Chris is likely to achieve is around 8% at somewhere between £700 and £725 per calendar month.
And he is overjoyed by his new purchasing, commenting: "It's quite strange really because going back all those years when I first saw these being built I didn't think that I'd ever be able to afford one at the time but as the tables turn and time moves on, things change, so it's been amazing really."
This story was includes in series 26, episode 23 which is currently available to view on BBC iPlayer.
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