- The home in Birmingham will go up for auction on March 18
DIY enthusiasts may have found the perfect home after a three-bedroom house has gone under the hammer for just £9,000.
The two-storey terraced pad looks unassuming from the outside, with a neat front garden, and large windows. But inside, it’s a slightly different story.
Pictures of the Birmingham home show a dated kitchen with a tired floor in need of replacements.
Upstairs, there are the bedrooms – one of which is pictured, with a bright red feature wall and matching carpet.
Despite needing some TLC, the property still represents incredible value on a street where houses have sold for up to £280,000.
The property was last sold at final price for £98,000 in 2003 but it could now be worth £200,000, according to a property checker website.
When asked by MailOnline why the listing price had been set to just £9,000, the auction house said it was up to the seller to set that price.
But they said it was commonplace for final prices at auction to reach around 20 times the initial listing price, although it always depends on the day.
If the property was to fetch 20 times its fee it would sell for a final price of £180,000.
There is also a bathroom, however it is not pictured on the listing.
While the home isn’t exactly move-in-day ready, it appears to be in relatively good shape – particularly for the price tag.
The property also boasts a rear garden.
Again, the outside is in need of some TLC, with overgrown grass and plants, but has the potential to make a charming outdoor space.
Out the back, there is then the garden, where it is greatly overgrown and has old, dirty, rotting wood seating.
The property is on Milverton Road in the Erdington area of Birmingham.
Advertised on Rightmove by BP Auctions, the listing advises an inspection is recommended before moving in.
It reads: ‘The property has accommodation comprising of through lounge, kitchen, three bedrooms, bathroom, rear garden and fore garden allowing off street parking for one vehicle.
‘Conveniently situated for Erdington town centre and all its amenities the property offers easy access to motorway network links and public transport facilities.
‘The property is also set behind a driveway providing off-road parking leading to the front entrance door.
‘Bedrooms one, two, and three contain double-glazed windows to front elevation and central heating radiator.
‘The bathroom suite comprises of a bath with shower over, vanity wash-hand basin and low-level flush W.C.’
Bidding closes on March 20 at 12.35pm and is for sale by online auction from March 18 at 12.35pm.
The average price of a house in Rotorua has risen to $746,000 after the city’s average residential property values increased by 0.4 per cent in three months.
According to the latest data from the OneRoof Valocity House Value Index, taken at the end of January, property values across the country are up by 0.9 per cent compared to three months ago.
OneRoof’s latest House Price Report showed property values were up quarter-on-quarter in 90 per cent of suburbs nationwide, with the biggest quarterly lifts in Arrowtown, Mataura and Whitford.
Of the 793 suburbs with 20-plus settled sales in the last 12 months, more than 40 per cent saw year-on-year value lifts, reflecting the turnaround in the market.
Rotorua suburbs with more than 20 settled sales in the year ending January 31 included Hamurana, where property values increased by 2.1 per cent in the last three months to $1.23 million.
Western Heights saw the second-highest three-month increase in suburb property value, a difference of 2 per cent.
Rotorua Professionals McDowell Real Estate principal and auctioneer Steve Lovegrove said the post-summer, early autumn season was normally a busy one for real estate.
“The good news for everybody is that prices seem to be mostly stable, certainly not going backwards and probably increasing,” Lovegrove told the Rotorua Daily Post.
“We are starting to see the green shoots of property price increases.”
Lovegrove said there was also a lift in the stock available.
“So buyers do have a little more choice and less need to act urgently. We’re seeing a little bit of lag in decision-making and a significant lift in buyers actively entering the marketplace.”
Lovegrove said there was more competition for properties in the $500,000 to $700,000 value range.
“Anything just below that average price is getting hit quite hard with active buyers, mostly first-home buyers.”
Lovegrove said there was also a trend of people looking to downsize which also saw more buyers looking in the lower price ranges.
“There’s a lot of confidence, a positive vibe and a positive outlook looking forward. We’re not expecting a rapid price increase. We are expecting simply more confidence.”
Tremains central region general manager Stuart Christensen said there was more property coming onto the market.
“More people have decided to make a move. Westpac dropped their interest rates on Friday. All those are encouraging signs,” Christensen said.
“We are seeing an increasing number of people at our open homes. So there’s appetite to come out and a good number of first-home buyers are out there.”
Christensen said first-home buyers did have a window to make their decisions, however, as investors were coming gradually back into the market as well.
“Overall there’s a lot more positivity. It’s a new year. People are out looking for a move whether they are upsizing, downsizing or entering the market for the first time.”
The news comes after New Zealand’s average property value grew just 0.9 per cent in the three months to the end of November to $973,000, as buyers retreated from the market after a busy November and October.
Valocity global chief executive of real estate Helen O’Sullivan said sales volumes in December were lower than had been anticipated, given the lift in October and November, although they were up year-on-year.
Valocity data showed mortgages registered to first-home buyers in the last quarter of the year dipped to 44 per cent from the five-year high of 45 per cent the previous quarter. Mortgages registered to investors increased slightly from 22.4 per cent to 23.6 per cent over the same period.
O’Sullivan said the Reserve Bank’s announcement around debt-to-income ratios was unlikely to have an impact on the current market.
“The proposed settings are not expected to make a significant difference to prices or activity levels in the current high-interest rate environment,” she said.
“When interest rates are lower, [debt-to-income ratios] will limit the level of debt borrowers can assume despite being able to service the debt.”
Maryana Garcia is a regional reporter writing for the Rotorua Daily Post and the Bay of Plenty Times. She covers local issues, health and crime.
- The three-bedroom home is located in Liverpool, Merseyside
A house has been listed for auction with pictures of a ‘bloodied handprint’ in the bathroom and splatters down another wall.
Prospective buyers were scrolling through properties online when they saw concerning red marks that they couldn’t ignore on a three-bedroom home in Liverpool, Merseyside.
A photo of the bathroom shows a bright red handprint smeared above the sink and another image reveals spurts of red liquid dripping down a wall.
The mystery red marks in the property, which is listed for auction at £40,000, sparked speculation amongst house-hunters.
However, the estate agent thinks it is probably just red paint and part of a prank pulled by locals.
One househunter questioned if was a ‘prank’ on them or if it was indeed a real crime scene.
Others said they also spotted the red marks when they were searching for a house, while one even said they’d be happy to buy it for that price even if it was real blood.
An online post highlighting the alarming features said: ‘Crime scene Liverpool. Reckon the estate agent is having a laugh?’
Another househunter commented: ‘I saw this one recently during my search for a house. We said the same thing about the blood.’
A second said: ‘I wonder how much it will sell for at auction. I wasn’t aware you could still buy houses so cheap! I’d take on a crime scene for that price!’
Although a third speculated: ‘It’s too little an amount to be arterial spray. Imagine going to view that and seeing it. You’d get a bit of a fright.’
London-based estate agents McHugh & Co auctioneer Sam Santana said he believes it to be red paint but admits he doesn’t know what’s happened at the property.
He didn’t notice the bizarre marks when his firm uploaded the listing but the images remain live on both their own site and Rightmove.
Estate agent Sam said: ‘It’s definitely not a joke from us and I didn’t notice it in the images myself.
‘As an advertising agent we have a duty to show everyone every room of the house.
‘It might be a prank by some locals or something because it looks like red paint on the wall rather than blood.
‘We wouldn’t know what’s happened in the house.
‘Usually this sort of property that needs doing up would be picked up by a property company then sold at auction.’
MailOnline has contacted McHugh & Co for a comment.
- Billy Petherick, from Greenwich, along with his French wife Gwendoline, was found guilty on Monday at the criminal court of Rennes, local reports said
A British YouTube property renovator who stole artefacts from French churches to sell in the UK after going AWOL from the army has been convicted in France.
Billy Petherick, originally from Greenwich, and his French wife Gwendoline were found guilty on Monday at the criminal court of Rennes over the 2014 thefts in Brittany and Anjou, according to French newspaper Le Parisien.
The court found that Mr Petherick would enter churches and swipe objects such as chalices, ciboriums, patens or tabernacle keys and sell them back in the UK via Ebay, or to an old friend of the family who was a second-hand dealer in Retiers.
Mr Petherick and Gwendoline Mouchel are two of the hosts of a popular YouTube channel, ‘The Pethericks’, where the couple chronicle their adventures renovating properties in France to their 360,000 subscribers.
But Mr Petherick also hit the headlines in 2021 when it was revealed that he deserted the Household Calvary a decade earlier, and was only caught after he appeared on Channel 4 renovating the couple’s £890,000 French chateau.
It was reported at the time that Mr Petherick, believed to be 36, went absent without leave in 2009 before starting a new life in France.
Once there, he married a local woman – Gwendoline – and purchased and restored the 40-room 18th century mansion in the Mayenne area of North West France.
But the past caught up with him when he featured on the first series of Channel 4’s Escape To The Chateau: DIY, a spin-off from the long-running Escape To The Chateau series featuring Dick Strawbridge and his wife Angel.
When the programme was broadcast in 2018 the Army was finally able to pinpoint Petherick’s exact address – the Chateau de la Basmaignee in the Pays de la Loire, which boasts royal ties to Louis XIV and has its own lake.
In 2021, Bulford Military Court in Wiltshire was told that Petherick had deserted the Household Cavalry, which guards the Queen, in 2009 and never returned.
Captain Daniel Lawlor, prosecuting, said Petherick’s stepsister had died that year and he had been bullied by colleagues as a result.
The court heard Petherick fled to start a ‘changed’ life in France, where his parents lived. He fell in love with and married Gwendoline.
When the couple bought the chateau in 2016, using a bequest from Mrs Petherick’s late mother, it had no electricity, no running water and 90 rotten windows.
Along with his brother Michael, Petherick set about doing it up, creating their own bed and breakfast business in the process.
The venue also caters to weddings and other events, according to online sources.
Over time, they were able to build up their business while also earning funds from their YouTube channel – which became increasingly popular – and artwork, which they have then invested back into their projects.
According to their YouTube channel, the Petherick brothers have also purchased an abandoned convent – Monastère de la Visitation in La Flêche.
They are also renovating the building, posting videos such as one titled ‘we risked our life savings on an abandoned convent’ showing the process, and others such as ‘finding buried relics at the convent’.
However, Billy Petherick and Gwendoline appeared in court on Monday to answer for around 40 thefts committed in 2014, mostly in Brittany and Anjou.
According to their story, Petherick was interested in ‘the architecture’ of churches, while his partner had ‘little time’ to see him.
They therefore took ‘car rides’ together, during which Petherick would enter buildings he was interested in. However, prosecutors made the case that once inside, he would steal objects and sell them on.
Gwendoline said she was ‘unaware’ of the thefts, the court heard, and that during this time she would be playing on her phone or writing her dissertation.
According to Le Parisien, the court heard that she told investigators that when she heard about Petherick’s actions, she was ‘not shocked’ because he ‘did not have a high opinion of the Church’.
A lawyer representing the diocese of Rennes criticised the loss of the objects, saying they ‘were all used for worship’. He demanded a symbolic sum of 2,000 euros from the court for the ‘time spent’ dealing with the thefts and to reimburse the losses.
The diocese also said it held the couple responsible for a ‘loss of attractiveness’ of churches, saying they had to limit their opening hours and install cameras.
The prosecutor did say that 72 or the 76 objects taken were returned.
Everything that could be returned to the churches was ‘given to the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs,’ they said.
In the couple’s defence, the YouTuber’s lawyer said the couple have not committed any further acts, and their criminal records were otherwise clean.
She therefore put Petherick’s actions down to ‘immaturity’, pointing to the fact that he ‘did not manage to keep up with the royal guards in England.’
Petherick was ultimately sentenced to one year in prison and a 15,000 euro fine, while Gwendoline was fined 10,000 euros.
The second-hand dealer was fined 8,000 euros, Le Parisien reported.
At his desertion trial in 2021, the court heard that in 2014 French authorities were contacted to locate him, and three years later an arrest warrant was issued.
After finally establishing his whereabouts in 2018, a British Army official approached Petherick and persuaded him to return to Britain, the court heard.
In August 2021, Petherick returned to the UK and was arrested.
The reason for the delay in his return is unclear. He appeared at Portsmouth Magistrates Court the following month charged with going AWOL.
Captain Lawlor said at the time that Petherick was AWOL from July 2, 2009 to September 21, 2021 – and that the Brit ‘intended to remain absent without leave’.
‘After his absence of 12 years, his unit has no intention for him to return,’ Captain Lawlor said. Petherick pleaded guilty to one charge of desertion and was dismissed from the military, but avoided a jail sentence.
Sentencing the former soldier, Judge Advocate Robert Hill said in 2021: ‘You have no interest in the Army and the Army has no interest in having you back.’
Chateau de la Basmaignee was described on the Channel 4 programme as having six floors and 22 bedrooms.
It boasts more than 60 acres of parkland with a picturesque forest, a tennis court, a private chapel and a separate building which once housed servants.
The chateau was named after the Basmaignee family, who were advisers to Louis XIV, who ruled France from 1643 until his death in 1715.
In the show, Petherick says: ‘I moved over here [to France] about six years ago. My parents were already living here and I thought I would give it a try. It is a bit of a fancy, living in a chateau… it’s always been a bit of a dream.’