Hard to believe this series has now been going for nearly 20 years. Sadly, it's showing its age. There really is only so much that can be achieved by seeing houses bought at auction and later returning to see what the buyers have done with them. The early years, with Lucy Alexander and Martin Roberts were great fun. Their enthusiasm was infectious and there was great chemistry between them (even though they were only shown together briefly during each episode.) Adding Dion Dublin, as a third presenter, diluted the mix and further changes, after Lucy departed, haven't helped revive the show. The programme also seems to have run out of new ideas and seems to be covering the same types of property renovation over and over again. Occasionally, they even pick up the same people buying and renovating properties from different auctions. Too much repetition has put me off watching.
16 Reviews
Used to be so much more interesting.
carold-5961515 November 2023
Love all the presenters. Generally love the format. But. Of late it's so samey and predictable. Property developers dominate. Remove all traces of the great yesteryear. Laminate flooring. Grey's . Black/White. HMO's . ( Nothing wrong here if done tastefully, but it's all for a quick buck. Seen a couple of fab ones . But mostly too commercialised. Removal of garden space for parking is very prevalent, we're always told what a good idea it is. How about the 🐦 🐤🦉🐜🐞🕷🐌🐛🥀🌷🌳🍁 a bees 🐝 🐝🐝 etc. Very sad to see such a decline in front and back green spaces. Getting so I don't look forward to watching any more. Shame. 😕
Very Useful Show
savetrees30 January 2008
This is a great show and is handy for anyone looking to buy a property at an auction. The presenters are very warm and friendly. They're also pretty knowledgeable. It would be great if they did updates on some of the more interesting properties that were not yet finished when the crew went back after three months. For instance, the two who bought Bagatelle Cottage from the 1800s. I would have loved to have seen the end product.
I like the way one of the presenters, Martin, comes across as passionate about period features and saving them. You can tell he is not just business-minded but also really cares about properties. The lady, Lucy, is personable and good at interviewing people. And they both have good chemistry together.
I'm returning to England soon, so this show got me up-to-date on property prices (what a shocker). Homes that cost about forty thousand when we left are now worth three hundred and forty. Ah, well, that's life.
I like the way one of the presenters, Martin, comes across as passionate about period features and saving them. You can tell he is not just business-minded but also really cares about properties. The lady, Lucy, is personable and good at interviewing people. And they both have good chemistry together.
I'm returning to England soon, so this show got me up-to-date on property prices (what a shocker). Homes that cost about forty thousand when we left are now worth three hundred and forty. Ah, well, that's life.
Reasonable property show
stainless_steve16 June 2017
The concept is quite reasonable and shows you can frequently buy property at auction for less than on the normal open market. However, the program would benefit from additional advice on buying at auction - after all that is the program title. For example, although costs are mentioned there is no indication of how much these are - e.g. auctioneer's costs, taxes payable when you sell, legal costs etc. When a potential profit is announced, it would be very useful to have an idea of the net profits. I would also like to know how properties are selected for the program - is it just pot luck?
well I like it - as do many others
scotthannaford1973-18 April 2010
New episodes get 30% of the time slot's audience. It is cheap and cheerful TV that gets a big audience and costs the BBC very little.
So - it is successful... it is cheap. How can a licence viewer complain?
Whilst there are many many many DIY shows, there aren't that many that show shells of houses being renovated (Grand Designs isn't a fair comparison) and I think the presenters do a decent job to maintain the viewers interest considering the 100s of houses which have gone under the hammer.
Saying that, I do like to see episodes where people buy over-priced houses and are a little cocky about doing it up... and then make a pittance...
Hey - and if you don't like it, you can always turn over to Jeremy Kyle or Phil'n'Holly!
So - it is successful... it is cheap. How can a licence viewer complain?
Whilst there are many many many DIY shows, there aren't that many that show shells of houses being renovated (Grand Designs isn't a fair comparison) and I think the presenters do a decent job to maintain the viewers interest considering the 100s of houses which have gone under the hammer.
Saying that, I do like to see episodes where people buy over-priced houses and are a little cocky about doing it up... and then make a pittance...
Hey - and if you don't like it, you can always turn over to Jeremy Kyle or Phil'n'Holly!
its boring
rachelnyreesmith11 November 2018
Its all just repetition the same old same old same old boring old property development.
it is on tv 24/7 even though very few people would want to watch it all day every day.
it is good for people who like property development but it does not show the development progress just the before and after so you cant really get a proper insight as to what has happened to the properties on the show.
Unique.
jakewilkinson1213 February 2021
Awful
AMAZINGzingzing26 October 2023
This would have been a decent show if they turned off the annoying pun based music and had some likeable presenters
Martin Roberts might be knowledgeable about the property business, but in this series he appears Very tired and bored, shows zero enthusiasm
Jacqui and Dion don't know anything about property and were chosen for very obvious reasons, this is the BBC after all
Dion is just annoying and an attention seeker, very childish, constantly trying to be funny And failing
Martell loves to over exaggerate and be dramatic for no reason ,regularly screeches
Tommy Walsh is a decent guy,but is in ill health And really struggles, he should take it easy and retire
They sacked the only good presenter,the delightful Lucy Alexander , This is typical from the BBc, surprised they didn't replace her with Alison Hammond
Even theme tune is also annoying and obtrusive.
Martin Roberts might be knowledgeable about the property business, but in this series he appears Very tired and bored, shows zero enthusiasm
Jacqui and Dion don't know anything about property and were chosen for very obvious reasons, this is the BBC after all
Dion is just annoying and an attention seeker, very childish, constantly trying to be funny And failing
Martell loves to over exaggerate and be dramatic for no reason ,regularly screeches
Tommy Walsh is a decent guy,but is in ill health And really struggles, he should take it easy and retire
They sacked the only good presenter,the delightful Lucy Alexander , This is typical from the BBc, surprised they didn't replace her with Alison Hammond
Even theme tune is also annoying and obtrusive.
It is what it is.
beresfordjd6 February 2013
I like HUTH and find the transformation of the various properties fascinating and really don't mind the over enthusiastic Lucy Alexander (in TV presenter mode) . She used to annoy the hell out of me but I guess I have got used to her. Martin seems to really know what he is talking about and is a pleasant enough presenter. My main gripe is the constant repetition of information - for instance when they go back to see what has happened with a property they run over all the owners details once again. HUTH is really a 30 minute programme stretched out to fill an hour. I imagine it has encouraged a lot of people to attempt the property market with varying results.
Tedious Daytime Property Show
bs3dc27 January 2007
Daytime TV is well-known to contain some extremely bad programming, but this is an insult to the intelligence.
The basic format: two presenters look at some homes going up for auction, then find out who buys them and see what happens to the properties three months later. That is about it.
They try to make out that making money as a property developer is such a difficult trade and that the buyers will have to be extremely skilled to make a profit. The problem here (and it's not the makers' fault) is that due to the housing market in the UK the average house price increases £41 a day, it is very hard to make a loss unless they pay well over the odds for a very poor property in a bad area. Some don't even look at the house before buying so they don't know it has huge cracks through the wall or massive subsidence, and they will still end up in the black. Renting out for a year or two before selling will reap even more.
The presenters do their best to try and make the programme seem exciting, but they are up against it as there is a definite limit on how thrilling you can make a show like this. The script is painful, for example if the property in question is an old pet shop you get endless lines like "are they barking mad to take on this property?" or "let's see if they can get this shop on the cheep," etc. Who writes this stuff? It would help if the properties themselves were more interesting, but most of them are average mid-terrace dwellings that need a bit of a paint job. One thing it does well is inadvertently show how bad estate agents are. About 9 in 10 when asked "what is the property market like in this area" they will answer "(insert town name here) is definitely an up and coming area." What every area in the UK? Before any changes have been made they will often quote prices thousands of pounds higher than before with little justification. That is probably due to the fact that you can start up an estate agents without any formal qualifications.
Almost makes you wish for a housing market crash just to get rid of the plethora of property programmes that fill our screens and this one in particular as there is just so little variation between one show and the next. Potential property developers might find some of the advice useful, but it is the same every episode and most of it is just common sense.
The basic format: two presenters look at some homes going up for auction, then find out who buys them and see what happens to the properties three months later. That is about it.
They try to make out that making money as a property developer is such a difficult trade and that the buyers will have to be extremely skilled to make a profit. The problem here (and it's not the makers' fault) is that due to the housing market in the UK the average house price increases £41 a day, it is very hard to make a loss unless they pay well over the odds for a very poor property in a bad area. Some don't even look at the house before buying so they don't know it has huge cracks through the wall or massive subsidence, and they will still end up in the black. Renting out for a year or two before selling will reap even more.
The presenters do their best to try and make the programme seem exciting, but they are up against it as there is a definite limit on how thrilling you can make a show like this. The script is painful, for example if the property in question is an old pet shop you get endless lines like "are they barking mad to take on this property?" or "let's see if they can get this shop on the cheep," etc. Who writes this stuff? It would help if the properties themselves were more interesting, but most of them are average mid-terrace dwellings that need a bit of a paint job. One thing it does well is inadvertently show how bad estate agents are. About 9 in 10 when asked "what is the property market like in this area" they will answer "(insert town name here) is definitely an up and coming area." What every area in the UK? Before any changes have been made they will often quote prices thousands of pounds higher than before with little justification. That is probably due to the fact that you can start up an estate agents without any formal qualifications.
Almost makes you wish for a housing market crash just to get rid of the plethora of property programmes that fill our screens and this one in particular as there is just so little variation between one show and the next. Potential property developers might find some of the advice useful, but it is the same every episode and most of it is just common sense.
Seen one, seen them all
imdb-920833 May 2024
They are all the same, Martell in her short skirts.
Dialogue identical, tempting people into capitalism under the guise of developing homes of multiple occupancy aka HMOs. Probably to be inhabited by students or immigrants.
A tired format, preceding the daily news, endlessly recycled if you look at the credits and Roman numerals carefully before the news.
But what happens when it goes wrong and people lose money? Where is that show?
The music background, lyrics accompanying the narrative is annoying, as is the narration.
It's just a feel good show, but does not show the graft and emotion that goes into houses, stripping them back and having new owners. Homes that families grew up in.
The estate agents, they look around every time - they know nothing, as I am currently selling, I can attest to this.
We pay our licence fee to feed Dion etc. For this. Money that could be better spent elsewhere. I know some love it, not me - call it personal opinion. The format is tired now and needs to be retired along with Salomon.
Dialogue identical, tempting people into capitalism under the guise of developing homes of multiple occupancy aka HMOs. Probably to be inhabited by students or immigrants.
A tired format, preceding the daily news, endlessly recycled if you look at the credits and Roman numerals carefully before the news.
But what happens when it goes wrong and people lose money? Where is that show?
The music background, lyrics accompanying the narrative is annoying, as is the narration.
It's just a feel good show, but does not show the graft and emotion that goes into houses, stripping them back and having new owners. Homes that families grew up in.
The estate agents, they look around every time - they know nothing, as I am currently selling, I can attest to this.
We pay our licence fee to feed Dion etc. For this. Money that could be better spent elsewhere. I know some love it, not me - call it personal opinion. The format is tired now and needs to be retired along with Salomon.
I EFFING LOVE IT
Ilovehuth14 April 2022
I first got into this show during lockdown of 2020. Since then i have sold 42 houses to buddhist monks and make a total marginal profit of £200,000,000. Im glad that this show turned my life around. I used to be addicted to eating sugar packets and now i just eat sugar. Thank you Dion Dublin.
Just excruciating, except when it's good
userpalooza6 July 2023
This show is maximally irritating... with phony exuberance, low-grade puns, thematic music cues, and the most intrusive padding/recaps available in any tv show. Watching it old school (passively) waiting it out, must've caused viewers to lose the will to live.
The Brits love to poke fun at the US's mechanical pleasantness, but these hosts are out of their minds, giving 90 percent too much energy and phoniness. I've never met an American as delirious as Lucy Alexander. The housing stock in the UK is terrible and tiny, and can't stand up to the weather or the damp.
Thankfully, watching it on YouTube, you can cut to the chase and leap over all the lousy puns, and the endlessly stupid, thematic music cues.
But I very often like the buyers who present themselves to remodel the homes. 90 percent of them seem very nice. And you get a glimpse of shy pride after the repairs, that's charming.
The Brits love to poke fun at the US's mechanical pleasantness, but these hosts are out of their minds, giving 90 percent too much energy and phoniness. I've never met an American as delirious as Lucy Alexander. The housing stock in the UK is terrible and tiny, and can't stand up to the weather or the damp.
Thankfully, watching it on YouTube, you can cut to the chase and leap over all the lousy puns, and the endlessly stupid, thematic music cues.
But I very often like the buyers who present themselves to remodel the homes. 90 percent of them seem very nice. And you get a glimpse of shy pride after the repairs, that's charming.
Frantically dull property rubbish then that even the presenters know is a pointless hour of television
bob the moo19 April 2007
The only thing rising faster than UK property prices over the last few years is the hours of programming devoted to reality shows about buying or doing up homes. I was ill a few days and genuinely unable to get the energy to watch anything that required much thought so I ended up slumped in front of BBC daytime television watching this. The concept here is that the show selects a couple of homes that are up for auction. First we are shown around them (fixer-uppers at absolute best) before we then see what they go for at auction and, more importantly, who buys it. We then follow the buyers as they attempt to make money off the property market by doing it up and selling on.
The idea is basic and you really need to be interested in people buying houses which, to be honest, is threatening to replace the weather as the main topic of casual discussion in the UK so the audience is certainly there for it. And I suppose for that target audience who like watching things about buying houses then it might well do the job because that is what you get here. Personally I find the obsession all very depressing as the middle classes mortgage themselves to the hilt trying to climb the ladder while driving prices up and up to the point where those trying to join the property market have little if no chance to do so.
Aside from the vegetative state of watching other people do up houses there is really little else of interest here. Problem is, only the totally clueless end up losing money and it happens rarely in the show. The reason for this is not because anyone does anything decent (or plans to) with them but just because in the UK sitting in a house for a month and doing nothing sees your "investment" increase in value. In my own Northern Ireland property prices have risen by 76% between 2005 and end 2006 and it is now one of the most expensive places in the UK to buy a house (source BBC website 5th April 07). So actually it is pretty dull for us to hear their plans and then get them valued by experts (not that estate agents really have a formal training route to become "experts") because it is nearly always gone up. One could also question how much the casual viewer should care about the type of person playing the market to make money off soaring house prices certainly for me I didn't care.
The presenters are, well, what's the word? Oh yeah - ****s. They overegg everything because they seem to sense how inevitable and dull it all is. Horrid cheesy puns populate their scripts and they deliver them with the typical style of daytime television presenters just trying to stop themselves hating their jobs. Frantically dull property rubbish then that even the presenters know is a pointless hour of television not much of a recommendation is it?
The idea is basic and you really need to be interested in people buying houses which, to be honest, is threatening to replace the weather as the main topic of casual discussion in the UK so the audience is certainly there for it. And I suppose for that target audience who like watching things about buying houses then it might well do the job because that is what you get here. Personally I find the obsession all very depressing as the middle classes mortgage themselves to the hilt trying to climb the ladder while driving prices up and up to the point where those trying to join the property market have little if no chance to do so.
Aside from the vegetative state of watching other people do up houses there is really little else of interest here. Problem is, only the totally clueless end up losing money and it happens rarely in the show. The reason for this is not because anyone does anything decent (or plans to) with them but just because in the UK sitting in a house for a month and doing nothing sees your "investment" increase in value. In my own Northern Ireland property prices have risen by 76% between 2005 and end 2006 and it is now one of the most expensive places in the UK to buy a house (source BBC website 5th April 07). So actually it is pretty dull for us to hear their plans and then get them valued by experts (not that estate agents really have a formal training route to become "experts") because it is nearly always gone up. One could also question how much the casual viewer should care about the type of person playing the market to make money off soaring house prices certainly for me I didn't care.
The presenters are, well, what's the word? Oh yeah - ****s. They overegg everything because they seem to sense how inevitable and dull it all is. Horrid cheesy puns populate their scripts and they deliver them with the typical style of daytime television presenters just trying to stop themselves hating their jobs. Frantically dull property rubbish then that even the presenters know is a pointless hour of television not much of a recommendation is it?
Homes under the hammer
mikemollart8 September 2017
The new female presenter is nice to look at, but does she have to wave her arms like an out of control windmill, and does this programme need three presenters,l am sure one presenter could manage this programme,Overall, its an interesting programme,and do we have to have the second screening of the first interviews.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
