First-time buyer Paula Chin has treated herself to an early birthday present - a three-bedroom semi for under £4,500.

The part-time Social Services worker - who will be 19 in two weeks - beat off fierce competition to pick up the bargain at an auction in Bradford.

But she was disappointed because she was hoping to pay less for the house on the Ravenscliffe estate.

She read about the auction in the Telegraph & Argus two weeks ago when we reported the derelict house in Norbury Road could sell for as little as £1 as there was no reserve price on it.

So she and her dad Robert, who renovates houses, decided to go along.

General Accident Property Services auction director Colin Wilton-Smith said: "Our local agent in Bradford had quite a lot of inquiries after the article appeared in the T&A."

He started the bidding at £100 and within seconds it was over the £1,000 mark. Less than two minutes later the price was hovering at £4,000 and only Paula and one other bidder were still in business.

Finally the hammer fell and she became a proud house owner for £4,300.

After handing over a deposit she said: "We expected to get it for quite a bit less.''

Paula, who lives with her parents round the corner in Ranelagh Avenue, does not plan to do much with it until work starts on the regeneration of that part of the Ravenscliffe estate.

The house is in a row of five boarded up properties, three of them owned by Bradford Council which is developing a strategy to improve the area.

Paula added: "I'm just going to make sure it's boarded up more securely- and wait.''

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.