Selling houses in regeneration area, advice.

Furrnak

Hi all,

I would like some advice on how to go about selling a couple houses in an area that has been earmarked for town centre regeneration.

We own two terrace houses in the middle of a town in Mid Sussex, Mid Sussex has a regeneration program in the works for three major towns in the county by Thornfield Properties, they have released Landowner Development Briefs and various maps that outline the regeneration area and our properties are clearly marked within the boundary.

It looks to be that Thornfield will be developing a large section of the town directly adjacent to our homes. Thornfield Properties and Mid Sussex District Council have committed themselves to the project by formally signing a legal document and it's expected that other companies and investors are expected to to come in and do other areas, a planning application from Thornfield is expected in 2010, work to start in 2012 and the scheme to be completed by 2016.

In the mean time we are now looking to offload our two houses to purchase one house, how would be the best way to go about this to maximise the sale? Our "block" consists of three houses, two owned by us and a neighbour who would be willing to sell as well, there is also a public house but we don't expect them to co-operate.

Cheers for any advice.

Cannon_Fodder

Some people won't like the idea of living in the middle of a building site. Getting on the market before planning goes in would help you say "well, it could be a decade before they break ground"

Others will see the regeneration as something that will improve the area, and will try to get in early to make the most of future growth.

Depends how run-down it is now, I guess.

If its so bad it would be off-putting then wait for the area to noticably improve.

If it not actually run-down everywhere, your bit of street is ok, but its the transport links and such like that will improve in time, then you might go for it soon.

Maybe wait until the Planning app is definitely in?

Furrnak

The main problem is that the master plans show our houses being knocked down and replaced with a mixed retail / residential unit. The town is run down but that's a mixture of recession and buildings past their use by date, very little crime and the train station is a 12 min walk and 50 mins from central London Victoria and Bridge.

I anticipate that'll we'll have to sell to commercial developers as they want to "activate" the street, as they put it, and have shop frontages, one of the bigger problems in the town is the lack of suitable retail premises and ones that do exists being tiny.

dander

if they want to knock the houses down, wouldn't the council have to buy them off you anyway in order to do that?

b0rk

If you think the property may be subject to a compulsory purchase order then you really need to read the link below. http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/compulsorypurchase

RICS also run a free advice line.

Fire_Fox

I would definitely wait until planning permission is in as you should find prices in the area increase in response. My flat here in Bradford increased in value by 50% in three years and that was with a building site very close by! Is there any possibility you can let the houses and sit tight?

Furrnak

Well I'm not totally sure how their plans are organised, from the look of it it seems to be driven by the council but the scheme privately done, the pages below outline much of the information, although some of it is a bit out of date. Some more in depth info is in the links below, which hopefully will better communicate the scheme that I am able too.

(The dots have been removed after www as I can't post links yet..)

Town Center Revitalisation
www midsussex.gov.uk/page.cfm?pageID=3878

Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs)
www midsussex.gov.uk/page.cfm?pageID=4307

Town Master Plan
www midsussex.gov.uk/page.cfm?pageID=4312

FAQ's
www midsussex.gov.uk/page.cfm?pageID=4309

Landowner Development Briefs
www midsussex.gov.uk/page.cfm?pageID=8014

We could wait, but circumstances are fast moving in life and it's come to the point that we want to get single house in the same town somewhere a bit quieter, and get some liquidity out of the houses, the houses are in a prime location for the development, right next to what is going to be the new town square and the library, waitrose etc all around it. So the value is not in the houses which will no doubt want to be demolished but the land they are on.

It's a pickle.

Fire_Fox

Furrnak wrote: »

We could wait, but circumstances are fast moving in life and it's come to the point that we want to get single house in the same town somewhere a bit quieter, and get some liquidity out of the houses, the houses are in a prime location for the development, right next to what is going to be the new town square and the library, waitrose etc all around it. So the value is not in the houses which will no doubt want to be demolished but the land they are on.

It's a pickle.

Must you own your new home? You will need to be given a fair price for the houses under a compulsory purchase order. The longer you wait the more the value of all property in the town should rise with investors coming in, and the more your houses will be worth by comparison.