Looking at property differently

want2bmortgage3

Until recently I've looked at property mainly in terms of figures, how much it costs to buy/rent, cost of council tax, whether I like the area or not and so on.

However the more I watch programs like grand designs, the 100k house and so on, I am looking at houses differently.

I am starting to look at it in terms of the ideal house, based on my views, using different materials, whether that be sustainable, energy efficient, good to look at and so on.

I am starting to look at the majority of housing stock I see and dislike it, everything made of bricks, new housing estates looking identical, no imagination!

Therefore I'm considering taking my money out of a property I don't actually like, whether the figures add up or not, and saving the money up in savings accounts, and letting it grow. With the idea of one day building something for myself, maybe in a totally different location.

This could be a building that manifests in my mind for the next 10 years, I could research, design, plan what the building would be like, whilst also looking at potential areas I could move to.

I'm the sort of person who'd be happy living in the middle of nowhere, places like the scottish islands appeal and I've seen people build their own houses there on tv.

So I just wonder if anyone else here has the same ideas? Move to a cheaper area, buy some land and build a building of the future? Instead of buying a dated, energy inefficient building in an already over expensive area?!

eddddy

want2bmortgage3 wrote: »

...
Therefore I'm considering taking my money out of a property I don't actually like, whether the figures add up or not, and saving the money up in savings accounts, and letting it grow.
....

Hi want2bmortgage3

I'm not disagreeing with your goal, but your plan may not be the best way of achieving it. It depends on your view of the future property market.

Currently, savings are losing value in real terms, whereas property in many areas is increasing in value. So investing in property (even property you don't like) might allow you to buy the land you want and start building sooner.

Also, if you sell up now, would you have to rent somewhere? Would this actually reduce your outgoings, and allow you to save more?

On the other hand, if you think property prices are set to drop, your plan could make good sense.

Cornucopia

One of the issues that these programmes gloss over is the non-availability of land (certainly in England).

For a variety of reasons, it's extremely difficult to buy land for building, it's very unlikely that planning consent would be given on land that's not already ear-marked for building, and any land that is remotely desirable for building is very expensive.

I'd suggest looking at Scotland first, where land is much more freely available for building, and much cheaper. Alternatively, there are planning loopholes (like the mobile home one, that Kevin McCloud used to build his shed in Man Made Home).

want2bmortgage3

thanks for the man made home link, i will watch it on 4od

Cornucopia

want2bmortgage3 wrote: »

thanks for the man made home link, i will watch it on 4od

It's the first couple of episodes of Series 1 that refer to this specifically.

There also a couple of Grand Designs episode where someone builds a structure on woodland using the woodland worker exemption - but that's a long-shot in terms of getting permission.