Contact →

Tag: land auction

  • HPH214 : What self-builders can learn from commercial land buyers – with Rob Wiggans from RMP Property

    HPH214 : What self-builders can learn from commercial land buyers – with Rob Wiggans from RMP Property

    Rob Wiggans shares his expert tips on how to find a plot of land for a self build project.

    Interview with Rob Wiggans

    Rob Wiggans studied for a law degree before entering into a graduate apprenticeship with Taylor Wimpey. It was a two-year scheme where he shadowed people in each department, including production, sales, finance and technical. He chose to move into strategic land, starting off in a commercial role before moving to where he was physically going out and finding land. He now works in property investment with RMP Property (now the Property Hub).

     

    Portfolios had a fairly even split between land for immediate development, and long-term future projects

    Land Teams in each region would consist of no more than 10 people, and would include the Land Director, Land Managers who form the relationships with the agents and negotiate the deals, and an Estimator who crunches the numbers to check whether there will be enough profit to make the project viable.

    Rob explains that in his experience of national house-builders, each region would have between 12 and 18 live sites at any one time. The staff would either work in the Strategic or Immediate Land team.

    Strategic Land – In most of the strategic land cases the house builder doesn’t yet own the land. It has no planning permission but they are progressing it through the planning system and promoting it for development. They are able to progress it by having a long term ‘option agreement’ with the landowner whereby they give an initial payment of, say, £10,000 to promote it through the planning system for 10 years. If it still hasn’t progressed at that time they might offer another £10,000 for a further 10 years, and so on. If they successfully take it through planning and purchase the land they will take a 20% discount, because of the significant costs involved with promoting it through the planning system. It benefits the developer because although they are taking the risk, they save a significant amount of money on the purchase price, and also benefits the landowner who receives a good price for not having to take any risk or have any financial outlay.

    The developers will look for when there might be a new local plan being published and use that window as an opportunity to bring it forward for development. Usually they will look for land on the edge of existing settlements, or follow where the growth is going in terms of new infrastructure, such as link roads or stations being built.

    Immediate Land – This is land that the house builder owns, has planning and is ready to be built on. This often comes their way from agents who approach the national house builders. According to Rob, the network of land and planning professionals in any given area is very small, so when a good land opportunity arises it is known very quickly to them all.

     

    It’s about looking where other people might not be looking

    One tactic Rob uses is to monitor planning applications, and will approach a landowner as soon as a planning decision has been granted. A landowner being approached directly might be keen to proceed if you’re able to demonstrate that you can do a quick transaction and are offering a good land value, instead of putting it on the open market and paying agent fees (typically of 1-3%).  Rob suggests being persistent, not giving up and having the right positive mindset.

    Planning applications vary in quality dramatically so care needs to be taken with the due diligence. Things to look out for are access, ground conditions, ecology, drainage and service connections.

    “It’s a nice, idyllic flat piece of land, but people always say, ‘All the issues are below the ground, not above it,’ and when it comes to land, it’s very true.  It’s about trying to uncover the unknowns.”

     

    Establish a relationship with land agents

    Because the networks tend to be quite small, it is advisable to contact your local agents, who will be part of the network, and build a relationship with them. Rather than High Street estate agents, these might be local land agents or surveyors specialising in land.

     

    Don’t be put off by auctions

    The fear of buying at auction is always that there must be something wrong with the land. While this might sometimes be true it doesn’t automatically mean that it’s not an opportunity to be pursued. It might be at auction because the landowner’s circumstances just require a quick sale, or if there is something wrong with the land, can it be solved and can you get value?

    If you’re interested in something that has a few unknowns and you don’t have the time to do due diligence, if it fails to sell at auction you can approach the owner afterwards, say you’re interested and buy yourself some time to carry out the checks.

     

    Find out who owns the land

    By setting up an account with Land Registry, you are able to find out the owner of any piece of land for as little as £3. So if you’ve seen something you think would make a suitable plot you can approach the owner directly to see if they might be interested in selling.

     

    Trust your instincts

    “I’ve found that when you think to yourself, ‘There’s something not right here,’ and you don’t know what it is, if you don’t know and you still have that feeling, don’t do it.  Trust your gut is probably one of the biggest pieces of advice I could recommend.”

     

    Assemble your team

    Rob advises growing your team from the outset. Even for a single self-build plot he suggests employing a highly regarded and recommended conveyancing law expert, an architect, a planning consultant and a land agent. Even though you will need to pay them all a fee, you might be saving yourself significant problems in the future.

     

    Have an exit plan

    Ensure you have a clear idea of what’s going to happen once you get planning and prepare for how you’re going to build it. Engage with reviewing build costs straight away and understand those costs before you end up spending too much money.

     

    Know when to walk away

    Even if there is an opportunity that you’re really keen on, but something’s not quite working, instead of investing many months of effort then know when is the right time to say enough is enough, and move on. Rob stresses that there are always plenty of other opportunities available if you know where to look.

     

    “In simple terms, don’t see any barriers. Try and think outside the box. How can you get in contact with people for the land that you want?”

     

    Find out more

    Visit the website of the Property Hub

    Follow the Property Hub on Twitter

     

    Transcript

    Download a transcript of the interview with Rob Wiggans.

     

    Please connect with me

  • HPH144 : What do you do when you can’t find land?

    HPH144 : What do you do when you can’t find land?

    Three self-builders explain their next steps after struggling to find land upon which to build their new homes.

    Interview with Corrine Mitchell

    IMG_4340

    Corrine and her husband first entertained the idea of a self build back in 2005, but put their first offer in on a plot in 2008. The site proved to be problematic with electricity cables running overhead, and they eventually pulled out. It wasn’t until 2013, when they became aware of Graven Hill, that they had finances in place and thought there was a real opportunity. The intention was to use finances in the bank to pay for the land and sell their existing property to cover the costs of the build. They eventually decided that the Graven Hill development wouldn’t be right for them; they wanted to get away from living on an estate, particularly one that could be a building site for the next decade, and it didn’t seem easily suited to building to Passivhaus standard.

    The biggest challenges to finding land in their area have been the high cost and sites ideal for a small house with a garden, garage and workshop, being bought by developers to put two dwellings on. Corrine has also found that local land tends to be sold by sealed bids, a system which she feels disadvantaged and frustrated by.

    Corrine has learned many lessons from her experience of looking for land. The main one has been how to appraise a site: looking for additional factors that might affect the cost and be problematic, and in future if she found a site without planning permission, she would probably hire a planning consultant. She sees her chances of finding land in the future as relying on word of mouth, getting in before anyone else hears about a plot. Eventually Corrine expects that they might move away from the area to where land is at a price that they are happier to pay, but for the time being she wants to remain local to where their friends and lives currently are.

    Corrine’s advice to anyone else looking for land is to be prepared for it to be a time intensive task. You really need to put the work in, registering with estate agents and ringing them all every two or three weeks to see if there’s anything new available.

    “Google Earth does come in very handy. You can walk down roads, have a look around, look at what’s nearby. But when you get there often it’s a bit different to what you expect so you’ve got to go and do the research and you’ve got to go and have a good look. Especially for the issues that might cost you money when you come to build.”

    Land searches for Corrine and her husband are currently on hold while they take on a renovation project instead. They have bought a small terraced house and are taking their time to do it up, using it as a chance to gain valuable experience that they can eventually put into a self build.

    P1100174

    Despite the renovation project, Corrine is still keeping one eye open for land opportunities and says that hopefully next year they will have finished the works, can sell up and start looking for land seriously once again.

    Interview with Nigel Banks

    IMG_1043

    Nigel Banks lives in Leeds with his wife and two children and has had challenges finding a suitable plot within an existing established urban area. Initially he was looking for self build plots in a fairly wide area, but eventually decided to narrow it down to within two miles of their eldest son’s primary school.

    Largely using Google Maps, cycling and walking the streets, they found two or three potentially viable plots. They approached the Diocese of Leeds, who they discovered were the owners of one plot, only to be told they already had plans for it. These plans, Nigel later discovered, involved an application for 14 houses! Another plot they were interested in ultimately had plans for six flats, offices and basement parking, whereas Nigel had just intended to put on a single house with a small garden.

    After two years of searching, Nigel decided to instead build a Passivhaus office in his back garden. Shortly after he started digging the foundations his wife came across a Victorian house, around half a mile away, in need of major renovation. They realised they could refurbish it to near Passivhaus standard and moved in a year ago.

    Had they not gone down the refurbishment route, Nigel thinks one option he might have pursued would have been trying to find other like-minded people locally to set up a cohousing project.

    Having invested a huge amount of time and energy into their new project, and being fairly happy and settled where they now are, Nigel has shelved plans to try and self build. He emphasises however that the dream to build his own home is still there, though it may be another 15 or 20 years before that can become a reality.

    Triple glazed sliding sash windows from Green Building Store 34

    Interview with Rob Rickey

    IMG_2071

    After taking a course in Environmental Design at Cardiff University and later the Passivhaus Designer course, Rob was keen to live in a low energy home.

    They wanted to stay close to their existing community where all their friends lived. This limited the search area and meant that they really only saw a handful of opportunities. One was a barn conversion with planning permission, but this was reflected in the price! They also considered developing another site that had planning permission for four dwellings. By selling or renting three they could fund their own build. However, the location wouldn’t have been that quiet as it backed onto a school.

    Ultimately they decided they couldn’t afford it and so they looked for a property to retrofit. This was much easier as dozens of opportunities came onto the market each week.

    Rob says he’s quite happy in his retrofitted home – where he’s reduced his gas usage by 75% – and has no desire to self build! He can get his fix from his work, designing houses for other people.

    IMG_1228

    Find out more

    Follow Nigel Banks on Twitter

    Visit the website of Rob Rickey Design

    Please connect with us

    Subscribe, rate and review us on Apple Podcasts

    Like our Facebook page

    Follow Ben Adam-Smith on Bluesky

  • HPH135 : Tips for buying land at auction – with Tom Gresford from Gresford Architects

    HPH135 : Tips for buying land at auction – with Tom Gresford from Gresford Architects

    Architect Tom Gresford shares his experience of buying land at auction.

     

    Interview with Tom Gresford

    Tom Gresford of Gresford Architects qualified as an architect in 2002, set up his own practice in 2006 and for the last 5 or 6 years has been increasingly focusing on low energy and sustainable design.

    Tom finds auctions an interesting way of purchasing unusual properties and quirky development sites that perhaps aren’t found on sites like Rightmove, and he has bought 3 or 4 using this method himself.

    IMG_1127

     

    Do your research and employ a planning consultant

    Buying at auction is much the same as buying any plot, in that you should do your research first, even though there’s no guarantee of being the successful bidder. Tom recommends hiring a planning consultant to do 5 or 6 hours of work on the site and local appropriate policies, probably costing around £500 or £600, to advise on the likelihood of gaining planning consent.

     

    Look for potential where others may not see it

    Tom explains that because the market is quite overcrowded, he tends to steer away from anything straight forward. Instead he looks for quirky or unusual things that other people might not think they can do anything with. His Chieveley Passivhaus was an old water tower which was one of 6 assets being sold by Thames Water at a Savills auction. He did a planning study for each of the 6 and identified this as being the one most appropriate for development.

    DSC_9571

    However, there are never any guarantees in development! Tom gives an example of a site he purchased in Staines. Because it was on a flood plain they fought to try and get planning permission for 2 years and went to appeal, before deciding to sell the plot on. Tom thinks there will also be people willing to pick up these pieces of land, as they may have different intentions for its use.

     

    You should always go into an auction with a limit!

    Tom says that you should always decide in advance what the maximum you are prepared to pay will be. Without that you may end up paying considerably more than the land is worth. You should go in having an idea of the land’s value, so if you had to exit the deal you would know how much you could expect to get back on it.

    Deciding what price you’re prepared to pay may also be dependent on your motives for buying. If you’re buying it to build your own home then you may be willing to pay more than if you’re buying it as a development opportunity. Tom does say that the majority of people at these auctions are professional investors, but that you can always spot who are the self builders!

    “There’s no rule of thumb and you never know who you’re going to come up against, how deep their pockets are and what they might be thinking on the day.”

     

    Buying at auction is an incredible adrenaline rush

    Tom has lost out on far more bids than he has actually won, but says there can be an incredible adrenaline rush, particularly if there are quite a few people bidding. He tends to wait for a while before starting to bid, and is always clear with himself what level he is prepared to go to. He says if for example you get to that limit and there are still 3 other people in the bidding for it then you know you’re not going to win and just have to walk away.

     

    Try to remain aloof and detached

    While it can be a thrilling experience, Tom advises caution in getting carried away because it can be a real emotional rollercoaster. That is particularly likely to be the case if you’re buying the site to build your own house.

    “You wouldn’t choose to buy somewhere if you didn’t want to live there, but then the very fact you want to live there will mean you’ll get emotionally attached to the idea.”

    Trying to remain aloof and detached is a good way of helping you to bid in a sensible manner, and also help you deal with the emotions of potentially not having the winning bid, which statistically you are unlikely to have.

     

    The brief for Chieveley Passivhaus was based on an imaginary family

    Because there was no client for this build, Tom had to imagine a scenario around which to design. They worked on knowing what tends to be popular, which is a 4 bedroom house, the master bedroom having an en-suite, a family bathroom and then a downstairs toilet. Their imaginary family were interested in modern design and were concerned about the environment and low energy living.

    FullSizeRender

    IMG_1121

    IMG_1123

    When the house was put up for sale they received 3 sealed bids from 3 sets of people with very differing profiles. None of them previously had an interest in Passivhaus but saw it as a massive advantage.

    “We were showing that you could build beautiful modern houses in the Passivhaus way.”

    They went down a construction management route of procurement so Tom believes that despite it being a Passivhaus it probably cost the same as most people would build a standard house. If you used the same procurement method but not built to Passivhaus then it would have been cheaper because there are elements such as the blinds, triple glazed windows, MVHR etc that totalled around £15,000, that you don’t have on standard buildings.

    With the house being west facing to take advantage of the views, they have used manual blinds to take advantage of winter solar gain without having the problems of overheating in the summer.

    IMG_1125

    “It’s just a really good house. A really good, well designed, beautiful, comfortable to live in house…It demonstrates that you can live a really comfortable life with having absolutely minimal impact on the environment and the dwindling resources that we have to face up to.”

     

    Transcript

    Download a transcript of the interview with Tom Gresford

     

    Find out more

    Visit the website of Gresford Architects

    Follow Tom on Twitter

     

     

    The Hub update

    The Hub draws on our experience of video and audio production to bring you more in depth information to help with self build projects.

    Our current video case study is following Alex Baines’ Long Barrow Passivhaus project, which is an insulated concrete formwork, semi earth sheltered construction. We’ve worked our way up from the basement to the first floor ICF walls and soon we’ll be going into the roof.

    We also have our private Facebook networking group and we’re coming up to the first of we what we hope will be quarterly progress calls, where we can get together and discuss how our projects are going, trying to help with any problems, and we might even bring in a guest or two from time to time to help with any queries.

    If you want any more information then check out our video which will give you an overview of what you can find in The Hub.

     

    Please connect with me

  • HPH104 : How I Found My Plot of Land – Four Case Studies

    HPH104 : How I Found My Plot of Land – Four Case Studies

    In this podcast we’re speaking to four self-builders from Ireland, England and Australia to see how they managed to find their plots of land.

    Interview with Donal O’Leary – Ireland

    Donal

    Originally Donal had been looking to buy a house rather than a plot. When the sale of a derelict house on a half acre plot came up they realised that if successful with their bid they would probably need to rebuild rather than renovate.

    A process of phone bids via the estate agent ultimately led to them missing out.

     

    ‘If You Don’t Ask, You Don’t Get’

    While Donal continued in his search he made inquiries locally to see if any other sites might be available, and in doing so came in contact with the man who had been successful in the purchase of the derelict house. After a few discussions he agreed to sell Donal part of the site.

    An agreement was reached on price based predominantly on the share of the land, and a joint planning application was submitted. They’re hoping for the planning process to be finalised within the next couple of weeks.

    Donal 2

     

    Tips for Finding a Plot

    Have perseverance, patience, be prepared for the long haul, walk the streets talking to people and be open to considering an overgrown field as a potential site.

    Donal 3

     

    Interview with Nicki Poggi – Australia

    Having lived overseas, Nicki and her family were keen to return to Sydney. After missing out on a few properties at auctions she discovered a house whilst driving. The location was ideal in terms of proximity to the beach and ferry into Sydney, and on speaking to the estate agent they made an offer, being aware that it had previously failed to sell at auction.

    Nicki would suggest that normally you familiarise yourself with an area and investigate what you’re able to do with the property. In her case, they were fortunate in being permitted to knock it down and rebuild, which wasn’t something they initially thought they would be allowed to do.

     

    Interview with Arun Alex – England

    For quite some time it has been important to Arun to build an energy efficient home. He has spent the last 4 or 5 years trawling websites to find a suitable plot. One suggestion he was given was to look at the local council website to see where planning permissions have been granted and to try and make contact with the owners.

    Alex_1

     

    Outline or No Planning Permission with the Plot Enabled Arun to Design a House to Suit His Requirements

    While being able to pick up a plot of land more cheaply, buying a plot either with no planning permission or outline planning permission also meant that Arun had the flexibility to create a design for his house that would suit his family and their requirements.

    After missing out on a couple of plots that had outline planning permission, Arun successfully bought a plot at auction that didn’t have any planning permission attached. While a risky strategy, Arun had a preliminary chat with a planning consultant who thought that if the design and scale were right there was a chance that approval might be given. After researching how to come up with a figure for what the house would be valued at, the offer that Arun submitted was calculated based on rough ideas of the cost of the plot, the cost of the build, the type of construction likely to be used and adding a 20-30% uplift.

    Alex_2

     

    Since recording this interview with Arun he has had his planning application refused. He has since purchased another plot in Glastonbury and is currently awaiting full planning approval.

     

    Interview with Glenn Graney – England

    During the economic downturn, Glenn purchased a commercial rental property with a flat upstairs and several garages, with the hope of being able to build a house behind the commercial unit. The advice from a retired chief planning officer was that there was a 50/50 chance of obtaining planning permission. As it happened the council gave planning permission without any problems and Glenn and his girlfriend were able to live in the flat above the commercial unit while the build progressed.

    Glen 4

    Glen 1

    Glen 3

    An opportunity arose following the death of a neighbour to purchase an additional piece of land which made a considerable difference to the size of their garden.

    Glen 2

    Glenn’s advice for plot seekers is to look for houses in poorer areas that have large gardens with the potential to be knocked down and the site divided into two, as buying land is at such a premium.

    Hide House Cullinan Studios
    Hide House Cullinan Studios

    Hide House Cullinan Studios
    Hide House Cullinan Studios

     

    Find Out More

    Find out more in Donal O’Leary’s blog

     

    Transcript

    Download a transcript of the interviews.

     

    Please Connect With Me