Auctions to Off Plan purchases?

Yesterday I covered Auctions and today Off Plan purchases. We have a change of Prime Ministers and we must give the lad a chance. Boris needs a Housing Czar!

In my neck of the woods houses are going up like never before, but developers cannot find a sufficient work force. That is a problem for the new PM to resolve. There is no better Investment than Bricks and Mortar. Whether, you are a Property Investor, Landlord, or Owner Occupier dip your bread in the gravy whilst there is plenty there.

When I first purchased off plan it was great. Walk in and pay a £250 Reservation Fee to secure the, then, unbuilt house, but better still secure the price. The Developer cannot increase it. However, nine months later when completing the house will have increased in value, whilst being built, on an Ascending Market.

Take no Notice of the Developer saying it takes three months to build. It takes nine months!

How you get on is very much dependant on your negotiating skills. It should be 5% deposit, but I negotiated just £1,000 with the Developer shortly before him saying it is not worth bothering with £1,000 so let’s exchange on £nil deposit. One Developer said he thought he had been “mugged” by me, but in the end he sold me about 70 houses.

That was 70 bottles of Champagne! However, I said keep the champagne and just give me two ten litre cans of paint specific to the “batch” for each house. They were labelled up and went into the store.

Lenders will permit a revaluation after six months so just before completion (on 14days Notice) ask for a revaluation. You may well find a 15% increase in value and hence do not put in a penny.

All my Off Plans were purchased with Interest Only mortgages. If Boris wishes to see a massive input by Investors he needs to ensure a supply of Interest Only mortgages and restore tax relief at the Headline Rate. Further he needs to ensure a level playing field on disposal of 10% CGT.

People are living longer. Boris needs to look at Retirement Villages. However, I do say they are not an Investment for the Novice Property Investor who really needs to look to General Needs housing. In simple English that is family housing which starts with the two bed Mid Terrace. However, you may find that the tenants are childless on the whole.

With houses going up at the rate they are then I can only suggest the route forward is “off plan” purchases.

Fergus Wilson

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