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News: Homeowners in valuation warning

Mon, 13 Aug 07

Homeowners have been urged to consider their ‘land potential’ before selling up...

House values can sometimes be misleading, and an Estate Agent will visit your property with a view to marketing. He will take into account your home as seen, and based on his expertise, will give you an overall market value.

What he won’t take into consideration is the value of your land as a separate entity and this is where you could find a considerable difference in your financial status.

“Land, particularly in the South East, is well sought after and developers, such as ourselves, are prepared to consider private home owners’ land potential at no cost to the owner and with no obligation”, says Mary-Anne Staddon, Sales Director of Fernham Homes based in Kent.

The land on which your house is sitting could be an opportunity to raise capital and it doesn’t mean you have to sell the family home.

Consider your options

There are basically three options when considering benefiting from your freehold land.

  • You can sell your house and garden and move away with a substantially larger sum of money, which should potentially be tax free, because of the land build opportunity at your plot.

  • You can remain in your house, keep a smaller garden and sell off the remaining plot for building purposes. This allows you to have no moving costs yet receive a financial boost.

  • You could look to buying and moving into the new home built on your land and sell the original home.

These options give you flexibility to suit your own personal needs.

If you feel your garden is too small then do consider that if you are a corner plot or indeed your garden backs onto others, then you and your neighbours could perhaps all benefit from planning permission being granted.

New build also has the advantage of “bringing up” an area and by the very presence of say a new house or bungalow in the locality, the original houses may take on a higher value.

The difficulty for home owners is that they are not normally in a position to know whether planning permission is likely to be granted nor indeed how to go about the procedure. This is when consulting a recognised and reputable development company can pay dividends.

Different perspectives

Modern technology allows a developer to look at the layout of your property, on computer, based on your postal code. This allows them to consider the lay of the land, site lines, build density etc which will, in the first instance, determine whether the proposal is feasible.

If your property appears in general terms to be a possibility, the developer will then call and look at the land/garden in more detail and discuss with the owner their needs and concerns. All of this is without cost or obligation.

“Most home owners need the assistance of a developer when it comes to the stage of getting planning” continues Mary-Anne. “Every local council has a different perspective on this type of back land development, so approaching the planning office in the first instance with an application that is going to receive a favourable response is essential”.

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