8 weeks to sell house to buy site

CKT

Registered User
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179
Hi,

I have agreed a price with a EA on a site. The seller would not budge on the asking prices and as dicussed on a previous post the EA told me the wrong info about stamp duty.

I have now got the site for €245k from €255k, but I agreed with the EA that if my house doesnt sell in 6-8 weeks we would look a buying the site anyway without selling our house.

What is the best way to handle this situation?
 
Thats, alot of money for a site, just remember you have to build a house on in after.

Me personaly in the current market, i would pull out if I didnt sell my house or the vendor would have to conceed further discount.

I'm not sure that this is the best way to handle your situation, just offering my opinion.

Joejoe
 
I know it's a lot of money, not sure what to do....the site is walking distance to town center, and is in excisting estate. site is 0.33 a.

Should build for €500k in total.

I suppose I can pull out if my house doesnt sell
 
Sounds realistic for a site in that type of location again depending on actual location. Just wait and see how first 3/4 weeks go with the house sale and then you'll be better set to decide on whether you want to take on the site without the back up of having sold your house.
 
Can you afford to buy the site if you cannot sell your own house?

mf
 
I know it's a lot of money, not sure what to do....the site is walking distance to town center, and is in excisting estate. site is 0.33 a.

Should build for €500k in total.

I suppose I can pull out if my house doesnt sell

you dont mind, let us know how you get on, I would be very interested to see how the vendor reacts if you pull out after 8 weeks or so.

Joejoe
 
Can you afford to buy the site if you cannot sell your own house?

mf

I could probably afford if it was interest only, but I dont know if I can do that and I would want to start paying it off aswell.

My broker has told me there are other ways around it aswell, like putting a frezze on the mortgage for a few months, but then that will cost more over the long run. And then if the house prices continue to fall after I have bought the site I might not get as much for my house.
 
8 weeks is less than the average time to sell currently so you will be lucky.

However, put your house on the market at the right price and you will sell. There is demand, but at the right price. The right price may not be the price you "need", but the one the market will except.

My opinion (for what it's worth) is you shouldn't make an offer until you know you have got definite finance in place. What banks will lend you and at what rate, is changing by the week. If you haven't sold you house you don't know what finance you need. For example, what happens if the house you are selling is worth 20% less than what you need to finance your next house?
 
one bit of advice is that if you do buy the site, try to link the sale to a building agreement with a builder, this will save you quite a bit on stamp duty, we saved 10K. what i do notice is that you plan to spend only 255K in total to build the house, from building myself this seems very small, before you go any further i would get a proper quote on what costs are involved to build the house you want (or have planning for), plus make a contigency to furnish/landscape etc...these costs alone are high and many people forget that it may cost x amount to buld the house, which they budget for but to finish it off they haven't budget for and could need 50K plus to finsish off..so make sure you have you calcs done before you proceed.
We bought our site while still holding on to our house, and built it too, but it did take a bit of determination to get funds and interest only (BOS) is the way to go if serious about it.
Best of luck
 
one bit of advice is that if you do buy the site, try to link the sale to a building agreement with a builder, this will save you quite a bit on stamp duty, we saved 10K. what i do notice is that you plan to spend only 255K in total to build the house, from building myself this seems very small, before you go any further i would get a proper quote on what costs are involved to build the house you want (or have planning for), plus make a contigency to furnish/landscape etc...these costs alone are high and many people forget that it may cost x amount to buld the house, which they budget for but to finish it off they haven't budget for and could need 50K plus to finsish off..so make sure you have you calcs done before you proceed.
We bought our site while still holding on to our house, and built it too, but it did take a bit of determination to get funds and interest only (BOS) is the way to go if serious about it.
Best of luck

johnnyg Thanks for the reply, I have asked about linking the sale to a building agreement with a builder before but got no answers....how did you do this. Does the builder not have to pay full stamp duty??

In regards to builder prices I have got 2 prices to build a c. 2385 sq ft house, the house is on a slight hill and will need a bit of dead build for the foundations to level, the builders are aware of this.

First builder has qouted me €195k (€82sq/f) to build a timber frame, no painting, no kitchen, level the garden, no driveway no kerbs, and I think a pc sum for the bathrooms

Second builder has qouted me €286,200 (€120sq/f) to build a brick house, painting on walls and celing, no kitchen, level & seed the garden, tarmac driveway & kerbs, and a pc sum for the bathrooms, he also mentioned a "Smarthomes" type setup were everthing is wired back to a central location?

I realise there will probably be another €50k we will spend somewhere, do you think these prices are ok?
 
Hi,

To finish off your house and I mean landscape, kitchen, tiles floor - your estimate of E50,000 seems very conservative. I like you bought a site - 3 acres early last year - released equity from our house to do it. We have our house for sale for last year - one off house on 1 acre in rural area have reduced price by 10% - still not sold other country houses around haven't sold either and have reduced there price more. We like our house and area but wanted to extend hence when this land came up we said why not build. Building the house is one thing but finishing and landscaping is another - I know having built one before. Always overestimate what you think prices are going to be then if you have any left over well and good. For me for now I think I'll extend our present house. Best of luck with your plans.
 
Hi,

Just an update, my sister has agreed to buy my house, she put her for sale sign up today.
Told the EA, he said that the pressure will be off me now, but now I have to worry about my sister's house selling.......

Another question is:

What stamp duty will she pay on my house, she will be buying with her boyfriend who is a FTB (I know his status probably won't make a difference), is there a special consanguinity relief?
 
Hi CKT,

A building agreement is a signed legal document between your builder and you, it costs the builder nothing, but can save you thousands on stamp duty,,,at no cost to the builder and its legal...the seller of the site must agree to include this as an attachment to the site contract...i don't think the seller will object either as it means nothing to them..
 
CKT

How does your sister agreeing to buy your house take the pressure off you? It just puts the pressure on both of you as far as I can see.

What you need is a loan approved buyer who is not in the chain. If your sister goes sale agreed and the deal falls through after two months, you are in back to square one. If someone who is not dependent on selling a house agrees to buy yours, you have a much better chance.

I would say that the owner of the site will continue to entertain offers from other people until you have the contracts signed.

Brendan
 
one bit of advice is that if you do buy the site, try to link the sale to a building agreement with a builder, this will save you quite a bit on stamp duty, we saved 10K.

I don't believe that advising the OP to manufacture a connection or arrangement between the vendor and a builder in order to avoid stamp duty is good advice.

I wouldn't get involved in doing this myself- there either is a connection or arrangement or not. Not least because part of the relevant section ( s.29 SDCA 1999) states:

"
For the purpose of determining whether this section shall apply to any instrument, the Commissioners may require the delivery to them, in such form as they may specify, of a statement or a statutory declaration by—
(a) any person directly or indirectly concerned with the sale of the land or with the building of a dwellinghouse or apartment on the land, and
(b) any solicitor acting on behalf of any person to whom paragraph (a) relates,
of any facts which the Commissioners consider relevant in making any such determination."
 
CKT

How does your sister agreeing to buy your house take the pressure off you? It just puts the pressure on both of you as far as I can see.

What you need is a loan approved buyer who is not in the chain. If your sister goes sale agreed and the deal falls through after two months, you are in back to square one. If someone who is not dependent on selling a house agrees to buy yours, you have a much better chance.

I would say that the owner of the site will continue to entertain offers from other people until you have the contracts signed.

Brendan

Brendan,

I totally agree with you, I spoke to the EA about this, he said that the vendor wanted to see an "interest" in our house in that time frame, as the house would not sell in that time.

It would suit us better if my sister bought the house, as she would not put us under pressure to move out straight away. She is going to stay with boyfriends parents,and she could store her stuff in our house.

But all that said an approved buyer who is not in the chain would be a better option.
 
I don't believe that advising the OP to manufacture a connection or arrangement between the vendor and a builder in order to avoid stamp duty is good advice.

I wouldn't get involved in doing this myself- there either is a connection or arrangement or not. Not least because part of the relevant section ( s.29 SDCA 1999) states:

"
For the purpose of determining whether this section shall apply to any instrument, the Commissioners may require the delivery to them, in such form as they may specify, of a statement or a statutory declaration by—
(a) any person directly or indirectly concerned with the sale of the land or with the building of a dwellinghouse or apartment on the land, and
(b) any solicitor acting on behalf of any person to whom paragraph (a) relates,
of any facts which the Commissioners consider relevant in making any such determination."

Vanilla, excuse my ignorance, but I don't understand this.......does it mean we can't lie?
 
Vanilla,

if you read it correctly, i wasn't telling the OP to "manufacture" a building agreement to save on stamp duty, i was telling him to get a building agreement in place and link it to the sale of the site...there is nothing illegal about what i said and is done very commonly, it seems that its interpretation has been taken to be dodgy/illegal in some way..very common on this site.
 
Hi CKT,

A building agreement is a signed legal document between your builder and you, it costs the builder nothing, but can save you thousands on stamp duty,,,at no cost to the builder and its legal...the seller of the site must agree to include this as an attachment to the site contract...i don't think the seller will object either as it means nothing to them..

What else would you call this suggestion other than manufacturing a relationship or arrangement that was not already in place? :rolleyes:
 
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