The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Buildings & planning => Topic started by: smallholder in the city on February 25, 2012, 06:43:19 pm
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Interesting article in Guardian about an Irish architect who built his own 3 bed house for £21000. He's made all the plans availabe online for free here:
http://www.irishvernacular.com/index.html (http://www.irishvernacular.com/index.html)
Here's the link to the article about it: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/24/homes-self-build (http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/24/homes-self-build)
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I like it. We have vague notions of building a small office here, this sort of thing on a smaller scale would be ideal.
Not sure if the planning regs are as lax in Ireland as they once were, I'd be interested to know if you'd get permission in the UK to build it?
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just before the bottom fell out the construction industry you would not get two foundations up to floor level for that money
Dan if you are serious about an office you can get very good portakabins for not much money and any size you want and the planning are easier with them not a chance of every converting them into a house
but then i could be having a laugh ;) :farmer:
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Not very pretty, is it? Mine cost £129K in 2005, 4 double bedrooms, bathroom same size, dining room twice that, family room half as much again and lounge twice that! Sold it it 2 and a half years after moving in for more than double.
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well done you.
in cornwall theres 23 000 people on the housing register, thats ust less than one in ten of the population here.
i would love to build a 21k house but the land price for that size footprint here would be at least double that.
'pretty' really doesnt matter.
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'pretty' really doesnt matter.
It does to me, an investment that size I have to be able to enjoy. ;D
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theres nothing pretty about a housing market collapse.
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'pretty' really doesnt matter
unfortunately it does matter the the council planning dept - they're more interested in 'preserving the countryside' for those who can afford to live there than providing housing for people on a limited budget.
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there is NO housing for people on a limited budget. and its only going to get worse.
here in cornwall the average wage is 16k and the average house price 250k 25% of the housing stock is second homes.
tho if i had made 150k in two years by doing nothing id be feeling 'pretty' smug too.
the trouble is, the poor dont go away and they reproduce quicker.
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'pretty' really doesnt matter
unfortunately it does matter the the council planning dept - they're more interested in 'preserving the countryside' for those who can afford to live there than providing housing for people on a limited budget.
Hmm, a little simplified methinks. I built up the value of property by selling at increased values due to making improvements as I went along - I wasn't suddenly 'able to afford' to live in the countryside - we lived in town, bought a house in a good estate on a high mortgage while we were earning well, and moved to the countryside to a lower value property by dropping as much of the mortgage as we could when the children were old enough to travel to town themselves. We spent money improving that place, and when my husband was killed in an accident the mortgage was paid off, and I moved a couple of years later and did the same, bought for less than I sold, spent the balance doing it up, etc and gradually built up equity. It is hard work and takes a lot of brain power. And I don't feel smug. ;D I feel smart. >:( we started with a flat worth £3000 in Aberdeen and a mortgage of £2950! ::)
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and impossible to do now.
unless you start with a less than pretty house for 21k
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If you want to build 'pretty' that is a personal perogative.
Sadly, the planning system in this country is based on preserving appearances rather than creating enough homes for all. You just have to remember that the planning sytem is dictated by those already living in well off abodes. The last thing they want is the masses enjoying the same right.
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Great to read, how despite her sad loss, Doganjo's efforts has enabled her to be where she is now.
I agree it is a difficult property market now - gone are the days we could double the value of a 3 bed house in London in 14th months ( and escape to Suffolk) or get a 95% mortgage.
The cheap kit house is interesting. Here land is cheap and most French buy the new "leggo" houses that all look so similar. That is because the quaint french farm house costs a fortune to renovate. There are hundreds of old empty small farm houses with land - only the Brits or Dutch want them.
We have a barn we don't use and it would be cheaper to knock it down and build a new kit house than to renovate it.
Log cabins - there are 3 plots around us with people living in a caravan whilst building a log cabin.
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There will always be a 'bubble' to ride - you just have to spot it before the bubble takes off. Everyone has an equal opportunity to do that, but maybe not the skills or the bottle? Who knows - I see little point in condemning anyone who made money in the housing boom, anyone who made it on the internet boom, anyone who made it in the land grab boom, anyone who made it in the .... well you get my gist.
The coutryside is the countryside for a reason - if you could buy a few acres and build a £21,000 home on it with easy planning - it wouldn't be the countryside anymore would it?
Baz
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Who knows - I see little point in condemning anyone who made money in the housing boom.......
That's true, but all these booms do have consequences, and the housing boom in particular has robbed the young to give to the old. It all makes that dream of a wee place in the country (or frankly the city) unaffordable for the vast majority. The trouble is, so much of our economy is now built on this house price bubble, the government cannot afford to let it pop as it would have done by now without the endless injections of cheap cash financed by, oh yes, the next generation again!
So, for £21,000 it sure ain't pretty, but if it gets you your slice of the Good Life and independence from the bank manager that bit quicker, why not?
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I do have a 'predicament' around the subject as I agree to both sides. But that brings me to believe thats its a 'divide' that should be adjusted - and adjusted up and together not bow down.
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There is no solution - only ideals. I've given up politics to look after myself and when I can help others. I spent hours and hours shouting and question time, delivering party political leaflets and trying to provide 'ideal' solutions. But in the end - if your not involved in politics - all you can do is what you can.
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Great to read, how despite her sad loss, Doganjo's efforts has enabled her to be where she is now.
The house build was a project to get me over the second sad loss when my second husband was killed in an avalanche (not his fault!), and each time almost all profits were ploughed back in - so i am not rich beyond compare - I have moved to Central Scotland where my new house in Aberdeenshire with 10 acres was worth the same as this one, smaller, and not so well built, with one acre (but near my kids which is worth millions more than any house)
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dogano, please accept my apology here for saying you were smug, it was a bad choice of words on my part and not quite what i meant to say. for any offence caused, im sorry. :bouquet:
i admit to being a bit sore that my life hasnt enabled me to get anywhere near the housing ladder, the only time i did get close i had to stop and look after my daughter full time.
it does annoy me that lots and lots of poeple in this country have to raise families in sheds, chalets, b+b's and caravans (i dont mean travellers, they choose that way) and statics, because there is no adequate social housing provision. the rise of the slum landlord is well documented.
it also really p.....s me off that buy to let mortgages are being paid off with housing benefit from the government.
the house market bubble was and is still financed by the government.
i recieve benefits but still work and pay income tax, if i could work full time, my income still would not be enough to afford me buying a house, so now nearing 40 im accepting of the fact i will never own my own house. and that does, i confess p..s me the f..k off!!
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simplified there is the haves and the have nots if you buy a plot of land and are successful in getting planning and able to afford the house build you should make money as does everybody along the gravy train so what what about the old couple that bought a bungalow in the fifty's for a few hundred pounds and never moved there house is worth hundreds of thousands of pounds even the farmer that bought his farm for £50 per acre now worth £10000 an acre and that is without the farm house times change and inflation is the only cause of this spiraling valuations there always were people that could not afford there own house and always will be :farmer:
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The first mortgage I had was from Northern Rock - self certified - no proof of earnings was needed and I did it right on the tailend before the collapse. I simply lied and made up what I was earning and claimed it was my first year in self employment and had no proof of earnings on paper.
Luckily I was single, had a job and no kids - so it made no sense to be paying cash for rent as a mortgage was not only cheaper but I was also paying into a mortgage fund that would eventually mean the house was signed over to me.
Today its harder to lie and get a mortgage you have to invent a company and then say you work for them, get a few payslips printed and hardest of all come up with a substantial deposit to show your committed. Or you need to have a job that earns over your outgoings so you can save.
I agree with robert - simplified there will always be the have and the have nots - but in the housing market it swings both ways. People renting have:- (in an ideal world) no responsibility for upgrading properties in any way like fixing boilers, putting new roofs on every few years, painting and decorating, they are not tied to the housing market if they want to move, building insurance costs etc etc
The housing market is also not the only market where you see such 'profits' - if you had kept that old ford escort you had as a teenager it would be worth thousands now. If you'd have bought that domain name for £50 early on in the internet boom it could be worth £xxx,xxx now, if youd invested in land 20 years ago youd be creaming it.
Landlords also pay tax on their income and also tax on any profits from the sale of properties - but I guess the area is rife with fraud and unscrupulous landlords.
I am speaking as a total outsider here as I own a 5 properties now with no mortgages on any of them - but this is my business - and I pay tax on every penny of my income and paid tax on every penny it cost me to buy those properties.
The housing price bubble is and never was powered solely by housing benefit claimants - most landlords will not rent to housing benefit claimants because most of them dont know how to look after a house as their own. - Ok so I am playing devils advocate here - but their is no 'right' to own a house - Thatcher + successive governments should have never sold off housing stock - we should as a country be able to supply and build housing for everyone at costs that can be sustained by the tax paying workers. I certainly dont want a load of homeless people living in caravans parking up near me where their only income is robbing and stealing to survive. Its why I pay tax because I believe I've had a little more cake than I deserve and should spread a little around.
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i agree that there is no right to OWN a house, but there is a human right to live in one.
that right is being undermined by the housing market,in 24 years i have yet to rent a property where the landlord has undertaken any work to the betterment of the property, i have asked before for improvements on properties and consequentially recieved my notice to leave. there is always someone waiting to take any house in whatever state it is. some estimates put the number of homeless in temporary accomodation in this country at 800 000.
im lucky, ive got somewhere, but I know of families living in places you wouldnt house a dog, and paying rent to a landlord through housing benefit. this is NOT uncommon. i appreciate that maybe im coming at this from a slightly different angle, having struggled through to a position where i now have a house, and indeed the internet.
there is, i agree, always going to be the haves and have nots, but when hope is lost as it is now for most of the have nots, where does that leave society as a whole?
i wonder how many peoples 2nd home mortgages have been paid off by tenants on housing benefit? its happening all around me here in cornwall. the landlord just increases the rent to cover his increase in taxes, the housing benefit gets more and more reduced and more families are put into poverty. it isnt sustainable,it isnt moral, it isnt humane and the riots of last year were only a hint of what could happen if housing in this country isnt sorted. more 21k houses please and LOTS of them.
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well i will disagree with bazzais
that old ford escort i had one and a succession of Opel's the proper Opel's they were rotten and to rebuild them properly costs more than they are worth
the last council house building programme was full of corruption and the unit cost of each was far greater thanself build
but that white manta A and kadett c coupe were sex on wheels and still are if you can afford one :farmer:
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and ive got a rather special mk1 golf in my shed ;)
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very lucky you DTW :farmer:
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ah mite be broke robert, but i ent daft. :D
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If anyone is looking for a builder in Central Scotland then get in touch with Craig's Eco Construction. Michal Sroka, a (rather handsome, ladies!!!) Polish guy, runs the company and they were astonishingly cost effective, time effective, willing to work with eco materials and technology, clean, honest, fun, tidy, skilled...... I could go on and on. Michal has recently started doing prefab houses using cost (and eco) effective materials. I feel so strongly about this company that every year I attend the Homebuilding And Renovations Show in Glasgow, and stand with them as a client promoting this company. We encountered many cowboy builders on our initial foray into tenders, and were horrified by the lack of detail and information in quotes, the attitudes..... again - I could go on. And no, they're not paying me. ;D
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Buy to Let is what has effectively destroyed the housing market for first time buyers and I would end it immediately with huge taxation for owning more than one home. Soon, however, the free market will finally tip the scales back into the favour of the working young. Rents are not going up in the foreseable future because people just cannot pay anymore and increasingly they actually will not. Interest rates, however, run in cycles of consecutive periods of an average of fifteen. Therefore you can expect, from such historic lows, 15 - 20 rises in interest rates of at least 0.25% a time. From present levels it does not take mastermind to work out that mortgage rates will triple from current levels and soon many bald headed eggheads will appear on the news to tell us how they knew this would happen all along with the printing of extra money, as it always has historically led to gross inflation. More QE is on the horizon so more to blame it on coming soon. Once rates have reached 7% or 8% again and no tenants can possibly afford to pay double their existing rent and no landlords can possibly afford to subsidise the additional mortgage payments the inevitable selling will begin, along with defaults, repossessions and more screaming unhappy families crying on the news. The housing market will collapse, albeit briefly, either through interest rate rises or just the fact our society cannot be permanently housed and sustained by the tax paying few, especially given another 5 million immigrants have joined it over the past decade. House prices and rents have never been so grossly distorted when compared to the average wage and anyone who thinks this is sustainable in any long-term way is the likely to be the type of idiot who is renting out three homes he 'owns' through overpriced, buy-to-let mortgage arrangements and when the wheels fall of that particular wagon we may start to solve the housing problem for first time buyers.
I think the price of housing and the opportunities to buy a home for the first time is a pretty touchy subject for those of us between 30 and 40 who have been unable to get onto the housing ladder. Many who normally would have been able to have been absolutely crippled throughout their 20's paying off university expenses and many I know still are. Once they have paid off that 20 - 30k they can start saving the same again to eventually be able to borrow 20 times their salary - does that sound like a working and sustainable system to you?
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ive finished paying my student loan about 7 yrs ago.
to buy a house now, if i could raise a 10% deposit of 25k id have to borrow about 10x my annual income. so to pay off a mortgage it would take half of my income for the next 20 yrs. that would buy me a small 2 bed cottage here in cornwall. with no land i might add so where would my poor chickens go?? ;D
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but that old golf might just get you the deposit ;) ;) :farmer:
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I think the price of housing and the opportunities to buy a home for the first time is a pretty touchy subject for those of us between 30 and 40 who have been unable to get onto the housing ladder. Many who normally would have been able to have been absolutely crippled throughout their 20's paying off university expenses and many I know still are. Once they have paid off that 20 - 30k they can start saving the same again to eventually be able to borrow 20 times their salary - does that sound like a working and sustainable system to you?
You are absolutely right. If there was anything good came out of Sandy being killed in a car accident it was that our children were given enough money from the settlement to buy a small flat, which let them get a foot on the ladder. I suppose if he had lived we might all still be living together in one house! ::) Not an attractive thought :'( - I need my own space ;D
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but that old golf might just get you the deposit ;) ;) :farmer:
maybe in about 20yrs time robert, what it might do is get my daughter hers ;)
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Rents and buying a house is a major expense for anyone, goomh rapidly are the days of inheritance and soon when the elderly relitive dies thier house will be used to pay off deubts, thats if they have thier own house. I noticed where I once owned a semi, its now be split into 2......I bought in low cost times and sold for high prices but now I doubt that will ever happen, people must be loosing thousands, glad I am not selling but I would love some money to snap up a bargain or two. I had a brother who was a lot older, sadly passed away now, but he rented a farm, thats one way to enjoy the farm or smallholding life although I am not sure there are many of them around. We will all end up sharing houses with all our relatives, caring for each other...that sounds ideal :-J
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I e-mailed my brother today to show him a house as a way out of the rat race in Cambridge.
There is a 4 bedroom house, attached barn and another barn with 1000 m2 of garden going near us for 46 K. Oh it has a new roof, wood burning stoves with back up electric heating plus a new roof. More land can be rented but the point is there is no work here and there are many propertys like this here. Its OK if you have a few quid tucked away and want a smallholding and live simply but all the youngsters leave the area for work. My brother could afford to sell up , stop workm but this cheap house and live of his equity until his pensions kick in. Will he ? No - because his girls may wantt to live with them after they graduate and he probably wants to leave them a few quid when he dies - and he will soon if he does not stop stressing so much.
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We considered using hebridean homes (http://www.hebrideanhomes.com (http://www.hebrideanhomes.com))...their designs are pretty close to the Irish chap's and their SIP Home Kit prices start from £20,500!!! They also offer a water and wind tight installation as well as a full turnkey option.