"Help us find a plot - quick!"

It was not totally unexpected when my son James announced, "Dad, we have decided that we are going to move down to your neck of the woods."

James and his partner, Laura, met in London and set up home together in a rented house. Then they acquired - perhaps not their most sensible move - two large boxer dogs, and then Laura fell pregnant. They couldn't stay in London and decided that they needed to buy because no landlords would accept their dogs, and they would not be able to afford anything in London. They ended up buying a shoebox in Aylesbury and commuting to London.

After the birth of my grandson, Joshua, Laura had to go back to work and their differing work hours meant that they became like ships that pass in the night, which got them both down, and the long commute was starting to take its toll.

Laura and James had seen me self-build houses and they had both taken a particular interest in my last two projects. So they decided to sell their house and arranged to rent a cottage in the village where I live. Unfortunately, the rental fell through so at short notice they arrived at our home, and their furniture filled our garages. It was clear we needed to find them a plot urgently.

OUR PLOTHUNTERS....

• NAMES: James Snell and Laura Houghton
• AREA: Forest of Dean
• MAX PLOT PRICE: £90,000

OPTION ONE

Plot adjoining 24 Maypole Green, Bream, Glos. Guide price: £100,000

The Expert's Opinion....

When we were first offered this one it was on the basis of the house and plot together, and there was no way that the vendor would split them. Both were for sale at £235,000 and, if the plot was worth around £100,000, that meant that the house was valued at £135,000. Either way, that's how we did the maths because there was no way that James and Laura could buy this on their own and I was going to have to join them.

If we converted the garage of the existing house into extra living accommodation and generally did the place up, it would fetch around £165,000, from which wed have to deduct around £5,000. So there was a profit of around £25,000 there. Then the plot, which was 11m wide, could carry a reasonable four bedroom house. That would cost around £90,000 to build and would probably be worth about £220,000. So there was another £30,000 to be found there, making £55,000 in all. Its not much profit for the amount of work, but at least it would set them up to do another project.

Our Plothunters Say....

This seemed perfect - we could move into the house immediately, do it up and, with dad's help, we could build the new house. We then found out that there was a main sewer running through the land and there was a covenant effectively giving a ransom to the original developer. Then questions were raised about access over the neighbours land. Finally, there was evidence of a public footpath. We began to lose heart.

OPTION TWO

Building plot/conversion, Bristol House, High Street, Bream, Glos. Guide price: £100,000.

The Expert's Opinion

The thing that struck me most of all about the estate agent's details is the way the proposed new bungalow is portrayed in computer graphics as surrounded by a sort of palisade in the middle of lush greenery with views to far distant countryside. In fact, this is the back garden of a house on the main village street and, whilst there are views to distant hills, it is surrounded on all sides by buildings and their gardens. Thats not to say that this plot doesn't have some charms.

It is approached via a driveway that also serves several other houses. It is roughly half the back garden of the house on the front, which is also for sale with planning permission for it to be split into two dwellings. To the rear of the plot there is a triple garage, the footprint of which will form the two bedrooms for the proposed new bungalow. The rest of the accommodation - a bathroom, entrance hall, lounge/kitchen and carport - will be a new construction tacked onto these garages. I really don't think these garages are good enough to convert and I would imagine that they would have to be knocked down and then rebuilt.

OUR PLOTHUNTERS SAY...

This is quite nice really. £100,000 for the land plus build costs of around £80,000 is smack on our budget and, according to the agents, it would have a resale value of around £230,000. That's a margin of £50,000. But could we camp out in this? It would be a bit small, but it's only a stepping stone. If we went for this one, effectively we'd have three times our present equity for the next project. I really think this one is worthy of more consideration.

OPTION THREE

Land adjoining 18 Victoria Road, Coleford, Glos. Price: 80,000.

The Expert's Opinion

Victoria Road is only a few minutes walk from the town centre. At its beginning there are fairly ordinary, yet smart, terraced and semi-detached houses and then, as it rises up the hill, the houses get smarter and there is a park at the top. This plot is halfway along. At the moment its completely unprepossessing as its entire frontage is taken up with two run-down flat-roofed garages. These belong to the end-of-terrace house next door, which could do with some smartening up. The land is fairly narrow barely eight metres wide but it is nearly 50m long and it has detailed planning permission for a three storey house with the potential for four bedrooms. The garage is to be at the back of the plot, approached from a car park at the rear. Wed need to make sure that there was a legal right of way to cross this land as no vehicular access will be permitted at the front.

The site is very overgrown and there is evidence of an old septic tank halfway along its length, although there is a mains sewer in the road.

OUR PLOTHUNTERS SAY....

This is a scrappy plot and you really have to use your imagination to visualise what it could be like. The accommodation would be perfect for us and its close proximity to the town centre, schools and play schools is great. Its a simple design, but it has already got planning permission. The Building Regulations approval has just expired but dad tells us we could build on a Building Notice. I think this is the one we should go for.

THEY CHOSE...OPTION THREE
Land adjoining 18 Victoria Road, Coleford, Glos.

• The Figures
• LAND COST: £80,000
• BUILD COST: £100,000
• TOTAL COST: £180,000
• END VALUE: £250,000
• POTENTIAL SAVING: 28%

OUR EXPERT'S SUMMARY

One of the best things about this plot is that it's well within their price range and, if they need to, they can stay here because what it will provide is quite enough for them for the time being. In the interim they've had another child, Amelia, and with all their friends wanting to visit them in the country, they're going to need those four bedrooms.

The plot isn't without its problems but they don't leave the nasty taste in the mouth that those occurring on the Maypole Green site did, because everybody has been honest about them.

The access to the rear seems to be OK as the residents of many of the houses on Victoria Road got together to purchase the right of way from the local authority. Part of the title is Possessory but the vendors will provide an indemnity policy. Theres also a restrictive covenant dated 1749, but again the vendors will provide insurance.

£80,000 for the land plus build costs of around £100,000 comes exactly to their budget of £180,000, and the agent seems to believe it will be worth at least £250,000 when it has been completed. That's a £70,000 profit margin, which will go a long way to setting this young family up for the future.

OUR PLOTHUNTERS SAY...

When our offer was accepted we contacted BuildStore for the mortgage and they've arranged an Accelerator loan that gives us a fairly comfortable financial cushion. We've been in contact with the builder who's given us a quotation to build the house, which is almost on budget. We'll be buying our own kitchen units, sanitaryware and PVCu windows. Tucked away in the conditions within the planning permission, there's a requirement to provide on-site sewage disposal by means of a mini sewage treatment plant. This is because the mains sewer is overloaded, so we've taken the cost of doing this into account and the builder's price has a provisional sum in for it. Now its all systems go!

Further reading:

• View more Plotfinder Challenges
• Read more from David Snell in his blog