dakid

My wife and I are considering building our next home, and I was wondering whether someone might be able to say whether we're likely to be able to build the kind of house we're after. Essentially, we want to build a Georgian house that looks like it was originally an 18th Century rectory. e.g. something after this fashion, albeit on a slightly smaller scale ) What I'm concerned about is that I'm going to really struggle to achieve this with my budget (around £750k including plot, and a minimum of 250 sq.m). Might anyone be able to offer an opinion on whether I'm dreaming of the impossible, and to therefore bring me back to reality? The ideal location is village or edge-of-village, and within a 1 hour commute of London, but if there's any flexibility it's most readily to be found in moving to within a 1.5 hour commute to London! I'm also very worried about whether a planning officer would ever let us build something that looks like it's not modern and directly comparable to the properties around it (because these style of properties are not all that common). Subjective opinions and thoughts are really most welcome on such a vague question, and thank you in advance for any help you may be able to offer!!

Hi all, My wife and I have been thinking about self-building for a while now. What we're after, as a house, doesn't really seem to exist, and the opportunity to create exactly what we do want is irresistible. Unfortunately, we know nothing about how to finance this, and while we're looking to potentially start in a couple of years time, rather than now, I'd like to find out as much as I can about this aspect in plenty of time to make the necessary arrangements. I currently have a £280k mortgage on a house that was valued a few months ago at £725k. I earn £90k and am 40 years old. Does this offer enough information to confirm/reject the assumption that I will be able to spend £725k on a new self-build, or will I always be looking at less money available to me than if I were buying a new house, rather than building? How does one go about building a house, while also living somewhere, without being stuck in a B&B for a period of time? Assuming that, during the build, we live either on-site in some sort of mobile-home or perhaps nearby in rented accommodation, how would we obtain the money to buy the land (which I'm expecting to be around £400k), while still living somewhere? We are very much hoping that there's some possibility of not moving from our current house until we have planning permission and are ready to begin work on the new one, yet we do not have the funds just lying around to purchase the land outright. Thank you in advance for any help you can offer, even if that's to point me at some kind of online resource that answers all my (what must be obvious) questions! Many thanks, Martin