Success Stories…
South East Essex
1.2 acre site within a large village / small town.
We were approached initially by the granddaughter of the land owner, asking for help... Her grandfather wanted to sell the land, but she was concerned by what she termed 'tyre kickers and time wasters'. She believed these people were acting too much within their own self-interest. She wanted her family to get the fairest, best possible outcome, one they felt comfortable with.
We looked at the land owner's situation, and did our homework. We could see that all around the site, new builds had gone up. We unearthed evidence the area was within a 50's/60's New Town Development Plan, which we could use as support for our plans.
Our business model is that we pay for all the initial work, the pre-app, the planning application, at no cost to the land owner - our business model is all about us being sure, and if we are sure, we will take the risk...
The family was given the option of two scenarios... one - being paid the largest possible sum for the land plus planning permission... and, two - going in it 'for the long haul', of us building the development and getting the new houses sold, and sharing the proceeds.
In this case, the family thought it best suited their plans, to be paid at the achievement of a successful planning application, and selling the ready-to-go land.
Monetarily, the family had previously been offered £20k to £40k, deals that fortunately (for them and us) never went through to conclusion... their initial asking price to us was £100,000 'take it or leave it'... but with us doing 'our bit', we were able to offer them £350,000 for the site with full planning permission.
Nottinghamshire
2.2 acre land within a town.
This land came to us via a 3rd party concerned that, again, the land owner (in this case an elderly widow) was not going to get a fair price for the land she wanted to sell... land that had been in the family for half a century. The maximum price she had been offered by others was a little over £1M, and it was the land owner's wish for this sum to be split with her family as part of their inheritance.
We were asked to have a look at the situation and report back our thoughts.
We felt that planning would eminently be achievable, and we noticed a new road is being built nearby, this had never been mentioned to the family before - from any previously interested developers.
In this case, the family wanted to do a full Joint Venture with us. This means we are all in it together, with our side looking after the entire development and the sale of the new houses... and the family, and ourselves, equitably and fairly sharing all the proceeds.
Again, all this is at no cost to the family, their only 'cost' being their time.
Planning permission was achieved, and this pushed up the land's actual defined value, from a few thousand pounds, to £2.5M - before any spade hit the ground.
As the family are fully involved with ourselves on the development, their share has risen from the 'best offer of £1M', from other interested parties... to £5.5M.
Lincolnshire
1.7 acres in a village.
The land owner inherited pockets of land over time. Five years ago he sold 1.2 acres to a developer for £350k. Now, he wanted to sell the other 1.7 acres he retained. He called us for our thoughts.
We were able to establish this land was within the council's 'red line' and our advice to him was 'work with us', 'let us develop everything', 'let us see it through to conclusion'. Again, just time... us taking all the risk to drive the project forward.
The maximum price he had been offered for the 1.7 acres, from other parties, was £450k.
On this 1.7 acre site, we are now building 17 executive detached family homes. The land owner's share of this, by working with us on a Joint Venture basis, has risen to £2.2M.
Southampton
2 acres on the outskirts of the city, only 1 acre usable.
The above plot came to us on a buy-it-now basis. No amount of persuasion could make a difference, the seller did not want to enter into any kind of relationship, other than 'just buy it - as is'. The price the seller wanted was £90k.
The seller had been through a few attempts at getting planning permission, each application being refused. The main issue being that certain trees on the site had to remain untouched, half of the site being under a protection order.
We offered a deal of £320k if the land owner waited for us to achieve a successful planning application, or substantially more if they were prepared to wait for the development to be built and sold on a Joint Venture basis. Both of these scenarios were refused, and again, a 'buy it now or walk away' scenario was put to us.
So, we paid the land owner the £90k asking price.
We applied for planning permission soon after buying the land, and were initially refused. Using feedback from the refusal we modified our initial plan, and resubmitted our proposal.
Subsequently, we obtained planning permission, and 4 attractive sympathetically-presented detached bungalows (retail price £1.6M) are now in place... preserving and enhancing the protected area, with the trees left untouched.
Our advice is… if you want to 'just sell', that is completely up to you... if we are sure we can do something with the land, we will buy! It is always worth remembering, we take the risk with our money and time... and of course, we don't always get what we want every time... but we are very experienced and knowledgeable.
Working together fairly and equitably ensures the best and most equally-profitable outcome, for all.
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