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Anyone Built Their Own House?

I recognise that place.

That pretty little stream in the pics?.........turns into a raging river once every 5 years and floods the surrounding area.

Just saying like.

Lol, I've checked the environment agency stuff, it has historical flood warnings for the botton section of the field, so that will be my veg patch, should we be able to get it.

Nice try though!
 
Had a bit of a kick in the teeth to our plans/hopes. The wife got offered the first job she was interviewed for, but it is only on part-time hours with none guaranteed, so our loan status isn't good enough for our current mortgage provider (leeds building society), plus I found it takes 3-4 weeks to get approval which if turned down would leave us in the bricker!

She will have her next interview next week, which is full time hours and will make us robust for borrowing, so we are thinking of using Zopa (or similar), anyone have experience of peer2peer lending? it looks good and much cheaper than banks, no early repayment penalties which is ideal as we would be looking to sell our place next spring if we get this (or other) land, plus accelerate our repayments once we have two incomes.
 
Yes, we did last year.
As I am self employed and only need an internet connection and a phone for my work, I can work from basically anywhere. We decided to get out of the hastle of Nairobi, the capital and move to Mombasa.
We built our villa on a one acre beachfront plot, overlooking the Indian Ocean.

As I am useless at doing any sort of building work, we left it to to the experts.
- We idintified a good architect who had done beachfront houses. However, we wanted somthing different. We took him to Dubai - the Madinat Jumerah, and visited some villas called Dar al Massyaf.
- The architect and us finialized the detailed designs.
- We then appointed a quantity surveyor and a structual engineer. These guys worked with the designs to produce detailed structual requirements and then a detailed Bill of Materials. This resulted in a detailed tender document.
- We then sent the tender to 5 building firms for their detailed quotations, terms, timeframes etc.
- We selected the best and now we have a great 3 floor villa, with a rooftof bar & grill- where I spend most of my time - drinking, cooking, watching the ocean, dolphins, whales and ALSO working.

We found the whole 15 month effort;
- Enjoyable - as we could see our dream house take shape
- Frustating - as some some sub contractors delayed their time schedules.
- Stressful - to the bank balance

All in all it was graet, we could and maybe do it again.
 
Thanks Kenyan.

The auction for the land was today, I'm a little gutted as I bottled out at 21K and it went for 22k! Beforehand I had every intention of bidding up to 25k but just started thinking of the risks of going above our comfort zone of 22k, really surprised at myself as everyone who knows me thought I'd be much more prone to getting carried away, rather than being cautious, still wish I'd bid once more though!

Oh well, it wasn't to be for now, but the misses has an interview for a job she really wants on monday so if she gets that we can look again in the coming months knowing it isn't completely out of reach.
 
There'll be other plots. All good practice. At least you had the beans to have a go, auctions are scary!
 
Thanks Kenyan.

The auction for the land was today, I'm a little gutted as I bottled out at 21K and it went for 22k! Beforehand I had every intention of bidding up to 25k but just started thinking of the risks of going above our comfort zone of 22k, really surprised at myself as everyone who knows me thought I'd be much more prone to getting carried away, rather than being cautious, still wish I'd bid once more though!

Oh well, it wasn't to be for now, but the misses has an interview for a job she really wants on monday so if she gets that we can look again in the coming months knowing it isn't completely out of reach.

@ Gifter. Sorry to hear about that. You should have gone to your comfort zone. However, it depends on many many things. To me personally land is KING. I personally buy any land that I think has value and potential for the future.

For example, the one acre beachfront plot where we built our house cost me UK pounds 40K, about 3 years ago. Today the same plots are going for about 100K. I wish I had bought some more.
Anyway mate, hope things work out for you, and you get your dream plot/house.
COYS
 
Thanks Kenyan.

The auction for the land was today, I'm a little gutted as I bottled out at 21K and it went for 22k! Beforehand I had every intention of bidding up to 25k but just started thinking of the risks of going above our comfort zone of 22k, really surprised at myself as everyone who knows me thought I'd be much more prone to getting carried away, rather than being cautious, still wish I'd bid once more though!

Oh well, it wasn't to be for now, but the misses has an interview for a job she really wants on monday so if she gets that we can look again in the coming months knowing it isn't completely out of reach.

Maybe not such a bad thing. Unless the plot was something exceptional, have you really lost out? Now you can reflect on what seems good value and go into the next one better informed and more experienced. Also any decision is probably better when the missus' situation is resolved.

Don't lose interest after one setback. Keep trying and wait until you are sure.
 
Maybe not such a bad thing. Unless the plot was something exceptional, have you really lost out? Now you can reflect on what seems good value and go into the next one better informed and more experienced. Also any decision is probably better when the missus' situation is resolved.

Don't lose interest after one setback. Keep trying and wait until you are sure.

Agreed jts, thanks. It felt like a real let down of course, still does as there is nothing close to it currently available, but the land sloped down facing north which would have made building on it very difficult (getting light into the house, extra build costs etc).

Hopefully the wife will get her job, then once she is in it a month (or so) we can go more aggressively after the next plot, knowing we are in a stronger position.

It's definitely reinforced our feeling that we can do it though.
 
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