Approaches from Developers

[Snowy90]

Morning,

So for the sake of clarity I am land a development consultant working on my own for the last 13 years, before that 20 years working for Housebuilders and home owners to realise their property goals.

For years, it has been standard practice to trawl the OS maps in search of plots that may have development potential and write to the owners enquiring whether they are interested in selling. Mostly unsuccessful, a couple of clients stated that their response rate is 1:100!

What has lead to me posting this is my parents sit on a large plot of land that screams development and without fail they get about 4-5 letters a year from developers. So i wondered if this is common place around the country or is it a South East phenomenon.

But also as a guilty party in this practice i wanted to better understand peoples view on receiving such a letter.

I suppose i want to gauge people opinions and see if there is a better way to reach people rather than this intrusive and quite frankly old fashioned way.

Be gentle! i appreciate developers are not the most popular of professions but we all need homes. And my first passion is Landrovers and anything to do with Metal!

Thanks

 

[8ob]

You can do all the footwork before you knock on the door, if you are sure of yourself you should be able to offer them a option and hand over a retainer.Too many developers employ wishy washy planning consultants that drag their heels for years and generally hack off the property owners, money talks.
We clear a lot of land banks for developers, some of the sites are ten years plus in the making, more the reason to cough up a large sum to secure the purchase and keep the seller on side.


Bob

 

[Keith 66]

Most people if approached cold will ignore & bin any approaches regardless of where they come from. I think the likelyhood of approaches being successful is only when the occupants get old, need to go into care or pass away, then the matter gets pressing.
In my parents case the land on tha face of it was an ideal development oportunity with a long plot the top part of which had its own access. Unfortunately there were restrictive covenants on it preventing building development, we asked the estate if they would lift them & how much but they simply refused to talk about it. So that was that.
We are now in the position of Mil's house & huge garden will have to be disposed of before many years are out. She is 91 & very frail.
There have been a few developers sniffing round already but the least pushy will get first pop!

 

[jerrytug]

Our green and pleasant land is being concreted over. Personally speaking, we would set the dogs on you.

 

[Blobber]

Our green and pleasant land is being concreted over. Personally speaking, we would set the dogs on you.

^^^this, I know its your job but its probably on a par with used car salesmen, estate agents and solicitors
Sorry nothing helpfull to add apart from getting your parents plot developed

 

[gaz1]

What has lead to me posting this is my parents sit on a large plot of land that screams development and without fail they get about 4-5 letters a year from developers. So i wondered if this is common place around the country or is it a South East phenomenon.

But also as a guilty party in this practice i wanted to better understand peoples view on receiving such a letter.

I suppose i want to gauge people opinions and see if there is a better way to reach people rather than this intrusive and quite frankly old fashioned way.

im going to put it this way

i find it a bit of a greedy con where the owners are fleeced out of a good cash cow if you want it bluntly said

lets just say if your parents put up there home on a mortgage and then built there own propertys they would have there own cash and plenty of it due to the propertys that they could build with and sell themselves

if theres a few of you willing to put up there homes for a mortgage and willing to partner up then you all get your share of there profits

not everyone can afford this but you can build a few houses and before the expensive materials went up then you could sell for near on double the build price or even tripple the build price depending on where you live

you can also build a house sell it and start on the next one but many places dont like building sites when there living on it so devalues the property rather well until its built

my final comment here and ive seen it often is where land buyers buy it and then sit on it doing nothing waiting for more and more value as they cant build on green belt land so the value near on tripples in value

you have to remember im the builder you could build a house for 30.000 and sell it for double and even tripple that price

 

[Snowy90]

Our green and pleasant land is being concreted over. Personally speaking, we would set the dogs on you.

Your absolutely right, bet you didnt expect that! lol It makes my blood boil when we get empty homes or industrial sites sitting empty for years by wealthy landlords that simply cant be bothered to renovate as the value goes up with them not doing anything OR planning authorities wont allow developers to carry out the right type of development.

Greenbelt release should be the last resort once ALL urban areas have been exhausted.

 

[Cato]

I suppose i want to gauge people opinions and see if there is a better way to reach people rather than this intrusive and quite frankly old fashioned way.

Be gentle! i appreciate developers are not the most popular of professions

Going by the second sentence you already know the answer.

There is no way to 'cold call' people without being intrusive as it is by definition an intrusion.

 

[Snowy90]

im going to put it this way

i find it a bit of a greedy con where the owners are fleeced out of a good cash cow if you want it bluntly said

lets just say if your parents put up there home on a mortgage and then built there own propertys they would have there own cash and plenty of it due to the propertys that they could build with and sell themselves

if theres a few of you willing to put up there homes for a mortgage and willing to partner up then you all get your share of there profits

not everyone can afford this but you can build a few houses and before the expensive materials went up then you could sell for near on double the build price or even tripple the build price depending on where you live

you can also build a house sell it and start on the next one but many places dont like building sites when there living on it so devalues the property rather well until its built

my final comment here and ive seen it often is where land buyers buy it and then sit on it doing nothing waiting for more and more value as they cant build on green belt land so the value near on tripples in value

you have to remember im the builder you could build a house for 30.000 and sell it for double and even tripple that price

makes perfect sense, but from my experience people are put off by the high cost/risk of getting thrie own planning permission, then getting funding without risking all that you have worked hard to have, then getting the right builder who isnt going to leave you high and dry and this isn't even before we get into materials costs. This is why most people work with developers.

 

[Snowy90]

You can do all the footwork before you knock on the door, if you are sure of yourself you should be able to offer them a option and hand over a retainer.Too many developers employ wishy washy planning consultants that drag their heels for years and generally hack off the property owners, money talks.
We clear a lot of land banks for developers, some of the sites are ten years plus in the making, more the reason to cough up a large sum to secure the purchase and keep the seller on side.


Bob

Bob,
Sounds like we are in the same game

 

[Snowy90]

Most people if approached cold will ignore & bin any approaches regardless of where they come from. I think the likelyhood of approaches being successful is only when the occupants get old, need to go into care or pass away, then the matter gets pressing.
In my parents case the land on tha face of it was an ideal development oportunity with a long plot the top part of which had its own access. Unfortunately there were restrictive covenants on it preventing building development, we asked the estate if they would lift them & how much but they simply refused to talk about it. So that was that.
We are now in the position of Mil's house & huge garden will have to be disposed of before many years are out. She is 91 & very frail.
There have been a few developers sniffing round already but the least pushy will get first pop!

I have long believed its a matter of timing, i have had people keep my letters and 10 years later they get intouch for the reasons you state or deceased and children take on the property.

I love looking at titles and covenants, happy to take a look for you.

 

[Snowy90]

Going by the second sentence you already know the answer.

There is no way to 'cold call' people without being intrusive as it is by definition an intrusion.

It seems that way, tbh people will either be interested or they wont, i am thinking social media maybe a better way

 

[Cato]

It seems that way, tbh people will either be interested or they wont, i am thinking social media maybe a better way

I think it's just a matter of being as polite as you can with your enquiry whatever format it's in. That way it's unlikely to get anyone's back up, but still more likely to get binned than not. I'd have thought social media wouldn't really hit the demographic that you're after? If you must do it a polite letter would seem to be the best approach to me.

 

[Burdekin]

There is a old MOD cottage on the cliffs up this was with spectacular views. Secluded but with decent access through a farm. Spoke to the MOD to see if we could purchase it but they didn't own the land and gave me the land owners number which is a farmer. Called him up and he was a bit shocked but said he wasn't looking to sell. Always wanted my wife to try again but so far never have. No harm in asking if you ask me.

 

[Snowy90]

There is a old MOD cottage on the cliffs up this was with spectacular views. Secluded but with decent access through a farm. Spoke to the MOD to see if we could purchase it but they didn't own the land and gave me the land owners number which is a farmer. Called him up and he was a bit shocked but said he wasn't looking to sell. Always wanted my wife to try again but so far never have. No harm in asking if you ask me.

Dont ask you dont get! although most times you dont get!

 

[slim_boy_fat]

or industrial sites sitting empty for years by wealthy landlords

Particularly supermarket chains which buy up land to keep the opposition out. For many years Inverness was known as "Tesco Town"........

No harm in asking if you ask me.

Correct, shy bairns get nae sweeties.

 

[Parm]

Your absolutely right, bet you didnt expect that! lol It makes my blood boil when we get empty homes or industrial sites sitting empty for years by wealthy landlords that simply cant be bothered to renovate as the value goes up with them not doing anything OR planning authorities wont allow developers to carry out the right type of development.

Greenbelt release should be the last resort once ALL urban areas have been exhausted.

You should come over to where I live, they are building over most of the fields that have been empty for a few years

 

[jerrytug]

You should come over to where I live, they are building over most of the fields that have been empty for a few years

Here they are getting PP to build housing estates on kids' sports fields

Fields are 'empty', by definition. If they weren't empty, they would be something else!

 

[jerrytug]

It is obvious why so many newbuilds are in demand. But I will refrain from stating the obvious.

 

[knighty]

never been approached by a developer etc. but I get a few letters along the lines of "looking to purchase a business in your sector"

they try to personalise the letter a bit but they're all obviously slightly personalised cover letters - can't really blame them, they'll get naff all replies so won't put much time into each one

I've always binned them because I always assume they're just middle men after quick easy cash and wouldn't give me real value (if I was thinking about selling)

if I was approached in person I might think about it, if only because I won't be able to keep up with the hours I work as I get older