Buying or building...

[Hamish]

I need some advice on property issues in the Inverness area and hope someone can help. Having been out of the country for nearly 3 years, I'm out of touch with housing issues in the area. But I get the impression that the market is quite 'healthy' (i.e. expensive). So I was wondering if now is a good time to consider building your own place? So my question is really whether building costs have gone up in line with the housing market or if it's (relatively speaking) cheaper to build? I've got the chance of a reasonably priced bit of land with planning permission on south Loch Ness side and I'm tempted... Any advice would be gratefully received! Cheers  :003:

[tm4tj]

Wow, Hamish, a neighbour of Mee, she will be thrilled :003:

[Hamish]

OK, maybe I'll need a gun lisence too. For self-defence.  :001:

[f*ballers wife]

oh my!!!

it ok babe, i'll give her a course of relaxing facials before you move in..... all will be well!  :001:

[Hamish]

FW, I was expecting the phrase 'huge erection' to appear somewhere in your post... You're losing your touch!  :001:

[Johnboy]

Like I said, Hamish... Sanity & information clearly don't play a big part in your make-up... :015: :015:

FW losing her touch?  Never.... :016: :016:

See ya Wednesday, Sweeetie.... :003:

[Mee]

You better not move anywhere near me, all my neighbours have good taste in music  :003:

[f*ballers wife]

FW, I was expecting the phrase 'huge erection' to appear somewhere in your post... You're losing your touch!  :001:

oh my!!!

i didnt want to mention about your large impending erection incase mee got a tad over excited and i had to give her TWO courses of facials!

i may even have had to bring the 'stop the clock' range in to play.... !!!  :017:

[Hamish]

I'm going to help in spreading the word of decent music in south Loch Ness side!  :001:

[f*ballers wife]

oh my!!!

speaking of good music... there was a chap playing in portree at the weekend, davie maybe?!?!  from forres i think.... he was the dogs furry bits, we had a great time!

(rather gorg too it has to be said!)

[Alex MacLeod]

Getting back to your initial question Hamish I woulld say build your own is probably cheaper. Check out the following site.

Roy Homes

[Mee]

Question to anyone but Hamish - Where's he wanting to move to? FW, is it covered by your extensive patch?  :015:

[f*ballers wife]

Question to anyone but Hamish - Where's he wanting to move to? FW, is it covered by your extensive patch?  :015:

oh my!!!

sweeti, of COURSE it :001: will be,,,, have kit bag, will travel!!!  :clapping04:

[buckett]

While house prices in and around Inverness have nearly doubled in the last few years, during the same period the cost of building materials and labour has only gone up in line with inflation.

At a guess I'd say we're talking about a period of the last 6 or 7 years.

So if you've got a plot of land at a decent price, and you build your own house, then as soon as the house is complete, it's value nearly doubles. Why aren't more people doing it then? Well I guess it's not so easy for everybody to get hold of the initial capital.

Be careful with the neighbours though - there's some strange people living in the hills around Loch Ness!

Sorry about this boring post, but Hamish did ask a question!

[Mee]

I've made friends with all the folk with gun licences so anyone playing $hite music better watch out! We don't want your kind round here  :001:

[Hamish]

I'm going to start the Boleskin Massive. Anyone with a broad-minded taste in music is welcome.  :001: And Bucket, thanks for the info, that's what I'd sort of assumed.

[kaiser]

.... Why aren't more people doing it then? ...

Have you seen how much the price of land has gone up , even in the last 3 years!!! It seems to me now that a decent percentage of plot buyers aren't interested in building their dream home, they are in fact profiteering from building 5 bedroom timber frame monstrosities so that their profit margin is higher when they put it up for sale ( without living in it ) on completion. That said if you can get land at a reasonable price , with services (not sure what the locality of services will be in rural Loch Ness-side ) then it'd be worth serious consideration.

[Mee]

That said if you can get land at a reasonable price , with services (not sure what the locality of services will be in rural Loch Ness-side )

There's only local services for local people,  we keep the precious things for ourselves  :003:

[Johnboy]

Mee : Maybe when Hamish moves into your area, you could enlist his help in finishing off that patio..!!

:001: :001:

[Mee]

My patio's finished but I know of a large hydro contruction site and a couple of loony construction workers, who'll do anything for a bottle of whisky  :001:

[Johnboy]

Sounds like a good deal to me...!!

:003: :003:

[Hamish]

I'll warn you that I'm fairly militant when it comes to large hydro constructions  :008:  :001: Messing with our beautiful rivers and their wonderful fauna!!!!

[Alex MacLeod]

Your too late to stop this one Hamish. They even wake up the good folks of Fort Augustus with their noise.

As to what kaiser say's. Thats almost true, but if you live in the house for six months you can make even more profit cos you wont get hammered for VAT when you sell.

[kaiser]

:001: :006:

...and of course you can claim all the VAT back once it's built too.

[Mee]

Why would anyone want to stop development of hydro power? I would much rather have a dam with a nice loch to go fishing in and a clean source of power than live next to a nuclear power station.

I would laugh and laugh if Hamish's cheap plot turned out to be underwater in a couple of years time! try claiming your VAT back then :001: