Offer Accepted!

Offer Accepted and Proof of Funds Provided

Our offer has been accepted, and we’ve shown proof of funds. A Memorandum of Sale (MoS) now formalises that the site is under offer, which is in the hands of our conveyancing solicitors. Though not legally binding, the MoS outlines what’s being sold, the price, any special conditions, and the transaction timeline, it’s the starting line.

Why We’re Choosing a Loan Over Cash

We’ve decided to proceed with a loan. Here’s why:

• Flexible Financing: With a loan, we only pay interest on what we draw down, by requesting the maximum possible this should be more than we will ever use.
  
• Financial Security: If any issues arise during the build, having our own cash reserves means we can cover living costs and finish the project with the loan, safeguarding our investment.
  
• Planning for the Unexpected: If our primary income were to stop mid-build, getting a new loan would be much harder, especially at competitive rates.

Risks at This Stage: This is an anxious phase of the process, as certain factors beyond our control could still halt the transaction, such as: The vendor changing their mind. The lender finding issues in the survey. Ground reports uncovering significant issues.

What’s in Our Favour; The barn already has Class Q permitted development, which means we’re allowed to convert it, even though we plan to submit revised designs. We’re confident these will be approved.

We know the lender will need several things, and some requirements are a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation:

• Plans and Drawings: We’ll likely submit the vendor’s Class Q plans initially, though we’ll need new plans eventually.
  
• Site Insurance Policy: We’ll arrange this after the transaction.
  
• Build Warranty: We’ll provide quotes for this based on current plans.
  
• Professional Consultant: This usually refers to a project manager or architect, though we don’t plan on hiring these roles. We are hoping the Build Warranty will be sufficient to satisfy this ask.

Why No Project Manager or Full Architect; In my view a self build is when the owner is actively involved with full control, using end to end services of an architect or project manager detracts from the experience. I am sure this could provoke a debate! In short; on our last self build our project manager made so many mistakes, he was asked to leave before the walls were even up, we resumed the role and with good trades on site it really wasn’t onerous. There’s also a significant saving architects can charge ~£30k for a complete package to extend to overseeing the build beyond the design and planning submission. A project manager who attends site daily but might have 2-3 other jobs on, will can charge upwards of £600 a week.

Now, we have to follow the ride, transact asap, and submit the new planning.