The purchase price is £3m and this deal can be entered into for £150k.
This is a cheap entry for a £3m game. One of my partners would even treat this more like a roulette game, where you put the money on a double or quit strategy. Where you are prepared to forgo the exchange money. The idea would be to exchange on this property and then apply for planning permission and once it has been granted you resell the site with the benefit of planning.
You could resell it for £3.5m, maybe even more depending on what type of planning you get. There is potential to go very high on this plot as precedent has been set around the site where many high profile builders have come on to the area and have built and are building.
There exists a misconception in that the amount used to exchange is all you will lose if you fail to complete a purchase, you will also be liable for any loss the seller suffers by you not completing at the stated price.
In this situation if you have the planning in place it is very doubtful the seller will not be able to sell it for even more than what we had bought for. Therefore the likelihood of this occurring in this situation is very unlikely, though of course not impossible.
These types of situations are more likely to occur in the case of new build properties, where you give typically 10-20% and the rest on completion which could be two to three years down the line. New builds normally attract a premium in the same way new cars do. The Chinese love new builds, one of the reasons being no one has died in the property which is bad Feng Shui. If the market was to take a turn for the worst the chances are these types of properties would be first affected. Certainly domestic purchasers would mostly be buying with most of the money coming from a mortgage. If the valuation does not value up the mortgage will not be granted. The purchasers may find they cannot fund the purchase. In this situation the developer has every right to sue the purchaser into completing the transaction.
This is a planning game, one where the cost is cheap and the potential is very high.
We deal with many business people, no matter what line they are in they like to work their cash, it is rare their funds will be sitting idle; the cash comes in and out like a tide. They know even more than the average person to make sure their cash is being worked hard.
These types of deals suits them, they can digest the numbers and the risks easily, and the structure of the deal suits them.
One angle is to develop this site in isolation. There is another angle to this deal as well, and that is to tie up with the neighbour; here is where the big money is.
If a tie up, or a buyout can be agreed with the next door site then the deal changes and you are talking about a very big site with circa 70 units possibly even more as the acceptable height of development around this area is going higher and higher.
This is dependent on agreeing with the other owner of the site who I have been told is a property man, and not desperate for cash to agree a common ground to work from. But if this can be reached there can be huge reward for both parties. So this will be an added bonus if it happens.
It is often the case where the deal becomes not about the deal, but more about the egos of the personalities involved. The issues then cease to be about numbers and profits, though this fact is never admitted, and therefore it cannot be solved so easily. People will go beyond common sense and even money to protect their egos.
The best approach is to exchange and push full steam ahead to apply for the maximum planning possible, and during this process open up dialog. This puts you in a position of strength when negotiating and not in desperation. This is an important stance even from a purely psychological point of view.
I came across this property last year and it has taken many failed offers for the current seller who is retiring to finally agree to our proposal.
Had the same deal been presented without the extended completion I would not have pursued it but this goes to show the structure is often more important than the price.
To enter this deal without the delayed completion would have cost approximately £1.5m, not to mention the stamp duty and arrangement fees which would have been spent from day one. Instead we get to play the same game for less than one tenth of the normal entrance fee.
It is however prudent to prepare for the worst case scenario and to ensure you have the funds to complete if required, unless of course the client has a gambling nature and is prepared to forgo the £150k!
