The Home Lovers

How to turn a house into a home

In the many years I have been involved with the construction Industry I occasionally ponder over what different people call home. Or more to the point, 'what makes a house into a home'? It could be related to a part of the world they have lived, a place where their parents live, the place where they were born or maybe the place they live with their family! All these places are where they have acquired memories that are important to them in one way or another. Personally, I tend to stick to the old adage 'home is where the heart is'! 

The part I have never been able to get a hold on is why some people look after their 'homes' so much better then others. On the whole most people who have worked hard for several years to get a deposit together have a tendency to appreciate all the effort that it has taken. Keeping things clean and in their rightful place seems to be part of a natural process they automatically accept. It also seems par for the course to 'keep up with the neighbours' to ensure everyone is friendly and not seen to be bringing the neighbourhood down. People who venture onto a self-build are generally even more meticulous in their approach. So much so, that windows are washed weekly, drives are swept regularly with all items having a place where they live and should never be left anywhere else. 

 One of the great attractions of self-build is that it gives you the opportunity to create a home to suit your lifestyle. Perhaps you are after a property for your uh p-and-coming family, or perhaps one to prepare yourself for retirement with a spare room for guests to stay. Whatever the reason you start a self-build, one of the great attractions is that you will have a property designed to suit your lifestyle and allow for possible changes in the future. But no matter what the reasons are, you will put more effort into planning and building this then any home that you could buy off the shelf. I guess both these ways of looking after your home is fairly evident and understandable but what I can't get my head round is the people who rent properties.

 Now I don't have a problem with people who rent as in many cases it suits or buying is out of the question. The part that I don't seem to get is the attitude that 'it's not my house so why should I look after it'? Although it is not their property, do they not live in it, therefore making it their home? In many cases these people live in them for many years. By this I don't necessarily mean maintenance of the property but just keeping things together like putting your bins out of the way, cutting your grass and not having scrap cars outside. To me a house is a pile of bricks but a home is where the heart is! If you don't care for your house it will never become a home!

House! What House?

Sitting here relaxing, looking out on to my patio and garden beyond through the French windows, I realise what a fortunate person I am. 

It’s not because I am incredibly wealthy or that I have been amazingly lucky with things in life but sometimes I feel it is important to sit and think about some of the advantages that surround me. 

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Of these there are many, but one of the largest has got to be my decision to invest in my own property.   It’s not a massive property, just a standard middle of the road, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, (one that I added after being there for a dozen years and having two children who always wanted the bathroom when I was up to my ears in water), kitchen, lounge and dining room.  Now in this case it is defiantly a time where the term ’quality is more important then quantity’ comes into force.  Although it may be handy having a large extension built to the rear of the property and giving the Wife a kitchen to be proud of plus addition space on the first floor I realise all this comes at a price.  By this I don’t just mean financial, although this is a large consideration, but the many other things that additional living space will bring with it.  Such menial things like cleaning, heating and decorating to name a few.  To top all this comes the compulsory maintenance that will inevitably show its head at any excuse.  Be it a brand new room that took many hours of planning or not, it is certain that the idea of changing the layout when everything is in place will be mentioned, which will involve yet more work.

With all this being put to one side I feel that my house is defiantly my home.  It is of a size that is controllable with regard the cleaning and heating while I have been lucky enough to be able to afford to maintain it to a level that stops it from collapsing around my ears over the years.  I feel that one can always have a bigger home but along with that it brings its own problems.

So what is all this waffle about you may ask?

Well, back in the day, when I decided to invest in a property as a single guy, it was at a cost whereby I could afford to find the deposit within a sensible time period, followed by regular monthly payments over the next 25 years.  Now I have come to the stage where it is nearly paid and completely owned by myself – Super Stuff!

Which brings me to the reason behind my out-burst!

Just a couple of weeks back I was around my friend John’s house having a nice family meal.  Sitting aside of me was his Daughter, Julie of 22 years who inevitably found our conversation slightly boring.  To try to eleviate this problem I started a conversation that involved the relationship between herself and her Boyfriend of 5 years.  When do you see yourself moving in together was one of my questions?  The answer came back – with the cost of property around here I don’t know if we will ever be able to afford a place of our own so I can see us renting somewhere instead. 

‘But rent is just dead money’  I said.  Well we have been saving for the last three years and don’t seem to be getting anywhere plus the cost of property is getting dearer and pulling it further out of our grasp.

When leaving my friend that evening I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the younger generation and the realisation that a sensible future is getting harder for them to achieve.  The reality is unless they have a massive deposit plus two good wages coming into the pot each month it isn’t going to happen.

I mulled this situation over during the next couple of days when suddenly the penny dropped!  I rushed back to my friends house and confronted his Daughter and Boyfriend.  In this area a property can be obtained for around £100k but when counting the finances they could only afford up to £80k!

How would you feel if we can get you a property of your dreams for a figure you can sensibly afford I said?  But we can only afford up to £80k which is £20k less then anything that is likely to stand up for the next 30 years!

That’s fine I said.  You just leave it to me and I’ll show you how!  I will lead you through the maze and out the other side.  Not only that but I will get you a brand new property of your dreams designed especially for you!

And this is what I am going to do for you too.  I will show you how you can have the place you thought was out of your reach without breaking the bank.

See you in my next article!  I can’t wait to begin and I know you can’t either!

Self Built Homes - A Good Option For Some

Although the economic outlook is gloomier than ever, it's reckoned that the figures for those wishing to build their own homes in the UK is rising each year. Over 20,000 people a year build their own.

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One effect of the downturn in the economy is that right now there is 30% more land available for house building plots at 30% less cost than they were just a year ago. People are taking advantage of some of the tax breaks in self-buildings.

Although the costs of building your own might not be significantly lower than buying a ready made property, the main advantage is that you get the house you want, designed by you (and perhaps your architect). People who build their own homes usually stay in them longer, as they are less inclined to move because much of what they wanted is in place. And when homeowners do come to sell, they'll hopefully see an increase of around 20-25% on the value of their property over what it cost them to build it themselves.

To find plots of land suitable for building a home on isn't necessarily all that difficult.

If you know of other potential self builders by all getting together it means buying a bigger piece of land and getting a better deal on the cost per plot.

Developers sometimes have spare plots of land for sale, and of course don't forget local land and estate agents.

Doing your homework is vital though, otherwise you could end up buying land which doesn't hold valid outline planning permission. Check for any restrictive covenants which might limit what you can build. After all, the idea behind building your own home is to have the design and structure the way you want it (within reason of course).

The National House Building Council (NHBC)has some very useful tips to help those interested in building their own homes. Use their website, get any reading material you can from them about self-builds.

Some people like the idea of buying a kit home. This will usually mean less expense, and be less time consuming because you'll probably dispense with the need for an architect, and the finished product will be ready much quicker as the kit home is usually delivered in just one load.

Kit homes can come in various forms. With some you buy just the shell. Or you can get virtually everything a home should have such as a kitchen and bathroom(s).

To see what a kit home looks like visit home exhibitions or a supplier's show room.

If you prefer to build your home from the foundations to the roof, you'll have to plan very carefully. That means not just planning for who you will use as the architect-unless you can design it yourself-but for the surveyor, planning consultant and other professional if necessary.

But, before you even think of a self-build, you have to count the financial cost. Will you need a mortgage? If so, you may be able to get between 25% and 80% of the value of the building plot and between 60% and 95% of the costs of the building.

Monies are released in stages rather than all at one go. You'll have to budget for any payments you may have to make while waiting for a release of money from your lender. And if you already have a mortgage on your present property, you'll need to consider whether you can afford to be repaying two mortgages at the same time for however long the project takes.

Building your own home can be extremely rewarding, but it involves a lot of hard work, forward planning, and patience. Is it worth it? Only you can decide that.

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