Advice on knocking down a family home and building two houses on the site.

JimSimpson

Good morning, I am looking for some advice regarding my family home in North Co Dublin. The location is a much sought after location in the seaside town of Malahide. Unfortunately the family home is too big for my ageing mother and we are considering knocking the house down and rebuilding two exact same two story dwellings on the site. Basically, I am looking for some advice regading my options? Also, I heard through a non reliable source that a property developer might be interested in this project if we would give them permission to build two houses on the site. The property developer would then give the family one of the new builds and then the property developer would take the second house for themselves, terms and conditions applied. I have never heard of that option before, is this possible? Any information on the above would be greatly received. Regards, Jim.

jmBuildExt

Anything is possible in business.
If it were me, my first step would be to see if I could get planning for what you want to do.
I'd talk to local architect. Has anyone done anything similar near you - if so might be worth talking to them/their architect.

Next step - cost it it and see if it is viable for you to do.

If you don't have the cash to do the project yourself, you might have to look at selling the land to a builder with the provisos you describe.
Good architect and good solictor required.

Remember where there is money to be made, someone in the chain may look to take advantage.
Neither path is without risk.

JimmyMW

JimSimpson wrote: »

Good morning, I am looking for some advice regarding my family home in North Co Dublin. The location is a much sought after location in the seaside town of Malahide. Unfortunately the family home is too big for my ageing mother and we are considering knocking the house down and rebuilding two exact same two story dwellings on the site. Basically, I am looking for some advice regading my options? Also, I heard through a non reliable source that a property developer might be interested in this project if we would give them permission to build two houses on the site. The property developer would then give the family one of the new builds and then the property developer would take the second house for themselves, terms and conditions applied. I have never heard of that option before, is this possible? Any information on the above would be greatly received. Regards, Jim.

Initially, this would require a feasibility study, firstly is two the max that can be achieved on the site? Whats the likely sale pries of the proposed development? Whats the likely build cost of the proposed development? And hence whats the likely profit margin taking into account all taxes and expenses? One thing to consider, if one of these properties is for an aging relative who is currently incapable of managing their current property. is a two story property a good idea in the long term?

Metric Tensor

Even in a place as sought after as Malahide there is no way the builder will make a high enough profit margin on a single house to cover the cost of building your mother a full new house and still making money on the deal himself.

He would essentially need to sell the first house for 2.5-3 times what it cost him to build it in order to turn a profit on the venture. Unless it's a ridiculously amazing location that will not be a runner.

(Edit: * And that doesn't even include the costs of planning, professional fees, knocking the original house, etc. etc. Probably getting up to more like 3.5 times the build cost for the builder to turn a profit)

(Further edit: If the site could fit 3-4 houses and your mother only wanted 1 then the finances might work out.)

Lumen

Sell the house, buy a smaller one.

JimSimpson

Thanks JimmyMW for your reply.

My mother is still well able to manage a staircase, but in saying that we would be looking to incorporate a downstairs bedroom into the new build. The property as it is now needs some TLC so that is why we are looking into our options, the garden is also too big for her to managed etc. You mentioned a possible single story house, that wouldn't be possible as that would effect the eventually sell on price.

JimSimpson

Lumen wrote: »

Sell the house, buy a smaller one.

Thanks for the reply.

We considered this, but after weighing up the pros and cons this wasn’t a suitable option.