This is a tale of David (Dave to his mates) who lived in a picturesque suburb of a middle England town where he and his wife had lived for some 15 years. The property was a typical 1930’s 4 bed detached house and as was common in the 1930’s the garden surrounding the house ran to about 1 acre.
Dave and his wife decided to move house and having marketed through agents found a buyer at a reasonable £850,000. The sale went through without a fuss and Dave and his wife moved into a new home.
Some 8 months later Dave happened to be driving past his old house and noticed there was a advertising hoarding “4 Bedroom Detached Family Homes – starting price £650,000”.
Dave’s buyer put in for planning permission to build an additional 3 large detached properties that sold for between £650,000 - £750,000 (or in excess of £1.9m total). The original 1930’s house remained (but with a smaller more manageable garden – which was also on the market for £775,000). All capital gains tax efficient for the owner too.
Dave couldn’t bring himself to tell his wife – but she already knew as one of her best friends was mates with the buyer’s wife who was keen to point out that she was just off on a rather expensive cruise upgraded courtesy of a recent ‘deal’ her husband was involved in.
Don’t miss out – think before you sell and take professional advice.