Positive planning and building to sell?

Following the adage that one should prepare for the worst and expect the best, I am sure we are all dreaming up plans of how to cope with the outrageous attack on landlords by the Conservative Government. I am assuming we will get the lunatic tax change reversed. However, I like to have a Plan B, C and preferably D up my sleeve.

My Plan A which I am considering implementing soon, is to buy a plot, build on it and sell the property built. My (wide-boy) local estate agent tells me that I can purchase a building plot for £80,000, build a house on it for £80,000 and then flog it for £220,000 (obviously the figures will be very different in different areas of the UK).

Never having done it in this country I would like to ask for people’s opinions: are the figures realistic for the house build? What costs would I incur and what taxes? What are people’s experiences of this?

The plan is that if I could turn around one of these in 6-8 months (realistic?), and if I could clear £40,000 in profit, I would be building up a tidy amount to combat the tax grab and allow me to sell my portfolio at a time of my own choosing, instead of the forced sales scenario the Government is inflicting on us.

I don’t know how realistic this is for others – I have some savings to get me started – but it would be good if someone has finance advice relevant to this discussion, too – as then it might be a tactic others could also adopt. It is obviously risky as it involves more investment in property at a time when many of us feel like washing our hands of it, following the Government’s betrayal of us as business people. It also depends on how easy or difficult it is to find building plots and we also have to hope there isn’t a drop in property prices. But, as we know, us entrepreneurial landlords have always been willing to take the risks that the more timorous haven’t.

Anyway, I am hoping that some of you with expertise and experience in this can assist and that this thread can be a useful resource. I am aiming to post some other POSITIVE PLANNING threads in the near future and would encourage others to do the same, if they want. We can share our good ideas and really support each other through what is a very difficult time.

Ros