Can I 'flip' a home bought off plans?I have heard of someone who "bought" an apartment off the plans in Spain and who then sold it for a higher price before actually completing the sale.
They never even drew down a mortgage, just paid the deposit. By all accounts they made a very healthy profit. Could I do that here? There is a new development which is very large - what if I put a deposit on an apartment in the first phase, delay closing and then sell on at a higher price and a tidy profit?
This is one of those "if it were that easy, everyone would be at it" sort of things. What you are talking about is known in property investment circles as "flipping". We can't comment on that Spanish experience (and so can't say one way or another about what may be one of those "a friend of a friend made a killing" urban myths) but it was a feature of the property scene in London and to a certain extent here at the very start of the boom. However, mechanisms are now in place to stop it happening, in that if you sign a contract on a new property, there will usually be a clause preventing you from selling on before you complete the sale. You could ask the builder to remove the special clause but it is highly unlikely that even a small builder would comply as it would mean that he could potentially lose out on a quick profit.
US relative wants to buy farm here
A relative of mine is interested in buying a small rural farm in Ireland with a long-term view of maybe moving here. He is second generation Irish, a US citizen and redtape-averse! However when he consulted the website of the Irish embassy in Washington he discovered that he has to have the approval of the Department of Agriculture if he wants to buy anything over five acres. This is putting him off.
The information your relative has is, happily, out of date. In 2005, Section 45 of Land Act 1965 was repealed and that was the provision where non-nationals had to seek the consent of the Land Commission when buying land. The repeal would appear to reflect reality as, given the influx of immigrants into this country keen to settle, it would be difficult to imagine such a situation being workable.
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