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Properties built using a timber frame are considered non-standard and therefore you might face some additional barriers when trying to find a buyer for this type of home. This guide outlines the potential pros and cons that buyers may see with owning your property, and also offers advice on the best strategies for getting a competitive and speedy offer from a buyer.
- What is a timber frame construction house?
- Advantages of owning a timber frame home
- Problems with selling timber frame properties
- Can you get a mortgage to buy a timber frame house?
- Capital Gains Tax when selling a timber frame property
- Options for how to sell a timber frame house
- Top questions about selling a timber frame property
What is a timber frame construction house?
Timber construction homes (as discussed on Homebuilding.co.uk) are those that use timber, or wood, for the foundational structure of the property. The various pieces of timber are usually cut, or prefabricated, elsewhere then brought to the construction site.
The vast majority of modern properties throughout the UK are built using bricks and mortar or using stone with a tiled or slated roof, and these are known as standard construction homes. A house that is built using any other material is known as a being non-standard construction, and this latter category of property can sometimes be harder to generate interest from buyers.
Along with timber, other non-standard construction materials include concrete or steel used as prefab properties, mundic block, which is a type of material that includes known as mine waste and is called mundic block, and anything else where standard building materials don’t make up the bulk of the home.
As this guide explains, there are reasons why some buyers could be interested in making an offer on your timber frame home but there are also some negative issues associated with these properties. Understanding both sides is important before you attempt to find a buyer, and later sections will also walk you through some steps to hopefully attract a fair and swift offer.
Advantages of owning a timber frame home
As with most types of properties, prospective buyers will see both pros and cons about your timber frame house when thinking about making an offer – discussed at length on the Justdoproperty website. In some cases, the benefits of owning such a property might outweigh the drawbacks, so it can be useful to talk up your home’s advantages.
Unique look: Timber frame homes are particularly popular in more rural locations because they create a rustic appearance that is different from many other properties, and this is exactly what some buyers are looking for, so this may get them interested in looking at your house.
Sustainability built: Overall, the process of constructing a timber frame home generates far fewer greenhouse gas emissions than building a home using standard construction materials, and the wood also further helps lower emissions by being a trap for carbon dioxide. For environmentally conscious buyers, these sustainability elements can be a great draw.
Easy expansion: Timber frame houses are seen as relatively simpler to expand, for example adding another bedroom, than properties built from other construction materials. That could be a top benefit for any buyer that is looking to purchase and then expand your house.
Problems with selling timber frame properties
Although there can be some advantages for potential buyers in owning a timber frame house, there are also some particular disadvantages that you should understand.
Having a grasp of these problems might help you with planning how to respond to questions that people might have where they raise concerns about the structural integrity of your property. The faster that you are able to answer queries the better, because if you take a very long time to give buyers full answers then they could easily lose interest in purchasing your house.
Structural doubts: As with houses made from other non-standard construction materials, like concrete, timber frame properties can be seen as less structurally sound that those built with standard materials. This might be enough to deter someone from wanting to make an offer on your home.
Fire risk: Because wood ignites quickly in a fire, timber frame properties are seen by some people as being at increased risk of being completely destroyed during a blaze.
Damp problems: Compared to other types of building materials, wood in particular can be greatly negatively affected by water and this can result in widespread damp at a scale that might not occur in similar houses built from standard materials and expose to the same water.
Heat changes: The temperature inside a timber frame home can rise and fall rapidly, and these properties often require more insulation than those constructed using standard materials. If you don’t already have this insulation installed, some buyers might not be interested in making an offer on your property because they know they’d have to pay to install insulation as the owner.
Can you get a mortgage to buy a timber frame house?
Separate from any potential structural drawbacks of a timber frame house, another hurdle that can arise when trying to sell this type of property is that an individual buyer might struggle to get approved for a mortgage (read more in this Hardwoodsgroup article) to cover the purchase as these homes can be viewed as risky investments.
Whenever a financial institution grants a loan to a buyer to pay for purchasing a property, the company analyses its risks of recouping the money. In the event the buyer defaults on the mortgage, the lender may move to take over ownership of the home and sell it to clear whatever outstanding debt remains. But the company is unlikely to grant a mortgage for a property that it believes will struggle to sell, because it puts them at risk of losing their loan investment.
Unfortunately, timber frame homes can fall within the category of so-called unmortgageable properties because of some of the drawbacks outlined in the previous section, including that these houses are often more at risk of fire damage or damp and have structural problems.
But do not worry that this means your property will never sell, because there are solutions available. Instead of seeking a private individual buyer who needs a mortgage, you could think about contacting a quick home buying company like LDN Properties. They have the funds at hand to buy all types of properties right away, regardless of their age, condition, shape, size or type, and that includes timber frame home. They don’t need to apply for a mortgage to pay for buying your property, and they can complete the purchase within just a few short weeks.
Capital Gains Tax when selling a timber frame property
When someone sells a tangible valuable asset like a house, car or other item, they might be liable for paying the government what’s known as Capital Gains Tax on the profit – also referred to as the gain – that they make from the sale. If you’re selling a timber frame home you should learn about this tax, because having to pay it will affect your home selling budget.
Capital Gains Tax typically applies only to the profit you might make from the sale of your house, rather than being charged based on the final property sale price.
The good news is that Capital Gains Tax may not automatically apply in full even if you make a profit on the sale your property, because there are some options available to either lower or eliminate your requirement to pay this tax – read more in this Which guide. You should consult with a financial professional who can offer you expert advice on your options after selling the house.
Options for how to sell a timber frame house
Perhaps the most important decision you’ll be faced with when getting ready to sell your timber construction property is choosing which approach you would like to use in order to find a potential buyer.
The four usual choices are selling with an estate agent, selling to a quick property buyer, selling at an auction or selling on your own. You will discover that each of the options has its own benefits, but some of the choices also have rather noticeable cons – such as taking more than a year to secure a buyer or requiring that you pay a high amount of commission.
To help with identifying your best potential approach, first write down your main goals with selling, including how fast you’d like to find a buyer, whether you can accept paying any fees, and your ideal sale price. Then compare all of these details against the detailed information about the four methods below and you should find the one that best pairs with your needs.
Selling with an estate agent
You won’t have to put much effort in with selling your home through an estate agent, because they will take care of many of the tasks. This includes creating a listing that features photographs of your home’s interior and exterior and describes the property, scheduling viewings for interested people to visit the property, and fielding offers from serious buyers.
For doing all of this work, estate agents will charge you commission which will hike your selling costs because this fee will be subtracted immediately from the sale proceeds.
Selling this way is also not typically very speedy, and you should be prepared to wait at least an entire year before you find a serious buyer. Remember also that even if someone makes an offer to purchase your home and starts the legal process of buying it, they can still rescind the offer and walk away from the sale with no penalties until just before exchanging contracts.
Check with individual estate agents to ask if they have ever sold a timber frame home in the past, because these can be harder to sell – and if an estate agent has never handled such a property before then they might not know how to generate any interest in your home.
Also beware that some estate agents might quote a generous price for what they think a buyer will pay for your home, even if they secretly understand that they will only be able to sell the property at a much lower price. The reason they pull this trick is to convince you to use their services to sell your home, so they can profit from the commission they’ll charge on the sale.
You can thankfully avoid falling for this trick very easily, starting by looking at property sales websites such as Rightmove or Zoopla and writing down the current and past prices of timber construction properties that are similar to yours. Then ask multiple estate agents to give you free quotes for what sale price they think they’d be able to get for your property. Finally, calculate the average of all of these prices and that result should give you a much more accurate estimate of the viable sale price for your timber construction house.
Selling to a quick property buyer
LDN Properties and quick property buyers are companies that have the financial capability to immediately purchase almost any type of freehold or leasehold house, flat or other property.
They don’t need to wait for weeks or months to get approval for a mortgage to pay for buying your home, and this cuts the overall selling process down to just a few short weeks, and this covers every step of the way including the final hurdles like paying you the proceeds and the exchange of contracts. It makes selling to a quick buyer often the speediest method, particularly compared to using an estate agent or other options that can take many months.
In addition to the rapid timeline when selling to a quick buyer, the honest companies also never charge owners any commission when purchasing their properties. That means you will be able to count on receiving the full proceeds from the sale, which will help to lower your costs.
Selling to a quick buyer can also be an excellent choice when you’re trying to sell a freehold or leasehold home that may not be considered conventional. That’s because these companies specialise in making fair and fast offers to purchase almost any variety of property.
LDN Properties, for example, has been buying homes for more than 15 years across the UK and its long list of purchases considered include not only timber frame houses but also Laing Easiform homes, penthouse flats, Wimpey No-Fines houses, properties with infestation, vandalised flats, houses that have elevated levels of asbestos, flats that have very short leases remaining, homes suffering from dry rot, listing buildings, lock-up garages, properties where the owner cannot find important documentation such as the title deeds, and many other situations.
Selling at an auction
Auctions are unpredictable because you do not know whether your home will attract any bids, which means it won’t sell and you’d have to begin again with trying to find a buyer, making the process longer by many months – far from ideal if your aim is to sell as fast as possible.
Or you might just get a single bid at the reserve price, which is the lowest value at which you agree to sell, and this is a binding sale that the buyer can sue to enforce. That’s why it’s crucial for you to select a reserve price that you are comfortable with even after you have paid the auctioneer whatever commission they will charge for their work done in selling your home.
Typically, you can expect to pay fees based on the final sale price you’re able to get for your property. Some auctioneers might charge higher or lower rates, and you could also inquire with individual companies about whether they are open to either negotiating a lower rate of commission or at least having the buyer pay some of your selling costs.
Selling through an auction is not a fast process and it involves several delays, including a wait of many weeks or months after you list your timber frame home for sale and when the auction finally occurs. Even if you manage to sell your property at the auction, the buyer will then usually have an average of 28 days to complete all of their required paperwork and other steps.
Some auctioneers might set shorter or longer deadlines for the buyer to finish their tasks, and you might be able to negotiate with some companies to give the buyer much less time.
Note also that some auctioneers might not have any experience with selling a timber construction property, and this implies that they may find it difficult to get auction attendees interested in your house. The best way to avoid this situation is to ask individual auctioneers for their track records on selling timber frame homes, and avoid those with no such history.
Selling on your own
Your fourth option is to try selling without any help from a third party like an estate agent or auctioneer, which means you will have to do all the work involved with finding a buyer.
This includes creating and advertising a listing, organising and leading viewings, and fielding offers from buyers, hopefully taking one through to completion. It’s a major undertaking and might be very stressful, and will not be something you can do just in your spare time. It will require a lot of time, effort and potentially money as you market your property.
Many properties sold this way can take more than a year to find a buyer, so this often makes selling without any assistance by far the slowest option for selling a house.
The only clear benefit of selling on your own is that you won’t have to pay anyone commission for their work in finding a buyer, which could help to lower your costs. But this saving might be offset by the funds you’ll have to spend in doing the work of finding a buyer.
Instead of pursuing this stressful option, consider instead selling your home to a quick buyer like LDN Properties. These companies do not charge fees when buying properties and they are also able to generally complete the purchase of any home within weeks. As a result, you would still get the benefit of not paying fees when selling solo, but you’d also have a much swifter sale.
Top queries and answers about selling a timber frame house
Homeowners who are looking to sell their house quickly can have a few questions for us, ranging from the types of property that can be sold through to selling non standard construction homes. Here are a number of the questions we’ve been asked about selling a timber frame house:
Your top questions when selling a timber frame house
It might be very difficult for an individual private buyer to be approved for a mortgage to purchase your property, because timber construction homes are seen by many lenders as a risky investment. Instead, you could consider contacting a fast buyer like LDN Properties because these companies can buy your home without any need to obtain a mortgage.
If you make a loss on the sale of your property compared to the original price you paid for it, or you only break even by selling close to your purchase price, then you typically won’t have to pay any Capital Gains Tax. If this charge does apply, it will be assessed based on the amount of profit, which is also called gain, that you made on the sale compared to what you paid for the home. Make sure you discuss Capital Gains Tax with a tax professional before making any decisions.
The swiftest way to sell your home will likely be contacting a quick buying company like LDN Properties, because they have the ability to complete the entire process of purchasing your home within just a handful of weeks, and that includes exchanging contracts and paying the proceeds to you. All other methods will take at least several months or longer on average.
If you decide to use an auction or estate agent for selling your property, they will require that you pay them commission for the work that they do in finding a buyer. This fee is taken out of the eventual sale proceeds, which will increase your overall selling costs. By contrast, selling on your own or selling to a quick property buyer are two options that have zero fees.
