selling family home to start property development

[PhoebeMcPeePee]

Has anyone ever sold their family home, moved into a rental property and started property development?

We plan on selling & downsizing anyway, wouldn't need a mortgage & the idea is I would run the project initially alongside my PT job but with the ultimate aim to do it as my main job. Dh & I have renovated 2 houses but they were our home & done over a longer period so not professional development but we have loads of trade contacts (dh is a painter & decorator), my background is project management & property, the market is currently strong round us and we know the type & price of property we'd target.
Crazy idea or has anyone done similar successfully?

[snowspider]

my gut feel now would be no, market very peaky but who knows? so would you gain from hpi or lose from crash or stagnation? tax a big consideration, whether capital and/or income as not main home and renting expensive and unpredictable timing wise

I would only go this route if you are cash rich

[SecretSeven]

Please don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think you have enough money.

There's too many things to eat capital when you build a house.

[concertplayer]

I agree with the others but so much depends on the area. If it is a lesser area in
a big city then prices seem to go up once people who normally would not go to these have to move there as they cannot afford where they really want to be. but still want to buy But I do not know the timescale on this.
If you have no mortgage Buy to Let may be less risky. However, even there Stamp
Duty has been increased on second homes and relief on Mortgage Interest cut.
You need to be careful you do not fall into the higher rate of tax
so I would see an Accountant re this.

[Somerville]

I have done that, in what sounds like similar circumstances to you. After renovating several of our own houses we realised we still couldn't afford the house/area we really wanted. I managed two projects in quick succession, which enabled us to then buy what we wanted.

I'd recommend it in that my family's circumstances didn't end up as DH and I planned, but it would be a lot worse had we not set ourselves up well financially by putting in that graft.

I would say that you need to take on the right house, where you can maximise profit by adding downstairs loo/bigger kitchen/loft bedrooms or whatever. It can take a while to find and some people seem to start panicking and buy something where the profit just isn't there once rental costs, legal fees etc.. have been paid.

Also, we made our peace with the idea of moving into each of the houses after the renovation if we couldn't sell due to a dip in the market, and insured against the other worst case scenarios.

[notquitegrownup2]

The market is really at a peak now and uncertainty over (and after?) brexit is likely to cause it to wobble, if not crash for some time to come. Would strongly recommend waiting until at least the summertime, to see what happens.

[Sunnyshores]

to make the most of the legal tax breaks you would need to live in each house as your main residence after doing it up. You could only sell after 6 months (mortgage companies wont give a mortgage on a property that has been mortgaged within 6 months - I think).

These rules increase the timescales that you will own the houses for and in a market that isnt necessarily increasing I think its very hard to make a decent living for the number of hours you put in. But then I guess it depends how much you want to make and how much you hate what you're currently doing. Youre not going to be making easy millions thats for sure.

[Lagodiatitlan]

Depends a bit on where you are.

Housing market in London is looking a bit wobbly at the momemt. And will get worse if there is a Brexit vote.

Can you share the risk? Are you forming a limited company? If your business plan is sensible a bank will lend you money.