Land plot for sale to build a villa / house / riverside cottage

Adjacent to the villa / quinta, the current owners have separated 3,500 sqm of land for sale onto which to build one or two houses. The current price they are asking is €110,000, but this may rise. The local council have nearly completed the process of rezoning for the entire area; it is now just a matter of officiating everything, all the consultancy, etc. processes are done. When this happens (expected 2008), the land plot on offer here will be around 66% urban, 34% rustic; sufficient to get building permission for one large family house. However, as the land on three borders is urban, the whole plot could be upgraded to full urban title, which would increase the value of the land and allow the building of two houses. The land plot is offered and available even before this with a guarantee of a building permit of one house under the old system / zoning rules.

The land tax for building land is 6.5% plus 0.8% stamp duty.

The land plot is in a very quiet location, next to protected woodland to the West, the quinta grounds to the North, a really friendly elderly Portuguese couple to the East and farm land to the south. Access is via a local, winding country lane, but there are moves to improve this shortly. The land would be ideal for a south facing family home with swimming pool.

Although this is a quiet spot, the area and especially just across the river in Spain is thriving despite the down turn in other (tourism related) areas of Spain and also the UK. This is because the old brickworks the other side of the border / river is being developed as a low rise "dry port" extension to Vigo. As a result there is a housing boom which has only just started on both sides of the river.

Building a house

The approximate architect house design / drawing cost and council filing charges to get a building permit are around 2,500 Euros (plus council fees); you need to submit actual architect plans. The approximate total build cost for a conventional 4 bedroom home is around €95,000 including internal / external doors and finished (tiled, sanitary ware) bathrooms / kitchen (excluding any fitted units). An approximate build cost for a 2 storey villa similar to the one below (but without the granite) is around €110,000. A builder would contract to a certain guaranteed build cost with staged payments to cover work done.

The market value of a villa like this with grounds at this location would be over 300,000 Euros and rising, so a buyer can expect to save themselves at least 80,000 Euros by "doing it themselves". If it were not for the fact the quinta owners were considering moving (hence the reason for selling the land), the above house is exactly what they would build in order to sell at a profit.

Other possibilities for something a little and / or traditional like the following "shista" style fisherman's riverside cottage exist;

The beauty of buying land and having your own house built is that you get exactly what your dream of and a brand new home; the other is the money you save. It takes under a year from start to finish to build a house and generally you will appoint a single builder (the vendors can recommend an excellent one) who will contract to a fixed cost and manage the project for you. Typically you pay in 3 or 4 stages in arrears (maybe with materials in advance) and then pay when you are happy with each stage.

Another local style of modern family home villa style;

Land for sale (details)

Approximately 3,500 sqm with public road access, mains electricity, mains water and terrestrial telephone service available. Includes a 1 meter high granite wall (faces south next to the land's access road and farmland) and large double access gates. A buyer could either increase the height of this wall with extra granite blocks, plant a screen alongside it, mount a metal screen on top (many locals like this option), or even put supports for vines on the wall on which to grow grapes (a perfect location for grapes). To the west there is protected (no-one can build there) woodland which is separated from the building plot by a 2 meter high fence. To the north is a perimeter fence (with the quinta) and Italian Cypress screen; this fence is actually owned by the quinta but they do not mind if any buyer for this building plot does not erect their own second wall / fence. To the east are the aforementioned friendly neighbours (it is their sheep you can see in the pictures).

Any interested party should be aware the Cypress trees the quinta owners have planted the other side of the northerly fence will grow to around 20 meters in height. This will obscure a lot of view but they will also protect this plot of land from soil erosion and provide a very, very useful windbreak from the cold northerly and north easterly winds you can get in the winter. Although it often reaches 40 degrees Celsius here in the height of summer, it can get down to -3 degrees Celsius in early January with strong winds making it feel bitter (this is rare). The Cypress trees will therefore not just protect the buyer's privacy from the quinta, but also their house from those cold winds!

A 5 minute walk away is the Monção football stadium to the south. A 3 minute walk away to the north are public footpath steps down to one of the very best fishing spots on the River Minho. Monção town center is a 5 minute drive from here. Although the land is very well located for immediate access to a wide range of facilities and the River Minho, the land plot is exceptionally tranquil. For details on the area and local facilities, please refer to the main villa / quinta pages.

History / explanation

The current owners bought this land to stop others buying it and developing it in such a way houses overlooked their grounds. They actually bought 5,200 sqm but sectioned off about 1,500 sqm adjacent to and overlooking their grounds for themselves / their privacy, plus lost around 200 sqm to allow a public road (currently a cul-de-sac serving just this plot of land and some small agricultural lots) along the southerly border, leaving the 3,500 sqm being offered for sale here. Below the photograph shows the land for sale (to the right) and the smaller section of land sectioned off to protect the quinta's privacy; the line of young Italian Cypress trees will one day reach 20 meters in height.