We are in negative equity but want to sell our home,and buy land and build?

We have estimated what this would cost and by selling our home, and buying the land and building the house , the same amount of mortgage would suffice. So what I am wondering is would the bank allow us to carry over what we owe them and buy the land and build the house?

No, there is no carry over and if you can't come up with the cash difference between what you were given in cash and what you sell for your credit is not going to be good enough to qualify for another loan.

Usually not. You can do a short sale, but then it is usually 2 years before you will qualify for another mortgage.

Why don't you ask the bank's mortgage person instead of a group of Yahoos?

A short sale is an opportunity to get really filleted by the bank. You sell the property for what you can get out of it and the bank has the choice of accepting it as payment in full -- they will do this if you have no other assets, hold you to the mortgage -- if you have assets, or foreclose which leaves you really holding the bag because you can jettison the dream of getting credit again in the near future.

In a short sale the bank has the last word as to whether you can even accept the offer. I just bought a property in Florida on short sale. I offered the bank $269,000 on an outstanding loan of $479,000 + interest and penalties + outstanding taxes of $21,000 and condo fees of $16,000. In these hard times they accepted it and let the owner off the hook because the odds of getting a penny out of her were about the same as having outdoor ice hockey on the beach.

UK ? Unlikely .. normally you would first have to sell your existing house and pay off the first Mortgage, including any shortfall.

Then you would apply for a new Mortgage on the land plus (planning permission granted) plans .. this will be a totally new Mortgage, most likley from a different supplier ...

However, as others have suggested, your first step is to start discussing your plans with your existing Mortgage supplier

NB a 'short sale' is the US term for selling at less than the outstanding loan on the item .. be aware that (UNLIKE UK) in USA many Mortgage borrowers have the option of handing the keys to the Bank and walking away owing nothing. Of course their Credit Rating is trashed - hence the comment re: waiting 2 years for another Mortgage)