Own Home Scheme Pros and Cons

Maseillo

fogma wrote: »

hi there,

we applied November last year but haven't heard anything yet.

can you tell me the process when they phone you back. Do they give you an interview on the phone and then phone you back again confirming whether you have been successful, telling you the equity loan they will give you and tell you any conditions of the houses you can buy?

Just wanting to prepare ourselves for any phone call we get.

They will call you at the agreed time and go through a few standard questions such as how much you earn, how many in your family, the area you want to buy etc. Then they will tell you there and then whether you have qualified for the scheme. They will then give you a reference number and the phone number of who you need to speak to at the co-op, so you can ring up straight away to arrange the mortgage (you need the reference number to arrange the mortgage though).

Hope that helps!

SJ x

corcor

Hi
I've just applied for the ownhome scheme and was wondering are there any issues with what areas you can buy in?

stanleyfox69

fogma wrote: »

hi there,

we applied November last year but haven't heard anything yet.

can you tell me the process when they phone you back. Do they give you an interview on the phone and then phone you back again confirming whether you have been successful, telling you the equity loan they will give you and tell you any conditions of the houses you can buy?

Just wanting to prepare ourselves for any phone call we get.

Fogma,

Any idea when in November you were put on the waiting list?!
I've been trying to find other people who have been on the list also and have started receiving calls to try and gauge a time-frame through FTB rather than Places4People as they have nothing to say.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1444173

marysol80

Hello, I applied last week for the MyChoiceHomeBuy schema, I need to call them to book the interview, I just want to know what you need to do in the interview. Are they going to take some money from us in the interview?, because they asked for this £4000. Also I would like to know fo the people that has been approved, is the purchase price something rational?, I mean to get a house or just like small flat?.
Thanks

nig0609

marysol80 wrote: »

Hello, I applied last week for the MyChoiceHomeBuy schema, I need to call them to book the interview, I just want to know what you need to do in the interview. Are they going to take some money from us in the interview?, because they asked for this £4000.
Thanks

Wrong thread for this question, but I too have been looking into HomeBuy. From what I found out, you need £3500 to cover surveys, arrangements, stamp duty etc. Houses should be better priced on the "MyChoiceHomeBuy" as you choose the property from the open market, rather than plain HomeBuy where you buy a share in a new build which they still want peak prices for - at least thats how i understand it

fogma

stanleyfox69 wrote: »

Fogma,

Any idea when in November you were put on the waiting list?!
I've been trying to find other people who have been on the list also and have started receiving calls to try and gauge a time-frame through FTB rather than Places4People as they have nothing to say.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1444173

Hi,

I'm not sure i'm afraid, I think a couple of days after they mentioned the scheme on location location location the same as a lot of people seem to have done! I think it was mid-end of November.

We got a phone call last week and have arranged our interview for next weds so fingers crossed!


I have a couple of questions for people who have already used the scheme though...

1. Do you have to take out the maximum mortgage that the co-op offer you or is the mortgage negotiable at all?

The mortgage calculator I have used on their website indicates that we are entitled to a 112,000 mortgage (3.5 times our joint income) but that would mean us paying nearly £800 a month for the mortgage which is more than we want to (we pay just over £600 a month rent at the moment and don't really want to be paying much more on a mortgage).

Ideally we'd get a smaller mortgage and use the ownhome loan primarily to act as the minimum deposit as we are looking to buy soon and aren't able to get a deposit together in our desired time frame

2. How much detail do the co-op and ownhome go into regarding your current employment situation?

I have recently been made redundant (after I applied for the ownhome scheme) but the business is still running with a hope to selling it on soon. I currently still have full time work and would have a job if the business was able to continue and also have work elsewhere to fall back on - how much of a hindrance will this be to applying for the mortgage/loan.

Part of me thinks that I should get my girlfriend who has a secure key worker job to apply on her own and then just pay her half of the morgage etc. if her application was successful. I'm not sure whether this is legally possible, and whether I'd be able to get it in writing through a solicitor that I'd be entitled or responsible for any proceeds or debt from a sale of the property.


Any helpful advice would be really appreciated.

Thanks, J

stanleyfox69

Cheers for the update Fogma; i can only assume that my phone call is around the corner.

Never knew it was mentioned on 'Location, Location, Location'. So this is probably why they had a rush of callers!

Keep me updated with your progress . . .!

Best,

fogma

stanleyfox69 wrote: »

Cheers for the update Fogma; i can only assume that my phone call is around the corner.

Never knew it was mentioned on 'Location, Location, Location'. So this is probably why they had a rush of callers!

Keep me updated with your progress . . .!

Best,

I'd keep pestering them for a phone call - my girlfriend phoned up last week asking when we were likely to hear back and they said in the next couple of weeks but actually phoned 2 days later.

fogma

had our interview last night and got accepted - ran through a rough mortgage application with the coop to see how much different mortgages would be and how things change when you take less/more of the equity loan


next step is to put in an offer on somewhere!

stanleyfox69

Fogma,

I've checked co-op mortgages online and considering BoE dropped interest rates to 0.5% earlier this week, their mortgages are somewhat poor.

If you don't mind me prying too much;
what were the mortgages that were offered to you from co-op like?

I.e; a deposit for w; mortgage of x, fixed rate over y years, z amount .

What are the costs like to set-up.
Ball park figures given on web are approx £3.5k.
But considering the property i'm looking at is 1 bed house, St.Albans area, for £155k; surely the associated costs won't be that high?!
(Shame the property prices are!)

soon to find out i suppose.