Hopefully first time buyer looking at shared ownership

robin_banks

Woolwich no longer provide SO mortgages as I understand - Woolwich no longer exists as such, and no-one offers a 100% mortgage apart from Kent Reliance building society.

before_hollywood

there are a fair few shared ownership places in my area, not one has budged either in price or in terms of a sale in months

devon_guy

Yes I find it odd that house prices are dropping and yet shared ownership properties seem immune to this drop.......I'm going through it at the mo and because things have taken so long the property has to be revalued. I can see it's not going to be nice as the HA won't budge I'm sure.

giger

Thought I'd jump in to this to. SOs are very funny, my brother is possibly about to buy one but the price of them does not reflect other similar properties. I can only assume it is because the thought is that the purchaser is not taking on 100%, so it doesn't matter if it is overpriced. Strangely, a lot of them in this particular area all seem to be selling. A 2 bedroom flat was on at £160k, they dropped it to £150k at 75% shared ownership, no rent on the remaining portion (as some do) and the deal was you had to buy the remaining 25% in 10% time or sell at current market value. My brother than found a better one so pulled out losing £1k deposit that new developers offered to give him back. New place valued at £185k when built, now selling for £165k and not budging. Very high spec but similar properties in more desirable location are going for less than £150k! Strange thing is, my brothers property will be the first SO that this company have done, so they are now thinking of backing out as they went to sell it in full, despite offering him and doing a deal on SO at 75% of £165k. It seems they don't want his money! To top it off if they pull out (they have taken a week so far and still no decision) he will lose £1k as the developers will only give it to him on completion. Therefore, he has lost his original flat (which has now sold), lost his £1k deposit on it and may end up with no property at all. Better lose £1k than a potential £xxk but my brother really wants this place, can easily afford it and tbh doesn't care if it drops in the short term and he'll be there for 10 years.

Unfortunately he has moved out of his rented flat and is back home with folks as in theory he would be in the new place within 2 months. He doesn't know what to do for the best.

robin_banks

Sorry for being a bore on this thread but from my experience I'm inclined to advise anyone not to touch SO purchases with a bargepole.

- The HA in question were desperate for the proposed sale to complete on 23/10/2008, i.e. 4 weeks from viewing. The property was due to be revauled on 24/10/2008.

- We were given 3 days to find a solicitor and get an agreement in principle from a lender - How does that work then.

- The property was valued at £282,000 - we were looking to purchase a 25% stake, our lender valued the property (full value) at £250,000 a £32,000 difference in value.

- The negotiator was completely unwilling to acept anything other than the full price - I think it's worth it and we will not budge on the asking price, and asked us to go to another lender. In these times that is a somewhat foolhardy approach. He then went on to say this property is worth the asking price etc. When I asked if he was a qualified valuer he said he wasn't and he is not actually permitted to give a professional opinion as to the property's value.

When it was revalued at £7,000 lower i.e. 2.5% the negotiator still had the audacity to say they 'never negotiate on asking prices' in a falling market this is folly as they will be stuck with a property they are unlikley to be able to sell.

We decided that we were not going to proceed and as such we are over £1,000 out of pocket as a result of a bloody stupid and unrealistic valuation being placed on it.

SO is supposed to be about 'low cost home ownership' etc, yet HA's cannot accept that many properties they are selling are in some cases falling rapidly in value, leaving empty homes etc.

Our council were desperate for us to vacate our flat (as are we to leave) as the number of people in temporary accomodation in our London borough is unbelievable.

The actions of the HA have a knock on effect which do not seem to have been considered, they are happy for this property to remain empty for what could be several months longer (it has now been unoccupied for 10 months) and all this form an organisation that has 30 charity shops.