To Staircase, Or Not to Staircase?

lauraza

I have 50% shared ownership house, with a 3 year fixed term mortgage shortly coming to an end.

I will be seeing a financial advisor soon, but just wondering what opinions were on buying the other 50%. Will this go in my favour when house prices go back to normal and I sell in the future? I favour the idea of being able to sell my house on the open market in the future, as opposed to being dictated by the Housing Association. That said, I have very little knowledge other than the basic research I have done, housing markets are not my strongpoint! Any opinions or advice would be much appreciated.

robin_banks

Only 3-5 % of people who have purchased shared ownership properties have stairgated.

lauraza

Hi, thanks for the reply, I read the article where the stats came from this afternoon. However, it states the reasons behind why people have tended not to staircase, it mainly states it is because they cannot afford to. But I have come into a position with my job where I easily can, so I really want to know whether it is a good time to do so, in the current climate? The article doesn't really answer my question, nor the statistics.

Richard_Webster

My suspicion would be - a surveyor might put me right on this - is that as the figure paid to staircase is one provided by a surveyor appointed by the Housing Association, he could well put in a figure at the high end of a range of values for a similar property, because there might not be concrete evidence of lower prices actually being paid for them. So having paid the other 50% Op might find that the property couldn't actually be sold for the value suggested.

Equally in a rising market the values might be behind what the proeprty could be sold for int he market, so it might well be better to wait until there is some concrete evidence that the market is really improving so OP gets a value from the HA's surveyor at its lowest point (before lots of real evidence of higher values start to come through) but can later sell for significantly more.

I say this because with Right to Buy purchases people have traditionally got bargains in a rising market but have had to appeal against unreasonably high valuations in a falling market. I think HA's surveyors might well provide figures in a similar way.

chez22

I'm quite surprised at the quoted statistics, I live on a shared ownership estate and on my street alone about half of the houses have either been bought outright or people have increased their share. I bought the remaining 50% of my house 5 years ago when prices were just starting to rocket. I could not afford 50% of my house now. My housing association let me choose a surveyor to do the valuation. It depends on the scheme and whether you can get a good mortgage but I have never regretted buying the rest of my house, it is nice to have the security.

virgo149

Richard_Webster wrote: »

My suspicion would be - a surveyor might put me right on this - is that as the figure paid to staircase is one provided by a surveyor appointed by the Housing Association, he could well put in a figure at the high end of a range of values for a similar property, because there might not be concrete evidence of lower prices actually being paid for them. So having paid the other 50% Op might find that the property couldn't actually be sold for the value suggested.

Equally in a rising market the values might be behind what the proeprty could be sold for int he market, so it might well be better to wait until there is some concrete evidence that the market is really improving so OP gets a value from the HA's surveyor at its lowest point (before lots of real evidence of higher values start to come through) but can later sell for significantly more.

I say this because with Right to Buy purchases people have traditionally got bargains in a rising market but have had to appeal against unreasonably high valuations in a falling market. I think HA's surveyors might well provide figures in a similar way.

As all housing associations are strictly goverened by the Audit Commission and have guidelines they must abide by. Valuations have to carried out by RICS registered surveyors. Sellers are free to chose their own if they wish to ensure there is impartiallity on all sides. You are completely out of order to suggest there is anything underhand going on in any way. And I would guess any RICS surveyors reading your post would also strongly dispute this.

Staircasing is becoming more and more popular due to current prices - it makes sense to buy, if you are able, at the bottom of the market. Hopefully, by the time you come to sell prices would have risen enough for you to make a healthy profit on your investment.

When I deal with a resale if we still own a percentage, our HA have 4 weeks from instruction to find a buyer from our database of applicants, then the seller is then free to go onto the open market, i.e. an estate agent to sell.

There are no guarantees with shared ownership, as there are none with buying on the open market. You pay your money and you take your chances. No one is there to do you out of anything. The suspicion surrounding SO really needs to be dispelled once and for all.

gabyjane

Hi have no answers as we are debating a % of ours at the mo and are confused tbh what to do for the best! unfortunatly our IFA is SO and does not favour us overpaying (as nothing in it for him i guess!) but is ok with us buying more so trying to work out the pros and cons is very hard! i think you are right to buy now if you can afford to do so though and i think this is what we will do but tbh it is a deposit issue with us at the mo. Good luck whatever you do.

Virgo149 thankyou for that positve reply seems the majority of people seem to slate them and i'm getting tired of it!!

hugahoodie

Did you buy out right? My mortgage deal comes to an end shortly and I will only have a small deposit. Did you have to have a large deposit to staircase to 100%? My mortgage company wants 20% of the valuation of the whole flat! :eek:I don't have what could be anywhere between 20-30k:mad:

lauraza wrote: »

I have 50% shared ownership house, with a 3 year fixed term mortgage shortly coming to an end.

I will be seeing a financial advisor soon, but just wondering what opinions were on buying the other 50%. Will this go in my favour when house prices go back to normal and I sell in the future? I favour the idea of being able to sell my house on the open market in the future, as opposed to being dictated by the Housing Association. That said, I have very little knowledge other than the basic research I have done, housing markets are not my strongpoint! Any opinions or advice would be much appreciated.