Anyone heard of Home Buyers UK???

spuds_2

They arrange the mortgage - so there will be commission there, possibly a high rate of interest. It then talks about 'negotiating down' the purchase price, but giving you a mortgage for the asking price (minus 10% deposit). No ordinary lender will lend with a deposit fubded by a loan - so presumably they will have to say it is a "gifted deposit".

Isn't this all a bit like when developers 'gifted' the deposit and over-valued the flat? When you come to remortgage, you have a mortgage for £118k on a house they/you really paid £108k for? Plus a £12k loan to repay at some point.

It reads to me like they give you a mortgage for more than the property is worth. That has to be bad news in the long run. If I have read their info correctly, it seems to me that you could be pretty rapidly stuck in negative equity, on a punitive rate of interest, with a lender noone has heard of, and a loan to settle. That's on a £120k house, obviously the more you borrow the worse it gets.

Better idea - save like mad for a 10% deposit.

eshaq786

I've applied for the co-op run ownhome scheme which i'm waiting to find out about. But these lot came up in my research.

Trust me I would love to save madly but with my money going out on rent every month it's difficult to save. I'd really like to get onto the property ladder in order to save as much dead money as I can.

BitterAndTwisted

There is no "property ladder" and rent isn't "dead money". If you can't save while you're paying rent imagine how you will keep a roof over your head when you have to pay for all the maintenance and repairs, never mind when interest rates go up. They're certainly not going to go down, are they?

Emmzi

If it isn't obvious how they make their money, its a scam. Looks like you have to use their mortgage brokers. Might be mortgages at 20% interest.

Not gonna know unless someone applies and reports back I guess. If anyone feels brave enugh I'm game for ploughing through small print!

eshaq786

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

There is no "property ladder" and rent isn't "dead money". If you can't save while you're paying rent imagine how you will keep a roof over your head when you have to pay for all the maintenance and repairs, never mind when interest rates go up. They're certainly not going to go down, are they?

Ive done all the calculations and the mortgage that i can afford will be pretty much the same as my rent payments. I am saving about 300 a month but its going to take a very long time to save for even a 10% deposit. My rent is 600 a month now. I've calculated a mortgage for me will be about 772 on a 120000 fixed rate mortgage using the ownhome co-op scheme. I've also taken into account maintenance and insurance. Thats still under my rent and savings per month combined which is 900 a month. I know interest payments may go up but ive calculated that on a 5 year fixed rate of 5.99. Hopefully i will be ablle to remortgage at the end of that 5 years and get a better fixed rate or even a better SVR. Surely there will be something lower than 5.99. And hopefully in that time i will be able to get a better paid job/increase in pay to have some extra money to save to pay the shared equity off. If not i can always sell and by that time the property market will have hopefully recovered therefore i can sell for a profit.

Either that or i rent for the next three years saving 300 a month giving me a 10k deposit but i would have 'wasted' 21600 on rent.

trumpton

I can understand you wanting to buy, but my view is that this company is likely to be dodgy. I just do not see how the buyer cannot end up in a big pile of poop after a few years. Best avoided. Go through the more conventional route.

eshaq786

Yeah i know what you mean. It does look too good to be true. Its almost like free money. Probably best avoided. I guess i'll just wait to find out from the ownhome scheme instead.

ginandtonic1988

I work in property law and live in Peterborough and I've never heard of the company, thats not to say its not legitamate. I've looked the domain up and I don't recognise the name or company name as anyone in Peterborough I've dealt with:-

Domain name:
homebuyersuk.co.uk

Registrant:
Peter Jones

Registrant type:
UK Individual

Registrant's address:
Litton House
Saville Road, Westwood
Peterborough
Cambs
PE3 7PR
GB

eshaq786

Ive recieved a letter and business card from Oeter Jones regarding the scheme.

Here are the details:

Litton House
Saville Road
Westwood
Pterborough
PE3 7PR

01733 843334.

He is shown as the managing director on the card.

Sounds all dodgy to me. Sounds like a one man business.


the following is from the letter he sent me

"If for instance the maximum you can borrow is 120000 this sets the maximum purchase price you can buy at, the property you wish to buy wuld be negotiated down to approximately 108000, a deposit of 12000 is then added by Home Buyers UK making the purchase price including your deposit 120000 (the maximum you can borrow)."

theartfullodger

Oh look...

http://www.littonhouse.co.uk/

They have a web site with a very small building (disnae look like a giant financial institution..) and say they provide "Virtual Office".... and their wee map of the building looks tiny also...
http://www.littonhouse.co.uk/Map.aspx

Hmmmnn Virtual help & assistance is what you'll get also.,...someone working from their bedroom perhaps?? (Nothing wrong with bedroom businesses as long as they are straight & open)

Anyone who grandly advertises themself as "Fair & Ethical" always make me think they're on the fiddle.. I may of course be wrong...

Cheers!

Lodger