shared ownership remortgage

bethie

hello -

my boyfriend and I purchased a shared ownership property in sept 08 - right before the big bust. as such, we only needed the 5% deposit. we bought a 50% share of the house.

our fixed rate is coming to an end, and I was wondering what the best deals out there would be for us. our current provider (halifax) have offered us about 5.19% - and unfortunately mortgage search engines arent really set up to provide quotes or information on shared ownership properties.

any help, information, or ideas would be greatly appreciated.


Cheers.

devon_guy

I would say that is a very good rate in this climate. My SO mortgage is with the Halifax and is way more than that! Grab it with both hands.

opinions4u

bethie wrote: »

my boyfriend and I purchased a shared ownership property in sept 08 - right before the big bust. as such, we only needed the 5% deposit. we bought a 50% share of the house.

This suggests that your half share is probably in negative equity. At this point in time you probably don't have the option of moving your mortgage to another lender.

our fixed rate is coming to an end, and I was wondering what the best deals out there would be for us. our current provider (halifax) have offered us about 5.19% - and unfortunately mortgage search engines arent really set up to provide quotes or information on shared ownership properties.

I think you're stuck with Halifax.

In order for readers to comment with any certainty about the value of the deal it would help if you could tell us:

- how much you owe on your mortgage
- how long the 5.19% deal is for
- is it fixed or variable?
- what is the fee that goes with it?

Here's the Halifax fixed deals. They suggest that you're talking about a 2 year fixed rate. I'd rather pay 5.29% and take the 3 year option - if you are determined to fix.

Most seem to have a £999 fee. This means that you should also consider the fee free option of their 3.5% SVR (standard variable rate). You could go on to this, overpay (especially if you can afford the 5.19% rate) and bring your debt down a little. This may give you a better chance of remortgaging as and when property values improve.

The downside comes if interest rates leap. But they look likely to stay at their current levels for several months.

bethie

we pretty much owe the entire thing £63,200- our fees from the first time just got added on. so i dont think we have really made any progress.

i've had a chat with the mortgage adviser, and she advised us that we are actually in negative equity by about 23k - so it looks like halifax it is! i doubt anyone else would touch us with 10 ft pole.

the 5.19% is fixed for 2 years, 5.29% for 3 years. the fee £999 (regardless of rate) which can be added on.

my inclination is to keep our monthly payments exactly as they are.
so if we fix for 2 years at 5.19%, our monthly payments would drop by £50. we would then set up a standing order for £50 a month for the mortgage so we would have an over payment of £600 each year. (we can have up to 10% overpay a year).

opinions4u

Given that a £999 fee is like paying an additional 0.75% across two years (roughly) I'd stick with the SVR and overpay by a lot more.

But your call.

Good luck!

beecher

How much could you overpay by if you were on the SVR? You aren't bound by the 10% overpayment restriction so it might be a good option for you as £50/month is really a drop in the ocean.

bethie

id like to try and keep the monthly payments the same - £375 whatever we do. on the fixed it would be for us to pay an extra £50 a month, and i dont know what our monthly payments would be if the standard was at 3.5%. .

id love to pay back more, but unfortunately 3 day work week credit crunch special do not allow for much spare cash without going to the bank of mom and dad!

beecher

bethie wrote: »

id like to try and keep the monthly payments the same - £375 whatever we do. on the fixed it would be for us to pay an extra £50 a month, and i dont know what our monthly payments would be if the standard was at 3.5%. .

You can work out how much the payment would be on 3.5% here


http://www.moneymadeclear.fsa.gov.uk/tools.aspx?Tool=mortgage_calculator