Shared Ownership??

Sarahjsc2

Hi, im new to this forum, although not new to Martin Lewis's site, this website is a god send for everything to do with finances and regularly save on all kinds of things.

Now I am looking at buying a house, but as you can imagine very daunting prospect for a first time buyer, so who to turn to but this site for some advice, however, I dont actually think i have seen any information regarding shared ownership..??

Could someone help with this, is it worth it? there are so many schemes out there now, that its confusing..??

Whats a good deal? what should i be looking out for?

If anyone has any knowledge or info regarding shared ownership then that would be fab..i really dont think me & my husband would get a normal mortgage, as our combined income is about £33,000, so that would prob buy us a flat...and we have 2 kids, so not good options really!

Anyway thanks

Cannon_Fodder

As you say there as so many schemes...its difficult to know where to start.

Try googling "shared ownership" for your council/region, to narrow things down.
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=shared+ownership+schemes&meta=

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/BuyingAndSellingYourHome/HomeBuyingSchemes/index.htm will give you the overall Govt position, work through each scheme to see what you qualify for.

Then, for example, Cambridge has detail; http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/ccm/content/housing/leasehold-services/shared-ownership-scheme.en;jsessionid=2C4AC3A201E98C8B7F16CDDD1F0CCEB0

You should hopefully be able to work through the criteria to eliminate schemes you will not qualify for, and end up with a short-list of relevant ones.

use the MSE search facility to check on the specific scheme names you identify... http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/search.html

Then come back to here to discuss the specifics...

Janec2

My boyfriend and I are just in the process of buying a shared ownership property.
We found it in Rightmove. When you search your area you can select 'shared ownership only' in a drop down menu.

Ours is a simple 50 percent share of a new build house owned by a housing association, so we will pay rent on the other 50 percent.

There are other Government run schemes though and 'Shared equity' is different again to shared ownership. It does all get a bit confusing !

What we did find was that the price the house was on the market for was over priced in our opinion and that of the surveyor, but the housing association were happy for us to haggle the same as you would with a 'normal' house purchase.

Its worked out great for us. Whilst our combined income is quite high, our issue was having enough for a 10 percent deposit on the type of house we needed. This way we can afford the deposit easily on 50 percent share and the mortgage and rent combined are less than we are paying in rent now in our respective flats. We also get to live in a lovely new build house in a better area than either of us live now :j

Good luck with whatever decide on.

gabyjane

Hi we have a SO house too and are similar to the post above! we have lived here almost 2 years now in a lovely new house and love it to bits. We pay far less than we would do if we rented and have what i think is a bigger definately nicer house than we would get renting!
If you narrow your search down to your area it helps or ring your local council or HA they should be able to help.
good luck x

jinglebell

I am in the process of buying a shared ownership new build. The buying process is a nightmare!!!

Our mortgage offer was out mid last month. Untill now, we have no updates from the housing association / solicitor they recommended!!

It has been a month since we got mortgage sorted. We have to email like 3 times before we get a reply from the housing association. The people from the housing association have no professional manner at all - they don't even follow the formal format of emails! Do they hire people randomly from the street?

It was such a big decision we made to buy our first flat. They haven't make it any easier!

Janec2

We've had slow responses too with the HA. The bank are waiting for information from them and they still havent sent it. We chose our own solicitor though. The whole process is so slow ! Its driving me mad. Our own solicitor needs to see origial copies of ID before he even begins work. (some thing to do with money laundering protection act) So that has held up processes as well.

Sarahjsc2

Hi guys, thanks very much for the advice, sounds like it is a good idea...i just wondered what the difference is between council run shared ownership schemes and ones done by say housing developers and estate agents...i guess like you say will have to compare all the different schemes and see whats best for us.

Lets hope we find something then, like you guys I am paying a fortune in rent and am sure we can get better by sharing ownership on a house.

Fingers crossed...

Thanks anyway..

gabyjane

Hi sorry to hear some of you are having trouble with the HA..give ours there due they are very very good at getting back to us..they still are so that's good as would drive me mad! hope things improve!

Blacksheep1979

SO is a scam devised to keep property prices artificially high - you should be able to afford a home by yourself. There's many downsides to SO and few upsides, you may have issues renting it out (if you want/need to), who really wants to buy 1/3 or 1/2 a house if you choose to sell and you also pay a premium for your percentage.

tek-monkey

Blacksheep1979 wrote: »

SO is a scam devised to keep property prices artificially high - you should be able to afford a home by yourself.

And if you can't, but SO is cheaper than renting? Shared Ownership IS right for some, but no one system fits all. If its cheaper to buy a % than rent a place, I'd go for the % every time. You may not own it all, but you build up equity that wouldn't exist if you merely rented. As long as you still save during this period as you would have done renting and saving for a deposit, then unless the market goes **** up you will be better off as you own a share of the equity.

Saying that, new builds are horribly overpriced and the SO ones are usually more expensive than those owned outright.

gabyjane

Blacksheep1979 do you own your house outright? if so well done to you.. if not you are actually no better than anyone who owns a house regardless of how much, as part is still the banks. People who would want to buy our house will be people like us who couldn't afford an open market house and there are always plenty of them!
We looked into this well before buying and know that there are pros and cons but shelling out less on a mortagage for a bigger house than we could buy or rent is enough for me!