Homebuy help!!!

Twinkie

I am hoping to buy my first home next year and have came across the 'homebuy scheme' in my area. I think i qualify for this type of scheme based on the requirements listed for my area.
Has anybody got any experience with this scheme?
To me it sounds a bit to good to be true- are there snags?
I am a bit worried about getting trapped into something which will work out badly for me in the future.
Any comments would really be greatly appreciated!

PottyHouse_2

Hi, we accepted offer in April this year from a successful Homebuy couple (she was a nurse).
They went back to Homebuy Intermediary to get things moving only to be told "the budget for the year has gone".
They applied again, received a letter in July saying yes, go ahead blah blah blah, Mr Homebuy rang me back (by which time we had unfortunately sold to another couple).
4 weeks later our Buyer's buyer had pulled out - I called Mr Homebuy to see if he still wanted to buy your house and you would not believe that he had received another letter since saying they had run out of funds again.

So, from my point of view, some Homebuy schemes are a bit disappointing.

I have, however, noticed a lot of "new build" Homebuy schemes and not sure if they are appropriate for you, in your area ???? They may be a little more reliable as the House Company WILL WANT TO SELL !

Mini_Bear

i think the main problem with these schemes is you do not own 100% of the property and pay rent on the remainder (however you pay the full service and maintenece charge if you live in a flat!)
Search for shared ownership on here and you will find lots of threads.
My own personal advise wud be tread carefully - these schemes are designed to get people who cant afford to buy a home outright on the property ladder. you may think - "ahhhhh thats kind of them" but really they are trying to keep house prices higher than affordable and earn a decent sum of ££ from the rent you pay.

zet_2

Twinkie wrote: »

I am hoping to buy my first home next year and have came across the 'homebuy scheme' in my area.

I bought my first house in 2009 and looked into this also. I personally found that the asking prices of shared ownership new-build houses were not competitive compared to older houses.

I don't know if this is generally so, if whether they were just slower to react to falling house prices.

I instead bought 100% of a larger and cheaper victorian property for the same price as the 50%. It is completely run-down, but I am talking over a small piece at a time as I have the money.

Twinkie

Thank you for your messages. I shall indeed search shared ownership on here-thanks for the advice
We have both discussed new house vs old house at great lengths ( i would prefer old just because of the character element. After considering our lifestyle we decided we would quite like a new build as me and my partner both work long hours and wouldn't have much time/energy to decorate an older property- the prices in comparison to those on the open market does not seem too steep in my area considering a new house will need virtually no work.
I think i will think on it for a month or so, has anybody had any terrible experiences of it?- it may be to early to tell i guess.

tb1105

we are going through this scheme at the moment, hoping to buy a 3 bed.
You do own 100% of the home. You get a mortgage for your max. allowance and the government/builder give you a loan for the rest. They do not own any of the house. The loan is 5 years interest free then 1.95% interest.

E.g.. our house is £187,500
Our mortgage is £141,000 so our loan is £46,500. It is interest free for 5 years. If we pay nothing off this loan, in year 6, £58 a month will coe out of our account in interest. In years 6 - 25, an additional 4$ (RPI + 1%) is charged which will take it to about £65 a month. You have 25 years to repay it, ideally through savings, but you can remortgage to 100% if there is enouh equity.

Your first payment has to be a minimum of 10% of the current value of the house, so as prices rise, the amount you pay back rises, hence it is a shared equity scheme. Makes things affordable for us and we think it is very reasonable. You also only need a 5% deposit on your mortgage so for our £141,000 mortgage we need £7,500

Good luck!!