My Homebuy Direct experience

tomt2

Myself and my partner have reserved a flat on a development and are just waiting on the mortgage valuation before progressing forward, do you reckon if the conservatives get in they will scrap homebuy? And is there any danger of the scheme being scraped in the next 3 months? Cheers

little_miss_sunshine_3

Hello,

Me and my husband are trying to get a house on the homebuy direct scheme at the minute. There are no 2 bed housing being built on the scheme around here, there haven't been for ages and doesn't look like there will be either. I would much prefer to have a 3 bed too as it would mean not having to move for years!

Could I ask how you appealed against the ruling of one bed more than you need? Me and my husband have been working for two years (after uni) both have good jobs but just can't save up the 20k ish that we need to buy a house on the open market.

I am finding this scheme great but so hard to get a house! There just arn't that many!

Thank you

smartie5

we found our 3 bed house and then appiled on the scheme. After 4 weeks of waiting we were told that we were accepted but only for a 2 bed house!
We then wrote a letter to the scheme to say that we need a 3rd bedroom as use for a office and then hopefully in a few years for a baby! We are currently waiting a decision. I have heard of many couples who are in a 3 bed house so fingers crossed!

Hope this helps!

Muhasib

smartie5 wrote: »

we found our 3 bed house and then appiled on the scheme. After 4 weeks of waiting we were told that we were accepted but only for a 2 bed house!
We then wrote a letter to the scheme to say that we need a 3rd bedroom as use for a office and then hopefully in a few years for a baby! We are currently waiting a decision. I have heard of many couples who are in a 3 bed house so fingers crossed!

Hope this helps!

why can't the 2nd bedroom be used as an office ?

cocomonkey_2

Hi,

It depends on your local homebuy agent - have heard some are much more strict than others. However the best way to get a three bed is to say you are going to start a family straight away.
I have heard the "office" plea doesn't wash much anymore.

Re: tories getting in - the scheme ends at the end of September anyway! So make sure you get your application in before then.

harz99

smartie5 wrote: »

we found our 3 bed house and then appiled on the scheme. After 4 weeks of waiting we were told that we were accepted but only for a 2 bed house!
We then wrote a letter to the scheme to say that we need a 3rd bedroom as use for a office and then hopefully in a few years for a baby! We are currently waiting a decision. I have heard of many couples who are in a 3 bed house so fingers crossed!

Hope this helps!

Just a thought but do any of the 2 bed houses on local developments have an upstairs study - you will sometimes find houses which are to all intents 3 beds (the smallest being an upstairs box room in old money), but are not allowed to be marketed as such as the smallest bedroom is slightly smaller than the legal definition of a "bedroom".

Smallfries

i want to use this scheme as my GF has bad credit and i need to buy solo. i cant find any houses though, all flats, i need house as baby on way. should i apply first then worry about that later?

neas

Its a shame you can't go for a big longer 'fix' as already we are hearing talks of the BOE interest rate rising along with inflation.

I can see a very bad scenario happening that in 2 years time interest rates wont be 4% but 6-7% for your 'equity' (could be even more!) meaning your outgoings are squeezed considerably.

You trundle along struggling with the high interest rates.... and then the 5 year fix on the interest free loan comes off too... meaning your payments start to rise again.... if we have high inflation like we do now then it will be a similar 5-7%. increasing mortgage repayments 150-200 quid a month.

Im happy you have your property... i'm just hoping you have a grasp of the potential 'what if' scenarios.

Personally my wife and I are looking to buy now... think we might have found the 'one'... its similar priced to your house. We will prob try to negotiate it down to 170k. (its an older property that needs work doing to it over time).

We however have a bit of deposit.... meaning we can get a 5 year 4.69% fixed offset mortgage of £120,000. This for us is £650 or so a month repayment... And i'm worried about that... so much we are thinking of taking a lodger or two.

What gets people into trouble alot of times with houses is they dont think of the 'what if'... and i never understood why someone would get such a short fix... especially when interest rates ARE going to rise (see MSE news thread next door)... its a perfect time to fix in for 5 years now (In the coming couple months).. before interest ramp back up to 5%+

Just food for thought..... that if you cannot reduce the size of debt owed within 2 years.. you may find mortgage repayments increasing by an extra 50-100%... and then 3 years later another 10-15% more...

tb1105

well just an update, have been in a month now and FINALLY have phone and internet!!

we absolutely LOVE our house!!! I have finally managed to reply to some of your PMs, sorry for the delay. We have everything sorted and have had our housewarming barbecue in the lovely weather! we have a few niggles (toilet seat wobbles, bits of paint missing, wobbly panel in garden) that still need attention but nothing major.

In response to some of your posts:

Our mortgage guy deals with homebuy (persimmon recommended him)and he got us the relevant forms to appeal for a 3 bed. I am a teacher, hubby studies part time so we need an office, we plan on having a baby so need a nursery and there were no 2 beds available on the site. These reasons went in our favour. However, the week we moved in Persimmon told me homebuy had changed the rules due to over subscription of the scheme and they were no longer accepting appeals. It is worth a try though.

Our mortgage is 2 year fixed, it is pretty much guaranteed to go up in 2 years as interest rates have started creeping but both our salaries will also have risen by £200-300 a month each so we should manage. We are hoping to eventually be in a position to remortgage for the full 100% value and pay off the loan. We currently have 80% on mortgage and 20% homebuy loan (loan is currently £38,000).