Barratt Homes - Shared Equity?

murphyxx

:T Thank-you!! BadgerFace - that's all i asked for, greatly appreciated.

Kyrae

Don't know anything about the scheme sorry but we bought a Barratt house this year and it's lovely! No complaints at all. Quality is good, and have had a couple of minor problems but Barratts came out and fixed the problems quickly and without hassle. I'd say that yes the rooms are pretty small, but suits us fine and haven't had any problems fitting our furniture in or anything. We've had great customer service, and couldn't be happier!!

I wrote a post a while back with some of my new build buying experiences on and a few tips on things to be careful about eg. using Barratt recommended mortgage advisers, own lawyers, etc. Might be worth a read if you think it'd help...
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2295261=

ginandtonic1988

There are different types of equity share schemes. The ones that I have seen you own the freehold to the house and your shared equity is registered as a second mortgage. A lot of the new builds have been down valued lately and some are on par with second hand houses. I wouldn't go down the new build route my self but for first time buyers who are really struggling then this is may be an option for SOME.

Catblue

OP, you need to ask yourself why you can't save for a deposit when you both live with your parents (presumably paying no/minimal rent). Not enough income? Debts? Spending habits?

How can you expect to pay a mortgage and bills every single month if you cannot save enough to get a deposit? You'd also need to save to pay the builder's 20% also.

That needs to be your first point of analysis. Not how you can kid yourself that you can "own" a house when the mortgage company legally owns 80% and the builder owns the other 20%. And that's if you are lucky enough to avoid negative equity in which case you will "own" a minus percentage of the house. And guess what? And in the latter case, you truly do own that minus percentage, no banks or builders will be bailing you out. Oh, the joys of home ownership eh?


Shared equity just seems to combine the worst aspects of "owning" a home and renting a home without any of the better aspects of either.

murphyxx

Catblue wrote: »

OP, you need to ask yourself why you can't save for a deposit when you both live with your parents (presumably paying no/minimal rent). Not enough income? Debts? Spending habits?

How can you expect to pay a mortgage and bills every single month if you cannot save enough to get a deposit? You'd also need to save to pay the builder's 20% also.

That needs to be your first point of analysis. Not how you can kid yourself that you can "own" a house when the mortgage company legally owns 80% and the builder owns the other 20%. And that's if you are lucky enough to avoid negative equity in which case you will "own" a minus percentage of the house. And guess what? And in the latter case, you truly do own that minus percentage, no banks or builders will be bailing you out. Oh, the joys of home ownership eh?


Shared equity just seems to combine the worst aspects of "owning" a home and renting a home without any of the better aspects of either.

I agree, these are all the things we are having to sit down and think about.....

We can save for a deposit, it's just going to take a while and we are just going to have to deal with the fact that it's going to be a waiting game, but all worth it in the end if we get our own mortgage with our own deposit as apposed to shared equity etc.

At the moment we both pay digs, a few bills and my other half pays his car finance as well. We have already got several thousand aside towards a deposit, but with the way things are at the moment you obviously need a fair amount to get a good mortgage deal.

We are doing things in the mean time like cutting our costs, selling items on ebay, car boot sales most weekends with all funds going into our ISA account.

The joys....but im sure we will get there one day!.

sonastin

I totally get where you are coming from in relation to renting. I completely and definitely had the same views myself until recently. I moved back to my parents for a while after uni, did a bit of house-sitting for a friend working abroad and then bought my own place when my friend returned home and sent me back to my parents. I have recently sold my own place and moved back into my mum's and I'm now starting to reconsider the renting option. I was single last time I lived "at home" but now my b/f comes to stay and its all a bit awkward and uncomfortable (my mum and b/f get on OK but I spend all my time making sure one or other is happy that I never do what I want to do!). I am starting to think that I need my own space again and if I can't find the right house, renting is a better option for me than buying a house that still doesn't meet my needs. It no longer looks like "dead money" but just the cost of having my own space.

So basically I think what I am saying is by all means stay with your parents and save as much and as quickly as you can for a deposit to buy. But if the need to move out gets stronger and you feel like you just have to have your own place, renting is worth considering in comparison to some of these schemes that could end up tying you to a place you might struggle to leave later. All the incentives that make it easier for FTB to get on the ladder also make it harder for them to move up the ladder later.

murphyxx

sonastin wrote: »

So basically I think what I am saying is by all means stay with your parents and save as much and as quickly as you can for a deposit to buy. But if the need to move out gets stronger and you feel like you just have to have your own place, renting is worth considering in comparison to some of these schemes that could end up tying you to a place you might struggle to leave later. All the incentives that make it easier for FTB to get on the ladder also make it harder for them to move up the ladder later.

I know what you mean it's starting to feel like we just need our own space now.

I think we can put up with living at home a bit longer, just a pain like you said trying to keep everyone happy. We have been together 5 years so it's just a bit frustrating but our own fault for not thinking about the future sooner.

So I think we will keep aiming for saving as much as we can whilst living at home and hopefully by the middle of next year we will have a large enough deposit, if not we will just sit and have another look at all the options available then....

BadgerFace_2

You could also look at rent-to-buy schemes, I know of one builder that was doing them.

You agree the price, then rent the property at 75% of market value for up to a year. If you then go ahead and buy it at the pre-agreed price, you get all your rent back to use as a deposit, or you can extend the rental period if you don't have enough yet.

I don't know much about it, but it might be worth looking at.

poppysarah

murphyxx wrote: »

I'm sorry but I don't know what I have done to deserve such horrible comments.... Did no one read what I said? I'm not having a go at anyone but some people have been a little harsh for no reason. I only asked for advice and because I said rental wasn't an option it's become a major arguement.

I think we're confused why you think 100% renting is a bad idea ...


Shared ownership is 50% renting...

BadgerFace_2

Shared ownership is 50% (or any other % which you choose to own) renting...BUT OP is talking about shared EQUITY!

There seems to be some serious confusion on this issue.