Shared ownership/equity is a scam.

Idiophreak

brit1234 wrote: »

Bumping this thread. Lots of things have changed over the last couple of years. Now in addition to shared ownership and shared ownership we have Help to Buy 1 and 2.

Personally I don't believe these schemes based on the evidence actually help first time buyers but actually help builders to keep their prices inflatted for benefit of builders only.

What's your thoughts?

What evidence are you referring to?

Personally, I know three sets of people (including myself) that have bought using SE.

After 5 years on SE, my wife and I left the scheme last year and traded up from a two bed flat to a four bed house, never having had to save a deposit. I'd say SE was a *massive* help to us.

A friend paid back his equity loans with savings he was able to accrue thanks to his lower mortgage payments. SE certainly helped him.

The least "helped" of the three sets, so far, are a couple of friends that bought a two bed flat about a year after we did. They've done nothing about repaying the loan or moving as yet, so the only financial "help" it's done them is in reducing their mortgage payments. That said, in the four years previous to starting SE they had to move through three properties as various landlords sold properties from under them, decided to take occupation etc...and they've now enjoyed almost five years of stability in the same flat. Sounds helpful to me.

harrirose22

I am a TV Producer, very interested to hear from people who have invested in a shared ownership property. if anyone is willing to share their experiences of shared ownership with me off the record for some research, please email harriet.morter@blakeway.tv. Thanks so much x

brit1234

Foxface wrote: »

Hi y'all

My first post...

10 years ago, we took on a shared equity mortgage - 25% of the house's value to be paid after 10 years (now!). The debt has been moved on at least once and now resides with Phoenix shared equity and managed by Hampton Mortgage Servicing. I've negotiated a lower amount to repay, which is reflective of a drop in the house's value but Hampton's have told me that "There are reasonable fees on redemption, these will be £150 + VAT and are payable to Hampton Mortgage Servicing Limited".

I can't find anything agreeing to paying this nor remember this at the time but as it was 10 years ago, it's not surprising. There's also solicitor fees to pay (and daily interest charges as I think I'm going to be late getting this sorted) so I'm concerned about the costs of this all mounting up. Does anyone have any experience of this? My concern is whether the redemption fee is right or if anyone has challenged this before. This is the first time Hampton's have mentioned the fee.

Any advice gratefully received- thank you

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5435228

The sting of shared equity revealing itself. I just wish people would think long term how they will pay off the extra and now another generation are making the same mistake with the Help to Buy scam.

clint_S

Having read through this thread I can now confidently say that buying a house is a scam.

clint_S

As long as you don't stretch yourselves HTB is a good scheme for some people. I could have bought a house with 370K mortgage without using HTB, I purchased a house a 229K with the full HTB. Why, simply because the 5 years interest free £45K that I can pay off before I start having to pay anything on it. The cost of paying off the HTB is less than the amount I can earn in interest over the 5 years. Yes there is the risk that the house price will rise dramatically, but will need to raise by about 10% for this not to be profitable.