Shared Ownership - problems

lynzpower

I know Graham! I saw this place in the April, when I wrote out a 200 deposit imiediatley to "hold" it.

I moved in on the 29th october. Everything that could go wrong did! fired solicitors, withdrawn mortgage offers, housing officer leaving mid way through and to top it all off a flood about 4 weeks before I was meant to move in.

Selling it is meant to be easier, but right now Im not so sure :rotfl:

Graham_Devon

Well it wasn't easier for the person who sold this house to me, I can assure you!

She had to get her new place (new build SO with an etra bedroom as she had another kid on the way) re-valued in the end. She was going to pull out of the sale as she could not afford it, but we had about a month left. In the end, I paid half the valuation fee on her new place and she paid half. It was the only way I could get this house as she couldnt afford to go on any longer. However, we got re-imbursed by the HA 2 months later.

She obviously had had her new place sitting there longer than I had been buying this one, think it took her 13 months to get the keys to her new place. Eeek! Luckily though the HA kept it for her. Mindyou, not like they were selling like hot cakes though, some of them are still empty as too many people are now earning over the top wage and dont get accepted (£21,000).

So now, theres empty SO places because people earn to much, being £21,000 as a single person or couple, yet those people who may earn 25k between them or on their own, only have the opportunity of maybe, if they are lucky and have NO debts, a 100k mortgage

I was right on the borderline of earning too much, and was coming up for a wage rise, thankfully my empolyer held onto this rise for me and continued paying me my normal wage so I could get the place. End of this finanical year I will get all the extra I should have had and step up. Bit naughty I know, but there we go!

Sorry!

Bargain_Rzl

Graham_Devon wrote:

So now, theres empty SO places because people earn to much, being £21,000 as a single person or couple, yet those people who may earn 25k between them or on their own, only have the opportunity of maybe, if they are lucky and have NO debts, a 100k mortgage

I was right on the borderline of earning too much, and was coming up for a wage rise, thankfully my empolyer held onto this rise for me and continued paying me my normal wage so I could get the place. End of this finanical year I will get all the extra I should have had and step up. Bit naughty I know, but there we go!

Sorry!

Your scheme sounds quite restrictive. My SO scheme didn't have any such stringent upper limits, plus, cos it's London and property is inherently more expensive, the LOWER limits on even the cheaper schemes are around the £21k mark. My scheme's terms were simply that you had to be a FTB living in a qualifying borough and earning OVER a certain amount, who "couldn't afford a suitable property on the open market".

I had nightmares with my HA's solicitor, too, even though the HA themselves were nothing but helpful. Looking at the stories on this thread, I think I got off lightly with four months from application to completion! I've spoken to two of my neighbours and they experienced the same problems.

ukgaz

As I have just handed my holding deposit into the HA on the 28th dec I thought I'd check on the net to see about other people experience are going!

I'm going for a 50% share in a 1 bed flat in watford. It is not yet finished being built but should be in early 07. I have a appointment with Barclays on 3rd jan - I'm hoping they will let me borrow the 100% of my share. If everything works out well ( I know I'm dreaming! ) hopefully I will be in by Feb/march

Gareth

lynzpower

Gareth,

Dont wish to put a dampener on your spitits, but I reckon you are being slighhtly ambitious there, maybe with my experience I would say that!!!

ukgaz

lynzpower,

I suppose every month that goes by that I don't move in means a bit more money saved for furniture, etc.

I guess I'm going to go mad over the coming months!

Gareth

earner

I bought a shared ownership back in 1991.
Sods made me pay stamp duty on the whole value of the property - even though the half I was buying shouldn't have qualified as the law specifically stated "transferrable value" (which means my half).

In the end, I sold it back to the council in 1997 and was in negative equity.

I felt they over-valued it to sell it to me - and under-valued it to buy it back.

I was living in a caravan before I got the SO so it was warmer though for the time I was in it

izoomzoom

We were lucky we didn't (or haven't - perhaps a bill will come) pay any SD. Don't reckon we will ever buy this place outright, so what is the point.

So Earner, I assume you didn't do the SO route again ?

UKgaz - expect to be in, in Feb. That was 2008 right ? Perhaps by Easter (sorry to say, but one house we looked at - it took HA 3 months to get the keys, and only then did they do the tenant selection process.

And AKK, what is happening ?????????

Graham_Devon

ukgaz wrote:

As I have just handed my holding deposit into the HA on the 28th dec I thought I'd check on the net to see about other people experience are going!

I'm going for a 50% share in a 1 bed flat in watford. It is not yet finished being built but should be in early 07. I have a appointment with Barclays on 3rd jan - I'm hoping they will let me borrow the 100% of my share. If everything works out well ( I know I'm dreaming! ) hopefully I will be in by Feb/march

Gareth

Gareth, I'd aim for July if I were you. Also, from what I have heard, 100% on shared ownership don't bode well, that, IMHO anyway, would be your first stumbling block. I could only get 90% on mine.

I didnt pay any SD on mine. And as with others in the thread, I will never own more than 25% of it unless I do decide this is where I would like to continue living, though I doubt it!

I would prefer to have a deposit big enough to buy my next one, without a chain, as I know from my experience will have hassle selling this, so should, hopefully be able to buy the next one while I'm selling this. That's the idea anyway, and holding onto my savings in anticipation of the interest rate going up!

ukgaz

Yeah I've been thinking that the 100% may be an issue. I see barclays and nationwide next week. I tried my own bank ( Natwest ) but they are useless. I will strongly consider leaving them over the coming months

The HA's make it sound like such an easy process when you first get in touch with them!