Orbit Homes anyone? Let's hear some nice SO stories?

r12

I have read this thread with interest. I have + and - with my experience and would like to share these with you:

Positives:
-Could get myself and my daughter out of a nasty flat (not that flats are nasty but it was not in a nice area) and into a lovely house which would have been way out of my price range
-loved living there until I had a change in my circumstances

Negatives:
-service charge was extortionate (yes on a 3 bed terrace). Every year the rent and service charge would increase way out of line with inflation (and building insurance which you have to pay on their behalf) but you have to put up and shut up and pay it.
-you are responsible for anything that goes wrong (apart from under NHBC)

DO BUY SO: If you think your circumstances will not change and that your income will increase significantly year on year. If you have enough money to be able to buy 100% thus making it freehold and remotely saleable (even though most people cannot afford this option hence SO). If you are certain that the house hasn't been overvalued. (I lost £35,000 in just over 3 years as was way over priced but I didnt care as I was desperate and as it was 50% I didn't really consider it).

DO NOT BUY: if you may be at risk of income lowering (I had pay freezes and loss of tax credit), if you want more children (have met plenty of SO who cannot buy larger as the rules at the moment only allow you to sell, then rent. Then reapply for SO. I wanted to move over the road from 3bed to 2bed to save money on rent etc, same housing association, made me move out and out stuff in storage! Mucked me about sooooo much that I have vowed to never buy SO again and am currently living with my parents and saving for my own place!). If you want to move in a few years time and cannot staircase to 100%

Am I glad I bought SO? Absolutely. I couldn't have carried on in that flat and was totally outpriced everywhere else in the area. Would I buy again? Absolutely not. If you trust your housing association then great but you literally put your life in their hands, and they have absolutely all the control and you foot all the bills.

Also in my experience the housing associations are not interested in helping you move, and not interested in helping solve problems. They are fab whilst you are buying a new property but nowhere to be found after they have your money! If you think vendors and buyers and solicitors stall during buying and selling this is nothing when you have the seller, the sellers solicitor, the HA, the HAs solicitor, the buyers solicitor. It is incredibly stressful. Hence why I cannot do it again. Best wishes on your decision, apologies for the unstructured wafflings, but I feel quite emotional about this issue and it a scheme that could be great but the rules the way they are at the moment are really really awful! r12

GDB2222

r12, you say that this was a good solution to getting you out of the very poor flat you had been in originally. Yet, also you said that you are now living with your parents. Was that an option at the time, and do you now wish you had done that straight away?

It sounds like you lost £35k on the SO, so you'd be that much closer to owning your own place now if you hadn't gone down the SO route?

r12

retrospectively absolutely GDB2222! I had recently separated from my husband and I guess at the time I thought I could manage everything on my own, and didn't even consider moving back with my parents. Am older and trying to be wiser! It really does pay to listen to advice as I often wish I had taken other peoples advice! You live and learn! I think SO may be great for a very small % of people but it traps people who are tempted by the inital low rents and small price of the % they will own, and not considering issues down the line!