Confusion : Shared ownership house or shared ownership flat

andes_2

Yes, Sarah you are right the shared ownership house is on the market with 98 year lease!

poppysarah

andes wrote: »

Yes, Sarah you are right the shared ownership house is on the market with 98 year lease!

What charges do you have to pay? Road sweeping? Garden maintenance?

Worth researching all of it and then comparing with older houses.

andes_2

for the house, rent including service charge is £260

Yolina

McKneff wrote: »

A house every time, a flat is never fully yours.

A lease to me is the same as renting, you never stop paying.

Eventually you will be mortgage free with a house.

Depends - some flats (like mine) come with a share of freehold so no problem with the lease and as it happens, I am also mortgage-free though obviously there's still the service charge but that means that things are taken care of (our development is extremely well maintained, we have a good management company and residents association). I think most new flats now come with a 999 years lease. Seems that shared ownership works completely differently though.

In any reasonably big town, I wouldn't dismiss a flat outright just because it's a flat and would just go for what is most convenient. I'd be more concerned about shared ownership than property type tbh.

jc808

Why does it have to be Oxford?

Move out of Oxford and buy a freehold non PO house prob. cheaper

Anything else is madness IMO

andes_2

Any other suggestions!

BTW, I found a excel sheet that can calculate your costs/ savings/ equity over the full five years

vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/mortgage-interest-spreadsheet

Cheers
A

brit1234

Sorry a lease for a house and a service charge on top. :eek:

You buy a house to get away from this rubbish, sounds like the HA are just out there for a milking.

Get a freehold house instead, its cheaper in purchase and long hall.

I still call shared ownership a scam and it is even more of a scam if it is house with a lease.

Under shared ownership technically you don't own it but responsible for 100% of costs and more. Either buy a normal house or rent one.

GDB2222

So many people with such bad experiences of shared ownership. First, the annual costs look good, but they seem to go up a lot. Second, the sale price is always extremely high, but people ignore that because the annual costs look less than renting. However, when they come to sell, they find they are in severe negative equity.

There are just so many sob stories on here about this.

andes_2

brit1234 wrote: »

Sorry a lease for a house and a service charge on top. :eek:

You buy a house to get away from this rubbish, sounds like the HA are just out there for a milking.

Get a freehold house instead, its cheaper in purchase and long hall.

I still call shared ownership a scam and it is even more of a scam if it is house with a lease.

Under shared ownership technically you don't own it but responsible for 100% of costs and more. Either buy a normal house or rent one.

Thanks mate, but seriously, I don't get your point
Rent for 2 bed flat in a decent area in Oxford could start from £850 to £1200. SO scheme offers a property (priced at 200000, 30 % share)- for example rent inclusive service charges 500 + plus repayment mortgage of 260/ month=£760/ month.
Essentially, 3 years or 5 years down the lane, not only we are gaining from the difference in rental, but also the principal amount that we would have paid (roughly £3500 for 3 years). In total, buying a SO 2 bed flat could save around £6740 (for 3 years) against renting in this area.

In what way renting is more attractive? how many years one has to save for securing 15 % deposit of £30000 for buying a £200000 2 bed flat at a nominal interest rate (This is a conservative price- Although actual prices for a normal house in Oxford may be higher)

Graham_Devon

A house.

But wouldn't plan too much on it being an "investment" in terms of "both will increase in value". It's an investment in terms of it's a home for you, but in todays climate, investing based on the fact it will increase in price is very risky.