Half Buy half rent??

rach!_3

Hello all,
well at the moment me and my OH are waiting to hear if we will get the pay rise we want in april, and so are thinking of buying our 1st home.
Firstly what we want to know is how are mortgages worked out, where is the best place for a mrotgage and we are turned down for bank accounts not entireely sure why, we do have 1 but we want to change anyway my point is will we definatly be turned down for a mortgage??
And the title of this thread, well my mum told me about something where you half buy/half rent a house not entirely sure on what its called or how it works and would like all info we can get so we know what options we have.
any help/advice greatly appreciated.
thanks in advance
rach:;)

RufusFrog_2

The half buy/half rent thing is called 'Shared Ownership'. Some schemes are restricted to 'key workers', i.e. certain government employees, so look out for that. Some you have to apply via housing associations (even for resales), even be registered with the council, others are traded on the open market (but avoid ones with large 'premiums').

Just because you've been turned down by banks doesn't mean you'll be turned down for a mortgage (I heard at one point that Direct Line declined 50% of applicants for its current account) - you can get your credit ratings from Experian etc. for a fee, but it might be cheaper to talk to a few mortgage lenders to find out what they would hypothetically lend you.

Bargain_Rzl

RufusFrog has summed up the basics of Shared Ownership pretty well - just a few things to add:

(1) Shared Ownership schemes all (?) require that you have a certain income level. Some specify a minimum and maximum income that will qualify you for a particular scheme, others only a minimum (for mine, you had to be earning over £20k I think it was - I'm in London so property is more expensive to begin with - and be "unable to afford a suitable property on the open market")

(2) You will need a few £k in savings for such things as legal fees, stamp duty, moving costs, furnishings, and (if there's anything left after all that!) a deposit, which will enable you to get a better mortgage interest rate.

(3) When you look for a solicitor and a mortgage broker, ensure that you appoint ones who are familiar with shared ownership schemes.

(4) The stamp duty laws on shared ownership are quite complex and it is worth researching and understanding them in full in case your solicitor makes mistakes.

Hope this helps.

rach!_3

thank you both