Kind help for FTB on shared ownership & buying

AubreyMac

I could really do with some helpful advice here. I’m hoping to be a ftb, am a single applicant (female) and live in south london (I work in s. london too). My budget (deposit and mortgage agreement) is 192. Here is where I’m a bit different from a lot of people I know, I have a high deposit but a low salary as I’ve only started my permanent job a year ago so have to start from the bottom of the payscale, this was not negotiable but at least there is headroom to move up in the coming years.

I’ve had a look and viewed at 3 properties so far that were asking for 190-200. First two I didn’t like the location and 3rd one I liked and put in an offer which wasn’t accepted.

There isn’t much on the market at the moment so I’m thinking of shared ownership, but before I spend my bank hols reading up on it and applying, I wanted to ask from you – real consumers a few things.

Also, I want to point out that I’m not from a family of home owners, my family (close and extended) have all been council tenants so I don’t really have anyone to ask for advice or tips hence me asking here.

• Do you think my budget allows me to buy something in london without using the shared ownership scheme? I work in camberwell and the job is going v well and I see a long term future there. Therefore I wouldn’t want to be more than 5/6 miles radius from there or 45 min travel door to door. If I could buy without a shared ownership scheme, that would be my preferred choice.

• Anyone here on a shared ownership scheme? If so, with which housing assoc? From my brief research I understand it can vary from HA to HA. I had a look at hexagon housing and also L&Q. L&Q seems good on the surface, but I’m also asking what are they NOT telling? I also gather that some schemes don’t make it very possible to ever own 100% of property and the gap of what you don’t own gets bigger therefore harder to really staircase.

Thank you in advance.

cattie

I've no idea about S.O but wonder what kind of a property are you looking at? If a 1 bed flat then you should still hopefully be able to track something down that isn't S.O.

Have you been looking in any particular area? As you work in Camberwell then you could travel to & from Denmark Hill station on the Bexleyheath line from Victoria to where there is plenty of greenery & still the odd low price 1 bed flat available & just about a 15 min train journey to work.

Although the first of the links below doesn't look too inspiring from the outside, it's a truly lovely road. Houses there are quite sought after there & you are literally on top of the station & close to plenty of greenery & open space.

The 2nd one I've no clue about the area, but it appears to be close to a station which again would be a journey of around 15 mins also & it looks as if it's on quite a small development.

The 3rd one is an ugly duckling from the outside, but in a pretty good location, but I'm unsure what the nearest station would be. You'd likely have to bus to it.


http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-44724098.html

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-29868978.html

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-44470910.html

Sidcup is an area that has quite a few flats,many reasonably priced, but it's not on the train line you'd require, so it would mean changing somewhere along the line & a direct consistent journey is far better than one that is fragmented. http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-29884491.html

Dartford still has some reasonably priced flats there, such as this, http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-29785374.html
& is on the right train line for Denmark Hill. I expect the journey to work would be closer to 25 mins from that location.

Obviously the closer to work you can get, the less the travel costs will be & this should always be factored in when trying to decide on a location.

Hillbilly2

If you can afford it please avoid SO.


On your budget you can buy without it in S London.


Could you advise on areas you would live in?


I found a 2 bed in Lewisham...


http://www.primelocation.com/for-sale/details/28401900

Running_Horse

Look at the room layout and come back saying that is 2 bedrooms.

One of them is 4 foot 6 inches wide!

Research where train lines go and where you can get good value.

Dartford would be a safe bet to begin home ownership.

arthurdick

cattie wrote: »

I've no idea about S.O but wonder what kind of a property are you looking at? If a 1 bed flat then you should still hopefully be able to track something down that isn't S.O.

Have you been looking in any particular area? As you work in Camberwell then you could travel to & from Denmark Hill station on the Bexleyheath line from Victoria to where there is plenty of greenery & still the odd low price 1 bed flat available & just about a 15 min train journey to work.

Although the first of the links below doesn't look too inspiring from the outside, it's a truly lovely road. Houses there are quite sought after there & you are literally on top of the station & close to plenty of greenery & open space.

The 2nd one I've no clue about the area, but it appears to be close to a station which again would be a journey of around 15 mins also & it looks as if it's on quite a small development.

The 3rd one is an ugly duckling from the outside, but in a pretty good location, but I'm unsure what the nearest station would be. You'd likely have to bus to it.


http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-44724098.html

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-29868978.html

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-29868978.html

Sidcup is an area that has quite a few flats,many reasonably priced, but it's not on the train line you'd require, so it would mean changing somewhere along the line & a direct consistent journey is far better than one that is fragmented.

Dartford still has some reasonably priced flats there, such as this, http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-29785374.html
& is on the right train line for Denmark Hill. I expect the journey to work would be closer to 25 mins from that location.

Obviously the closer to work you can get, the less the travel costs will be & this should always be factored in when trying to decide on a location.

out of those 3 links, and me knowing the area's a bit, i would say link 1 was the best area..my sister in law lives a couple of mins away in prince rupert road and it's a nice quiet area.

AubreyMac

cattie wrote: »

Thank you so much for your kind help, it's appreciated you even looked on right move for me!

So far I have looked at Sydenham, croydon and Bromley.

I've decided Bromley is too far, the flat in croydon was listed as 1/2 mile from selhurst station and it really was until I realised that there was no direct footpath to the station and in reality meant walking 1.5miles to it! I didn't get a good feel of the area anyway.

The flat in sydenham was wonderful, located between sydenham and lower sydenham station with a high street in between but the flat sold for over it's asking price.

AubreyMac

Hillbilly2 wrote: »

If you can afford it please avoid SO.

May I ask why?

I don't know anybody in this scheme so whilst reading about it seems almost ideal for my situation, I'm not hearing any bad things about it and don't believe its all good with no bad at all otherwise more will be doing it.

The only thing I can think of that might be negative is that the part you don't own becomes harder to own, meaning it's probably designed so that you don't ever really own 100%. Someone else said to me that mortgage repayment and the rent might total up to around as if you owned 100% mortgage anyway.

AubreyMac

Running_Horse wrote: »

Dartford would be a safe bet to begin home ownership.

Thank you.

Dartford and erith is a bit far out though to be honest. Might be worth a go if a property is very near the station though.

AubreyMac

Anymore help on this please?

I'm searching on rightmove each day, the ones within my budget aren't very desireable. There doesn't seem to be much on the market anyway.

[Deleted User]

AubreyMac wrote: »

May I ask why? I don't know anybody in this scheme so whilst reading about it seems almost ideal for my situation, I'm not hearing any bad things about it and don't believe its all good with no bad at all otherwise more will be doing it.

1. More difficult to sell than a normal property
2. Dependency on a housing association, they're often slow
3. Limited choice of mortgages, you'll pay a higher mortgage rate
4. Rent + mortgage will probably add up to more than just a mortgage if owned outright
5. 100% responsibility for maintenance but you don't get 100% of the reward
6. Prices on shared ownership can often be inflated

If you're desperate to live in a specific area and want long term security but can't afford to purchase a property that meets your needs outright then shared ownership can be a viable option, but you will pay more for that and you will sacrifice flexibility. For me the cost isn't worth it, but for you it might be.

Pipz

If you can afford to do it, then buying outright will be cheaper. I couldn't afford to at the point I was ready to move out so SO was the best option for me.

As each staircasing transaction will attract solicitors fees, lenders fees (if a mortgage is required), valuation fees etc the purchase element to 100% can be quite expensive, best to do it in as few transactions as possible I think.

I went in at 50% for my apartment (resale, 8 year old 'newbuild') and my mortgage plus rent is less than what the mortgage payment would be if I'd bought 100%. I appreciate that the rent, though subsidised, is just dead money, so my strategy to reduce the cost of it all is to overpay the mortgage as much as possible to reduce the term.

I had saved a 30% deposit and didn't have any trouble obtaining my mortgage through my bank.

Each time you staircase your property is subject to valuation so if the market has risen then so too has the cost of purchasing your additional share, but the share you do own has also increased in value.

My HA is One Housing Group, they are fair to middling and do require prompting but everyone on our little development is quite good at that!

I agree with most of the points made by citricsquid - I believe item 6 was reduced in my case due to the age of the property and the fact it was a resale so the price had stabilised somewhat.

Hope that helps