Shared ownership/key worker scheme

lynzpower

mazcambs wrote: »

Do you have to be a key worker to be able to apply for part owned homes?
Me and my partner just cant get a mortgage £75,000 at most.

NO DEFINATELY NOT!

check out your local area, its called open market homebuy round my way

Taadaa

Not necessarily, but they may be higher up the priority list.

Some developments will specify key workers only. Some will say that you have to live and/or work in a certain area. Some will be open to people in specified borough, be in social housing or on that waiting list. Some will be open to all first time buyers. And some will be open to non FTBs who are forced to move because of work or a relationship breakdown.

Best speak to Housing Associations operating where you live/work and see what they can do for you.

smreynard

My daughter is not a key worker and bought a newly-built SO house three years ago. It was a good move for her because she could only afford the mortgage on 50% of the purchase price. However, me and my husband bought our house on SO nearly 7 years ago and it wasn't such a good move for us. If we'd known at the time that property prices in our area were going to triple we would have taken up a mortgage that was offered to us for the full purchase price. At the time we decided to go for the SO option because the full mortgage was at a higher interest rate but now we could never afford to buy the other half of the house so are resigned to renting.

Bargain_Rzl

smreynard wrote: »

At the time we decided to go for the SO option because the full mortgage was at a higher interest rate but now we could never afford to buy the other half of the house so are resigned to renting.

Is this such a bad thing though? Is your house big enough that it would ever enable you to realise the equity by selling it and buying a smaller property?

I can see that in the context of your circumstances (the "what might have been" angle) you haven't made the best long-term decision, but I've been in a SO flat for 7 months and I have always considered the "pay off original mortgage and continue renting the remainder" option as a viable one. Because of the market conditions at the moment I am certain my flat is NOT going to treble in value over the next few years (I know I'm in Inner London but unless there's MASSIVE wage inflation in the next few years, I don't see a 1-bed flat in a run-down area going from £150k to £450k anytime soon!)

smreynard

Our house is a three bedroom end of terrace but there would be no point in downsizing to anything smaller because they're not much cheaper. I have got an inheritance from my dad which I can use to pay off the mortgage, so at least we will own half the house so the rent payments won't seem too bad. I might try to save some money to buy some more of the house or maybe just continue renting, it's hard to know what to do for the best.

Unclebob_3

Taadaa wrote: »

Can I just point out that if you have more than 8k of savings, most schemes will not consider you.

I purchased through open market homebuy which has similar regulations. The limit is much more generous than £8k. We had more than that and the financial advisor told us savings over £10k are meant to be used as deposit. However, the housing association turned a blind eye to that and even if they haven't it's easy to get rid of savings by buying a car or signing money over to a family member etc.
Don't be put off. Apply anyway and see what happens. We also found that housing associations have targets to meet so they actually want to give away a certain amount of funding! When this is the case they will be more flexible in reality than they are on paper.:beer: