Barratt Homes NHS deposit contributions

Huntlee

Hi all. Barratt Homes have recently released details of "The Big Barratt Thank You", offering a deposit contribution of 5% (up to £15,000) towards the deposit. We have been looking at a Barratt property in a local development and as my wife works for the NHS this seems like a very good offer to us.
We've currently got £6,000 saved towards our deposit and are both in stable, long term jobs that are not affected by the current climate. We've checked mortgage repayment calculators and can afford repayments, even if the mortgage rate went up to 8%.
We've only been saving towards a mortgage for 6 months so far and was originally planning to start a property search once we got around £12,000 but the Barratt offer seems too good to pass up.
Does anyone have any experience of an offer like this? I'm normally pretty cynical about things but this seems straight forward?

bucksbloke

I would be cynical about this, as you people can frequently negotiate 5% deposit, free kitchen and floor upgrades, or stamp duty paid themselves. I don't think they are offering anything to the NHS that people walking in could not get. 

Not sure what you want to buy but many lenders have a maximum 85% LTV on new build houses (75% LTV for flats). So if you got a 5% deposit contribution from Barratt - you will still need to find 10% of the property price. Not sure where you are living but for a three bed terrace around here you would be looking at a deposit of £55k. 

You could potentially make use of Help to Buy if you are quick - but you cannot use the gifted deposit with Help to Buy - it would be better to negotiate £15k off the property or use it for upgrades. 

RelievedSheff

Go and have a chat with them and see what they can offer.

We bought a David Wilson Homes house last year (part of the Barratt group and also offering the NHS deposit contribution) We got a great deal from them with very little in the way of haggling, they took our old house in part exchange and gave us £10k deposit contribution, stamp duty paid, legal fees paid, free flooring throughout and moving costs contribution.

I'm sure you could probably strike a better deal than the 5% deposit contribution.

We managed to get a 90% LTV mortgage on a new build with adverse credit. Although the rate isn't great, in fact it is terrible, it is only for two years, one of which has already flown by and at the end of the term we will remortgage to a mainstream lender with a better LTV (hopefully) and no adverse on the credit files so the rate should be much better. The mortgage market has changed a lot in the last few months though so you would need to see what you could get LTV wise now.

Huntlee

Well, I spoke with Barratt's and they explained the offer to us in a better way than their website. They will contribute 5% (up to £15k) and it will be matched to the deposit you are putting down. We therefore have to continue on with saving for the time being, much as I thought we would. Once we are ready we will see if we can negotiate a similar offer to this if one isn't already in place.
Thanks all, Matt

bucksbloke

@Huntlee, So sorry you are not realising your dream right now, but you will soon be there. Lockdown is an ideal opportunity to prune back spending and add to that deposit. Wishing you both the best.