Has anyone used HomeNow?

Mabs42

Nebulous2 said:

Mabs42 said:

Hi,
 I saw the comments on here and thought I'd let you know how my dealings with HomeNow went for me. I was about to be kicked out of my house because my landlord wanted to sell. I really wanted to stay because I was well within the catchment area for the school I want for my younger son (although he'll probably get in on sibling rule, but not a risk I want to take). HomeNow bought the house, and I get to stay here knowing my rent is fixed for 5 years. Tim at HomeNow was really great and always available to speak to when I had questions. They were a bit slow but that might have been due to some hold-ups due to covid. Other than that... all good. 

Thanks for letting us know. 

What was your rent? Before and after?

Hi,
Our rent hadn't been raised for a number of years because we'd been there 10 years and our landlady was happy with us as we were good tenants. Our rent was independently assessed by three estate agents and HomeNow did come in at the top end of those three rents. We hoped to avoid the cost and hassle of moving and another thing was that was we couldn't find another comparable house in our area that had the configuration of reception rooms that we needed.

SpiderLegs

Mabs42 said:

Nebulous2 said:

Mabs42 said:

Hi,
 I saw the comments on here and thought I'd let you know how my dealings with HomeNow went for me. I was about to be kicked out of my house because my landlord wanted to sell. I really wanted to stay because I was well within the catchment area for the school I want for my younger son (although he'll probably get in on sibling rule, but not a risk I want to take). HomeNow bought the house, and I get to stay here knowing my rent is fixed for 5 years. Tim at HomeNow was really great and always available to speak to when I had questions. They were a bit slow but that might have been due to some hold-ups due to covid. Other than that... all good. 

Thanks for letting us know. 

What was your rent? Before and after?

Hi,
Our rent hadn't been raised for a number of years because we'd been there 10 years and our landlady was happy with us as we were good tenants. Our rent was independently assessed by three estate agents and HomeNow did come in at the top end of those three rents. We hoped to avoid the cost and hassle of moving and another thing was that was we couldn't find another comparable house in our area that had the configuration of reception rooms that we needed.

This is a numbers game. So how much was the rent, how much were the estimates and how much is your new rent?

How much did homenow buy the house for?
How much deposit will you have in five years?
How much mortgage do you anticipate requiring and what household income do you have to support that?

Racxie

So I've only just heard of this company having come across this article which piqued my interest: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/homeandproperty/buying-a-home-the-new-scheme-where-the-landlord-helps-renters-to-get-on-the-property-ladder/ar-AA1d8jQu?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=W069&cvid=b5101632d97b4665b085e296f43db547&ei=32

Having spent a bit of time perusing their website I do have lots of questions, and of course like others in the past here I am a bit dubious, especially as they're looking to crowdfund soon in exchange for shares in their company: https://www.homenowuk.com/crowdfunding (not that crowdfunding is always a bad thing, but it does raise questions).

But let's say for arguments sake the scheme is legitamite and it pans out exactly as they say (with all the pros & cons of repairs, house prices etc), as others here have also pointed out the "rent" price appears to be the biggest downside, and as per the article quoting a family who's actually gone ahead with this scheme:

“The monthly rent went up from £1,450 to £1,950 when HomeNow bought the property and this did seem like a massive jump, but I’m locked in for five years now and that worry has been taken away from me,” says Chapman.

Which seems kind of odd to me especially as their website's FAQ https://www.homenowuk.com/faqs) states:

As a general rule, we would not allow the monthly rental payment to be more than 40% of your gross combined income.

But hey, at least it appears to be a legitimate real-world example and judging by the time frame mentioned in the article they are now 1-2 years into it. Would definitely be nice to see more case studies, and would be nice to hear how they've gone at the end of their 5 year period (assuming they don't need to extend it).

Sarah1Mitty2

Stardustjunkie said:

GDB2222 said:

From the example on their website, they may be charging above market rents. £17k pa rent on a £300k property. Since the deal they offer is specific to you and the property that you choose, it’s not possible to say whether it is definitely a good or a bad deal. 

I did think this. I wondered what the rent would be for a £270k property here. In order to rent a similar sized property, we’d be looking at about £1-1200pcm. We currently live in a tiny flat for £575pcm, which is up 6 flights of stairs, terrible road to live on (cars constantly damaged etc and there’s an assisted living place opposite so often full on slanging matches etc in the street), fairly modern but water pressure is awful so showers are horrendous etc. We stay here because it’s one of the only places we can afford, whilst still saving for a mortgage. So for us it’s an attractive idea, if it’s safe and legitimate.

They are hedging their bets both ways, prices go down they have been paid an elevated rent and the tenant gets nothing, prices go up they get a cut of the profit the tenant/owner would have made without using them and they have been paid an elevated rent for waiting. Are you using PropertyLog to check out rentals and monitor price movements? If the media start shouting "Recession!" PropertyLog will get interesting.