Shared Ownership: Resale or New property

HDCD

Hello everyone. I will soon be going through the process of purchasing my new home via Shared Ownership scheme. As much as I would love to buy a new build, I am weighing up alternatives through purchasing a resale property (i.e. where someone has lived in before). Has anyone got any advice? I’m keen to understand things surrounding warranty issues, is money saved by buying a resale shared ownership property, are there are further pros and/or cons to buying a resale property?
I look forward to hearing from you all

ChloeManoey

I bought a resale and am very happy with the choice.

I think it allows the price to "even out" a little bit and be a bit more realistic. New builds are often overpriced which is the last thing you want really especially with shared ownership. 

Also you'll be able to ask the current owner about the managing agent and what they are like managing the block. Also you'll have a bit of a history of the service charge and rent accounts, see how much it may have increased etc. 

Just be careful of the remaining lease length. A lot start at 99 years so will already be heading down towards the danger zone of low 80s. 

In terms of warranty, I think most new builds have like 10 years warranty? Regardless of who owns it/how many owners it has had. 

HanPop

Personally I would go for a brand new shared ownership property over a resale. Firstly for the lease length and secondly because everything is brand new. We had a brand new one and didn’t have to spend any money on the house, my friend had a 16 year old resale and begrudged doing anything to the house (needs a new kitchen/bathroom/doesn’t have a downstairs loo as was built before those regulations) as she had to pay the full price but only owned half of it. If you have to have shared ownership then I’m guessing you won’t have extra money to splash on new kitchens/bathrooms etc like we didn’t.