marzman Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 Hi all, Okay, as some of you know, i've had a tough year, with my fiance and i in an expensive legal fight to keep her in the country (she's african), during which time she was not allowed to work. Anyway - the case was resolved last week, and she can now stay permanently, and return to work. So, we can finally get our lives on track and start thinking about buying our first home (not that we can get a joint mortgage). Unfortunately after the legal bills, we've been left with nothing and have to start saving for a deposit... but i cant be arsed...!! To get a good sized house i need a deposit of £20k which will take us a good 3 years to save, during which time i will have wasted another £20k on rent So - can anyone advise on what options thre are for first time buyers like us? Any help would be much appreciated...! (and thanks to Sarnie for some advice already ) I've just been reading about 'Shared Equity'... can anyone advice on pros/cons? (and does it even exist anymore?) Are there any other schemes like this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarnie Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 Don't forget that you will still need a 10-15% deposit for your half of a shared ownership property e.g on a £180k house 50% = £90k and therefore 10-15% of £90k is £9k-£13.5k..................................plus you will pay rent to the housing association on the other 50%that you don't own... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevlo Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 imo i would avoid shared ownership. you could try and downsize your rental property to the absolute minimum and just save save save. i know thats easy to say and perhaps not so easy in reality but if you do live in a rented house that isnt great it makes it even sweeter when you get a place of your own Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 There are a few good 1st time buyer schemes out there. We have just bought our first house on one of them schemes. We needed a 5% deposit, the 1st 5 years of the mortgage is 0%. We were given a mortgage advisor and lawyer. We managed to get ourselves a 3 story, 3 bedroom semi with garage on the side. The only down side is the schemes are only available on new builds. but I was happy with that. http://www.bellway.co.uk/special-offers Hope this helps Woody Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marzman Posted November 3, 2010 Author Share Posted November 3, 2010 Don't forget that you will still need a 10-15% deposit for your half of a shared ownership property e.g on a £180k house 50% = £90k and therefore 10-15% of £90k is £9k-£13.5k..................................plus you will pay rent to the housing association on the other 50%that you don't own... The ones im looking at allow you to purchase for 5% down, and you own 100% of the house - but have to pay back the 15% loan they give you within a certain time. And even if they do change some interest on the loan, i should be better off paying that rather than the £600pcm in rent i pay now, for which im getting nothing in return. you can buy a new home for as little as 85% of the price now. You need to pay a 5% deposit on exchange of contracts, and 80% of the price via your prearranged mortgage on completion. We will loan you the remaining 15%, secured by a legal charge, with no rent or interest to pay for up to 10 years. This offer is limited to selected homes up to £150,000, throughout the UK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbiscuit Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 when we were looking at buying their was a local housing fair (i usppose you could call it) with free impartial advice and people there to expalin all the options in our county. what the implications were, and what would be best to suit us. i think it was run by the council and was held at a local hotel. was interesting and answered alot of questions. we found we weren't eligble for some of the really good schemes as we earned to much. might eb worth speaking to your local authority, they may be able to point you in the right direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marzman Posted November 3, 2010 Author Share Posted November 3, 2010 There are a few good 1st time buyer schemes out there. We have just bought our first house on one of them schemes. We needed a 5% deposit, the 1st 5 years of the mortgage is 0%. We were given a mortgage advisor and lawyer. We managed to get ourselves a 3 story, 3 bedroom semi with garage on the side. The only down side is the schemes are only available on new builds. but I was happy with that. http://www.bellway.co.uk/special-offers Hope this helps Woody Yeh looks like the same as what im looking at... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarnie Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 Don't forget that you will still need a 10-15% deposit for your half of a shared ownership property e.g on a £180k house 50% = £90k and therefore 10-15% of £90k is £9k-£13.5k..................................plus you will pay rent to the housing association on the other 50%that you don't own... The ones im looking at allow you to purchase for 5% down, and you own 100% of the house - but have to pay back the 15% loan they give you within a certain time. And even if they do change some interest on the loan, i should be better off paying that rather than the £600pcm in rent i pay now, for which im getting nothing in return. you can buy a new home for as little as 85% of the price now. You need to pay a 5% deposit on exchange of contracts, and 80% of the price via your prearranged mortgage on completion. We will loan you the remaining 15%, secured by a legal charge, with no rent or interest to pay for up to 10 years. This offer is limited to selected homes up to £150,000, throughout the UK. There are so many pitfalls of these schemes, they ringfence you in so that you buy one of their overpriced properties with no room for negotiation, use their mortgage advisor who sticks you on a nice high rate product that pays them a fat wedge, use their solicitors that charge the earth etc etc Just make sure you go into anything with your eyes fully wide open and not mesmerised by the showhome...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daryl Posted November 4, 2010 Share Posted November 4, 2010 A friend of mine was renting a flat a while back,and after something like 3 years,he had the option to buy it, using the rent he had already paid as the deposit. Was a great idea,but he moved,as needed a bigger place. Not sure if these things are still going,or what they apply to,but it maybe worth checking out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted November 4, 2010 Share Posted November 4, 2010 Just rent for 3 years and save. No telling what the housing market is going to do in that time so you might not be any worse off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daryl Posted November 4, 2010 Share Posted November 4, 2010 Im guessing selling the 350 is not an option.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainSensible Posted November 4, 2010 Share Posted November 4, 2010 I hope this doesn't sound harsh mate but I don't think you should even be considering buying a house at the moment, getting yourself up to your eyeballs in debt just so you can get a toe on the housing ladder is not a great idea. Plus house prices are sliding again and may have further to go. You'd gutted if you bought a house today and in a years time it was worth 10% less. If I were you I'd do it the old fashioned way and live somewhere that you can comfortably afford to rent and get saving! That's what I've done for the last 3 years and now have a deposit ready to go when I'm want to buy. Although at the moment I choose not to buy because I'm waiting for prices to drop further. To get a good sized house i need a deposit of £20k which will take us a good 3 years to save, during which time i will have wasted another £20k on rent Renting is no more wasting money than paying interest on a mortgage. Remember when you first take out a mortgage probably 75-80% of each payment will just be paying off interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Posted November 4, 2010 Share Posted November 4, 2010 Im guessing selling the 350 is not an option.... It was sold some time ago. I'd get in touch with your local housing association as they should be able to advise you. In the mean time keep saving! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarnie Posted November 4, 2010 Share Posted November 4, 2010 I hope this doesn't sound harsh mate but I don't think you should even be considering buying a house at the moment, getting yourself up to your eyeballs in debt just so you can get a toe on the housing ladder is not a great idea. Plus house prices are sliding again and may have further to go. You'd gutted if you bought a house today and in a years time it was worth 10% less. If I were you I'd do it the old fashioned way and live somewhere that you can comfortably afford to rent and get saving! That's what I've done for the last 3 years and now have a deposit ready to go when I'm want to buy. Although at the moment I choose not to buy because I'm waiting for prices to drop further. I agree to a certain extent. Sometimes there are just too many hoops to jump through. It's a buyers market at the moment and these FTB schemes are designed purely with people with who have next to no deposit in mind. The only people really benefiting are the builders, think about it, why would they give people a 15% interest free loan??? It smacks of desperation imo. You would still have 95% secured against the property, and at current market trends, could easily become negative equity within 3 or 4 months. Then you try and sell it and realise that the builder sold it to you above what other comparible properties are selling for and you'll find yourself marooned, so that 95% has now become 110% and it's going to cost you to get rid of it. The best bet is to try to save a regular deposit, this will give you the entire market to choose from and put you in a much stronger position when you do actually cometo buy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stanski Posted November 4, 2010 Share Posted November 4, 2010 You can rent my van Chris - I only need it for work a few days a week - just leave me a bacon and egg butty and we can call it quits No seriously I will ask Lucy see if she has any good ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparky370z Posted November 4, 2010 Share Posted November 4, 2010 Hi all, Okay, as some of you know, i've had a tough year, with my fiance and i in an expensive legal fight to keep her in the country (she's african), during which time she was not allowed to work. Anyway - the case was resolved last week, and she can now stay permanently, and return to work. So, we can finally get our lives on track and start thinking about buying our first home (not that we can get a joint mortgage). Unfortunately after the legal bills, we've been left with nothing and have to start saving for a deposit... but i cant be arsed...!! To get a good sized house i need a deposit of £20k which will take us a good 3 years to save, during which time i will have wasted another £20k on rent So - can anyone advise on what options thre are for first time buyers like us? Any help would be much appreciated...! (and thanks to Sarnie for some advice already ) I've just been reading about 'Shared Equity'... can anyone advice on pros/cons? (and does it even exist anymore?) Are there any other schemes like this? me and my mrs are in the same boat. have got 10k saved but its just not enough. need 25% deposit at least to get a good rate at a fixed term. there are loads of options but it wont be easy or cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voodoo Vix Posted November 4, 2010 Share Posted November 4, 2010 I bought on a First Time Buyer's Scheme a couple of years ago (they don't actually do these anymore they're just Homebuyer Schemes so you don't actually have to be a FTB - in Kent anyway). I own 100% of the Title but have two Charges, one is my mortgage and the other comes from the government. I have 61% with mortgage and deposit and the government have 39%. You don't pay rent on the 39% as the property is yours but you have to pay interest on it. The interest starts after 3 years (I'm selling next year, fingers crossed, so won't actually have to pay any of it!) at 1% and goes up every year to a maximum of 3%, you can pay off the Charge if you want to. I was supplied with a mortgage broker who was really helpful (the mortgage company even knocked the builders down £15k on the purchase price) and as long as I used the solicitors that were recommended by the builders, they paid my fees including stamp duty. I didn't need a big deposit either you just had to prove you had £6k in savings and earn over £20k a year. This was the best thing for me as there was no way in my area that I could afford to rent let alone buy and I don't regret it at all. Just make sure you read the small print. I didn't find out until after I bought it that the Charge the government have increases by minimum of 2.4% each year (after the first 3 years) so if you stay there and don't pay off any of the charge itself, you'll probably end up with a bigger Charge than your mortgage! Thankfully I won't be there long enough but I do think they are a good place to start and has got me on the property ladder. Also (although I don't know how true this is and am wary of it myself) I was told by the mortgage broker that if the price drops and I sell the hit is taken by the government charge and not me so I don't lose out but as I said I'm not sure I believe this! At the end up the day its up to you and your circumstances but there are options out there and I have seem them on older properties not just new builds, but new builds you tend to get better deals i.e. fees/stamp duty paid for. Not sure if this makes sense as I'm a bit of a rambler but hope it helps lol Vix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zedwagon Posted November 4, 2010 Share Posted November 4, 2010 hi chris have a look on here http://www.homesandcommunities.co.uk/home_buy.htm i'd go for a housing association shared ownership property rather than private developer. there's a few i know in your area that do quite a bit of shared ownership on both properties they build themselves and ones they buy from builders. i can put you in touch with the right people direct if you want? you can then see what's available to you and what your options are Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.