- Notice
Seconded.
Help to buy is not your friend, it's a prop for the big house builders.
With out all these schemes to keep prices high normal people would be better off. It's a mess how out of sync with wages house prices are and it isn't sustainable.
I was planning on buying my first home on the help to buy scheme but due to covid we decided not to go ahead with it and honestly I am glad we didn’t. If you want information there’s a great group on Facebook called “new build help group” the guy who runs it is a mortgage advisor and posts lots of videos with tips/help with the process. It’s not just for help to buy but I found it useful anyway 
Blakelycakey
Active member
Agree this thread is enlightening and has made me Have a rethink. We will have saved enough of a deposit but help to buy was looking more appealing on the whole having a new home with a young family not having to do anything ourselves to a property but now thinking it may not be so bad to do it that way with what’s been said above may just take a little longer in the end to have all the money needed. It’s taken us nearly 3 years to save a chunk I suppose another year won’t hurt us x
aimzalicious
VIP Member
I'm happy I stumbled upon this thread. @under the ivy I think we're in the same kind of situation, I'm also looking to buy in about 1.5-2 years. I'm definitely going to research more into Lifetime ISA's instead to see if it's worth it
Giggling Squid
VIP Member
We bought through help to buy in 2019.. we never would have been able to buy without it because of the house prices round here. Happy to answer any questions you have 
Timescales, it took us just over 5 weeks from reservation to exchange (expected within 28 days by our developer, our mortgage advisor handled it all for us, but our authority to proceed came through really quickly, and then the delay with exchanging was down to our solicitor, the authority to exchange came through quickly too.
One thing (not related to HTB) make sure you do any negotiations for things to be included (upgrades, flooring etc) BEFORE you reserve... we made a big mistake with that
Timescales, it took us just over 5 weeks from reservation to exchange (expected within 28 days by our developer, our mortgage advisor handled it all for us, but our authority to proceed came through really quickly, and then the delay with exchanging was down to our solicitor, the authority to exchange came through quickly too.
One thing (not related to HTB) make sure you do any negotiations for things to be included (upgrades, flooring etc) BEFORE you reserve... we made a big mistake with that
under the ivy
VIP Member
I have an HTB what I’m paying into each month. No where near saved enough for a deposit yet but I’m finding the HTB info confusing. Considering swapping to a LISA but the Govt bonus would help me (even though this goes to the solicitors, I think?).
I bought using HTB in 2018. We have a persimmon house (they are actually not that bad - we had some minor snags that were quickly dealt with and 2 years on they are still willing to come out and plaster cracks etc for us )
It completely depends on how well the houses are selling as to if they will throw in extras like flooring, upgraded kitchen etc If the estate you're buying on is popular you haven't a chance in hell of getting anything for free.
The HTB process was simple for us, our mortgage broker/solicitor did everything for us. It look about 6 weeks I think from start to finish.
But like others have said it's not ideal. After 5 years you'll be left with the loan to pay back. For us it was worth it to get on the property ladder quicker and with a much lower rate mortgage. We've already saved the money to pay it off, but if you know you won't be able to after 5 years then make sure you calculate exactly how much you will be paying a month so you're not caught out.
It completely depends on how well the houses are selling as to if they will throw in extras like flooring, upgraded kitchen etc If the estate you're buying on is popular you haven't a chance in hell of getting anything for free.
The HTB process was simple for us, our mortgage broker/solicitor did everything for us. It look about 6 weeks I think from start to finish.
But like others have said it's not ideal. After 5 years you'll be left with the loan to pay back. For us it was worth it to get on the property ladder quicker and with a much lower rate mortgage. We've already saved the money to pay it off, but if you know you won't be able to after 5 years then make sure you calculate exactly how much you will be paying a month so you're not caught out.
Lauz666
Active member
If you want my honest opinion don't touch help to buy with a bargepole.
Reasons being... At the time it sounds wonderful, a grant from the government. I'm now in year 5 coming up to pay off £23,000 (might be more) loan, pay interest which increases monthly or sell and the government gets 20% of the value of my home.
The whole process is a joke and takes so long, there's always a problem.
Then new build houses... I hate my home. The builders where shocking. Bellway where absolute twats before and after the sale. I fully own my house no lease or anything. But I still have to pay money to bellway to mow the lawns and clean the roads and other crap they claim to do.
The house has loads of cracks but not big enough for the 10yr house warranty to sort. The garden is just clay and full of the builders rubbish under the fake grass. The shower always breaks because the plumbers didn't wire it properly.
I'm really worried about selling. We wish we never did it. But at the time we didn't have a choice. (Circumstances)
Reasons being... At the time it sounds wonderful, a grant from the government. I'm now in year 5 coming up to pay off £23,000 (might be more) loan, pay interest which increases monthly or sell and the government gets 20% of the value of my home.
The whole process is a joke and takes so long, there's always a problem.
Then new build houses... I hate my home. The builders where shocking. Bellway where absolute twats before and after the sale. I fully own my house no lease or anything. But I still have to pay money to bellway to mow the lawns and clean the roads and other crap they claim to do.
The house has loads of cracks but not big enough for the 10yr house warranty to sort. The garden is just clay and full of the builders rubbish under the fake grass. The shower always breaks because the plumbers didn't wire it properly.
I'm really worried about selling. We wish we never did it. But at the time we didn't have a choice. (Circumstances)
Giggling Squid
VIP Member
The HTB ISA is different to the help to buy loan scheme (really helpful them having the same name...), help to buy loans are where the government loan up to 20% of the value of the home, and it enables first time buyers can get access to better mortgage rates with a lower deposit- so the deposit is minimum 5% but with the loan you then only need a 75% Mortgage
aimzalicious
VIP Member
I can't thank you enough for this because I have no clue about properly saving for a house. I only started a Help To Buy ISA because the government pushed it so hard and it seemed like the only option. I do already have some savings which I'll be transferring into this new Lifetime account. Thanks again, you've made me feel somewhat on-track with saving for a house
AutumnSpring
Well-known member
No problem. All I would tell my younger self is save & the clothes aren’t worth itI can't thank you enough for this because I have no clue about properly saving for a house. I only started a Help To Buy ISA because the government pushed it so hard and it seemed like the only option. I do already have some savings which I'll be transferring into this new Lifetime account. Thanks again, you've made me feel somewhat on-track with saving for a house
I always get 4k in mine every tax year by hook it by crook so I can get the full 1k bonus!They also don’t widely advertise the lifetime ISA as it’s only for house deposit or pension fund which when used as a pension fund is not great in comparison so they don’t like to advertise them.
My boyfriend works in this industry. He definitely has some strong opinions about certain developers!
Countrybumpkingirl
Chatty Member
Begin with P by any chance? We had one where they built out, sold on and then 3 months later when everyone had moved in it was suddenly discovered that every single house was built in the wrong location to the planning permission! Over 200 homes
AutumnSpring
Well-known member
Lifetime ISA is the way forward, open one up and put a £1 in so at least you start the ball rolling (you have to wait a year before you can withdraw the money for a house). You also get the bonus paid in monthly so it adds up as you go along, not at the end when you’re ready to buy. You won’t find a savings account that pays you 25% interest anywhere else!
Also if you already have savings, get them transferred in to this before the new tax year and you’ll earn the bonus for this year too (Max £1000)
We are in a persimmon home and can’t fault the build or aftercare it was just the sales people that weren’t very good to deal with!
We also have HTB and it was really quick and simple to get however I’m in Scotland and think it must work differently to England as we don’t need to repay anything until we sell.
We also have HTB and it was really quick and simple to get however I’m in Scotland and think it must work differently to England as we don’t need to repay anything until we sell.
Giggling Squid
VIP Member
Exchanging was quick, but we then had to wait 6 months for them to build the actual house. It doesn’t work like buying a ‘normal’ house, as they expect you to exchange ASAP after reservation and then complete once it’s been signed off - we bought off plan so early sale for them, and a long wait for us.Congrats! I hope you’re loving your new house!
5 weeks seems so quick! How exciting
Can I ask more about the negotiations regarding upgrades? Do you think there’s the possibility to do some haggling? Think I’m gonna have to get the other half to be bad cop on that one!
We didn’t manage to negotiate anything as it didn’t even occur to us until after we had reserved (sounds awful but we kind of bought the house without much research). They told us basically that they wouldn’t negotiate on anything as we had already committed to buying it, but we could forfeit our deposit and try again... but because it was off plan they didnt have much to play with so we just cracked on because we really wanted the plot we’ve got
I have a moneybox lisa and it’s honestly the best thing! It’s costly to have though so be wary of that, it’s not worth having if you have less than 1k of savings to put in straight away because your moneybox fees will quickly outweigh your earnings.
I’ve had mine for 2 years and I’ve spent £36 on fees (doesn’t sound like a lot but compared to other similar services it’s expensive)
You invest your money in funds. Investing over the long term (5 or more years) can offer higher returns, although you can lose money. When covid hit I lost around £800, but about 12 months later, since my funds were in pre covid and I kept investing money, I’ve gained back the £800 and an extra thousand pound on top of that through the investments (so not me paying it back in!), because of the fluctuations
You can choose whether or not your account is high risk or low risk. I’ve always had mine as high risk so I’ve always gained or lost a lot more money than I would have in a low risk account.
You’re limited to saving 4K each tax year (which is April to April) but you get a 1k bonus, so your max savings are 5k per year, plus whatever your investments make
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Youre a wizard Harry
VIP Member
Following this as we are hoping to use this, I don’t know many people who have so would be good to hear some experiences