Mortgage housing schemes

[btw]

Wondering if anyone can share their own experiences with mortgage housing schemes such as help to buy equity scheme and shared ownerships etc!

I’m wanting to buy in the next year or two but my main issue is as a single applicant earning only £25,000 , with the current house prices I’m just going to struggle. I have an okay deposit but the single income is my issue so I’m exploring schemes but wondered if anyone had any positive or negative experiences or any general advice! Thanks in advance

 

[lurkingaround123]

Wondering if anyone can share their own experiences with mortgage housing schemes such as help to buy equity scheme and shared ownerships etc!

I’m wanting to buy in the next year or two but my main issue is as a single applicant earning only £25,000 , with the current house prices I’m just going to struggle. I have an okay deposit but the single income is my issue so I’m exploring schemes but wondered if anyone had any positive or negative experiences or any general advice! Thanks in advance

How much are the houses in the area you're looking in compared to how much you're allowed to borrow?

 

[Giggling Squid]

We bought with help to buy and honestly I wish we hadn’t. It sounds great, and it’s great for getting on the ladder but long term for us I don’t think it will have been a good move.

Where we bought, house prices are high so our equity loan is huge. At the end of the 5 years we won’t have built up enough equity to pay off the whole thing through remortgaging, we also won’t have saved enough to pay it off so we will have 3 options: stay put, pay interest off in the loan. Stay put, pay off half of the loan (you can only pay 10% of the property value in one go) and pay interest on the other half. Find somewhere cheaper to live, and move with a deposit similar to our current one.

I think if you live somewhere cheaper it may be ok but our loan is ridiculous.

 

[Tommyb]

We bought with help to buy and honestly I wish we hadn’t. It sounds great, and it’s great for getting on the ladder but long term for us I don’t think it will have been a good move.

Where we bought, house prices are high so our equity loan is huge. At the end of the 5 years we won’t have built up enough equity to pay off the whole thing through remortgaging, we also won’t have saved enough to pay it off so we will have 3 options: stay put, pay interest off in the loan. Stay put, pay off half of the loan (you can only pay 10% of the property value in one go) and pay interest on the other half. Find somewhere cheaper to live, and move with a deposit similar to our current one.

I think if you live somewhere cheaper it may be ok but our loan is ridiculous.

I think this is a quite common predicament with the help to buy scheme. I was searching for a house for a year and saw alot of newer builds where people were moving in year 4/5 as they would struggle with the loan interest. We decided against it on the end.


We did have help to buy ISA's where you get £50 from the government for every £200 in savings. Didn't end up using it as the house was over £450k.


Sorry not much help op. My best advice is save save save and maybe look into prices of properties in your area to give you an idea of how much you would need.

 

[btw]

How much are the houses in the area you're looking in compared to how much you're allowed to borrow?

Typically 2 bed houses are £150,000 - 170,000 +
Without housing schemes realistically with my single income plus deposit I’d possibly be able to buy a 2 bed flat for around £110,000, nicer flats would be up to £140,000 but I was just interested in if any schemes are worth it in being able to afford a house instead of flat!

 

[nini-vin-floofsberg]

I'm a mortgage adviser and honestly do not agree with the Help to Buy Equity Scheme.... It misleads people into thinking that they can afford more than they actually can, and then 5 years down the line you're completely screwed if you don't have enough equity to remortgage yourself out of it.

More than happy to message privately if you have any questions. x

 

[btw]

I'm a mortgage adviser and honestly do not agree with the Help to Buy Equity Scheme.... It misleads people into thinking that they can afford more than they actually can, and then 5 years down the line you're completely screwed if you don't have enough equity to remortgage yourself out of it.

More than happy to message privately if you have any questions. x

Thankyou for you honesty!! This was my suspicion that it sounds amazing but when reality hits it doesn’t always work out!

 

[Bleurghgram]

I’m currently in the process of buying 40% of a shared ownership property. Average house prices in my area are £325k and I can borrow ~£125k. Short of a lottery win there is absolutely no other way I can do it by myself.

The majority of negativity I’ve heard towards these schemes has come from people who have been fortunate enough to not have to use them and have no first hand experience. I’ve felt looked down upon by people who have either inherited or bought with their partners and it’s quite infuriating. I’m going into it having done a lot of research about the housing association and I intend to plan to either staircase and obtain the freehold ASAP or to use it as a stepping stone to buy on the open market in the future.

There’s groups on Facebook that are really helpful and have loads of people happy to speak about their good and bad experiences, definitely recommend joining those if you haven’t already

 

[btw]

I’m currently in the process of buying 40% of a shared ownership property. Average house prices in my area are £325k and I can borrow ~£125k. Short of a lottery win there is absolutely no other way I can do it by myself.

The majority of negativity I’ve heard towards these schemes has come from people who have been fortunate enough to not have to use them and have no first hand experience. I’ve felt looked down upon by people who have either inherited or bought with their partners and it’s quite infuriating. I’m going into it having done a lot of research about the housing association and I intend to plan to either staircase and obtain the freehold ASAP or to use it as a stepping stone to buy on the open market in the future.

There’s groups on Facebook that are really helpful and have loads of people happy to speak about their good and bad experiences, definitely recommend joining those if you haven’t already

Congratulations to you!! You should be proud of your future home, I can imagine it’s an amazing feeling. I will have to do some research around my local housing association in relation to shared ownership!! Thanks for your advice and good luck