First-time buyer, shared ownership buying queries
Discussion
Just after a bit of advice really.
After almost 10 years of renting various places, I'm looking to purchase my own place this year, and due to a combination of location (Oxfordshire) and the fact that I am buying on my own, I'am realistically only looking at shared ownership.
I met with an independent mortgage broker on Monday and went through the numbers of what I can borrow, based on both shared ownership and buying outright. Due to the tiny amount I can borrow (around £112,500 for shared ownership / £152,000 outright - on a £32,000 salary) the mortgage repayments come out at around just 17% of my monthly bring home pay- I actually currently pay more than that in rent to my parents (where I am currently back lodging). I guess that's the one silver lining of not being able to borrow much.
I've registered my details with all the main estate agents covering a large area of places that would be viable for me (my one restriction is being reasonably close to my parent's place due to my dad's health issues), but the current market for shared ownership properties in this area is pretty minimal.
Is it worth contacting the housing developers that are currently active around the county and registering an interest directly with them? I've considered going and talking to them directly on site (at the show homes) but a look at their websites show it's only the 3/4/5 bed properties with any availability- all of the 2 bed shared ownership properties are reserved/sold out immediately.
I assume these have been ordered/reserved before they have even been built which led me to the idea of contacting the developers directly?
One of the estate agents also mentioned about registering with the Thames Valley Housing Association as a means of getting 'advance notice' of eligible properties before they come to market- which I've done, yet they insisted it wouldn't count for anything unless I did it directly through the estate agent themselves as they are the ones who get passed the details.
I'm not in a huge rush although would like to find somewhere this year- and I'm adding £1,000/month to my deposit so the longer it goes on the more I'll have. However, £1,000/month isn't keeping pace with the rising prices in most of areas around here!
It's a bit of a rambling post but I'm just keen to make sure I haven't missed anything in terms of maximising my chances of being made aware of as many properties as I can.
My question really is: Is there anything else I should currently be doing?!
If anyone else has been through similar, I'd be keen to hear your experiences
After almost 10 years of renting various places, I'm looking to purchase my own place this year, and due to a combination of location (Oxfordshire) and the fact that I am buying on my own, I'am realistically only looking at shared ownership.
I met with an independent mortgage broker on Monday and went through the numbers of what I can borrow, based on both shared ownership and buying outright. Due to the tiny amount I can borrow (around £112,500 for shared ownership / £152,000 outright - on a £32,000 salary) the mortgage repayments come out at around just 17% of my monthly bring home pay- I actually currently pay more than that in rent to my parents (where I am currently back lodging). I guess that's the one silver lining of not being able to borrow much.
I've registered my details with all the main estate agents covering a large area of places that would be viable for me (my one restriction is being reasonably close to my parent's place due to my dad's health issues), but the current market for shared ownership properties in this area is pretty minimal.
Is it worth contacting the housing developers that are currently active around the county and registering an interest directly with them? I've considered going and talking to them directly on site (at the show homes) but a look at their websites show it's only the 3/4/5 bed properties with any availability- all of the 2 bed shared ownership properties are reserved/sold out immediately.
I assume these have been ordered/reserved before they have even been built which led me to the idea of contacting the developers directly?
One of the estate agents also mentioned about registering with the Thames Valley Housing Association as a means of getting 'advance notice' of eligible properties before they come to market- which I've done, yet they insisted it wouldn't count for anything unless I did it directly through the estate agent themselves as they are the ones who get passed the details.
I'm not in a huge rush although would like to find somewhere this year- and I'm adding £1,000/month to my deposit so the longer it goes on the more I'll have. However, £1,000/month isn't keeping pace with the rising prices in most of areas around here!
It's a bit of a rambling post but I'm just keen to make sure I haven't missed anything in terms of maximising my chances of being made aware of as many properties as I can.
My question really is: Is there anything else I should currently be doing?!
If anyone else has been through similar, I'd be keen to hear your experiences
I would start by registering on here https://www.helptobuysouth.co.uk/
I used the equivalent site when I lived in Luton.. Not live just south of Bedford in a Shared Ownership flat through the BPHA.
The good thing about the site is that it lists all the properties available under the government scheme under there area. I got a new build and bought off plan but they also do resale properties too.
You can register you interest and then when the developer is ready they will then contact the people registered.
Hope this helps a little bit.
I used the equivalent site when I lived in Luton.. Not live just south of Bedford in a Shared Ownership flat through the BPHA.
The good thing about the site is that it lists all the properties available under the government scheme under there area. I got a new build and bought off plan but they also do resale properties too.
You can register you interest and then when the developer is ready they will then contact the people registered.
Hope this helps a little bit.
M40WST said:
I would start by registering on here https://www.helptobuysouth.co.uk/
I used the equivalent site when I lived in Luton.. Not live just south of Bedford in a Shared Ownership flat through the BPHA.
The good thing about the site is that it lists all the properties available under the government scheme under there area. I got a new build and bought off plan but they also do resale properties too.
You can register you interest and then when the developer is ready they will then contact the people registered.
Hope this helps a little bit.
Thanks, I actually registered with them on Monday night- do you remember how long it took to hear back from them?I used the equivalent site when I lived in Luton.. Not live just south of Bedford in a Shared Ownership flat through the BPHA.
The good thing about the site is that it lists all the properties available under the government scheme under there area. I got a new build and bought off plan but they also do resale properties too.
You can register you interest and then when the developer is ready they will then contact the people registered.
Hope this helps a little bit.
To actually be approved from Help to Home buy only took between a week and 10 days.
As for once you've registered interest it varies for my flat they didn't acknowledge my interest (March Time) then about 6 weeks later they emailed all the interested parties with available plot numbers etc.
I think I started proper communication in April and moved in on the 31st July.
One thing I would say is try and have bank statements, payslips, proof of deposit etc prepared as I did that and they commented on how much easier it was to process. I was one of the quickest to move in.
As for once you've registered interest it varies for my flat they didn't acknowledge my interest (March Time) then about 6 weeks later they emailed all the interested parties with available plot numbers etc.
I think I started proper communication in April and moved in on the 31st July.
One thing I would say is try and have bank statements, payslips, proof of deposit etc prepared as I did that and they commented on how much easier it was to process. I was one of the quickest to move in.
M40WST said:
To actually be approved from Help to Home buy only took between a week and 10 days.
As for once you've registered interest it varies for my flat they didn't acknowledge my interest (March Time) then about 6 weeks later they emailed all the interested parties with available plot numbers etc.
I think I started proper communication in April and moved in on the 31st July.
One thing I would say is try and have bank statements, payslips, proof of deposit etc prepared as I did that and they commented on how much easier it was to process. I was one of the quickest to move in.
Thanks, yeah I've just logged back in and it says they will be in touch once my application has been approved- I was just concerned as I hadn't heard anything back (I'm used to places spamming you once you leave an email address somewhere!) but it's only been a couple of days so that makes perfect sense.As for once you've registered interest it varies for my flat they didn't acknowledge my interest (March Time) then about 6 weeks later they emailed all the interested parties with available plot numbers etc.
I think I started proper communication in April and moved in on the 31st July.
One thing I would say is try and have bank statements, payslips, proof of deposit etc prepared as I did that and they commented on how much easier it was to process. I was one of the quickest to move in.
That's a good point about being prepared- I've already got a file with payslips, P60s, bank statements etc set up that I put together for my meeting with the mortgage broker.
Well being an accountant with a fondness for organisation it was more a case of moving stuff out of one of my many existing files and into another...
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