herdwick Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 Hi I'm a journalist working on a newspaper article about shared ownership in the UK., particularly in London. I would love to hear from anyone who has bought through a shared ownership scheme to find out what their experience has been. Did you find yourself stretched to cover the costs? Did it turn out to be cheaper than renting or buying 100%? Did you manage to staircase upwards? Was the property easy to sell? What would your advice be to anyone looking in buying into one of these schemes today? It would be great that as well as contributing to the forum, you could contact me offline with your experiences, it's ruthiel50@hotmail.com. Many thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leicestersq Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 Hi I'm a journalist working on a newspaper article about shared ownership in the UK., particularly in London. I would love to hear from anyone who has bought through a shared ownership scheme to find out what their experience has been. Did you find yourself stretched to cover the costs? Did it turn out to be cheaper than renting or buying 100%? Did you manage to staircase upwards? Was the property easy to sell? What would your advice be to anyone looking in buying into one of these schemes today? It would be great that as well as contributing to the forum, you could contact me offline with your experiences, it's ruthiel50@hotmail.com. Many thanks I have none myself. You might well have come to the worst place to find out that sort of information. Those on this board are suspicious of schemes such as these, that have a veneer of sensibility, but are often rotten underneath. One thing, if you are a journalist, might be to follow your story up with an in depth look at housing associations. How they are financed etc. There is something very rotten there if you choose to look hard enough. A free market is the best way to allocate resources in most instances, and housing associations must have all sorts of fiddles going on which the taxpayer is going to be paying for in one way or another. All those stories about CEO's of housing associations earning massive salaries, that isnt going to be through honest endeavour. Good luck though with your story on the shared ownership disaster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acid In The Punch Bowl Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 Hi I'm a journalist working on a newspaper article about shared ownership in the UK., particularly in London. I would love to hear from anyone who has bought through a shared ownership scheme to find out what their experience has been. Did you find yourself stretched to cover the costs? Did it turn out to be cheaper than renting or buying 100%? Did you manage to staircase upwards? Was the property easy to sell? What would your advice be to anyone looking in buying into one of these schemes today? It would be great that as well as contributing to the forum, you could contact me offline with your experiences, it's ruthiel50@hotmail.com. Many thanks It's a scam. The worst thing is that it is mostly sold to front line workers, nurses etc. Unbelievable. They are probably trying to work out how to get widows and orphans in on it too. A search of MSE should give you some anecdotals. MSE search of shared ownership Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Hovis Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 It's a scam. The worst thing is that it is mostly sold to front line workers, nurses etc. Unbelievable. They are probably trying to work out how to get widows and orphans in on it too. A search of MSE should give you some anecdotals. MSE search of shared ownership It's not a sodding scam. It is a way to provide increased amounts of low cost housing for less grant and it receives an independent valuation rather than being priced at whatever the HA wants it to be. And if you get more income later you can buy the rest of it. I think they're a good idea as it allows people to buy somewhere who would not otherwise have the chance. This is different from any of the various governmental ways to inflate the housing bubble, it has been around for years and works fine so shouldn't be messed with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattW Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 Was offered the chance to buy a shared ownership 2 bedroomed house on the outskirts of Norwich in 2003/4 . £50k to buy half the house, rent on the other half. Filled in the application and sent it off. Lo and behold, I received a letter back from the Housing Association saying that my application is rejected because I didn't earn enough. 'Affordable Housing' my bottom! Oh, the irony. Two friends of mine have gone into Shared Ownership schemes. One has now acquired the last share on his house and is quietly paying the mortgage on it, the other is still at 75% equity but wished he never bothered. He is struggling financially, unfortunately. Upon reflection, I am not too keen on these schemes. The reason that Shared ownership ever existed in the first place just goes to show how expensive property was in the first place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
long time lurking Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 It's not a sodding scam. It is a way to provide increased amounts of low cost housing for less grant and it receives an independent valuation rather than being priced at whatever the HA wants it to be. And if you get more income later you can buy the rest of it. I think they're a good idea as it allows people to buy somewhere who would not otherwise have the chance. This is different from any of the various governmental ways to inflate the housing bubble, it has been around for years and works fine so shouldn't be messed with. [/quot Two members of my family bought into shared ownership at the top of the market in the late 80`s ,when they out grew the places they were in they found it impossible to sell or move on and after a few years of trying they both come to the same conclusion and went down the jingle mail root as the y needed more space due to having children ,it ended in tears can`t see it being any different this time around It was a scam to enable people to live in house`s they could not afford then ,the same as it is now ,and it`s all to prop up price`s If it was such a good idea/business model ,why do you only ever see it being pushed when the market is in trouble ? surely it would be pushed on the the up side of the market ? if it`s as good as the VI`s say it is NOW or dose the poor FTB who cannot afford to buy ,matter then ?the answer is no they only matter when the FTB is need to keep the housing market/bubble going What first time buyer`s need now is lower house price`s the same as they did twenty years ago Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imminent_plunge Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 (edited) Hi I'm a journalist working on a newspaper article about shared ownership in the UK., particularly in London. I would love to hear from anyone who has bought through a shared ownership scheme to find out what their experience has been. Did you find yourself stretched to cover the costs? Did it turn out to be cheaper than renting or buying 100%? Did you manage to staircase upwards? Was the property easy to sell? What would your advice be to anyone looking in buying into one of these schemes today? It would be great that as well as contributing to the forum, you could contact me offline with your experiences, it's ruthiel50@hotmail.com. Many thanks Hi Herdwick, No direct experience but fascinated to hear the results. Apart from the obvious: 'Why should I only be able to afford a quarter share of a 1 bed flat in Croydon?' It would be interesting to know: 1. How easy it is to sell on. You may need to move to another part of the country. You may want to have children. How practical is this? 2. If house prices fall, are you able to purchase further stakes in your house for less, i.e. if your flat was 'worth' £200k when you bought it and it is valued at £160k a couple of years later, could you buy another 25% for £40k rather than 50k? 3. The remaining rent and service charges. Headline rates look great but in reality, do your rent and service charges rocket after a year? Are there any controls on this to ensure that the price you sign up for doesn't exceed a % total per annum? Edited February 20, 2011 by Imminent_plunge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleepless Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 Close friend, recently divorced, late 50's. Little chance of employment. Had about £80k from divorce (mostly marital home equity). Wouldn't have qualified for any benefits on that capital, so bought through shared housing scheme and gets rental part paid for by HB. Also full income support as she now has no capital. Very nice house compared to what she could have got for £80K but her costs are same Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boon Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Close friend, recently divorced, late 50's. Little chance of employment. Had about £80k from divorce (mostly marital home equity). Wouldn't have qualified for any benefits on that capital, so bought through shared housing scheme and gets rental part paid for by HB. Also full income support as she now has no capital. Very nice house compared to what she could have got for £80K but her costs are same So basically your friend had £80k in cash. She used it to (part) buy a property. And now that she's "poor", the local authority is giving her housing benefits and other income support. Great. So as a UK taxpayer, I'm encouraging unemployed people (but who have some money) to go buy houses, and then pay them benefits to live in said house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamdamosuzuki Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Two members of my family bought into shared ownership at the top of the market in the late 80`s ,when they out grew the places they were in they found it impossible to sell or move on and after a few years of trying they both come to the same conclusion and went down the jingle mail root as the y needed more space due to having children ,it ended in tears can`t see it being any different this time around It was a scam to enable people to live in house`s they could not afford then ,the same as it is now ,and it`s all to prop up price`s If it was such a good idea/business model ,why do you only ever see it being pushed when the market is in trouble ? surely it would be pushed on the the up side of the market ? if it`s as good as the VI`s say it is NOW or dose the poor FTB who cannot afford to buy ,matter then ?the answer is no they only matter when the FTB is need to keep the housing market/bubble going What first time buyer`s need now is lower house price`s the same as they did twenty years ago This is right. Shared ownership is a scam, and a disgrace. No one other than the desparate would ever go near it. Why do you think it's always the rich who think it's a smashing, smashing idea. THIS KIND OF LEVERAGED DEBT AND RENT FOR THE POOR IS NOT A GOOD IDEA. OF-BLOODY-COURSE_IT-ISN'T. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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