Homewise property, Surrey

[MattW]

Has anyone heard of 'Homewise' before? I have noticed their adverts appear in my Norwich search area over the past few days.

2 br flat - £132k on lifetime lease plan for an over 60s person, £200k to you other smucks

Quote

Alternatively, if you are under 60 Or would Like To purchase this Property without a Home For Life Plan at its full market price of £199,995, please contact Leaders.

Leaders tend to be more of a lettings agent than estate agent. I wonder if that plays a part.

Without going into the small print (I'm sure there's a huge catch), it seems rather discriminatory to offer a discount to potential senior citizen buyers. After all, didn't that generation benefit most by the greatest wage inflation and house price inflation?

[giggler000]

Probably more along the lines of young ask for discount, old dont.  I just got other halfs parents RAC, bloke wouldnt ring to ask for better price just said I'll pay it.  Online they were 100off renewal so I called them and they gave 130off without pressure.

When my mother bought a *park home* she paid the list price no questions - WTF?  There is no telling some people, it doesnt hurt to ask IMHO

[I'm out]

Buying a lifetime lease means that, when you die, the property reverts to the owner. Whereas if you pay the full price you are presumably going to either get a very long lease or a share of the freehold.

I think these schemes are another way of inflating house prices e.g. suppose you are selling a retirement flat and the average prospective buyer has £132k available. The way things used to work is that you would lower the price until they could afford it. Now you still take their money, but only give them a lifetime lease in return. Therefore the headline price can remain at £200k and all the plates can keep spinning a little longer.

 

[rantnrave]

Loads of properties like this on the market round me with Homewise. It's an equity release scheme or something along those lines?

[mattyboy1973]

Been loads around my way for a while. I think the guts of it are, if you buy through homewise then you are not buying the property at all - just a lease until you die. Value doesn't look great either, and note the "from" value for the figure - I guess someone nearer the age of 60, and in good health, would be paying far more than the quoted price.

[afly]

I hate this company as there's no way to filter their spammy crap from right move results

[afly]

10 minutes ago, mattyboy1973 said:

Been loads around my way for a while. I think the guts of it are, if you buy through homewise then you are not buying the property at all - just a lease until you die. Value doesn't look great either, and note the "from" value for the figure - I guess someone nearer the age of 60, and in good health, would be paying far more than the quoted price.

Yes my understanding is that you pay homewise for the house and get a certain amount of  a discount depending on your age. The older you are the bigger the discount. Homewise then buy the property at full asking and keep the house and your cash when you peg it.

It's predatory but it means oldies can live out their years in properties they otherwise couldn't afford.

[Sugarlips]

Just to nelp with everyones understanding, anyone can buy one of the underlying property at a discount to market - Homewise sell them on through third parties.

There are a couple of websites that sell the right to own once the tenants pop their clogs, heres an example:

www.wakeleyinvest.co.uk

People who buy these need to understand there is no rent or property access for potentially decades, you have to be a cash buyer and whilst the tenant is technically oblidged to keep the property upto standard the older they are the less likely they may want or afford to do so. They would also be quite an illiquid "investment"

 

[Barnsey]

4 hours ago, afly said:

I hate this company as there's no way to filter their spammy crap from right move results

Work colleague got all excited about the affordability of homes around Reading on Rightmove the other week, until I pointed out that those results are for comfortable retirees, not for a hard working Dad of 2 trying to secure a family home for a "reasonable" price and escape a life of renting far from work in shoddy accommodation. HERE'S the actual price...oh dear.

Crazy thing is that those Homewise prices were actual prices back in 2012 or so.

Edited July 6, 2017 by Barnsey

[janch]

Crazy thing is that those Homewise prices were actual prices back in 2012 or so.

Being over 60 and curious I phoned about one of these recently and basically you may "buy" one and they will quote a price dependent on your age but one of the options meant that you wouldn't be able to leave anything to your children as the whole property would become theirs when you pop your clogs.  As I recall there was another option which enabled leaving a small amount to your heirs.  All in all it seemed a poor/expensive option.

The properties I've seen advertised like this are usually also advertised as normal with an ordinary EA at the "real" price.  As far as I'm concerned they just make collating my stats hard as I try to discount them if the same place is advertised twice.  Taking this into account it was 50% reduced in Sandhurst (Berks) this week.

Homewise only seem to be active in the SE and Bath in the areas I'm following.

[RentingForever]

I've been looking along the South Coast and Isle of Wight. Homewise are all over the listings here. Very frustrating.

[heffsta]

In Reading Area, they are always listed by Romans Estate Agents with the normal price. So annoying having them pollute the results

[mjhodgson]

8 hours ago, afly said:

I hate this company as there's no way to filter their spammy crap from right move results

Isn't that under "Filters" then "Don't Show" - "Retirement Homes".

 

 

[afly]

11 minutes ago, mjhodgson said:

Isn't that under "Filters" then "Don't Show" - "Retirement Homes".

I'm sure it is, but I will never remember 

[mjhodgson]

Just now, afly said:

I'm sure it is, but I will never remember 

That's what shortcuts are for!

Setup the filters and then save the URL to a shortcut.

[RentingForever]

28 minutes ago, mjhodgson said:

Isn't that under "Filters" then "Don't Show" - "Retirement Homes".

 

 

Doesn't work. They're not strictly retirement homes so don't get filtered out.

[Bear Hug]

6 minutes ago, RentingForever said:

Doesn't work. They're not strictly retirement homes so don't get filtered out.

Works for me on RM search for Reading (for example)

[Hullabaloo82]

Am I missing something or isn't the "discount" just in recognition of the fact it will likely be a shorter lease? Not everything is a conspiracy.

[janch]

On 06/07/2017 at 7:09 PM, Hullabaloo82 said:

Am I missing something or isn't the "discount" just in recognition of the fact it will likely be a shorter lease? Not everything is a conspiracy.

The full price is usually for a freehold property so a normal type of sale. Their scheme is based on how long they expect you to live and the price they quote you is according to your age (and health??)  You live in it until you die/go into a nursing home.  Then they get the property with either nothing to go to your heirs or a much reduced sum from the sale "value". It's a similar idea to equity release as far as I can see.

[MattW]

Thanks for the comments.

A terraced house with a narrow, steep staircase on one of the steepest hills in the city. Yep, the over 60s are really going to want this one!

3 br house £112,200 with that damn scheme.

[Dyson Fury]

2 hours ago, MattW said:

Thanks for the comments.

A terraced house with a narrow, steep staircase on one of the steepest hills in the city. Yep, the over 60s are really going to want this one!

3 br house £112,200 with that damn scheme.

3rd bedroom 7 ft 11 x 6 ft 3.  I think that's the smallest "bedroom" I've ever seen, even by Canterbury student HMO standards.  Any offers for a smaller floor area for a bedroom?

[Dyson Fury]

4 hours ago, janch said:

The full price is usually for a freehold property so a normal type of sale. Their scheme is based on how long they expect you to live and the price they quote you is according to your age (and health??)  You live in it until you die/go into a nursing home.  Then they get the property with either nothing to go to your heirs or a much reduced sum from the sale "value". It's a similar idea to equity release as far as I can see.

Yes the point is that the "sale" price is the price you pay to live in the property until you die.  Then the full ownership reverts to Homewise.  You are not "buying" the house in any generally understood sense of the term - neither freehold nor leasehold.  Nothing at all to leave to your children.  When you think of it this way, it's remarkable that the "discount" to the actual purchase value of the property can be so small.   I predict a wave of "mis-selling" claims in a few years when the purchasers die and their heirs find that they have no claim whatsoever on the house.

[adarmo]

On 7/6/2017 at 7:58 AM, MattW said:

Has anyone heard of 'Homewise' before? I have noticed their adverts appear in my Norwich search area over the past few days.

2 br flat - £132k on lifetime lease plan for an over 60s person, £200k to you other smucks

Leaders tend to be more of a lettings agent than estate agent. I wonder if that plays a part.

Without going into the small print (I'm sure there's a huge catch), it seems rather discriminatory to offer a discount to potential senior citizen buyers. After all, didn't that generation benefit most by the greatest wage inflation and house price inflation?

Like a cancer in Reading and surrounds. Looks like a lifetime lease stitch up for the boomer f*cks to dodge the care bill or try and pretend they're finally a somebody and live next door to their betters (though the fisherprice SUV and caravan will make it damn obvious they're just stupid fat boomer f*ks). The offender seems to be Romans estate agency (scum). 

[Guest]

Anyone have any idea how Homewise works? Everywhere I browse in the south east, they appear to own thousands and thousands of houses. But their company accounts: https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/04256355/filing-history 'only' have about half a million in assets. That's one or two houses (owned outright) in the south east!

Do they own the thousands of houses they are marketing - their accounts suggest otherwise - or are they just some agent for a fund backing them?

[leonardratso]

13 minutes ago, highYield said:

Anyone have any idea how Homewise works? Everywhere I browse in the south east, they appear to own thousands and thousands of houses. But their company accounts: https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/04256355/filing-history 'only' have about half a million in assets. That's one or two houses (owned outright) in the south east!

Do they own the thousands of houses they are marketing - their accounts suggest otherwise - or are they just some agent for a fund backing them?

im sure ive seen threads on homewise over the years, i wasnt much interested so i dont know much about them, but you might want to do a search and find some old threads. As far as i remember it was some sort of life time lease plan for old duffers, so they themselves (homewise) might not actually own the properties that they long term lease. I remember once renting a car for the weekend and the company going bust before i took it back monday, so they couldnt give me my deposit back, well i drove off with the car, evetually a month later they came and got it back but i got my deposits worth out of it, it wasnt the rental company coming for it, it was the rental companies rental company if you see what i mean, they leased it off a company that leased it (probably from the manufacturer or dealer). I wonder if homewise is SSS (some such sh*t).