Shared ownership has already helped hundreds of people who could not afford to buy a home of their own to do just that. We can help if you’re a first time buyer, looking to re-enter the property market or looking to downsize to something more manageable.
With shared ownership, you simply buy a share of your home and rent the rest. So your mortgage is smaller, more affordable and easier to get approval for. And you can take that important first step on to the property ladder.
As you are only buying a share of the property and not the total value, your monthly payments may be less than if you were to buy the property outright. But you can still enjoy all the benefits of a brand new home.
shared ownership – how it works
- You will normally borrow from around 50% to 70% of the value of the property from a building society or bank in the form of a mortgage.
- You will have to pay the full cost of buying your share including an administration fee, valuation fee and legal fees.
- There will be a rent payable on the share of the property you do not own. You will also need to pay the normal costs associated with owning your own home.
- After a set period of time (usually from 12 months) you can buy further equity shares in your home. This is known as staircasing. The value of any extra share you wish to purchase, is determined by an open market valuation taken at the time.
- It is possible to acquire 100 per cent of the equity in your home.
- If the time comes that you decide to move, you would inform us and we would use our best endeavours to find you a buyer. If we do not succeed you can then put the property on the open market in the usual way.
benefits to you
- Costs less than a 100% mortgage
- The amount that you pay each month in your combined rent and mortgage repayment may well be less than if you had bought the property outright and were repaying a 100% mortgage.
- You don’t need a large deposit as you only require a deposit for the share you are purchasing and not the whole amount. Deposit amounts vary depending on the mortgage provider.
- An exclusive deal with a leading building society allows home buyers purchasing through serenliving to access a mortgage with no deposit and no arrangement fee.
- Mortgage lenders will normally lend a single person 3.5 times their income to buy a property. However, average house prices are now in some areas 8 times higher than the national average salary, making them too expensive for most first-time buyers to afford. Shared Ownership makes getting on the property ladder a more affordable option for first-time buyers and those unable to afford outright purchase, because you only need a mortgage for part of the property.
- Proving that you can make regular mortgage repayments may make it easier for you to get a mortgage in the future.
- You can build up the share of the property you own until you own it outright. This is known as staircasing.
- All of the properties in the scheme are new build and come with building insurance and a NHBC or similar 10-year warranty.
- It is an investment, allowing you to receive a share of any increase in the property’s value should you choose to sell.
interested in shared ownership?
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buying outright
From time to time serenliving is able to offer properties for outright sale. Details of all these properties can be found using the property search function on our home page.
