# First time buyers....share your experiances/thoughts



## richdc2 (Jun 16, 2008)

Hi all, Sarah and i are looking at buying our first house together this year and have noticed all the different schemes that are now out there for first time buyers.

This is one iv been interested in...

http://homebuy4u.co.uk/index.php

We have viewed one of their 2 bed show homes and we both fell in love with it! Anyone had any experiences with the scheme above or any other first time buyer 'help' schemes? Or anyone got any suggestions on the best mortgage deals and rates out there.

Cheers guys, discuss----------


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## LiE (Feb 16, 2009)

I bought my first home just over a year ago on the first time buyer initiative. You apply for a mortgage for as much as you can afford, so long as it's over 50% of the property value including deposit. We were able to bring the developer deposit down from 5% to 2% which saved a lot. Buying a new home ment we had to fork out an awful lot. Stamp duty, solicitors fees, deposit, furniture. I think in total it cost us about £10-12k to buy a £185,000 house. The mortgage we got was for £100,000 which was all we could get at the time. Now I'm earning more I plan to extend my mortgage so that I own the entire house. 

The only problem I can foresee for you is that currently house prices are low, and in the future they will no doubt rise. This means that if you do decide to buy more of a percentage of the house it will cost you more and more. Also don't forget that after 3 years you start paying a 'fee' which is 1% of the percentage the government owns, increasing by 1% each year after until a max of 3%. This fee isn't deducted from their share so you'll be essentially paying money towards nothing.

Lastly I would just make sure you are aware of all the costs of home ownership - it's quiet different from say renting. To give you an idea of monthly costs relating to my house here's a quick breakdown.

£668 - Mortgage (£100,000)
£108 - Council Tax
£25 - Buildings and Contents Insurance
£35 - Water
£80 - Gas and Electric
£12 - TV License
£15 - Phone and Internet

Those I would consider the essentials. Then there's the other things to consider.

£280 - Food shopping
£20 - Life Insurance

Add to that mobile phone contracts, gym subscriptions, pet insurance, the cost of running 2 cars, and it soon adds up. My total monthly bills add up to £1833 in the end.

Hope this helps. Any questions let me know.


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## micky_st (Apr 26, 2009)

Be very very carefull with these shared ownedship houses!!

The idea is great but the way it has been done sucks.

Make sure you know if all the houses are shared ownership. Housing associations have a habit of putting troublesome families that are council in with them. 

You also don't own any of the house so the housing association can take it right out from under your feet (the can and will). They own all the freehold. You are buying into the lease which isn't worth the paper it's written on. 

I could go on for hours ranting about these but the long and short of it is the housing association will happily take your money and rent then forget about you and then do nothing when the you know what hits the fan.

We have lost out big time becuase of these. 60k+ of savings and i have had to go bankrupt to stop them just taking the house from under our feet.

btw looks can be deceptive. This was in a very quiet village overlooking fields in somerset.


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## mba (Jun 17, 2006)

Im looking at Shared Ownership through a developer scheme (85:15). I checked with the sales guy and they confirmed the following

On a £100,00 House

They stump up 15% of current market value (£15,000)

After 10 years you revalue, if the value has gone up you owe £15,000 + 15% of the increase (ie house now worth £200,000 you pay £15k intial + £15k (15% of 100k Increase *total = £30k*)

Conversly if it drops to £50k value they only require 15% of £50k *£7.5k*

You have the option to pay off the 15% at any point without penalty (just need to get house valued)

Getting a LTV of 75% was my aim, its the difference between 2.99% and 5.5% for a mortgage!!!. I do have the cash / equity to pay the full 25% deposit myself but means selling the motor :doublesho:doublesho, so using their ££££ instead of mine seems like a good gamble.

Mark


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## davies20 (Feb 22, 2009)

Ive just bought my first house with the girlfriend.

i thought it was pretty easy, most stressfull thing was moving!

Just basic things though, the longer you stay in a fixed rate for the better the deal, so the mrs and me are in for 5 years now.


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## t1mmy (Dec 9, 2006)

Me and my girlfriend are in the process of our first house purchase. Had an offer accepted on a 3 bedroom property. Just waiting on surveys etc being done.

We swayed away from new build properties as there isn't usually much options for extensions etc.


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## NKS (Feb 22, 2007)

LiE said:


> Lastly I would just make sure you are aware of all the costs of home ownership - it's quiet different from say renting. To give you an idea of monthly costs relating to my house here's a quick breakdown.
> 
> £668 - Mortgage (£100,000)
> £108 - Council Tax
> ...


Excellent advice on actual monthly costs :thumb:

Recently bought my own house in December and had to factor in all these costs!


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## LiE (Feb 16, 2009)

I would say the first time buyer initiative is better than shared ownership, in that you don't pay rent on the half you don't own.


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## Pete_W (Sep 11, 2008)

I bought my 1st property nearly a year ago now from Persimmon on a 1st time buyers deal. It included £250 a month towards mortgage, 2 years buildings + contents cover, 2 years redundancy/serious illness cover, 5% deposit paid and a free mortgage/financial adviser. The whole process of buying was actually quite pleasent however i must say the quality of the work is not up to what i would have expected from them. As above, you need to factor the costs in, luckily i found a lovely woman who moved in with me and halved all my bills  however i'm still spending nearly £1000 a month.


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## Simonez (Apr 14, 2008)

Just bought our first house!

very stressful i must say, only been 5weeks now, just sorted the solicitors out, with there bills etc, but should be well worth it

house was £117k put down a £18k deposit, which left us with a 99k morgage

3 bedroom semi detached in Glenfield, leicester, which is where i was born and bread, so happy to find a place here 

just waiting for the keys etc and the morgage to start coming out so i know where i stand 

got all my life / contents insurance and it is around £30 a month for both of us, which isnt bad at all, as for other bills, time will tell

si


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## Dan_V6 (Feb 21, 2007)

im currently buying my first house  
I did not have the money for the 25% deposit, buy my dad was kind enough to lend me it. 
Upto now it has been all easy and straight forward, except the usless tool of a mortgage advisor, which soon got the boot and i sorted the mortgage myself. 
Upto now i have appointed the solicitor and just sent off the mortgage application, just a case of sitting and waiting for me!

all i have to do now is sort the house & contents insurance (should be about £10 - £15 a month), im not taking out the life insurance etc, as it is just an extra cost at the moment that i dont need.


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