Location of house above all else?

[neeor]

House hunting. At current house prices our mortgage in principle would cover us for either: a well looked after 2 bed in a rougher part of town, or a more tired 2 (possibly 3) bed in massive need of renovation and restoration in a nice-ish area. We aren’t great at DIY and don’t want a massive doer-upper with spiralling costs along the way.

We are looking towards shared ownership. The obvious pitfall is the rent that you pay, but it would facilitate us living in a nice, safer area with better schools - handy for in a few years time - and a strong community which feels particularly important to me as DH is a shift worker so I want to feel we’re safe at night where we live. With shared ownership we’d also likely be able to buy a bigger house, possibly a modern 3 bed, which we may not have to move from or certainly wouldn’t have to move as quickly.

I find moving and change very stressful and wouldn’t want to uproot DC too much.

YABU = buy on the open market, no matter what the area is like

YANBU = use shared ownership if it means you can live in a better area

I wouldn't do shared ownership unless absolutely necessary (but live in an area where there is very little shared ownership as prices are sensible, so perhaps am biased).
Personally, I'd go for one of the better houses in need of redecorating - but not too much renovation. Is that possible.

A friend of mine did shared ownership and it was the best decision she ever made. Beautiful expensive area, outstanding schools and house big enough for all the family. Alternative was a crappy area and a run down house. It’s a no brainier surely?

She recently sold and used the equity built up to buy on the open market in the same area. They have higher paying jobs now so are able to afford higher repayments. They had no problem at all selling. Was sold in the week. They had a happy life there for 6 years, it was a great option for them.

Thank you!

I take your point. It seems there’s no in between at the moment but maybe we keep looking

I really wouldn't recommend shared ownership.

My sister and her husband purchased one a few years ago, similar reasons to you. They are now trapped. The mortgage and rent payments mean they cannot save a deposit, equally as the value of their shared ownership property goes up, so does everything around them. They cannot build enough equity or save enough to sell and move onto owning their whole house outright. Similarly, they cannot save enough to be able to buy the whole house from the developers. They are also tied to paying for the upkeep of the roads, park etc. on the estate, and are also tied to a particular gas company who supply and therefore monopolise their estate. They also can't make any meaningful improvements to the house (they'd like to build an extension or loft conversion) because the developers won't allow it. Even if the developers did, my sister and BIL only own 25%, so the developers would see the remaining 75% of the increased value when it came to selling it. Additionally, they were meant to be in a nice part of the estate, but when the developers couldn't sell all the homes, they were bought by the council. She now lives down the same road as temporary council housing tenants, the very thing she was trying to avoid when buying in the nice shared ownership area.

I was thinking about it myself and would never do it now!

Yikes! That sounds awful for your sister

We started with shared ownership, absolutely brilliant! Made £90k profit in 10 years. I suppose it depends on the location.

I knew someone stung by shared ownership of their first home. They did manage to move on, but it took over a year of paying for the new mortgage and still paying the old rent living hand to mouth to do it before they found a buyer for the shared ownership.

It's an easier gateway into a property but comes with lots of strings attached in the long term.

Don’t do shared ownership. Just buy the best you can afford. It’s not your forever home!

Could you not go down the help to buy route instead of shard ownership? Myself and husband did we then sold after 5 years (just after the payments started which if we did decide to stay was only £60pm) we brought on h2b a 3 bed new build then sold after 5 years made £50,00 and now in our forever home!

All depends if you have the funds to pay someone to do the work, if not are you happy to live in a home that is needs work?

personally I wouldn’t opt for the rougher area one, If you feel you’d want to stay in the shared ownership for a long while definitely would be worth it in my opinion.

Do a pro and con list for all!

I am in the process of selling my shared ownership house, it was the perfect move for me - lovely house in nice area when I was struggling. Now able to move on & equity has been built up in the house. You have to check out the company & all the clauses but I’d recommend it to anyone.

This

My friend did shared ownership

They cant buy their rented share as obv all houses have increased so their part rent has as well

So they are stuck where they are

I did buy a home outright, not in the best of areas, but I just could NOT get one in my preferred area - they got snapped up, withdrawn, whatever.
I think someone up there was watching over us - the house we're in is only a few years old, hence low bills as it's well insulated etc, doesn't need regular ongoing maintenence, we would have really struggled with an older property.
Something to think about?
Good luck!

I have friends who’ve done shared ownership, it’s an absolute scam in my opinion so I’d only do it as a last resort. The properties are really overpriced, and you have to pay for all your repairs even though you only own a small %. But I am someone who thinks location is most important. Id buy the best you can now but accept you may have to move in the future - it’s pretty common to only buy a flat first time.

Area is so so important! Our first house was ex council (had been for donkeys years as were most of the houses around) and it was cheap. By cheap, I mean the absolute max we could afford. We thought it was ok and did all the checks by driving round etc but there were some shitbag kids and it was rough and we couldn't stand the stress. Moved out as soon as possible.

Go as "naice" as you can! Who cares if your house is smaller if you aren't having to pay for your windscreen being smashed etc.

Having said that - I would only do shared ownership if I absolutely had to.

Moving is never easy and is giving money to estate agents (some are good, seem a minority) and others such as removal people. So if you can be somewhere that is at least for ten years or so and will include schooling, seems better to me.

Shared ownership not ideal, but may be the least worst option.

@TakeMyStrongHand

That's true, especially if an area is historically rough or not very nice.

However, my sister moved into a new build shared ownership property. She bought off plan and was reassured by the developers that all the properties down her road would be privately owned. Then, when the developers couldn't sell the properties, they were bought by the council. She is now the only private owner down a street of emergency council tenants; some of which have made the area miserable.

You have to be so careful!

shared ownership was ok if you bought a while ago. I wouldn't do it now tbh.