Did you buy your first home though a HOMEBUY SCHEME??

[LoveMyGirls]

We are looking into buying a new build though the housing association we rent with but I'm wanting to hear from people who have already done this. On the application form it asks if you have access to £1,500 but no other information on how much money you need in total to be able to go ahead with this scheme so I have applied but I have no idea if we could actually afford it - they haven't started building the houses yet and there will be a very limited amount available to buy once they are built so the chances of us getting one are already very slim!

I would like us to be in the best position we can possibly be in when they are ready to be sold but a ball park figure of how much we would need would be very handy. I have rung the help line but I got told on saturday that no-one was available to speak to me about it at weekends and today when I tried it said the phonelines were busy and to try again later so in the meantime any of your stories would be useful.

Thanks

bump

There are a number of different schemes available under the HomeBuy banner, some of which require little or no money saved up.

If they are asking you if you have £1,500 then this is probably all you need - I would work on that assumption until you have contacted them for more details. You are right though that there is a huge demand for these schemes so it may take a while to get through on the phone. Good luck!

Thanks mranchovy.

I've managed to speak to them today, they have said they will contact me as soon as there is any more info available, at the moment all she could tell me was that they should be built by summer and the name of the road, that's it!

No idea on how much they will be or how much of a percentage we may be able to buy so I'm working on cutting our spending as much as possible, ways to earn any extra money and saving as much as we possibly can for the next 6-8mths and then at least we will be in the best possible position.

I'm thinking we will need a deposit otherwise the bank won't lend us the mortgage? We have a bank loan which won't be paid off until 2014 so I am not sure they will lend us the money anyway.

Any advice is helpful.

There are loads of threads and advice on moneysaving expert - just search 'homebuy' in the forums.

Thanks bubble that's handy to know

If you are thinking of moving house then it is a good idea to reduce your outgoings and save up as much as possible.

But like I say, you might not need a mortgage to get the house - look at the details of Rent to Homebuy.

it could be that the money will be required for legal fees and all the costs associated with buying?

I bought through homebuy last year, I know the scheme has changed slightly since then however to getthe mortgage you will still need a deposit (although I found that most places only needed 5% deposit as it's shared equity rather than the standard 10%.) just because you have a loan doesn't automatically prevent you getting a mortgage but it may limit how much they are willing to offer you. Why not talk to some mortgage lenders now, to get an idea of how much you could borrow? I found Halifax and Natwest most helpful, a lot don't do shared equity mortgages. Ask them not to credit score you, and just give you an indication of what you could potentially borrow, as it's not needed for a while yet. Regarding the £1500, I was told this was to cover solicitors fees and other expenses, as deposit is required by the bank so nothing to do with the vendor.