Help to buy

[Rubyfriyay]

Hi all,

Seen a few comments on here that help to buy is a con etc.

My sister is thinking about using the equity loan on a new house with her partner, could I ask why the negative opinion plz? She's starting to get worried! Thanks!

Persimmon Homes are often VERY badly built.
Other builders are not much better.
Many of the homes are leasehold not freehold.
Check who actually owns the property at the end of the mortgage or on sale.

When even the Economist magazine says that widening home ownership is bad for the economy, its time to check out what is available to rent

Hi, thanks for reply!

What do you mean check who owns property at end of mortgage?

The build quality really is shocking. I know someone who supplied worktop to a Persimmon site. It was only when they put the kitchen wall cabinets in and saw how low they were that someone realised they’d missed 3 courses of bricks during the build, so the house was x centimetres too short. No one had even checked. I wouldn’t touch most new builds with a barge pole.

The leasehold issue is a huge problem, and has left many people unable to sell their home or remortgage. I am not sure if all help to buy or home builders are the same but she really needs to do in depth research.

I'm so confused now! A leasehold is the same as buying a leasehold flat that's older isn't it? That's not universally an issue? You just pay ground rent and check the lease is long enough (most 100 years plus?)

Help to buy properties are usually massively inflated price wise, so there’s that to watch out for.

The leasehold is owned by the building firm, then when they project is finished they sell the leasehold to other companies who them increase the ground rent so high that the property is then unsellable.

Ruby
Do some google searching in the broadsheet newspapers

Leasehold houses with ground rents that double every year
restrictions on ANY alterations to the property
freeholders being Bermuda registered sharks

houses that do not meet basic fire regulations
houses that are unsafe

DO NOT buy a new build at the moment without informing yourself THOROUGHLY

@Aliceinadress ah ok.. will have a research of that for her, thank you.

@ListeningQuietly ok, thanks for the advice,
Will have a good old research!

Most of the help to buy properties near us are at the top end of the market (brand new properties, and priced to match). In our area at least, you can buy a property that needs TLC for the same price, without having the help to buy loan. Obviously that doesn't work for everyone, and it means you may spend a few years making improvements, but you have an opportunity to increase the (relative) value of your home whereas a new build is likely to depreciate (in relative terms).
I also found the service charges quite high on the blocks near us; we bought a share of freehold flat instead which meant we arranged the insurance and any work ourselves (along with the downstairs flat owner) rather than paying a freeholder.

www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jan/15/persimmon-sales-fall-as-reputation-suffers-but-profits-hold-up

www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/persimmon-homes-houses-building-new-17569335

www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2020/01/15/persimmon-sales-fall-housebuilder-focuses-fixing-quality-homes/

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51068760

www.dailymail.co.uk/property/article-7864897/Six-tips-making-sure-avoid-pitfalls-buying-leasehold-property.html

That should get you started ;-)

And then read this
www.economist.com/leaders/2020/01/16/home-ownership-is-the-wests-biggest-economic-policy-mistake

Prices always over inflated... by 20% in the uk and 40% in london. If you cant afford the house without htb then you shouldn't be buying it

Persimmon and Redrow have have been selling ordinary homes here (Herefordshire) for over 500k for 3 bed 'detached' houses, they've had loads of complaints about the quality. Appalling given they are double the price of proper 3 bed detached houses less than a mile away.

I honestly feel like old and new built rivalry will never end,From my personal experience have spent more than a year now looking for a house ( preferred old built) the houses were lovely but again in-depth research of the area and more so the house your buying,Material used ,electricity etc, remember you are going to spend money renovating it. As of new built it’s already,Sounds good right ,but clearly the amount of money your gonna spend renovating your Victorian might as well put it in your deposit.soon, the way the old builds were made will become non standard.
We have had surveys done on some properties we really liked,the horrors behind those paints scared us away.
But at the end of the day I guess your the one to make the decision but choose what works for you.