Is it possible to ask to speak to people who have used both schemes and moved beyond them into full ownership and also selling them and moving onto standard ownership?
I get that you want to compare the properties. I get that you've decided SO is for you. However, given they are different schemes and SO impacts occur at the point of purchase, whilst living in them, whisky staircasing and whilst selling and moving on, it's best to be fully informed about the realities at each stage. So many people have had surprises somewhere along the way with SO.....whether that was because they failed to do due diligence when buying and got apcaught up in the excitement of home ownership and didn't take a long view, or whether it was the HA being a bit economical with all the facts I don't know. The thing is, whilst SO sometimes is the only way for people to get on the housing ladder, it often is a more costly approach in the long term....and the people doing it are least able to afford that extra cost and it seems sometimes have less financial savvy than lots of people.
All the things people keep raising about SO might seem annoying and critical, especially if you've decided to do it. However, as each scheme is a bit different, it really is vital to push hard for all the answers in writing before proceeding.....one scheme probably will turn out to be a bit better than the other and that's something to factor into your choice.
I would say one other thing that probably won't go down well too. I think SO and Help to Buy lure people not just into home ownership but into home ownership beyond what they can essentially afford....even if it's affordable on a monthly basis. The reality is that lots of families can afford a 1 bed or 2 bed and not a 3 bed. They might like a 3 bed, in the same way they would like a brand new car, but their income and savings levels don't stack up to a new car or 3 bed.....unless they go into a scheme which makes it affordable monthly, but lomg term is extremely costly. Sellers of cars on finance and lease plans and sellers of SO or Help to Buy push the idea that we're all entitled to a new car or a 3 bed house if we have 2 kids and that we should have one. There really isn't a freebie or a bargain out there....you pay in the end and if you pay less up front, you pay more in the long run. Lots of people never really make the comparisons and want it all today when they can't really afford it.
It is difficult to know what's best to do and the future of the housing market makes it hard too. People I know on both SO and Help to Buy who did it about 5 years ago regret it. Both were really relying on decent rises in house prices to make it work and in the south east, prices have been pretty stagnant. The SO people found they were restricted in who they could sell with, the solicitors they used and the mortgage rates they had to pay when they remortgaged at 2 and 4 years. Staircasing cost when they did it. And yes, they did feel they had the benefits of security and not being in rented, but they didn't feel they had the full benefits of standard home ownership and that there were extra costs around every corner. The Help to Buy people found that after 5 years, the equity they had hoped would accumulate allowing them to get a usual mortgage for 100% of the value after 5 years just wasn't there. They were stuck remortgaging at terrible rates because their LTV was still so high. They wished they had bought an older, smaller property which wouldn't have seen the drop in value of an inflated-price new build and that being in a smaller house with less bedrooms would have been better financially. Because of it, the woman felt she had no choice but to return to work full time after child 3, whereas if they had made different choices, they might have had less bedrooms but more financial flexibility.
I can see the stamp duty holiday does alter things somewhat. Rishi is succeeding in stimulating the housing market for now....but also think about it longer term too - we are in a recession and the worst of the job losses with their impacts on housing prices haven't come yet. Might it be a good time to save like fury and watch prices drop over the next year and then buy in the usual non SO way?
Op keeps saying she's not interested in views on the pros and cons of SO just which house is best....but a thread about SO houses will always invoke some discussion of that and the actual terms as they are actually as integral part of the pros and cons of a house, in a way your standard freehold house purchased 100% lacks such variation. Why even mention it's a SO scheme rather than just show the plans of 2 houses if you don't want any discussion of it.
Don't see the comments as criticism but helpful points to ponder.....when you post on an open forum, you really can't narrowly pin down what people can discuss and what you don't want to hear about....it becomes a discussion about your particular issue, but the broader topic too.