In the seven years that me and Steve have been together, buying a house together has always been on the cards. Whilst it hasn’t happened yet for various reasons, we are always looking at the houses available in our area, discussing what we would like from a house and discussing our options.
An option that has become increasingly popular for people over the past few years is shared ownership – but what exactly is it? Walton Robinson recently put together a feature that explains it a lot better than I can with the key advantages and the eligibility needed but simply put, shared ownership is where you are buying a stake between 25% and 75% through deposit and mortgage. The remaining percentage will belong to the local housing association, to which you will pay rent to (Usually 3%).
I personally know of quite a few people who do this – my brother actually did this way back in 1997 with his wife to be just before they got married – and it definitely seems to work for them! To be eligible, you need to be a first time buyer and earning less than £80,000 a year outside of London and £90,000 a year within London. I should think that this is quite a lot of us, right?
You have to be flexible when it comes to shared ownership but there are also so many advantages such as it is a great way to get on that first rung of the housing ladder, you can buy more as time ticks by and you can sell your property whenever you want. My brother and sister in law are still happy with their property after almost twenty years and the parents of one of Jack’s school friends have had theirs for a good few years now and seem very happy with the arrangement. I’m sure even more of my friends and family have probably taken advantage of shared ownership, if only to get their first step on the housing ladder!
Have you ever considered shared ownership? It is definitely something we will continue to consider as we continue on our journey to getting a house of our very own. After all, it is best to consider every avenue, isn’t it?
Collaborative Post