New scheme helps first-time buyers
Struggling first-time buyers now have the real possibility of
owning their own home thanks to a new Government initiative scheme
called HomeBuy.
Launched in December 2007 the Open Market HomeBuy scheme allows
purchasers to find their own home on the open market with a third
of the property value as a deposit interest free for five
years.
Anna and Gareth Dixon previously rented a flat through a
division of Somer Housing association. Anna said, 'The damp course
failed and so we decided to buy our own home, but we couldn’t
afford it.'
They thought that they would be limited to renting forever until
they heard about the HomeBuy scheme; Gareth said, 'We had heard
about Keyworker schemes before and a friend that had previously
bought a flat using this type of scheme told us to look into
it.
'We looked on the internet and were surprised to find that we
qualified for Government help.'
Affordability is big issue in all of Bristol and first-time
buyers are often priced out of the market. Anna said, 'We have
wanted to buy our own house for a while, but didn't earn sufficient
money to take on a reasonable mortgage that we could afford.'
Mortgage lenders are being extremely cautious in the current
climate but this didn’t stop them. Gareth said, 'Although we heard
stories about mortgage lenders giving clients five times their
salaries, we didn't want to get into financial difficulty just to
buy a house.' Anna said, 'Living in a small flat and then
having maintenance problems spurred us into action to find out how
we could buy our own house.'
Finding a home is always the difficult part and Anna and Gareth
wanted a two-bedroom home. Anna said, 'We knew how much we had to
spend so started looking for houses which was fun but quite hectic
as Gareth works all sorts of shifts including weekends.'
They were worried about the monthly cost of owning their own
home. Gareth said, 'We are paying more per month, but we have gone
from a small flat to a two-bedroom home and garden. It is
definitely worth it - now we own a bit of England and it is
worth every penny.'
Anna said, 'We applied online with our HomeBuy agent and the
process was easy, however, the moving process overall was very
stressful, not knowing when things were going to happen and of
course wanting to move as soon as possible.'
'We first made an online application to New Futures and after a
few days we received a letter saying we were accepted onto the
scheme.'
Gareth said, 'To add to the confusion our estate agent or
solicitor hadn't heard of the scheme so we had to explain
everything a few times, but it didn't take any longer because of
the scheme.'
The burning question is should people be buying in the current
market? Gareth believes so. He said, 'It is nice to go home to your
own house, knowing you can stay for the rest of your life if you
want to.' He added, 'It is great to have a garden and be able to
decorate and do DIY so you can make your house how you like
it.'