There are few more exciting times in your life than when you get the keys to your first home.
But with house prices in Cheshire having spiralled beyond the reach of many, the dream of buying your first home can sometimes feel a distant one. But that need not be the case if you understand the different options available and the help that is out there.
Government schemes such as shared ownership and help to buy mean that it is possible to go and look at new build developments in Cheshire and new homes with a realistic possibility that you will be able to buy them.
But where do you start? Let’s look at the benefits of both schemes.
Help to Buy
Introduced in 2013 and designed to help young people who can only put together a 5% deposit. With some affordable housing in Cheshire, this is an approach that can work. As part of the scheme, you borrow (at 0% for the first five years) enough for a further 20% deposit. So, if you were buying a £100,000 home and had £5,000 for a deposit, you would qualify for a £75,000 mortgage with the government then loaning you £20,000 to get your deposit to £25,000. Most major mortgage lenders offer this scheme, including Barclays, Halifax and Santander.
Shared Ownership
Shared ownership is a brilliant way of buying your first home. The scheme, as the name suggests, allows you to buy a percentage of your first home, with the rest owned by a local housing provider. You then pay rent on the share you don’t own until you own the entire property. To qualify for this scheme in our region your household income must not exceed £80,000.
Shared ownership is a brilliant way of getting onto the property ladder if you don’t have the funds to put together a big deposit.
In fact, with the properties we have available at Cerris Homes right now, you could purchase a new home with a deposit as low as £2,000 on a shared ownership scheme. This means shared ownership is right for many people. At Cerris Homes last year our youngest buyer was just 19-years-old, the average income of single buyers was £21,445 while the average deposit was £9,821.
Hannah, a first-time buyer from Newcastle Under Lyme…
Hannah, from Newcastle-under-Lyme, was just 19 when she decided she wanted to buy her own home, rather than rent, which she saw as paying a landlord’s mortgage. Having examined all her options, she was close to giving up the search when she found out about shared ownership and contacted Cerris Homes to find out more. After having the details explained to her, she was able to arrange a viewing of new homes in Cheshire.
“I only went in to talk to somebody and ensure I understood it properly, but by the time I left I had already arranged a viewing and had my heart set on buying a home,” she said. “The process was so straightforward and easy that the time had flown by. It wasn’t complicated in the slightest and I had one point of contact throughout, who kept me updated the whole time. I didn’t feel stressed or worried, because they always put me at ease with any questions or concerns I raised.” Read more about Hannah’s story here.
You can discover more about shared ownership here and book a viewing for one of our new homes available to buy now. If you’d like to speak to one of our team you can contact us on 01782 854748 or simply chat with us live online using Live Web Chat.
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