MHO make life better for Jill
“It was quite terrible, I can’t believe we lived in those conditions,” she says. “But my friends and I work for charities and on our wages, thought it would be difficult to buy.”
When Jill’s office moved from south west Wimbledon to the centre of London, Jill struggled with the long commute to work. “I felt it was a sad life for me, I hated being underground, squashed together with so many unhappy people,” she says.
Originally from the US, Jill has been in the UK for six years. Following years of renting in various parts of London, she decided she wanted to “take a chance on moving somewhere new” and get her feet firmly on the property ladder, closer to her place of work.
Because Jill is a Community Mission Coordinator for the disability charity, Livability, and a member of a church in Bloomsbury, she decided she wanted to establish roots in east London. “The history of east London and the fact the Salvation Army started there made me feel I wanted to be part of it. The area is so diverse and buzzing, I love the fact that it is so different,” she says.
Jill found out about part-buy, part-rent schemes through a friend at work. She attended an affordable new homes show in London, where she was able to find out about shared ownership opportunities across the capital. It was here she got chatting to a representative from Metropolitan Home Ownership (MHO).
“I didn’t even think I qualified but MHO took me aside and explained everything,” she says. Jill decided she wanted to buy on the open market via the government backed Open Market HomeBuy scheme, with the help of a 25 per cent equity loan.
“The guy at MHO had been so helpful so I applied online the next day,” she says. Jill discussed her options with a financial advisor. Although the mortgage and bills would be twice her old rent, she realised renting on her own would be even more expensive, especially on her single income.
Jill’s application for Open Market HomeBuy was approved within four weeks. She wasted no time in searching for her dream home. “I went out and found my perfect flat the next day,” she says.
Speaking about the entire process of buying her flat, Jill says, “My additional contact at MHO was really supportive throughout, she was honest about everything and told me exactly what I needed to do. I liked that she answered the phone and was clear about the process from start to finish.”
Jill owns 75 per cent of her home, which was on the market for £179,000. She has a mortgage of £120,000, topped up with an equity loan of £44,750. The remaining cost was covered by Jill’s deposit.
Jill moved into her ground floor, studio flat in a converted warehouse in Whitechapel, in March 2008. “It has huge windows across the front and high ceilings so it doesn’t feel small. Plus I’m fortunate to have access to a small bit of outside space with some trees,” she says.
For Jill the hardest thing was getting over the worry of a mortgage but she remains evangelical about buying a property with a HomeBuy product. “I didn’t think it would be possible to buy in London. I would recommend this to anyone in a similar situation. Renting is difficult, my life definitely feels a lot better now.”