Ann Falls for an affordable home
Three months recovering at her parent’s house in Ireland, made returning to her affordable home in London seem like a lucky repeat of her euphoric first steps inside. “It was lovely to have time away,” she says. “But the joy of putting the keys in my very own front door again felt almost as good as the first time.”
At 28 – after years of “throwing away dead money on rent” – Ann was determined to get onto the property ladder in 2007. But, on her primary school teacher’s salary, she couldn’t afford to buy on the open market.
Her options appeared to be narrowing, but after a colleague had told her about the concept of part buy, part rent, known as shared ownership, they dramatically widenened. Buyers on low to moderate earnings can access the property ladder by purchasing a percentage share of their first home and paying subsidised rent on the rest.
Keen to learn more, key worker Ann registered with Housing Options – www.housingoptions.co.uk – the one-stop shop for first time buyers to register their interest in low cost home ownership products.
“I typed in my favoured areas and requirements, then each week I received a list of appropriate resale and new build properties,” says Ann. “I saw an apartment at an MHO development called Highlands Village in Enfield, but missed out, then a few months later I saw it again and got lucky.”
The two-bedroom apartment at Highlands Village was part of a Victorian hospital, which had been renovated for private living spaces eight years earlier.
By September 2007, Ann had raised a mortgage for £78,000 and bought a 40% share of the property's £195,000 purchase value. She pays £490 in monthly mortgage repayments and £380 per month to MHO in subsidised rent, which includes a maintanence service charge.
“This scheme is so good for me because the open market was far too expensive on my wage and I wouldn’t have been able to pay off the mortgage,” says Ann.
Marketed by MHO, the property’s original buyer sold it to Ann to finance her own move to a bigger house in the countryside. One knock on effect of the resale meant that Ann was able to get on the property ladder while making use of existing housing stock and reduce demand for newly built properties.
Finding her affordable home in London was crucial for Ann, who had been thinking about leaving the capital for Liverpool to find somewhere cheaper to live.
She was really keen to live at Highlands Village because she knew how well it is served by nearby shops and amenities, including a good doctor’s surgery and chemist – ideal for treating her broken leg.
Ann admires several features in her new renovated home too. “I’m pleased to have bought an older renovated property with sash windows and high ceilings because I find new builds can be claustrophobic,” she says.
Although the purchasing process stalled when the sellers’ solicitor was grappling with the system, Ann says it went relatively smoothly. “MHO was very good at chasing up documentation and helping to iron out problems with the seller’s solicitor.”
“Owning my own place gives me the great feeling that I’m investing my money,” she says. But, best of all, it’s only a ten-minute drive from her school in Edmonton, slicing almost half an hour off her morning commute. She says: “Now I can practically roll out of bed and into work!”