Help to Buy?

[PatZ1989]

Considering a help to buy scheme and hear a lot of people praising it and others warning to stay away

Anybody here used it or can comment?

Thanks

 

[bingham67]

Also interested in this one seems government give you £3k max better then nothing I suppose

 

[dr_volki]

search function is your friend

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/help-to-buy-equity-loan.18763959/

 

[UTmaniac]

If you open a HTB ISA in the next few days, with the £1000 deposit and the normal limit of £200 per month, you can transfer that ISA into the new Lifetime ISA (after April 5th?) and then still deposit another ~£4200 into the Lifetime ISA over the financial year.

There are positives and negatives to the HTB and Lifetime ISAs, including...
Lifetime isn't available to those over 40, even if they've never owned a home
Maximum topup by government is £4000 for HTB and IIRC, a whopping £32000 for Lifetime
HTB is limited to £200 per month, with Lifetime you deposit the whole year's allowance in one hit
HTB is limited to £2400 over the year (excluding initial £1k opening deposit), Lifetime has limit of ~£4200 IIRC
You could use your HTB to help buy your first home within ~3 months of opening, Lifetime has to be open 12 months to get the government topup

 

[Bassmansam]

Not HTB but I'm just in the process of buying a shared ownership place, just applied for a mortgage through a broker on Friday. Much excite.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

The help to buy ISA will also occur more solicitior charges on top of your normal charges as well as admin fee's, etc.

SO basically it's not worth it unless your going to put the maximum in for at least 6 months. Most of your "top-up" will be eaten up by the extra fees in dealing with them in the first place. Solicitors are the only ones winning out of the help to buy ISA imo unless your putting in for a long time and by then the cost of houses has risen so much it was pointless to wait.

If you have the cash buy now without any schemes

 

[Daaaavvveee]

I used HtB where they give me 20%.

Its free money in my eyes, so i kept more money in my bank and used the governments instead

 

[Bassmansam]

The help to buy ISA will also occur more solicitior charges on top of your normal charges as well as admin fee's, etc.

SO basically it's not worth it unless your going to put the maximum in for at least 6 months. Most of your "top-up" will be eaten up by the extra fees in dealing with them in the first place. Solicitors are the only ones winning out of the help to buy ISA imo unless your putting in for a long time and by then the cost of houses has risen so much it was pointless to wait.

If you have the cash buy now without any schemes

Still cheaper than renting in the area im buying, plus i own 40%, for me its much better than full rental.

 

[Sui]

Here's hoping they announce some increased support for those trying to buy in the South East for the next budget.

£250k limit does not go very far

 

[hornetstinger]

Really stupid I can put 30-40% deposit on a house, but because I'm not a 40 hour a week contract, I get hardly any mortage, so that plus deposit isn't enough for a house.

 

[subbytna]

Remember to factor in the rental cost of the part of the house you don't own.

 

[Martini1991]

I used HtB where they give me 20%.

Its free money in my eyes, so i kept more money in my bank and used the governments instead

That's not how the help to buy equity loan works.
It may cost you more money than you borrowed.

 

[Uther]

Really stupid I can put 30-40% deposit on a house, but because I'm not a 40 hour a week contract, I get hardly any mortage, so that plus deposit isn't enough for a house.

Zero hour contract? I would have thought with so many people on them now the market would have changed by now!

 

[hornetstinger]

Zero hour contract? I would have thought with so many people on them now the market would have changed by now!

nah 28 perm.

as for casual that is not taken into consideration. Which I understand, and probably just as well as casual workers are treated like a POS.

It's extra income for the time, like 50-60 hours per month for the 6 months I had it but I wouldn't rely on it.

 

[VincentHanna]

I used HtB where they give me 20%.

Its free money in my eyes, so i kept more money in my bank and used the governments instead

Make sure you pay it back within the 5 years...

 

[Phoenix211]

I used HtB where they give me 20%.

Its free money in my eyes, so i kept more money in my bank and used the governments instead

Partially right I suppose. If your house goes up in value so does the loan but an equal amount. But if after 5 years you havn't paid it back you'll get interest slapped on what you owe. Hopefully you know all this!

 

[AiiR]

I used HtB where they give me 20%.

Its free money in my eyes, so i kept more money in my bank and used the governments instead

Yes and no, its free money for 5 years but then you start paying interest on it and you buy it out at the current market value. We did it, but certainly don't treat it as free money. It's allowed us to have a super cheap mortgage which gives us the flexibility of either sticking to the base amount or overpaying to get that money paid off.

If you treat it as a freebie, it'll come back and bite you.

 

[hornetstinger]

so basically it's tax free loan for 5 years on that % but when your house house goes up in price (which they do) they you would pay the extra on that 20% remaining.

 

[Shoza]

Part of my day job - it's a con to prop up the property market for developers who are selling properties that aren't worth it. You get tied to the property, limited with your options and various fees thrown at you. I wouldn't personally go near it.

 

[Daaaavvveee]

I have had no issues, my last property i bought using HTB also. Kept it for 2 years then sold, increase in value by 21k.

Its interest free until the end of the 5th year, then you can either remortgage or pay interest, which isn't a lot on my amount anyway (76kish).

I would never plan to stay in a new build property longer than 3-4 years anyway.