Shared Ownership: Juliana’s Story

Juliana and her 3 children had been privately renting for just under 7 years, when they decided it was time to try and buy their own home.

“We were looking to move for a few reasons; firstly, our family wanted security, to know that we could stay there for as long as we wanted to. Secondly, the house was old and not energy efficient and we could not make any improvements.”

Buying outright was too expensive and previous Shared Ownership properties Juliana had looked at were outside of her preferred area with few new properties coming up within her budget. However, Juliana eventually found a three bedroom semi-detached home available through Shared Ownership with Elim in her preferred neighbourhood in South Gloucestershire, close to her network of friends and work.

It didn’t take long for Juliana to realise it was the right home for her family. “I knew pretty quickly that this property was special and right for us. I feel lucky to be successful in the process”.

Just a few weeks in, Juliana loves her first home – and so do her 3 children. “My family now have a better quality of life, our bills are less expensive and we have the security of a permanent home.”

The Shared Ownership process has also worked well for the family. With all the costs that raising children entails, Juliana had struggled to get together the deposit for a private sale home. However, the smaller deposit on their current property was far more manageable, as are their monthly overheads.

Juliana decided to purchase an initial 40% share in their home; the process took just 3 months and in time, she hopes to purchase more shares in their home, with the ultimate aim of full ownership.

What is Shared Ownership?

Shared Ownership can be an affordable way to buy your own home. If you have a regular income but cannot afford to buy a home outright, Shared Ownership could help you achieve ownership through a part-rent and part-buy model. Shared Ownership is commonly offered through a Registered Provider such as Elim Housing.
The Registered Provider will retain the share of the property you do not buy and you will be charged an affordable rent on this share.

In order to apply for a Shared Ownership property, you will need to be registered with your local Homebuy Agent. For the areas we work in this is Help to Buy South.

How does Shared Ownership work?

With Shared Ownership the price of the property is fixed at the Open Market Value and this is assessed by an independent qualified valuer. We will agree the share of the property that you can afford based on government guidelines. This is referred to as the equity share. The deposit you need to pay will be based on the value of your equity share, not the whole property, and you will only need to borrow enough to cover the share you are buying.
The total monthly cost of the rent plus your mortgage will be lower than the monthly cost if you bought the property outright with a mortgage.

If you would like to find out more about Shared Ownership properties available with Elim please visit our website or email us at N.Breddy@elimhousing.co.uk