Monthly Archives: March 2015

Help to Buy ISA for First Time Buyers – Contractor Mortgages

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Help to Buy ISA

Help to Buy ISA

Contractors have just had some great news from Chancellor Osborne in his 2015 Budget. He has created a Help to Buy ISA for first time buyers.

The Help to Buy scheme, brought in by the Government has been highly successful. It has provided the feelgood factor that the Government wanted going into the General Election in May.

Previously, lenders were asking for 20% and 25% deposits to first time buyers and they just didn’t have it. First time buyers are crucial for a healthy housing market. Their inability to get into the market was depressing prices.

So, the Government guaranteed 20% of the deposit. This meant that those first time buyers were able to get 95% mortgage again. They did so in droves.

This helped to push house prices up which engendered the Government’s feelgood factor. This, in turn, has brought the Conservatives level with Labour in the polls.

New Help to Buy ISA

Now, the Government has gone further and created the Help to Buy ISA.

It enables first time buyers to be able to save tax-free for a mortgage deposit in an ISA. Not only that, for every £200 a first time buyer saves the Government will add a further £50.

That should help!

Furthermore, it means you are able to increase your deposit by 25%.

It’s a huge boost to first time buyers, including contractors taking out contractor mortgages.

Help to Buy ISA in the Autumn

Said Emilie Heaney, an expert on both the contractor mortgages market and the ISA for contractors market:-

“Contracting first time buyers will be able to start saving in these special ISAs in Autumn 2015. You will need an initial deposit of £1000 to open a H2B ISA and can use it to save for homes worth up to £450,000 in London and £250,000 in the rest of the UK.

“So, your £1000 you will benefit from a £250 uplift from the Government.

“Overall this will be further positive news for the housing market starved of first time buyers with enough of a deposit to take that all important first step and should encourage a generation of new savers and we commend this to the house”.

To get in the queue for one of these new Help to Buy ISA products fill in the form here ISA Form

Rent to Own Scheme proposed by LibDems – Contractor Mortgages

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Rent to Own Scheme for Contractors

Rent to Own Scheme

The LibDems have announced a new Rent to Own scheme before the coming General Election. This is to be implemented between 2015 and the next election in 2020.

It is for first time buyers, especially those who cannot put together the deposit for their first home.

They have designed the new Rent To Own scheme to help new buyers to build up a stake in their homes via renting.

First Time Buyers

Getting started in the market is a huge problem for first time buyers. The typical first time buyer in London will need a deposit of over £60,000 if they wan to buy their first home.

They would pay what they would pay in rent, at a market rate, for 30 years. After that they would own their own home.

There would be something at the end of it for them – ownership of their own home.

Dream of Home Ownership

According to Nick Clegg, the LibDem leader:-

“For working young people the dream of home ownership is increasingly out of reach. Prices are so high renters cannot afford to save for a deposit, which means they can never take that first step onto the housing ladder.

“Rent to Own will mean, regardless of their background and family circumstance, they will be able to make this a dream a reality. This is about building a stronger economy and fairer society, and making sure Generation Rent has the same opportunity to get on in life as their parents and grandparents before them.”

Higher Monthly Payments

It is expected that the monthly payments for Rent To Own will be higher than if they took out a mortgage on the property.

It is being suggested that, in London anyway, it will mainly benefit those on higher incomes.

The Housing associations would build the new houses for the Rent to Own scheme.

The LibDems plan to have 30,000 homes in the Rent to Own scheme by 2020.

Paying Rent

While they will be paying more than mortgage holders for their properties there will still be people who benefit out there.

There are millions of people who have been paying rent on their houses for years out there. The very cost of the rent prevents them from being able to save up for a mortgage deposit.

They might as well have been paying that rent towards being able to own the house after 30 years.