Divorcees are often forced into renting after moving from the marital home until they can afford to buy a place on their own, or with a new partner. This can be hard both emotionally and financially and even worse if there are children involved. Share a Mortgage provides a safe and affordable solution, where you can buy a property with other like-minded families and share the costs of buying and living in a home.
With Share a Mortgage, you can still be independent and afford to buy a property, enabling you to rebuild your life again. You can search and find your ideal Mortgage Buddy to share the costs of buying a home, mortgage repayments, legal costs and living expenses. Sharing can make buying a home much more affordable; you could, for example, team up with other divorcees, helping each other get through life changing experiences.
(Read more about Divorcees forced into renting)
Save £1,000s in rent and start investing in your own home
Instead of paying £1,000s in rent and bills each month towards your landlord’s property, you could be investing this in your own home. Properties are regarded as among the safest investments and once you own your property you can benefit from any increase in the property’s value. The average property price in Greater London rose from £364,227 in Feb 2013 to £414,356 in Feb 2014, an increase of £50,129 in one year.
How does it work?
We provide the full homebuying service, from you joining and finding a Mortgage Buddy, to the day of completion when you collect your keys. Our team consists of mortgage advisers, solicitors, RICS surveyors and customer service agents who have all worked in the conveyancing sector. During the process you will be advised of the next steps to take with your Journey Tracker and if you ever need help along the way, you can speak to our Customer Support Team.
You can get Shared Ownership Protection, a legal document which includes house rules, how to leave, how much you own, and lots lots more. Shared Ownership Protection clearly states how you will live with your Mortgage Buddies so that there are no arguments, just happy living.
Read how Susan, a separated mum, pays £1,300 a month in rent
Susan separated from her husband. She has £20,000 to fund a deposit and has a job that pays £25,000 per year. She was looking at renting in Clapham Junction but the cost of rent and bills totalled £1,300.
Susan decided to try Share a Mortgage and then quickly found Sarah who had also separated from her husband and has a 3 year old girl called Samantha. Sarah, had £5,000 and has a job that pays £20,000 per year. Their joint deposit was £25,000 and their joint mortgage salary calculation is £45,000. They have been approved for a mortgage of £202,500 which means they can buy a property for £227,500.
After viewing some properties in the area, they really got along and so decided to put an offer in on a 3 bedroom flat in Clapham Junction costing £225,000.
They agreed to share the property and bills based on their deposit amounts so Susan’s share is 80% (£5,000 / £25,000) and Sarah’s was 20% (£5,000 / £25,000).
With a 11% deposit of £25,000 they got a Mortgage for the other 89% at a rate of 4.3% APR over 25 years and the monthly payments were £1,107 (Natwest Bank – 2 Year Fixed Rate*). They added this to the bills (council tax, utilities, insurances), which were £400 per month; so in total it costed £1,507.
Susan and Sarah agreed to split the mortgage repayments bills equally so they both pay £754; this is a massive saving for Susan.
If the property sold for £240,000**, Susan would get 80% of the increase because her original deposit was 80% of the deposit; so Susan would get £12,000 of the increase of £15,000 plus her original deposit of £20,000 and then any share in the mortgage she has paid off.
* Correct as of 11 April 2014
** Property values can go up or down. In the event of the property value decreasing each person would be liable to pay their share of the reduction when the property is sold.
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