DECEMBER NEWSLETTER
Welcome to
our Wilkins Vardy December Newsletter and greetings of the Festive Season!
I can hear
you all saying “I can’t believe it’ll soon be Christmas” and “It doesn’t feel
like Christmas” but it is well and truly upon us, with the sound of sleigh
bells only a moment away.
Viewings
have naturally slowed down now, but we have had another brilliant year with
sales over 33% higher than 2012. As long as the snow holds off we’re confident
of a surge of viewings in the New Year, so get ready, buyers and sellers, for a
bright new 2014.
Hope Santa
brings you everything you wish for!
Best Wishes
Julia
Julia
Coombs, Director
WILKINS VARDY CHRISTMAS OPENING TIMES
As I’ve said
on previous occasions, the sun never sets on Wilkins Vardy, and just to prove
it our Chesterfield Office is open as follows over the Christmas period (all
offices open Mon 23rd as normal):
Friday 27th
9am – 5pm
Saturday 28th
9am – 3.30pm
Sunday 29th
10am – 3.30pm
Monday 30th
9am – 5pm
Closed
Tuesday 31st and Wednesday 1st, with all offices
re-opening as normal Thursday 2nd
OUR WINTER WOOLLY FUNDRAISING QUIZ
Why have a
Secret Santa when you can be that bit different, that’s our motto. This year we
decided to have a “winter woolly buddy” combined with a fundraising quiz for
Ashgate Hospice. Only £2 per entry and ALL PROCEEDS GO TO ASHGATE HOSPICE, with the chance to win a £40 or
£20 Marks and Spencer gift voucher. Collect your entry form from any of our
offices and donate to a good cause.
DERBYSHIRE SURVEYORS’ UPDATE
With
Christmas almost upon us, Derbyshire Surveyors have continued to remain busy.
The diary is fully booked into the New Year, highlighting just how buoyant the
housing market has been in 2013. With the signs remaining very positive,
Director Dan Elliott feels that 2014 will be one of the best years for house
sales in the recent past:
'Mortgage
lending is strong, and the new 'Help to Buy' scheme is getting stronger every
week. Confidence in the housing market is extremely high, which is only
endorsed by the number of new build sites we are seeing sold in the area. The
signs are good for 2014, and I am anticipating a continuation of activity
already seen this year.
Over the
Christmas period we will be closed from Monday 23rd December, reopening
on Thursday 2nd January 2014. A well deserved rest for the survey
department.
Survey
enquires can still be made via the Wilkins Vardy Residential staff, who will be
able to take enquires on our behalf. Alternatively emails can be sent to – charlotte@derbyshiresurveyors.com
We wish you
all a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year and look forward to a fantastic
2014!
All at
Derbyshire Surveyors.
ANOTHER HAPPY CUSTOMER
Many thanks
to Mr H of New Tupton for the following comments gratefully received:
“Please
accept my sincere thanks and gratitude in the swift and efficient way your
staff members dealt with the sale of my property.
Every move
made you kept me informed almost there and then by telephone. It was a pleasure
to hear your voice.”
DECEMBER’S FESTIVE CRACKERS!
Another
cracker of a month with great teamwork producing yet more fast sales – these
are just a few:
· 6 Conduit Road, Bolsover – sold in 11
days
· 29 Houldsworth Drive, Hady – sold in
10 days
· 7 Elton Street, Chesterfield – sold
in 14 days
· 17 Elton Street, Chesterfield – also
sold in 14 days
· 51 Dukes Drive, Newbold – sold in 8
days
· 7 Morton Avenue, Clay Cross – sold in
10 days
Just goes to
show we never slow down, even for Santa!
FINALLY, PEARLS OF WISDOM FROM TIM
THE MORTGAGE MAN
Help to Buy: Home Ownership Schemes
Following the introduction of
products from Virgin Money and the announcements of other lenders releasing
products in January, Tim Malia of Mortgage Advice Bureau provides a
comprehensive question and answer guide to the current Help to Buy schemes.
Help to Buy
Mortgage Guarantee
Q. Who is it for?
The Help to Buy mortgage guarantee
scheme helps home buyers with good credit records who can afford to purchase
the property outright with a deposit as low as 5%. These include First Time
Buyers, trying to get onto the property ladder, and ‘second-movers’, needing to
move up the ladder to a bigger home. These loans are not available for
buy-to-let landlords or second home owners or for a shared ownership purchase.
Q. Who is eligible – and for what
types of property?
• Existing home
owners and first time buyers
• Buyers with a
minimum deposit of 5% of the purchase price
• Buyers who are
borrowing from a participating lender
• Available across
the UK on newly built or ‘second hand’ up to £600,000
• Residential
property, where you plan to live in it and not rent it out
• Your only
property, so you cannot have an interest in any other property, anywhere in the
world
Q. How does it work?
The scheme works by offering lenders
the option to purchase a guarantee from the government on mortgages where a
borrower has a deposit of between 5% and 20%. The guarantee offers lenders an
‘indemnity’ or insurance cover, which will compensate them for most of any loss
they may suffer if the borrower defaults, the property is repossessed and there
is insufficient equity in the property to fully repay the lender.
This will therefore encourage many
lenders to increase the availability of high loan to value products, including
‘95%’ mortgages. The mortgages advanced by lenders using the Help to Buy scheme
will be subject to the lenders’ usual underwriting criteria.
Example
If the home in the graphic above sold
for £250,000, making a £50,000 ‘profit’, you’d get the entire £250,000, without
having to pay back any government loan or share any profit. As you own the
property fully, you receive the full benefit of any property appreciation with
just your mortgage to repay as with any normal mortgage.
Q. What are the interest rates on the
mortgage loan?
Unlike the Equity Loan scheme, the
lenders will be advancing up to 95% of the value of the property, and so they
will price their products on that basis. Each lender that participates in this
scheme will have their own individual attitude to risk and will price their
products accordingly, and so consult your mortgage adviser for an independent
view on all the low deposit products that are becoming available.
Q. For how long is it available?
The scheme has attracted a lot of
attention since the government announced that it would be available from
October 2013, rather than 1st January 2014, the initial launch date. You can
apply to a number of lenders already and more are expected to join the scheme
in the coming months.
Despite the early launch, the scheme
is set to run until January 2017 as originally planned, however the Bank of
England will be monitoring the impact of the scheme closely, and could
potentially make changes to the qualifying criteria or withdraw it entirely if
they feel it necessary to do so.
Help to Buy Equity Loan
Q. Who is it for?
A. Homebuyers, who wish to purchase a
new build property when they could not otherwise afford one in their area
because they have an insufficient combination of the income and deposit needed
to secure the level of mortgage required.
These include First Time
Buyers, trying to get onto the property ladder, and ‘second-movers’, needing to
move up the ladder to a bigger home. These loans are not available for
buy-to-let landlords or second home owners.
Q. Who is eligible – and for what
types of property?
• Existing home
owners and first time buyers
• Buyers with a
minimum deposit of 5% of the purchase price
• Buyers who are
borrowing from a participating lender
• Available in
England on New Build properties up to £600,000
• Residential
property, where you plan to live in it and not rent it out
• Your only
property, so you cannot have an interest in any other property, anywhere in the
world
Q. How does it work?
A. You’ll need to put down a deposit
of at least 5% of the property price, the government will give you an equity
loan for up to 20%, interest free for the first 5 years, and you’ll need a
mortgage of 75% to cover the rest. As a result of providing you with this
assistance, the government is entitled to its money back, plus a share in the
future sale proceeds equal to the percentage contribution it made to assist
your purchase. This type of loan is known as a ‘shared equity’ mortgage.
Example
If the home in the graphic above sold
for £250,000, making a £50,000 ‘profit’, you’d get £200,000 (£150,000 from your
mortgage, £10,000 cash deposit back and £40,000 as 80% share of the ‘profit’)
and pay back £50,000 to the government (the £40,000 equity loan, plus an extra
£10,000 as 20% share of the ‘profit’). You’d need to pay off your mortgage with
your share of the money.
Q. When will I have to pay back the
Equity Loan?
The home will be in your name, which
means you can sell it at any time. However, you’ll have to pay back the Equity
Loan when you sell your home or at the end of your mortgage term – whichever
comes first. You can also pay back all or part of your Equity Loan without
selling your home.
Q. Are there any fees for the Equity
Loan?
You won’t be charged loan fees for
the first 5 years of owning your home. But in the 6th year, you will be charged
a fee of 1.75% of the loan’s value. After this, the fee will increase every
year in line with inflation. The annual increase in the fees is worked out by
using the Retail Prices Index (RPI) plus 1%. For instance, if the RPI is 5% at
the end of Year 6 of your Equity Loan, the fee will increase by 6% from 1.75%
in Year 6 to 1.86% in Year 7 (which is 1.75% + (1.75% x 6%) = 1.86%). Your
mortgage adviser can provide you with a more detailed illustration when they
help you with finding the right mortgage.
A government-appointed Help to Buy
agent will contact you before the fees start, to set up monthly payments with
your bank. You’ll also be sent a statement about your Equity Loan each year.
Q. What are the interest rates on the
mortgage loan?
Lenders offer more competitive rates
to borrowers with bigger deposits as they carry less risk. This scheme means
that they are only lending 75% of the property value rather than 95% which
means you will benefit from cheaper rates of interest than you would otherwise.
Q. For how long is it available?
A. It will run from 1 April 2013
until 31 March 2016 (or earlier if all of the funding is used up).
Your home may be repossessed if you
do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
There will be a fee for mortgage
advice. The actual amount you pay will depend upon your circumstances. The fee
is up to 1% but a typical fee is 0.3% of the amount borrowed.
That’s
enough information to take in for now. It just remains for me to say on behalf
of all of us at Wilkins Vardy, have a wonderful Christmas, and very best wishes
for a happy and healthy 2014 – we’ll be ready for your call!
