In this episode of "This Shared Ownership Thing" Podcast, Cheryl Gibbens (Marketing Officer) is joined by Aster Sales Resale and Staircasing Manager, Anna Dillon and they discuss all things staircasing and resales.
The conversation surrounding shares being purchased between 25-75% is based on the current shared ownership model and our shared ownership homes under the existing scheme. You may have heard that there are some changes to the Shared Ownership model on the way. Whilst this doesn’t impact on our current shared ownership homes for sale we will be updating our website with more details around the new model soon. If you have any questions about this in the meantime please do get in touch with us or visit the Government’s website to find out more.
In this episode of "This Shared Ownership Thing" Podcast, Cheryl Gibbens (Marketing Officer) is joined by Aster Sales Resale and Staircasing Manager, Anna Dillon and they discuss all things staircasing and resales.
The conversation surrounding shares being purchased between 25-75% is based on the current shared ownership model and our shared ownership homes under the existing scheme. You may have heard that there are some changes to the Shared Ownership model on the way. Whilst this doesn’t impact on our current shared ownership homes for sale we will be updating our website with more details around the new model soon. If you have any questions about this in the meantime please do get in touch with us or visit the Government’s website to find out more.
Hello, and welcome to episode five of this shared ownership thing podcast. We bring out a new episode every month with different guests to talk about all things shared ownership, sharing our amazing customer stories and debunking common misconceptions of shared ownership.
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For the benefit of any new listeners shared ownership is when you buy a share of a home and you pay rent on the share that you don't yet own. If you're able to do so, you can go on to purchase more shares of the home. This is referred to as stair casing until if able to, you can purchase the whole hundred percent of the home. With shared ownership, deposits can be as low as 5% of the share that you purchase and this makes it a more affordable option for many people. I'm Cheryl, I'm the marketing officer at Aster sales, and today I'm joined by Aster sales, resale and staircasing manager, Anna Dillon. Before we recorded this episode, we asked our followers to submit their questions about resales, selling homes and buying more shares. If you don't already follow us on Instagram search@salesaster for the opportunity to be part of future podcasts and have your voice heard, we also regularly share home interior inspo and hints and tips on the shared ownership journey. Before we get started, though, let's get to know Anna a little bit better.
Cheryl Gibbens:
This is a quick fire question round where you have to answer with the first thing that comes into your head. Let's get to know the real Anna Dillon. Are you ready?
Anna Dillon:
Hello! Yes, I'm ready.
Cheryl Gibbens:
Okay. Number one, drum roll please. Chocolate or sweeties.
Anna Dillon:
Sweets.
Cheryl Gibbens:
What's your favourite sweet?
Anna Dillon:
Oh, um, the fizzy strawberry laces.
Cheryl Gibbens:
Okay. Number two. If you were only able to eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Anna Dillon:
This is really hard. I also came to quite a quick answer and that is cheese.
Cheryl Gibbens:
Okay. Just Cheese?
Anna Dillon:
Just cheese, but obviously there's very many different kinds of cheese.
Cheryl Gibbens:
Yeah.
Anna Dillon:
So, you know, I could keep it varied, just with different types of cheese.
Cheryl Gibbens:
One day you could have cheese string, next day you could have babybell.
Anna Dillon:
Well, yeah. Or maybe a camembert and then, you know, brie and then Stilton t hen some c heddar,
Cheryl Gibbens:
But you'd have nothing to dip into your camembert, would you, apart from your finger?
Anna Dillon:
That's right. I can do that. I just pour it in my mouth.
Cheryl Gibbens:
Number three, if you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be?
Anna Dillon:
Um, I think that is also an easy answer and that is the Maldives because it's really nice and it's hot and it's sunny and who doesn't love that?
Cheryl Gibbens:
Maldives. Lovely.
Anna Dillon:
Oh yeah.
Cheryl Gibbens:
And the last question, if you could try to break any world record, what would you do it in?
Anna Dillon:
Um, twerks per minute.
Cheryl Gibbens:
How many can you do so far?
Anna Dillon:
Well, I don't know. We could try it out couldn't we? See where I get to and then just give old Guinness world records a call and be like, she's ready.
Cheryl Gibbens:
She ready to twerk.
Cheryl and Anna:
[LAUGHS]
Cheryl Gibbens:
So now we know more about your favorite foods and your record breaking twerking capabilities. Let's learn a little bit more about your role within Aster sales. How long have you been in your role and what does an average workday look like for you as the resale and staircasing manager?
Anna Dillon:
So I've been in this role since May, 2018. And, um, I was with Aster before then. A typical working day, um, kind of looks like, so before I start work, I'll get up and take the dogs out for a little walk and then it's back for a coffee. And then onto the laptop, um, initially it will be, um, sort of dealing with any inquiry. So whether that's from customers, solicitors, um, mortgage advisors, um, colleagues, and then various points throughout the day on the phone, agreeing sales, um, agreeing completions, advising customers of processes for various different things that they'd like to do. And then eventually sign off and probably go to the gym.
Cheryl Gibbens:
And then eat some cheese.
Anna Dillon:
Oh, and then yeah, eat some cheddar.
Cheryl Gibbens:
and then do some twerking.
Anna Dillon:
Finish off with some twerking, yeah.
Cheryl Gibbens:
Perfect. Sounds awesome. Now let's get down to business. We had loads of great questions submitted for yourself by our lovely Instagram followers.
Anna Dillon:
Yeah.
Cheryl Gibbens:
Let's kick it off with number one. What costs are involved when buying more shares on a shared ownership home?
Anna Dillon:
So there's a few things to consider... So initially there is an admin fee that's payable to Aster, but before we get to that stage, we'd take you through the process from the very beginning. So normally we'd say to get some mortgage advice first and check that buying more shares is gonna be possible for you at this time. And that doesn't cost anything usually. So it's just some free advice from your mortgage lender or advisor. And then if that looks good, um, you'd need to get evaluation completed, which is variable in cost, depending on the surveyor and what they charge. Um, and then Aster's admin fee is 150 pounds plus VAT and then any solicitor's costs and mortgage application costs attributed to it. So a few variables in there.
Cheryl Gibbens:
So two questions off the back of that. If someone was thinking of buying more shares, is it their specific mortgage lender they need to go to just to discuss their options first, as opposed to just any random mortgage broker or anything?
Anna Dillon:
Um, they could do either. So they could either go to the advisor that they use for their initial purchase, if they still have their details, or they could just go to their mortgage lender directly and talk to them on the phone and explain that they've got a current mortgage with them, would they be willing to lend some more money to them for staircasing.
Cheryl Gibbens:
Okay, perfect. And is there a difference we get quite a few questions on live chat between, um, like a RICs surveyor for the v aluation or like an estate agent v aluation. Is there a difference between the both?
Anna Dillon:
Yes. So a Ricks, um, valuation is a, a market valuation report carried out by an independent chartered surveyor. Um, and that is, um, usually a fee attributed to getting that. Whereas an estate agent market appraisal is just an estimate on what that estate agent thinks they might be able to achieve on the open market for that property. So unfortunately you can't use those for stair casing purposes or, um, selling purposes. It's always the chartered surveyor's report that we need for either process.
Cheryl Gibbens:
That makes sense. Next question. Are you ready?
Anna Dillon:
Yeah.
Cheryl Gibbens:
Will I acquire the free hold if I staircase to a hundred percent?
Anna Dillon:
So this depends on your lease. On most of our shared ownership houses, yes. Um, but it's always best to come to us to ask for us to check and confirm that back to you. And for flats, no because you can't acquire the free holdup, a flat within a block, so flats will always remain leasehold again, in most cases you can always buy up to a hundred percent and then just own the property a hundred percent leasehold.
Cheryl Gibbens:
Perfect. What costs are involved when selling a shared ownership home?
Anna Dillon:
So again, this comes down to what's in your lease. So mostly to stipulate what admin fee is payable upon a resale. So this could be, um, usually the, the most common is 1.5% plus the 80 of the agreed sale price for your share. Um, but dependent on the age of the lease and the property, that could be different. So again, always come to us to ask and we can always check that and confirm back to you and that's payable on completion of the sale.
Cheryl Gibbens:
Cool. That makes sense. Can I sell my home through an estate agent instead of going through Aster sales?
Anna Dillon:
Just, I missed something on the last question, which was what other costs are involved. So that would be the RICs valuation fee as well. So you'd have to get evaluation to put your property on the market solicitor's fees, and then obviously our, resale admin fee, and then just move on to the next question you asked about the estate agent. So most leases have a nomination period within them, and the average is eight weeks, but again, it can be different. So, uh, this is the amount of time that Aster will have to advertise the property and try and nominate a suitable purchaser. If whatever reason we can't find a buyer during that nomination period, after that time, uh, you can then advertise with an estate agent of your choice if you wish.
Cheryl Gibbens:
Okie dokie. Someone has asked what happens to the rent when I staircase?
Anna Dillon:
So the rent is reduced accordingly, dependent on how many additional shares you buy. Usually the minimum is 10%. So when you inquire about stair casing, we'll give you the figures for how much your rent will decrease by for every 10% that you buy. But obviously once you've decided exactly how much you'd like to purchase, we can work out the exact figure for you. So.
Cheryl Gibbens:
Lovely. Can you staircase at any point of your active mortgage?
Anna Dillon:
Yes, you can. Um, but again, questions, um, should be raised with the mortgage lender on this as to whether or not they were charged an admin fee for any changes or indeed if they're wanting to, um, lend any additional lending for stair casing purposes. So, um, in terms of Aster, we wouldn't have any issue with that. Um, it's down to the mortgage lender as to whether or not they can renegotiate a current deal in, in that time.
Cheryl Gibbens:
Okie Dokie. Awesome answer. And the final question, can we make a profit on our shared ownership home if we sell it, how does it all work?
Anna Dillon:
So in relation to, um, sales prices, because you have the independent chartered surveyors report, that will determine what the current market value is of your property and like the open market property prices go up and they can go down too. So if your property price has increased from the time when you bought the property, then your share will be worked out based on what your valuation is at that time. And the same again, for if you are in this circumstance where you're in an area where the property prices have decreased, um, for when you bought your property, then again, you would have to sell your share based on what the valuation says. So yes, if there is a profit on your share, then it will be your profit to have.
Cheryl Gibbens:
So it's a very similar process too, if you were to sell on the open market, if prices had gone up and gone down.
Anna Dillon:
Yeah.
Cheryl Gibbens:
Perfect. That was your final question for Anna Dillon.
Anna Dillon:
Yay.
Cheryl Gibbens:
Thank you so much. And thank you for being a guest on the podcast. You've shared some invaluable information which will really help our listeners who are starting their shared ownership journey. And for those customers who are also thinking about buying more shares in their Aster home, if any of our listeners are feeling inspired, we have some customer stories available for you all to see on our website, just visit aster.co.uk/ lifestories to watch our customer testimonials. And if any of our listeners have any other questions that they would like answered in regards to shared ownership, you can contact us through live chat on our website, aster.co.uk/sales, through our social media channels, via email on homeownership@aster.co.uk, or by phone on 01380 735 480. Thank you so much for listening and thank you for your support. The shared ownership thing podcast is brought to you by Aster sales visit aster.co.uk/sales for more information.