Affordable Housing

theboss80

Has anybody out on boards land bought a house fromthe Donegal County Council. Me and OH are thinking of going 4 it and need some advice from people who are in the process or have already bought one. We are renting at the mo

Senna

Friend of mine completed the purchase of one in Manor recently, his advice would be to stay clear. Firstly, the council have been very slow at reducing their prices relative to the open market prices, meaning that although you getting a reduction from the price they state, its a reduction on a price thats well above the market price. It means that you could privately buy a property for not a lot more and not have to worry about clawback etc.
Also they are extremely slow, my friend agreed to purchase the house in Feb 08, but only got the keys in Apr 09. The house was finished and ready to snag in Jan 08, if it had of been a private sale, it would have only taken around 3/4 month at most.

Either way, the Affordable housing scheme should and will be scraped asap, it was there to justify an over inflated housing market, there is no need for it anymore.

muffler

I take it you mean that you are currently residing in and renting a house from the Council. That being the case Id imagine you would be better off buying as opposed to renting.

The main things I would highlight is: 1. Depending on the age of the house just ensure that it has double glazed windows and a central heating system installed before opting to buy. The council have (or had) a budget for providing these facilities in their older housing stock.

2. Do your homework in relation to the loan/repayments. Check out the interest rates payable on the council loan and then check to see if you can get a better rate (and you should) from a bank or building society.

smashey

Senna wrote: »

Friend of mine completed the purchase of one in Manor recently

I did a snag list for one of those houses last year. Maybe it was your friend's house.

waffleman

My OH and I bought an affordable house through Donegal CC in 2007. Depends on what stage of the process you are at. Do you have a conditional offer and considering getting the mortgage drawn down?

Anyway it was a great offer based on the prices at the time. However prices have come down a lot and to buy the same house new now is only 10% more than what we paid through the council. Dont get me wrong 10% is still 10% and im glad we did it - we got the house for a good price and we are nearly 2 years into a 20 year mortgage. We wont own the house fully until the term of the mortgage is complete. we own 50% of the house for the 1st 10 years and we get an extra 5% each year until the 20th year.

I dont know what the council are offering now but I would definitely buy on the open market at this time if it was still looking. Prices arnt much higher and I would own 100% of the house (and profit - maybe wishful thinking in the current market!!) if i wanted to resell in 5/10 years.

Senna

smashey wrote: »

I did a snag list for one of those houses last year. Maybe it was your friend's house.

Could well have been, first house on right?? Nails in the PVC windows, sound familiar??

smashey

Senna wrote: »

Could well have been, first house on right?? Nails in the PVC windows, sound familiar??

All the windows were boarded up in a shabby manner.

Senna

smashey wrote: »

All the windows were boarded up in a shabby manner.

Is it true the council had to replace all of the PVC windows that had nail marks in them? Dont know much about PVC but i wouldn't have through driving nails into them would be acceptable.

smashey

Yeah, it was one of the many points on my list. What kind of feckin eejit drives nails through the PVC? They would have had to be replaced.

Senna

I hope at the builder expense, not the Co Co's?:pac:

smashey

If it was an employee of the council who boarded the windows, the council would have been responsible.

Senna

So would the house be bought off the builder by the council, then snagged by the private purchaser and then the council has to pay for anything wrong, and i believe there was a few issues, not just windows.

smashey

Aye, the council would have to make the property habitable. I must look and see if I can find the report.