In this episode of "This Shared Ownership Thing" Podcast, Cheryl Gibbens (Marketing Officer) speaks with a fellow Aster Marketing Officer, who is also a recent Aster home shared ownership buyer, Lauren Allen. We discuss how Lauren went from selling Shared Ownership Homes to buying one herself.

Podcast Transcript:

Cheryl (00:07):
Hello, and welcome to This Shared Ownership Thing podcast. Each month we sit down to discuss frequently, asked questions, share the incredible stories of our customers. And we dispel the myths and the rumours of shared ownership. My name is Cheryl. I'm a marketing officer at Aster sales, and this week I'm joined by a fellow Aster marketing officer who is also a recent Aster home, shared ownership buyer, Lauren Allen. In this episode, we're going to discuss how Lauren went from selling shared ownership homes to buying one herself. Before we get started. Let's learn a little bit more about yourself, Lauren. Are you ready?
Lauren (00:46):
Ready, Let's go.
New Speaker (00:48):
Okay. So here's a few quick fire questions for our listeners to get to know you. Number one, are you an early riser or do you love a lie in?
Lauren (00:59):
I am early to bed and I like to sleep in, so a bit of both.
New Speaker (01:04):
So how many hours sleep do you like to get a night?
Lauren (01:07):
Nine or Ten.
New Speaker (01:08):
Oh yeah, my kind of girl. Are you a tea or coffee drinker?
Lauren (01:16):
Tea please strong and sweet.
New Speaker (01:19):
Do you prefer dogs or cats?
Lauren (01:23):
Doggies all the way from me.
New Speaker (01:25):
Yes. Completely with you on that one. And lastly, what is your favorite snack? Because you know, all we talk about is snacks in this team.
Lauren (01:34):
Yeah. So my life does revolve around chocolate. I do like Raw Halo, I also like the brand, If I'm feeling really, really special, I need Booja Booja Truffles.
New Speaker (01:44):
Oh, that sounds very boujee.
Lauren (01:47):
Yes, exactly that, vegan dairy-free organic, hit me right up with them.
New Speaker (01:53):
I love that from you Loz
Cheryl (02:02):
Okay. So Lauren, your shared ownership journey to all of our listeners, presumably you found this podcast as you're interested in shared ownership and you want to find out more. Well, you've come to the right place. Shared ownership for anyone that's not too sure 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 then go on to buy more shares of the home and this is called staircasing. This enables you to get a home that you want for a price that you can afford, like how our Lauren has. Now let's chat about someone who used to sell shared ownership homes, and then decided to buy one for herself. Lauren, can you remember the point when you thought that shared ownership was right for you?
Lauren (02:47):
So we wanted to get on the property ladder. Like a lot of other people, we aspire to have something, an investment, something we owned and could call home. So when I came into the Shared Ownership team, I didn't know anything about it. So it gave me a lot of insight into the product and how it could work. And then I realised it would really work for me and my family.
Cheryl (03:06):
Perfect. And it has done just that hasn't it?
Lauren (03:09):
It has
Cheryl (03:10):
Amazing. So how did it feel to be the Aster customer when you're used to being the person selling the shared ownership homes?
Lauren (03:19):
I think that was good for me, cause I felt like I could see both sides of the journey. So I could see it from a customer's point of view as well and what a customer would want and the information we need and how we can help as a team.
Cheryl (03:32):
Amazing. So, yeah, I guess that helps you now you're back to selling the shared ownership homes, you know, what sort of information the customer will need now.
Lauren (03:40):
Yeah. And the sort of questions people ask aren't a surprise. Cause I was asking those questions to.
Cheryl (03:46):
Perfect. So if someone was thinking of going down the shared ownership route, what advice would you give them?
Lauren (03:53):
I would say, do your research look up and know your product and what you're getting into, get financial advice and know what you can afford and be comfortable with it.
Cheryl (04:05):
Yeah. That's perfect. And is there anyone that you would recommend for the financial advice?
Lauren (04:11):
So we work alongside TMP. They are mortgage brokers as well. So I use them just because I knew then it was all in their hands and they knew what they were doing and I had access to Shared Ownership mortgages.
Cheryl (04:24):
Perfect. Yeah, that was great advice. And we can pop in the details about TMP in the bio for this podcast. So thank you.
New Speaker (04:39):
What are the main benefits of shared ownership to you?
Lauren (04:44):
For me, it was about affordability. Being able to afford the house I wanted and be able to afford the life I want at the same time. I didn't have to spend years saving a deposit cause my life was happening now. I didn't want to put it on hold while I was living with my parents to save for the deposit. The fact that pets are allowed in Shared Ownership houses, whereas with renting, you can't always have pets. The fact that you can decorate your home and make it your own was really important to me. As you know, I love Pinterest so decorating home and making it into my own was something I really wanted to do. And I liked the security of having a share in a home.
Cheryl (05:24):
Yeah. You've got something that you own. So the money that you pay, it goes towards something you own.
Lauren (05:29):
Absolutely
Cheryl (05:31):
Love that, you've been living in your shared ownership, home in Wiltshire, I believe it's for almost three years now. So what do you love about the area, and what made you choose the area to start off with?
Lauren (05:43):
So I really wanted to live in the town where I'm from. I didn't want to have to move out it. I've done that before, and I felt very lonely and isolated. So being able to walk to family and friends was something I really wanted to do, and it's a really beautiful town Wiltshire. So that was something I was really interested in staying here.
Cheryl (06:00):
Yeah. I think it's quite common isn't it for shared ownership to help people stay in the area that they originally grew up in because some people might find that they're priced out of the area. So they have to move away from family and friends, but it's allowed you to stay in that area that you're from.
Lauren (06:16):
Yeah, it would be too expensive for me to buy it outright in this area. So Shared Ownership helped me with that.
Cheryl (06:24):
Perfect. I love that. So thank you so much for sharing your story with us Lauren, and we hope you're as happy as ever in your home. We have more customer stories available for our listeners to see on our website, just visit aster.co.uk/lifestories to watch more of our customer testimonials.
Lauren (06:43):
Fabulous, thank you.
Cheryl (06:44):
Thank you so much for coming on.
Lauren (06:46):
No worries. See you later.
Cheryl (06:56):
Okay. So after hearing the amazing story from Lauren and her finding her very own shared ownership journey, our next topic, we're going to share some of the questions that we frequently get asked through, live chat on social media and on the phone from our amazing customers.
New Speaker (07:14):
First question, can I have a pet in a shared ownership home? So pets are accepted in shared ownership houses. In most cases, it's normally flats that are the exception. But the best thing to do is just to ask us, and we can check this with the specific sales negotiator for the home that you're interested in. As we know just how important this can be for you.
New Speaker (07:37):
Is shared ownership only for first time buyers? No, it isn't just for first-time buyers. You may have previously owned a home before, but to proceed with purchasing a shared ownership home, you must have no legal ties with any other property. If you are in the process of selling your current home, it will need to be sold or under offered to proceed.
New Speaker (07:57):
Do I have to buy the share advertised on the website? Okay. So there's two parts for this one, one for new builds and one for resales with a resale home, the minimum share you can purchase is the share that is being advertised at, this is because this is the share that the current vendor owns and is selling. So you will be buying this share or even a higher share, if that's possible. With new builds, you can buy a share between 25 to 75%, but we usually advertise our shared ownership homes at a 40% share as a starting point, but the affordability assessments are carried out with TMP (The mortgage people) will determine what share you can afford to purchase, and if this is an affordable option for yourself.
New Speaker (08:39):
You may have seen or heard that changes are being made to the shared ownership model and lower shares can be purchased, but this doesn't impact on our current shared ownership homes for sale, and we will be updating our website with more details around the new model soon.
New Speaker (08:53):
So that is our three top asked questions that we've had recently on all of our different platforms, but for more answers to our FAQ's, you can visit aster.co.uk/FAQ. Or you can ask your question direct by emailing homeownership@aster.co.uk, or contacting us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or via live chat on our website.
Cheryl (09:22):
Okay. So we've come to the end of episode, three of our This Shared Ownership Thing podcast. Thank you for listening. This podcast is brought to you by Aster Sales visit aster.co.uk/sales for more information.