London Home Show Countdown: Notting Hill
Guest Blog – Notting Hill: Notting Hill Sales offers affordable riverside homes with Shared Ownership
Notting Hill Sales has a great reputation of helping people from all backgrounds get on the property ladder.
Marco’s family faced the dilemma of having to upscale to a home big enough to welcome his newly born daughter. Marco Liberace, 40, bought his first home with us at Royal Albert Wharf at the Royal Docks in East London, for himself, his wife Olga and their baby daughter Agatha.
Marco was involved in the design of the homes at Royal Albert Wharf, which was a huge factor in his decision to buy there. Marco explains: “We were quite happy renting in North London. However, with the upcoming birth of our daughter, we knew we wanted to move somewhere with more space, and the fact that I had worked on this development and knew the high quality of the properties meant that when the apartments came onto the market, it was a great opportunity for us to buy, especially using Shared Ownership to reduce our initial mortgage borrowing and mortgage requirement.”
Marco continues: “Buying outright wasn’t really an option financially, but through Shared Ownership, we could afford to pull our savings into a deposit and then the rent and mortgage wasn’t that much more a month than we were previously paying when renting our small one-bedroom flat. We bought a 40% share of the two-bedroom apartment, which was £420,000 at full market value, and our mortgage for this share worked out at £170,000. The process of using Shared Ownership was easier than we thought it would be, we viewed the apartment in March and had completed the purchase by April. We plan in a year’s time, once Olga is back to work, to staircase, with the hopes of purchasing a further 20% share.”
Looking towards his family’s future, Marco explains: “We have already started looking at nurseries and schools in the area, and there is actually a nursery at the University of East London which is only a couple of minutes’ walk away. Agatha won’t be going for several months yet but it’s always good to look ahead!”
The homes are conveniently located for access to major transport links. Gallions Reach DLR and Cyprus DLR are both within walking distance, linking to Canary Wharf in less than 20 minutes, and Canning Town for the Jubilee line in 12 minutes. London Bridge can be reached in 22 minutes, and London Waterloo in 25 minutes, both via the Jubilee line.
Through the Notting Hill Shared Ownership scheme, buyers can purchase between 25% and 75% of their property, paying subsidised rent on the remainder. Residents can increase their ownership share at any time, all the way up to 100%.
Prices start at £107,500 for a 25% share of a two-bedroom apartment at Royal Albert Wharf (full purchase price £430,000) and from £136,250 for a 25% share of a three-bedroom apartment (full purchase price £545,000). A selection of three bedroom triplex apartments are also available, priced from £151,250 for a 25% share of £605,000. For more information, contact Notting Hill Sales on 020 3815 1234, or visit the website: www.nhillsales.com
The London Home Show will be taking place at the QEII Centre in Westminster on Saturday 3rd March, 11am-5pm. Get your free tickets today at sharetobuy.com/homeshow.