Melvyn Redding and Cherish Burdfield's story

Shared Ownership

When Melvyn Redding and Cherish Burdfield found out they were expecting their first child, they started to look at their options of getting onto the property ladder and finding a larger home.

“A family member told us about the part-buy, part-rent scheme as we knew we couldn’t afford to buy on the open market, so we had a look on the internet and found out about our HomeBuy Agent for Hampshire and Isle of Wight, HomesinHants.” Explains Cherish.  “We saw they were holding an event nearby so went along to that first to see how they schemes worked, got free financial advice and got to chat about what homes were available; it was great to actually be able to talk to someone and get it all explained, it really is quite simple really!”

“With our first daughter on the way, we really wanted to set up a family home as our one bedroom council flat was no longer suitable. We registered with HomesinHants, made sure we were saving as much as we could each month towards a deposit, and waited for the right home to become available.”

Grace was born in November and shortly after, Melvyn and Cherish found out about the Shared Ownership houses in Hedge End, Southampton, being offered through Radian.

“We expressed our interest to Radian in the 2 bed houses, and within a week we were invited to view the plans as the houses were not yet finished,” says Melvyn. “We met the Sales Officer from Radian who explained how the scheme works, completed our free financial assessment and chose the plot that was our first choice; we were delighted when Radian said we got it!”

With the houses being completed in early March 2011, Melvyn and Cherish had only a short time to wait before moving in. They purchased a 30% share for £51,000 in their 2 bedroom house, complete with front and back gardens, a garage and a fully fitted kitchen with washing machine, oven and hob.

“Shared Ownership was ideal for us! We now pay under £600 each month on our mortgage and rent combined, and we only needed a 5% deposit for our mortgage which made it even more affordable for us,” says Cherish, “I’d recommend the scheme to any first time buyers, and it really wasn’t as scary buying a house as I first thought!”