A young couple from Altrincham have revealed how they managed to snap up a three-bed house for a bargain in Cheshire – one of the northwest’s most sought-after property locations. And they urged other first-time buyers to follow their example and not be deterred from entering the property market. Lottie Brown, 28, and her boyfriend Ant, bought their first home in Mobberley, a pretty village nestled in the Cheshire countryside, for just £275,000.
With average house prices for the area over the last year standing at £496,100, the pair have most certainly struck gold.
The cost of their new house even proved to be much cheaper than properties in their hometown.
After renting an apartment for a year, the pair decided it was time to try and get on the first rung of the property ladder towards the end of the summer in 2019.
Initially they looked for a place to live in Altrincham and its surrounding area, but couldn’t find anything to fit their budget.
So they decided to look further afield, and came a cross three-bed three-storey terraced house on the market for £280,000 which they “fell in love with”.
“I had a good feeling about it just from looking at the Rightmove advert,” Lottie told the Manchester Evening News.
“I thought it was really well done up, it was clear that the previous owners had really looked after it.
“It was on a very quiet square with lots of communal, green spaces set back from the road so I got a really good feeling when we drove up to it.”
Excited by their discovery, the young couple put in an initial offer of £270,000, which was rejected.
However, when they upped their offer by £5,000, their bid was accepted by the previous owners who were looking for a quick sale.
Lottie and Ant received the keys to their new home just before Christmas 2019, and started to get on with the task of moving in.
As a new build, the property needed little renovation. However the pair decided to repaint the study from Barbie pink to white and to give the tired bathroom a make-over.
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They have carried out most of the work themselves, using videos posted to social media to learn the art of home improvements and renovations.
“We’ve just been watching YouTube videos, watching what other people are doing on Instagram and teaching ourselves,” Lottie explained.
“We ripped up all the flooring and repainted and panelled the living room.
“We now are partway through re-doing the study, we’ve added cornicing, panelling and wallpaper and we will be putting new flooring in.
“We’re also in the midst of doing up the hallway at the moment, including panelling and painting it.”
Lottie had some good advice for first-time buyers on how to save money for a mortgage deposit.
She said: “We both opened Lifetime ISAs when we started saving, which meant that we got 25 percent on top of everything we saved as a bonus to put towards our deposit.
“That definitely sped up our saving process and was a huge help to us. I’d advise any first-time buyers to look into setting up one.
“Just be strict and commit to saving a set amount each month, even if it’s a small amount it all adds up.”
Lottie also encouraged people to consider project houses, saying it was easy to learn the DIY skills needed to renovate.
