For many years, it has been notoriously difficult for first-time buyers to get a foot on the property ladder. The recent news regarding mortgage repayments becoming even more costly could make life even more difficult.
Sometimes, looking in the right place at the right time is the key for first-time homebuyers. That is one way Georgia Urmson managed to buy her first home, in Runcorn, Cheshire, with her partner at just 22..
Speaking to Manchester Evening News, Georgia, who has lived in Runcorn all her life, revealed she bought an 1800s property with boyfriend Karl, 27, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. But even then, she wasn’t aware of an unlikely family connection which would make her first home all the more special.
The now-24-year-old marketing manager was living with her parents at the time, while Karl was renting his own place. Although she harboured no immediate plans to move away from her family home, Georgia rethought her living situation as a result of the lockdown. The couple had considered renting together but soon realised they would be better off getting a place of their own after looking at costs.
"I didn't plan to move out of my mum and dad's so young because I admit I had it really easy there, but lockdown just pushed me to want my own space and gave me a drive to start saving," Georgia said. The home buying process was pretty hectic because we bought it in June 2021 as everyone was coming out of lockdown and because there was the stamp duty holiday, everyone was rushing to buy.
"Despite that, we moved in really quickly, we made an offer in April and we were in our new house by June. We only really had less than six months to save."
Despite setting an initial budget of £140,000, fierce competition led to them putting in an offer of £185,000, which was £15,000 above the asking price. Having put a 5% deposit down, they now reside in their six-bed end-terrace property, paying a monthly mortgage of £770.
The part-time model and dancer admitted: “I can’t believe we got it at that price to be honest, especially looking at house prices now, nothing compares. I 100% know the only reason I was able to save is because I was living at home with my parents, which was my saving grace.
“I have no idea how people do it if they are renting. We never thought we'd be able to afford something like this but when I viewed it I just knew it had to be mine."
It was only after the offer had been put down that Georgia made a surprising discovery about her new home’s family history. She became aware of this unexpected connection after a phone call from her granddad, “When we put an offer in, I sent pictures to my family and said 'look at this house’,” she said.
“After we sent the address my grandad rang me and told me the house used to be my great grandad's and it is where my grandad and all his family grew up. It used to be a detached house with 13 bedrooms but whoever sold it after my great grandad then split it into our house and a maisonette.
"It’s got loads of family history to it that I didn’t even realise when we bought it. I loved that it was so different and unique but the family element made it extra special."
With Georgia describing the property as exactly how she wanted, the pair haven’t done much renovating since moving in. She added: “We didn’t need to do that much to the house when we moved in because it was already so lovely.
“We haven’t done anything drastic to it in terms of renovations; it has just been repainting, restyling and adding furniture. The house itself has loads of character which is what I originally wanted - I didn’t want a new build.
“In terms of décor I wanted to keep the home's traditional aspects and not modernise it too much so I went with classic neutral colours, marbles and kept the panelling from the original house.
"We’ve still got a few bits left to renovate. We still need to paint the hallway, stairs and landing but we keep putting it off because our ceilings are so high - we have a 14 foot Christmas tree."
The home has four floors in total, and Georgia showed the MEN around. “Our house looks detached from the side but it's classed as an end terrace,” she said. “We’ve got a basement, a ground floor, a first floor and second floor.
“On the ground floor we have a living room, dining room and kitchen which leads onto a utility room and bathroom. There’s access to the basement from this floor which we don't have a use for at the moment, but we have plans to convert it into a cinema room in the future.
"The first floor has four bedrooms facing each other. Our bedroom is the master bedroom with an en-suite. The second bedroom is another really big bedroom which is currently being used as a room for my giant rabbit because he's so big.
"The third bedroom we are using as my partner's office and the fourth bedroom is our walk-in wardrobe. There’s another set of stairs that lead up to the second floor where there are two bedrooms facing each other which we are currently using as storage rooms.
"I wish we had a bigger garden - that is probably the only downfall to the house. Although our small garden is really easy to maintain as we just have some decking and AstroTurf."
Speaking about her plans for the future, Georgia added: “We will definitely live here for the next five years at least and then if we were to move the only deciding factor would be somewhere with more land, but it’s going to be hard to top this and get something that is so different and unique."
Giving advice to other first-time buyers, she said: "We put down a 5% deposit but I’d say to reduce your monthly payments if you have the money saved I’d definitely put down a 10% deposit. But if you’re wanting to get on the property ladder quickly or you need to move out fast because you’ve seen a house you like, then a lower deposit is definitely an option.
“Owning your own home is an investment, it doesn’t feel like you are throwing away money each month. When we pay our mortgage it feels like you’re putting it into a savings account because at the end of it it's yours.
“I’m most definitely proud of my home and proud to be a homeowner. I didn’t ever think that I would own my own house at 22, especially one of this size."
