Buying your first home is a huge milestone for many people, especially as it has become so much more difficult in recent years due to soaring house prices and sky-high interest rates.
One family have shared their delight after managing to get on the property ladder sooner than expected thanks to a helpful mortgage scheme. Juvraj Singh, 40, his wife, 39, and their two children aged eight and five, moved from Dubai to Manchester in the search for their forever family home.
The first-time buyers now live happily in their 'dream' new-build four-bed townhouse on the edge of Manchester city centre in Northenden - a suburb that is favoured by families as a more affordable alternative to Didsbury or Chorlton.
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Juvraj, from India, spoke to the Manchester Evening News as part of our Where I Live series, where each week we chat to a different homeowner from across the north west about their house buying journey; whilst taking a look inside their home.
The dad-of-two decided to make the move over to the UK in 2020 due to better career prospects, the instability of the market in Dubai and in hopes of a better education for his kids.
“We moved from Dubai to Manchester right in the middle of Covid. I initially came over in March 2020 and then my family joined a few months later", Juvraj, who works as a logistics commodity manager, told the Manchester Evening News.
“We moved for a mix of both professional and personal reasons. I was working with the same company in Dubai and the growth opportunities were better here in the role that I'm now working in.
"I think from the children's education perspective also, we thought it would be a better option to move to England.
“Dubai also has a volatile market. You don't get permanent residence in Dubai for expats so the moment you lose your job or your business is down, you have to leave the country. So for that reason, I was very conscious of buying a property."
After moving to Manchester, Juvraj and his wife initially rented in Northenden whilst they looked to buy their first family home.
"We were living in Northenden from day one. My wife is very particular about the children’s education and she wanted our kids to go to a grammar school. Sale and Cheadle were the areas she wanted to be in the catchment for and so Northenden was a more affordable option," Juvraj said.
“We were looking for a house with spacious rooms. I was more inclined towards older houses but my wife preferred a newer house as she wanted a place where there would be a community feel - where you can talk to your neighbours and the kids can play outside safely.
“We did view a lot of older houses because there weren't too many new build options available in this part of Manchester at the time."
The family then came across a brand new development which has been transformed from the old Manchester College City campus.
Juvraj said: "We came to know about this development before the construction had started. One of our friends who bought a property very close by two years back mentioned about Miller Homes building a new development so we kept our eyes on it.
“One day we just came to see the site and meet the salespeople, but we didn't have a 10 percent deposit available. Because of that we didn’t think that we would even be able to reserve a property."
Juvraj put savings asides monthly for just over a year to work towards a deposit, but he was only able to afford the home due to a deposit scheme being run by homebuilder Miller Homes at the time.
"It was purely because of this five percent offer from Miller Homes that we were able to reserve and buy our new home so quickly," the dad said.
The couple bought their new-build semi-detached home for £394,495, putting down a 5 percent deposit of just less than £20,000.
They reserved the property in February this year and moved in in May.
"We reserved this house in February when it was already under construction, luckily it was ready right on time so we didn’t face any delays," Juvraj said.
"We put the deposit down after the construction was complete and then the contracts were exchanged towards the end of April.
"I think we paid a reasonable price considering the way the market was going last year. The room sizes are really big, the garden area is a good size and it’s a nice area. The majority of our requirements were ticked off."
The couple got the keys to their brand new home in April and began renovating right away, before moving in the following month.
"We had things done straight away for example the flooring, carpets and garden. We then had a housewarming party with some family and friends," the dad-of-two said.
"We are still settling in at the moment because there are still quite a few things to do in terms of buying furniture and decorating. We are doing it slowly because we wanted to move in and then decide what would look best.
"We've got a couple of ideas in terms of renovating. The lounge is on the first floor and if we were financially able to, I think we’d want to move this to the ground floor by building an extension on the back.
"In terms of decoration, we want to maybe put up some wallpaper or repaint some of the walls to just add more colour into our interior."
When the family moved in, they already had a fully functioning kitchen which Juvraj says is a perk of buying a new-build.
"The kitchen was fully ready to use with all appliances installed. In the utility room, the washer, dryer and everything was already there. That was quite a big help because otherwise you have to think about buying all these kinds of appliances when you move in."
Describing the layout of their home, Juvraj said: "Once you enter the house there is a good spacious hallway and then immediately to your right is a study room.
"The good thing about the house is that there is quite a lot of storage, so when you come into the ground floor on the right hand side you have a whole storage area. Then there is the utility room and alongside that we have a small WC.
“You then come into quite a spacious kitchen where you have bifold doors which I think everybody loves as it gives you a nice view of the garden.
“When you go up to the first floor you have a main bathroom, the lounge on one side and then one bedroom on the other side which again is a good size. On the second floor you have got two big bedrooms, one is the master bedroom.
“The garden is on the southwest side so you get a lot of sunshine more or less the whole day, which is lovely on a summer’s night."
Juvraj said the family are extremely happy with their new 'dream' home which they plan to live in long term.
“Buying our first home is something that we were really looking forward to and it was very important for us to get all those requirements we wanted. I think your first home will always remain special to you and this is our dream house for sure, no doubt about it," he said.
"I don't see any reason why we should move because we really like the community part of the area. There's a lovely community feel and you have the benefit of meeting new people who are moving in at the same time as you, so you have a good chance to create more of a society for yourself."
Want to feature your home in Where I Live? If so, please email your details to phoebe.jobling@reachplc.com.
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