Where we live and what we pay for our homes always strikes up an interesting conversation, especially in the current climate. After this week's news that mortgage repayments could become even more costly if interest rates rise as predicted, people are desperate to know what they can now afford on today's property market.
In recent years it has been, and continues to be, extremely difficult for first-time buyers to get a foot on the property ladder, but sometimes it is about looking in the right place at the right time. And that is one way that Georgia Urmson, 24, managed to buy her first home in Runcorn, Cheshire with her partners at just 22.
Georgia spoke to us as part of our Where I Live series, where each week we take our readers inside a different home across the north west to have a nosey around, find out how much it cost, what they pay for their mortgage and how they've made their house their own.
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First-time buyer Georgia, who has lived in Runcorn all her life, bought an 1800s property with her boyfriend Karl, 27, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
The marketing manager was living with her parents at the time and her partner was renting his own place. Georgia had no plans to move out of her family home - until the unprecedented lockdown forced her to rethink her living situation.
The couple considered renting together but after looking at costs, they realised it would be more beneficial to buy a place of their own.
"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."
With competition for the house so fierce, Georgia and Karl went above their initial budget of £140,000 and put an offer in for £185,000 which was £15,000 above the asking price.
After putting a five percent deposit it down, they now live in their beautiful six-bed end-terrace property and pay a monthly mortgage of £770.
“I can’t believe we got it at that price to be honest, especially looking at house prices now, nothing compares. I 100 per cent 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," admits Georgia.
"We put a five percent deposit down purely to get the house. 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."
But it was only after the part-time model and dancer had put an offer down that she made a surprising discovery about the family history of her home.
“When we put an offer in, I sent pictures to my family and said 'look at this house’. 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," Georgia revealed.
"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."
Since moving in the couple haven't done much renovating to their Runcorn property as Georgia says it was exactly what she wanted.
“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," she said.
"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."
Georgia then gave us a tour of her home which has four floors in total.
“Our house looks detached from the side but its classed as an end terrace. We’ve got a basement, a ground floor, a first floor and second floor," she said.
“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 partners 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.
Georgia added: "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 said: “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 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 per cent 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 its 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."
Want to get involved in Where I Live? If you transformed your house or flat on a budget or spent a big pot of money on it, or had to scrimp and save and make huge sacrifices to buy your own home - we want to know about it.
If you are interested in featuring in our weekly series, please email your name and details to phoebe.jobling@reachplc.com.
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