Home Reach Helps Young Family Buy In Cambridgeshire

Young couple Beth Fewings and Dom Markham recently became parents for the first time and they are looking forward to owning their own home and still having cash left to spend every month.

Beth, a 21-year-old assistant store manager, and Dom, 22, a plumbing and heating engineer, have been able to achieve that balance thanks to the Home Reach scheme offered by Linden Homes, which is part of the Vistry Group.

The couple, whose baby boy Stan was born in August, have used the scheme to reserve a three-bedroom mid-terrace property at Linden Homes’ Springfields development in Deeping St James.

The pair, who are due to move into their new home in December, will buy a 50% stake through the scheme with heylo, the UK’s leading part buy-part rent provider, becoming the landlord and granting a 125-year lease. With Home Reach, people buy a share of a home (up to 75%) and pay a low monthly rent on the part they don't own. Buyers get to choose whether to own a bigger share of a lower priced home or a smaller share of a more expensive one.

Beth, who met Dom at a mutual friend’s birthday party in 2017, said: “What we wanted to do was buy our own new home rather than line someone else’s pockets with rent. We used to live in a two-bedroom apartment in Market Deeping and we were paying £700 a month rent and £200 in electricity bills to heat the place. But what we didn’t want was to burden ourselves with a massive mortgage payment that would swallow up all our money each month. We spoke to Linden Homes and through the Home Reach scheme we were able to achieve that dream of investing in our own home but on a manageable budget.”

When they started house-hunting, the couple wanted to stay in the area as both have family close by. Dom’s relatives are in Market Deeping and Beth’s parents are a short drive away in Ryhall in Rutland.

Beth said they were driving along one day when they saw the marketing suite for the Springfields development. “I contacted them when I got home and was told there were no properties left available on the first phase of the development but they would put me on a waiting list. Within a week I got a call to say a sale had fallen through and an Emmett house was for sale. It was as if it was meant to be - we knew we wanted that house.”

Beth and Dom decided to go for part ownership and put down a 10% deposit of £10,606.

“We will be paying a lower mortgage to own 50%t of the house,” said Beth. “It works for us at the moment because we want to have a bit of flexibility to have some money free to buy things and go places if we choose to. In the future, we can change the mortgage and own all of the house if we want and that’s the way we will probably go but the lower payments work for us at this stage in our lives with just having become parents too.”

Beth said they are looking forward to having a house to call their own. “My favourite room in the house is the kitchen-diner. I got to choose my own kitchen when I finally made my mind up after about 300 visits to the show home. I chose to upgrade and I can’t wait for us three to be in there. It will be the heart of our home and where we meet and chat. It will be a lovely big space to enjoy and for me to cook in when friends or family visit us.

“I just know that Dom’s favourite place will be on the settee in the living room in front of the TV watching the football. It will be so relaxing for us to have our own bedroom, a bedroom for Stan and a spare bedroom for when friends and family come to stay.”

Beth said she was very grateful to the sales team for their help in making the new house their home.

“Neither of us has bought a house before so we didn’t really know what to expect,” she said. “Colin Marshall was fabulous. He explained the whole process and walked us through it. He kept us informed all the way along and answered all our questions. I would definitely recommend Linden Homes as they have been great with us.

“It’s a very exciting time for us as everything is brand new. We have a new baby, a new home, on a new development so it’s a new start for us in a house we can call our own.”

Linden Homes is building 145 homes in two phases at Springfields. A range of three- and four-bedroom homes are currently available. Find out more at www.lindenhomes.co.uk.

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