South East London to the Kent Coast for Retired Couple

With retirement an ideal opportunity to move home to an ideal location, Steve and Sharon Morgan are delighted about their choice of new home in New Romney, Kent.

Steve Morgan is a former estate agent and his wife Sharon a former library manager and both spent all their lives in and around south London. Having retired, they made the decision to buy a brand new home off-plan at the Pentland Homes development of Mulberry Place on the southern coast of Kent in May 2018.

Steve said: “The choice was borne out of wanting to move away from south London, but we’ve both wanted to live by the coast for a long while and we were also really interested in buying a new build home. Our extended family is still in London so we didn’t want to go too far, so that we could easily get back. I visit my dad regularly and Sharon helps a lot with the grandchildren. When we came across Mulberry Place, it ticked all our boxes as it was only an hour’s drive to get back to our family.

“The development was attractive as it wasn’t huge with a moderate amount of properties on the first phase, the same on the second phase and now it’s entering its third phrase, it still feels the right size for a community and it’s not crowded.”

The couple found the process of buying off-plan – before construction has begun – very easy thanks to Pentland Homes’ customer service but did have one major hiccup. When they first saw the home they had chosen while it was being built, they realised that they had chosen the wrong typoe and wanted to change.

“When it was first available for viewing, having been built to brickwork stage, we had the realisation that we were uncertain about the one we’d chosen,” said Steve. “But Pentland Homes were very understanding and they transferred the whole purchase over to the unit we subsequently chose.

“I found working with Pentland Homes extremely easy and the property purchase was a pleasure. The staff who worked in the marketing suite and show homes are absolutely first class and lovely to deal with. We could come down without an appointment and they always found time with us.

“We probably visited the marketing suite a dozen times throughout the purchase process, as we wanted to see how things were developing during the off-plan purchase. My father wanted to come down and our children and grandchildren wanted to see the show home too, and they always welcomed us.”

In December 2018 – in time to host a family Christmas – they settled into the ‘Arundel’, a detached three-bedroom house type which has 1,296 sq ft of living space. It has underfloor heating on the ground floor, private front and rear garden areas, a garage and two parking spaces.

A year on, the couple are delighted with their new property and more relaxed coastal lifestyle.

“I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Pentland Homes to any of my friends or family,” said Steve.” They’re a smaller-scale housebuilder than some of the big names in the UK, and that definitely showed in their customer service during the purchase, and the aftercare we’ve received since our move.

“Obviously with a new build property there will be snagging issues and generally these have been dealt with promptly. Customer Care are easily contactable and the specialist contractors have all been polite and helpful.”

“I think there’s every chance that Mulberry Place could be our forever home. Moving again isn’t on our radar, and we both see this as somewhere to stay for the long-term.”

Properties at Mulberry Place are available from £270,000.

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