Rachel and Ben’s homeownership story
Rachel and Ben, known as @wonderful_waterford on Instagram, have totally transformed their living situation thanks to Gleeson. Prior to buying the couple, who have been together for seven years, rented a whole host of different properties, from small flats to semi-detached houses, and dreamt of getting onto the property ladder.
After seeing Rachel’s Grandparents Gleeson home, and exploring a Waterford show home, the icing on the cake was Gleeson’s affordability, which allowed them to buy a 4 bedroom detached home AND save £69 per month on their outgoings!
Teacher, Rachel and photographer, Ben are delighted to own their ideal home at just 26 years old, and can’t wait for the future.
We spoke to Rachel to learn more about their story.
When did you reserve your home? May 2021.
When did you move in? October 2021.
Which house type did you buy? 4 bedroom detached Waterford.
Is this your first home? Yes! It’s our first owned home. Prior to buying we were serial renters, we met in 2015 at university and we’ve lived in a lot of different rented houses since, from shared student houses, to a tiny flat, and most recently a 2 bedroom semi-detached house with a small garden and shared driveway in Nottingham. We were fed up of renting when we knew other people who had bought and were paying less a month than us so started to look into our options.
We had previously looked at several other developers in areas around Nottinghamshire but there was always something that stopped us, mainly price! Then on the way home from visiting family we called into a Gleeson development, saw how affordable it was, fell in love with the 4 bedroom detached Waterford, and the rest is history.
How does being a homeowner compare to renting? Being a homeowner is so much better! In our rented house we weren’t able to decorate or personalise our home, and we felt that we were living in a place that we couldn’t really make our own. Plus, due to how affordable our Gleeson home was, we are actually paying £69 less per month for our mortgage, vs what we paid for our rent and we’ve gone from a 2 bedroom semi-detached house to a 4 bedroom detached home with so much more space.
Why did you choose to buy with Gleeson? My Grandparents had bought a Gleeson home previously, we loved their home, and how the development itself looked. We like how with every Gleeson home you get a driveway and a garden, it gives the development such a spacious feel. Gleeson is also much more affordable than other developers, and is better value for money, when we looked at other sites nearby, we found that we’d only be able to buy a 3 bedroom semi-detached property, whereas with Gleeson we could afford a 4 bedroom detached home!
Why did you choose to buy new? After renting for seven and a half years we were fed up of living in houses that someone else had owned and lived in before us. We wanted a sparkling new house that was all finished and ready to move into. We are busy people so didn’t want to be ripping out bathrooms and replastering walls on our evenings and weekends.
Why did you choose the Waterford house style? We fell in love with the Waterford as soon as we stepped inside. We were amazed at how evenly proportioned the bedrooms were and how spacious they felt. Ben was attracted to the kitchen as it had plenty of cupboards for storage and lots of work surface space as he loves to cook. I thought the utility was a really good size and great that it can be accessed through a separate door after muddy dog walks with our dog named Teddy.
How was the process of buying your new home? Buying our home was a very smooth process. We visited the show home and immediately choose our house type. We were then able to register our interest and look around a Waterford which was close to completion. Unfortunately, someone had reserved the plot that we originally wanted, but later they dropped out! Our Sales Executive called us to let us know and we quickly jumped into action. We reserved our home, and applied for a mortgage and did the paperwork as quickly as we could. Five months later we were in our dream home.
What do you love the most about your home? I love how much space we have and how light each room feels. Every room has good sized windows, so there’s plenty of sunlight inside the house. The house is really well designed so that there is not lots of dead space in corridors or funny entrances to rooms which we noticed in other competitor developments.
Our house is a corner plot so does not feel like we are overlooked at all. We have a spacious garden on the front and the back of our house, and there is also lots of green space on the development we can see this from our living room and bedroom window.
Describe your interior style? We have gone for a modern interior style. Our furniture is all neutral which gives us a good base to add some colour into the house. We have gone for bold colours on the walls and soft furnishings so that they can be changed over time as our tastes change. Previously, due to being in rented houses, we have only been able to decorate by adding soft furnishings so were pretty limited to what we could do, but now we have made some bold colour choices and chosen some brilliantly patterned wallpaper as well as all of our own furniture. Personalising our home has been an amazing experience.
Are you enjoying the community on your development? We were one of the first people to move onto our development and it has been lovely to see people move on and the site fill up. Our street has a Whatsapp chat and we often go to the local pub together for a meal or get together around someone’s house. Recently we went to the village Christmas market together. The village itself is quite rural but has all of the amenities that you need.
Do you have any tips for people looking to buy with Gleeson? Go for it! Read the customer stories(like ours!), study the floor plans, watch the video tours of the house types and visit a show home if you can.
Ask the sales team as many questions as you can and utilise Instagram. The Gleeson community on Instagram is so helpful and it is a great way of seeing the different ways people have used the space inside their homes and asking any questions. You can search #Gleesonhomes and find lots of inspiration.
How has life changed since moving into your home? We are so happy in our home. We’re saving money on our rent and bills, as our Gleeson home is affordable to run. Our only regret is that we wish we had bought sooner. As first-time buyers the whole process seemed really daunting and we did not know where to start. However, Gleeson and our mortgage advisors made it such a smooth process.
Fancy sharing your Gleeson home buying story with us? Just email marketing@mjgleeson.com and you could feature on our blog. Inspired by Rachel and Ben’s homeownership story? We have over 80 developments located across the North and the Midlands and with prices starting from £102,995, what are you waiting for?!
Find your Gleeson home today, click here to get started.
Give Ben and Rachel a follow on Instagram @wonderful_waterford
