Ben and Rebecca’s homeownership story
Meet Ben (32), Rebecca (36), their two children Oscar and Rupert and their dog Pasha who live on one of our East Yorkshire developments in a stunning 3 bedroom detached Renmore.
The couple, who have been married for 11 years, decided to purchase their first home after living in military housing for the duration of their marriage, due to Ben being a chef in the Armed Forces.
On deciding that they wanted a home of their own, which they could personalise and put their own stamp on, the couple decided to take their first step onto the property ladder with Gleeson after viewing a Renmore show home and falling in love with both the interior and exterior style and the blank canvas that comes with buying new.
The couple are delighted with their decision to have made the move into homeownership.
We spoke with them to learn more.
The interview:
When did you reserve your home? October 2021
When did you move in? December 2021
Which house type did you buy? A 3 bedroom detached Renmore
Tell us about your previous living situation?
Prior to buying with Gleeson we previously lived in a number of different military family houses. In fact, we have moved home every three to four years since 2011; so you could say we’ve moved around a lot!
All our previous homes have been three bedroom, semi-detached or terraced houses which have been okay, but we haven’t been able to put our own personal touch on them, we have always dreamt of choosing our own kitchen design or being able to paint our walls. It’s nice to have a different colour to look at other than magnolia! After renting and living in previously owned homes for a really long time, it’s a breath of fresh air to have a brand new home that we can call our own.
What house type did you buy and why did you choose it?
We chose the 3 bedroom detached Renmore . We loved the characteristics of the external design, then after we visited a show home we instantly fell in love with the internal design as well, especially the upstairs layout. Having seen it in the flesh, we knew this was the home we wanted to buy. Our plot also had a large garden space which is great for us, as we never had a decent garden or outside space while living in army housing. Our spacious outdoor area is ideal for the kids, and we have both become a little green fingered!
Why a Gleeson home?
We learnt about Gleeson through Forces Property Direct who helped us out when we knew we were ready to buy a home. Forces Property Direct are great, they expertly deal with the needs of military personnel, and helped us with our mortgage and all the paperwork, which was all completely new to us! The whole process was simple and stress free.
The Gleeson development we have bought on immediately stood out to us, the show homes were beautiful and our when we found out the Renmore house style was within our price range all our boxes were ticked! Our home is really affordable, we only pay £600 per month for our mortgage, which isn’t much more than we were paying for our smaller military house, which had a tiny garden! Our home is very energy efficient too, we rarely need to have the heating on, which means our bills are really low.
Are you enjoying life on your development? What is the community like?
It is very different for us living on a development where site workers are still building homes, but the kids love the big plant vehicles and the builders are all very friendly, professional and safe.
We only have one side of neighbours at the moment, and they are lovely. Our main neighbours are the rabbits and the deer that we keep seeing in the field directly next to our home, which is lovely first thing in the morning and in the evening. Our home feels very rural despite it being in a central location surrounded by great amenities. We wanted our children to be settled in a school without the hassle of moving around, and now we have that and more thanks to Gleeson.
What do you love the most about the interior of your home?
We love that every room is a blank canvas, which means we have lots of great spaces to work with when we get round to decorating! We never feel cramped and our sons both have their own bedrooms which is brilliant.
We love our kitchen, we’ve always dreamed of having an open plan space that allows us to socialise as a family, whilst cooking and entertaining. We really enjoyed the process of being able to personalise our home to our own taste when we were choosing our options and extras. We’d describe our style as country chic, and there were plenty of options in the Gleeson range that fit this décor.
How has life changed for you since moving into your Gleeson home?
Our lives have completely changed for the better. We’re now closer to our wider family, good schools and jobs, so it has been a win-win all round. We’re not wasting our money on rent, and can really plan for the future in our beautiful home. Gleeson are experts at helping first-time buyers get onto the property ladder, so no question is a silly one and we’ve felt so comfortable throughout the whole experience. If you’re in the military and are thinking of buying with Gleeson we would 100% encourage you to do so, it’s the best decision we ever made.
Fancy sharing your Gleeson home buying story with us? Just email [email protected] and you could feature on our blog.
Inspired by Ben and Rebecca’s 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?!
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