Julie and Neville’s homeownership story!
Meet Julie and Neville, a retired couple who are mortgage free and settled for life thanks to Gleeson!
Before buying their 3 bedroom semi-detached Wicklow, Julie and Neville lived in a smaller terraced house which no longer suited their needs, and didn’t feel homely. Now they have a stunning home, with a spacious garden and picturesque views on their doorstep, allowing them to enjoy a quiet life in style.
We spoke to Julie to hear more about their home buying journey.
When did you reserve your home? September 2021.
When did you move in? November 2021.
Which house type did you buy? 3 bedroom semi-detached Wicklow.
Tell us about your home situation before buying with Gleeson? Before buying with Gleeson we were living in a small 3 bedroom terraced home, which we had lived in since 2006. Before that, during our 35 year marriage we’ve lived in a variety of homes around the Barnsley area. We were prompted to move because we’d fallen out of love with our terraced home. It backed onto a busy main road, which was a noisy bus route, and some apartments which were a bit of an eye-sore, so it was no longer convenient for us as we wanted to enjoy a quieter life now we are both retired.
Our house was quite small which made having our granddaughter over to stay difficult, and family gatherings were a squeeze. We wanted to put all of the equity we’d built into a stunning new home, and be mortgage free. Our terraced home was always a stop gap, but we stayed much longer than we intended to! So it was 100% the right time for us to move and enjoy our retirement.
Why did you choose to buy with Gleeson? Before finding Gleeson, we visited several local new build developments, and we were not impressed with the steep prices! We also viewed a handful of second hand homes, and were astonished with how much work they would need to do to make them habitable and futureproof.
As soon as we visited the Gleeson development, we felt at home! We love the rolling fields around it, and the picturesque views. The sales team made us feel really welcome, and explained the process to us thoroughly. We viewed numerous show homes, but realised the Wicklow was the right house style for us, after seeing its open-plan staircase, ample storage, and roomy bedrooms. We were excited by the west facing garden our plot provided; the fact that with Gleeson we’d get a spacious front and rear garden was ideal, as we knew we would use our garden a lot when family visit, and our dogs Trudy and Benson need plenty of outdoor space. The 3 bedroom semi-detached Wicklow we chose was also very affordable, so much so that it was £5,000 less than the second-hand home we’d viewed nearby which needed extensive refurbishment. Buying with Gleeson has given us the opportunity to free up money in order to experience our retirement to the fullest.
Why did you choose to buy new? We looked at some second hand homes, but soon realised that we didn’t want to buy a money pit which needed loads of work doing. We wanted a home that was ready to move into and just needed decorating to our taste. We’ve loved moving into a fresh white-painted blank canvas, and have enjoyed furnishing it, creating rooms tailored to our needs. It’s much easier to have family over to visit now we live in a larger home and we’re appreciating being able to entertain. Our garden is ideal, we’ve had it landscaped with a patio, and turf, and have been able to include an area for the grandchildren to play, a shed, a bird table, and even an agility station for our dogs.
However, we’re both in agreement that the best thing about buying new is having new windows, a new boiler and all new appliances, it’s really helped keep costs down on our energy bills. We hardly ever need to have our heating on, and are always warm and cosy.
How was the process of buying your new home? The process of buying our home was mostly smooth, a little stressful at times but worth it in the end. We kept coming down and having a peek at our home whilst it was being built, and we loved choosing our options. We upgraded our kitchen, added a burglar alarm, an outside tap and extra plug points.
What do you love most about your home? We love the layout of our home, it’s like our previous home but bigger. It’s great having the open plan staircase in our living room, and our big storage cupboard is so useful. The size of our kitchen-diner is great, it means we can both cook together without stepping on each other’s toes, and we have also been able to fit in an American style fridge-freezer. We love the exterior of our home too, it’s very traditional and of course having our own driveway is fantastic after living in a terraced home. Plus, the scenery around our development is beautiful and we often see pheasants in our garden as well as rabbits!
How has life changed since moving into your home? It’s great being mortgage free in our dream home, we will never need to move again now we have found this great development. We’ve made friends with our neighbours, enjoy having family over and often visit the park on our development with our granddaughter. We’re really happy here thanks to Gleeson.
Fancy sharing your Gleeson home buying story with us? Just email [email protected] and you could feature on our blog. Inspired by Julie and Neville’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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