A Dream Come True: We’re Officially Homeowners!
After years of renting, hard work, saving up, frustration, excitement, disappointment, access issues, and a seemingly never-ending search for “the one”… we are officially homeowners!
These are four words I never thought I’d say, and feel incredibly privileged to be writing them now. You see, it’s a difficult time for anyone in the UK to be hopping on to the property ladder, but adding a disability into the mix makes it seem like an almost impossible task. A dream I never thought would come true.
Let me share a little snippet of our journey with you…
Our Renting Journey
Since moving in together at 18 years old, we’ve experienced all the woes of renting. From not being able to make permanent modifications, to price hikes and our landlords deciding to put our home up for sale not once, not twice, but FIVE TIMES! We understand it’s their business, but that doesn’t make it any easier on us.
It’s fair to say that after our last rental house move we were feeling rather unsettled and wanted things to change. This is when we began looking into ways we could achieve the “unachievable” dream of owning our own home.
The First Step
First, we needed to find out if we could even get a mortgage. I won’t bore you with all the details, but as someone whose self-employed income is supplemented by disability benefits, I wasn’t sure if any lenders would accept me. Thankfully, our mortgage broker (huge shoutout to Brad!) found a number of lenders who would, and gave us a “Decision In Principle” which set out our affordability. It was there in black and white that we could, in fact, mayyybeeee start turning this dream into a reality.
And So The Search Began…
Every person buying their first home has a list of must-haves, but our criteria included “Can I get in through the front door?” and other things that most people don’t even consider. Though we knew that we’d have to make some adaptations, the closer to “accessible” we could find, the less time and money we’d have to spend on modifications. It was clear from the off that we were in for a long search.
Wanting to remain close to family on the south coast, our budget would either allow for a moderately up-together flat or a rundown bungalow in need of a renovation, but either way, it would be our own.
Viewing Properties
The first flat we viewed was lovely… if it wasn’t for the steep, muddy grass bank that I had to traipse my wheelchair down to avoid the large steps at the entrance. Inside, it was a good size and layout, but not knowing whether we’d be able to permanently modify the entrance of a shared building, ultimately, meant it wasn’t for us. Besides, we’d been living in a town-centre flat with no outside space for 7 years, and we knew, now more than ever, that we’d always crave a home with a garden, and, if possible, space for the caravan! We knew that wherever we ended up purchasing, we’d like to settle for a long time — A flat just didn’t feel like a “forever-home” to us during this season of our lives.
This takes us to the first bungalow we viewed, which was the very definition of a doer-upper! It had a magnificent amount of land around it and was in a peaceful countryside location, but the property itself was very small and barely had a roof (no exaggeration!). We could definitely see bags of potential, but we couldn’t see the finances that would get it to where we wanted it. IE liveable.
As hard as it was, we had to let go of the vision we’d created of us living there, and move on with our search.
Finding “The One”
Focussing on bungalows, we viewed many more, all with varying good and bad qualities (as you can see, I was thrilled about having to use a manual wheelchair to access one!).
About a year after beginning our hunt, and one, heartbreaking, rejected offer later, we almost gave up hope. That was until we viewed the place we now call home…
Although at the very top end of our budget, it ticked a lot of boxes for us:
Bungalow ✅
Nice location ✅
Garden ✅
Driveway ✅
Workable layout ✅
Good condition ✅
When our offer was accepted, “euphoric” doesn’t even come close to describing how we felt. We couldn’t believe our dream might actually be coming to fruition!
Of course, we tried to not get too attached until we exchanged contracts, but it’s impossible to not begin imagining your lives there… Painting the walls our favourite colours, hosting dinner parties with loved ones, sitting out under the stars on a summer night…
Thankfully, the purchase went remarkably smoothly, and with no chain on either end, we picked up the keys just 10 weeks later. At first, it felt as though we were guests in someone else’s house (they just happened to have great taste in furniture). This entire property couldn’t be ours, could it? Now, 2 months later, it’s beginning to really feel like home. Although only modest in size, our garden has already become an oasis for us. I can spend hours watching the butterflies flitting from flower to flower and the birds feasting on the feeder we hung up. And Stephen is beyond thrilled to be able to regularly enjoy his favourite pastime – washing the car – now that we have a driveway.
While it’s not perfectly accessible yet (we were never going to find something that already suited my needs), I can get my wheelchair into every room, which is a big improvement on the last flat we rented! And while the decor is a little… dated… it’s perfectly liveable, and something we can renovate gradually over time — Which we are very much looking forward to doing!
It’s been quite the journey to get here, and we’ve experienced a rollercoaster of emotions — and learnt a lot of new property lingo along the way! — but we’re ecstatic to have made it!
