When comparing house prices across the north west region, you'd be forgiven for thinking any first-time buyer couldn't afford to live in Cheshire. With an overall average price of £317,300 compared to £260,500 in Greater Manchester, property costs in the affluent county have climbed 14 percent in the last few years.
But one couple looking to get on the property ladder managed to find an affordable house in a quaint village nestled in the Cheshire countryside, which proved to be much cheaper than properties in their hometown of Altrincham, south Manchester.
Lottie Bown, 28, and her boyfriend Ant bought their first home in Mobberley, a pretty chocolate-box village that sits between Knutsford and Wilmslow. Despite houses in the area selling for average price of £496,100 over the last year, the pair managed to snap up a three-bed home for £275,000.
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Lottie spoke to the Manchester Evening News as part of our Where I Live series, where each week we chat to a different homeowner from across the north west about their buying and renovating journey; and take a look at how they've made their home their own.
Lottie and Ant both lived with their parents and then rented before deciding it was time to get on the property ladder.
“After finishing university, me and my boyfriend rented an apartment together in Altrincham. We rented there for a year and then decided that we wanted to get on the property ladder as soon as possible," Lottie told the Manchester Evening News.
"Prior to that we had both been really fortunate that we could live at home. We had a bit of a deposit ready to go and we just didn't want to keep spending dead money on rent."
Lottie said: "We started house-hunting towards the end of summer 2019 and we couldn't really afford anything around Altrincham, so we decided to look a little further afield. We viewed around four or five houses in different areas, a couple of them were in Knutsford but we were too far away from the asking price .
"I have family in Wilmslow and Knutsford so I knew those areas, and Mobberley was in the middle of the two. Most of the properties there were still out of our price range, but then one just happened to come up at the top end of our budget."
The first-time buyers came across a three-bed three-storey terraced house on the market for £280,000 which they 'fell in love with'.
“I had a good feeling about it just from looking at the Rightmove ad. I thought it was really well done up, it was clear that the previous owners had really looked after it," Lottie said.
"It was on a very quiet square with lots of communal, green spaces set back from the road so I got a really good feeling when we drove up to it.
"When we went into the property, the previous owners had just knocked through all the downstairs. It was previously a separate dining, kitchen and utility space but it was all open, and I think that just made us fall in love with it completely.
"Walking in and seeing the brand new kitchen and knowing that wasn't work we’d have to undertake ourselves was really appealing. We also loved that it was set across three storeys and it had a decent sized garden too.
"After we viewed it we both jumped back in the car and were so excited, we were talking about it the whole way home until we put an offer in."
The house was on the market for £280,000 and the couple decided to put in an offer of £270,000.
"Our offer was rejected but we ended up getting it for £275,000 as luckily the sellers wanted a quick sale so we managed to grab it at a lower price," Lottie explained.
“I've always been really in love with period properties, but there was nothing on the market within our price range that ticked our other boxes in terms of location and size.
"This one is a new build which I've never even really considered, but I actually love it. It's been so much easier to move in, there’s been no major renovations or structural issues. It’s actually been quite nice for our first property to just be able to move straight in and just start putting my stamp on it more in terms of styling."
The pair got the keys to their first home just before Christmas in 2019 and began making it their own.
"We still had our flat and the lease wasn't up until the end of January, so we had a month where we could casually move things over which was so helpful," Lottie said.
"Before we even moved in, we painted what we now use as the study. It was the only room in the house besides the bathroom that had not been touched since the house was built.
"It was painted Barbie pink and it was very just headache inducing, so we immediately painted that white.
"The bathroom was also quite dated. It's a small space and it had a big bath in it and very orange wood. It just wasn't my style so that we immediately started planning ripping the bathroom out and taking it right back to plaster."
Lottie and her partner did the majority of work on the house themselves aside from a few jobs done by workmen.
"The biggest spend was on the bathroom because we had that done professionally, but aside from getting a media unit installed we've really tried to do as much of the renovating as we can ourselves," she said.
"The first time we picked up a paint roller was when we painted that study when we first got the keys. We've just been watching YouTube videos, watching what other people are doing on Instagram and teaching ourselves.
“We ripped up all the flooring and repainted and panelled the living room. We now are partway through re-doing the study, we've added cornicing, panelling and wallpaper and we will be putting new flooring in.
"We’re also in the midst of doing up the hallway at the moment, including panelling and painting it."
Speaking of her interior style, the homeowner said: “I think it's changed quite a lot since I moved in. I used to be drawn more to modern interiors but now I’m starting to really love mixing old and new.
"I love going antiquing, and finding older, preloved pieces to bring a bit more character to the house.
"I think that's been driven a little bit by having a new build, I really wanted to make it feel more cosy and bring a bit more character to it.
"I still love neutrals but I'm now trying to bring more colour and pattern into it. I think my house is now a bit of old meets new and I'm really starting to find my style now.
"I take a lot of inspiration from Instagram home accounts that I follow. I love Pinterest as well, Pinterest is great."
Giving a walkthrough of her home, Lottie explained: "You come through the front door into a hallway and on the right you've got stairs up to the first floor.
"The whole of the ground floor is open plan so to your left you’ve got the dining space which goes into the kitchen and then to the right we have an open pantry. The back door leads into the garden.
"Under the stairs there's a downstairs toilet and then up the stairs to the first floor you've got the living room and our third bedroom which we use as a study.
"Going up to the second floor, you've got the main bathroom, the master bedroom and the second bedroom which we use as a dressing room and then that has an ensuite attached to it."
Lottie says she doesn't have any immediate plans to move and is very happy with her first home.
“I'm really happy with how everything has come together. I think there's always something on my list I want to do next, doing your house up is sort of a never-ending task, but it definitely feels like home," she said.
“At the moment my favourite room is the kitchen dining space just because we love cooking and having family friends over, and it's just such a nice entertainment space. Now that the weather's sunny we just have the back door open and it just becomes one big open space with the garden which is lovely.
“Our house is in the perfect location, we both work 10 minutes away and it's semi-rural so we have the fields for the dog. It ticks all of our boxes at the moment so I think we'll probably be here for at least another two to three years."
Giving advice to any first-time buyers who are trying to save, Lottie advised using a government scheme.
"We both opened Lifetime ISAs when we started saving, which meant that we got 25 percent on top of everything we saved as a bonus to put towards our deposit," she said.
"That definitely sped up our saving process and was a huge help to us. I'd advise any first time buyers to look into setting up one. Just be strict and commit to saving a set amount each month, even if it's a small amount it all adds up.
"Don't be afraid to go for a project house. We've only done little bits here and there, but I'm learning that DIY can be doable even if you have none of the skills - it's learnable and it can actually be really fun as well.
"You don't need to move into a finished polished property, you can often make somewhere your own by yourself.
You can view more of Lottie's home on her Instagram account @lottiebownhome.
Want to feature your home in Where I Live? If so, please email your details to phoebe.jobling@reachplc.com.
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