A woman has revealed how she bought her first home at the age of 24 - having saved since her paper round at the age of 14 to afford the £139,000 pad.
Sarah Yates was desperate to get a foot on the property ladder but soon realised how difficult it is to do it alone.
But the first-time buyer found it is possible with good money management and some sacrifices along the way.
The Manchester Evening News reports journalist Sarah, now aged 27, had been keen to save money ever since starting her first job on a paper round at just 14.
She continued her paper round right up until her first year of college, but says the embarrassment of being spotted by one of her classmates made her quit.
She said: "I’ve been an avid saver since I was young. When I was about 14 I had a paper round and I didn’t stop doing that until I was in the first year of college.
"People used to take the mick out of me. I remember one of the boys said that they’d seen me one morning and I told him it wasn’t me because I was so mortified and embarrassed.
"I then quit and I got a job at Clarks, then I got my first job as a journalist when I was 19. I've just always tried to save."
Sarah has always lived at home with her parents, which helped her to save more.
She always had ambitions to own her own home and at 24, began looking at what she could afford on the property market.
She said: “I was fortunate enough to live with my mum and dad up until I bought my first house. I started looking to get on the property ladder when I was about 24.
"The first house that I put an offer on was £120,000. It was a really gorgeous little terrace house in Hazel Grove and it even had a driveway but unfortunately I lost out on that.
"I put offers on about five different houses over the course of a year but my offers kept getting declined and that's when I realised that people were offering quite a lot more than the asking price."
Sarah wanted to buy her own home in the area, but realised she was being priced out with her £145,000 budget.
"The house prices around there are obviously high because it's a more desirable area. I couldn't afford to offer anything more than more than £145,000, so the more I was getting turned down on these houses it pushed me to look elsewhere," she added.
"I wanted to stay in Stockport and in the end I started looking at houses in Edgeley, it was an up and coming area and it's by the train station and the motorway."
Sarah came across a two-bed terrace house in the Stockport suburb of Greater Manchester, that was in a run-down state, but it was exactly what she was looking for.
She said: "I found this house that was on the market for £140,000. It was in an absolute state, it was run down and everything needed doing to it, but that appealed to me because I liked the idea of being able to put my own stamp on it.
"I wanted somewhere where I could completely do up the kitchen and bathroom, paint the walls and put new flooring in everywhere."
She offered the asking price of £140,000, but again, her offer was turned down by the owners.
Sarah said: "They turned me down because they wanted more, so in the end I just asked them what they would accept.
They said £141,000 which was a no brainer as it was an extra grand which was nothing in terms of the mortgage."
"Once the survey came back there were a few issues so I ended up buying it for £139,000. I was really lucky to get it for that.
"My offer was accepted in March 2020 which was right at the start of the pandemic.
"I think that’s one of the reasons why I got it for the price that I did because of the uncertainty at the time, people weren’t sure if they could buy because they weren't sure if their jobs were safe."
She relied on Martin Lewis ' Money Saving Expert site for help with her mortgage and said: "I didn't get a mortgage broker because I feel that I’m quite savvy with my money.
"I'm big on Martin Lewis so I used his mortgage calculator tool and I looked on there to find the best mortgage deal for me.
"I then went straight to the bank which cut out the broker and saved me a bit of money. I was lucky as well with the rates back then, I think my mortgage rate is 1.7 or 1.8."
She got the keys to her first home in August 2020 and began renovating right away.
Sarah said: "Over nine months I ripped everything out and the whole house was re-plastered, I got all new doors and I had a window put in the front bedroom to open it up.
"I didn’t have a never ending pot of money so I had to be sensible and budget for everything. I just had to gradually buy things as we went along.
"I bought whatever I needed from wherever was cheapest, whether that was Screwfix, B&Q or Toolstation, even if it was cheaper by pennies I didn't care because they all add up.
"A lot of work I did myself to cut costs such as stripping walls, tiling and painting. YouTube was my best friend during the renovation.
"The windows all needed resealing so I just thought rather than paying someone, I can learn how to do it myself."
"Anything I needed help with I paid my family and friends to do which helped to keep the costs down, and my cousin who rents one of the rooms off me also helped too.
"I definitely saved around a few grand by doing what I can by myself. I also found that utilising zero percent credit cards was a good way to pay for things in the house that I needed to pay for upfront."
She says her style is simplistic and minimalist.
Sarah added: "There’s still work to do, for example, I want to get the front of the house re-rendered eventually. Also the fireplace is waiting to be finished, that's another job that I am doing myself, I've got the tiles they're just waiting to be put down.
"I want to get a nice mantlepiece and then an electric log burner to give it the look of a log burner without the £2,000 price tag."
Sarah is extremely proud to be a solo home owner.
She said: “I just love that it's mine, I'm proud that I have managed to buy my own house and do it all up,"
"Everything that's in here has come down to my choice and my decisions. It’s exactly how I wanted it to be, it’s homely and it's got a very clean aesthetic. I just love it.
“I reckon I will be here for another three or four years and then the plan is at that hopefully then I'll have a good deposit for a second home. I don’t ever want to get rid of this, I’d like to rent it out.”
Giving advice for first-time buyers who may be struggling to save to buy their own home, Sarah said you 'have to make sacrifices'.
"Penny-pinch and be that tight friend that everyone kind of laughs at because it will pay off in the long run when you own your own house."
