A TEENAGER has revealed how she bought her first home at just 19 – and she only earns £12,000 a year.
Isabella Hunter, 19, from Cumbria, raised more than £17,000 for a deposit for a £107,000 two-bed house.
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Taking up a second job working weekends at a takeaway helped her save the cash in just four years.
It comes as TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp caused a storm after she suggested those looking to get on the property ladder should give up Netflix and the gym to do so.
Speaking to The Sunday Times, Kirstie said she bought her first property at 21 in 1993 with the help of her parents – and said she feels “enraged” when she hears young people complain that they can’t afford to buy a house these days.
At the time, the average house price in the UK was around £51,000, which equates to £112,000 in today’s prices.
But that number is still less than half of the actual average of today’s house prices which is £270,708.
Isabella certainly sacrificed a lot while buying her house, ditching nights out with pals and taking a packed lunch to work to save money.
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She prioritised saving for a home over socialising for years, opening a Help to Buy savings account when she was just 15 and squirrelled away £200 a month into it.
She took out a mortgage on a 40-year term, and her mortgage repayments are just £210 a month.
Isabella is currently renovating her home, and cutting costs by doing the painting and decorating work herself.
Buying second-hand furniture from Facebook Marketplace has meant she’s saved even more cash/
She told Caters News Agency: “It has felt surreal at times, like I am playing house. It has taken a while to realise, this is my own place.
“I own this and I have loved decorating it to my own taste, putting my photos up and adding those finishing touches.
“It’s an asset and my mortgage is much cheaper than renting.”
It means she became a homeowner despite rocketing house prices as demand for homes soars.
Pricier homes were fuelled by a big shortage of homes on the market, coupled with Brits racing for space of their own due to the pandemic.
As prices hike, buyers need a bigger deposit than ever before to get their first foot on the ladder.
Isabella isn’t the only saver who has been determined to raise the big sums of cash needed to bag a home.
The Sun has spoken to hundreds of first-time buyers for the My First Home series who have scrimped and scraped the cash needed to put down a deposit for a house when prices are at record-breaking highs.
One couple bought their £255,000 first home through an auction and only paid a 5% deposit for it.
While another couple bought a three-bed £340,000 first home with just a £17,000 deposit.
Another couple saved nearly half the deposit needed for their first home by ditching trips away.
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