KITTING your new pad out can be costly, but first-time buyers Abby Arkwright and Daniel Evans got their carpets and flooring for FREE.
It meant they saved £4,000 on decking out their £181,995 first home – and they also got a bonus £500 to put towards fees and costs.
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Abby, 28, and Daniel, 27, both work in construction and were given the freebies from developer Gleeson, who built their three-bed home in Rotherham.
To get a deal over the line, developers, builders and housing associations will offer financial incentives if you’re buying a new build property.
What freebies you can get varies on a case by case basis – it all depends on who you are buying from and how much they are willing to give to you.
But in some cases, you can get free cash to put towards buying your house worth up to five per-cent of the purchase price of the house, according to the Mortgage Advice Bureau.
Abby and Dan saved for years to afford their new home, and made some sacrifices along the way as well.
They stopped going on holidays abroad and mini weekend trips away for two years – which saved them £6,600 in total.
They used to love meals out and takeaways too – but after realising this was costing them £300 a month, they decided to stop dining out for over a year.
The hard work was worth it, and they moved into their new home in June last year.
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The Sun sat down with Abby to see how she and Dan kept their savings on track for our My First Home series.
Tell me about your home
It’s a three-bed detached house in Rotherham.
It also has one bathroom and a downstairs toilet.
Our kitchen and dining area is open plan.
We have a separate lounge area.
There’s a double driveway – which is great because we need to fit a car and a van in it.
We have a garden too at the back of our home.
How did you decide on location?
We want to start a family in the next few years, so we were looking at family-sized homes on a budget.
Rotherham is cheaper than some other areas we were looking at which were nearby.
Our home is super close to work – just six minutes away in the car.
It’s also close to our friends and family, so the location was a no-brainer.
How much was it?
Our house cost £181,995.
We used the Help to Buy scheme. to help us get on the ladder quicker.
The government support gives budding buyers an equity loan and allows them to put down a deposit of just 5%.
You can get up to 20% of the value of your property – or 40% if you live in London – under the scheme.
We took out a £32,000 equity loan.
We only had to put down a 5% deposit for it, which cost just over £9,000.
We took out a £140,995 mortgage over a 35-year term and our monthly mortgage repayments are £476.
How did you save for it?
We started to save really hard from 2019.
Then Covid hit in 2020, and Daniel had to move in with me and my family.
We lived with my family rent-free – which was a god send, as we put all of this money into our savings.
Over this time, we didn’t go on holiday, even when restrictions eased.
Before, we would spend around £2,500 going abroad, so we saved around £5,000 in total over two years.
We also ditched mini-breaks away in the UK – something we used to love doing.
We would spend £800 a year on this, so that saved us £1,600 in total.
Me and Dan used to love meals out and nights in with a takeaway.
We discovered we were spending £300 a month on this though – so while we were saving, we didn’t spend anything on ordering food.
Instead, we cooked all our meals and made our own fakeaways instead.
How did you afford to furnish it?
We bought everything in stages so we spread out the cost.
We were very lucky as our families bought our white goods like washing machines and fridges.
We also got our carpets and flooring installed free from Gleeson.
It would have cost us £4,000 if we had done it ourselves – so it was a big saving.
We also got £500 to put towards the cost of fees and solicitors charges.
What advice would you give to other first time buyers?
Just be patient, as your dream house will come along.
It can be hard sticking to a strict budget, but just focus on the end goal, as its all worth it in the end.
We’re so grateful we have our own home – we know how difficult it is to get on the ladder.
Here’s how one couple got £11,000 off their deposit for their £217,000 first home.
Another family is saving THOUSANDS on their £385,500 first home with a simple mortgage trick.
