When it comes to buying a home it can seem overwhelming at first, and the process may seem daunting, but let us introduce you to Megan.
Meet Megan
Megan is a first time buyer in Devon and she is bursting with excitement to own her new home and share her shared ownership journey with us. We first ‘met’ Megan through Instagram where she is documenting her journey to owning her new home. Posting images of interior décor inspiration and progress pictures of her new home on her account @_megsmove_, she’s quickly growing a following of others in the same situation that all share in her excitement.
Last week we managed to get an hour with Megan in between her busy day, to catch up on how her move is going. We’ll be chatting regularly during her move so we can all follow her journey through the different stages and get a behind-the-scenes view of buying your shared ownership home.
“I grew up in the beautiful village of Ottery St Mary in Devon. With all my friends and family close-by it was really important for me to find a home that wasn’t too far away.” However, owning a home wasn’t always at the top of Megan’s priority list. Like lots of twenty-somethings, she had an itch to travel. A few of her friends had started to settle down and Megan knew she had to make her decision sooner rather than later. As her Grandpa had travelled he agreed it was an opportunity she couldn’t miss. So with his blessing, she packed a bag and in 2018 set off travelling around Australia and Asia, making once-in-a-lifetime memories. Eight months later, Megan returned to her hometown of Ottery St Mary for a friend’s wedding.
“I returned to England in September last year with every intention to go travelling again, but after seeing my family back home and seeing my friends that had settled down, some with new homes, some having children, I felt like I wanted to start laying down some roots of my own. I had very little savings left and needed to find a way to get a deposit together’.
Megan decided to complete several beauty courses, and in October 2018 set up her own beauty business working three evenings a week offering various treatments to her clients in a local Holistic Centre. Juggling this around her full-time job working as a Customer Care Advisor for a large housing developer, Megan managed to save a deposit to put towards her dream home.
“Working for a housing developer put me in a good position when I started my house hunting. I had a basic understanding of the different options to buying a new home, so I looked at Shared Ownership, Help to Buy Equity Loan & purchasing on the open market.’’ After reviewing the options, Megan found that shared ownership would allow her to buy her dream home on the salary she was on and with the deposit she had saved.
“A friend originally alerted me to a new development in Ottery St Mary, it was set in the perfect location, just a stone’s throw away from where I grew up and just a mile from my family and friends – and with shared ownership available, it was perfect for me.’’ After finding more information on the Sovereign Living website, Megan spoke with her family who shared her delight and excitement about this new development and her hopes to buy here. “So with my family on-board, and my deposit saved, I made the decision to go for it and got in touch with Sovereign to reserve my new home!”
You can follow Megan’s journey at @_megsmove_ and @sovereignlivinguk on Instagram. Watch out for our next post where we’ll be sharing the process that Megan went through to securing her new home.