How being made redundant helped me boost my deposit for £342k one-bed first home

Did you encounter any problems with the purchase?

When I started the process, I actually started looking in Twickenham because that was a little bit further out.

Then I found a place in Twickenham that I put down an offer for in May 2018, and it was accepted.

But once I had the survey done, they basically told me to walk away from it.

The estate agent had it on the market for a two-bed. And when the surveyor came round, he said that isn’t a second bedroom.

Therefore it didn’t have the right planning permission and all this sort of stuff. So I was heartbroken.

I had to walk away from it after going through the whole process and start from scratch again. I cut off contact with the estate agent.

Was there anything else you found hard about the process?

I didn’t have a clue about leaseholds and how it all worked, it was quite daunting.

Getting my head around that was hard, and I was doing it by myself. My family doesn’t live in London, so all the places I was seeing I was seeing by myself.

My bank Halifax was really helpful during the process though, and I did use a broker for the mortgage too.

I was also lucky that my landlord was a solicitor, and he gave great advice on how it all worked.

How did you afford to furnish it?

I didn’t have any money after buying the place, but I had to get everything from scratch.

The first thing that I bought was a corner sofa. It was bought on finance.

Because it’s a one-bed flat, I knew that if people stay over I can’t really ask them to sleep on the floor.

So I paid a little bit of a deposit, and I’m still paying it off now. I think it will be paid off in October.

My mum gifted me my bed frame which was really nice of her, and I then bought the mattress.

The sofa and the bed were the two big things for me, but it’s been 18 months of buying stuff.

I was lucky because all of the white goods were left in the property as part of the negotiation, so that was good.

I’ve only just recently bought a freezer. I lived without a freezer for 18 months, which people think it’s ludicrous.

Lockdown forced me to get a freezer, I think it’s actually saved me a lot of money.

What advice would you give to other first-time buyers?

Don’t think that you can’t do it, it can be done. Even in this time of uncertainty and jobs.

As long as you set your heart on it and you set your mind to it, it can be done.

You have to give up a little bit of the luxuries at times, but I guess now is the perfect time to save when people aren’t travelling as much.

Set yourself a target every month and do your best to stick to it. Everyone treats themselves now and again, but don’t be hardened by it.

A hard-working doctor joined a peer to peer savings scheme to help her buy her £335k two-bed first home - but it didn't come without risks.

Meanwhile, another first-time buyer tells us how moving out of London and quitting the gym helped her buy £450,000 first-home.

Plus, a third first-time buyer stopped spending £100 a month on clothes and shoes to help him save up for his £315,000 one-bedroom flat.