I bought a 1-bedroom leasehold apartment in a lovely part of Birmingham close to work and only a 10 minute drive into the city. I was a first time buyer forced into buying due to problems with a rented flat that had flooded within my first month of being there. The landlords were so slow in sorting the problem, I’d been left homeless and renting had been much more expensive than buying would be. So I decided the only way to having a bit more security was to buy. I had never imagined I would be buying on my own, so I was a little scared at taking on the sole responsibility of a mortgage. With hindsight, it’s the best thing I ever did and it’s worked out fine. I wish I hadn’t been so hesitant and had done it years earlier!

My partner and I felt like we were looking for the impossible. After all, we wanted a 3 bedroom house, possibly semi detached, possibly 1930s, definitely with a driveway, a garage and having a garden was a must. We had a limited budget for all we wished for. Hence, it took us a while to find our forever home! We persevered… and eventually found exactly what we wanted. Although needless to say, we had to make a few compromises: firstly on the location, secondly on the state of the property. Eventually we settled on a 4 bedroom 1930s semi-detached house that needed a lot of decorating and renovating a few miles away from our preferred location.

I bought a semi-detached house just outside of the city I work in, as it was slightly better value than the nearby suburbs. It was my first house, and I had previously lived in a fully-furnished, rented flat. I decided to buy as another increase in rent was on the cards, and I opted for a house because flats tend to be leasehold with exaggerated service charges. I know a lot of people who have bought houses, so got a lot of varied and sometimes contradictory advice. I think that every house and experience is unique. The buying process for me was relatively painless, unfortunately I just haven’t been able to settle in. If the rental system in England wasn’t so biased towards landlords I would have waited longer before buying somewhere.

Me and my husband bought a three-storey terraced town house in a semi-rural area that we chose for affordability and a reasonable length of commute to both of our jobs. We did not know anything about how to buy a house and hence had to learn a lot of things the hard way, especially with respect to unexpected repairs once we had moved into the house. Overall, we have loved making the house our home and it is now exactly how we want it to be. We enjoy living there, although issues with the area and neighbours have somewhat dampened the experience.