2020 was an absolutely crazy year for me and I have to admit that it was pretty scary how it all panned out. I never in a million years imagined that I would be in a position where I would be essentially trapped in my house for months, only leaving to get a few supplies and then retreating back to my home again. The whole country went through it and I can’t help but feel grateful that I’m in the position I am, as it could have been so much worse if I was younger, if I didn’t have my family around, and if I wasn’t in the home that I’m currently in.

I’ve ticked off so many life goals in the past few years. Since 2016 I have:

  • Had 2 babies
  • Quit my job to work for myself
  • Got married
  • Moved cities

The one thing that I haven’t been able to tick off is buying a home. It’s evaded me and my now-husband because of the rest of the things that I mentioned. Having babies meant that expenses (like childcare) came in. Moving cities and getting married meant that we had to do some major saving to afford it. Quitting my traditional job meant that it’s not as easy to get approved for a mortgage. However, I wouldn’t replace this lifestyle for anything – we’re so much better off now. 

Being at home so much more gave me this strange, overwhelming desire to make my home feel so much more homely. I wanted to spend so much more on the interior and just making it feel like my own. But it’s not; it’s rented, and it’s time that I replaced this place with one that I own.

I’ve been using this mortgage calculator to get a sense of what options I have available for my payments and how much of a deposit I would need to put down. It makes it clear what I should expect to repay each month and the different ways I could choose to pay it back. I know the exact type of property that I want, because the one I currently live in is actually perfect – I just need it to be mine. It’s modest, slightly bigger than I actually need, and ensures that everyone has their own space.

Space is an important factor in my next home and I know that it is for a lot of other people too, as a result of this pandemic. In 2020 I saw headlines about how so many people were moving away from the big cities like London in order to settle into places that have more bedrooms, amenities like garages, driveways, and offices, as their jobs don’t require them actually come into the office as frequently as they once would have had to.

I just hope that house prices don’t jump up in the suburban places I’m looking to live in, as a result of this trend, because I’ve got a fairly good idea of what deposit I’d like to put down, and I don’t want my ideal house to end up being out of our grasp with increased competition and market conditions.

For whatever reason, me and my husband have avoided all schemes that assist you in getting onto the property ladder, like Help to Buy etc but now we know that it’s literally a matter of months before we make this massive commitment and get our own property, we know that we have to pull out all of the stops in order to make the process of securing our own proper place for our family is as smooth as it possibly can be.