December 2017
The Bowens will spend their first Christmas as a family of four in a brand new Story Home, thanks to the government’s Help to Buy scheme.
Lee and Lauren Bowen, along with their children Esme, aged four, and Samuel, aged three months, recently moved onto our Kingsbrook Wood development, which is located at Stainsby Hall Farm in Middlesbrough. Using the Help to Buy scheme, whereby the government lends buyers up to 20% of the cost of a new home, the Bowens were able to secure a new four-bedroom family home in time for Christmas.
The family was previously living in a rented property in nearby Linthorpe, and wanted to purchase their own home in the same area to stay close to family.
Lee and Lauren were originally searching for an older property before noticing signs for Kingsbrook Wood and deciding to look around our show homes. Lee, an engineer, said: “We definitely didn’t think we would end up buying a new-build when we first started house hunting. We began to look around some new developments in the area and realised that a major benefit of buying new is the lack of work that needs to be done on the house, which is helpful when you have a new baby and young family.”
The couple chose to purchase a detached ‘Carlisle’ house type on the development, where all 126 homes have now been sold.
Lee commented: “Our house has so much space and it’s great that we have a spare bedroom – we have turned this into a clothing storage and dressing area by upgrading to fitted wardrobes in the room. From looking around various developments, we could see that Story Homes were built to a higher quality, had larger rooms and included a lot of extras as standard. We were impressed that there was no additional charge for things such as coving, solid oak doors, a burglar alarm and turfed gardens.”
Lee cites the kitchen as his favourite room in the house, whereas Lauren’s favourite is the living room. Lee explained: “The living room is exactly the kind of cosy family space that we wanted, but as a keen cook I would have to say that the kitchen – with its French doors to the garden – is fantastic. It’s ideal for entertaining. I’m looking forward to hosting many dinner parties here, and plan to have the family round on Boxing Day. We really like the garden as well and are looking forward to making good use of it with Esme and Samuel next spring.”
Lauren, who works as an administration manager and is currently on maternity leave, said: “We moved into our new home only a couple of weeks after Samuel was born, and this was also around the time when Esme was starting her first year of school. It has been a busy but also a very exciting time.
“Our experience with Story Homes has been excellent during the whole process, and we have really appreciated the support we have had from the sales and site team. The Sales Executives – Megan who handled our reservation and Michelle who oversaw the purchase – were extremely helpful in helping us to choose and secure our home, and since moving in we have found the Site Manager, Bill, very approachable, responsive and efficient.”
Gillian Bell, Sales Manager at Story Homes, said: “I am delighted to hear that the Bowens are enjoying their new home and will be able to celebrate a new baby and new home this Christmas. Kingsbrook Wood is nearly full now with all plots sold and most families having moved in, so it has been great to see the community come to life and develop a real neighbourhood feel.”
We have started work on a new development, Brookfield Woods, which will feature 139 three, four and five-bedroom homes and connects to our existing Kingsbrook Wood development. We are planning to release the first plots for sale in early 2018.
