Young Yarm couple gets dream home using Help to Buy scheme
16 February 2017: After several years of renting in London and in the North, Glenn and Lucy Fisher, both 29, were looking to buy their first family home together in Yarm. However, following the birth of their first child and having their dream wedding, finances were a major consideration for the young couple.
Having first met at the local Conyers School, Glenn and Lucy felt a sentimental attachment to the area and decided it was the ideal place to buy their first home. They discovered their perfect house at Barratt Homes’ Leven Woods development and were pleasantly surprised to learn from the Barratt sales team how affordable it was when making use of the Government’s Help to Buy scheme.
The Help to Buy scheme allows homebuyers to buy a brand new home up to the value of £600,000 with a five per cent deposit, thanks to a 20 per cent loan from the government. Homebuyers can then gain access to more affordable lending rates available with a 75 per cent loan to value mortgage. The equity loan is interest free for five years and can be paid back when the property is sold, allowing homebuyers to benefit from any potential uplift in house prices.
Lucy commented: “With this being our first family home, we had two criteria: affordable and big enough for a family to grow into. This house ticked both boxes! We thought it may have been over our budget initially but taking the Help to Buy scheme into account, we were surprised at how affordable it was for us to get onto the property ladder.
“As first-time buyers, we were clueless about the process of buying a house. The team at Barratt were really supportive from the start, providing us with information and guidance with every step of the process, from determining what we could afford at the start of our journey, right through to completion. They really alleviated all of the stress for us and we are thrilled to be living back in Yarm. In fact, we’re so happy with our new home that we recommended Leven Woods to Glenn’s sister-in-law, who has now moved in five doors down from us!”
Steven Ball, Sales Manager at Leven Woods, commented: “It was a pleasure to help the Fishers buy their first home in their dream location. The Help to Buy scheme is perfect for couples like Glenn and Lucy that want to take their first step on the property ladder, but may not be able to afford all of the costs that this involves, in particular a large deposit. Leven Woods is proving to be a hugely popular development and we are sure there will be many more happy homebuyers here.”
Leven Woods offers a mixture of two, three and four bedroom homes in the historic market town of Yarm. This growing community is set in a beautiful semi-rural location, with highly regarded schools nearby making it ideal for young families. To find out more about Leven Woods and Help to Buy, visit
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For further information about Barratt Homes North East, please contact Helen Bailey, Alice Franks or Iain Ross on 0113 2429 174 or email:
Notes to Editors
Barratt Developments PLC is a FTSE 100 Company
Barratt Developments PLC completed 17,319 new homes in the year to June 2016, making it the biggest housebuilder by volume in Britain.
In terms of customer satisfaction, the company has been awarded the maximum five star rating for the seventh consecutive year in the 2016 Home Builders Federation Customer Satisfaction Survey.
Site managers working for Barratt Developments PLC have won more awards for quality workmanship in the NHBC Pride in the Job Awards than any other housebuilder for the last 12 years. For more information, visit barrattdevelopments.co.uk.