Amandeep Kaur

The Willows - Shared Ownership

Early in 2022, Amandeep Kaur moved into her three-bedroom semi-detached house on ‘The Willows’ development, in the Northern Moor area of Manchester.

Amandeep desperately wanted to get herself on to the property ladder, and having found renting expensive and, in her words, “something with no gain or purpose”, she began to research her options as a first-time buyer.

She wanted to live in an area, close to her family and work, with good transport and motorway links.

Having driven past the Garden City Homes development, Scholars Field, in Wythenshawe, every day for several months, Amandeep decided to take action. She had seen the advertisements for Shared Ownership properties available on the site, and therefore, she visited the showroom to enquire about available properties. Unfortunately, on this occasion, she was too late, as all the properties had been sold or reserved.

Not deterred by this, Amandeep continued to search for further developments and properties on the Garden City Homes website and it wasn’t long before a member of the team was in touch with good news. ‘The Willows’ development was in its preliminary stages of build, and it was just what she was looking for.

She was over the moon with the news of an available property and began the purchasing process, when a further obstacle hit. The Covid-19 pandemic!

Despite the inevitable and unavoidable setbacks to the completion date of the development, Amandeep remained positive.

She stated: “I have nothing but praise for the team at Garden City Homes for their continuous communication throughout an unsettling period for me.

“The team responded to my queries and concerns quickly and gave me the reassurance I needed”.

Amandeep’s journey has not been a smooth one, due to circumstances beyond her control, however she
would have no hesitation at all to recommend Shared Ownership to others. She has spoken to her friends about the scheme and the quality of her home. They too are now considering Shared Ownership as an option to buy their homes.

She said: “Property is so expensive to buy, and the cost of living continues to rise. Shared Ownership gives people the opportunity to purchase their own home in an affordable way”.

As a first-time buyer, Amandeep found the process and paperwork daunting. She commented: “I really don’t think I could have managed my way through the legal requirements without the support of the team at Garden City Homes. It was great to know that someone was there to help me navigate my way through the process.

“The Metro Financial portal helped me to keep track of paperwork and actions I needed to take at each stage. I found this a useful part of the information process as I could access the information at any time and didn’t have to rely on waiting for calls to be returned”.

She continued: “After waiting so long during the Covid-19 pandemic, I wasn’t really sure that I would ever own my first home”.

Finally, moving into her new home, Amandeep is overjoyed, saying: “The feeling of having my own house is so overwhelming and a sense of achievement.

I feel most exciting coming home knowing it’s mine and that I worked hard for it.

It makes me smile because I didn’t think I’d ever be able to afford my very own house”.