Sisters are doing it for themselves at Eastside

With house prices soaring at their fastest rate in years, it is more difficult than ever for young first-time buyers trying to get on the property ladder. Inspace Homes (formerly Widacre Homes) and joint venture partner Your Lifespace have a contemporary development called Eastside that caters to the needs of first-time buyers like sisters Elair and Lesley Koo.

The Koo sisters were renting a flat in Surbiton, Surrey when they realised that the rent they were paying would be more useful towards paying a mortgage of their own. 28-year-old Elair, who works for a market research company, and 25-year-old Lesley, an IT test analyst, discovered Eastside in Bow when attending a property exhibition. Shortly after the exhibition, they made an appointment to view the show apartment at the development and were greatly impressed with what they saw.

Lesley Koo comments: “Visiting the showhome, gave us a good feel for what the apartments were like and we found the quality of the development to be outstanding.” Elair continues, “What attracted us most to Eastside was the spaciousness of the apartments.”

Elair and Lesley purchased a two-bedroom apartment in the Washington building at Eastside in Bow, E3. Apartments are still available at the final phase, Lower Eastside. All apartments have been meticulously designed to maximise both light and space and boast a contemporary open-plan layout. Stylish kitchens extend into spacious living areas, whilst floor-to-ceiling windows flood the apartments with light.

Most of the apartments will also benefit from an outside space such as a balcony, Juliet balcony, or terrace offering stunning views of the beautiful piazza-style garden square, which is also located adjacent to the development.

Elair Koo comments: “The views from our apartment are fantastic—we can see the site of the 2012 Olympics and our living room has incredible views of Canary Wharf. We’re very happy with our apartment. We’ve only been living there for a short while and it already feels like home.”

Another benefit of living in Bow that the Koo sisters appreciate is the accessible transport links. They are able to take the tube directly to work, as opposed to taking an over ground train and then the tube to the office, as they did while living in Surrey.

Eastside is superbly connected for public transport. Within ten minutes walk are Mile End and Bow Road Underground stations as well as Bow Church DLR station. From Bow Church, DLR services take only around eight minutes to Canary Wharf, one of London’s most important economic hubs employing around 100,000 people. For journeys into the city, London Liverpool Street station is just over five minutes away from Bow Road station.

Elair and Lesley attended the Open House day, an event devised by Inspace Homes to enable future residents to see their apartment before they are finished, allowing them to take photographs, plan the layout of their home and measure up for furniture.

Elair comments: “It was the first time we got to view our apartment and get an idea how everything fits into place. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that the bathroom was bigger than we thought it would be. We love living here and we are so glad we decided to invest together.”

Prices at the latest phase, Lower Eastside, start from £267,450 for a two-bedroom apartment.

For further information, visit Eastside-e3.com.