Friends get help to buy first property in Wivelsfield

Taylor Wimpey helped Chloe Tilbury and Rebecca Sherwood to secure their first home with the FirstBuy scheme at Gainsborough Place, the leading housebuilder’s popular development of new homes for sale in Wivelsfield.

Friends Chloe Tilbury and Rebecca Sherwood are the envy of their peers after Taylor Wimpey helped them step onto the first rung of the property ladder and purchase their ideal first property in Wivelsfield, East Sussex.

By taking advantage of the leading housebuilder’s FirstBuy incentive, they will be the first of their friends to own their own home when they move into one of the beautiful brand new apartments for sale in Wivelsfield at Gainsborough Place, near Burgess Hill.

“FirstBuy was the difference between us owning our own place and not,” says Chloe (27), who works as an administrator at Ibstock brick manufacturers in South Chailey, just a few miles from the development of new build homes in Wivelsfield.

“The beauty of FirstBuy is that we own 100% of our apartment, which was important to us as we didn’t want to go down the route of a shared ownership scheme.”

FirstBuy works through a joint loan of 20% from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and Taylor Wimpey, which means that eligible purchasers only need put down a 5% deposit and obtain a 75% loan-to-value mortgage – and the incentive is available now with selected new flats for sale in Wivelsfield at Gainsborough Place.

The loan is repayable at the end of the 25-year mortgage term or when the property is sold. To be eligible, purchasers must be first-time buyers and their total household earnings should be less than £60,000.

“Without FirstBuy, our deposit wouldn’t have been nearly enough to secure the property we need,” adds Rebecca (26), a team leader at Early Years Childcare nursery in Haywards Heath.

“We’d been renting together ever since we left college, and it’s frightening to think how much money we have spent on rent over the years. Renting is just dead money and so we were really keen to have a place of our own, so we’d be investing our cash, rather than paying a landlord.”

The girls, who currently rent in Cuckfield, are now looking forward to the big move into their two-bedroom apartment in December.

Chloe says: “Although we’ve bought off plan, we’ve visited some Taylor Wimpey showhomes and have been impressed with the amount of space you get and how light the rooms are.

“We’ve got a double bedroom each, and I’ve managed to bag the en-suite because Rebecca likes to have a bath, so the main bathroom is for her – we’re both happy!”

The first-time buyers are also happy with Gainsborough Place’s leafy location in a quiet cul-de-sac in Wivelsfield.

“There’s some very pretty countryside and the homes are actually within a badger watch area,” says Rebecca, who, along with Chloe, competes in local eventing competitions on their horses Bert and Prudence.

“The horses are just a few minutes’ bike ride away from Gainsborough Place, which was important for us. But, although we’ll be in a village, the development is incredibly handy for nearby Haywards Heath.

“It’s just a 10-minute walk to Wivelsfield railway station, meaning we can just hop on a train to Brighton and be there in 20 minutes, or London in under an hour, and not have to battle the traffic. My workplace is also nearby, just a five-minute drive away, so the location’s just perfect.”

Gainsborough Place comprises just 54 two-bedroom apartments and two, three, four and six-bedroom houses in the village of Wivelsfield.

Two-bedroom apartments at Gainsborough Place are priced from as little as £174,995, although homebuyers who qualify for the government’s FirstBuy scheme can purchase the property for as little as 80% of the full price.

Crawley and the M23 are 16 miles away from the development, putting the M25 within easy reach, while Gatwick Airport is just 23 miles from home.

Nearby Burgess Hill is well served by a wide range of independent and high street shops, including Tesco and Waitrose, as well as a good selection of restaurants, pubs and cafés.

To find out more about FirstBuy at Gainsborough Place, visit taylorwimpey.co.uk.