Accountant Toby had always thought it would be smart to buy somewhere as soon as he could. After just 24 hours of househunting, a chance encounter at a networking event led to him being introduced to a new Savills shared ownership development – Leyside in Dagenham – and beginning his investment in a home.
"I’ve lived in London for about ten years now… always in shared accommodation, so with anything up to five people.
"I just got sick of paying £1000 a month in rent for nothing, and most of the places were pretty horrific as well. It doesn’t feel like landlords really have much obligation to bring places up to standard anymore.
"[A client at] one of our networking events was telling me how Barking and Dagenham is definitely the place to be, and they’re really trying to regenerate it. I had never thought about it before… but I came to [Leyside] and I saw this one and just wanted it. I had literally been looking for about 24 hours.
"The amount that I had to save is such a fraction of what I ever thought I would have to, it’s amazing."
"It’s just unreal, I just didn’t think that you could have a house anywhere near London. Every time I moved, the key thing I’ve wanted is outside space, and I have more outside space now than I have ever had before, which is amazing. It’s unbelievable.
"I was a little bit apprehensive about moving to Dagenham, I didn’t know what to expect of it, and before I bought I did the walk from the station to the house about ten times; at night, in the morning, just to kind of see how I felt. I haven’t felt unsafe at any point, it’s been really nice, everyone seems quite friendly.
"I work in Tower Hill and on the train, it’s about 30 minutes, it’s perfect, just one tube, which is awesome. The tubes run until about 12:30, and obviously there’s the C2C as well to London Fenchurch Street."
"If I am lucky and the house prices go up, then so does my fraction."
Toby bought 25% share of a property worth £82,500 and plans to staircase to 100% ownership as soon as he is able to. He is hoping that the uncertainty of the housing market will buy him more time to purchase the remaining shares at a lower price.
"The amount that I had to save is such a fraction of what I ever thought I would have to, it’s amazing. Granted, saving anything even near to £10,000 can be near to impossible for some people, but if you can get anywhere near that, it just shows you how much you can buy, with such a small amount by comparison.
"Having the 25% that I’ve got, really makes me want to get [to 100%] as quickly as possible.
"If I am lucky and the house prices go up, then so does my fraction, which is good, but this is a good time to buy – I don’t want to talk about Brexit – but where the house prices don’t seem to be going up as much as before, hopefully they stagnate and it buys me more time [to buy the remaining shares]. If the house price goes up, I have to buy at the higher price, so if it stays low for as long as possible, that would be good. A load of uncertainty for four years would be nice!"
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