A Home with a View

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Feature from Spaces magazine 2009 issue.

Not many first-time buyers move into their dream flat with money to spare for furniture
and furnishings. But that’s exactly what happened to one young couple, who took advantage of the MiWay scheme

When Jenna Redfern and her fiancé Andrew Fletcher started looking for their first home together, they had no idea everything would happen so quickly. Within a month, not only had they found their dream property – a new two-bedroom apartment in the
heart of the Peak District National Park – but they’d also moved in and were making it feel like home. “We first saw it in August last year and we’d moved in by September,” explains Jenna. “It took about four weeks to sort everything out and get the keys. It was scarily quick, but wonderful at the same time. Every day that month we were out shopping – buying all the things we needed to furnish it.”

As soon as the couple saw Miller Homes’ Heritage View development, in a rural location close to the spa town of Buxton, they were won over. “It’s in such a nice area, with gorgeous views – it’s idyllic, as all you can see are sheep and hills,” says Jenna. In addition to the great location and the fact that it’s only a five-minute drive to the shops, she and Andrew liked the scale of the development. “In our block, there are eight other apartments. It’s not too big, so it’s quiet and peaceful,” she explains.

With their hearts set on the property, Jenna and Andrew turned to the important issue of finance. “We’d looked at a flat in another new-build development in Stockport, which is closer to where my parents live. But it was so expensive, it was ridiculous,” Jenna recalls. “We liked Heritage View, but at that point we didn’t really know if we could afford it. When the sales negotiator explained that Miller Homes has a scheme called MiWay – which meant we could buy 75% of the apartment initially and the remaining 25% later with 0% interest* – we thought it couldn’t be more perfect. It was obviously meant to be!”

Although the couple had some savings, they didn’t have enough for the deposit required for most properties. “The way it is at the moment, you need a £20,000 deposit and we definitely wouldn’t have been able to save that much,” says Jenna. “With MiWay you don’t need a deposit, so we’ve been able to spend the money we’d saved up on furniture.”

Buying your first home can be a steep learning curve, but Jenna and Andrew were reassured to find that Miller Homes helped them through every stage of the process. “They gave us an information pack and said we could ring them any time if we had queries,” says Jenna. She was thrilled they were able to move at the beginning of September, when they both had a week booked off work. “It was a tight turnaround, but everyone pulled out all the stops. If we were moving again, we’d definitely look at another Miller home, because they were so good with us.”

Once they had moved, the couple wasted no time in inviting people over. “The friends who have been to visit all want to buy an apartment themselves. It’s great having a spare room to put them up in if they come over. It’s my dressing room at the moment, but we have an air bed for when people want to stay,” says Jenna.

“It’s fantastic to have our own home. Probably most of all, I love the views. We can stand at the windows for ages just looking out. There are no big skyscrapers in front of you like you might get in cities, and it’s dead quiet. At night, you can’t hear a thing.”

Now they’ve settled in, will they be getting down to some serious wedding planning? Jenna is pretty relaxed about it. “Andrew is doing a degree at the moment and we want to enjoy being here, so it’ll be a while before we start planning our wedding,” she says. For the moment, the happy homeowners seem quite content to gaze out towards the Peaks and enjoy all that Heritage View has to offer. For more information about Heritage View, call 0800 954 8648 or click here.

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*See MiWay terms and conditions