A couple who were priced out of their ‘dream’ home after their mortgage went up by £825 a month have revealed how they rescued the situation by finding a better home in the same area without downsizing.
Development manager Michael and social worker Allison from Guildford couldn’t afford to stay in their property of nine years – where they had brought up their two sons – after the impact of former Prime Minister Liz Truss‘s 2022 ‘mini budget’ sent their bills soaring.
On Channel 4‘s Help! I Bought It at Auction with Sarah Beeny, airing tonight at 8pm, the pair revealed how they transformed a 1930s fixer upper into a bright, cosy home for their family.
After selling their old home for £600,000, the couple ‘saw quite a few houses’ but were charmed by the three-bedroom semi-detached property, which they bought via hybrid auction for £415,000 – a process where the property goes to the person who can exchange first.
The couple didn’t have to downsize and they were able to stay in the same area. Using the profit from selling their original house to fund the renovations, they now have a home that was ‘better’ than the original.
And although they didn’t specify what their mortgage payments are now, they revealed they have been able to ‘rescue’ their financial situation.
Their old house was full of memories and they had ‘spent a lot of money doing it up to make it a lovely house to bring their two boys up in’.
However, four years ago, ‘everything changed’.
‘Liz Truss and her mini budget unfortunately spiked the mortgage rates up,’ Michael explained. ‘Our mortgage went up by £825 a month.’
The couple were stretching their budget thin to make ends meet for themselves and their sons, Josh and Lucas, having to start putting the food bills on credit cards halfway through the month.
‘I said to Mike, “what is the point in this?”,’ Allison recalled. ‘Yes, we love our home, but actually home is where we are together, home is where we are with our children.
‘Let’s just move, get rid of this burden and start afresh – and it happened really quickly.’
Development manager Michael and social worker Allison from Guildford couldn’t afford to stay in their property of nine years – where they had brought up their two sons – after former Prime Minister Liz Truss’s 2022 ‘mini budget’ soared their bills
BEFORE: The upstairs floor, which previously featured outdated interiors, now hosts three very modern bedrooms which the couple say Josh and Lucas are enjoying settling into
AFTER: The couple spent around £120,000 on renovations, inlcuding doing up the three bedrooms
BEFORE: The pièce de resistance is a small family bathroom, which went from a dowdy tiny room into a sleek modern room with luxury marble effect tiles
AFTER: Presenter Sarah advised that the couple go bold with their interiors
Within six weeks of making an offer, Michael and Allison were moved in; but determined to do the house up to their vision, hoping to install an extension six metres out back, near doubling the size of their ground floor.
While the couple faced challenges – including finding that the wooden floor below was ‘horrendously rotten’ and having to borrow an extra £30,000 on top of their budgeted £90,000 for renovation – they have now completely modernised their new space.
Their open-space kitchen and dining area is a warm, welcoming snug they always wanted, and has plenty of room for them and their boys.
The upstairs floor, which previously featured outdated interiors, now hosts three very modern bedrooms which the couple say Josh and Lucas are enjoying settling into.
The pièce de resistance is a small family bathroom, which went from a dowdy tiny room into a sleek modern room with luxury marble effect tiles.
‘We can see the end,’ Michael said. ‘And we can see the real potential of the house now.’
And while the house renovation cost them more – and took two months longer than the projected four-month timeline – they have no regrets.
‘We’ve cleared our debts and rescued our mortgage,’ he added.
‘And actually, we’re in a better house than we were previously.’
Elsewhere in the episode, one family of four hoping to find a modest two-bedroom property ended up tackling a renovation project on a seven-bed Victorian mansion in Cornwall.
Meanwhile, one woman in South Wales bought a derelict public men’s toilet for £15,000 – and turned it into a beloved performance space.
Help! I Bought It at Auction with Sarah Beeny airs on Wednesday, Channel 4, 8pm
