Ashley Sawyers, 28, and partner Ben Leighton, 26, bought their first home on the Crindledyke estate two years ago with support from the building society.
Prior to buying the house, the couple both lived at home and had never even rented anywhere, let alone thought about obtaining a mortgage. However once they viewed the house, Ashley says they simply had to have it.
“We went for a viewing and just fell in love with it,” he said. “We bought it off someone who was an interior designer so it was up-to-scratch already.”
Both Ben and Ashley had help-to-buy ISAs which they used as part of their purchase, and the friendly, helpful staff at The Cumberland made sure that every step went smoothly.
“Buying the house was a lot easier than I thought it would be,” said Ashley. “I thought it was a very complicated process to get a mortgage and buy a house – and it probably is behind-the-scenes – but for us it was very simple.
“We went straight to The Cumberland for our mortgage because we’d heard so many good things about them.”
The couple signed up to a five-year fixed rate mortgage.
Ashley continued: “The communication was really good every step of the way, and we had lots of emails or phone calls whenever we needed paperwork or to do anything.
“We always knew exactly what was happening and what the next step was. There was never a moment where we felt out-of-the-loop. The staff were really friendly."
Reflecting on what a difference it has made to them, Ashley said: “It was really good to have our own space and put our own touch on it.
“We’ve both got quite a quirky style so we’ve filled it with quite a lot of quirk and house plants – about 50 different types of house plant. It was just so good to be finally able to have our own space and make it our home.”