Finding the perfect location and home in Sussex

Mr and Mrs Booth used Help to Buy to purchase their dream home and still can’t believe how lucky they are to have found their perfect home.

Dreaming of a rural lifestyle

Once we’d decided to move, we envisaged a long journey to finding our perfect family home; made difficult by the fact we loved the home we were living in. It was the location that wasn’t quite right for us. We wanted to be near good schools for our children, close to family and we dreamt of a more rural life; close to the buzz of exciting towns but far enough out for us all to enjoy everything village life offers. Moving from a home you already love is challenging – our new home had to impress – it had to be perfect.

Discovering quality

When I first saw Clayshaw Place on Rightmove it took some convincing for Mr Booth to look. Having renovated our current home to create a space personal to us, we were convinced that what we needed was another project – a second-hand house we could turn into our perfect home. We didn’t consider new, we didn’t think it was for us.

Despite initial concerns, we visited Clayshaw Place one weekend. We were looking for space, character, charm and a home for our children to grow up in – Clayshaw Place ticked all the boxes. We loved the Showhome – we felt so genuinely welcomed by the sales team and the design, the build, the space, it impressed us both.

‘Help to Buy’ our forever home

Originally, our budget meant we were looking at the smaller three bedroom homes, but the sales team made us aware of the Help to Buy scheme, and how this could help us to consider larger homes. We had believed this was only for first time buyers, but once explained, realised that with a bit of help we could set our sights higher.

We loved the garden, which had a beautiful, bright open plan kitchen/dining room with bifold doors to a patio area and private garden that backed onto parish land.  We had wanted a room the whole family would enjoy, a hub of the home, and we quickly realised we had found exactly what we’d been looking for – our forever home.  With Help to Buy allowing us to take that next step up, we went on market the next day.

A hitch on the way

We chose a good local estate agent and were delighted when they found us a buyer within a week, allowing us to reserve our perfect new home.  However, after a few weeks of progress on our sale and purchase, our chain fell through, and although we were given a short time to re-sell, our dream home had to be released and was sold to someone else.

A few weeks later we were back under offer, and we committed to another similar house on the development. We were content but disappointed as we were still dreaming of that garden!

A home that was meant to be

Just before completion, we received a call from the Area Sales Manager, who had dealt with our previous reservation and cancellation. Our dream home had become re-available and knowing how much we had loved it, Nick called us personally to ensure we wouldn’t miss out.

He offered us a day to think about it, but neither of us needed more than a second. We had always known it was for us – the home we wanted our children to grow up in. A few short weeks later and we were given the keys to our new home. All the emotion, everything we had been through was worth it – it was just meant to be.

Supported at every step

Throughout our experience, Thakeham’s customer service has been second to none. There is a family feel in how they work; everyone we’ve spoken to has been helpful, supportive and friendly, even down to the solicitor they recommended, who went the extra mile for us.

At each step, we felt supported by the team at Thakeham. They shared in our emotion and were genuinely determined to see us happy in our new home; we felt we’d become friends by the time we completed.

Enjoying our dream home

I think it’s fair to say our journey was quite unusual – with heartbreak and tears, but with the perfect happy ending!

Now we’ve settled in, we often sit at our table, in this lovely room, with the bifold doors open to our gorgeous garden and the children playing outside.  We still can’t believe we live here, and at times we thought we’d never get here, but now we are. It’s so peaceful, it feels right; it’s our dream home.