These first-time buyers moved home during lockdown
A young couple from Norfolk have revealed that moving into their first home during lockdown went “surprisingly well” under the circumstances.
Rob Beaumont and his girlfriend Jackie Baker moved into a three-bedroom house on the outskirts of Norwich on 26th March – just a matter of days after the lockdown was announced.
The couple, who bought the property for £265,000, exchanged in February 2019 and had hoped to move in in August. But after a string of delays, they completed on 17th March this year.
Rob said: “Luckily, ours is a good news story. Everything went surprisingly well. When we’ve needed people to pull through for us, they have.
“Originally, the plan was to move into the house in August. But there were a few issues with adverse weather and other extenuating circumstances, which held us up a bit.
“Our solicitors have been really good, and have obviously been working from home; there’s been no change in their working pattern. It’s all been business as usual and the communication has been excellent.
“Between our solicitor and the developer and their solicitor, there’s been no panic, which has been great and taken so much stress out of the situation. Things have run really smoothly, ironically more smoothly than before.”
The couple bought their new home off-plan, and had been living with parents prior to moving in.
Buying off-plan means that you are buying a new home before it has been built, which goes some way to explaining why Rob and Jackie waited so long before moving in.
When a buyer purchases a home off-plan, you won’t be able to view the actual property, but the developer will supply plans, computer generated images and brochures to show you what the finished product will look like or have a show-home constructed in advance.
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Rob also explained that, due to the special circumstances of the current climate, they were allowed a shorter completion time so that they were able to move in as soon as possible.
“I think it’s usually about two weeks, but our completion time was just over a week,” he added.
“I think if we ever bought a new-build property again we’d want the construction to be well underway and the actual building of the house further along in the process. Maybe we were a little naïve.
“There were lots of delays before we got to this point. At one stage there was an issue with the original contractors on site, so there was nothing being built for a little while.
“Then the weather caused another hold up, then there was another issue with materials. It was all a big learning curve for us.”
Rob, who works in insurance, explained that because the property was unoccupied and they had completed before the lockdown, they were able to move in when they did.
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He also told us that moving in during a national lockdown has meant that building their nest has been a slightly surreal experience.
He said: “I think the biggest thing we’ve had to get our heads around is that we can’t do everything that we want to do. When you move in you just want to go to places like Dunelm and shop for cushions but that’s not something that we can do right now.
“So it’s been tricky with things like furniture. Lots of places have had no staff available to deliver anything.
“The developers on moving day were actually very good. They were extremely helpful, very appreciative of the unique situation and generally very flexible.
“There was no unnecessary crossover with any other parties, people were out of the way and the place was cleaned down.
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“Getting the logistics of the removal firm sorted was quite difficult, though. They were able to fit us in just before they stopped trading. We were the last job they had.
“Everyone involved was really on their game. I’ve heard that it’s usually quite stressful waiting for the money to clear on the day and what not, but luckily for us, it wasn’t too bad.
“We’re just over the moon that we’ve finally moved in – it’s such a weight off our shoulders. The house already feels like home.
“Now that we’re in, we’re starting to make plans for each room, but with the weather being so nice, the big thing for me is to sort the garden out, lay some turf and get the barbecue on!”
