Woman reveals how she bought her first home alone at 25 with just 5%
A 27-year-old woman has revealed how she was able to buy her first home by herself when she was 25 years old.
Cerys Gardiner from Nottingham in the UK had been saving up to buy her first home, and had accumulated £4,000 in her lifetime ISA, which are accounts specifically to support first time buyers.
But while she had money saved, it was still nowhere near what she would need for a deposit even on a relatively cheaper property.
However, that was when she found out about a scheme which could mean that she may be able to get a mortgage with just a five percent deposit, which would help to get her deposit to go further.
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Under the scheme she would put down five percent, and the developer on a new build would then gift her another five percent, effectively doubling her money.
Even with this scheme though Cerys had to save up a further £8,000, working her day job as a marketing manager and getting extra income from doing freelance marketing work for around six months.
She was then able to put down the deposit on a three bedroom house which was under £250,000, saying she spent around £15,000 in total including the deposit and other fees.
Now her total monthly outgoings including a £982 mortgage come to around £1,400, around half her take home pay.
"I reserved my home in March 2025," she said. "So, I had another four months to get my deposit together.
"With my extra income my lifetime ISA, I maxed it out for the tax year. I kind of had two months to make sure I could max it out and the way I was able to do that was move home temporarily. The money I was paying in rent would go into that."
She added: "I worked a hell of a lot of freelance jobs in five to six months to be able to bolster that. I appreciate not everybody has a freelance income and don't have a choice but to save for longer. I was able to make it happen and go from £4,000 to £12,000."
Cerys said that she had 'written the idea off' of buying her own place after hearing 'horror stories' of people needing to accumulate as much as £60,000 just for their deposit.
"I suppose my priority for the last few years in my early twenties was I wanted to go out, make memories with my friends, go on holidays and that was kind of where I'd spent my money," she said. "Buying a house wasn't on my radar."
Cerys had initially considered looking at an older house, but decided to explore the options around a new build after speaking to a mortgage advisor.
"He said actually you don't need to have thousands and asked if I had considered a new build," she said.
"I said no as I'd always heard horror stories and thought I don't want a new build, I want something with lots of character."
But then Cerys soon changed her mind, adding: "I met with a new build developer and from there I saw a house I absolutely fell in love with and made it possible."
Kit Roberts
