‘We have finally left our renting days behind’
THE fact that Milton Keynes made its debut on this year’s Sunday Times Best Places To Live list shows how far it has come. Built as a New Town in the 1970s and granted city status in 2022, it used to be derided for its concrete cows and uninspiring architecture, but now it’s very desirable yet still affordable. Last year it was rated the UK’s most competitive city for businesses, and it’s been at the forefront of technological innovation since World War II – when the world’s first programmable computer was developed for the codebreakers at Bletchley Park. Currently it’s one of few places in the country where groceries are delivered by robot. Downtime is taken seriously, with in excess of 150 shops and eateries in Centre:MK, West End shows at the local theatre, major concerts at its 30,500-seater stadium and indoor skiing and snowboarding at Snozone. There’s also a large amount of open space, including more than 200 parks, Willen Lake for watersports and the Redways – a network of car-free, shared cycle and footpaths.
FIRST-TIME buyers Charan and Pavithra Boineni are delighted to have upgraded from a rental to a home of their own. Software engineering analyst Charan, 36, and Pavithra, who is 31 and a testing consultant – together with daughter Vyshnavi, nine, and son Kethan Sai, six – previously lived in a two-bedroom coach house at Oxley Park in Milton Keynes.
They’re now the proud owners of a four-bedroom house at Crest Nicholson’s Manor View development in Wavendon, seven miles away.
Here, Charan talks about the family’s move...
Why here?
‘We like Milton Keynes and it is a great place for our children to grow up. We wanted to be able to move in and live there straight away, without spending money on making it habitable or energy-efficient.
‘We looked at a range of new-builds but Manor View had the best layout and was the development we liked the most. We reserved and exchanged contracts within four weeks.
What prompted you to buy?
Shelling out on rent felt like such a waste of money, particularly as we were only in a small two-bedroom place. We had tried to buy a year ago but it felt like a big race and we didn’t want to compromise.
At the time we were looking at second-hand homes, and I’m so glad we switched to a new-build – the process was much less stressful.
How did you manage to save for a deposit?
For the past few years I’ve been working overtime and we’ve made some small changes, which have helped us save for a deposit.
Little things such as cancelling subscriptions we didn’t really need and allocating money into savings accounts all helped us create positive money habits, adding up to a great deposit to get onto the ladder.
Also, Crest Nicholson gave us £15,000 towards our deposit. We weren’t expecting anything but it meant we could pay a smaller mortgage.
Only one four-bedroom house is left at Manor View, and is priced at £535,000 with 105 per cent Part Exchange, Deposit Boost and SmoothMove help with selling your old house) on offer, crestnicholson.com