Open market: Winchester
Charlotte Yea, 25, moved back home to live with her parents during the pandemic and managed to save enough to buy her first home – a two-bedroom garden apartment in Winchester – and is living her best life!
FACT FILE
Property: Two-bedroom apartment
Full market value: Around £400,000
Service charge: £1,600 a year (paid biannually)
Charlotte Yea moved into her fabulous ground floor apartment in Winchester a few months ago. Charlotte is a Senior Account Manager for a global PR business that specializes in pharmaceutical and healthcare communications, where she has worked for three and a half years.
The start of the pandemic drove Charlotte back to her parents after living in a house share with three other girls in Shoreditch before Covid-19 stopped their fun. Living back with her parents was good in many ways as Charlotte explains, “I had the most fabulous time living in Shoreditch and it was a shock moving home. But I have to say I am one of the lucky ones as I have a brother and sister and we are a really close family, so it was quite a fun time. My friends are close to my parents and I was able (Covid allowing) to meet them for walks, etc. And all of a sudden, I was saving a small fortune after having partied hard in London as there was suddenly nothing to buy!”
Charlotte has bought a spacious two-bedroom garden flat at Knights Quarter, less than half a mile from the heart of Winchester. She decided during the pandemic that it was time to buy a place of her own and started looking in and around Winchester as she loves this ancient city with its boutique shops and great places to eat and drink. Having looked at a handful of secondhand flats, she felt rather dejected and decided to check out the two new build schemes being built locally.
She continues, “I wanted to go to see the new build homes as a benchmark to the resale market. I went with my mum and dad to see Knights Quarter by Berkeley, which has a very easy and well-lit walk to the station. We walked into the apartment and it was just perfect. My mum was convinced almost before I was, and she said ‘Charlotte you are buying this one!’ – to be honest after seeing the Berkeley show apartment nothing else came even close.
“There were simply no negatives to the home; we both loved it. It has two bedrooms, so I have set one up as a study with a sofa bed so friends can come and stay. All the utilities are very high-spec – I had to have quite a long lesson to learn how to use all this equipment! I particularly love my wine fridge – that is a bonus to good living.”
Knights Quarter is set just up the hill from the high street, and Charlotte’s apartment has French doors out to a communal garden area.
She said, “I have a private patio area and this spills out onto a lovely garden with a lawn and beautiful plants – it is really pretty, and it is wonderfully quiet here which I love. I have neighbors but I don’t hear them, which is perfect. I have said hello to a few but I am looking forward to meeting them properly at a drinks event that Berkeley is hosting for us this summer.
“I also can’t wait for the communal gym to open at the end of the summer. I think I will use it a lot, and it will be a good way to make more friends at Knights Quarter and keep fit. My job is completely flexible, so I do work from home quite a bit so it will be great to have this added luxury on the doorstep. I was also relieved that the service charge here is relatively low compared to what we get. I have a secure underground parking space for my car, a lift up to the apartment, and a concierge who is brilliant for taking in my parcels when I’m not here!”
Talking about the local area Charlotte commented, “About once a week I have a night out in London and catch the last train home. But there are loads of fabulous pubs and restaurants right here in town, so I never run out of things to do or places to go. Winchester is buzzing at night with a warm friendly vibe that I love.”
Prices for one and two-bedroom apartments at Knights Quarter currently start from £340,000. For more information call 01962 657 243 or visit berkeleygroup.co.uk
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