Our location gamble Paid Off 100%

Jenny, 27, explains why she took a risk buying a property she’d fallen in love with in an area she didn’t know

Before my husband Tim and I moved into this three bedroom Victorian property in Huddersfield, we were renting a tiny one-bedroom cottage near Halifax, so I couldn’t wait to move into somewhere bigger,’ says Jenny. ‘Tim is 6ft 2in, so when he stretched his arms out in our old house, they touched the ceiling. It wasn’t ideal but at least the rent was cheap, which meant that with a bit of help from my parents, we could save up for a deposit.

We must have looked at hundreds of homes online until we had it narrowed down to a shortlist of three that really grabbed us. For me, it was all about period features, while Tim was keen to have a garden. I was so desperate to move I think I wanted to buy every house we saw, even one nearby that was smaller and more expensive than this one. I fell in love with its huge garden, but, thankfully, I listened to Tim and my parents, who were more practical and advised against it.

A happy surprise

Funnily enough, we were about to be interviewed to appear on the TV show Location, Location, Location, when this house came back onto the market after a sale had fallen through the day before the contracts were exchanged.

We were the first people to view this property and I completely fell in love with its character and the size of the rooms, especially the spacious kitchen diner. The stone lintel above the cooker was a gorgeous period feature, and I particularly liked the existing range cooker, so we paid the owners an extra £1,000 to leave it behind. They had recently installed a new kitchen, so we just added a dining table and chairs.