Would you queue for five hours for the perfect house?

If a house is worth getting, it’s worth queueing for – and that’s how keen couple Charlotte and James Arnold bagged their new home in south Wales.

James (25) waited for five hours at Bellway’s Greystone Meadows development in Undy, Monmouthshire, to make sure he was at the front of the queue when the sales office opened on the site’s launch day.

“We really wanted this specific plot,” explained Charlotte (25).

“So, James got there before the development was open – at 6am on launch day – and was in his car, waiting for ages. The office didn’t officially open until 11am!”

Happily, Charlotte and James, who are both managers for Network Rail, DID get the home they wanted – a three-bedroom detached Sherbourne design.

“It was absolutely what we were looking for,” said Charlotte. “We loved it from the outside. We really wanted a kitchen/diner, which it’s got, a separate utility room and a big living room.  It’s got three bedrooms, which allows us to grow – and they’re good-sized bedrooms – and a detached garage which we also wanted.”

There’s even a decent garden for the couple’s two dogs; Reggie, a puggle, and Phoebe, a Cavalier King Charles spaniel.

“It’s also the perfect location,” said Charlotte. “I love Undy; it’s gorgeous here. it’s where I was brought up, and I really wanted to move back to the area.

“But James likes it here too. When we had reading weeks at university, we would always come to my parents’ house in Undy.”

The couple managed to get on the housing ladder early: at 25, they are already second-time buyers.

Charlotte said:

“Before this house we were in a three-bed semi-detached in Glan Llyn – but it was basically a two-bed; the third bedroom was very small.
“We were there for two years and we had £40,000 equity from that house that became the deposit for this one.”

The couple also used the Help to Buy Wales scheme which helped reduce the initial deposit needed for Greystone Meadows.

The scheme provides a loan of up to 20 per cent of the new house purchase price – which is interest free for the first five years – leaving the buyer to find a five per cent deposit and a 75 per cent mortgage.

Throughout the buying process, the couple were greatly helped by Bellway sales staff Sharmaine and Angela who Charlotte said had been really good to them.

But why did they want to buy new?

Charlotte said she and James – who met as students at the university of South Wales – preferred a new house because they could make their own mark on it from the start.

With their Undy home, they have personal choices everywhere, from kitchen to bathroom, many of them inspired by the showhome on the Greystone Meadows estate.

“If I had to pick my favourite room it would be the kitchen/diner,” said Charlotte. “But I like everything. Genuinely, it’s the perfect home.”

Bellway is building two, three and four-bedroom homes in Undy, with prices for a three-bedroom home currently starting from £272,995.
For more information on Greystone Meadows, contact the sales office at Elms Hill, Undy, or visit bellway.co.uk.