Emma and Rob ditched rising childcare costs and moved home to the Essex village they grew up in to raise their daughter with family help.
The couple, who formerly lived in central Colchester, had been paying for rising childcare costs for Grace while working full-time and knew they needed to find an alternative. With two sets of parents in Essex Great Bentley wanting to spend time with their granddaughter, it made sense for Emma and Rob to move back home.
Emma said, “We are both originally from Great Bentley and our parents still live in the village. We wanted to live nearby so they could mind Grace while Rob and I were at work.
“We were very set on village life and Great Bentley has lots of convenient amenities, such as the village pre-school and local GP, which are walking distance from our new home at Cala’s Ufford Chase development. It is also close to the A12 road, which gives us easy access to our jobs in Colchester and Chelmsford.
“Our parents first told us about Cala Homes before we reached out to a few estate agents in the area for more information.
“Cala stood out due to the amazing quality of their homes and they were within our price range. We felt the homes were of an excellent standard and specification. We were also excited at the prospect of watching the house being built from the foundations and designing the interior of our own home.
“Initially, we were interested in a three-bedroom property in Phase 1 of the development but once we saw the plans for Phase 2, we decided to wait and reserved a three-bedroom home under the provision that we sold our Colchester home.
“Everything was going smoothly as we had lined up a private buyer for our Colchester home, however, while we were on holiday they pulled out.”
Emma and Rob scrambled to find a buyer before the sales team suggested they try our Part Exchange service. “We couldn’t find a buyer and didn’t want to go through all the painstaking steps of private buying again, especially with Grace, we didn’t have time or someone in Colchester to look after her while organising viewers and dealing with estate agents.”
Part Exchange is a service we provide, where we can purchase a prospective buyer’s existing property to allow them to move chain-free into their new home which means buyers have a guaranteed cash buyer and their move is not at risk of problems or delays that can come with being part of a chain. Legal completion dates will be the same and there is no need to pay agent fees, Home Report or survey costs. Once a buyer’s new home is finished, all they have to do is move their furniture.
“The Cala sales team recommended Part Exchange and we jumped at the opportunity. It took a few weeks to set up but after one day of viewings it sold quite quickly so we would highly recommend Part Exchange to anyone who is currently looking at homes for sale in Essex but is having trouble selling their home to finance their move, the whole process was so smooth and stress-free.”
Once Emma and Rob completed the deal on their new build home in Essex, babyproofing was a top priority. “We thought babyproofing would be a strenuous process, but it was quite the opposite. We installed gates on the stairs, kitchen, hallway and living room and after that, it was all set for Grace. Cala also included carpets throughout which was a nice touch and added an extra layer of protection.”
When asked what made them choose their new build in Essex, Emma said, “It ticked all our boxes. We wanted a home that had lots of open space downstairs for Grace to play in, so the spacious kitchen/dining/ garden room is what sold us on the house design. We also love having such a spacious ensuite in the main bedroom.
“We bought off-plan and got to work with the amazing sales team to select the flooring, kitchen units, and tiles which was a fun experience seeing our choices come to life.”
Emma added that having an energy-efficient home played a key part in the decision-making process. “Another stand-out feature for us was the electric vehicle charging station and over-sized garage as Rob gets company cars through work, so having a vehicle charger at home is extremely convenient. We are both environmentally conscious so having an electric vehicle charging station was a big selling point for us and it’s a great appliance that we use every day.”
To find out more about Cala’s moving incentives for its new build homes in Essex, visit our Helping You Move page.
