Lauren owns a one-bedroom flat in Sydenham, where she lives with her two cats (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

In our new weekly series, What I Own, we’re hoping to open up the conversation around homeownership and to make the prospect of buying a place instead of renting less of a stressful mystery.

How on earth do you get a mortgage? How much do you really need to have saved up for a deposit? And how much cheaper is buying property if you look outside of London?

Each week we go inside a different person’s home and chat to them about the process of making it their own.

Last time we were in Harlow with blogger Jade, who owns a two-bedroom flat.




This time we’re in Sydenham with Lauren, a 32-year-old working category management who’s always lived in London. When she was 30 she made an offer on a one-bedroom flat, which is where she now lives.

She had to save £29,000 for the deposit, but was lucky to have her family give her half (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

Hey, Lauren. Let’s talk deposit.

My total deposit was £24,000 but my fees were around another £5,000 so I needed a total of £29,000 to be able to purchase the property.

I was fortunate that half had been gifted from family members, but the rest was my own savings. It took me around four years to save the £14,000 that was mine. I was very strict in that savings transferred to my savings account on payday. I saved the majority of birthday/Christmas money in this time and any bonuses (I’ve been fortunate to receive them over this time) I spent between 15%-20% and saved the rest.

At the beginning there was also a period of around a year where I limited myself to only one night out a week, prepared all food for the week on a Sunday and did not deviate from this (no takeaways, coffees etc.) I also had a rule that anything that was left over the night before payday was transferred to savings; some months it was only £10, some it was £100, but it all adds up over time.

My bank also provides cashback earnings when you spend with certain retailers and anything I earned from this also went directly to my savings. Lastly, I only had two holidays in this time and they were both last-minute all-inclusive deals.

I did change jobs while saving but the salary increase was only around £5k which once you’re taxed and make pension deductions etc didn’t necessarily amount to a huge amount, but I suppose every little bit does help.

So how much was the mortgage?

I paid £240k for my flat and the mortgage was £216k.

Now my mortgage payment is about £780 a month. Council tax and utilities are around another £200.

This is George. Isn’t he lovely? (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

And what do you get for what you pay?

It’s one bed and one bathroom and the gross internal floor area is 456 sq ft, 42.3 sq meters.

How did you find this flat?

I found the flat on Rightmove and even from seeing it online I knew it was the one I wanted (despite dragging my Mum around five different viewings!). I knew I wouldn’t have the money left over to be able to do anything huge so it needed to be in a liveable and clean condition. Thankfully as I was moving to an area that was considered ‘up and coming’ there were lots of renovated flats on the market so I was able to buy something that was brand new inside and all I would need to do would be to put my own stamp on it.



I fell in love with all of the natural light in my flat – which is stunning in the summer – and despite being a stone’s throw from the high street it’s really peaceful here. I also liked being in a managed purpose-built block as this gave me a sense of security.

And this is little Ralph (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

What was the process of getting a mortgage like?

In total honesty getting a mortgage was the hardest part. I have defaults on my credit score from years ago and I kept getting rejected left, right and centre. I then did some research and found a specialist broker that was able to secure me a mortgage with a high street lender at a hugely competitive rate.

The fee was high (£2,000) but I considered it worthwhile overall. If I’m honest it was so disheartening being told I couldn’t be trusted with a mortgage due to a £50 default from when I was 21 (and completely disregarding the fact I had been renting on my own for four years, of which the rent was higher than any mortgage payment I was looking at, and had never missed a payment, or missed any payment since for that matter) that I didn’t care about much else.

It kind of shows how warped the system is and it should definitely be reviewed. In no way am I not taking responsibility for missing that payment, that’s entirely on me, but it shouldn’t be allowed to directly impact your future years later.


Once I had a mortgage offer in front of me, I just took the rest of it in my stride knowing I had overcome the hardest part. The broker I worked with was also fantastic in explaining everything to me.

Also, use your solicitor, you hire them to protect your investment (deposit), they are not the villains in this process despite what people may say!

I completed November 2018 so I’ve been here almost a year now – it has flown by!

The monthly payments are now £780 a month, plus bills (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

Why Sydenham?

I genuinely didn’t even know Sydenham existed until I moved to it (and that’s the truth!).

I had always lived in Uxbridge (very West London) and while my family are still there, I was working centrally in Pimlico and found a good 95% of my socialising was central, which meant I was spending on average £200 a month on Ubers just to get home from nights out. It was ridiculous, so I knew I had to be closer to London.

I then sat there with Rightmove open on one tab and the tube map on the other and was searching by station in zone 3, until I found areas that were within my budget. I stumbled across Sydenham which was so well connected (Overground and trains to Victoria, London Bridge, Charing Cross, Blackfriars and Cannon Street across the three stations in the vicinity) as well as relatively reliable buses.

Due to it being zone 3 an Uber hasn’t cost me more than £15 since I moved here.

It was a huge risk moving to a completely unknown area – and family definitely thought I was having some kind of breakdown – but it was also exciting and turned out to be the best decision I made. I adore Sydenham and it has changed so much just in the short time I have been here.


How have you made the flat feel like home?

Initially I moved in with all of my furniture from my rented flat and lived in the flat before I made any decisions as I didn’t want to rush anything. For example, I did have a corner sofa beforehand, but after living in the flat with my old one for a couple of weeks I just knew it wasn’t going to work in the space, hence then ordering a sofa and chair.

I didn’t replace my bed until April and all of the décor stuff was added over the summer.

Taking the time to understand the space and how I would live in it was key for me to feel like I’m at home. Next on my list is my dining room table.

Also, George (my tabby) helped as I only had him at the time of moving. He settled in right away and that helped a lot. He was also a great way to make friends with the neighbours.

I’ve only really spent money on furniture and décor, but I’ve spent £5,000k (some is on interest free finance) on redecorating.

Making the flat feel like home has cost around £5,000 (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

Do you feel like you have enough space?

Not at all! The bedroom is particularly small but I have found a way to make it work. I knew this was never going to be my forever home so I was willing to compromise on space to be able to get on the ladder.

Does owning pose any problems you didn’t have when you were renting?

Not so far – but there’s always time. If anything I have only seen benefits; want to put a shelf up, just do it! Want my TV on the wall, go ahead! It’s nice to not have to check for permission for everything.

What are your plans for the future, housing-wise?

I know I won’t be in this flat forever, but I do know what a good investment it is for all of the reasons I chose it. I am back to saving quite strictly again so that when the time comes I will be in the position to get a second charge mortgage so I can release some equity in this to use as a deposit on a second, bigger, place. Then I will rent this place out. But a lot of that depends on how ruthless I can be with saving (I am not sure I have the willpower to do it again) and good old Brexit.

Yes, we are envious of anyone thinking about buying a second home. Shall we have a look around?

Here’s the living room, complete with a speedy Ralph (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

A gold unit is the perfect way to store both a Sky box and a bundle of sticks (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

Big fans of the cat dish (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

George and Ralph look very at home under the table (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

The living room leads into the kitchen (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

You’ll spot plenty of plants and candles (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

Look at those tiles (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

You can tell Lauren’s a grownup because she has this many utensils (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

Plus, look at the shine on that toaster (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

Here’s the storage space in the hallway (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

The bedroom isn’t the biggest, but it works (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

Gotta have a lightbox (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

The natural light is pretty lovely (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

Finally, the bathroom (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

(Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

Two toothbrushes. Mysterious. (Picture: Susannah Ireland/Metro.co.uk)

How to get involved in What I Own What I Own is a Metro.co.uk series that takes you inside people's properties, to take an honest look at what it's like to buy a home in the UK. If you own your home and would be up for sharing your story, please email whatirent@metro.co.uk. You'll need to have pictures taken of your kitchen, living room, bathroom, and bedroom, plus a few photos of you in your room. Make sure you get permission for your housemates! You'll also need to be okay with sharing how much you've paid to live there and how you afforded the deposit, as that's pretty important. If you're renting, you can take part too! What I Own runs alongside What I Rent, which is the same series but all about renting. Again, if you'd like to get involved just email whatirent@metro.co.uk.

MORE: What I Own: Vanessa, the 29-year-old photographer who paid a £5,100 deposit on a house in Belfast

MORE: What I Rent: Urszula, $1,000 a month for a four-bedroom house in Glendale, Queens

MORE: What I Rent: Adelaide, an 18-year-old mum paying £625 a month for a two-bedroom flat in Littlehampton

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