Myself and my partner come from Lancashire but due to work had moved to just outside London.
We originally rented a one-bedroom studio flat at a cost of £925 per month and then in 2013 due to an inheritance decided it was time to buy.
The property we purchased was a two-bedroom maisonette on a busy street with limited parking with a 45-minute commute to the centre of London.
We purchased the property for £187,000 in May 2013 and spent around £20,000 modernising and redecorating.
At the start of 2016 my partner was offered a job back in Manchester. The salary they were offering was similar to what he was earning at his current position in London and my job was transferable.
We contacted a number of Estate Agents to get a valuation on our property and to our amazement we were advised to advertise the property at £375,000, an increase of £188,000 from our original purchase price three years earlier. That made our decision for us – the house went straight on the market!
My partner accepted the position in Manchester and stayed with relatives while I stayed at our maisonette until it was sold. We went house hunting in Manchester at weekends and couldn’t believe it when we found a three-bedroom terraced house with cellars and loft space in Monton for £150,000 less than the value of our London property.
Our property sold pretty much straight away as the demand for housing within commuting distance of London far outstrips supply. Our offer for the property in Monton was accepted and we are now proud owners of a much larger property and a lump sum which will enable us to develop it into a family home.
All this was done with the help of our mortgage adviser Andy Butterworth of Manchester Mortgages. He helped us arrange the mortgage on our original purchase in 2013 and has helped us to purchase our new home in Monton.