A Gen Z couple has celebrated becoming homeowners at 19 after ditching takeaways and nights out.
Megs Clement and her boyfriend Sam Rice recently secured their first-ever home, at the end of just a year and a half of saving.
Spending a grand total of £28,000 with a deposit of £19,000, the two of them are now in the process of making their house a home.
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The school sweethearts from Devon, who started dating at 16, aimed to save at least £1,000 each a month.
Megs, now 20, claimed that after they passed their driving tests, McDonald’s and KFC drive-thrus were a weekly habit.
But after house sitting for her grandparents, the pair got the bug for wanting their own place and decided to start saving for a house.
With nights on the town becoming less popular with Gen Z, Megs and Sam had the luxury of not spending hundreds of pounds partying at the weekend.
Megs, who works in end-of-life care, has a 40-hour working week, while Sam, 19, operates as both a carpenter and a firefighter.
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Thanks to a combination of their incomes, ditching takeaways and help from a handy financial adviser, the pair started making offers.
The couple are now proud owners of a two-bed end terrace home – equipped with a driveway that has space for three cars.
“We still managed to have fun over the year and a half we properly saved for, just on a budget,” Megs told Whats The Jam.
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“Honestly, we don’t really do many nights out – I don’t know if that’s just us or if it’s more normal now.
“We still went on holidays as that’s something we really enjoy doing together and couldn’t cut everything out but we certainly cut back on takeaways.
“When we first passed our driving tests, we were in McDonald’s and KFC 24/7.
“We then started saving just before turning 18.
“We both worked full-time after we left school and did apprenticeships.
“Once we had passed our apprenticeships, our pay rates went up so we could ramp up our monthly savings.
“Neither of us was planning to get on the ladder as young as we have, it sort of just became an idea after we house sat for my grandparents and we made it happen.
“We were just turning 18 when we saw the first house we wanted but couldn’t afford – this encouraged us to save harder.”
Admitting it wasn’t all smooth sailing, though, Megs explained: “We found another house, made an offer on it and it was accepted.
“But after a structural survey, it showed it had structural damage, so we stopped searching for a while until this one came up.
“It was initially out of our price range but we were encouraged to view. As it had been on the market for a while and needed work, we made a lower offer.
“The first one was rejected and then the second was accepted.
“We managed to negotiate £25,000 off the asking price.
“Our financial adviser was brilliant from start to finish and guided us through the whole process with our mortgage.”
She added: “We are the first out of our friends to buy a house.
“We both feel very proud to have our own house in the state of the market right now.”
