Amisa Saari and Callum Stout now pay £100 a month less for the mortgage on their two-bedroom home in High Wycombe than they did to rent a tiny flat
(Picture: Richard Eaton)After years in a transatlantic relationship, Amisa Saari and Callum Stout finally set up home together in 2018.
The couple met when Saari, now 26, who comes from Minnesota, was doing an internship in London as part of her college degree. Almost three years ago they got married and moved into 28-year-old Stout's tiny, rented flat in East Molesey.
"It was very small," said Saari. "It was a converted attic, so you would bang your head a lot, and although it was technically a one-bedroom flat, the bedroom was only divided off from the living space by a curtain.
Saari and Stout, an engineer, made it work  both were in the office all day and they spent most evenings and weekends going out and meeting friends. But when lockdown came the cracks really started to show. "Callum is a key worker, so he was still going to work but I was working from home, and doing everything from home, with no outside space," said Saari. "I started to go stir crazy."
The only good news was that, since they could not go out, they were able to up their savings efforts staying in.
Then, between lockdowns, they went to visit friends who had moved out to High Wycombe and were blown away  both by the beauty of the Chiltern Hills and the value for money to be found in terms of property. "It ticked all the boxes," said Saari, who works in public relations.
Leaving London was wrenching for Stout in particular but they realised that the commute to the centre of the city would actually be quicker from High Wycombe than from their home in East Molesey.
The couple started house hunting and last September they found a two-bedroom, two-bathroom flat with a balcony at Inland Homes' Centre Square. After working out their finances they decided to use Help to Buy to purchase the £330,000 property, putting down a five per cent deposit.
They moved in this March, and their mortgage comes to £800pcm — £100 less than they used to pay in rent.
"I love it," said Saari. "The guest bedroom is my office and we have put in a Murphy bed so that people can stay over. I am growing tomatoes and courgettes on the balcony, our gym is across the road, its easy to get to London and we have got the Chilterns to go hiking in.
"Obviously it was a scary decision, but everyone kept saying that we should get on the property ladder as quickly as possible and that is what we did."
