Rachael, 29, and Shelby, 27, are sisters who don’t do things by halves. The sassy pair went ahead and bought their two-bedroom apartment home off-plan at Lovell Homes’ 345 Park Place, in Southwark, before they had even set eyes on the show home.
The sisters had been on a mission to get onto the property ladder in London. Having saved up their £36,500 deposit, using the Help to Buy scheme to enable them to buy the £600,000 property and move out of rented accommodation.
Rachael explained that, “We talked about renting together, but it made better sense to pull resources to buy together. We are from London and it just made sense to buy with my sister as we had the same goal of owning a property and couldn’t do it on our own.”
Rachael explained; “I am a true north London girl – we were both brought up in Kensal Rise, and neither of us ever envisaged that we would end up moving south of the river to Southwark.”
“We heard about an off-plan sales launch day and the lure of free champagne and a chance to look at the plans for the 24 new one, two, and three bedroom apartment homes, was enough of an incentive to save the date and head south.
The launch event was a big success and within an hour over a large number of the apartments had been reserved. The sisters acted on impulse and put down their deposit.
Rachael, who works in the luxury re-sale fashion business and Shelby, who is a product manager in the food industry, adore their spacious apartment which is in an up and coming district nestled next to the beautiful green space of Southwark Park. Rachael says: “I can’t believe how I’m now a total south of the river convert! We love everything about living in this location. Bermondsey has a great social scene – lots of cool bars, friendly cafes, good restaurants, busy local markets, some fantastic independent shops and lovely green spaces close by. It’s also in Zone 2 with fantastic transport connections, which mean we can both commute easily. I can travel to West Hampstead on the Jubilee line and Shelby, who works out of town, can get a train from Liverpool Street.”
To cap it all, the sisters have a CrossFit centre practically at the end of their road. Shelby, is a keen cheerleader, and loves the fact that being south of the river means she is closer to her friends and fellow team mates in Battersea.
Rachael added: “More than anything, we just love our apartment. We are positioned on the front corner of the development building, which gives us an incredible 180-degree cityscape view, and because the surrounding houses are low build, we get a panoramic vista of Tower Bridge and the skyline.”
Shelby added: “Lovell Homes has come up with such a clever design in terms of layout, storage and the way the space flow; to us it makes it feel like living in a townhouse. We have two large balconies, giving us extra space for chilling and entertaining. We are enjoying the views and magical London sunsets. The windows are a generous size and our entire flat is flooded with natural light, so we get a feel-good factor all day long.”
Simon Ginsberg, head of sales at Lovell, said: “I’m delighted to hear how well Rachael and Shelby have settled in. We are proud to have created a landmark site at 345 Southwark Park Place, transforming an under-used building into much needed quality, energy efficient residential homes. This is a very good time to visit and pick out an apartment which offers excellent value for money.”
