Home Truths: 'I bought my dream project home after my divorce'

Big life changes can prompt us to move house. And sometimes, it’s the start of something amazing.

When James* got divorced from his wife, he was looking for a fresh start.

Buying a project home in Chingford was the perfect way to get enough space for his kids and stay close to their school.

• Age: 44

• Job: Self-employed plumber

• Salary: £40,000

• House price: £345,000

• Deposit: £200,000

• Mortgage rate: 3.7%

• Mortgage payments: £900 a month

I split up with my wife a little over a year ago. We agreed our two young children should stay with her in our marital home. My job has very demanding hours, so we thought it best if I moved out.

I started by looking at house prices in my old area and quickly realised I wouldn't be able to afford it.

But I have friends and family in Chingford, so I had a look at what they bought their homes for.

The average house price in Chingford is £522,827 at the moment. It’s a lot of money, but it's cheaper than house prices in my old area.

I also realised that my friends' homes were gaining value pretty quickly.

So I decided to buy a home in need of total renovation that I could gradually do up, and maybe even make a profit one day.

Once I knew which areas I could afford, I wanted to make sure I could still get to my kids’ school in half an hour.

Chingford’s not totally my scene but it's great that we’re right next to Epping Forest. We can go on epic muddy walks whenever things get too much.

I did, but I looked up the going rate and you're looking at paying an average of £1,837 to rent a 3 bedroom house in Chingford.

As I had a decent deposit, I was pretty sure my mortgage repayments would be less.

I couldn’t have bought my home if I hadn’t inherited some money from a great aunt, who I loved dearly.

Once my aunt’s house had been sold and all the probate stuff had been sorted (which took months), I had enough cash to put down a £200,000 deposit on a house.

That meant I wasn’t borrowing a huge amount in the grand scheme of things.

It was touch and go for a few weeks though. I went through a mortgage broker who really scrutinised my income. 

I haven’t been self-employed for that long, and my income can go up and down for different reasons.

It was pretty stressful but we got there in the end.

It’s a really ugly three-bedroom, semi-detached house built in the 1980s. It’s got brown bricks and these horrible tiles on the front.

The kitchen is tiny and all the carpets and skirting boards are different shades of brown.

The garden’s a bit of a wilderness and there’s an old shopping trolley tangled up in the hedge at the bottom.

Pretty much everything needs replacing.

But the rooms are great sizes and there’s loads of light. The garden is huge – I knew my kids would love it.

It’s a massive project but it’s going to be great. If you’ve got a bit of imagination, you can see what potential it has.

The house isn’t totally habitable, so I’m sort of camping out in two of the downstairs rooms at the moment while I get started.

I’m planning a new kitchen, a new bathroom and new carpets. Ideally, I’d like to knock through the downstairs rooms at some point.

It'll cost a lot to completely do up, but I’m happy to do all these things slowly over the long term.

My kids are aged 7 and 5 so they’ll be at school in the area for a good while yet. Maybe by the time they go to university the house will be finished!

It's definitely been the fresh start I needed.

I have zero regrets about buying a renovation project. Despite the heart palpitations about how much work it needs!

The only thing I’d change is how my ex and I worked through things. I suspect our relationship would be better now if we’d acted differently. It was almost as messy as my new house!

But most importantly, I have a nice safe house for my kids to come and stay with me.