Andrea Dean

Shared ownership changed the lives of this family.

Shared ownership provides a route out of renting and into a place of your own (Picture: Getty Images)Now is a particularly tricky time to be a first-time buyer. Over the past 21 months, the Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 times, making mortgages more expensive than they’ve been in over a decade. They’re also harder to get, as lenders have tightened their criteria and ramped up affordability checks, examining applicants’ finances forensically and applying stress tests to see how they…

It's just 18 minutes away from King's Cross.

Charlton House (Picture: Paul Gapper/Alamy)The Royal Borough of Greenwich has so much to offer that residents are often reluctant to move out when buying their first or subsequent home. There’s the river, the parks, the history, the architecture and the Unesco World Heritage site, not to mention the great schools, fast transport links, shops, pubs and clubs. But while property in high-profile central Greenwich and Blackheath comes at a price, Charlton is still comparatively good value. It’s a fr…

It is only one stop from Stratford too.

Locations don’t get much more central than this, right on top of the corridors of power.

It may put a smile on your face.

‘It is so lovely and quiet here.’

‘Finding a property so close to work was a massive bonus.’

Because some of us could do with some help.