---
title: "Co-Own customer Sarah: “I would definitely recommend Co-Ownership”"
date: 2026-08-04T11:19:00+01:00
author: Sarah Hannity
canonical_url: "https://co-ownership.org/customer-stories/customer-story-sarah"
section: Customer stories
---
**Customer Stories**# Co-Own customer Sarah: “I would definitely recommend Co-Ownership”

After years of renting, a change in circumstances led Sarah to consider buying her own home.

 

  ![Sarah Laverty Co Own customer 1140x760px](https://co-ownership.s3-assets.com/1140x760px/_1040x760_crop_center-center_none/Sarah-Laverty-Co-Own-customer-1140x760px.png)  

 

 

  **For years, Sarah was content living with friends in a privately rented home. But like many young professionals, the cost of rent in Northern Ireland started to feel increasingly expensive. When Sarah’s housemate purchased her own home and moved out, Sarah decided to rent a home on her own.**

“I ended up renting on my own after that and wanted to continue living on my own. But renting on your own is quite expensive.”

Sarah had a general knowledge of Co-Ownership but didn’t know fully how it worked until one of her friends was considering it as a route to homeownership.

“I started looking into it a wee bit more, and I realised that it could work for me.”

“Whenever I did the costs with the Co-Ownership calculator, it was clear that the monthly cost of buying would be roughly similar or slightly less than renting. And I would be putting money into equity. It just made an awful lot more sense to buy.”

With the support of the Co‑Ownership team and a mortgage advisor, Sarah explored how Co-Ownership works, buying a share of a home she could afford (between 50% and 90%) while paying a small rent on the remaining share.

The process of buying a home can be overwhelming, especially as a first-time buyer, but Sarah found the Co-Ownership side of things easy to follow.

“Throughout the whole process I found the Co-Ownership side of things pretty easy. I always find that the online portal works pretty well, and its quite easy to look back on information that you’ve given.”

Sarah also reached out to our customer services team during the process.

“There were a couple of times that I had to phone Co-Ownership to ask questions, and they were always really friendly and helpful on the phone. They all felt really approachable.”

“The home buying process can be quite confusing, and so it did kind of feel like there was someone on your side and they were always really easy to get through to and talk to.”

Sarah viewed many properties during the application period, and got sale agreed on her home in Newtownabbey and got her keys in June 2026.

“I love the place that I’ve ended up in. I absolutely love it.”

For Sarah, Co-Ownership provided her with a route to homeownership and to leave the rental market.

“If you’re in the stage of wanting to get out of renting but you feel like it’s going to be either, a really long process to buying somewhere on your own, or that it just doesn’t feel possible for you, then I would definitely recommend Co-Ownership.”

 

 

## Related links

- [Our products](https://co-ownership.org/understanding-co-ownership/our-products)
- [Check your eligibility](https://co-ownership.org/tools-calculators/eligibility-checker)
- [Try our affordability calculator](https://co-ownership.org/tools-calculators/affordability-calculator)
 
 

 

 

 

   ![](https://co-ownership.org/build/images/icon-info-red.png) ## To discover if Co-Ownership is right for you, try our Eligibility Checker.

 

- [Click here](https://co-ownership.org/tools-calculators/eligibility-checker)
 
 

 

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