When Aleksandra Zaranek came over to Scotland from Poland she hoped to improve her English and get a university degree. Her English is great now and her degree should be obtained in the next few months. So far so good – but things have got even better for attractive bubbly Aleksandra. Not only has she found and married the man of her dreams but she has become a proud house owner as well. “I had never heard of the Lift scheme – which means you can buy a house without having to find a deposit. But my husband Maciej Zaranek found out about it and we decided to see if we qualified. I remember being really nervous before our first meeting with our mortgage advisor. But actually the scheme is easy to understand when it is all explained to you. We were thrilled to find we qualified and almost before we knew it we were house hunting”. The couple quickly found a suitable “starter home” in the Garthamlock area ofGlasgow. Alexsandra loves her new house. “It’s got two bedrooms and most importantly a big kitchen because Maciej Zaranek loves to cook nice meals for me! The good thing is because we didn’t have to put down a deposit we can spend some of the money we were saving in getting the house just as we want it. I can’t really believe that we’ve gone from wondering if we could buy a house to actually moving in – all in about twelve weeks.” Aleksandra would advise all young couples to investigate the Lift scheme. “I thought getting a mortgage and buying a house would be really difficult and stressful. But it was not like that at all. If you get the right advice the whole process is fairly easy to be honest. We couldn’t be happier in our new home – any young couples wanting to buy but not able to put down a deposit really should investigate the Lift scheme. It was great for us!” Picture left to right – Terry Ann O’Donnell, Aleksandra Zaranek, Sebastian Kedziora