Long wait is worthwhile!

IT was one of the longest weeks of their lives, but for Limavady couple Hannah Potter and Stephen McClean, a hoist up on the property ladder was well worth the cold and the rain.

The couple snapped up the very first ex-MOD home on sale in Ballykelly amid cheers and tears of joy on Saturday as the first of 317 houses went on the market. Now renamed Loughview, the development of two, three and four bedroomed houses came on the market priced between 30,000 and 65,000. Each property went to a first time buyer, many of whom had camped along the roadside for up to eight days before the homes went on sale at 9am on Saturday morning. Speaking to the Sentinel on the joy of claiming their new home, Hannah said she and fiance Stephen couldn't wait to begin their new life.

Hannah said: "It's great and we can't wait to get the keys and move in. This is our first home and worth camping at the side of the road for.

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"We officially owned our house at 9am the next morning and the atmosphere really was indescribable. We are very happy."

Stephen's cousin Daniel McLean was number four in the queue and said he was "over the moon" after camping out for over a week to claim one of the bargain homes.

"The last night was definitely the coldest but there's no arguing that the wait was worth it. I have other relatives in the queue who will also be buying homes and I have got to know the people around me so I basically know my neighbours well," laughed Daniel.

"Tensions were high at the start, no one would even talk about which house they were after plus there was the fear of queue jumping but after we sorted out our own ticket system everyone started to open up a bit. Now we are all just looking forward to moving into our new homes."

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All of the ex-army homes went to over 300 first time buyers who are now looking forward to moving into the reinvented housing development which is due to boast a shopping complex and two state-of-the-art kids' play parks. The site is owned by Dublin-based property developers Merrion Property Group. It is the first residential development for the group in Northern Ireland.

Nicola Cosby and partner John Taylor, number 11 in the queue, snapped up a two bedroomed property in the Fort Drive area of the development.

Nicola says: "It's just great, we will never forget this experience. Now we can look forward to shopping for our new home, we've already bought a sofa. Our home was one of the more expensive two bedroomed homes but even at that we are saving so much money to give ourselves a great start."

The first 100 of the former Shackleton Barracks homes sold out at an incredible one per minute on Saturday, with the rest being completely sold within eight hours. Estate agent for the properties Derek McAleese has told home owners that they can expect to receive the keys of their properties in six to eight weeks.

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