‘Happy holiday home’: five-day funding for stunning seaside cottage.

A property investor seized the opportunity to buy the family seaside cottage where he spent his childhood holidays with a £557,000 short-term loan from Together.

Mathew Rees, 41, was able to buy his “ideal” holiday home, in St Ives, Cornwall, which was previously owned by his parents and where he’d stayed during holidays since he was three years old.

The dad-of-three, of Wilmslow, said his parents had sold the three-bedroom cottage, called Sandy Feet, a decade ago. However, he saw the quaint seafront townhouse had come back on the market when an estate agents’ advert popped up while his mum was browsing the internet.

Mr Rees said: “The reason they bought it in the first place is that my dad grew up in St Ives, living opposite the cottage, and I was heartbroken when I found out they’d sold it.

“My mum had been looking on Google when she was spending Christmas at my house and recognised a picture of their old cottage, which was really a second home for the whole family.

“I had a look and saw it was an estate agents advert saying it was for sale, so I immediately emailed the agent to see if it was still on the market.”

He was told the three-storey cottage was under offer but the agent contacted Mr Rees last month to say that, if he wanted to make a counter offer, the finance would have to be in place in five days – or he would lose the chance to buy it.

As the director of Manchester property company, St Mawes Estates, and CEO of London-based mortgage network, Beneficial, Mr Rees has worked closely with Together in the past.

He said: “I contacted the commercial CEO, Marc Goldberg, to find out whether I could get the finance in time and after carefully considering my position, agreed to release the funds. Five days later I completed on the property.”

The specialist lender agreed a 12-month commercial bridging loan of £557,000, secured against the Cornish holiday property, and two houses and an office in Manchester, which Mr Rees owns.

He plans to run the cottage as a commercial holiday let, as well as visiting with his partner, who is expecting their fourth child, and his three other children, aged 14, 11, and one.

Mr Rees said: “It holds great sentimental value for me, so it was amazing that Together was able to provide the money I needed to buy it in such a short timescale.

“It’s where my dad grew up, I’ve been on holiday there every year since I was three, and I’ve taken my own family there many times, so would’ve been heartbroken if I’d have missed the opportunity to buy it. Now me and my family plan to spend as much time there as we can.”

Marc Goldberg said: “We’re delighted of being able to help Mr Rees realise his ambition of buying the cottage which has provided so many happy memories for him over the years. It’s a wonderful place, right next to the beach in St Ives, and we’re glad he can take his own family there on holidays in the future.”