Mortgage Free - so good they'll do it twice! Wynnvegas aiming for the big house

abouttimetoo

Jeez Billy, I'm proper exhausted just reading about what you did yesterday, I'm working from home today and haven't even managed to get dressed properly yet

Sounds like the plans for the big house are coming along well and that the next meeting will really help with your decision making progress.

Ps, all this food talk is making me very hungry, i'm making a new recipe tonight, tagilletalle (sp) bacon and courgette, I'm really forward to it as had a fantastic one in Italy last year so I'm hoping this comes out tasting the same!

wynnvegas

Moloi Tun Froggy,

Very nearly as productive a day thus far. Sorted my trip for Monday to that England and it's looking like it will be a lot more fun than I had originally anticipated. It's not all that often I get to play bad cop in my job so I make the most of the opportunities when they arise.

I'm told it's a bog standard curry tonight for dinner. I need to get over to Tesco after work to pick up the mascarpone for the white chocolate cheesecake for the weekend and then hope to cook for the continually working (and not letting anyone forget about it) among us...

Cheers,

Billy

wynnvegas

Hi ATT,

I have to admit I prefer having the type of day where it's a decision whether or not to get out of bed at all but every now and again I get an unexpected burst of energy and it's not all that often I put it to good use. The big house is a source of mild frustration at the minute as we're unlikely to be able to move much on it in the next few months. Your dinner plans sound much better than mine. With those as base ingredients, I can't see how it could go wrong.

Cheers,

Billy

wynnvegas

Morning All,

Been a hectic wee while as always but a relatively free weekend has seen us get up to date with everything to do with work and Vegas prep. A good bit of progress with the big house planning as well!

Work has been fairly manic. I realise now that I've got a desperate need to palm off a lot of the stuff I'm doing to the people that should be doing it. After a couple of weeks of decrying the ability and efficiency of a good number of people, I'm moving to be more about the solutions. Unfortunately for some, that may mean a few folk losing their jobs. A lot of strategic analyses completed this weekend to get the ball rolling and a fortnight to provide the requisite training on how to progress them. I had a bit of a battle with a particularly uppity customer last week who didn't enjoy being put in their place. That battle should be won in the next couple of days - thereafter the war will begin and I'm right in the mood for costing them a loss of reputation and quite a bit of cash.

Sorted travel insurance for Vegas as well which only leaves spending money to sort out. Unlikely to hit the planned target on the debt reduction front ahead of the holiday but the end of October is still doable.

Had the architect round for an initial consultation yesterday morning. He's right on the case with plot hunting and is very optimistic about the prospect of de-risking and re-zoning a plot for us and suggested a likely price somewhere in the region of £30k. Looking very likely that we'll be ready to buy our plot by the end of next year which keeps us on course for moving in by 2015!

Cheers,

Billy

Dragonrider

Hi Billy,

I too would love to self-build one day, so much so that we put a bid in on a plot a couple of years ago - sadly didn't get it. I also had a subscription to Homebuilding and Renovating Mag, which I used to love (my sister called it my 'property !!!!!!'!), and found the construction tables particularly useful. Have you seen these? It gives you approx prices per square metre for small/medium/large houses, built to basic/standard/deluxe, and using yourself as a project manager (cheapest)/using architect or builder as project manager/using a self-build firm. So you could get a rough idea of how much what you wanted to build would cost. The magazine is also packed with ideas and useful tips.
Apologies if you've already seen it - I currently don't have the subscription as it's out of our reach at the moment, but I still have the collection of mags I built up! Couldn't bear to chuck them as it felt lke chucking the dream.
I'm guessing you've also researched self-build mortgages? They release the funds in stages, so that you don't have to borrow and therefore pay interest on the whole amount right from the start.

Sorry if I am teaching you to suck eggs... Very excited for you and will be watching your progress with interest!

Dragonrider

wynnvegas

Hi Dragonrider,

That's brilliant. Thanks so much for this. I'll get right on the case. I've seen a few similar build tables (all of which make me regret my inability to do a lot of the technical bits of the house) but there's never too much info to go on.

Cheers,

Billy

Froggy-G

wynnvegas wrote: »

Hi Dragonrider,

That's brilliant. Thanks so much for this. I'll get right on the case. I've seen a few similar build tables (all of which make me regret my inability to do a lot of the technical bits of the house) but there's never too much info to go on.

Cheers,

Billy

Hi Billy!

Have you looked into flat pack homes at all?? A fraction of a brick house and up and liveable in 12 weeks..

We saw a lot of land for sale up North.. Only about 5 hours commute from your current place :rotfl:

Froggy :cool:

wynnvegas

Jadica Froggy,

The price differential doesn't actually seem that much when all is said and done. It would appear that a bit of price fixing has gone on to get everything between £1,000 and £1,400 per square metre of completed build. A timber kit certainly seems the commonplace way to go and I suppose we'll be led by the architect on exactly how it comes together. I'm all about the aesthetic so I'll need to concentrate on the stability and durablity of the finished thing. It certainly won't look the part if it falls down in a high wind!!

Who knew there was so much of Scotland to get around! We must try and see a bit more. We've done a lot of the east coast but never ventured all that much over to the West. Hope it was worth the effort to shoot up.

Cheers,

Billy

wynnvegas

Morning All,

A productive morning thus far. Travel insurance confirmed, travel money ordered ($1.56 / £1) - damn these low interest rates and failing economy! - Phantom on the 25th, Piano! on 15th, the Australian Bee Gees on the 19th, the 80's Tribute gig @ Fremont on the 15th, Big Elvis on the 21st and maybe a couple of others (possibly Love on the 26th) booked or planned. Properly looking forward to getting away. Had confirmation that our rooms have been upgraded to the strip view in the Paradise Tower. Both rooms for the two weeks which is worth somewhere in the region of $1000. £27 cashback from quidco that I'd forgotten about and, all in all, everything looking pretty rosy.

No word yet on prospective plots. We've had the discussion and, as soon as land does become available, we'll grab it (with a new mortgage!!) and pay the cost off before we build the thing. Getting the land is the big issue and once we've got that out of the way, everything else becomes a straightforward case of paying as we go to get the plans drawn up, approved and locked down and then the clock starts ticking on building. We're going to do our best to get it done without a massive mortgage at the back end but I'll obviously keep everyone who reads this (even if it's only me!) up to date...

I should note that we've failed miserably on the financial targets. By the holiday, we were planning to have our credit card paid off and the acquired debt down to £5k. Our credit card currently has just over £1k on it and the acquired debt stands at £5,500. Still on course to rid the lot by October so hopefully only a small hurdle in the grand scheme of things....

Cheers,

Billy

RosieTiger

Billy, thats incredible progress, don't knock yourselves !!!!