inigma's bimble to mortgage freedom

inigma

Hello Mortgage Slayers,
Another month another over payment. It looks like summer is finally here, gone with long johns and vests and out with the linen suits and knotted handkerchief head protectors. I have been trying to find myself someone again, I signed up to this internet dating thing this month (I really think this internet thing is a fabulous thing, I really think it’s going really take off one of these days). The first date wasn't good, it ended up with me having to put the girl in a taxi and paying the driver to take her away. (That’s how I role, girls don’t get so drunk on a date that you are just a pain in the !!!!).
I am not going to give up on finding someone BUT it does feel like there is no happy medium, the next girl I went on a date with was so shy I couldn't get a word out of her and there were too many awkward silences. So I am going to continue on looking for someone with gay abandon.
On the market front we are seeing the FTSE 100 hitting the giddying heights not seen in 5 years, we avoided a triple dip recession, the UK service sector is improving month on month and manufacturing is also improving. So why aren't we in the street jumping up and down and high 5-ING people (this was the question posed by inigma’s brother, that said he once also questioned our grandmother if she died during the war...). I tried explaining the concept of inflation to him, that if someone earns £100 and a pint of beer costs 50p that person can buy 200 pints of beer, and then next year if the man still earns £100 and a pint of beer goes up to £1 then you can only get 100 pints of beer. (Granted this level of beer would make the late great Oli Reed baulk). A lot of people I speak to have said they haven’t had a pay rise for a couple of years could technically argue they have had a pay cut. I am a firm believer in cyclical events, we went through the boom years from 2000-2007 where pay rises were above inflation, I was just a student at the time so didn't really feel the benefit of it however I have been working since and find it really tough, everything seems so much more expensive, I have fewer coppers in my pockets at the end of every month and if I do save anything then it depreciates in value (if your savings get 1.5% interest per annum and inflation is 4% then that really hurts). BUT if this is a cyclical thing then surely we have got through the worst of the winter and the green shoots of spring are coming through what will we do differently, are we going to be a nation of squirrels who look after their nuts (no giggling) and make sure there are enough to last for the next winter, or will we be carefree squirrels gobbling nuts (seriously stop giggling) all summer long.
I remember a quote from Colin Powell that sums this up nicely: "There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure".

Till next month

Shark

Very enjoyable read Inigma. Good luck in the future and keep us updated.

fluffysox

Just been enjoying reading your diary. Good luck on the journey. I will subscribe to this thread and look forward to your updates

inigma

Hello Mortgage Slayers,

Another month another overpayment! Start spreading the word, Inigma has found love, that's right after spending close to £200 on that internet dating malarkey I went and found myself a little lady whilst on a friends veranda one lazy evening. Let me tell you the sonnets are flowing, we are skipping hand in hand through meadows (ok stumbling drunkenly around Camden is more believable).

The odd thing is that I am now spending more time cleaning my flat (oven has been scrubbed this evening) than ever before, that's right as a singleton Inigma was the slob, it was as though Men Behaving Badly were back 20 years later!

So what happens every couple of years that makes Inigma excited (other than having agirlfriend), the Ashes come to town, Inigma has recollections of the late 80's Ashes onwards, so when we beat those Aussies in 2005 I enjoyed watching Australia be on the losing side for once! One of the chants the Barmy Army had which made me laugh was "We get 3 dollars to the Pound!"sung to the tune of "He's got the whole world in his hands". This brings me rather nicely on to the topic this month, if I was to ask your goodselves when do you think Australia last had a recession, some of you might say "surely Inigma they are in a recession now, there is a GLOBAL financial crisis, get down from your Ivory Tower and get with the times!" Well get ready to hold on to your hats, the last time Australia had a recession was in 1991, that's right over 20 years ago since Australia had a recession. Speaking to Mrs Inigma about this (bit of pillow talk) she didn't understand why they had been so lucky, I asked her what she new Australia had an abundance of, she said snakes spiders and deadly animals. I then asked if she knew about the resource rich land of Australia and that combined with a Chinese economy that decided to build a lot infrastructure.

So with Australia so close and full of lovely ore China started buying a lot of the stuff, HOWEVER the mining industry is pretty much restricted to Western Australia and the Northern Territories, the other states (South Australia, Australia Central Territories, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania) have all pretty much been in recession, with Australia exporting so much it drove the value of the Aussie Dollar way up (I think in April 2013 £1would get AUD1.45, compared to the 16th June 2008 where £1 would get you AUD3.05). As with most things in life somethings just come to an end, and China's growth has started to slowdown (if you want to see something bizarre then Google "china ghost cities"). BUT so much damage has been caused from such a high Aussie Dollar, the non mining states which relies on Tourism and Manufacturing have been killed, think about it, 6 years ago £1 would get us AUD 3.05 whereas now we only get AUD 1.45. So with the mining slowing down the Australian Government is having to make sure the rest of the economy is up to cover the loss.

The upshot of this is that we now get AUD1.65 for the £1. I have a feeling that Julia Gillard will have a hard task to prove to the world that she didn't put all her eggs in one basket. One way or another avoiding a recession is as ridiculous notion as King Canute on the beach. Only time will tell and until then all we can say is "We get $1.65 to the £"

Till next month

inigma

Hello Mortgage Slayers,

Another month another overpayment! Wow how hot is it now! 6 months ago we were all !!!!!ing that it was too cold now we are complaining it is too hot!

Just a quick note this month, my student loan is properly gone, I have got a bit more cash from my pay cheque in my pocket! It feels so good, knowing that graduating 9 years ago now, that my student loan is gone I was lucky it was only £9,800 (not small by any means) I only started paying it off 4 years ago (due to temping and travelling), it acted as a nice reminder as to why I want to clear my mortgage, getting the noose of debt from around my neck and being a bit more free. I need to start saving a large amount of capital for September 2016, when my mortgage deal runs out, having this extra money from my student loan will have to go straight in to the saving pool. My only problem at the moment is that I am really struggling to maintain a life, I am staring at everything in the supermarket asking, "do I need this" and if I am thinking about holidays I end up deciding not too as I would rather save the money. I really need to perfect this balance as I can easily become obsessed about clearing my mortgage and not living life. I find it really inspiring reading the mortgage free links (I refuse to comment on that link until I have finally cleared my mortgage.). My current aim is to clear the mortgage by September 2019 (rather than 2036) so maybe in January 2020 I will be on a cruise somewhere.

Well stay cool, eat ice cream, drinks lots of cold drinks and enjoy the sun.

Till next month

inigma

Hello Mortgage Slayers,

Another month and another overpayment!

Well how's about that then, the first British Chap to waft a racket successfully at Wimbledon in 7 years! The Lions won in Australia and hopefully the Ashes will be wrapped up in the coming month.

This month was a bit of a monumental one for me, every month I receive a letter from Nationwide saying "you have recently paid more than your required monthly mortgage payment... following your previous instruction we have used your overpayment to reduce your remaining mortgage term as follows: Remaining term: 19 Years 10 Months". I have got less than 20 years left on the mortgage! It is now as though I purchased my property in July 2008 rather than September 2011!

There have been a few concerns at work recently , you know emails from senior management using words like "streamlining" and "bringing our process to a global model", the cynics amongst know what that means, within 5 minutes Inigma was on the phone to Nationwide, I can if needs be use my overpayments as a holiday and go a year without having to make an overpayment. More interestingly I asked them what they value my property at and what by LTV is. I got the flat for £170k they now valued it at £184k which is over 2 years an increase of 8.25% a good return, although I believed that Nationwide are only taking what I purchased the flat for and adding the average price rise for the area. I phoned round some estate agents and they put the value at £240k - £250k! I am sure everyone here had tried to predict what will happen with the property market (we have all been to house price crash .com etc).

A few months ago Inigma was invited out to the local public house for an evening of intelligent conversation, however Inigma got carried away and drank one too many schooners of sherry and found himself hugging the porcelain god when he got home, the next morning I vowed to learn from my mistakes and swear off the devil juice.

Still things are looking up, HSBC, Halifax, Nationwide, NatWest et al are all boasting about more mortgage approvals than any time in the last 6 years, wonder if any of them will start offering 100% - 110% mortgages again. In a rather impressive bid capital one tried sending me a credit card the other day. Looks like they forgot the pain of the hangover and have decided that this time will be different...

Till next month!

inigma

Hello Mortgage Slayers,

Another month and another overpayment! So August was a really good month, I have been really struggling in my current job, really getting depressed about it, I am sure a few will connect with that feeling of your gut rotting because you dislike your job you don't know how to cope. Well out of the blue I have been asked to manage a new team, no payrise but hopefully an increase in the quality of my life will put shot to that.

I have also been discussing with Mrs inigma the possibility of a good proper holiday next year (nothing in over a year as a holiday). We are discussing Thailand as an option, it certainly looks cheap for what it is, will play around with a few spreadsheets and work out what I can afford.

I have been discussing with a friend, how expensive is food these days? I like fish, on a Friday in particular but it is notably expensive as to how much trout is, my favourite is Pollock and that's going up, thankfully offal Thursday is still the cheapest and most value for money meal of the week. Make sure you make the most of the bumper crop of fruit and veg after this incredible summer, I am spending my weekends making lots of tomato pasta sauces!

Till next month!

inigma

Hello Mortgage Slayers,

Another month and another overpayment!

I have been making overpayments for close to 2 years now and it feels like I have made no impact whatsoever, I'm getting mega depressed about it as I just can't seem to shift it (granted that shifting it will take till 2017/2018) I try looking at the overpayment calculator on this site to see where I would be had I not made any overpayments and that helped for a while but not any more. I have tried to not think about it but it's constantly in front of me.

Gideon Osborne (Chancellor's real name) has put the new help to buy scheme in place, I honestly can't see how it will benefit anyone other than the banks. Everyone can go out and but properties with 95% mortgages, the government guarantees 25% of the houses value. The threat of being geared is passed on to the poor first time buyers, still it should encourage banks to lend and for money to pass through the hands of society and we will be told everything is fine (yet the nurses will lose there pay rise) and we will all feel grand come election time in May 2015 to vote them in again.

Does anyone not think the way to solve the housing crisis in this country is not create more demand (by opening up the market more by offering 95% mortgages) but increasing supply, but if that happened then house prices would come down and that would make us sad and the banks poorer and the election would be lost. I am convinced we could be headed to a bubble again, maybe I could just time everything right and get off at the top and then buy it back once it has gone down again (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7657178.stm).

If anyone can offer any words of advise or motivation it would be greatly appreciated.

Till next month!

gallygirl

Does seeing how much interest you've saved not motivate you? That's the clincher for me :T.

inigma

Thanks Gallygirl, I spent my lunch break playing around with spreadsheets, I am tempted to reduce my mortgage term to 10 years, at the moment my mortgage has been assumed on a 25 year basis and costs £848.10 a month and I overpay £500 (so £1,348.10 a month), I have reduced the mortgage now so that I could drop the term to 10 years and pay £1,338.00 a month. Maybe knowing that I am less than 10 years away from freedom would be a nice motivator, however if I do that then I lose my £11k worth of overpayments as it will be included as the recalculated balance.

The alternative is I stick it out till September 2016 where if I carry on as present my outstanding balance would be £93,000.

I know I need to be more Mo Farrah than Usain Bolt about my mortgage but surely even Mo Farrah wants the finish line a quarter of the way through the race.