Boarding the Bus of Positivity (for 24 months of travels!)

debtfreesomeday

Thank you both for your thoughts and responses on the mortgage dilemma. It's really good to have two different angles on it.

We have decided to go ahead and try to purchase a particular house we have found in a new development. It's everything we have dreamt of. It's a village setting, with good local schools, nice walks and lots of small town amenities just a short walk away. There are lots of fetes and events there in the summer months and there is a real sense of community spirit. It is very much like my home village, just 250 miles north! It is a very spacious house and has enough room for more than one 'unit' of my family members to come and stay at once!
As with all good things, it's not proving easy. We have been approved for a low rate mortgage which will be less than the debt we have been paying for the last X number of years, BUT someone else is interested in the house and has a hold on it for the next two weeks, in which time, they must sell their house. If they don't sell in that time, there is a very strong chance it will be ours! Our house is being valued next week for a 'quick sale' price or possibly (and hopefully) for part exchange or a 'quick mover' programme. Fingers crossed, we are holding our breath for the next two weeks!

Other news - I've done really well on eBay this week, making around £225. I have a high value BIN on there too which, if sold, will make around £235 after fees.
I should also be getting around £50 this week from a local sale, and maybe another £15 if some furniture sells.

We're off out for the day tomorrow, stopping off at a discount shopping type development to look for a coat for DH as his zip broke this week. We're also going to use our tesco vouchers for lunch at pizza express :0)

Hope everyone's having a good weekend x

wantabetterlife

Hi DFSD...the house and setting sound really lovely. I would doubt the other interested party would get their house sold in two weeks so hopefully it will be yours. I am sure you will be on egg shells for the next two weeks though. Are there any other houses in the development that you would be interested in?
Well done on the ebay sales...i havent sold anything on there in well over a year. I am either all or nothing when it comes to ebay and unfortunately at the minute its nothing!

Enjoy your day out tomorrow

debtfreesomeday

Hi WABL x

Yes, there are other houses being built which are the same as this, but part ex/fast mover scheme is not offered on those plots presently. This one is a couple of weeks away from being finished and they won't release any more houses for sale until they've sold the first batch, so are offering incentives which will make it an easier option or slightly cheaper.

I'm the same with eBay, don't touch it for ages and then everything not nailed down is on there! I still dislike it, but I guess it's a good way to make some extra cash.

When is no. 4 making an appearance WABL? Exciting times!!! Hope all is well xx

debtfreesomeday

A £68.99 refund to the credit card has reduced the balance slightly, am hoping to be able to throw a bit more at those this month, thanks to the eBay sales, but will wait until payday (tomorrow) to see how much is left in the account before salaries go in.
I've also updated the loan amount in my sig. with this month's payment. It now stands at just under £3.5k.

Chocforever

I really hope you get the house . I have my fingers and toes crossed for you.

And well done with persisting with Ebay. Like WABL, I have phases with it and I haven't sold anything on there for a while. Not that I am sitting on any great things to sell though!

It is freezing here today. I'm enjoying a morning in before having to venture out this afternoon to help out at a concert. I had a bad night's sleep (perhaps you did too being on here at 6am) and I'm sure that will catch up on me later.

A house came up for sale yesterday which is down the road from me. Great location, small detached house. Needs new kitchen, bathroom etc but cosmetic rather than structural work. I phoned the agent. They were so rude :mad: . Anyway, it's going to be sold via an open day which seems to be increasingly common here and they haven't arranged a date yet. It is a bit overpriced for what it is but they had a lot of interest due to few similar properties coming on the market in the last 12 months. I think it will go for more than the asking price just for that reason. One to ponder. The plot and aspect are dingy. I'm wondering if that is a compromise I can make.

Take care x

debtfreesomeday

It's 4am and ds has had us up most of the night already, so will keep this brief for now and chat later whilst trying to keep my eyes open at my desk, no doubt.

Just checked the bank account as we've been paid today, and there was £73.80 left in the account before salaries went in, so have just made an extra payment of that amount to the credit card.

Hopefully I'll now be able to get a couple more hours sleep...

debtfreesomeday

Just sold high value ebay item for £275 :j That money will be put aside to go towards paying our stamp duty if we move!

debtfreesomeday

Thanks for the crossed digits Chocs.

Have you had any more thoughts on the house that is for sale near you? Certainly one to ponder. I guess it depends how much work you want to do / get done before or whilst living in the house and if you think the positioning of the plot will bother you somewhat.
I guess it's worth going to the open day, even if you decide not to buy; at least you'll get a better idea of what it sells for etc.

Don't even get me started on estate agents.... :mad:

debtfreesomeday

Well, I didn't get any more sleep in the end, so have been awake from around 2.30am. :eek: It's a long day already. I got up around 5am and did some ironing, wrote some figures down that had been going round in my head and generally got organised for the day.

I've just booked collection for four large ebay parcels for tomorrow, so they'll be on their way. I now need to book the high value one tonight for pick up on Wednesday. That'll be those out of my way and the house less cluttered. Now I just need the local buyer to pick up a bulky item and give me £50 for the pleasure :0)

I listed 4 more items on ebay last night / this morning as BIN's, hopefully they'll sell too as will make around £35-£40. No watchers yet though. :0(

I've also listed some other bulky items locally and one has already sold this morning for £10, so just £59 more and we would have covered the stamp duty if we buy this house (£2100). I have decided to use the £1000 my lovely Nan left me last year to help towards the house if it happens. That way she's helped with our new home. I hope she would be happy about that, I'm sure she would. Makes me well up thinking about her still though. :0(

I've pretty much worked out what the developer will offer us as P/X for our old house as they will only offer up to 65% of the cost of the new house, so £136K + a bit. It's less than I think it's worth, but is it a lot less than we'd get if we tried to sell it ourselves at the moment? We could market it higher, but I'm sure we would receive lower offers than the asking price. There's no estate agency fees etc to pay this way, so that would be a saving of around £3k. I really don't know what we should do for the best - market it ourselves, pay fees and risk losing the house we like, or accept P/X, get lower than market value price but not pay associated fees but secure the house we want. Argh, what to do?!?!?!?

debtfreesomeday

Another £15 made from some furniture sold locally Just £49 to find to cover the stamp duty! It is quite inspiring trying to raise the cash when you have a specific budget/amount/cause in mind. Maybe I should've taken that approach years ago...