Where to put the extra cash..?

cb4fwh

So my mortgage 'application' was approved when I provided proof of income, and was underwritten in 2 days. Impressed overall with the Santander service!

Apparently because I have recently changed my mortgage product, I don't have to pay my mortgage this month - the first payment is next month. Not going to complain - this will help with the costs of moving!

smifffy1989

Fantastic! Has it all continued to go smoothly?

cb4fwh

We're now waiting for the complexities of the house chain to become clearer!

Although we had an offer accepted on the house we are looking to buy circa 6 weeks ago, the people that we are buying off only had an offer accepted on the house that they want to buy 2 weeks ago! Hopefully we'll be in before xmas fingers crossed!

cb4fwh

So, a couple of updates. My mortgage balance is now under £160,000 for the first time! My Santander lifetime tracker at 2.49% is also now active, which has seen my monthly mortgage payments decrease from about £1640 to £1260, which is quite pleasing!

The house purchase process continues to tick over. It has been around 12 weeks now since our offer was accepted, and based upon the conversation with the solicitor our buyers are almost in a position to exchange & complete soon. Whether this happens before xmas, we will have to wait & see!

The monies for the house purchase / sale costs e.g stamp duty, estate agent / solicitor fees are now in the bank ready to transfer which is pretty satisfying! The only annoyance is that this is £20k that could've been a mortgage overpayment, but such is life!

cb4fwh

So, it looks as though we may exchange either tomorrow or Monday with a view to completing next Friday 12th.

And a big thumbs up to George Osbourne, who has saved me £1000 in stamp duty. The downside is that I didn't realise how expensive it was to insure thatched & listed buildings - the best quote so far about £1000! I know where that saving is going!

cb4fwh

So, I'm now in my new house! It was all a bit lastminute.com, but we got in a couple of weeks before xmas. It's completely different to where we were - very quiet & remote, but I do prefer it that way!

The bad news is that we seem to have rats in the thatched roof, and apparently the thatch is also nearing the end of its life! So, it looks as though the roof replacement may take priority over overpayments in the short term...

cb4fwh

Just an update to say that things haven't really changed from an overpayment perspective! We're still saving for the thatched roof, which will cost in the region of £30k to replace.

Then we are likely to move on to making the large outbuilding into something more habitable (assuming the planning permission is granted).

So for the moment, paying off this mortgage by March 2019 looks pretty unlikely, but at least the money is being invested rather than wasted!

CharlotteBarnes

Whereabouts are you based cb4fwh? I know a thatcher if you want a comparison quote