It's time to attack the mortgage!

museumworker

macgirl wrote: »

DD is fine thanks Cath - right as rain! Think it was me force-feeding her juiced avocado, cue, spinach etc before her chilli and rice

_pale__pale__pale_

No wonder she was sick :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:! Glad it wasn't anything more serious.

macgirl

HaHa! I know

Good Morning

Mortgage payment goes out tomorrow which will include the regular £132 op to round it up to £1750. We were going to up this by £100 but have decided to wait until April. I should get a bonus in March, but these things are never guaranteed so we'll see what that brings, then hopefully be able to make a large op then.
Sept 2010) and wondering where they will be in 2015 when our fix runs out. That is a huge focus, as I am very concerned about negative equity. We bought our first house in 2001, so of course benefited from the boom like everyone else, but used this equity towards financing our current house.
So we must overpay as much as we can to put ourselves in a better position for when the fix ends.
I can't WAIT to be out of this fix and hope to God that the rates stay low so we can take advantage and start hammering it down.

Also our BTL finishes in Sept this year. Interest rates are much more favourable now than they were, with many thinking that rates will lower even further by then. After seeking advice on the mortgage boards, it seems that going with another IFA is the way to go (of course it was all IFA's who recommended that :cool:), which I wanted to avoid as it cost us £500 last time - for one mortgage.

We felt we needed an IFA for this move as DH has his own business and we wanted a BTL and res mortgage and felt we were given good advice, but I've always gone direct before so want to save the fee this time.

Sorry for the long ramble, but I guess this is the place to do it!

Plans for today are:

• To run with the club - there's some snow but nothing major.
• Nip to Wilko's and buy some foil take-away type trays and have an afternoon of batch cooking for the freezer
• Ensure all laundry is up to date and possibly do some ironing to save on ironing lady fees (last week this was £17 - is often £30 )
• Put some things on Amazon

There will be the usual battle of homework and piano practise x2, getting ready for school and work tomorrow blah blah, then collapse!


Have a good day if you're reading

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Sounds like a busy day! You are so right to take the day off with your daughter, they are young for such a short time, so make the most of it.

Squirrel

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi MacG, we have so much snow here and have taken the dog for a huge walk with th kids and DH sledging down the hills as we passed then.

Enjoy your batch cooking, I will think of you this afternoon as I am doing the same.

Beat wishes Tilly x

Brodiebobs

There are IFI's and mortgage advisors that are 'fee-free' but I think they are worth their fee's for the advice and special offers they tend to have rather than going direct. Also very useful if you have special requirements like being self-employed.

First mortgage we got was through an IFI and we hardly did anything, just gave him a pile of papers and signed when it was all done! second time we went through our bank and had endless problems, (for example requesting 6 months of statements for the account we held with them!? apparently the mortgage dept cant see them) the benefit of the IFI was they chased it all up, checked to make sure it was correct before they relayed the info to us, the bank seemed like they didnt communicate and they all worked for same company!!

For the hassle aspect i'd rather pay to not have to deal with it!

gallygirl

It depends also on how much you are borrowing. On a massive mortgage a £1000 fee may be worth it if you get access to better rates. When I remortgaged for 30k I did it myself as IFA's weren't competitive - the cost of the deals they could offer were prohibitive because of the fees. I ended up with Stafford Railway BS - 4.5% repayment, but as it will be paid off in just over 2 years that's ok for me, and it is totally flexible with internet op's possible . Plus when I arranged it, if I phoned up I got straight through to a human being who knew all about it, and I used their recommended local solicitor and they used to pop round the corner swapping documents

macgirl

Secret_Saving_Squirrel wrote: »

Sounds like a busy day! You are so right to take the day off with your daughter, they are young for such a short time, so make the most of it.

Squirrel

Thanks Squirrel, I think so too. My boss told me how she had to miss both parent's evening due to work, but I just can't do that. There has to be balance and too often it's tipped the wrong way. I think a day of TLC helped my DD on many levels

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS wrote: »

Hi MacG, we have so much snow here and have taken the dog for a huge walk with th kids and DH sledging down the hills as we passed then.

Just got back from a hard 8 mile run across snow covered hills - saw plenty of sledgers! My girls are very disappointed that our snow has all but gone

Brodiebobs wrote: »

For the hassle aspect i'd rather pay to not have to deal with it!

Come to think of it Brodiebobs, reading your post has brought it all back to me. I arranged the mortgage for this house as we stayed with Natwest, but my blood pressure went through the roof on a daily basis as I was constantly ringing them to gee them along. The IFA sorted out everything for the rental as well as our life and CI cover. We were really happy with his advice and liked dealing with him. I guess you get what you pay for and life's stressful enough. It's just that this money saving lark is a hard habit to break! Thanks though

Hi Gally, yes we're borrowing a largish amount and won't be overpaying until we drive down this mortgage first. Currently, the rent covers the mortgage (IO payments) plus added to the maintenance costs last year meant that our tax bill was negligible. I've heard from many quarters, that this is what to aim for, but personally I'd rather be making more of a profit - even if that means paying more tax? I admit I'm a bit dim when it comes to all that, I just want to make sure we can afford to pay both and not go into NE.

Right must go and get something done - forgot I'm out with 3 girlfriends tonight - so very much looking forward to that!

gallygirl

macgirl wrote: »

Hi Gally, yes we're borrowing a largish amount and won't be overpaying until we drive down this mortgage first. Currently, the rent covers the mortgage (IO payments) plus added to the maintenance costs last year meant that our tax bill was negligible. I've heard from many quarters, that this is what to aim for, but personally I'd rather be making more of a profit - even if that means paying more tax? I admit I'm a bit dim when it comes to all that, I just want to make sure we can afford to pay both and not go into NE.

It's a difficult decision to make as the psychological imapct can make such a difference. In my mind, the £229.50 a month I'm spending on the btl mortgage, on my late mum's house so my own property, is stopping me overpaying £229.50 on the mortgages I have with Mr GG who has contributed around 60k more than me :eek:. Once the btl is clear the op's will go in a savings account as other mortgages are much lower rates. Bring it on

hypno06

**creeps in quietly**

Hi xx

macgirl

:j:T:j No need to creep Hypno - you're MSE Royalty! In fact you should start an MFW diary and show us how it's done!


Hello
Been busy and very, very tired this week. Unfortunately it's been a spendy week - mostly necessary, but some not (mac make-up and boots (in the sale) ).
Today has been a NSD. Went and did the Parkrun (got a PB :j) and then came home, cleaned - which is neverending and baked with DD1 while DH took little DD to a party.

The decluttering of the cellar is slow but sure, as are the mortgage op's.

Will provide more of a money update next week.

Hope everyone's well, off to catch up on the diaries