Hi all - Report card says 'must do better'

chivers1977

What about Gas safety checks etc that you need to do on a BTL plus maintenance. Is it still such a good deal? Is there any equity left in the BTL?

lynsayjane

Barebear wrote:

I'm in a rural village in South Scotland so the demand for rental properties here is not as great as it is in the town. I'm really getting top dollar for the flat in our area. It's a really well equipped and well kept modern flat too.

I never realised that I was losing money here. Thanks for pointing that out. I've got it down to £11 amonth for the insurance now so I've got it within the £350.

It was my own flat before we moved to the bigger house, I suppose it just made sense to keep it and rent it out. It's a small price to pay for a decent investment, IMHO. (I may be wrong )

cheeky question, which rural village are you in...i've been to (too) many down that way myself...

as for the investment i guess it depends on whether you can afford it with being in debt really. either you find another way to earn more money and pay off your debts or you could sell the flat (it's not really making a profit so i'm not sure it's worth it) and pay them off starting fresh, in fact depending on the property value/mortgage you could then be in profit.

chivers1977

What about the GF and the lack of incoming money??

Don't want to badger you but this is the main cause of the problem.....

Barebear

chivers1977 wrote:

What about Gas safety checks etc that you need to do on a BTL plus maintenance. Is it still such a good deal? Is there any equity left in the BTL?

I understand all the extras involved in the ownership of a rental property, but my girlfriend's dad is a builder and has friends who owe favours all the time. I also repair PC's and have called in favours from time to time. It's a small self sufficient type of village :beer: and I have a good friend who is a corgi reg. gas engineer. He did my checks and maintains the boiler and plumbing when required. I am on call for his computing needs.

I have persevered now for nearly 2 years and I might just break even if I had to sell, but it's not guaranteed, so I want to keep it on for a few more years to get a bit of money back on it. The rent will go up too, so that will bring in more cash soon.


Cavendish has savedme another £3 a month by the way. - Cheers

I'll try the gas and leccy switch over the weekend, followed by the trimming of the TV, then internet. I need to use my phones sparingly too.

Barebear

chivers1977 wrote:

What about the GF and the lack of incoming money??

Don't want to badger you but this is the main cause of the problem.....

It's difficult, let's put it that way. I know it's something we need to sort out, but we just got over bigger problems, so it can wait. I've mentioned it a few times, and she knows when I've started the Post Grad, she'll need to chip in with more. (she's come into our relationship with small debts, so I've seen that she's been really trying to sort it out by herself, last thing she needs is me taking all her cash and dropping her in it, creating more resentment.)

like I said, it's difficuly. We will get there though.

Barebear

lynsayjane wrote:

cheeky question, which rural village are you in...i've been to (too) many down that way myself...

Lesmahagow :j

lynsayjane

Barebear wrote:

Lesmahagow :j

ok i'm a smart !!!...never heard of it! :rotfl:

i've visited langholm, galgashiels and hawick...

Barebear

lynsayjane wrote:

ok i'm a smart !!!...never heard of it! :rotfl:

i've visited langholm, galgashiels and hawick...

That's kind of a lot further South than us. We're just off the M74 in deepest south Lanarkshire.

I've been working on the finances over the past couple of days.

I normally go to watch the local football team and have a few pints afterwards, it costs £5 to get in to the game and about a tenner for the round in the pub. I went in to the game at half time avoiding the entry money and took the dog with me so I'd need to come straight home. It worked, I never spent a penny yesterday. :T

I've cancelled my DD on the online banking for those expensive insurances and the Setanta package (broke my heart to do that ), I'll wait to hear from them when they can't collect. maybe save some cash on phone calls. I also contacted Scottish Gas to see how much is outstanding on my Gas and Leccy accounts. Their systems are down, so it'll be Tuesday before I find out. My priority is to clear the debt with them (approx £250 all in) and switch to a cheaper supplier. I heard that British/Scottish Gas' price is coming down though, so I'll maybe wait until it alters. I also contacted them using the alternative number on saynoto0870.com :money:

Barebear

I've had a slight rejig of the finances. I now have the following SOA.

Income

Wages – 1209.90
Rental – 350.00
Other – 100.00

Total – £1659.90


Outgoing

Mortgage (flat)- 333.90
Mortgage (house)- 256.43
Council Tax - 128.00 (edit forgot to add this)
B&C Insurance - 22.00 (-7)
B&C Insurance - 12.00 (-12.50)
Life Insurance - 26.00 (new policy covering more, but same price)
Car Insurance – 31.63
Pet Insurance - 9.88
TV (all) - 54.80 (-15)
Gas - 50.00
Electricity - 30.00
Loan 1 - 100.00
Loan 2 - 153.00
Mobile Phone - 50.00
Home Phone + Net - 30.00
Food - 100.00
Diesel - 80.00

Total - £1343.72

Remaining Per Month - £191.66

Barebear

My Gas and electricity are in arrears. I'll have to get pre payment meters to pay back the debt. It looks like around £500ish on both, I've got to pay £12 a week to gas debt and £10 a week to leccy debt plus the regular costs of those utilities. I'll work out my up to date SOA later today.

I thought of a wee idea to keep track of spending. I've got a scrap bit of A4 card and cut it into pieces the size of a bank card. Theses are all blank bits which I take with me in my wallet to jot down each and every penny I spend. I take a fresh one every day. It's really working. :money: