x-post - Salary cut in half overnight - Need help!

danlovedough

Gigervamp wrote: »

The average time for house sale purchases is 12 weeks and you haven't even started looking yet.

To be fair you were spot on here. We have had offer accepted / searches carried out and the plan is to complete mid January which would make it exactly 12 weeks from your post!

danlovedough

It's been 2 months since last checking this thread so going to post a quick update on our situation.

I've started my new role 2 weeks ago which is going fine.
After some looking around we found a house we wanted to by and agreed a sale price at £372k (£3k below the asking price).

We are able to put down 25% deposit and leave 25% equity in our current house. After all this has gone through along with legal, moving costs and stamp duty we expect to be left with £2k owed on an interest fee credit card (interest free until April 2015) and no other debt.

Will also have £15k saved in an ISA and a budget of £20k to renovate the properties, and buy some new furiture, and some spare cash for emergencies.

Things could still become tough if my income was ever to drop, but I do feel much more secure than ever before and have some money saved away for emergencies, and a clear plan of how to manage my money going 18 months into the future and based on basic wage earnings only (no bonuses included in budget)

I know some people might not agree with the decision to keep our current house and it may not be a long term solution but keeping it in the short term has enabled a quicker purchase of new house and will enable us to move out without having to worry and we have agreed to rent the house to close friends for the first 6 months at a reduced rental in exchange for them helping to renovate. We may decide after 6 months to release the equity in the house, or if it seems easy to rent out for a good return then may do that but will see how it goes. Either way I think it's a good stop to be in.

Would like to thank all the people who commented on this thread there has been some great advice which has helped me to change my attitudes to finances and savings, I know I am far from perfect and could be much more careful with money but it's a big improvement on how I used to live and I feel much more aware of how to cut back if I ever really need to again.

The house purchase completion is due to go through next month and the remortgage on my current property should be through tomorrow.

ratrace

Congrats op on the new house

Personally i think you did the right thing by keeping your first house as a rental property, if you decide to keep it long term then it could prove to be a wise investment

My dad started investing (he has always been a risk taker) in property some time ago now borrowing deposits from friends and family many years on now he now has 5 houses paid off , all the rent he earns now is pure profit and he is loving retirement

I think the way you going is brill and i can see you having (once mortgage is paid off on your current house) a few more property's on rent

Good luck with the future