Wanna be mortgage free!

[Deleted User]

I will start by introducing myself, I am D9 and I've been saving for a deposit for many years! And we (me and Mr D9) have just had an offer accepted on a house, so not quite ready to tackle the mortgage yet, but I'm starting this thread with good intentions, and preparations!

I've been a long time lurker on this board and glad to (almost) finally be able to contribute!

*I'll add more details when I get them all in one place*

BW,

D9

muddywhitechicken

Hello D9 :wave:

You were the first person to welcome me to MFW so I'll return the welcome!

Well done on saving your deposit and good luck with the house purchase

MWCx

sleepygirl126

good luck!!!:beer:

alwaystryyourbest

Good luck with the house,

We also got a house offer excepted a few weeks ago, and have just started a mortgage diary too.
We are hoping to be in our new house by sometime in January and plan to overpaying January as well..

[Deleted User]

Thank you muddywhitechicken, sleepygirl, and alwaystryyourbest!

While a lot of the process so far has required nerves of steel, I'm beginning to let excitement creep in, but desperately trying not to look for (unnecessary) pretty things for the house!

D9

[Deleted User]

Thinks I can start to do at this stage are to research which fridge/freezer and washing machine to get. Won't buy now, hopefully there'll be good deals in the NY.

Any one know what the most energy efficient WM and FF are? And subscribed to Which? ?

Will start online and then post on the appropriate thread if/when I think I've found something.

D9

[Deleted User]

Well I joined Which? trial for £1 and found some great reviews etc on the white goods we will need.

The mortgage we have applied for is with Abbey (Santander) and we will be permitted to overpay 10% per annum. Does anyone know when the 10% is calculated? Is it at the beginning or at the end of the year; the permitted amount would be different due to it being a repayment mortgage (I'll ask them further down the line, but just curious, not that it will be an issue for at least the first few years, we'd never be able to over pay by that amount).

Also does anyone know how Abbey (Santander) operate the mortgage - is it online? Can you overpay by any amount, or is there a fixed minimum payment? Do they keep a running total of how much you have overplayed by?

chirpchirp

Welcome to your Mortgage Free Journey.

I can't help with your direct questions but regarding the new purchases in the new year, don't forget to track them via a cashback site. I'm feeling quite evangelical about them tonight as I keep forgetting to use them and remembered earlier that I had signed up for Quidco about three years ago. Earlier this year I obviously had a lightbulb moment and used them as I found I have a £15 credit on there.

If you don't already use one you may find it worth registering your debit and credit cards with them so that as you do general spends you can get some cashback and then pay this off your mortgage.

[Deleted User]

The 10% permitted overpayment with Santander seems to be calculated on the 1st Jan each year. Can't seem to find anywhere on their webpage to state whether there is a minimum payment amount..will have a search through some other diaries and maybe ask on the Mortgage board. I don't think it's appropriate to ask Sant directly yet, seeming as they've not even done the valuation yet - just trying to get organised though and do a bit of forward planning! (Knowing me I'll have a plan in place for the next 25 years before it even starts!)

[Deleted User]

Well we are STILL waiting on the outcome of the valuation by the mortgage company - the actual valuation was done before Christmas, but the holiday period seems to have slowed things up - I'll get in touch with them/our broker on Friday if there's still no news. I don't think that we're in a position to request more info from the sellers/their EA until we are ourselves in a position to move 100%.

Last we heard from the sellers EA was that they were actively looking for somewhere to move to before Christmas, and that she was confident she would have some positive news early in the new year if not before - would like to call, but will wait at least for the mortgage valuation first.

Not really in any particular rush to get moving (would just be nice to be in ASAP), but I am feeling like we're being left in the dark a fair bit. I will need to give 2 months notice on my current place, and my OH 1 month on his - we'll also be moving from 2 different areas of the country so the more notice we have the better/easier it will be to plan and organise ourselves.

What we really don't want to end up happening is having to pay 2 sets of rent and the mortgage!

[Deleted User]

Not posted in AGES as there has been NO progress by the vendors.

The valuation was done and all fine with the mortgage and on our side things are all ready to go.

The vendor has yet to find somewhere to move on to though, and they are not prepared to move in to rental or find any other alternative - and we think that we have been very reasonable so far, but have now restarted house searching in the off chance that they never find somewhere!!! Competition for FTB houses here is fierce though (with both FTB's and BTL'ers).

So far no joy, and we haven't officially pulled out. If they haven't progressed at all by the end of March then we will have to reconsider that position - we'll have to sign another 6 month rental agreement reasonably soon after then and given their current blaze approach to our situation, if they did find somewhere to go to, we don't expect they'd wait until out minimum rental term was over.

Then there's the issue of our current portage offer expiring.

Still, we are continuing to save and beginning to work towards the maximum yearly overpayment our current mortgage offer would permit.

We're not going to let not having a property stand in the way of out MFW plans!!! And if we don't end up in this house, we'll have a bigger deposit ready for the next.

D9