The End May Actually Be in Sight...

RoaringTwenties

Hi Muser, nice to 'see' you! I've been searching for your diary but can't find it, am I being a bit useless on the technology front or do you not have one anymore?!

The thing about the property is that it's a designated holiday home, but it's an actual house at the same time! Most holiday homes are park homes or similar, this one sort of falls through gaps in the systems when it comes to exemptions from things for example, so on some things it qualifies & on others it doesn't. It's a leasehold that doesn't have a management company too as the freeholder is an old local family who still manage the freehold themselves with their own funds. The freeholder can provide buildings insurance but apparently it's cheaper elsewhere, having said that I gather many insurers are a bit baffled by the lease & construction too so finding appropriate insurance can be a bit complicated. Solicitors don't deal with these sorts of sales very often, virtually never, so it's sent them into a bit of a spin Anyway, looks like it's all coming together fingers crossed

Hope you & your family are well x

Muser1

I gave up on my diary ages ago. I love reading other peoples and find the people who are most open have the best diaries (think NG!) I'm to scared someone in rl will out me!

RoaringTwenties

Well at the start of the week our end of Jan finances were looking good, then DD discovered ballerinas :rotfl: She spotted a pink tutu in Sainsys & totally fell in love with it. I had wondered about getting her one for Xmas as I suspected she'd be a candidate for it. It was a reasonable price so I got her it & she wore it literally all day inc nursery & all night to sleep in from buying it on Weds until Fri morning when we had tears when we tried to take it off her to wash it. We have now bought her a second one so they can be on rotation when one is being cleaned She hasn't actually worn any proper clothes or nightwear (other than two pink thermals underneath it) for five days now & is in a permanent state of pirouetting joy Total of £24 well spent!

I transferred some money into DW's ISA to see just how longer Faster Payments take with Skipton now. They were saying on their website that they were trying to reduce the time it took to clear from 7 days to 3-5 so I wasn't holding my breath. When I checked yesterday the funds had actually cleared before they'd been sent :rotfl: I did the transaction on the eve of 17th so Natwest classed it as next working day, 18th. But Skipton have backdated it for interest purposes I think. So they're actually ahead of themselves now

DW gets paid on Fri so it's money shuffle time. Might have some left over to make an OP fingers crossed. Didn't expect much of that as we set the repayments on the new mortgage as high as we were comfortable with to get it paid off ASAP. Hoping for completion on holiday home w/c 1st Feb

Goldiegirl

Faster payments have to be in the receiving account by the end of the next working day after they're sent, so even the little places like the Skipton have had to up their game!


I'll be attempting my first Faster payment to the Kent Reliance on the 1st February, so it'll be interesting to see what happens!

RoaringTwenties

Ah thanks Goldie, I didn't know that. That will have speeded the older building socs up a bit I think! The passbook will probably start smouldering

RoaringTwenties

It's not been a bad few days money-wise. I had one of those moments in Sainsburys today where I was pleased to have some time with DD just pootling round the shops, choosing the biscuits that were currently half price knowing she & her brother would be thrilled with a simple treat I got a few bits in the M&S 20% off event on Monday; a top I'd had my eye on, some gorgeous hankies for my Gran's birthday in the summer, & new swimming costumes for the kids.

I haven't made an OP yet, I had a bit of a think about it & realised that contrary to received wisdom I am temped to spend less when I have more money available! I've decided to roll the £150 surplus from Jan into our Feb budget, if I OP it now I know I won't feel as strongly about hanging on to the full total through Feb. Strange psychology but there you are

We bought a soup maker (after taking advice from Mrs Crumpets, soup chef extraordinaire ) & it's been a fab investment, DW makes soup every third day or so & takes it in for lunch. I also bought a shredder & that's been marvellous, I'm ploughing through lots of confidential waste which is very satisfying :T

The last thing to mention is that I've decided to put our BTL on my signature. I've always kept it separate as for a long time we'd essentially accepted that it we managed to retain it it would be purely be for market growth. We only just managed to keep hold of it when we moved to our house, with the lowest deposit possible in the pre-credit crunch days, interest only. When we had a big mortgage on our own home the thought of ever paying it off seemed an impossible dream. But now it will be in reach within the next decade or so. Plus of course much of the relief we've previously been able to exercise on it is now being eroded. It's worth nearly double the mortgage we have on it now We'd love for it to be a home for DS one day maybe, give him the security he might not be able to provide for himself. I'm looking at remortgaging it though as its on a shocking rate - 4.95% :eek:

RoaringTwenties

It's been a rotten fortnight here illness-wise, we've had bug after bug. DS had a vomiting attack (prob linked to his Autism & asthma), then we've all had colds & both kids have had croup, DS quite severely, apparently it's quite rare at age 8, he had to have some massive doses of oral steroids & nearly week off school. We all ended up at the GP yesterday morning, DW is bacterial so she's on the anti-b's, me & the kids are just viral at this stage. This is the reason I loathe Feb, we are *always* ill & half term is spent feeling rubbish & trying to recuperate Starting to think it would be very MSE to invest in Calpol shares

We did have a major break though in that DW received £20k from her late fathers estate last week. We immediately paid £2700 off our own mortgage, & are now trying to decide what to do with the rest. We've had conflicting advice with regard to the changes to SDLT on BTL that might be coming in on 1st April, this might affect us as we want to do an ownership transfer on it (long & complicated.) No-one can seem to tell us if the transfer will trigger the new 3% SDLT or not, both our solicitor & our accountant seem a bit conflicted. There will be a share of a mortgage to be taken on which we *think* counts as 'consideration', but the share of the mortgage will be under £40k & the share of the property will be given as a gift, so it may be exempt. I gather it's still at consultation stage until 16th March & then may be brought in on 1st April. If anyone on here has any ideas I'd be glad to hear of them. Might post on the relevant board...

As we've been ill we haven't really gone anywhere or done anything, so the finances are looking good. Which is useful as DW has declared she'd like some very expensive hi-fi for her upcoming 40th. She never spends a penny on herself & adores her music so I'm fully supportive. Apparently the turntable is white, like something out of the eighties :cool:

I think I'll change our signature to reflect the money we hope to pay off our mortgage, that'll cheer me up! If we end up paying it off the BTL I'll just switch the amounts! I know we should pay it off the BTL as that's on a higher interest rate, but I think this is one of those times when the pure MSE is outweighed by the emotional MSE - we get more comfort from knowing our own mortgage is lower than from the BTL coming down

Ooh crikey & I nearly forgot - we completed on the holiday home! All very exciting, I've got decorators & carpenters & electricians in there getting it ready for the coming season. Hoping our first family break will be at Easter :T

greent

Ahhh - hope you all fully recover sooner rather than later and can still manage to enjoy some of half term.


I've always taken the view that the BTL interest is tax deductible and therefore at the bottom of my list of priorities! x

RoaringTwenties

Erm, I've just technically paid my mortgage off :eek: :j

When we remortgaged for £52,000 it was split between two accounts, our original mortgage at £11,000 & a Homeowner Loan at £41,000. I paid £2,700 off the mortgage when we got the inheritance last week, & just now I've redeemed the remaining balance. I rang the bank for a redemption figure then sent it across via online banking, it's now £11.74 in credit until they apply the interest from 1st Feb to today . So I think that means I'm technically mortgage-free . Even though it's not strictly true as we still have the Homeowner Loan for the holiday place, it's a nice feeling to be free of that account. Around ten years ago it stood at £150k & used to take three quarters of our monthly income to service it :eek:

I've also paid the remaining balance of the inheritance off the Homeowner Loan. Just like before, literally every penny has gone off the debt. The way we see it, anything we want to spend on ourselves we earn, anything we inherit is effectively held in trust for the next generation

So our mortgage end date has been brought forward from Dec 2022 to March 2020, 4 years from now nstead of the 7 year term we took out late last year. I've asked for the payment we would have made to the mortgage to remain & go towards the Homeowner to get it paid off ASAP.

Think I need a medicinal hot chocolate after all that

RoaringTwenties

greent wrote: »

Ahhh - hope you all fully recover sooner rather than later and can still manage to enjoy some of half term.


I've always taken the view that the BTL interest is tax deductible and therefore at the bottom of my list of priorities! x

I've always taken the same attitude greent, although I think Gideon has other ideas for the future :cool:

We are all feeling better thanks, hope you're escaping the bugs? Been reading your diary, will find time to post back!