HELP!! Best way of borrowing £30,000!!!

Friendlyvet2202

Hi everyone,

Really need your advice! Here's the situation. I'm in the process of selling my house. I will make a neat £160,000 in my pocket. This money will be used to consolidate a few loans and to buy a canal boat. Yes I'm moving from life on land to live on the water! Here's the problem. The boat we want to buy costs £95,000. With all outstanding loans paid, we would have more than enough to pay for the boat outright and live for one year without lifting a finger. Here's the problem. The boat is for sale NOW and the seller will not accept deposits. We have to pay the full sum to guarantee ownership. They will not even accept £0.01 less than the full amount!! It's so frustrating to know we can afford it but we are at the mercy of the house sale and I'm sure you all know how long that process usually takes (2 to 3 months!!). This boat will surely be sold in that time and we will miss an opportunity of a life time. My brother can lend me £65,000 but we would have to scrape £30,000 from somewhere! I have looked at loans, credit cards etc etc but I'm not sure which is the best option to go for. It's all very confusing. Ultimately we need to borrow £30,000 for a short period of time and will be able to pay it back in full within 6 months for sure!!

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!!

Kind regards
Friendlyvet

Gaz83

You've barely told us any information. Income? Outgoings? Current debt? Savings? They're all things any bank or credit card company will want to look at.

How far gone is your house sale? Is it confirmed and signed? Have you considered what may happen if you don't sell it in this timescale, or you get less than what you expect?

jonesMUFCforever

You cannot be sure that the boat will sell.
If it does then get another one - you know it makes sense but the sellers have got it into your mind that somehow you will lose out if you do not buy now. I would call their bluff to the extent of offering a lot less NOW or take the full sum when your house sells.

Tixy

I assume as you mention exisiting loans you think you won't get accepted for sizeable personal loans? If you do want to borrow this money then a bridging loan may well be an option.

But bridging loans are only suitable for short term borrowing, so I would suggest you need to be very confident in your ability to repay within the next 6months. Much longer than that and it will start to work out very expensive.

Failing that you could look at canal boat finance/marine mortgages.

That said I would be cautious about rushing in to any purchase until your house is sold, or at the very least you have exchanged contracts.

Herzlos

What will you do if the house doesn't sell?

Is this boat such a good deal that you can't wait? If so, check it carefully in case it isn't, and then look at a marine mortgage.

Otherwise, wait until the house sells and buy that boat or another one.

Puddylove

I don't see the rush to buy this boat. I'd say wait until you sell your house. Another boat will come along (if that one sells).

It might be worth continuing to research - most people I know who changed to narrowboats found that the reality was a lot less romantic than they hoped, particularly in winter time.

closed

too many exclamation marks

Puddylove

closed wrote: »

too many exclamation marks

That's frugality at its finest.

BillJones

This is no way to buy anything, to do it in a state of panic over the idea that you might miss out. The boat will presumably be selling for about the right price, which means that there'll be another one available later, also at about the right price.

I bought a house this way once, let myself panic over losing "the one", and then had years to regret not stepping away and giving it much more thought. All it took to make me do the wrong thing was an estate agent saying "there are other people lined up for a viewing, it's now or never".

That was an expensive lesson.

By contrast, when I bought my first high-end car, I took the other side of that deal. Called three dealers, told them the first to match my price got the deal, and sat back and waited to see who blinked first. You need to (try) to do the same with your boat. Give them a bid below their price, and tell them that you are looking at others, so that you may not be at that price for long.

DCFC79

I was always told if you cant afford it now then its not meant to be, im not an expert by any means but im sure there will be other boats to buy when you do have the money.

Friendlyvet2202

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all your thoughts. I may look at the bridging loan but you're all right. Don't buy until you can afford it. Such a pain waiting for the exchange date. This boat is a great but. It's completely new but didn't fit the specs of the original buyer so he abandoned the sale. It originally would've cost £108,000 and we can get it for £95,000 due to a special arrangement in sorting out berthing fees as well. It is a bargain but if it wasn't meant to be, it just isn't meant to be .

Thanks again everyone.

Friendlyvet.