Diary of a Property Dreamer

MandM90

Update

We now own a house worth about £305,000, with a mortgage of £216,944.65

We are 25 and 24 respectively and are currently bringing in about £50,000 between us after a change of careers.

Things are tight so we are taking it slow and trying to be patient, whilst keeping costs to a minimum and trying to advance our careers (and income!)

AIMS

By June 2016 Build up a buffer of three months worth of expenses

Hello! :hello:

I'm desperate for a little house with a south facing garden, a property that isn't owned by someone else and poorly maintained. OH is a simpler creature and is happier with a decent Guinness and a belly full of pie (He sounds very rotund here; he's actually rather slender!)

I earn fairly good money through self employment by working my bottom off in the holidays and around uni (I'm also a FT Chemistry student at a v. competitive University); I'm trying to live off only about 25% of it (before tax!) and save the rest. Due to being self employed I understand I'm probably going to have to wait a little while longer than others to be mortgage eligible. In the meantime I'm trying to save £50k to put down on a £250k house, which should get me somewhere modest I can nest down in, where I live. Still haven't spoken to a mortgage advisor :eek:

Like to spend the very little free time I have pottering in the garden, growing things, messing about with the chickens or watching Great British Bake Off with a cat on my lap. I sound horrifically boring now, don't I? Oh, did I mention? I'm 23 :rotfl:

I'm going to try to use this blog to keep motivated. In the past I've done silly things like fall off the wagon and go to Cuba/Japan/Thailand...I like to travel! But now I just want to buckle down and get into a place where I feel comfortable, and am not spending 12k a year on rent!

Today I have a morning "off" but I need to catch up with emails and update my accounts records, organise a handyman to come and sort a few things in the house, plant some things in the garden, put dinner in the slow cooker, pick OH up from French class, pick up a prescription and clean out the chicken coop! Wish me luck :T

muddywhitechicken

Welcome to MFW and good luck!

SG27

think of the saving as paying of your mortgage before you get it!

Muser1

Welcome and good luck!

egoode

MandM90 wrote: »

Oh, did I mention? I'm 23 :rotfl:

I'm going to try to use this blog to keep motivated. In the past I've done silly things like fall off the wagon and go to Cuba/Japan/Thailand...I like to travel!

Don't forget while you are saving that it's also a good idea to still enjoy your life so if you love travelling try and include that in your budget and you are less likely to fall off the wagon just maybe make the trips to slightly closer locations that might be a bit cheaper. You are only 23 so don't forget to also enjoy life!

However good luck with your goals and for starting so young.

MandM90

egoode wrote: »

Don't forget while you are saving that it's also a good idea to still enjoy your life so if you love travelling try and include that in your budget and you are less likely to fall off the wagon just maybe make the trips to slightly closer locations that might be a bit cheaper. You are only 23 so don't forget to also enjoy life!

However good luck with your goals and for starting so young.

I managed Israel, Spain, India, Thailand and Egypt this year. Luckily I have a lot of friends with houses/families here and there so I try to do it cheaply but I might have gone a little overboard this year :rotfl: though a couple of those were business trips and so pretty much covered. I'm visiting family in Ireland this winter then I might try to give it a rest a bit. DP has never been and would love to but I've been dragging my feet as it means a week off work.

Thanks for the advice on thinking of it as paying my mortgage on advance. That makes the long wait seem more bearable.

This month I spent about £900 on a new chicken coop. MUST STOP SPENDING! I have however continued my OS ways. I've only spent about £85 on shopping so far this month - should end up spending only about £120 by the end of it.

I don't have a TV licence, we spend about £40 a week on the pub/meals out and I think I'm on the best internet tariff. Must check gas as my blue price promise expires soon.

My next big job is to sort out my money! So far I have £5k in an account which offers me nothing, and about 28k in a 123 account, which I means I get paid no interest on 8k. I do all my spending on a 123 credit card so I can see how much I've spent each month and get cash back on my train tickets and supermarket shopping. This gets paid off monthly from my 123 current account. I think I'll have to move some money to another bank but I'm not sure which. The idea of a NISA doesn't appeal as I'm hoping to spend my money in under a year but I haven't really assessed the logic of that!!

Cinny91

Hey MandM :hello:

Just posting to say good luck! Was a little giddy when I saw you were 23 too, we've just started saving for our house deposit. I'm 23 and my DP is 26, although our savings and deposit goal aren't a spec on yours!

Subscribed and can't wait to read the rest of your journey

MandM90

Hi Cinny,

I live in an expensive area and have chickens so a flat is out of the question, so it might take us a while too! We are looking at around 250k I think...scary!

Good luck!

Watty1

Very impressed that you have started so young I was once nearly mortgage free, then meet OH bought new house, became mortgage free, bought another house and finally have woken up to MSE rather late in life
Good luck with the journey

MandM90

A couple of weeks ago a close friend (who owns a small chain of EA shops) approached me as a £2m house he repossessed needs a tenant. He sent photos - and last week we had a look - and it's gorgeous. It has no close neighbours, a grand entrance hall, a scullery, a huge kitchen (with an aga!), an office, master bedroom with dressing room and en suite, four further bedrooms plus a built in office. I could go on and on. It's gorgeous. Anyway, it's owned by two banks and HS2 will soon be ploughing through some of it's grounds :mad: so they want someone in there to prevent the previous owners breaking back in and, as it's unsellable, they said the aforementioned friend could take £500pcm for it and the bank would cover bills. I pay £1k a month for my three bed semi in a much less pretty part of Bucks!

To cut a long story short I realised it wouldn't be sensible to take it as DDs school is about a 40 min drive from there and leaving it might just break my heart.

The good thing is, it's strengthened my resolve to get a little place of our own. I keep mooning at pretty cottages in villages nearby. We're probably going to stay in this rental property in the interim so I had a handyman/plumber in to deal with some niggles around the house and install a cat flap (with LLs permission). I know the LL should have dealt with the leaky bathroom but while I had the guy sorting the cat flap and fixing some furniture for us, I decided to just get it done rather than spend weeks organising it through letting agent, then landlord. It's made the house feel marginally more cosy, but I'm still itching to leave!

I've been trying to read up on moving fees so I can properly budget. £50k deposit will be 20% of a £250k house but I'll need to factor in all the other fees so I'm going to make sure I put away a further £10k on top of that.

I'm self employed with under a years accounts and OH recently left his job so I think I'll have quite a while 'til I'm mortgageable. My first year ends mid 2015 and - if I remember correctly - my first tax bill is due about 2016 (will have to check with accountant about this, but I've been saving and keeping records religiously)

I've been wondering lately if I should see a mortgage broker now for some advice as to when I might be eligible for one. Most sources suggest I might need 2/3+ years of SE records :eek: but I'm wondering, if I can scrape together an even larger deposit, if there might be specialist lenders that could help.

Anyway, dreams aside...we're all happy and healthy, I'm still filling our bellies with home cooked food every day, chooks are laying well and OH has been utilising his time at home to work in the garden and keep the house looking like a show home. Can't ask for much more!

cb4fwh

Hiya,

Your first tax bill will be due early 2016 for the 2014/15 tax year. I'm self-employed as well, and have just recently moved house & my current provider did require 3 years of accounts.

However, I know that there are reputable contractor / self-employed sites offering mortgage products to contractors without 3 years accounts, so it may be worth starting there e.g. http://www.contractoruk.com/money/contractor_mortgages.html

Good luck!