sarahevie's single quest to mortgage freedom

debtfreeoneday

That's nice for DD1.. that said I am on the playground and more than half the time, I wish I wasn't! Playground politics drive me up the wall!

sarahevie1

debtfreeoneday wrote: »

That's nice for DD1.. that said I am on the playground and more than half the time, I wish I wasn't! Playground politics drive me up the wall!

Lots of my friends have mentioned this. I was on the playground, three days a week during my PGCE; when DD1 was in reception, and it wasn't great.

My friend was telling me the other day that the 'group' she's part of, have started walking a different way to avoid her and her DD has been ostracised as it was a group of '5' and it has split into two 2s with her DD being left out. :eek:

On money saving, DD had a great time at the lazerzone and pizza hut with her friend, £10 spent by me:) Me DD2&3 had a no spend day. Bike riding, scooting and playing in the garden.

Today we have visitors so staying at home, so another no spend day.

Still got lots of this weeks food left, which is great as it was only a £45 spend.

beanielou

Jeez playground !!!!! has not improved then.
So glad I am past it all.

sarahevie1

beanielou wrote: »

Jeez playground !!!!! has not improved then.
So glad I am past it all.

I know glad to be out of it. There's got to be some benefits of working full time;)

sarahevie1

Took girls to the dentist today, just a routine check and just have to go back in six months.

Have to travel 20 miles, so stopped at a local (to the dentist) castle, it started to rain, so we went to a playcentre. It was nice to try something new, but its soooo expensive. I now know why I avoid them. £20 spent.

We are meeting friends together to go to a children's festival, I'm really excited. My friend is very spendy so to avoid buying food out I've said I'll do a picnic for us all.

Spent £13 at the supermarket on picnic stuff but it included fruit and veg for home so pretty good. I think next week I'll get away with just fridge stuff as my freezer and cupboards are still full.

sarahevie1

I've been thinking about the house today, and I'm debating whether to spend a chunk of my emergency fund on OPs or bite the bullet and sort out the issues the EA mentioned when he came last Saturday.

Mainly redecoration, re painting the downstairs walls, ceiling and skirting boards. (We did upstairs bedrooms before we moved in four years ago and its still pretty immaculate.) I don't have food or messy toys upstairs and the kids are encouraged to play downstairs where we have a playroom so it stays pretty clean, certainly no marks to the walls etc.

Replacing the rotten wooden windows.

Slightly longer term the kitchen and all three bathrooms are now ten years old. The kitchen is in good condition but the bathrooms are showing signs of wear. The EA didn't mention them but when you live with them you notice the imperfections.

debtfreeoneday

Making a picnic sounds like a good plan!

zcrat41

Is it worth getting more that one estate agents opinion?

Floxxie

I wouldn't change anything whether I was renting or selling. If I was renting, then I would do the work when tenants had been found and they had requested it. If I was selling, I might have the carpets cleaned but that would be everything unless it was in the feedback from potential buyers.
I have 12 years experience in selling and letting residential property and I have seen some sights including a house that was so damp it had slugs crawling over the floor - it was rented out without a problem!
P.S. I would also set the rent at a level you want and see what interest you get.

sarahevie1

zcrat41 wrote: »

Is it worth getting more that one estate agents opinion?

Yes probably, but when we sold our last house in the same area, we didn't have any offers until we redecorated it throughout and retiled the bathroom.

The EA at the time said it would be worth spending money on extras such as replacing the bathroom radiator for a chrome towel rail, switching all the light switches to chrome, replacing the internal doors, putting in a new banister. These were things I thought a buyer would want to put in themselves to taste and not pay a premium for, I was wrong! As soon as we completed the extras we had a buyer within a week.

There is a definite tendency in this area for 'show home' standard.