I Could Be Mortgage Free

Popgirl

Hi Arkers

Thanks for dropping in to my diary. We have been with the agency for over 8 years and have had no cause to question their actions to date. They have always demonstrated to us they do detailed checks on potential tenants and secured a guarantor in the past when the agent felt it was needed.


They fully manage the property for us as we don't live near to the rental property. IMO we have a good relationship and we are good landlords we keep the property to a high standard and authorise any repairs without delay. I do sometimes think the agent has a softly softly approach where I would go in all guns blazing but I feel I have to trust them as they have been in the rental business along time and have more experience than I do. The agency advised us for them to serve section 21 rather than 8 as this will allow the tenant to find alternative housing. According to the agent people can't even get council housing if they have a section 8 and the last thing we want is tenants refusing to leave because they have no where else to go. I feel this was good advice. The agency are confident we will get all the rent due it's just a matter of when and not if. I will see this to the end for sure.


Popgirl

Arkers

...All good then, good luck.


Arkers

Popgirl

Spain trip has been and gone and DH and I are both back home in the UK. The positives are we are really pleased with the apartment renovations it really does look stunning and we can't wait to return. The slight negative is we have massively over spent, in fact 8,000€ (£6k) overspent. This is due to me wanting to replace most of our white goods, new bedding, curtains, upgrading taps, sinks, showers from the original spec quoted and of the course the poor exchange rate . We have used some of our 123 account money to pay the extra so the account balance is now looking pretty sad. On reflection insisting on a a shinny new washing machine and 2 new fridge /freezers may not have been one of my best decisions but I have done it now so shouldn't dwell. ...and they do look fab and finish off the kitchen areas beautifully.

Looking at my 123 account balance it has made me think that our cash wealth is very very small and I believe a little risky. With what is left in this account and DH's TS@ account we only have £7k in easy access cash. All of our other money is tucked away in S&S ISA's, Pensions, Investment Bonds, Property, and Other Shares. The money we save each month currently goes into the bond and shares and as DH isn't working and we still are not getting any rent from our BTL the possibility of topping up the easy access cash pot is slim. I have applied for a 0% CC as a back up but what do people think is £7k cash enough and I am just having an over reacting moment or am I right to be concerned?


Popgirl

gallygirl

Popgirl wrote: »

I have applied for a 0% CC as a back up but what do people think is £7k cash enough and I am just having an over reacting moment or am I right to be concerned?

A bit of both really - 7k is 'plenty' unless it all happens at once but that's what the 0% card is for . Just prioritise cash over investing for a little bit and you'll be fine

Popgirl

Hi GG yes boosting the cash pot will be our priority over the next couple of months. Good news tenants have paid their rent and all of the arrears today, well the guarantor has, so agent has transferred the money to us which massively helps the cash pot. Fingers crossed now they move out mid March.

Karmacat

Sounds fine to me, Popgirl, with the emphasis on upping the cash savings again for a few months.

It's a nice problem to have, remember good for you!

Popgirl

DS2 had an accident on his motorbike not his fault a driver hit him in the side throwing DS2 into the road and the bike in the opposite direction. Thankfully DS2 wears all the right biking equipment which has saved him from serious injury. I never wanted DS2 to have a bike but he won't listen!! The only good thing that has come out of the accident is DS2 has said he is never going on a bike again. I am relieved. DH is very busy doing maintenance on our BTL. Tenants haven't moved out yet but DH is working on the outside painting fences, repairing garden shed, making new gates and painting the outside of the house. Doing this work now means we will be able to start on the inside as soon as tenants leave. We are not sure exactly what needs to be done inside as we haven't entered the property but what we do know is it needs a damn good clean and the back door is badly damaged. Hooray for bonds!!!


£20.12 cash back received . Will use this as a small OP. Not expecting to make any more OP's this month our focus is on building up our cash pot and continuing the bond and sharesave payments.


Have a good day everyone
Popgirl

Popgirl

Had another £50 CB from Quidc* tonight. £25 for 0% PO CC and £25 for a SIM card we purchased for DH to take to Spain as it was offering no roaming charges. Wasn't expecting either of these to pay out so quickly. I have been waiting over 5 months for Car insurance CB of £40 still no sign of pay out. The CB received will be used for another OP when it hits my bank.

Night
Popgirl x

Popgirl

Tenants moved out at the weekend. We visited the house yesterday and it's in a better condition than we expected Although we need new carpets throughout and every room needs painting but at least most of the kitchen and bathroom fittings are still in tact and just need a good clean. I can't begin to describe how dirty the oven is! DH is meeting agent today to review the condition and agree what money we should withhold from the bond for cleaning and a couple of repairs ( door handle broken, new toilet seat broken and wallpaper ripped in bedroom that is beyond repair ) . Thankfully we can now move on from the bad experience and hope we get better tenants next time. DH will now spend the next week or 2 getting the house ready estimated costs are £1k.

Voluntary redundancy has been offered at my workplace and I made it very clear to everyone (including this diary) that I would take it the next time it was offered.......sorry everyone I have changed my mind and I am not going to put my hand up to go.




The reasons:


1. The renovations in Spain cost a lot more than expected so I would like to recoup some of that money if we can
2. Our investments are not performing as well as we expected mainly to do with the global market so FIRE pot isn't growing with profit, it's only growing because we are putting more money into it!
3. THIS is the BIGGEST Reason...The thought of having to empty a large 4 bed house, sell everything we don't want or need, sell car and rent out our house in 2-3 month timescales is so daunting I am scared we will fail and be in a position where I have given up my well paid job, the house hasn't rented out and we are stuck. To make sure we don't eat into the FIRE pot we have to have moved to Spain and have rent coming in as an income the month after I stop working.


DH and I had a long conversation about reason 3 and agreed regardless if I take VR this time around, the next time or 2,3,4 .... years time this reason would still be there so we have decided to take action NOW and eliminate some of reason 3. So we have decided that I will continue working but we will rent out our house now, move into a short term rental property (a small 2 bed house/apartment) sell most of our furniture take the bare essentials to rented place and when the next VR is offered reason 3 will have mainly gone away and I can put my hand up then and go. We contacted the local letting agent we want to use for letting our house on Friday and asked them to start the process........ The rent we will get will be a lot more than we will need to pay out on rent and the bills will be less for a smaller property so financially we might be better off. The search is now on to find a house/ apartment for us to rent. We will be landlords and tenants at the same time!!!

Popgirl

gallygirl

Popgirl wrote: »

Tenants moved out at the weekend. We visited the house yesterday and it's in a better condition than we expected Although we need new carpets throughout and every room needs painting but at least most of the kitchen and bathroom fittings are still in tact and just need a good clean. I can't begin to describe how dirty the oven is!

So hope I'm saying the same in a few weeks time (am taking as a given the oven will be filthy, life is too short and I might just get it replaced ).

Your plan seems very sensible :T. But don't you DARE fall foul of the One More Year syndrome!!!!!!