Had a mortgage too long - it's going, going, gone!

smcqis

4p left in my mortgage due to the bank holiday and my payment not coming out till 3rd this month instead of 1st.

smcqis

Nationwide said they will waive the 4p (ever little eh!). Which got me thinking, what is the maximum they would waive? A pound perhaps? thoughts?

hiddenshadow

HMRC will supposedly waive £1 but they have still mailed me a letter saying I should pay (due 2 years ago). Haven't gotten round to it yet.

Ali-OK

Bit of a spendy time as BBQ came to fruition :j Half price with accessories and DS is learning to cook on it. Heaven help my tummy :rotfl:

Balanced out by sending a £90 OP to the car loan as it's higher interest than mortgage and new T3sco account (I've put £500 in there for the moment).

Mostly glorious weather since mid-week here, up at 27C today :j Yesterday was overcast on and off but a lovely evening in the end.

Finally cleaned the downstairs back windows and both sets of french doors, sun kept reminding me of the filth on them :eek:

Lots achieved this morning, including cleaning the water feature, pebbles and gravel. Few indoor jobs completed before 9am to make the most of the outdoors

Financials:
- bank accounts checked
- FPL and LP checked - up to 410 points on LP as additional prizes and points up for grabs after their re-org
- Inbox £s - £7.01
- Qmee - up at 77p

Food shop was Friday night - £23.22 and fuel fill up at £29.00. I need to make batches of chilli and bolognese again, though everything with salad for now so it gets used up

Back to the garden it is then...to relax

Hope everyone is having a good weekend

AlexLK

Have you survived, Ali?

Anavand

Hi Ali, I'm enjoying seeing your progress as usual and inspired by your organisation and your success in reducing your mortgage debt. :beer:
I think I mentioned when I posted before but we are currently saving for our first home and possibly going to take on a mortgage soon. We are having the usual debate about whether to take on a bigger mortgage for a bigger and better house or to borrow conservatively and get a house that is perfectly fine for our needs but nothing special. I of course am leaning towards the latter, being so inspired by the mortgage-free boards. I wonder if you have a view on this (just asking as I would trust your opinion based on how well you seem to manage your own finances). I'm not sure whether you went for a forever home when you bought your current house and are now paying that off or if you bought conservatively in the first place. Anyway, any advice would be greatly appreciated.:j

Ali-OK

Am still alive and well :rotfl:

Thanks for your kind words Anavand. My only advice would be to think about what you need/want from your home now and in the future. Pros and cons lists of smaller vs bigger.

Are you more home birds and hosts or socialites/travel addicts? Is a family planned, where do you want to be come retirement, etc.

Lots to consider, plus life rarely goes according to plan, so think about the 'what if' scenarios and can you manage if any of those happen.

This is home number 4 for me...

1st - 3 bed semi bought with ex-DH - planned forever home as family was on the cards at some point.
2nd - 2 bed flat, post divorce and buying ex out of house - stayed in 1st house for 10 years but was working abroad alot and wanted a smaller, easier to keep pad.
3rd - 2 bed semi. Back to UK working within 12 months, hated flat living (no garden, thin walls) and bought the house. DS appeared from a long term relationship that then failed, house still needed some major improvements, decided easier to move to something modern.
4th - 4 bed detached. Good job/salary at the time of buying, forever home, detached was key criteria. Couldn't foresee the health issues and ultimately leaving work after 9 years with that employer. Still, picked myself up and got back on track in recent years

So it's been an interesting journey thus far! Even though I felt I had thought through and discussed with trusted family/friends etc, I would probably have done things differently looking back (mostly not buying a flat!).

The only mortgage that was top of affordability was the first one at 3x OH salary, 0.5 mine. After that it was just me at 2x, 1.5x and 2.75x for this one (with big salary hikes between last 2 houses).

Don't know whether that helps at all

Anavand

Hi Ali,

thank you so much for your long and detailed reply. It is really interesting to see your journey with housing and it seems you have had a range of scenarios. We have one child, not planning anymore and are currently between getting a 4 bed semi and a bigger 4 bed detached. This would obviously be quite a bit more expensive and we are leaning towards thinking that while detached is nice, it is not worth another 50k of mortgage repayments. I am so inspired by your diary and the other people on the mortgage-free wannabe thread who are trying to be mortgage-free sooner. If we were going to sign up for 25 years of repayments like most people, it would make more sense to go for the bigger house. As it is, we are hoping to be mortgage free or to have a very small mortgage with small repayments much sooner than that. And like you say, life can throw unexpected things at you. We won't be having any more children but if one of us was to end up unable to work for example, it is more reassuring to know we have a smaller debt. It is a case of working through the pros and cons of our own situation I know! But thank you so much for sharing that and well done on being in the position you are in while raising your son single-handedly. :T

Luckyinlife

Nice little story there ali been a great upgrade as youv gone around :]

Anavand -- I recently got my first home feb 2015 i could of had upto 150k mortgage if i wanted im single and work for myself so stepping back i looked at it and thought if anything happens work wise im on my own and 150k would be way to much for me so borrowed 68k on a house i put 10k into and is worth 115k now so the 68k mortgage is a lot more manageable if work drys up and i have to rethink life/income ect so i went low end

That said if there is 2 of you with savings a you could jump a step or 2 on the ladder It will take longer to be mortgage free the bigger the mortgage gets

Anavand

Thanks for sharing your story Luckyinlife. I agree with you that there is the temptation to go for the biggest mortgage and that its important to step back and consider the what-ifs. For us we are hoping to get something that will meet our needs and that we won't need to upgrade from but that won't necessarily impress people or be anything amazing (we are not bothered about status etc anyway). It is very true that the bigger the mortgage gets the longer it will take to be mortgage free and we are very much bearing that in mind. Do you have a system for overpaying, where you overpay a specific amount or do you just do what you can? I would be interested to know how people balance overpaying against savings. Ali, of course, seems to have that covered!