From Flat to Farmhouse

FloppyDisk

Thanks all, I feel exhausted after so much Christmas socialising and am looking forward to getting back to normal life and starting the house ball rolling. Fingers crossed the vendors have used the long weekend to sort out a good plan and not have second thoughts and back out. What a pessimist I am!

Back in the real world, savings took a hit over Christmas and I am assuming the worst and that I will have minimal pay for the rest of the tax year due to code mess ups therefore just hoping to maintain my balance for the next few months.

FloppyDisk

:mad: Why is is so complicated? I am attempting to use the brain power of two brokers who are telling me totally different things. One thinks we can get a let to buy mortgage no problem. The other thinks that we can't get a BTL mortgage on the flat for more than 50k. Well it's rented for a grand a month so sod the country house, I'll buy 10 BTLs on those returns! He is adamant that we can't get a BTL mortgage if we don't own another house at the time of application. I'm not sure if he just doesn't know about let to buy mortgages, or if he has excluded them for a reason, in which case, is the first broker wrong too??

I really don't want to start down the path of the 'no problem' broker to find that the other was 3 steps ahead and find ourselves not able to move forwards. This all seemed very straight forward when I first investigated it.

Watty1

No solutions....went down the route of following a broker at the start of last year only to find ...after having the house inspected and umpteen forms etc the mortgage did not meet the requirements he had written in his letter. Lucky I read the small print. Rather recklessly I told him he was an idiot !! That sort of ended our working relationship Maybe tell the no problem broker what the other broker has said and take it from there? Or post on the other boards, there are a few really helpful brokers that you could check in with?

FloppyDisk

Thanks Watty, going back and forth between them. Ultimately I don't think we are going to know until we submit everything. BF is telling me not to stress myself out doing their jobs for tbem, but if I can see their work doesn't make sense I can't ignore it! I have asked on the mortgage board but little feedback.:(

FloppyDisk

Good start to house buying - vendors have reneged on their offer to move into rented, so now we play the patience game. I haven't decided how long am I prepared to wait but their behaviour so far doesn't bode well. Rightmove alerts have very much been switched back on.

In the meantime it is just a case of getting our heads down and saving dosh. BF is away with work a lot over the next few months so I will revert back to my meal for one planning of beans on either toast or jacket potatoes. :money:

hiddenshadow

My meal planning for one consists almost entirely of pasta and/or popcorn.

Hope something suitable comes up soon re: house, at least now people should be getting into the swing of putting houses on the market post-holiday.

FloppyDisk

hiddenshadow wrote: »

My meal planning for one consists almost entirely of pasta and/or popcorn.

Hope something suitable comes up soon re: house, at least now people should be getting into the swing of putting houses on the market post-holiday.

So glad it isn't just me! Yes hopefully we have done this all at the right time. Fingers crossed!

FloppyDisk

Righto, patience does not befit me, so I have adjusted my budget to see the benefits of saving for the next few months and beyond.

I have had a cheeky offer for my lorry, which is still on the table but I am trying to get a few more views and move things up if I can, but I am assuming it is sold at the low number for my savings forecast.

Looking ahead - assuming the tax sorts itself out to what it should be, and that we don't have any silly moments of splurging - I should be able save £1500 a month. I intend to put the £500 into the joint account to build up for things like solicitors, surveys etc.

Looking really far ahead I would like the option of getting another horse, so I aim to build up £25k of savings, to cover the horse, vetting, saddle fitting, etc plus swapping my car for a decent truck and trailer combo which I think will suit us better between BF and I.

Even further down the line, the house we hope to get could do with a new kitchen, so I'll start with £7.5k for my share to that.

I have deliberately avoided including lease extensions and sinking funds for the flat as I have decided that it now needs to fund itself and has a separate budget and plan based on the rent coming in. Given that I have never paid into the sinking fund in 5.5 years, I will give it a maturing regular saver to start it off. So that now has a balance of £8,650 which will cover the expected building upgrade and tax bill but should grow by £430 a month.

I also intend to maintain a £10k emergency fund so I would like my savings to look something like £42,000. :rotfl:

Ignoring the balance in the joint account and the flat account, my starting point is now £12,992. Who knows if I'll see it through, or if we get the house, or if I decide that £25k for a hobby is ludicrous, but it's all options for now and might just make an enormous OP one day! New house is in a very horsey area and I already have offers of horses to ride so I will be ok while I wait or maybe even indefinitely.

Just have to hope that 'new house' comes good!

hiddenshadow

Love the sound of your plans. We should sit down and make long-term wish list type goals for savings, but so far we just have sell house/buy house/buy car (ideally all with money from "sell house" ).

Out of curiosity, what do you hope to get horse-wise for £25k? I'm pretty familiar with horse prices vs. training/showing levels in the US, but not the UK. (Will also now need to learn the Irish market!)

FloppyDisk

It is a wonder how I ever managed to overpay the flat mortage with my wish list!

Oh crumbs no the 25k needs to cover a towing truck too. I'm thinking more like 7-8k max for a horse. I'd just like a fairly well established Irish thing that will look after me!