From Flat to Farmhouse

hiddenshadow

Sounds reasonable. I think I spent about $14k on my towing truck/trailer in the US (a year before I moved here - silly of me!).

I want to go to some of the horsey auctions here in Ireland, just to watch. Though I've heard of people getting very nice 3-4yos for < €5k at auction, so there's also that option...though I'm liking the idea of a schoolmaster more and more these days!

FloppyDisk

I would like a youngster one day but my friends always tell me that I don't need something 'very nice', but just something I can have fun on, which I guess is true!

For now I am putting it all on the back burner and focused on the new house. I just wish the vendors were focused on their new house too - still no sign of a chain but I have been as clear as I can about our intended timescales. Another house has come on the market that would certainly 'do' but it isn't quite in my dream location like the current one is.

Lorry has gone and money has come in so that's my emergency fund and contribution to the kitchen fund sorted (although I feel like that might scale up to cover furniture and allsorts) and some change for the horse.

hiddenshadow

Yes, I'm quite happy with the concept of reliable and unremarkable vs flashy. That said, I do like the idea of bringing something up myself...though I may not have the skills to do that, if I'm honest.

Congrats on getting the lorry sold, hope the house vendors perk up soon.

FloppyDisk

Turns out the vendors have always been on board, it was the estate agent that felt that they were too stressed to cope with any demands up until now and had been refusing to pass on our messages. Thankfully that seems to be sorted for now and for the first time I actually feel like we are actually going to buy a house in the country!

Now time to faff with two mortgage applications in one! I have been tempted to over pay my 10% allowance for the year to lower by ERC, but I am terrified something will go wrong and I will be left with very little spare cash.

hiddenshadow

Glad the vendors are on board! Hope the mortgage sorting goes smoothly.

Estate agents are useless. Ours tried to lie to both us and the vendors and essentially blame the other...luckily we were in contact via text and saw through it.

EatingTheElephant

Good to see things are progressing. I’m thinking my next horse purchase will be something to have fun on, not for a while yet though!

My bil had the issue where he couldn’t get the b2l mortgage without having a mortgage on a house he lived in. It was all down to the lender, so his current bank wouldn’t do it but the mortgage broker we used knew which lenders you could go to. I think there was a very limited choice, which I guess not all brokers know about.

FloppyDisk

That is my biggest concern at the moment Elephant. It is good to hear that it can be done though. It is a shame with rising rates but I will probably go for a short fix on the flat to then change to a more competitive lender as soon as possible. The broker we are using seems quite experienced and is part of a big firm so we can hopefully be moved around if needs be, but he doesn't think we will be paying more than 2.5% for either mortgage which isn't too bad considering.

FloppyDisk

Productive chat with the mortgage broker but he has now thrown me as it looks like I can borrow more equity from the BTL than expected, enough perhaps for a 15% deposit on the new house. But it depends on what I value it at. HPI says £245k, I have said £275k, zoopla and similar ones on rightmove say more like £300k, but the ones on rightmove aren't necessarily selling for that price surely? Beyond actually paying for a valuation, who on earth knows?

FloppyDisk

Had to stick with just 10% in the end, but both mortgage applications are well on their way now and we even have a draft contract from the vendors.
I have rejigged my spreadsheet to prep for the new financial set up and it's telling me that I somehow managed to save £1,969.90 in my personal account this month.

Paying for searches pushed the joint account just over budget but my week of eating dust when I was on my own helped us stay under budget for food for the first time.

The flat has £9,950 in it's account so as long as my tenants agree to extend their contract, I will be able to plough on with the lease extension once the house is sorted and we get past the 'surprise! It's a fake boiler' phase.

FloppyDisk

Looks like we have two mortgage offers in the bag, just waiting for the paperwork for the BTL. I will wing it over to our solicitor as soon as it arrives so we can get the money in the bank and be ready for the big purchase.

We had hoped to complete before the end of April but we are quite well ahead of schedule so far, the sooner I can start paying it off the better!

I have moved offices and now have the luxury of an enormous fridge and no more coffee shops within an arms reach so my day to day spending and chocolate intake has plummeted. That said, I did splash out on a dressage schoolmaster lesson which I may have to repeat!