It's a long and winding road

RickyBoyRoy

Hi,

Not sure where you live but most (if not all) of the estate agents in the northwest don't charge for a valuation. But if you needed one for a Mortgage company the estate agents valuation wouldn't be enough - they usually have their own list of valuation companies that do this for them.

We were also thinking about renting our current house out and buying another - until the rules on 2nd home stamp duty changed a month or two a go (as can be read about by Googling "2nd home stamp duty" - I can't post a link as I'm a new user!) they have made buy to let a lot less attractive than it used to be.

I don't think we are going to bother now - the extra stamp duty is bad enough but add that to the tax breaks changing so you have to pay tax on the entire income you receive (not just the profit after mortgage repayments) have made us reconsider - that combined with the thought of any issues such as bad tenants, agents fees, landlord insurance etc.

I think we are just going to put all our money into the best house we can afford - something that we won't outgrow for atleast 10-15 years anyway.

The tax breaks you get in a pension seem a much better option than a buy to let now (for us anyway) plus, there's a huge expectation that for lower rate tax payers (me) the tax breaks are going to improve by quite a lot in April.

Something for you to think about anyway.

TwentySomethingGirl

Hi


Thanks for your comments, we're in the South East. I know about the stamp duty changes though I've not looked into it in detail as we're not in a position to move yet (though I do enjoy window shopping on Rightmove). The BTL for us would be to rent out the flat to a family member rather than for any kind of investment or income, for the time being at least. I'm working on paying off as much as we can on the mortgage so we're in a better position for the re-mortgage. I was hoping to be able to move in a year or 2 but I think that's a bit optimistic but it's good to have a challenge!

TwentySomethingGirl

Well we've had a couple of good months thanks to some refunds of overpaid bills and DH overtime. We've managed to put £500 away for Feb and March so far into the regular saver, as well as OPing £102.91 (the penny was to test a payment method) in Feb and £102.90 so far in March.
So far so good

TwentySomethingGirl

I've made a couple of smaller OPs so far this month, £5.33 and £2.61. I keep window shopping for houses. I was thinking that if we found somewhere it might be better to buy when this fix ends, and before we have a kid because they are taken into account with affordability these days...DH got on board too but is getting cold feet so I think we're staying put and just keep tackling this mortgage. He is hopefully getting a payrise in the next month or so that I think will be about £300 a month net extra, and may even come with some back dated pay too so that'd be handy.
I've applied for a 0% CC that was a best buy on MSE. The max you could get was 27 months but I only got 16. Will be used for buying tickets and other bits for our holiday later this year and will pay the money into a 5% account. I did the application through TCB so will patiently wait for that to come through.

lippy1923

I'm guilty of rightmove window shopping as well.

Was that the Post office credit card you applied for? If so, I applied as well last month and it comes with a 16 month 0% on purchases, but if you use it in the first 3 months it increases to 27 months.

TwentySomethingGirl

Yeah, it is the PO one. Thanks for that, I must learn to read the small print...

lippy1923

It does throw a lot of people off. Funny T&C's if you ask me.
Cashback was paid to me in 2-3 weeks so very quick

TwentySomethingGirl

Well it's been a while since I updated here. I got the PO credit card, and have already made use of it. I also opened a Yorkshire bank a/c for myself and DH for the £150 reward which should hopefully come in the next month or 2. Some small extra mortgage OPs have been sent but nothing massive. We have to pay the balance of our holiday in June and I want to leave a bit of a buffer once that's been done.


I had a small payrise at work and with the new limit for personal tax my net pay went up about £32 and DH's payrise should come into effect next month.


I bought new car insurance through TCB but nothing is showing on my account yet, when I used it for the credit card it showed quite quickly so not sure if something has gone wrong there..


I've also joined SW, so am trying to plan meals more which should help with our grocery bill, or at least reduce the amount of food we throw away.

TwentySomethingGirl

I've been a bit absent from here for a few months...time flies.


We paid off our holiday and still had some savings spare so I was pleased with that. Less pleased that DH had to buy a new phone, car insurance and service were both due in the same month so all that went on the 0% CC. Money in savings will cover it when the 0% ends but I'm also paying bits off each month. Being in debt, even if countered by savings, really doesn't sit well with me.


Renewed my RAC cover, they wanted c£190. Cancelled and went through TCB to get £85 cashback and got the policy for c£150 as a new customer.


I've also had a small payrise but still waiting for the one promised to DH.


All in all, slow progress is being made. But slow progress is better than no progress.


I'm a little concerned about the EU vote and affect on house prices but nowt I can do about that. Our remortgage is due in December so will start looking in a couple months, hoping they won't raise the interest rates...


I hope everyone is well!

mrsp1987

I somehow doubt interest rates will go up because they'd want to try and stimulate the economy - as they've been trying to do for the last 8 years. However, this is completely unchartered territory and I'm not an economist. So, *shrugs shoulders*