Mortgage Free by 2026 - I hope!

Salemicus

Another month, still feeling glum and stuck. Let's think about the positives:

• In September I said I needed to focus on increasing my income, and I've taken this to heart. Since last time I've managed to qualify for another pay-rise in the new year, and got a good annual bonus. It's not really a new development, but I've also done a huge amount of overtime this year, which works out at around 10% of my annual salary. A nice extra!
• I've been feeling miserable about my job since I went back in July*, but lately I'm feeling a lot happier. In part because of the above, in part because they have a new incentive scheme that motivates me to work hard, in part because my manager has been making positive noises about my future career direction. I am still not loving a lot of my work, but I no longer feel I need to leave. In fact, I very much want to stay, and just change my responsibilities so it's stuff I enjoy more.
• We are getting some interest in the house, which shows it can't be totally mis-priced or mis-advertised.

*I took 3 months of shared parental leave when number 2 was born.

Need to make a plan to address some of the negatives:

• Still not sold the house. We've now missed the stamp duty window, barring miracles, which taking into account both a sale and a purchase will presumably cost us £15k. Money we could very much use. Meanwhile the estate agents aren't helping.
• Feeling very stuck and unable to plan for the future, personally or financially. Don't want to put any money in an ISA, sort out furniture, etc - what about the move? But nothing is happening, or has been for months. Horrible feeling of limbo, that's affecting me in every way.
• Work makes me feel stressed and (still) somewhat unhappy. This isn't urgent, but it is important. I won't get any of the benefits of increased salary etc if I can't keep going, so I need to find a happier place here.
  

If I can address these, I'll be in a good place, and ready to take on the next phase of the challenge!

Salemicus

Latest news is we've accepted an offer on our house. Hooray! Now looking in earnest, but competition in the new location is fierce. There hasn't been so many good prices coming onto the market in the past year, so we may need to up our budget to get what we want. The good news is that we've paid off more of our existing mortgage than I'd anticipated - now down to just £17k! - and with the salary rises and generous new bonus program I'm on, I feel like a £500k mortgage would be affordable. The downside is that the house has sold for less than we'd hoped. All told, our top budget is now a little over £1.1m.

This is all making me feel a lot less stuck. I now need to take things forward in a positive way:

• Drive the house move process - get the best price we can for the best house we can. I want this to be our "forever home" but I don't want to spend too much on it. It's a balance.
• Save as much as we can in the meantime.

Salemicus

Latest update:

* Still feeling stressed and stuck at work. There was a major reorganisation, which presented an opportunity for a really positive outcome for me, but unfortunately I only ended up getting a sideways move. Worse, my new set of reports are plainly not up to scratch, which is forcing me to spend a huge amount of time hand-holding, and preventing me from having the wider impact at work that I want to demonstrate. I need to sort this ou, and get to a position where I am (1) enjoying my work (2) making career progress (3) not making any less than I am right now, and ideally more. This may necessitate a move.
* House buying has been crazy. We have seen some good properties, but the market is on fire right now. Viewings all booked up within half an hour of hitting the market. When we do book a viewing, houses being sold before we can view. One house we liked went for £200k above asking price! We've offered on three houses - two we've lost out on, including one where we went £20k above asking. Third house we're hoping to hear back on Monday. 
* At this rate we will be heading into rented when our sale completes. That was always the plan, but I am feeling a bit nervous right now. What happens if we can't find anywhere and the market continues to rise? My plan is to wait until January and see if we can find the house we want. If we can't get what we want in that time, our criteria are clearly not working and we will need to reassess. 
* At this rate we are going to have a massive new mortgage to pay off, so this diary will be running for a long time yet!

South_coast

Best of luck with finding the right new home - and equally finding your happy place at work

Sapindus

Salemicus said:

Latest update:

 Worse, my new set of reports are plainly not up to scratch, which is forcing me to spend a huge amount of time hand-holding, and preventing me from having the wider impact at work that I want to demonstrate

In my book, bringing an under-performing team which you've been landed with (i.e. no fault of yours that they're in that state) up to scratch would be a major way to demonstrate your value to the company.

Salemicus

@Sapindus - you're right, and I should try and see the positives. Unfortunately the team was newly formed with me as the manager, so it's not so simple - some might blame me.

Update - we lost out on the house we loved. Seller sold to someone who bid less, because he was pals with their parents. Frustrating. Some other promising ones, but those are more projects and would need to be scrutinised carefully. We have pretty standard tastes and no building/DIY skills, so we don't get any advantage out of those. We may just need to hold tight a while longer. 

Salemicus

We've now bid on two more houses. We bid £45k above asking on a nice but slightly boxy place on the Buckinghamshire side of the border, but lost out - seemingly by some margin. We then bid 2% below asking on an absolute palace on the Hertfordshire side of the border. One catch - very close to the M25, and affected by the noise. We were told we'd win if we just upped our bid by a small amount, but after umming and ahhing about it for a while, we decided not to bid any higher, partly because of the motorway, partly because we'd rather be in Buckinghamshire for school catchment areas. They may yet come back to us, but I'm assuming that house is lost too.

Fortunately, my wife's company has been taken over and her options have done well. Hooray for Mrs Salemicus! Unfortunately, due to the purchase structure, and because some of her options hadn't vested, the lion's share of her return is in the form of stock and options in the purchasing company - which isn't publically traded. So despite the ostensible good news, it still remains something of a lottery ticket waiting for a future liquidity event, but it has still given us a nice boost to our budget.

Nurse2047

Also aiming for end of 2026 but may be tight, how’s your target so far and new home?