Getting a mortgage and then becoming mortgage-free!

Kittenkirst

Hi all!
So from my title you may have guessed I don't yet have a mortgage, however I am hoping that will all change within the next few weeks.
I will then start on overpaying the mortgage and really penny pinching to try and reduce it down as much as possible!

I'm hoping this is alright to start my diary in here? :-)

The story so far, my lovely girlfriend and I have been discussing getting a place together for some time. We started looking at houses (al very small and far from her parents- which is a no-no, we want to be close to them to visit regularly). Last weekend we went to see a new build development and fell in love with a house- less than 2 miles from her parents, perfect size for the two of us and within our budget (from getting mortgage in principle information and confirming monthly payments were well within our budgets).

Sooooo we took her parents round for their seal of approval, spoke with an agent we know through the family about pertinent questions to ask, did lots of number crunching and then placed a reservation.....

....so we've now got paperwork from solicitors re the conveyancing etc and paperwork from the mortgage advisors to sort out this weekend.
We have re-jogged our budget to ensure we had the deposit in savings by end of Feb (we thought we'd have a few months before we found anywhere) so are ready to almost hand over £18500 :O

I have agreed to move into her parents house and pay rent in mid March to prevent paying rent, bills and food (will save an extra £500 a month) so we should be in a good position for when the house is ready September/October time!

Does anyone have any hints or tips so far?

Our brokers/solicitors are ones recommended by family who've used them and really recommend them and we've sense checked the rates the solicitors charge to ensure its competitive.

SueP19

Welcome to the best board...................an SOA is a constantly evolving thing, so do one and put it up, then when the time comes adjust it, again and again

Good luck x

TwentySomethingGirl

Hi and good luck


We bought a new build and it was quite nice reserving in May, but not completing til December. Gave us a few extra months to save up before we started paying the mortgage, because we found it sooner than we thought we would too. I'd say save as hard as you can while you can, so you have a buffer for anything unexpected when you move in and any extra furniture/other housey things you may need to buy.


TSG

jodles16

Hey Kittenkirst! Welcome to the board, this is the perfect place to begin your MFW journey! I still cant believe how much all the bits around buying cost, even though budgeted I still found it painful passing over the hard saved money! Will keep bobbing in and seeing how your doing!

Jodles

BookWorm

Welcome to the board

You sound very organised and I hope all goes smoothly for you with the purchase. I don't have any tips for you I'm afraid as don't know about new builds but look forward to following your journey

BW x

mortgage_girl

Good luck with house purchase kittenkirst. You seem very organised. I'll be following your journey with interest.

MGx

bexster1975

Hello and welcome

That's a very lean SOA if I may say so.

I would look at car insurance and contents insurance when due. Cashback websites are your friends here. I bet you can reduce both if you have a hunt. I pay £50 a year on contents insurance ( not including the cashback I got).

In terms of decor have a look at what you might like to do now. If you have somewhere to store stuff until you move then charity shops and car boot sales are a great way to get stuff. Have just recently got two rolls of laura Ashley wallpaper from a charity shop for £1.95 each. Will do a new feature wall in the lounge. Originally the paper is £40 a roll but still about £25 a roll in the sale.

Best of luck to you both

Bexster

Kittenkirst

Afternoon
Today has consisted of more sorting in the flat- have five more boxes for car booting (roll on the first Sunday in March!) and a small pile for ebaying

Have swapped my Barclaycard debt (£1400) to Tescos as they have a 0% balance offer so will save £14 a month as interest has just started for Barclays!

12 months of statements have now arrived for my current account and I've printed off lots of my pay slips & P60 ready for the mortgage application!

Am really pleased as on checking my finance spreadsheets I haven't spent any money at all for 5 days! Amazing what determination can do- no frothy coffees at work, lunches at work etc :-)

I am now just chilling watching pretty little liars with a blanket on and the cat snuggled on my lap

Kittenkirst

Evening all!

Logged onto work laptop sneakily to check pay slip for tomorrow and update banking early! Had an additional £75 in it (due to salary changes and different bonuses being paid- I must have overestimated the tax and student loan deductions!).

Going to do the money shifting tomorrow into deposit savings account and finalise the paperwork for the mortgage broker :-)

Listed 9 items on eBay tonight and a dress sold for £10.60 making my eBay earnings around £110 before fees- not bad for in a month!

Looking back at the week I have not spent any money all week- amazing what a plan can do for you :-)

The gf has been eBay listing today and had lots of things finishing so it's all going in the deposit/house to be pot! All very exciting!

pathtofreedom

Fingers crossed for your new place, I'm currently buying somewhere new too so I have all the fun of solicitors and mortgage applications too right now.

One thing you wrote jumped out at me though. If your gf has a flat already, and is going to be on your new place too, are you aware of the extra stamp duty you're going to have to pay on this new place as she's buying a second property, as that will add a big chunk to your expenses.

Kittenkirst

Hey Path to freedom!
Yes, thanks for adding it in as I forgot to mention. It's up for sale now but not shifting! We checked with mortgage advisor and if not sold by completion date will be an eye watering extra £5300. :eek:

However, if she sells within 18 months it will be refunded. We are lucky that her mum has said she is happy to cover that, IF she doesn't sell by completion.

Fingers crossed she does as I really don't want to be borrowing (very very kind of her to do!)