Getting a mortgage and then becoming mortgage-free!

Kittenkirst

@debtfreeoneday good you’ve responded on the rejected one; the gentlemen reviewed it and reissued the reward which was fair.
not sure if they’ve just got a few bugs at the moment as I had another last night after work say ineligible so will wait and see; will do the ones I can for the meantime

Sooooo the contracts-  all looks okay except our solicitor has miscalculated the stamp duty. We have responded to query that. We have also asked for an FCI flood survey- 3 day SLA- as our surveys came back with a river and surface water risk of flooding status Black 1, which is high from what Ive read.

I tried doing some insurance quotes last night but because its a new build it was almost impossible; i went on a flood specialist site and they want £934 for building and contents per year!!!! ouch.

So we’ve requested the flood survey in the hope they downgrade the risk formally (which according to the internet they often do). If they don’t we have a decision to make about it. Reading up on flooding more than 5.2m houses are at risk of flooding per year so we wouldn’t be alone, however is that a risk we are willing to take; not just from the financial side but from the emotional side too

Our friends who are buying one door down are a bit behind in their buying process so going to send them the survey we’ve had and tell them tho request the FCI flood survey in advance to save them any nasty surprises too! 

themadvix

Glad you'll be under your FSCS limit KK. Not good about the flooding issue though, although not surprising given the number of developments that get the go-ahead on flood plains. With climate change happening, I think I'd want to think very seriously about the risks - as you say, emotional ones too. Presumably there are mitigations you can implement that may help (I'm thinking, don't concrete over the back garden, hard flooring downstairs....), but it doesn't change the ultimate results.

Very kind of you to think of your friends - I'm sure they'll appreciate it! 

willowparrett

Hey KK, we deal with floodrisk a lot in planning - to either give you some reassurance or red flags, it's always worth running an address (or area if the address doesn't exist yet - you can pan around the map from a nearby address) through this search: https://flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/long-term-flood-risk/postcode.  You need to click through to the map 'View a map of the risk of flooding...' for both 'flooding from rivers and sea' and 'flooding from surface water' (two seperate links).  Within the map otions you can also look at depth and speed/flow of flood water - that may help you make a judgement on how comfortable you are with your risk. 

Rivers and sea is as it sounds; river/streams/the sea breaching their banks or defences (usually makes at least the local news) - often not a problem unless you're very low lying and close to a waterbody.  Surface water is more common, and usually affects a smaller area as it's driven by intense rainfall, and tends to happen quite quickly as a result of drain systems filling up (but also tends to go down more quickly too).  E.g. there is a strip on one side of our road that is shown as 'low risk' on the surface water map that always forms a big puddle when it rains heavily, but once the road drains catch up it drains away. 

Feel free to message me directly if you want a hand. WPx

Kittenkirst

Oh @willowparrett  that’s very kind of you- I will try and work out how to send a private message and send you some details if okay. We have paid for the FCI flood specialist survey yesterday so hopefully that will be back asap. Then we can decide and be ready to exchange on the new property.

For our current house we’ve signed the paperwork and will drop them off at lunch; the only sticking point on the sale is the blinking management company process. Our estate has a managing agent purely to maintain the balancing pond So its £68 per year. The managing company have advised our solicitors need to request an info sheet and send then the TP1 document and then they will provide it. They do however offer a “management pack” which is between £350- £500 dependent on how quick you want it; this is specifically for flats/managed buildings however the buyers solicitor is not understanding this and insisting on the pack. The management company (FirstPort) have confirmed that it is not required and therefore we definitely don’t want to spend £500 for a same day turnaround for documents that aren’t needed. All the documents are available on their portal to download and Ive already provided them to our solicitors. Urgh!

Last day at work today as we have tomorrow off; we had booked mid morning kayaking session but lovely gf seems to be coming down with a cold (very rare for her!) so will see how she is in the morning as its not exactly great weather either! If we don’t do the kayak session we have lots of errands (tip run, c-ex for super old iPhones, and then the move into the in-laws!). Exciting and busy weekend coming up!

Kittenkirst

Wooosh, this long weekend sure flew by.
We ended up cancelling kayaking because the girlfriend was full of sniffles so despite it being a good day weather-wise it just wasnt worth having her stuck on the river in a kayak for a few hours. We did however have a productive weekend:

• 2 gym sessions at our new gym (have to pre-book and the covid practices are really good)
• Moved into the in-laws and all bags/ boxes have homes, including all the fridge, freezer & larder stuffs.
• House pretty much packed; we now have the shed to pack any odds & ends tonight, and take our 3 TVs off the wall and get them packed. Ready for removal guys on Thursday and then the great clean can begin.
• Lots of things gifted via Olio app- fairytales book, turqouise hair dye, arm/leg weights, Bead boxes, safety shoes, clothes items, various food stuffs!
• Sold our mugs on EBay this morning £20 in the bank
• Prolific had £5.35 clear this morning and overpaid.

From the house sale perspective; we are waiting for our managing agents (who look after the balancing pond on the estate) sending our solicitor the free information sheet. Annoyingly I forwarded to our solicitors three weeks ago what docs they needed to submit but it looks like they just overlooked that. It’s only because I emailed the managing agents saying we just need to do x,y,z don’t we and that is sufficient, they said yes so our solicitor finally sent the documents on Friday (GRRRRR!). We have signed and returned the paperwork last week, so now just waiting for this document and to be told the date for exchange & completion. We were working to 12th May but no idea yet on whether that is achievable or not. Annoyingly the mortgage went to SVR on 1/5 so we are now accruing £20 interest per day   

From the house buying perspective the lovely @willowparrett   sent me lots of documents that have alleviated our worries about the potential for flooding, and also our friends buying next door but one had their searches back and all the flood stuff came back as Low- Im forwarding that to our solicitors this afternoon to query how they can be so different as they are the exact same distance from the water as our house (as it runs behind the properties, beyond the railway line!). As soon as we get the FCI searches back we should hopefully be in a position to sign the paperwork on that too! Fingers and everything crossed.

I’m on a late lunch today as i had some lunchtime meetings; job still seems to be going well. I’m really enjoying it and finding I have space to breathe which is such a difference. I’m now off to make a cuppa and read a few updated diaries. Catch you all soon

debtfreeoneday

Great news KK. Joining you on the house move train now. 

Kittenkirst

debtfreeoneday said:

Great news KK. Joining you on the house move train now. 

How exciting!! How are you feeling about it?

Kittenkirst

Afternoon all,
So we are still stuck in limbo a little as no further forward with the exchange (& then completion) on our current house. I have chased the managing agents today, but our solicitors are also awaiting responses from our local council on something (I’m not too sure what).

We have however had the FCI reports back and they show we are in fact Low Risk for all potential flooding- hurrah! It does however state that we may struggle with standard insurance, however if we use a broker or go via specialists we should be able to get reasonable priced contents & buildings insurance (We have saved the copy of the FCI flood report for if we should need to submit it for quotes etc in future!)

Fab news though and we can sign and drop off the docs tomorrow for the new house!

In Mortgage news the Standard Variable rate is in the back of my mind, and from my back of a fag packet (wherever did that phrase come from?1) its £20 a day so I’m keen we get our house exchanged and completed on ASAP.

We went to the gym this morning before work so both tired already, but I have my first haircut in well over a year at 3pm! Super excited, then we are meeting a friend outside a pub for a drink (and hoping it doesn’t chuck it down!!) at 6pm!
Feels like it is almost back to normal, but we will still be very cautious (social distancing/antibaccing/masked up when possible) as don’t want to be silly now after being so cautious for so long

Kitty cats are still rubbing along; Oscar runs around a lot at night in our room; joey just hisses and growls at him from behind the door. We’ve had one little swipe yesterday but that’s it, the rest has just been noise but they seem to be content to be in the same room after dinner for peace whilst we all watch the tele together etc. The feliway diffusers are on and both are being given the cat cystease type feliway supplement to help with anxiety/stress on them both. We are trying to feed them at same time and make them be able to see each other but far enough away so that they recognise positive things happen when they are in the same place. Going to be a slow process I think but really its only been since Sunday really (as Oscar stayed in our room most of Saturday night on the bed with us like a 3rd little person!)

SandyShores

Aww so cute, I love it when my kitty snuggles up to my legs through the duvet.  I hope they both settle down soon, sounds like its going well though.

My experience of insurance was a bit strange, as I tried to get my own insurance in our last house (bit of a water surrounded area) and I was faced with lots of questions about how tall/close trees were and how many feet was the nearest water/stream/river etc.  So the first year I went with a broker and it was pretty expensive but was just glad for cover.  The second year I decided to try on my own again and I found that my bank insurance (Barclays) didn't ask all those questions, it was just something like 'has the house flooded in the last 5 years' and it was loads cheaper.  In our new house, our mortgage broker arranged it for us, it seems a pretty good deal, but to be honest I was just happy for one job to be ticked off my list.  Coming up for renewal again soon, and I'll have more time this year to make sure its the best price and cover

Good luck with the move.  We are all holding our breath waiting to hear the news of your exchange imminently

Kittenkirst

Hi all! Sorry Ive been a bit Missing in Action- we have moved out of our old house, everything is now off in secure storage and we spent the weekend cleaning and getting it ready for handover.

Today was D-day for exchange & completion however on Friday afternoon the solicitors advised they needed a form from the council. On Monday lunch they advised it had an additional cost so we approved payment immediately. Solicitors actually sent the payment yesterday afternoon (apparently they have a process they have to follow), and the doc came back today! We were hopeful that meant we would get the go ahead, HOWEVER, the buyers solicitors have sent yet another enquiry which our solicitors have to go back to our developer on......so who knows.

The estate agents called us yesterday pressurising us saying the buyers are desperate to get in; i had to try very hard to be patient and polite and say we are desperate for them to be in too! So the house is sat empty still and just waiting. Hmmm

Trying not to stress about it too much, it will happen when it happens

Work has been super hectic for me, as I’m doing a mini project so have worked until 7.30-8pm Monday & Tuesday, so have skipped the gym. We managed to get there for 7am this morning so I got 40 minutes of cardio in before coming back home to get sorted for work.

Kitties seem to be settling; there’s still the occasional growl from Joey, and a little scuffle every now and then (today it was because Joey was sat next to his food bowl, and Oscar just boldly strolled up to it to eat ) but largely seeming happier with the status quo, which is good. We’ve been doing the feeding/treat/brushing routine on each of them within eyesight of the other cat getting the same treatment; really doing the positive reinforcement bit so fingers crossed they will continue to rub along okay together.

With work being hectic and late Ive barely been on Prolific- however I managed to check it late last night (whilst watching Eastenders on catch up!) and got two surveys for £5.25 done which is ace. Ive set myself a little mini goal of £5 a week to earn on Prolific between now and when we get into the house. It’s 17 weeks so would be equal to £85- I’m currently at £9.65 with £2 ish pending too so on the way to the mini target.