mortgage neutral by 2026

pathtofreedom

I'm still waiting for the solicitor to call me back to decide if it is worth haggling. If they had said they had found something else wrong and needed 2k for that, I probably wouldn't be so annoyed right now. Just the fact she said it is for the garage, and they knew about that even before they put the offer in is what annoys me so much.

I'm guessing with the price changing I'll have to sign some new forms too, which is annoying as I have to go to london this week so soonest I could get in to see her would be friday. Just with so many bank holidays coming I'm just getting worried it isn't going to complete in time, and they will then come back saying they want help with the stamp duty or will pull out. It takes a year to sell something round here, and I really love my new place. I just wish I knew what was going on and knew for sure it was still going to happen or not. Also I'd need to buy some new furniture to stage it again, after I've been getting rid of stuff. I just want to know everything is sorted, we're going to exchange, I can book the movers still when I need to and it will all be wonderful and fine.

In other news the new surprise job looks like it is still ok, so my soon to be new boss, just needs to talk to me current bosses, bosses boss to see if I'm allowed to move teams.

pathtofreedom

Well finally got hold of my solicitor. She wants me to go in on friday to talk about it. I can just see this going past the 1st of April then my buyers saying they want me to pay the extra stamp duty too or something.

That and this boiler certificate thing I don't fully understand. I had a new boiler put in a few months after I moved here in 2007. I had what I thought was the certificate for that in my big box of house stuff. It turns out it is only the first page. The buyers want the full version. The solicitor gave me a number to get a copy but they said it wasn't registered with them at the time. So I'd need to get it re-certified, I think this is different to just a certificate saying it is working, as I have the last service from british gas ok. So I guess I need to spend more money trying to find out how to get that done in the next few days or something, and make sure it is exactly what they are asking for. Else I am getting really worried my buyer will pull out which means I won't be able to move

Tiggermad

Good news about the job, hopefully you can move teams without too many problems.

Thanks for popping in my diary. I thought I'd come and say hello as we are in a similar situation and it is stressful. We are having trouble with an extension on the house we have made an offer on. Hoping to speak to conveyancer tomorrow to see what's going on. Hope you can get the boiler sorted and I think that's a bit cheeky of your buyer, esp when they knew about the garage when they offered!

We got two rescue dogs and not looking forward to moving with them and we are only going a very short distance. Hope your dog doesn't find it too stressful. What kind of dog have you got? We've got two cairn terrier crosses, brother and sister. We've had them about 8 months now but as they are 13 years old they are only now starting to settle down. Love them to bits even though it has been a rocky and expensive ride.

Good luck with sorting it all out!

pathtofreedom

I have a schnauzer who is also a rescue, she is nearly 10. I got her when she was 5 and she had all sorts of problems at the start. My new place (hopefully) has cream carpet as well so I'm looking to get a million rugs for the place as she wee's / poos when she gets scared. She has a brilliant kennels right now, as she was in a puppy mill before I got her so lived in a kennel for the first 5 years of her life. When I'm at work she goes to day kennels, rather than a dog walker, as she gets scared in the house if you leave her for too long. The price is the same for kennels or a dog walker, but at least if I get stuck in traffic or something, I don't have to worry she is howling the place down and freaking out then.

When she first came I tried dap and some doggy prozak but it took years for her to settle. So I'm thinking of getting a load of dap plugins again as hopefully that will help. I have been on little caravan holidays with her before, so I'm hoping she won't be to worried at first. I never left her alone in a caravan though by herself. Once she realises we're not coming back though, I'm not looking forward to that. Especially the first few times I leave her alone, I'll probably have to go through the whole separation anxiety training again, so just leaving her for 5 mins then slowly building the time up. I also need to find a new kennels as I'm moving so far, so it will be a lot of change for her. Hopefully with the new job I'll be able to get away with working from home more than 2 days a week, which might help at the start.

Will just have to keep my fingers crossed I'm worrying over nothing, and it will all just come together and this extra 2k is the last big surprise.

pathtofreedom

Well 9 days till the end of the month. Still no exchange / completion date. The stress is really getting to me now, what with the bank holidays and I'm not sure when I need to transfer the money to the solicitors, not knowing if my movers will still have space to move me then or not. Work is also frantic which isn't helping things, normally that would help take my mind of day to day life, but there is just too much going on at once right now really.

I feel like I could do with a big holiday once this is done just to clear my head but I don't think that will be possible. Just have to keep hoping it all works out ok and that my solicitor is going to sort things out in time.

SuperSecretSquirrel

Good luck pathtofreedom, sounds like a very stressful time but hopefully it'll be all over soon and you can relax in your new home

pathtofreedom

Well at 4:55 my solicitor called and has a date of completion for the house I'm selling for the 30th. She is going to really push them to try and exchange tomorrow as well though. Else it will have to be Tuesday or on the day itself. The problem with that is if I don't book the move asap, they won't have any space left to fit me in. I'm not even sure they will even if I call first thing. So I'll have to take the risk they might still pull out and I'll have to cancel and pay something still.

For the place I'm buying I still don't have a date yet though, so might end up sofa surfing for a bit, and having to put my things in storage, but I think it is worth it to be free of this house. Hopefully things magically pull together though but we'll see.

After having a read through SuperSecretSquirels diary today :T I'm just going to steal your total tracker. I am having a twinge of regret for picking an offset again, just as it is a higher rate than other fixed, and with the interest rate tax changes, the LISA and other things coming in, even though I'm a hrt payer I'm not sure the offset is the best deal now. So I think I'm going to have to get better at maths, percentages and excel to do some more long term planning to figure this out. Especially as I'll have two different interest rates on the new mortgage with porting part of it. I couldn't have really escaped the offset at this point though, not without paying over 4k ERC so with that it probably does still work out ok.

Anyway the current totals today, which will obviously change quite a bit by this time next week, well hopefully by then.

House Value - £141,000
Cash - £31,095
Pensions - £45,676
Car Value - £1000
S&S isa - £3,223
sharesave £840
Mortgage - £97,099
Due to HMRC - £802
0% cc £4,612
Total - £120,321

I have stopped S&S isa contributions now though, after reducing them down to £50 from £200 last year, just until I'd moved to cover some of the expenses. I was thinking of trying P2P with ratesetter though, as I've seen they might be doing an isa this year. Then next year it will have to be a lisa as I qualify for that just, so might as well take advantage, and hope they do a p2p version of that too possibly.

It is weird looking at those totals though, I hadn't realised I have quite so much cash, as I keep it in the offset currently split into three accounts for different things, and as it all has a job in ynab I don't look at the total like that normally. Which is a good thing, before ynab every time I got to around 10k I'd think "woo hoo I'm loaded" and go buy something or go on holiday. If I hadn't been using that for the past two years, I wouldn't have enough to pay the extra deposit I need and all the costs to move.

So it all comes down to if I stay with my current job, where I end up having to commute to ie my current office, or a different one if I do get the new job, both of which would add to my costs a lot. Or if I find another job on a lot more money, but less benefits, somewhere else. I think it will take a few months to find out what the new bills are likely to be for the new place, for things like council tax etc, so see just how much I have left a month to put towards op's / savings and if a whole new job is the best option.

I ordered a dap collar and plugin today as well, using quidco, which I hope might take the edge of the stress for the dog at least when she realises she's not coming back here.

Last day at work tomorrow for a while, which will hopefully help my stress levels as dealing with all that and this move is just terrible right now.

SuperSecretSquirrel

That's a very healthy looking balance sheet pathtofreedom, doubly so considering it's just you!

Funny you should say that you have some regrets regards offset... What I wouldn't do for an offset account right now - zero interest for the remaining life of the mortgage. Different strokes indeed!

Sounds like your solicitor is fighting your corner regards meeting the deadline, I hope it all works out

PS - similar situation myself regards cash total. It's spread between 10 or so accounts with an average of about 5k in each one, my spreadsheet tells me the total is around the 50k mark, but having never seen it all in one place it feels a little unreal!

pathtofreedom

I think with the offset it all depends if I stay perm or go contracting again. If I'm contracting then it would make sense to have the offset too, and it has served me well the past 3 years or so, nothing beats seeing your daily interest going down. I had it at £6.40ish a day, now I've moved so much out for moving house it is back up to over £9 which it hasn't been for years.

The lisa deal at least sounds too good to miss out on, but I guess will have to see when it starts all the fine print. Hopefully I'll have enough to put money into the offset and that each year.

The pension is the bit I'm most pleased with really. I am 38 now and only started that when I was 35 when I started this job. The first year I didn't understand it properly so wasted a lot of money in tax I could have put in there, now I'm all about pensions and trying to use that to keep me below the hrt level. I haven't still quite got my sums right this year, as it is tricky to work it out when you have overtime and other bits coming in.

If I do go back contracting though I'm going to make sure I get a sipp and keep chucking money in their too. I need to retire early, this isn't a nice to have, it is a has to happen, due to health problems I have. They aren't life limiting but with all the changes in the independent living fund, esa, pip etc etc I know I need to do as much as I can while I can still work to get myself in the best position not to ever have to move from this new place (assuming I get it). Especially as I am alone, well me and the dog but the dog won't get a job, and I can't imagine anyone ever wanting to live with me so it is all on me to sort out.

pathtofreedom

Well today didn't go as well as I thought it would. We didn't exchange, if anything things look more rocky than they have all week. With the stupid bank holidays in the mix, I'm really losing all hope that the sale of my place will happen unless I pay their stamp duty too.

It is just so frustrating as I had done everything right, yet I can't lose my new house, I can't wait a year or more to resell my current place. I'm being held to ransom and even with giving in straight away to them it still isn't fast enough.

Well enough moaning, I need some plan b's lined up. As I didn't book my movers in the end, even if they can complete next week I'm going to end up in a pickle as I won't have a way to get my stuff out. The people I'm buying from also have the same problem with all the delays, so now won't be able to complete until mid april. So if my buyer gets a new mortgage in time, then I could complete, put my stuff in storage somehow and then move in later. That will mean paying the erc and getting it refunded once I buy. Or even worse, I have to pay their stamp duty but we could then match the dates up so I wouldn't have to pay the erc as well.

Depending on what does happen next week, I might need to re jig my holiday too. I think I'll still take next week off, as this is all driving me bonkers, and I'm getting so many phone calls it would be easier with not thinking about work too. I might just think about working for a week in the middle, then having two weeks off once I can move in and have time to unpack and settle the dog and myself a bit.

I am so glad this is my forever house, as I really never want to go through something like this again. Even if I have to pay the extra money I'm still getting my new place at a discount, so that makes up for it in a way I think. I just wouldn't be able to quit work, or get the furniture I need, or do the odd jobs I'd planned, or go on holiday any time soon. In the long run though that would be a lot cheaper than having to pay all the costs for a failed chain, and probably another 30k for a similar size property and all these costs again. It wouldn't have the uniqueness of this one though which is also why I love it so.

So happy thoughts and last decluttering I keep putting off between now and Tuesday, so everything is good to go next week I hope.