Funding home improvements

Grenage

soxford wrote: »

I appreciate what you are saying, I really do. I'd love to do it with cash. But how on earth would we ever save that much up within a reasonable timescale?? We need the storage space now and the kitchen will be in bits before we ever have the cash there to spend. Ten years ago, when we were full time, renting, hand-me-down appliances etc we could stash £1k a month sometimes, it was a lovely place to be. That was our house deposit. Fast forward to now and everything costs a heck of a lot more, plus one child with the associated childcare costs. If we put away what we overpay on the mortgage then maybe there'd be a couple of hundred a month, but it sounds like our lad will have flown the nest before we ever have the means to do it with cash which rather defeats the purpose. We really aren't a family who like all the trimmings and luxuries, on two incomes it really shouldn't be this difficult to save up and plan ahead. Strange old world... I'll have to sit down and have a think about where we can cut back (again).

This is, unfortunately, life. Sure, you could go and borrow a load of money and have it done now - but you'll be paying more, and you won't have a choice as to whether or not you pay out each month; you have that option when saving.

You might spend 20k now with a loan, and over 5 years you'll pay another 4k in interest. Wait five years, and save the money. of course there's always the reality that sometimes we just can't afford the things we might desire.

jpsartre

marc81 wrote: »

The OP may have no issues paying it back comfortably over say 5 years, but they may not want to wait 5 years to have the work done!

Maybe I'm wrong but I got the impression from the OP's post that he was finding it hard to put any savings aside.

Scrimps

If you have been making over payments, you can probably afford to borrow more against your home if you decide to.

You sound like me, I dont want to borrow more but I want a comfortable family home,my home requires work, it will take me a long time to save it up - about the same length of time to pay it off with rates as low as they are. Some of the work required means the house will deteriorate if I dont get a pro in to sort it out.

Low rates may not be around forever so take that into consideration, but if you do want to do the work without saving for it first, you will have to borrow money. Make sure your really can afford it and keep back an emergency fund. Factor in that any building costs may go up compared to the original quote.

For the reasons above, I will be looking to borrow more when our fixed rate period ends. When I know how much I can borrow I can work through the list to order the priorities/see what we can trim back/what we can do ourselves etc.

May work for you also.

soxford

It's great getting everyone's thoughts on this and good to hear from those in the same boat. Doing the work I'm thinking of would certainly add value and we're currently on a 62% LTV based on our purchase price in 2009. We've done some work already (boiler, guttering, roof, fascias, windows, bathroom), conservatory came with the house so glad I never wasted money myself on that

I reckon I need to take a look at the thrifty forums, see if we can boost our savings some more, as well as investigate the other options!

ben501

soxford wrote: »

Hi,
No one usually has thousands sitting there to do this sort of work do they?

Would anyone be able to share tips or the process they went through in raising funds

I do, but it's supposed to be my 'emergency fund'. When I decided it was time for a new bathroom I opened an NSI Premium bonds account, and started making regular deposits into it until I'd saved enough, and a little bit extra. Most of this money was diverted from making overpayments on the mortgage, so there was no great sacrifice on my part, but I'm sure I could have 'trimmed some fat' and saved a little quicker if I'd needed.

As it was only a short term saving plan I wasn't concerned about the lack of interest on the savings, and had the chance to win a prize while I was at it. (in the end I only got 2 x £25 prizes, but that probably beat what I'd have earned with an ISA)

macman

First thing you need to do is to get an estimate for the work required. At present you are discussing how to finance an unspecified loan amount. To state the obvious, you can't remortgage or get a bank loan without knowing how much you want to borrow. The good side is of course that money has never been so cheap.