[New Diary] Mortgage Free wannabe before big 40! (2024) - new build

wifigeek

Hi Everyone!

Long term lurker; not much poster.

Been saving for a good 5-6years+ now to own our own place. Have always had a 'if you don't have the money to buy it outright; you cant have it' motto so a first-time buyer with a hefty mortgage is a bit outside of my comfort zone..

Looking to pay off my mortgage before I turn 40 [7years] (or ideally sooner!) and looking for some good moneysaving/earning tips/swagbucks etc.

House is a new-build property; still under construction. SOA is projected expenses. Have already taken 'extras' into account (£8k - already paid for) for new kitchen/tiling etc. we also already have furniture from a previous rented property - only need carpets now!

being new to the home buying process I made a bit of a mistake in the negotiation process and didn't negotiate at all with the builder.

My outgoings are reasonably low and I try to use YNAB to track my outgoings; but always looking for improvements - especially regarding healthy eating/a bad takeaway habit!

Mortgage: £154,000 / £196000 [42k deposit]


SOA -
Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Household Information
Number of adults in household........... 2
Number of children in household......... 0
Number of cars owned.................... 1

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 2680
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 0
Other income............................ 0
Total monthly income.................... 2680

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 700
Secured/HP loan repayments.............. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 15
Council tax............................. 160
Electricity............................. 50
Gas..................................... 50
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 15
Mobile phone............................ 10
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 25
Groceries etc. ......................... 60
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 20
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 30
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 0
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 40
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1240


Assets
Cash.................................... 4563
House value (Gross)..................... 42000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 5000
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 51563

No Secured nor Hire Purchase Debts

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Total unsecured debts..........0.........0.........-


Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 2,680
Expenses (including HP & secured debts). 1,240
Available for debt repayments........... 1,440
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 0
Amount left after debt repayments....... 1,440

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 51,563
Total HP & Secured debt................. -0
Total Unsecured debt.................... -0
Net Assets.............................. 51,563

----
House Build -> Due Feb/2017.

Current Debt: £155,000 of £196,000
Target (Dec 17): £136,072 (10% Overpayment)

freshcotton

Hi there!


To pay your mortgage off in 7 years would be amazing, and your figures look good so best of luck.


I found the first year a bit difficult as we had loads of stuff to pay for, but as yours is a new build I suppose all the work is done.


I personally am obsessed with mortgage overpayments and what I do is put that money away on pay day each month first (either in a seperate savings account or actually pay it towards the mortgage). I then spend what I allow myself to have - which usually isnt alot. But I have always stuck to this.

GilmoreGirl

Hi wifigeek,

Your plan looks amazing! I think you could save more on electricity and gas. You can use a comparison site to get a better deal!

selloptape

Good luck with the new place- do you have a move in date yet?

wifigeek

its been a good few years.. I had forgotten I had even started the blog! we are back on track with our goal, but first.. an update -

1.2017 - We bought our property in 2017 as first time buyers and had a long 2-3 year list of snagging and legal battle. the house we purchased ended up having a lot of problems. We had not checked that box for legal cover for house insurance so it cost a small fortune at £200/hour....a very expensive mistake!

2. in 2018 Our legal/pursuit ended up costing us approx. £20k. £4k on surveys, £1-2k on thermal imaging, £12k on legal/solicitors fees. We were told it would cost another £20k to see the developer in court, and decided that it was nothing more than pouring good money after bad

3. 2019 - Fast forward to last year and after giving up trying to pursue the developer, we decided to focus on life goals & we got married! we had always intended to get married and start a family, but with such a long drawn out battle with the developers it had put our careers and life goals (and mortgage overpayments!) on hold - £8k spent between wedding/honeymoon. We also purchased a new car on finance for 8k (usually we buy cars outright) and got stung on the deal by taking the dealers finance offer - another hard life lesson learned!

4. 2020... We are now back here! Current status - £117k left - £196k mortgage @ 2.69%. We will be dropping into the 60% LTV bracket soon - hoping we can use that to our advantage to get a sensible rate. Our last mortgage renewal we just renewed with the same lender as we did not understand the conveyancing/legal process - another potentially costly mistake!

We are long-time users of YNAB, I am hoping starting a blog on MSE will also keep us honest and on the right track having fallen off the wagon a few times!

Current state - £117k of £196k  @ 2.67% for 21years
Mortgage Overpayments this year - £3.6k
Car Loan - £0/£8k (We paid it off after understanding it was going to cost us £2k over the term in interest alone!)

wifigeek

new SOA.. just to keep us honest!

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 625
Management charge...............15
Council tax............................. 185
Electricity/Gas............................. 70
Water rates............................. 0
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 20
TV Licence.............................. 0
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 50
Groceries. ......................... 120
Takeaways ......................... 120
Clothing................................ 10
Petrol/diesel........................... 40
Road tax................................ 10
Car Insurance........................... 30
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 200
Childcare/nursery....................... 0
Other child related expenses............ 0
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 0
Buildings insurance..................... 20
Contents insurance...................... 10
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 10
Haircuts................................ 5
Entertainment........................... 40
Holiday................................. 0
Driving Lessons.................................180
Fun Money/Misc ...... 200
Total monthly expenses..................£1970

Travel is currently £0 due to covid - likely to go back to £400/month combined when we are both commuting for work.

our aim is to attempt to meet at least the maximum we can overpay (currently 10% / £11k per year or so) and potentially significantly more come renewal time taking us to mortgage free in late 2024.

caeler

Good luck good luck on your journey! Taking out a deal with your current lender isn’t necessarily a mistake. I’ve done it several times and I’ve been happy with the rate. I did a light search and whilst I might have been able to shave a few quid off each month I like the service and terms of my provider so why move. 

wifigeek

weekly update #1 - probably spent far too much over the last week

1. car going in for its first dealer service - at a grand sum of £350 due to main dealer servicing :-( need to get a creaky steering column looked at under warranty too - this will be the first (and the last) time we use the dealership for servicing as warranty is up next year - sadly no independent dealer-specific garages near us that we trust.

2.we have been cooking pretty regular post-lockdown, so as a result have only spent £40 on takeaways so far this month - which should help offset some of the garage costs.

3. spent £250 on impulse buys that we don't really need - we have a 'wasted money' category when we just cant help ourselves and the money should be better spent elsewhere. 

Total - £1.9k overpayment (could have been £2.3k - £200 saved from non-main-dealer servicing & £250 on impulse buys)
Mortgage - £115226 @ 2.60% - LTV now 58%!

wifigeek

weekly update #2 
1. car came back from the garage - £350 down right enough. despite being a two year old car we discovered it needs new front tires and the pads are 80% worn - refused to let the garage do it as main dealership, going to attempt the pads myself and go to blackcircles for tyres as its significantly cheaper than main dealership. parts the dealer used came to < £100 :-( I know how to do servicing myself however car is still under warranty - so next time wont be using a dealership (one-off cost)

since we are in lockdown right now putting off spending the extra money on tyres/pads until next year

2. mobile phone smashed - so had to purchase a new phone as i need a working phone for emergencies. black friday offer on hotukdeals got me a mobile phone for £170 which did not consider to be too bad - although in hindsight perhaps I should have just replaced the screen after googling some tutorials on youtube - may still do this and sell on once fixed as it will recoup some of the loss of buying a new phone - cost of repair likely to be £30-400

Total extra spent - £170.00 out of my emergency fund. will wait till car budget has built up again before spending approx £150-200 between tyres/pads.

Mortgage - £115226 @ 2.60% - LTV now 58%!

caeler

I feel your pain. I’m buying 4 new tyres next week! Rears have travelled 40K and front 23K, front wheel drive so I’m ok with that. I’d rather not spend the money though!! 

wifigeek

caeler said:

I feel your pain. I’m buying 4 new tyres next week! Rears have travelled 40K and front 23K, front wheel drive so I’m ok with that. I’d rather not spend the money though!! 

27k for my fronts here (also front wheel drive). had 17k on it when I got the car. hoping that I can continue to work remotely after lockdown which will help with the wear and tear and save £100/pm on fuel or £200/pm on train