Going back into debt today

lazer-zxr

Hello forumites,

so I was in £59k debt. Paid off and cleared over 2 years in May 17.

I've since moved house, and am renovating. I've spent £20k cash savings so far, but the house now has no heating, no kitchen, no bathrooms.

Its a dream house under development.

Unlike most on here, I feel relatively comfortable with getting a loan to complete my project, (and from my history of debt repayment, confident of managing debt).

So over the coming weeks, I plan on getting a £25k loan, repaid over 18 months, to pay for:

£8k kitchen
£4k heating
£9k windows
£4k bathroom

The house is unliveable at the moment. And I dont want to do it on the cheap, and then upgrade it later, I want to do it right first time.

So, you people out there, who motivated me through my debt repayment previously, please voice your opinion. Am I being a clown here? It's not too late, I am currently in no debt apart from my mortgage (75% LTV), no loans, CC, etc. Am I missing something? Have I not learned? I feel I have learned, but also feel this is a justified spend on a house I currently can't live in. Thanks for any advice.

enjoyyourshoes

Can you not prioritise the projects

heating

windows (assuming not cosmetic)

bathroom

kitchen

save for the amount, then the project, save gaining so on. Will cost you less in the long run

Mnd

Or get a 0% purchases credit card. (Halifax) or if not pay on credit card then transfer to a 0%
The level of debt you have solved is astonishing, congratulations. I'm sure you will have the self discipline to manage this.

lazer-zxr

I know saving to buy things is the right thing to do. Thats what I've done, and intend to do going forward, but I class all of these as essentials. I know I could buy cheaper, but that would be a waste of money as I'd end up buying twice.

See comments below .... this is helping

enjoyyourshoes wrote: »

Can you not prioritise the projects

heating - required, its freezing, and there is no hot water (no electric shower)

windows (assuming not cosmetic) - possibly could be put off for now.

bathroom - there is no bathroom. No toilet, or hand basin or shower.

kitchen - There is no kitchen sink, nowhere to wash up. I suppose I could fit an old kitchen sink, and use a table until I have saved for this.

save for the amount, then the project, save gaining so on. Will cost you less in the long run

starting_again_in_the_sun

I guess you are living elsewhere at the moment?

What was your plan when you decided to buy the house?

You did an amazing job of clearing the debt before, so if you are confident you can afford, it should be fine. Kitchen and bathroom seem expensive though?

Jsnb88

I don’t think the bathroom is that expensive, I’m a plumber and fitted my own bathroom and probably spent about 2.5k on fittings, a large bespoke bathroom can soon rack up some expense

lazer-zxr

starting_again_in_the_sun wrote: »

I guess you are living elsewhere at the moment?

What was your plan when you decided to buy the house?

You did an amazing job of clearing the debt before, so if you are confident you can afford, it should be fine. Kitchen and bathroom seem expensive though?

I am living in a caravan at the moment, it'll be xmas in the caravan with the wife and kids .

The plan was, to buy this house, spend our savings and a loan on renovating it. It's just as the project has now progressed to the point of raising the loan, I've checked myself, and turned back to my old friends on here for a little guidance.

starting_again_in_the_sun

lazer-zxr wrote: »

I am living in a caravan at the moment, it'll be xmas in the caravan with the wife and kids .

The plan was, to buy this house, spend our savings and a loan on renovating it. It's just as the project has now progressed to the point of raising the loan, I've checked myself, and turned back to my old friends on here for a little guidance.

Wow, you'll always remember this Christmas!

Good luck with the house

BettyBones

Awww... Lazer... don't do it. All of that is just 'stuff' at the end of the day. Save up for it. It will be all the sweeter once you have it for knowing that you haven't had to borrow so much as a penny to get it I would look at it this way.. Do you have a crystal ball whereby you can see exactly what life has in store for you over the next 18 months? If so, then great, go ahead and get the loan. But if not, have a think about all the things that 'might' happen over the next 18 months. As you know, these pages are littered with the stories of people for whom everything was going swimmingly until the unexpected happened (illness, job loss, divorce, family crisis, unexpected bill, redundancy, car written off etc etc) Would you be able to cope financially with anything that came your way during that 18 months on top of paying back the loan? If I were you I would just stay financially sound in my cozy little caravan and save up to do the renovations bit by bit with cold hard cash


.

middleclassbutpoor

I would agree that it probably will need you to go into debt. Im just wondering whether a loan is the right form of debt though?

So for example, it may well be that when you choose your kitchen and bathroom, you could get it so nothing to pay for 12 months and you pay this off when you have saved it up. This may mean a lower personal loan for the other things or even an money transfer credit card on 0%?

Exciting times for you though...

enthusiasticsaver

I personally would not want to take out a loan and although you say these things are essential presumably the house has a kitchen, bathroom etc but needs updating. It would be a mistake to go full speed into large renovation projects as they always go over budget and you are already talking about £25k plus interest. Very rarely do any of us get our dream house in one go.

My advice would be to prioritise and do one project at a time. We have lived with old kitchens and bathrooms for years in the past while saving to do them up. Supposing your circumstances changed and you are unable to meet payments. 0% credit cards are useful in those circumstances.