Things can only get better

enthusiasticsaver

Good to see you have a plan to clear the additional borrowing and mortgage SA.  Always good to have it gone by retirement as one less outgoing. 

Biggest mistake we ever made was to buy an ex LA home in the Greater London area when both our girls were babies. Only DH working as I was on a career break so we had limited budget and 2 small kids so was forced into it really.   We sold our lovely little house on the outskirts of London to move to this LA home because it was bigger and after one car break in and me walking round the schools and seeing the people  dropping their kids off (swearing and yelling at them) I said I would have to return to work so we could move somewhere better as no way were we putting the children in that school. As luck would have it a vacancy in DHs company came up in the Devon/Cornwall within the year  and we moved down here so maybe things were meant to be that way as we never regretted moving down here. We made a packet on the LA  though as DH put in new kitchen and bathroom and put some secure hardstanding and garage in so it sold really quickly and for £30k more than we paid for it even though the improvements were done on a very tight budget.   Massive garden too like a lot of LA homes. 

IzzyBee

Well done BL my husband had a bad accident and has had a lot of ill health I could of cried with happiness the day my mortgage was paid I to had many a month when I thought I couldn’t pay it definitely a hard slog when that happens 

beanielou

IzzyBee said:

Well done BL my husband had a bad accident and has had a lot of ill health I could of cried with happiness the day my mortgage was paid I to had many a month when I thought I couldn’t pay it definitely a hard slog when that happens 

Thank you.

Yes, I have cerebral palsy & lets just say life has its challanges on many levels.
I think I will cry.

alt80

Doing my job and being a LL see it all and 100 haven't had to live it to know I don't want it in my personal life haha. @Sun_Addict will probably know where Ebers Grove is and what the parking situ is like, I used to live there (many) years ago first house I bought after 2x flats as another flip. Had two cars and ex had one, used to have to park them wherever we could so I 100% get the sacrifice/ trade-offs of location 'v' space.

Sun_Addict

I’m not familiar with that road but remember selling at least one property on there when I was working in an estate agents @alt80. 

Our mortgage should’ve been paid off a few years ago but we remortgaged to have some work done on the house. I don’t regret doing this though because it’s made a big difference. 

When my dad left, we lived in a lovely house in a nice area. My mum didn’t contest the house and accepted contents (this would never happen nowadays). My dad left her in a right mess tbh. She could only afford to rent a cheap house and we ended up in an awful area. I’d always lived in good areas, went to a good school and had never encountered the sort of people who lived there. I’d never heard of anyone being on benefits but this place was full of them. The people shouted snob after me in the street, it was awful. It was a real culture shock. Then I started to get to know a few people, they were a bit rough around the edges but most of them (not all) had their hearts in the right place and would’ve done anything for you. We didn’t live there long thankfully but I like to think it made me more empathetic towards people I wouldn’t have normally mixed with. It certainly brought me down a few pegs and I think I’m a better person for the experience. I take people as I find them now.

alt80

Can be bad for parking there in evening but anyway you get my drift - sort the location first and deal with the bigger house/ additional parking etc later.

Generally I’d agree with your assessment of rough areas have lots of tenants how you describe the people that live there. Get on with them well enough tbh I’m no snob but 100 like living somewhere nice personally.

Seasidegal58

I was brought up in a East End council flat and a council prefab back in the 60s.  No troublesome neighbours and people looked after their homes. We moved to an Essex 'new town' when I was 15 in 1970 into a three bed house on a brand new council estate. My parents were over the moon - most of our neighbours were from the East End as well and again it was a lovely estate and the town was fine too. In the last 20 years both the town and the council estates have gone very badly downhill.  My parents passed away round about this time. My sister went back a couple of years later and was very sad on how both the estate and my mum and dad's house had deteriorated.  I made a conscious decision to move out of the area 20 years ago. I could have afforded an ex-council three bed house with garden there but bought a one bed flat in a much better area and have been very happy here. Of course there's just me to consider so the one bedroom didn't really matter!

Well done on the house plans SA - you've certainly got the right ideas!👍

ladyholly

Unlike most of you I was a service brat so lived in quarters until I was 14. To me everyone seemed the same until dad came out and I went to a large comprehensive school on the edge of a council estate in Bristol Not only that I had been at an all girls school and other than my father had no male relatives. Culture shock wasn't in it. 

Sun_Addict

Morning folks, happy Friday eve 😁

Have been to the big Mr T this morning first thing to pick up the bits that Mr M failed to deliver on Tuesday. It's a fair walk from my house so have clocked up 8k steps and coming back via the big hill (equivalent of 24 flights of stairs according to the Fitbit) meant it's been a good workout. As my exercise task today is 30 minutes walk/swim or cycle, I've ticked this off my list already.

The house stories are interesting reading. 

Cleaning today is the living room. Need to make something for my dinner that will serve as tomorrow's lunch too. Mr SA is having beef stew in the slow cooker. I've been a bit disorganised with the meal planning this week for some reason, it's been a bit ad-hoc.

Sun_Addict

Forgot to say the £150 carers payment has gone in the bank today, seems to have taken forever. This is being put to one side for when I can eventually get to meet my friends for lunch again. Got loads of catch ups to go in the diary when we are finally released back into the wild.