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Slow and steady wins the race (we hope!)

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  • twinklie
    twinklie Posts: 5,176 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Congratulations on your job at work, that must be such a relief.


    I've only just stumbled upon your thread so sorry for getting personal so early on. Are you still with the commitment phobe?


    Emergency fund is looking much healthier. :)
    Reduction in daily mortgage interest since October 23 (new mortgage) - £2.36 July 25
    % of house owned/% of mortgage paid off. July 25 - 38.82%/31.66%
    MFiT-T7 #21
    MFW 2025 #2
    MF Date: Oct 37 Feb 37
  • Rach273
    Rach273 Posts: 83 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 10 Posts
    Happy New Year twinklie! I may be slightly prone to catastrophising, and it turns out ‘commitment phobe’ was definitely the wrong impression to give you all...
    We are tenatatively looking at a date for July 2021 wedding, and both houses are going on the market shortly. I’ve got a someone coming tomorrow to do a valuation on mine so will post a fuller update then.
    "It’s all about balance, do you see? Balance is the trick. Keep the balance and—” She stopped. “You’ve ridden on a seesaw? One end goes up, one end goes down. But the bit in the middle, right in the middle, that stays where it is. Upness and downness go right through it. Don’t matter how high or low the ends go, it keeps the balance.”
  • Rach273
    Rach273 Posts: 83 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 10 Posts
    So here we are in the 16th of January, over two weeks late for my monthly update - must try harder!

    I had a really productive Christmas break; we've tiled and painted the kitchen, fitted new skirting boards in the lounge and painted the dining room. The only downside to this is that now the spare bedroom is looking in need of a refresh.
    We also had a meeting with a mortgage adviser, which was so worthwhile as the rates now available to us have improved considerably, and we could comfortably borrow much more than we thought. However we do want to limit out LTV to 80% for the best rates, so we aren't going to be silly, but it does mean we could avoid buying an interim house and having to upsize again in 5 years time.
    OH has had a couple of estate agents out to value his, and the market in that area seems pretty buoyant (indeed we did go and view one property which sold the next day).
    I've had a surveyor out today to value mine and should have confirmation on price early next week. Then all being well the housing association have 8 weeks to find a buyer at that price before it can go on the open market.

    So exciting (and a little scary) times ahead!

    Savings stats at the start of January;
    £1,411.72 in emergency fund
    £452.84 in House/DIY fund
    £197.20 in car fund
    £2,061.76 Total

    Monthly over payment made, rounding my capital balance down to £125,300.
    "It’s all about balance, do you see? Balance is the trick. Keep the balance and—” She stopped. “You’ve ridden on a seesaw? One end goes up, one end goes down. But the bit in the middle, right in the middle, that stays where it is. Upness and downness go right through it. Don’t matter how high or low the ends go, it keeps the balance.”
  • Rach273
    Rach273 Posts: 83 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 10 Posts
    February is nearly here and i have lots of updates for my diary.
    The housing association's advert for my lovely house went live on their website yesterday, and in even better news they have confirmed they are happy for me to appoint an estate agent immediately, no 8 week grace period, so i'm hoping to get it onto the open market sooner rather than later.
    The RICS valuation was much higher than I expected and I was initially worried that i wouldn't be able to sell very easily, but they have also confirmed that I can accept offers below the valuation for my share with no financial penalty (they would expect me to make up the difference stair-casing to 100% and selling the freehold for less than the market value). The only clause is it must got to someone who has lived or worked in the County for at least 3 years.

    In other news when my over payment goes to the mortgage on the 1st, I will have officially paid off £10,000 of the capital balance - yippee!

    Savings stats at the start of February;
    £1,532.33 in emergency fund
    £485.55 in House/DIY fund
    £353.5 in car fund
    £2,371.38 Total
    "It’s all about balance, do you see? Balance is the trick. Keep the balance and—” She stopped. “You’ve ridden on a seesaw? One end goes up, one end goes down. But the bit in the middle, right in the middle, that stays where it is. Upness and downness go right through it. Don’t matter how high or low the ends go, it keeps the balance.”
  • Rach273
    Rach273 Posts: 83 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 10 Posts
    edited 28 February 2020 at 1:16PM
    Payslip in hand for my diary update as we head int March - hope the spring weather makes an appearance soon or i'll be in danger of being washed away.
    My house is all spic and span ready for the Estate Agent to photograph on Monday.
    Savings stats at the start of March;
    £1,274.68 in emergency fund
    £618.70 in House/DIY fund
    £509.80 in car fund
    £2,637.80 Total
    Planned over-payment of £128.94 set aside ready to send to mortgage account on Sunday. This brings the balance down to £124,600.
    My ISA has lost money for the first time ever - guess the markets are feeling the impact of Corona virus before we are...
    "It’s all about balance, do you see? Balance is the trick. Keep the balance and—” She stopped. “You’ve ridden on a seesaw? One end goes up, one end goes down. But the bit in the middle, right in the middle, that stays where it is. Upness and downness go right through it. Don’t matter how high or low the ends go, it keeps the balance.”
  • Rach273
    Rach273 Posts: 83 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 10 Posts
    What a worrying time we are in, I am so fortunate to live in a rural area so I can safely take my daily dose of exercise without fear of spreading infection. Thankfully, my job is fairly secure at least for the short term, and I have been working from home since the 17th and will continue to do so for the foreseeable as my office building has been closed.
    My mum is on the vulnerable list and has been self isolating, so I didn't visit on Mother's Day which was hard, but in everyone's best interests. 
    With excellent timing, my house went on the market on the 6th, my partner proposed to me on the 8th, and then the world went into lockdown!! 
    Needless to say I am writing off the house sale until we have made it through the other side of this pandemic, and have put all thoughts of wedding planning firmly out of my head - strangely, none of it seems that important now.
    Financially things are ticking along just fine (with the exception of my ISA which has unsurprisingly tanked).

    Hope you all stay safe, and keep well xx





    "It’s all about balance, do you see? Balance is the trick. Keep the balance and—” She stopped. “You’ve ridden on a seesaw? One end goes up, one end goes down. But the bit in the middle, right in the middle, that stays where it is. Upness and downness go right through it. Don’t matter how high or low the ends go, it keeps the balance.”
  • South_coast
    South_coast Posts: 5,885 Forumite
    Fifth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Wow, you've been busy 😂!

    Congratulations on your engagement 😀
    Mortgage start: £65,495 (March 2016)
    Cleared 🧚‍♀️🧚‍♀️🧚‍♀️!!! In 5 years, 1 month and 29 days
    Total amount repaid: £72,307.03. £1.10 repaid for every £1.00 borrowed

    Finally earning interest instead of paying it!!!
  • Rach273
    Rach273 Posts: 83 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 10 Posts
    Still here chipping away at the mortgage. It seems unlikely that my house will be sold any time soon, but trying to look on the bright side - at least it means reduced early repayment charges!

    Savings stats as we head into May;
    £1,940.31 in emergency fund
    £568.79 in House/DIY fund
    £822.40 in car fund
    £3,331.50 Total
    Small over payment of £27.39 ready to send across to bring the balance down to £124,000. I am prioritising building up the savings buffer during these uncertain times.

    Keep safe and well everyone.
    "It’s all about balance, do you see? Balance is the trick. Keep the balance and—” She stopped. “You’ve ridden on a seesaw? One end goes up, one end goes down. But the bit in the middle, right in the middle, that stays where it is. Upness and downness go right through it. Don’t matter how high or low the ends go, it keeps the balance.”
  • Rach273
    Rach273 Posts: 83 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 10 Posts
    edited 29 May 2020 at 8:52AM
    Hello diary, time for the monthly update. My estate agent is proving very difficult to get hold of and I ended up doing a viewing myself last night, which I think went well, but I have no idea if there's any other interest. To pull ourselves out of the gloom, we have booked a lovely country pub as a wedding venue for September 2021.
    I can't find anywhere that's doing wedding insurance at the moment due to the pandemic, but the deposits paid to venue and registrars are less than £300, so I'm not too concerned, and hopefully there's signs of some normality returning.

    Savings stats for June;
    £2,086.10 in emergency fund
    £369.34 in House/DIY fund
    £983.23 in car fund
    £3,438.67 Total

    This month's over payment of £115.37 ready to send on Monday to bring the balance down to £123,600.

    "It’s all about balance, do you see? Balance is the trick. Keep the balance and—” She stopped. “You’ve ridden on a seesaw? One end goes up, one end goes down. But the bit in the middle, right in the middle, that stays where it is. Upness and downness go right through it. Don’t matter how high or low the ends go, it keeps the balance.”
  • Rach273
    Rach273 Posts: 83 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 10 Posts
    Hello diary. Not much to report this month as we are all still in Covid-19 limbo land. Have had an offer on the house but it was rejected as 10k below asking and in a chain. I'm in no hurry to sell, we always new it would take time to find the right buyers being shared ownership and fairly rural. 

    Savings stats for July;
    £2,306.28 in emergency fund
    £180.25 in House/DIY fund
    £1,144.06 in car fund
    £3,630.59 Total

    A small over payment of £25.29 this month as I've got quite a spendy month ahead with various annual insurances, car tax etc falling due. Mortgage balance today was £123,002.68, but with interest added we will end up at £123,300 for July.
    "It’s all about balance, do you see? Balance is the trick. Keep the balance and—” She stopped. “You’ve ridden on a seesaw? One end goes up, one end goes down. But the bit in the middle, right in the middle, that stays where it is. Upness and downness go right through it. Don’t matter how high or low the ends go, it keeps the balance.”
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