Home Improvements or Reduce Mortgage??

DippyHippy86

Hi everyone,

I am having a head scratching moment & wondered what you guys would do...

I would like to do home improvements - bathroom refurbishment, kitchen refurbishment, finish garden, painting & decorating etc.

We don't want to get home improvement loans though & potentially have another "debt".

I think we would be okay to do this, but my husband isn't overly keen on the idea.

This means that we would have to save to make payments.

It would take us 3 years alone just to save £4k for bathroom - maybe more depending on actual quote :-(

Would you guys use the money saved to pay off mortgage first, then once paid off do home improvements (we would have a spare £800+ per month afterwards) or keep saving, do home improvements & potentially add equity to home?

Any advice appreciated x

PS - this is our forever home :-)

scottishblondie

How long will it be until the mortgage is paid off?

DippyHippy86

scottishblondie wrote: »

How long will it be until the mortgage is paid off?

At the moment 13-15 years :-)

another_casualty

Tbh, I would post this on the debt free wannabe section.
The folk there would have all answers on the financial side of things.:)

scottishblondie

Well it’s only my personal opinion, not a reasoned financial course of action, but I wouldn’t want to wait 15 years to do something to my house that would improve my quality of life. I’d save up towards doing it starting now.

Ectophile

At the moment, mortgage interest rates are very low - assuming you are on a good mortgage deal.


As a result, I am in no hurry to pay off the mortgage. I just make the regular payments and don't bother with over-payments. But this attitude could change rapidly if interest rates start to go up.

Apodemus

scottishblondie wrote: »

Well it’s only my personal opinion, not a reasoned financial course of action, but I wouldn’t want to wait 15 years to do something to my house that would improve my quality of life. I’d save up towards doing it starting now.

Lol! My son broke a pane of glass in an internal door doing light-sabre tricks with a broom when he was three...I keep meaning to fix it ...and he’s now 22!

Fire_Fox

How much are you physically able/ can make the time to do yourselves, or with friends/ relatives?

Gardening and painting can be done on the cheap. You need more patience and perseverance than skill. Save for the professionals whilst you are DIYing.

I had fun laying a circular patio in my early twenties ... it is just bathroom tiling without gravity, right?
I dry mixed sand and cement with a garden trowel in a plastic washing up bowl, so no equipment or heavy work.

Took a week off work to do it ... Then signed off another with tenosinovitis (cool/ wierd squeaky wrist tendon).

A builder commented positively on my patio a couple of years later. Got extra -impressed look since I was a teeny tiny blonde baby faced thing.

I would not spend three years savings on a bathroom. I would not get enough pleasure for the slog in a room I visit not live in!

trailingspouse

The problem with overpaying the mortgage and thus reducing the term is that, while you save interest in the long term, you don't get the benefit immediately. Say you managed to reduce your 13 year mortgage down to 10 years - you won't benefit until the 10 years is up. In the meantime you're living in a house that is sub-optimal.



You can make a lot of improvements without necessarily spending huge amounts of money. For example replacing the flooring and tiling in a bathroom can make a huge difference, without the expense and hassle of completely replacing the suite. That might be a way forward. You have to cut your coat according to your cloth.

-taff

Personally, I'd borrow against the mortgage assuming the LTV is low, and then overpay with the savings I would have saved to pay for it. But, that would only be for big things, like an extension. For other things, Youtbe has an exhaustive selection of how-to's for nearly everything, and as long as you do the preparation thoroughly, there's no reason why a job you do [ for things like painting, decorating, tiling, some plumbing etc] can't be as good as one you pay for [ especially given the competence of some of the 'professionals' I've seen in the last couple of years]
Start small, work your way up.

DippyHippy86

Thank you everyone for your advice!

I have spoken to my Grandad as he is an ex-joiner & he said as long as we are okay to do the manual work, he will guide us through it to make sure it’s all done correctly.

He is coming over next weekend so we can measure up, get quotes for materials etc.

I’m quite excited as we will be learning something new, spending quality time with family & hopefully saving money too! :-) x