Cottage Countdown

family355

Hope your health is still on the up! 

Fantastic overpayments too-Wishing I was in the 20’s both in mortgage terms and age! 🤣

savingholmes

Hope you are okay Leigh.

LeighofMar

Goodness I can't believe it's been a year since I last posted. It just flew by.

Well, we sold the investment property in June of this year and closed in July. Deadlines and cost overruns abounded of course but we were still able to walk away with a tidy 41k profit, so we were happy with that. I was able to put 6 months of payroll in the bank for us so and we have been living off of that while we figure out our next project. We have had our realtor make an offer on another investment, but so far we haven't heard a yes or no from the sellers. It's another wreck with fire damage and the amount they want is too much for that considering the rehab needed, but we'll see.

I've been steadily plodding on with the mortgage as best I can. It is down now to $21,125.00. I would love to be in the 19k region by end of year but with other debts right now, I'll be happy with being in the 20k range. Closer and closer. I've also saved up $3500.00 to remodel my bathroom. It is a huge bathroom but the space is not delegated very well so I want to just do it over. I already bought a red clawfoot tub on Overstock and had it delivered. It was such a deal for $730.00. It will probably be one of those tubs in a walk-in shower-type thing. DH will start with the floor so I can't wait to buy the tile for that and get the project started once he takes a break from working. 

Good news is shortly after my last entry my health snapped back and I've been in a wonderful remission for over a year, hoping to make it to 2 years and beyond. Yay!! Sad news is Mr. LeighofMar has started showing signs of health deterioration and is in constant chronic pain. He is still in good physical shape at 60, even better than when he was younger, but the pain is suspicious for some kind of serious problem, perhaps nerve damage, compression, or even a tumor. So he will have to look into that. Since we do not have a rehab project going on right now, he has been busy doing electrical work and the clients won't leave us alone, lol. He is now trying to finish all the jobs off now and get them off the books so he can take some much-needed time off to rest, maybe slip in a vacation, and start addressing his health issues. 

So glad to see that we all have made it to the other side of the pandemic and still on track to get these mortgages out. I've read about the energy crisis over where you guys are, and I hope that you are well and it is not affecting your outgoings severely. Our gas and electric over here in the US are pretty stable at the moment, so we don't have a real understanding of your experiences. Hoping for better days for all. 

savingholmes

Glad you are okay and the mortgage is coming down. 

Hope you manage to get DH's health issues checked out. Good yours are in remission.

Moneyfordreams

Welcome back - I had some time away too. 
Looks like you're financially winning. I hope OH your DH gets good news on his health.  

LeighofMar

Thanks @SavingsHolmes and @MoneyforDreams. Good to hear from you guys again.

Budgets, calculators, projections all happening today. It's amazing how much we can get done on a middle income, but of course, that's if everything goes perfect. I had my wisdom teeth removed in September at 44, yeah, no fun, and that bill was a whopping $3800.00 that is on my CC. So I am paying that off slowly and then next year will turn right around and get some much-needed, much-delayed orthodontia work finally. It will cost me a pretty penny but it will be so worth it to not have jaw misalignment and an overbite as I get older. 

I managed to not buy into Black Friday or Cyber Monday this year. I'm so proud of myself. Really I don't need anything, just wants, but I'd rather pay off my CC and get back to saving and paying the mortgage down. This week's OP will be $30.00 which will bring the balance down to $21,090.00. The $20K range is so close I can taste it. 

My $3500.00 budget for my bathroom redo - $800.00 for the tub + $200.00 contributions is back up to $2900.00. I'm happy I was able to add back to it after buying the tub as every little bit for my bathroom reno will help. 

Here in the States, they offered government I-bonds at 9.62% interest through the end of October so I transferred 10K to those and will hold them for 15 months minimum. This left $4700.00 in my general savings and the online account is climbing to 3.25% so that is good. I may take advantage of their 15-month 4.40% CDs but I'm trying not to tie up all our savings in case something happens with the possibility of a recession. E-fund is at $4100.00.

Still looking for our next investment property project for the business. The bank turned us down for a line of credit, I asked for 10-20K just as support but they said we were too high risk. Oh well. Worst case scenario, we would fall back to our business credit cards if we ran out of project money. Not ideal but not end-of-the-world either. Our previous project: Before front and side, total wreck. Jack-legged bathroom addition slapped onto the back of the house was collapsed.

After: house fixed and dining room addition with palladium window where former "bathroom" was located. It's not much but it was our first and we will be forever proud of Southern Star. That's what we called her because she was star-shaped inside. Super weird design. 

LeighofMar

OP of 30.00 sent. Balance 21,090.00. My bank has a note online telling me in 7 years I've paid off over 43k. Then they try to sell me a new mortgage, lol. 

Retirement accounts added to. Such a lovely feeling of depositing and investing retirement funds to watch the balance fall below your contribution. Sigh. I know once the markets come back up I will be happy in the long run. It's all a long game. 

Weather shows rain for the next week so I'm off to bake some Paleo pecan pie bars. Have a wonderful weekend to all. 

savingholmes

The before and after pictures look amazing. I've never really understood why the US use wood so much for housing. I don't know if you can tell me? Presumably it's speed and cost but does it last?

Well done on mortgage clearance and retirement accounts. 

Best of luck with funding your next project.

LeighofMar

Thanks @savingholmes. You know I have no idea. I thought everyone used wood siding worldwide, lol. 

I'm adding to our business savings fund bit by bit. So far at 52k but would like to reach 100k so we can do all our own projects instead of partnering. With the housing market being unpredictable, I'd rather the risk/reward is all on us vs stressing that we need a sale to pay the partner and still make profit for us. But for now we'll see. 

savingholmes

Nice to have the business savings even if they aren't quite where you want them to be yet.