Buying a house without a mortgage

Frugaldom

Pavlov's, that is FANTASTIC! :T Well done with all of that and thanks for sharing your news! It must be so exciting seeing the figures all clicking up and knowing that the dream is coming closer to being within your grasp. I would be so, so tempted to blow the furniture and emergency funds on the deposit and then start from scratch attempting to play catch up, but your determination is really admirable. I've confiscated myself from the emergency funds here completely and am concentrating entirely on trying to fill this year's ISA. At least we hadn't to dip into any of it for DD's wedding.

Confession time - I have now fully topped up and put all of DS's 21st birthday money into Premium Bonds. With my reckoning, a £25 win on £1000 over the next 5 months would be heaps more than any bank would pay me in interest and, as I've already had a total of £75 (£50 + £25) on them this year so far, I'd be well ahead of the game. (Sorry, Pavlov's, I do know there are better investments but, but, but... )

GOOD LUCK with the house move. Your time with the in-laws will all be worth it when you see the difference it makes having your own place to appreciate in the end without strangling yourself in debt.

setmefree2

Great news Pavlov :T

Good Luck

pavlovs_dog

thanks both.

I'm greatly looking forward to becoming a MFW

Frugaldom

Hello

I thought that I'd best bring this thread up to date in case anyone thought I'd forgotten about it or, worse still, given up on the idea!

Neither 2008 nor 2009 were good years for savings, what with DD's engagement/21st birthday party in summer 2008, a house move at the end of 2008 then DD's wedding late 2009. I'm only just recovering now and am struggling to fill my 2009/10 ISA, but at least I didn't need to dip into that to pay for any of the previously noted major events. Next one is DS's 21st in a few months but that's where the ability to cash in the Premium Bonds comes in handy. (Sorry, Pavlov's, but interest rates have been so bad that I was just as well taking my chance on the 'what if?' )

So, everything is under control and I'm now back at the helm steering towards buying a house without a mortgage but haven't progressed very far with the savings over the past 2 years. Still living a frugal life on minimal income, surviving and saving the pennies that make the pounds. I'm going to have a good look at all the accounts and start tidying them up a bit. If I sweep everything from everywhere else, I might just fill my 2009/10 ISA for this April if there's nothing else crops up that needs lots of cash. :rolleyes: I need to find £1,500 but reckon there's probably around £500 lying about in different accounts. I have been keeping up with my tax free friendly society savings bond that has the life assurance built in, but I tend to look on this more as a funeral policy than an investment. As for the pension pot, I have done another pension forecast and am only 3 years short of qualifying for full state pension. With 20+ years before I'm due that, I reckon I should manage 3 more years of NI payments and then concentrate on the retirement plan.

A quick look around at what's available within the current budget shows not a lot, other than flats, but I did spot this and would consider something similar as part of the long term retirement plan.

How are the rest of you doing?

setmefree2

Good to hear all your news! Happy New Year

pavlovs_dog

We're moving with the in-laws to their new house. we have the loft conversion, so although we're living with them we'll have much more privacy than ever before, and as the house is bigger it will be easier to loose each other if we need space we even have our own bathroom :j

spoke to a mortgage advisor at the start of the year to get an idea of what we could potentially borrow. It came out better than we had thought, which is encouraging as we are now in a position that we can take the plunge whenever we find something that we like. in the meantime, the longer we stay with the outlaws, the bigger our deposit grows. December and January have been two expensive months but hoping to get back down to business from this point in.

Frugaldom

That's great, Pavlovs, hope the move goes well and you're all very happy in the new place. Keep up with the saving and let's hope you find exactly what you're looking for some day soon. Hope you'll be sticking around to keep us up to date with progress.

setmefree2

nykmedia wrote: »

Hope you'll be sticking around to keep us up to date with progress.

from me too:D

Argentum_2

Firstly Hi to all.

I would like to thank you all for this thread, I have not read it all as I only joined today but have spent the last couple of hours reading bits of it. The idea of a mortgage free purchase is exactly what I plan, although my plan is over a longer period and perhaps slightly against the beliefs of some here.

Our (me & wife) basic plan: (At the mo we have no savings)

End of Jan 2 x Premium Bond (PB) accounts opened £100 each, thereafter £50 a month each. For the "you never know, factor"
End of Feb 2 x Cash ISA accounts opened £100 each, thereafter £50 a month each. I think this maybe called a mini ISA? Still learning.
In Aug I change jobs and get a 53k payout (I have been with them a long time).
Max out on both ISA's & 10k into each PB account. For the "you never know, factor":D
Spend some of the left overs on good holiday for us and kids (well you do only live once):o
Then it will be all savings into PB,s and at beginning of each new financial year max out on both ISA's.

We are both nearly 40, well I am a bit nearer than the missus but hey ho. Plan is for 10-15 years, buy our FIRST and only house outright.

Other investment options not ruled out but we are still learning, never really had the chance to invest up until now.

Hope all goes well for the rest of you and your plans and I hope to keep you informed of mine if you allow me.

ATB

Mick

Frugaldom

Hi Mick,

Thanks for joining us and making this your first port of call on the MSE forums I know not everyone is a fan of Premium Bonds but I have to admit that the odd £50 win (£25 nowadays) here and there certainly made my handful worthwhile holding onto and it does seem to be about the safest way of keeping money that you don't want to risk losing. I'd still be tempted to do a comparison, though, after filling the ISAs, for every £1000 in premium bonds you could have £1000 in a high interest account so you can compare year on year growth. I did this a few years ago as an experiment and am planning on doing a similar experiment again at start of new tax year.

I do believe that buying a house for cash is a very feasible option, although I'd make sure you have a lawyer involved from the outset when it comes to looking for a property. It will speed up the process if they were already familiar with you and your sources of funding if a bargain comes along at short notice. Being prepared to leap at an opportunity is paramount to the success, as far as I'm concerned, although I'm seeing it from Scottish law perspective.

You'll be off to a good start with your £53k, but might I be so bold as to suggest you ensure a completely debt free existence and always use a cashback credit card, paid off in full each month. You could also register to use a cashback website for all online shopping. If you bank the returns from that year to year, it amounts to a tidy sum even for low spenders like me. In 2009, it amounted to almost £500 extra for us, which more than makes up for interest lost from non-winning premium bonds

Good luck and keep us up to date with your progress.