Buying a house without a mortgage

Madcatgirl

You are an inspiration! I can't believe people don't think it's a good idea. If you have a mortgage so much of the monthly payments goes towards interest rather than capital. It's much harder to save up the money then, than saving it first, paying rent at the same time. Keep up the good work, and good luck on ebay.

cashsaver

Thanks for your replies.... thought I might get laughed off the pooter !!

Can you give me info or link/rules to the 4k challenge pls.... sounds just what I need.

Just a short line here as I have to get ready for work. Have been asked to do some extra hours this afternoon... every little helps.

gd luck.

Frugaldom

Thanks Madcatgirl

Moneysaver, you are very welcome to join us on the 4k challenge, which you will find here. It's a good place to be no matter how your day is going, thanks to all the great people who are taking part. We aren't all living on 4k, nor are we all in debt, however, we are all on budgets and attempting to live well within our means in order to either 1) get out of debt, 2) avoid future debt and/or 3) save for a specific reason. Many of us also take part in the monthly grocery challenges as well :beer:

Congratulations on your debt free status, as per your signature :T

pavlovs_dog

cashsaver, im in a similar sort of situation. although house prices here in wales arent quite as bad as the south, they are nowhere near as favourable as sunny scotland.

any savings you and i make towards the mortgage free house would make a substantial deposit were the right house to come on the market, and there is an opportunity for us to save there by having a significantly lower mortgage-to-value ratio than usual, and hence getting a much more competitive rate of interest on a mortgage. as mortgage free wannabes, we would then be in a favourable condition to clear that mortgage quickly. adaptability is the name of the game

strongboes

Hey all
I am also saving for a house and aim to get there in 24 months! I have a 60k target for this year then would like to add a further 40k next year so will have 100k for a good deposit!

Frugaldom

strongboes wrote: »

Hey all
I am also saving for a house and aim to get there in 24 months! I have a 60k target for this year then would like to add a further 40k next year so will have 100k for a good deposit!

Hi there, what can I say? We are looking at the same kinds of figures (£60k) but for very different properties and lifestyles, I suspect I'm gobsmacked by your aims - saving the entire 100k in 2 years :eek: Please post your progress. I MUST ask, though, are you planning on saving that from earnings/investments or is that incorporating equity release from property you already own? (I'm from a rural part of Scotland, I don't have many friends who could save 50/60k a year. OK, OK, I don't have ANY friends even earning £50/60k per year )

cashsaver

Thank you Strongboes and p/dog (if I can call you that)!!

Seems like there is more of us on this endeavour than I thought.

I need something visual to help me and keep me motivated so (inspired by Nykmedia's brick) I have drawn myself an outline of a house (can't draw a curtain so please don't ask to see it!) and I have managed to colour in the first two and a half rows of bricks!!!! One brick gets coloured in with son number one's favourite felt tip pens every time I have £100 saved !

Would love to hear ideas of how you guys stay motivated ???

Keep up the good work!!!!!

pavlovs_dog

financial OCD keeps me motivated, and it seem to work for Nyk too. hate seeing odd numbers, so we work our buts off to round our savings up to a whole number that, and the thought of how much we'd be paying the bank in interest if we didnt have the savings.

p_d

Frugaldom

Cashsaver that is brilliant! We call that the 'Blue Peter Appeal' method and have devised something similar. (I say 'we' as I now have someone helping me do this.) We're working on a chart that focuses on what the savings could already buy, so the 'chart' will end up like a series of pictures of 'dwelling places' starting off with a tent, then a tiny 2-berth 'fixy-up' caravan followed by a fixy-up motor-home. Then it graduates to a secondhand mobile home followed by a chalet... you get the picture.
As you'll see by my signature, I haven't even reached the chalet yet, but I did find a disused nuclear bunker for £25k and still think that would make an excellent project for someone. That was about the same time someone spotted the oil-tanker ship for conversion in moorings at, I think, Hull. :rotfl: :rotfl:

pavlovs_dog

as an aside nyk, something crossed my mind the other day and im not sure whether its been discussed already or not...

if your fixy-uppy isnt mortgageable (in the short term, not that it would be an issue), have you looked into whether that would also create problems from an insurance point of view? i know insurance wouldnt be compulsary as it would with a mortgage, but it would no doubt be a worthwhile investment considering how much money you would be spending it making it into a home.