SLLM (Single Lady Large Mortgage)

LeighofMar

Congratulations!. A great credit score always feels good. 

Sistergold

LeighofMar said:

Congratulations!. A great credit score always feels good. 

👯‍♂️👯‍♀️

Thank you

Sistergold

Reflections for today
Good evening friends. 

Just for an interesting read today

The other night I was just going about on different forums and threads on here, reading and responding to anything that was of interest. I came across a thread which was asking about “how to choose where to live”? I did make my contribution and others are making contributions too and it’s all very interesting. 

For me it feels like just yesterday that I was busy figuring out where to buy/live. It was such an exciting time as finally I could plan and wonder on where and what to buy. When buying alone this is such a bigger responsibility as there is really no one to talk you out if you are making a mistake. No one to at least say “no we can not live there because .....”! But on the other side of the same coin if you really do your homework it also means there is no one to just disagree with you for the sake of or because you have different priorities or tastes. Anyway I found it all very exciting. When I moved to London it was initially because I wanted out of marriage, was tired of same old same old (you already know this) and suddenly came this great opportunity in London which I was well qualified for. It was a good challenge with good money coming at the right time when truly I could just live anywhere as I was that fed up. 

I know every city has good parts and rough parts but we all know rough parts in London can be quite rough! Well for a small city girl like me I just considered that London was like the Wild Wild West 🧟‍♂️! 

So moving to London I just decided I was no longer going to spend as little as I can(within reason) on accommodation but I was going to be stretching myself as far as I could(within reason). I just felt for safety sake I will needed to get the best all my money can buy. 
I know for a single person there is a tendency to be more cautious so for instance when getting a mortgage you might decide to spend only say 3x your salary instead of say 4.5x or 5x. Well I know even for those with partners they can also be cautious and buy a house where only one salary can pay for. 

1. Ex-council, estate type places or that’s a no no? In a small city ex-council worked for me. The area was considered a bit rough but we chose a house which was on the boarder with non-excouncil housing so although we benefited from lower prices we did not find it as rough as it was always diluted down by the nicer suburb. In London though I never considered an ex-council house/area. Just felt there will be more antisocial issues and crime so well I stayed well clear. 

2. Period properties or not?

I do love Victorian or period type properties, I love those with high ceilings and high loft spaces. I just love the character and features. So when I started my search I did look more for period properties but I then soon realised that in as much as I love them for me the upkeep will be a bother in the long run. I just felt being single it will be easier for me not to worry about maintaining the character of a property so I decided to also look at any other properties If they were in a good area( had parking, near good schools, low crime statistics, close to some good local shops and pubs, good transport links, good road links, easy to drive to work, quiet, etc). So as long as the house ticked the boxes I decided not worry about finer features.
3. Renovation or not?
I was not particular about state of house as such although I was going to stick to structurally sound place with no major issues. What was more important was more of quietness and safety etc of neighbourhood. I did have an electric and gas survey done and also building survey for peace of mind.

4. Budget
Well my budget also affected my choice of area as once I could meet the above requirements I then had to adjust exactly where to look. For instance certain areas for the same money were a bit more dense than where I finally settled for. By moving out a bit I got a quieter place with a bit more parking space but maybe not necessarily bigger house. 

5. Acceptance 
I also found as I continued to search my area broadened a bit due to my other offers being rejected. I just found that within the same area different estate agents seemed to monopolise their little pockets somehow? So with one particular estate agent I just found them so discriminatory and there was no point trying to get a property through them so that kind of excluded me from certain pockets of same area. So in a way where I bought was influenced by just kind of being fluid in my approach as I broadened my search. 

Conclusion
I did have an idea of where I wanted to live but exactly where I ended up living was not what I was intending at the start. 

Ladies I would like to think I chose where I live but in a way I think where I live chose me? I feel that every adjustment I was making to meet my needs for the right house was leading me to this house and that moment when I viewed my current house.
Is this what they call Déjà vu?

(Déjà vu is the feeling that one has lived through the present situation before. The phrase translates literally as "already seen")

Did any of you experience Déjà vu when you got your house? 

Could we then say once you have done your homework you should not stress and panic every time you get rejected, that at the right time with the right house everything will work out for you? 

In the end for me I just felt I should really not have stressed everything was always going to work out as long as I did not give up. 

Sistergold

Meet my Sue
Ladies This diary would not be complete if I don’t tell you about my Other Half(OH) Susan. She is really lovely girl and she means the world to me. Since I found her my life has been more complete and clean. She is very thorough and we never get into any kind of arguments over her cleaning schedule. We have been together for 8 months now as she came in about 2months after I bought my house. We don’t argue because right from the start we set out boundaries and schedules as to how we were going to live our life. She is really an angel because she is set to clean all floors downstairs 3 times a week and upstairs 3 times a week. The other days she is allowed to rest this means that the floors are always clean in between major cleans once or twice a week when either me or the children get involved. 

The children also love Susan as she really came as they were constantly being tasked to keep the floors clean. If I am not happy with the cleanliness of the floors I can just ask Sue to clean again and she never talks back. Some weeks I can even tell her that she has to clean daily still no argument whatsoever. When she is cleaning I love watching her sometimes as she goes about her duty diligently cleaning under the sofas, going up and down, vacuuming around objects and avoiding knocking my feet. If I don’t move she will just do her best really not to bump into me. Is she not just an Angel? Would any of you ladies want my Sue not that I can let her go? 

Laugh out loud. 

Susan is my robotic vacuum cleaner which I got some months ago. It’s really good in helping me keep the hard floors clean. She is very thorough at reaching under the furniture and I can set it to clean as many times as I want(pre-programming). 
I don’t know how and why I named it Susan but it just so happened that it was the name which came to mind the day she arrived. I think it is the best money I have ever spent! Sue cost about £200 at the time, no regrets whatsoever. 

I apologise to anyone named Sue but if you know how much I love my robot you will not get upset I assure you! 💋

Sistergold

Reflections for today 

The devil is truly in the daily interest

On the 21st of May I did a mortgage sweep and celebrated my balance going down £472200, today I checked my balance and it has gone up to £472478 due to daily interest I guess. It just felt like I am chasing my tail? No wonder you ladies are always talking about daily interest? At this rate I guess that is when compounding interest comes in? So now daily they add interest and next day they will charge interest on capital plus the interest added previous days? Ladies this is so serious. 

I feel like a tyre which has just gone flat. 

Makes me wonder if I should now cancel OP stop orders and also direct debit OP and pay daily interest charge each day as my way of making OPs🤔 ? Daily interest charge is about £19.35 the last time I checked, this will mean paying almost £620 each month at £20 x 30(or 31)days. I do hate the idea of my balance going up each day! In my ideal world I would love my balance to stay the same and until the next time I pay my mortgage or pay an OP at which point it will go down. I don’t like this idea of balance going up each day due to daily interest! 

The bankers truly will make their money! 

Anyway that’s my moan done for the day!
🧐

Sandyra

I know it’s frustrating, that’s why I make my monthly OP my interest so it cancels out the interest and I can see the capital being paid. I’m grateful that I can afford to do this. Wish I did it earlier and not bought as many designer handbags 👜 😬 with the money. You live and you learn. I’ve been lucky that my tracker rate drop has meant that my £450 interest is now £280, so £170 a month extra is going to repay capital. 

Sandyra

I should add, keep at it, you will chip away at it 

Sistergold

Sandyra said:

I know it’s frustrating, that’s why I make my monthly OP my interest so it cancels out the interest and I can see the capital being paid. I’m grateful that I can afford to do this. Wish I did it earlier and not bought as many designer handbags 👜 😬 with the money. You live and you learn. I’ve been lucky that my tracker rate drop has meant that my £450 interest is now £280, so £170 a month extra is going to repay capital. 

Thank you for this @Sandyra I will now join the club of daily interest payment as my OP method. 

All along I have been paying a minimum of £417 OP per month before I do any Ad-hoc OPs. Like you I am on a variable rate so my interest went down by about £105 or so. With ad-hock payments I have been planing to make I would easily go over the £620(rounded up) daily interest so I can easily just commit to make the £620 my minimum really. Psychologically this will have a more positive impact on me as I will not see the balance go up on any given day. Since the daily interest is £19.35 I will commit to pay £23 per day so that the actual balance can be chipped at by the £3 each day just for the sake of. So this will mean an OP of £699 per month of which £589(more exact figure) will be swept away due to daily interest. So effectively as far as mortgage is concerned my OP really is £110 from the daily payments I will be making. 

The maths
monthly mortgage payment £2375(this includes OP of £277) by DD. 

Stop order of £24
cummulative OP of £110 as explained above! 

Now with this arrangement all these payments will now go straight of mortgage balance each month as daily interest is already paid! 👯‍♀️👯‍♂️🎉💃🏾🥳 this now means my mortgage balance will go down by £2786! 🎉🥳🎉🥳🎉 so what I will now do is add £14 to all this so that it can go down by £2800 now that looks better. I am also thankful I can afford to make these payments. It will just mean I put less into savings but I am happier with this as to be honest I hate the waiting in between OPs. 

With this I can get my daily fix of OPing. 

Laddies does anyone else miss OPing in between OP transactions. It’s like OP is the one thing I need to do everyday it’s always on my mind! 

Now I wonder what I will be doing when the mortgage is paid off? 🏍✈️🚢

Sistergold

Dear diary 
Just reporting an OP of £23 yesterday and £23 for today to cover daily interest. 

Current daily interest is £19.35

Sistergold

OP £23 paid today to cover daily interest