SLLM (Single Lady Large Mortgage)

Sistergold

Hello ladies 
Just an update. 

Mortgage went out on the 14th. Managed to send an OP of £540 together with the monthly payment and that brings the mortgage balance down to £428015, I really need it to go below £400k! 

Yesterday I managed to repair a few issues in the kitchen. Managed to hang back falling kitchen doors. Really need a new kitchen but I am just waiting (still) for COVID to be totally over or under control. 

Last night we had a bbq, chicken wings, and burgers. My oldest son did the bbq and it was so delicious such that we are having another bbq today. I will soon be off to Lidl to buy chicken wings, corn on cob, bbq sausages and burger patties! Yesterday I went to B&Q to buy a charcoal bbq of average size but none was in stock. Ended up posting on the street Whatsup group and a neighbor brought one over for us to use. Will now see if I can buy one online as I will soon need to give this back (maybe ) and the good weather just calls out for bbqs! 

How has the weather been where you are? Any else had a bbq? How did you choose to enjoy the sunny weather in your garden? 

Xx

Sandyra

Hi All

Just catching up. I agree @Sistergold I had saved up a meagre deposit back in 2015 and even then all I could afford was SO, now having staircased to own all of it, I’m glad I’m not trying to do it now.

Congrats @slm6002!

@Queen_of_the_Hive - I'm looking forward to plant my Geraniums, Chillies and Tomatoes in.

JennyJukes

Hoping this will be soon for me!  I'm a single woman, no children but I'm ideally looking for a 2 bedroom.  1) in case I need another person to rent out to to help pay the mortgage and 2) in case I ever have children.  Even if I get married and move to a different house, I'd still like to have a house to rent out.  I learnt from my parents divorce and my own long term relationships breaking down that I really have to make sound investments and rely on myself.  Taking out a mortgage on my own is scary but I know I'll feel so proud of myself to do it all on my own, you know?

I've viewed about 6 properties, offered on 2.  I was outbid on both, though one of them fell through and they came back asking me for money but I was already at my max.  I have now made another offer but they want to wait and see what other offers come through.  I'm viewing another property on Tuesday.  I understand that the type of property I'm looking for, there will be couples with twice the income and twice the savings also competing with me, as well as landlords looking to rent out to families.

Everyone says the right home will come round for me but I'm starting to wonder if it's the right time!  One of the reasons I want to buy now is because I will soon need a new car that I understand will reduce the amount I can borrow right now.  I also know my landlord intends to increase the rent soon and I know they could get much more for it.  I am also having people come to my door at all hours of the day which is another motivator to move but I'm fed up of moving every few years.

Wish me luck on my next offers? 

Sistergold

Queen_of_the_Hive said:

@Sistergold Congratulations on the re-mortgage & overpayment. Very satisfying to be hitting those targets. 

I was reading the same thread as you this morning. It is difficult for anyone to buy in London, so much competition and the prices are extortionate. I too believe the stamp duty holiday has a lot to be said for causing more problems than it is helping! So yes definitely try to stay clear until this has ended. 

From my end my little investment property is now on the market, had lots of interest. The letting agency has a family going through tenancy checks so i'm just awaiting move in dates to sort out insurance etc and oh the pleasure of not having to pay bills on the property

Received a mini inheritance last week, nothing life changing but a bit extra to add to the house deposit fund for home to live in. 

On the garden front - had a fun this morning planting seedlings in the veggie plot at home so all in all not bad at the moment. 

Wanted to wish you luck in getting a good and reliable tenant. 

‘Good’ to hear @Queen_of_the_Hive that you got a bit of inheritance money, I know the unfortunate bit is you lost a loved one. It’s nice though that they left you something to remember them for. I can not wait for you to get your second “to live in property”. 

Hope the veggies do well! ☘️🍃

Sistergold

Sandyra said:

Hi All

Just catching up. I agree @Sistergold I had saved up a meagre deposit back in 2015 and even then all I could afford was SO, now having staircased to own all of it, I’m glad I’m not trying to do it now.

Congrats @slm6002!

@Queen_of_the_Hive - I'm looking forward to plant my Geraniums, Chillies and Tomatoes in.

Hello @Sandyra
Nice of you to ‘drop by’, yes always buy what you can and work from there! Buying now is even more stressful it seems! X

Sistergold

JennyJukes said:

Hoping this will be soon for me!  

Wish me luck on my next offers? 

Hello @JennyJukes, wonderful of you to join us!  Buying can be so frustrating and it seems more so now with the stamp duty rush. I am confident though that as some of your offers get rejected you will be gathering momentum and when the right house comes everything will fall into place! Just keep at it as renting is surely a nightmare! With renting you will always have to move for one reason or the other! 

Wishing you a massive good luck! Xx

JennyJukes

Sistergold said:

JennyJukes said:

Hoping this will be soon for me!  

Wish me luck on my next offers? 

Hello @JennyJukes, wonderful of you to join us!  Buying can be so frustrating and it seems more so now with the stamp duty rush. I am confident though that as some of your offers get rejected you will be gathering momentum and when the right house comes everything will fall into place! Just keep at it as renting is surely a nightmare! With renting you will always have to move for one reason or the other! 

Wishing you a massive good luck! Xx

Well Sistergold I got an offer accepted yesterday offered over home report but it comes with the flooring, goods and curtains which helps (I don't have any - my private let came with white goods).  My help to buy ISA bonus is quite high so that's less of my own money I need to put towards the deposit too, so offeing over hasn't stung me too much.

The joy was a bit short lived when I re-read my work contract whilst uploading documents to my mortgage broker and realised I am actually still in probationary period at work!  I have been there for 1.5 years but switched roles in October and thought I didn't need to do another probationary but it seems I do. Lucky my probation period ends tomorrow so I'll speak to my manager about getting it confirmed if probation is successful.  So still a bit on tenderhooks until I find out tomorrow.  Hoping its not extended or God forbid failed.  It has been difficult trying to figure out a new role whilst working from home! I believe some mortgage lenders will accept me even if still in probation so might not be end of the world.  Once that's all confirmed tomorrow (hopefully) I can relax a bit.  Sure wish pubs were open here (not until next week here in Scotland) so I could let my hair down with some friends!! 

Took me 2 months to get an offer accepted which was difficult to get right but everyone told me that was the easy part!  I have a tension headache from the offering, to the panic of realizing I'm in probation... such a stressful time, even though I've been (trying to) preparing for it for a few years now.  Hope it's all worth it!

Sistergold

JennyJukes said:

Sistergold said:

JennyJukes said:

Hoping this will be soon for me!  

Wish me luck on my next offers? 

Hello @JennyJukes, wonderful of you to join us!  Buying can be so frustrating and it seems more so now with the stamp duty rush. I am confident though that as some of your offers get rejected you will be gathering momentum and when the right house comes everything will fall into place! Just keep at it as renting is surely a nightmare! With renting you will always have to move for one reason or the other! 

Wishing you a massive good luck! Xx

Well Sistergold I got an offer accepted yesterday offered over home report but it comes with the flooring, goods and curtains which helps (I don't have any - my private let came with white goods).  

Took me 2 months to get an offer accepted which was difficult to get right but everyone told me that was the easy part!  I have a tension headache from the offering, to the panic of realizing I'm in probation... such a stressful time, even though I've been (trying to) preparing for it for a few years now.  Hope it's all worth it!

🤩 wow wow 👯👯‍♂️🎉🥳👏🏾
Congratulations  @JennyJukes for the acceptance of your offer! Wow things have turned around so quickly! But yes that’s the thing after some offer rejections you do get the hang of it and you go for it like a wild lion! Talk about a woman on a mission! After I had offers rejected when I viewed the house I am in now I was so determined and I managed to discuss with the lady and she accepted my offer and we shook hands on it by the end of my viewing! It was shear luck that the seller did the viewing herself. 

I passed through the estate agents and told them that my offer had been accepted and I must say they were not happy with that! Estate agents do want to knock our heads about?! My sellers estate agents were really bad because throughout my buying process they continued to try and convince the lady to ditch me telling her that I will never complete on such a purchase as a single woman??!! What they did not know was that as she was widowed she was now determined to give me a fair chance to show them that just because I was a woman does not mean I will fail to complete! Thank God I managed to complete otherwise I would have been a disappointment for her! 

I am sure your work contract will be sorted out without any problems! If there were any problems with your role you would have known by now! 

But a big Well done to you! Now the process begins and we will be celebrating your house move soon! 

Please tell us about the viewing and the offering process! Please tell us about the house and what you love about it! We love it here when a Lady gets a house! 

🥰

MissMoneyManager

Hi all,

Sistergold I have been reading your diary from the beginning but have only just created a profile so I now have the ability to post! This thread feels a positive place for single ladies to be and perhaps not feel so alone so thank you for that.

Here is my story...

I bought my first house by myself at 24 back in 2016. I had broken up with ex (fortunately we were not married) and we lived in a rented house. I stayed in the house taking on the full rent payment by myself because I really had nowhere else to go.  I had always wanted to own a home, EX's bad financial history was why we had not bought.  I have written more in my new diary but a week after the break up I looked at houses and a week after I had an offer accepted.  It was VERY difficult to get a mortgage as a single lady FTB but I used a mortgage broker, put in every penny I had, took out the largest mortgage I could get and to bridge the gap I was very fortunate in being able to take an interest free loan from family. I understand this is not available to everyone but for others perhaps they have the opportunity at the age I was to move back with parents to enable to save more first. I also needed to have a house with a garden which meant cheaper flats were not an option as I had two dogs which I would never consider rehoming. These were difficult times of juggling a full time and part time job and studying for my degree but I knew that I would do whatever it took to feel secure!

It is not easy managing the financial burden of home ownsership alone and even the emotional aspect.  My neighbours were very unkind when I moved in something I brushed off at first but ended up reducing me to tears.  I think they judged me because I was young and felt they could control me because I was female and alone, thankfully things did improve I guess because they realised I was not infact a bad neighbour but I cannot forgive them for what was essentially bullying.

Last year I moved in with my OH into the home he owns himself BUT I will never forget how hard it was to regain my independance and therefore plan never to sell my first home and will always stay in control of my own finances! My house is currently rented out to a young single mother, she is an excellent tenant! I will not increase her rent when the estate agents suggest I do, perhaps it is something small I can do to support another single lady. 

Wishing all the single ladies here luck with their journeys and I have full belief we can achieve whatever we want/need if we put our minds to it!

Queen_of_the_Hive

Congratulations @JennyJukes that's really fantastic news and exciting times ahead of you. Good luck. Its funny how quick fortunes turn around. Please keep us posted on how you get on

Hi @MissMoneyManager thanks for sharing your story and well done for getting on the property ladder early. Keeping the house is a wise move if you can and lovely to hear you've got a good tenant & supporting a single parent. I have owned property before and then had to sell as part of my divorce but moving forward invested the bulk of my settlement on an investment property and tbh I have the same plan as yours to keep it long term. 

For the past couple of weeks I have been waiting for the paperwork to go through for my first tenant but I heard back from the estate agent this week - checks are now complete and the tenant will be moving in the next couple of weeks! Which is fabulous news!