First Steps to Solvency

TheAble

Would recommend the iPhone SE @enthusiasticsaver. The going rate on eBay for a used one is £60, which is what I recently paid for mine - excellent condition, great little phone.

alt80

Not had a bad morning. Still tired hoping that'll settle over this week - it's half driving the madness/ substance use tbh. Know not the thing to be doing.

- Lower body 1 (wife killed me with the finisher again... she'd make a lot of money as one of those celebrity trainers killing off some z lister everyday so they could post about it on IG ha)
- Work
- Lunch with wife
- Work
- Pick son up. He wants to spend his 30 mins putting more decs up, fine by me!
- Work
- Cook dinner some fish in sauce recipe my dad has sent. Other one takes !!!!!! hours, said I'll do it on Saturday with son.
- Family time/ chill/ read (still nodding along to every damn page of that book @enthusiasticsaver haha)
- Midnight bedtime

@Purplelady65 yeah I would have definitely gone along with it. My wife has been obsessed with Apple products for as long as I can remember. Queuing outside for iPhones etc when people did lol. Neither wife nor I are into fast fashion tbh. Some of my younger staff are obsessed with cheap shops Primark etc wear an item once and throw so have seen it. I'm about as far from an ecomaniac as you can get but even I question the ethics of that tbf. Mind I realised I'm really getting old the other week when one of my younger members of staff asked if I'd be 'in the Rover' (meeting on site). Rover FML first thing that comes into my head someone says that are crap 90s saloon cars everyone's grandad used to drive ha.

@getmore4less don't get me wrong I like decent tech too but inclined to agree. Not sure about 10 years+ from computers, definitely 5 years maybe 7 but I don't tend to just throw stuff once I've bought it. Spent a lot on my watch, wear it every single day and had it about 15 years now and actually appreciated in value not that I'll sell it. Tbh I call that a good value purchase and not a stupid one. Lot more stuff I own like that so 100 get buy once but well.

We used to have a standalone machine in the old house actually still have in my office must be 12/13 years old. Here we went a bit OTT with the kitchen so it's a built in appliance (was meant to be the 'forever home' still is in wife's eye but we're not going down that road again. 🤞).

@warby68 ha think you're right only got up to prevent him from waking me up lol. Yeah definitely need to stay off the substances and keep on the planning does my the world of good tbh. Thanks think you're right re business / family stuff just sticking with that though wife's just about killing me with the exercise again haha. 

Development block is back in motion now. Looking to be complete Spring 2021 - bit concerned about that tbh with market uncertainties that just weren't there when I started the project. Current GDV £2.8M. However who knows what's going to happen next year. Original plan was split and sell, figures stacked with a decent return but with all the problems I'm looking at a very small profit. I'm putting serious consideration into selling some/ retaining some or even just refinancing and retaining all. Will attract decent tenants, refinance might be difficult to get to needed LTV but current market should just about getting there more concerned if it tanks next year. You're right not my usual BTL; I have said before I do want to diversify my portfolio so this would be a good opportunity to. 

New project is more my usual kind of flip deal. Single unit - GDV £300k, real opportunity to add value and turn a disused building into a home. Enjoy those ones tbh.

@RelievedSheff bit better thanks could have done with a couple more hours think I'm trying to catch up on sleep now lol.

@enthusiasticsaver iPhone 12 - there is a smaller one that's come out and is a bit cheaper. I've got an 11 pro, the camera is brilliant. If you're not that bothered about the camera the SE should be fine - Touch ID better than Face ID imo with the mask wearing too.

mothsinmywallet_2

My friend has just kindly given us her old iPhone 6 for DS2's birthday present. Will be the first iPhone in our house!

warby68

OK that's a chunky development with substantial carrying cost if you're a good way through and presume you are if aiming for completion in 4 months and over winter. Getting that done will  consume plenty of time and looks vital if there has been slippage.

If you keep it as a whole that's more than diversification - it would be 2/3 new stuff, 1/3 existing overall and trebling your portfolio. Is that what you want? 
Presuming your stake in this was cash rather than collateral (not too much of the latter deals about these days), then it also means keeping that capital tied up long term with high LTVS and new builds which can then lose their premium with the debt locked in. Certainly selling or retaining say 30% has more appeal from what (limited) I know.  Freeing up the capital to do more projects that you like doing and also even reset the existing BTL LTV also has a certain logic, both risk wise and to keep you doing what motivates you. Otherwise you might be constrained by a load more high LTV debt with no particular end in sight.

enthusiasticsaver

TheAble said:

Would recommend the iPhone SE @enthusiasticsaver. The going rate on eBay for a used one is £60, which is what I recently paid for mine - excellent condition, great little phone.

Thank you.  I have gone for that one as it does all I need it to do and has double the storage of my existing phone and the new generation of chip.  Gone for new rather than used but sounds like you got a great deal.  

enthusiasticsaver

@alt80 Sounds like you have a good plan for today and you sound a bit calmer too. 

Thanks for info on iphones and I have gone for the SE2020 iphone.  I did look at the iphone 11 but it was more expensive and I am happy with the camera on my iphone 7 so the SE will be fine and on principle I won't pay for the iphone 12 when many of the things on there I don't need or want.  Good point about the mask wearing and face id.  Touch id is fine for me.  I am not sure you get 10  years out of computers either tbh.  We have always changed our laptops after 5.  Both of us have Dell now but seriously considering Macbooks next year. We like the Apple products but do not tend to go for the newest ones or top of the range.  So long as they do what we want them to that is the most important thing to us. 

I like the sound of the built in coffee machine in your kitchen.  We have a stand alone which is fine.  Not surprised your wife does not want to move if you splashed out big time on the kitchen.  Most important room in the house as far as I am concerned

Enjoy your Christmas decorating with your son.  I am going to wrap up my granddaughers presents this afternoon with a Christmas movie and maybe a hot chocolate.  Did a nice long walk this morning. 

enthusiasticsaver

mothsinmywallet_2 said:

My friend has just kindly given us her old iPhone 6 for DS2's birthday present. Will be the first iPhone in our house!

Hope she enjoys it.  I like the iphones. 

RelievedSheff

@alt80 this big project. Would it not be better for your stress levels if you just got that one finished and sold on so that you can forget about it and move on? You will still make some profit from it even if it is a small one. Any profit is better than no profit.

Willowtree222

You are sounding so much more positive today. 
My grandad even refused to drive a Rover so that comment really made me laugh. I'm only a few years younger than you as well! I remember those cars well. 

alt80

LISS day on the exercise tomorrow so not going to be dying at the end of it and battling doms haha. Enjoying it really tbh once I get started. 

Dinner was simple but good. Wife & son approved. I did go back to work after taking the dog out with family for 1/2 hours. Tomorrow need to go through personal finances with wife. Not gonna lie I'm dreading it as no where near the target I set for myself and paid back my stupidity so figures not really changed (figures I posted included min payments). 

Ridiculously tired so aiming for bit of reading and midnight lights off again.

@warby68 / @RelievedSheff yeah it’s biggest development I’ve been involved with to date. Getting there with it now and definitely able to complete so finally at the point of the end being in sight. As I said before something this big or bigger I’d rather partner up in future I think. 

My ideal scenario by is to split and sell or retain 4/5 units, sell the rest. Retain freehold / block management. You’re not wrong with your reasoning at all and that’s where I’d like to be with it. My concern is what’s going to happen next year - who knows really once the economic impact of covid really starts to kick in. It hasn’t at the moment here - very buoyant still in the res sector if they were complete now they’d 100 sell. Very long term high LTVs are definitely a concern as is freeing up the cash for other projects.

Stake was cash from main business. It’s where I’ve got the money to invest in all my projects/ BTLs from if not through refinancing. Never had any money personally just perpetual debt lol. Would have a bigger income tbf if I didn’t keep buying property. I enjoy it, hope it will all eventually pay off too I suppose and I’ll start to be really rewarded financially from the businesses but who knows lots of risks in life.

@enthusiasticsaver definitely feeling a bit better just hoping a week or so of living well will alleviate the tiredness a bit. Crave all the stimulants when I feel like this tbh and the cycle of self destruction starts again. Trying to fight that keeping busy with working/ family.

If you’re happy with the camera on the 7, the SE will be fine. I use the camera features on my 11 - wide angle/ zoom are brilliant and a step up from previous phone but tbh they’re the only features I would really miss I think. MacBooks are good, last well and just work - don’t slow down massively and aren’t jammed with a load of software you don’t want as Windows PCs seem to be. I believe you can optimise Windows to work much better though tbf.

Can’t say I feel the coffee machine is an absolute must have but definitely a nice to have - stand alone units do work fine. Yeah we spent a lot on the kitchen when we moved in, needed it tbf but definitely with a view to the house not being sold. The developer part of me was definitely cringing when the spec kept going up and up and we had the bill to pay haha but it is nice and will add to the appeal if sold. 

Knackered after the 15 mins decorating with son but found that Santa’s official naughty or nice list is out and took him 15 mins looking through that... all three of us on the nice list def got that wrong then lol. Son loved finding out with his hot chocolate - not gonna lie I make the best ones with whole milk on the stove. Terrible for you but only Christmas for a month or so. His name comes last alphabetically out of the three of us so he’d have been devastated if he’d found mummy and daddy on the nice list and him on the naughty list. Was 100 ready for the ensuing tantrum and swift handover haha.

Tree coming Friday, can’t wait. I know, 40 and excited about a Christmas tree FML no wonder I’ve got issues. 

@mothsinmywallet_2 He'll love it and a really kind gift from your friend. 

@Nicnak certainly trying to be more positive. Keeping busy so no time to think too much really. I tend to find things a lot harder when not working already anxious about Christmas shutdown tbh. 

All the grime/ rap artists call RRs 'Rover' lol. Obviously they're now too young to remember actual Rovers as are the youngest members of my staff which makes me feel !!!!!! ancient. Where I'm from RRs were 'Ranges' and Land Rovers were 'Landies' apart from the Discovery Landies they weren't Landies, they were 'Discos' and owned by people who wanted something a bit nicer than the god awful Landies but hadn't got the money for a Range. Guaranteed to get a ribbing if you were picked up from school in a Disco tbh lol but picked up in an actual Rover FML almost certain you'd be begging to get on the bus instead haha.