Prosperous soul, mortgage neutrality & creativity Year 2

savingholmes

ohdearhowdidthathappen said:

Popping in to say 'hi' SH.... 472 posts since my last pop in will take me a day or to catch up.  Hope all is well  

I put the house on the market after operation tart up. No takers yet. Found a gorgeous valley house - but they took it off the market the day I put mine on. Don't know if it's an option for the future or not - as I need an offer on mine to make an offer.

mark55man said:

it's a real roller coaster / swash buckler that's for sure

  

Well the house I viewed tonight was very nice but feels so small compared to this one. It had lovely views - but the land they described as backing onto the golf course looks like a large field that could be built on to me so I have asked them to check if their description is accurate... 

If I paid full asking for that and got £10K under asking for mine - I'd have £30K change compared with my current position. I fed that into the overpayments calculator - and it reckoned if I paid it directly off the mortgage it would knock off 4 years and a month but if I paid it into savings - I could knock that amount off the mortgage in 15 or so years time - and still pocket close to £27K in extra interest I'd earn by keeping the money separate (providing I keep a low rate mortgage). So what in my head was a £30K difference over the period equated to more like £72k.

Work remains manic. I finished the day with a headache and started with a call to ICT as I was still largely locked out of my account. It would be wine o'clock but I'm teetotal so eating more instead!!

I have to go to an away day type thing tomorrow - and early for me. I hate things like that... 

Hope you all had a positive start to the week.

Merlin's_Beard

Also with a golf course check if the house is likely to get hit by stray balls - I think insurance for that kind of thing is tricky if it's a known problem!

SandyShores

savingholmes said:

Well the house I viewed tonight was very nice but feels so small compared to this one. 

House size wouldn't be a problem for me, I'd happily downsize a bit to reduce time spent cleaning and tidying.  But my must-haves would be that it would need to be bright and airy, and have an open aspect/nice garden.  

savingholmes

Merlin's_Beard said:

Also with a golf course check if the house is likely to get hit by stray balls - I think insurance for that kind of thing is tricky if it's a known problem!

Good point.

SandyShores said:

savingholmes said:

Well the house I viewed tonight was very nice but feels so small compared to this one. 

House size wouldn't be a problem for me, I'd happily downsize a bit to reduce time spent cleaning and tidying.  But my must-haves would be that it would need to be bright and airy, and have an open aspect/nice garden.  

The rooms were all nice there just weren't many of them. In theory it would be big enough - in practice I'd have to rip out all the fitted wardrobes in the master suite to get my bed in - and then try and put in an ensuite. I'm not sure that there would be any room left for storage. I have to strip wall paper off two of the rooms. 

I think there are two things worrying me the field that I don't think is what they thought it was and the route to work. My route home to here from there was fine and quite rural. The route it recommended to work wasn't a nice one. 

My head hasn't caught up with the idea of downsizing yet.

badmemory

I think the problem with downsizing isn't the number of rooms you no longer have but the size of the rooms downsize too.

jwil

Hope the away day is ok.  I don't like those either.

You could also look for the council for that area and look up the Local Plan - that would give an idea of areas of land identified for potentially building on.

ohdearhowdidthathappen

All caught up  
They've changed the formatting of the forum since I was last on and it's annoying me, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.
How exciting re moving.... forgive my southern cluelessness... is a Valleys house in Wales? 
Sounds like you've been very busy with decluttering

WelshmansDaughter

In Ireland we had a sports field behind the house and balls came over the very high net and wall. It was pretty horrible being in the garden because you might have been hit.

savingholmes

badmemory said:

I think the problem with downsizing isn't the number of rooms you no longer have but the size of the rooms downsize too.

Totally agree. Size of the rooms is critical too.

jwil said:

Hope the away day is ok.  I don't like those either.

It was worse than I ever imagined... with something deeply personal to me shared by someone publicly without my consent... I was devastated and informed the powers that be accordingly. They privately apologised and again today but can't take back the words. Even before that my watch was beeping at me and warning me I was very stressed and needed to take time to relax!!

ohdearhowdidthathappen said:

All caught up  
They've changed the formatting of the forum since I was last on and it's annoying me, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.
How exciting re moving.... forgive my southern cluelessness... is a Valleys house in Wales? 
Sounds like you've been very busy with decluttering

Impressive that you took the time. Thank you.

I don't like the new format either.

The valleys house is in Wales but I am trying to be discrete about where. The decluttering has happened on a scale that I - and those who know me - never dreamed was possible. Shows how much the right motivation helps. It also helped that I did similar last time I moved so knew I could again. Let's hope it sticks this time!

WelshmansDaughter said:

In Ireland we had a sports field behind the house and balls came over the very high net and wall. It was pretty horrible being in the garden because you might have been hit.

Yes - I don't think that house was right for me. I will bear your advice in mind for future houses.

savingholmes

At the weekend I got the FB black metal bed frame and lumpy mattress for £15. I engaged in retail therapy last night - spending around £150!!! on a king size green leaves, flashes of yellow, black and white quilt cover, quilt, 2 new pillows, 2 new black and glass mini side tables (which I miraculously put together), 2 new lamps and bulbs and a green throw. I spent about £20 on mirrors that I plan to return.

My cleaner assembled the bed frame and we then dressed the bed and the room. She made room elsewhere for stuff we displaced - including the desk. I took before photos so need to list it for sale now and try and get it gone. We hung six of my original paintings and they made the room feel very vibrant. Thrilled with how it turned out for what will be less that £150. My 4 bed house now has 4 beds in - and I've uploaded a revised photo on RM so I am hoping that boosts sales once they approve it and make it live.

The handyman dropped by and said he had the wood for my shed (to replace 2 rotten pieces at the bottom). In theory he's going to do that for me tonight but given he's not started yet it feels unlikely for today.