Prosperous soul, mortgage neutrality & creativity Year 2

savingholmes

Thanks Beanie and Jwil. That's a helpful perspective.

The house I went to see yesterday has a fantastic downstairs, imperfect upstairs - as there's no ensuite - but there may be room to resolve that. I need to take my laser measure when I go back as the measurements were all over the place on the brochure in a way that wouldn't be possible. I need to know if my superking bed will fit or not. The views were amazing. It was 2 miles from a town (smaller than my town) - so it had a hospital, leisure centre and everything else I am likely to need.

The downstairs had a lounge with gorgeous view (but no hall although I might fix that with sliding doors). A kitchen diner that was beautiful with skylights. Another reception area they currently use as a WFH space that then led to an orangery. It also had a garage I could convert in my old age. There is a downstairs loo. The upstairs bathroom on the photo looks posh but not at all to my taste - and I'd struggle to get safely in a bath to take a shower - so I think I'd have to prioritise an ensuite. The stairs did have doors around them at the bottom which is good as it would block sound.

If that was on my doorstep - I'd buy it in a heart beat even with my questions over value. Compared to what's available more locally with those kind of views - this is the best option even on price but definitely on layout. It's just compared to its location its a high price.

I am going to ask my boss if I can take some time off / adjust my hours so I work partly in the evenings so I can fit in some more day time viewings.

savingholmes

Jwil when you had an issue with porting - was that on affordability or the property itself? I'll try and ring them at lunchtime. I have a few meetings this morning. It sounds like I make an initial call and then they set up an appointment to discuss it more in depth.

Blackcats

My experience of the property valuation sites is that they are very rough estimates and I prefer to look at Rightmove sold prices to see what other properties have actually sold for,  but even then there are so many nuances that it is hard to gauge the right price.
as an example when I bought a flat I paid £100,000 less than other properties in the development.  So right move sold prices show that I got an absolute bargain but doesn't show that the flat was unmortgageable because of its short lease and was in absolutely terrible condition.  I paid £65,000 to renew the lease and around £20,000 to completely renovate.
it sounds to me like the house you like has actually had a fair bit done to it which added to 6 years of price rises might make the asking price realistic.  If you make an offer you will find out how much leeway there is on price.
I hope you are able to get information on porting your mortgage quickly.

badmemory

Do not trust those property valuation sites, they are only as good as the partial info they have.  A neighbour of my sister's sold to someone who then sold on to his son for 50% & all the houses lost value.  I've lived here for over 30 years as have the bulk of my neighbours.   6 identical houses (well apart from 3 being left & 3 being right) all worth different amounts.  I could understand if the more recently sold were higher value on the assumption that they were more recently updated but they aren't.  Basically toss a coin in the air & then guess.  Absolute BS to be blunt.

JGB1955

Just de-lurking to say that IMO Zoopla valuations are as much use as a finger in the air.

jwil

savingholmes said:

Jwil when you had an issue with porting - was that on affordability or the property itself? I'll try and ring them at lunchtime. I have a few meetings this morning. It sounds like I make an initial call and then they set up an appointment to discuss it more in depth.

I don't know to be honest.  It shouldn't have been either - we were moving to a bigger property in a better area with no more borrowing, so there was more equity.  With hindsight, it was during the financial crisis and we were with Northern Rock at the time, so although it was before they crashed, it might well have been an issue looming in the background.  We didn't have a problem re-mortgaging with another high street lender, it was just very stressful as we'd assumed it would be ok so there was a last minute panic. (Again, in hindsight, it was great that we were away from NR before the issues happened so it turned out for the best).

I hope your boss allows for the flexible working.  The potential property sounds really interesting.

savingholmes

Thanks Blackcats, Jwil, BM and @JB1955

Your comments are reassuring. I like how many reception rooms the property I saw yesterday had - so perhaps need to feed that into my thinking more. I know it's a luxury - but I currently have a space I just use for working from home - right next to my kitchen, the downstairs loo and in easy reach of the front door. It makes life easier and I have the joy of looking out on the garden.

Tonight I went to see a property that was less than 20 miles away - it took almost an hour to get to at rush hour where the same journey Saturday took 40 minutes. That was a bit of a wake up call. Although it had a stunning garden the bungalow itself needed so much work I think it would be a money pit and a level of hassle I probably can't face. It was less than half the size of this house but up for only £11K less than mine was on for although I was told they were open to offers.

On Wednesday I'm due to see a local 4 bed version of the house I went to see yesterday - it too has an orangery etc, just one extra room upstairs. It has a brand new kitchen, bathroom with roll top bath, the ensuite is already done. It's like a show home. Looks like nice wood floors throughout. Basically there shouldn't be much if anything that needs doing to it. My main quibble in the photos is that they put in a breakfast bar and too many units in the kitchen - where I'd prefer a kitchen diner.  It's obviously a new kitchen - with white quartz type top - but while it might seem sacrilege to carve it up - I'd be tempted. I could always put the counter and related cupboards into the garage. There might be other options when I see it in practice - as at the other end of the room they have more units and a huge american style FF - it might make more sense to remove them than mess with the counter and associated cupboards. It has a weird extra room which they've described as a study - but I wonder if they just created it by blocking up the hall. It's tiny. I'd be tempted to make that a mini utility to minimise noise and visible mess.

If I went for that house - ideally I'd need to knock some money off as I wouldn't have quite enough to cashflow the move and pay full asking. But - I shouldn't need to spend anything on it. My removal costs would be likely to be much lower. I'd save £1.1K on stamp duty. My furniture would probably all fit. Some of their pieces are ones I have. Only one of their bedrooms has built in storage where 3 of my current ones do.

It doesn't have amazing views sadly. It's on a mini cul-de-sac off a main road and the house would be near the furthest end from the main road. It's only a mile - but could save 5-10 mins on my work journey. It would be slightly further to the motorway though but not a lot. Probably a different route more than anything. There's room to park 3-4 cars on the drive easily - so if I had guests come or deliveries it should be fine. Nice size of garden. Doesn't seem overlooked from the photos. Technically it's in a worse area than mine but according to the police reports there is nothing in it in practice from a crime perspective. There's what looks to be a council estate behind it. It's slight further to a corner shop but there is one. It is near parks. It is further from schools than mine is - but that could be welcome relief as I hear the school alarms going off at regular intervals through the weekend and the holidays.

I'm hoping it will sense check what's important reception room wise, whether I want to avoid future work by swapping home and thus benefit from someone else's upheaval while they had the work done, how big a house I want - and whether the views of the other main contender are worth an extra 40-70 minutes journey everywhere.

savingholmes

I think @WelshmansDaughter you were probably right about the burn out and overwhelm - it feels like I am 'stuttering' along at the moment - with brief moments of personal clarity interspersed with overwhelm. It feels like work is sucking all my mental energy. Work was in a slight lull so took a long lunch break today and finished early.

KK - still thinking about your comments too. I really, really, really love the idea of a home with a view - but do I really, really, really want to add the extra journey time and upheaval in relationships by moving completely out of area? That is still a massive debate. I'm seeing my counsellor on Thursday - so will discuss it with her I'm sure.

I rang my mortgage company about porting. I need to pull together income details and projected outgoing details - and they will ring me back from a withheld number at some point in the next 48 hours. That shouldn't be an issue - as my income has gone up since I originally applied for the mortgage and if I need any extra borrowing we are talking £2-5K rather than anything bigger unless I choose a house that needs work. I'd therefore probably use a CC for that - once the mortgage company confirm they are happy - I could apply for a 0% spends card and be sorted. It depends how long the move takes and how long the FTBs take to get a mortgage. I spoke to the EA yesterday but not heard from them today.

I need to be like DIA for a bit and batten down the hatches so I can save more. I have spent a lot of discretionary money in recent months. I will also check to see that all my CCs are clear still from in month spends before I speak to them so I can with a clear conscience say I'm not carrying a balance. I cleared one earlier today which was budgeted. Just need to check if Am**** has a balance and another card I don't think I've used.

KajiKita

“ KK - still thinking about your comments too. I really, really, really love the idea of a home with a view - but do I really, really, really want to add the extra journey time and upheaval in relationships by moving completely out of area? That is still a massive debate. I'm seeing my counsellor on Thursday - so will discuss it with her I'm sure.”

That tells me that you haven’t found the right place to move to yet. You need both elements in lesser or greater degree, I think. Hoping the counsellor brings you some clarity on it. 

Forgive me for perhaps losing the thread here, but have you accepted the offer you received? I seem to have missed that bit? 

KK

savingholmes

Hi KK - I accepted it via the EA - but they haven't come back to me since Sunday afternoon to confirm what's going on and my job is so demanding currently that I keep missing callbacks from various people. I need to follow that up. Just on a lunch break. I fell in love with a house a while back but they took it off the market. I've not fallen for any of the other houses in quite the same way yet / being more guarded. Sunday's house is special but distant and I plan to compare it to tomorrow's local house to decide what I really want. Most of the more rural houses in my price range need a lot of work which could be unaffordable. I'm trying to weigh up whether it is the house or the view that's the most important to me - and what distance travelling would be sustainable for.

Just spoken to mortgage provider - they are perfectly happy with me porting providing the house is reasonable I'm porting to. I have to use their surveyor cost of £184 valuation only, £392 mid range or building survey £589. I'd allowed £800 for that so that's potentially good news. I have to pay £199 to port. I'd allowed another £150 in other fees in case but they aren't needed either. So that's about £360 less to find. They were perfectly happy with me using a CC or whatever to fund £2-5K if needed. I'd need to do a formal application once everything is known.

My EA Conveyancer link rang me back and reduced their quote from £3.6K to £2.5K when I quibbled. The one I found myself though is acceptable to the mortgage company and seems to be £2.2K so likely to go with that once I've offered on a property.

I found a post I did a while back in which I detailed the ideal work to do to the house I'm in - replace kitchen (and utility), replace bathrooms, replace any carpets, redecorate throughout. It added up to a lot more than the cost of moving - even if I pick the more expensive local house.

I'll try to get hold of the EA for my house sale.