Cheery's path to fulfilment - finishing the DIY, looking after myself, appreciating the garden 🌻

Cheery_Daff

Right, let's narrow it down to the five year options... 

7. FIVE YEARS - 4.46%, £799 fee - £1053.79, APRC 6.4%, total £275,072 - increase of £133.80 a month

8. FIVE YEARS - 4.99%, £0 fee - £1099.04, APRC 6.6%, total £279,256 - increase of £179.05 a month

The difference in monthly payments is £45.25, so if we paid the fee upfront, it'll take 18 months to recoup in cheaper payments. If, after that, we put that extra £45.25 as OPs to the mortgage for the remainder of the 5 year rate... that means the mortgage end date shifts to Nov 2042 (rather than Mar 2043, if we don't make any more overpayments). 

So financially, it definitely makes sense to take option 7 -  5 year fix with an upfront fee, as much as it pains me to pay a fee!

Will run it past Mr Cheery later then decide. It's a wodge to come out of savings, but actually at the minute we're saving £458 as a standard amount each month, so we can have the fee put aside before the new mortgage starts. 

If anyone's still here, can you spot a flaw in my plan?!

Not going to attempt a remortgage elsewhere as I've said before - we need somewhere that will lend until Mr Cheery is 80 (many only go up to 70, or 75) and will lend up to 10 acres of land with a residential property (many only go up to 1 acre). 

For good measure though, I did plug the figures into MSE remortgage guide. There are a few with a lower percentage (lowest 4.05%, but fees of over £1000, and in some cases over £1500). I checked the mortgage criteria for intermediaries - as expected, 3 of them go to a max of age 75, and the other will consider on a case by case basis, but makes no mention of acreage (but it's a bank that I do NOT like, so won't be considering anyway!)

Right, enough. Off to get dressed and then to build that wall before the cows plough through my flimsy temporary barricade! 

debtfreewannabe321

Lucky no.7 looks good to me. I wonder if they could waiver the fee? We just got a new deal for when we move on a top up mortgage and it had a fee attached to it but they waivered it for us (we didn't ask but we are staying with the same mortgage company we are porting the other mortgage from perhaps that's why?). Like slm I like the longer fixes so you know where you're at.

Cheery_Daff

Oh, but just before I go, a little spreadsheet playing...

Let's say we go with the planned option (upfront fee, five years). 

Standard payment £1053.79 - will end March 2043 (original end date was Feb 2043 )

If we set monthly payments at £1060 - will end Jan 2043. 

If we set monthly payments to £1060, then do as suggested above and OP £45.25 after we've recouped the fee for the remainder of the 5 year fix - will end Sept 2042

If we do that, then throw half of Mr Cheery's state pension at it - will end July 2037 

If we throw the entirety of Mr Cheery's state pension at it once that arrives (unlikely, as I'll want to drop a day a week, but let's play let's pretend for a minute) - will end June 2035 I'll be 55, and very pleased

Of course we might have moved before then anyway (these are all portable, I believe, but will check - although if we move we might be able to get a better deal anyway with less land). 

As ever, I'm feeling grateful that these options with their associated monthly increases aren't sending me into a panic that we won't be able to pay. Very thankful to be able to absorb an increase like that without too much bother. And house-related finances are the one way that our age difference actually plays in our favour (well, in my favour anyway - Mr Cheery will have been paying a mortgage one way or another for probably more than 40 years by the end of all this!)

Right, really enough - dressed and outside! 

Baileys_Babe

I personally would not consider an interest only mortgage as I do not have nor want a separate product for paying off the capital.

Looking at the information you have given us I would choose option 7.

1. It gives you stability to plan your payments for the next 5 years
2. You will pay less per month than option 8
3. You will pay less in total than option 8 (by my rough calculations about £1900 less over the 5 years)
4. At the end of 5 years, you will owe less than option 8

beanielou

I would go for 5 year fix @ 4.46. You will more than save what you paid in the fee over term. 

Cheery_Daff

Thank you all, yes, it looks like we are all in agreement with option 7! 

Wasn't going to pop back in again, I'm just going to have a break from fixing the stupid wall to have my lunch, and will do YNAB while I'm inside as a rest

A man came down the footpath earlier (on a bike) and asked me why I was doing such heavy lifting, and where 'all the men' were I should have asked if he was offering to give me a hand! Instead I sent him on a 3 mile detour down the road rather than advising him to take his bike down the much shorter footpath

Sick of walling now. I WANT to like it, I really do. I like the idea of it. But it's just so heavy, none of the stones are a regular shape, and it's generally a pain in the bum. Starting completely from scratch is easier, but when fixing a gap, I'm never sure how much to take out to make it stable, and this one is worse because it's got a stile in it (although that's mostly concreted in and still very sturdy). 

Still, none of the ones I've fixed in the last 6 years have fallen down again yet, so I will take heart from that. I think my problem is that I've been on a couple of courses, and done some days with the Dry Stone Walling Association, so I know how it 'should' be done. The local farmers are very fast, but they do just throw it up, without worrying about running joints and proper placement etc Their approach is one of keeping the animals in, not beauty and lasting for 100 years, so I probably need to take a leaf out of their book! 

Anyway, practice makes perfect, right? 

I just wish I was stronger, all that lifting and scratching my head makes me very tired

ladybird1106

My OH does walling as part of his job and recently found newts in a wall (not where you would expect to find newts ) along with a really old  glass bottle which he brought home. He says cows and sheep are often the reason they come down, the other day he’d just finished one section and a cow leant on another section and brought it down he was not amused.
 Hopefully you’ll have it finished soon
love 🐞

Cheery_Daff

Thanks @ladybird1106 How lovely to find a newt! I saw a little vole yesterday, and there are a LOT of snails! 

Cows are definitely to blame - we often see them rubbing their necks on the walls and stones falling off

Anyway, I have delayed long enough - YNAB is now done and banks reconciled. All looking ok. Savings pot for the month is depleted, but that's because I'm still waiting for about £120 worth of expenses, and Mr Cheery spent a wodge on musical equipment which is coming out of a pile of cash but the cash hasn't made it into the bank (and therefore into my budget) yet, so that will all be rectified soon. 

And now I really can't put it off any longer - want that wall finished today! 

beanielou

Happy walling. I thought I was doing well doing a load of laundry & hanging some of it out! 

PermacultureGirl

The cows will thank you for rebuilding their handy scratching places  . Just chiming in to say I like option 7 too and I like even more the idea of paying off the mortgage by age 55!