Plan for a Sea View - Take 3

Sugarplump

This is my third attempt at a diary as I am rubbish at keeping them up to date. I promise to try harder as I need something to keep me going as the mortgage pay off journey seems to take an age. Its also not something I like to discuss with people in the real world as we are in a very fortunate position that we are looking like being able to have our mortgage paid off by the time I am 43 and hubby will be 44.

We are lucky to live in the north where house prices are cheaper and have never felt the need to move as we picked a forever home as our first house when we were young ones in our early 20's, something that seems so out of reach for young people nowadays. I dread to think how much it will cost for our children to get on the property ladder.

Our current mortgage balance is only £12,500, but is currently on the SVR of 8% as getting a fix would limit the amount of overpayments I could make. I sent an overpayment of £850 a couple of days ago so just waiting for this to be updated and out term to be reduced.
Our current end date is 31st March 2028 but hoping to have this gone by Aug 2025!! 
Seems a stretch but we are in the very fortunate position where I received a quite hefty pay rise recently so we can afford to send £800-900ish to the mortgage every month as an overpayment.

Plan is also for when the mortgage is paid off that my Hubby will drop his days at work, he's been a night shift worker for nearly 25yrs and it's getting a bit tiring for him. 

We also went on our first cruise in 2023 and have another booked for 2025 and I am itching to get another booked in for 2026. The plan is still to end up with something on the coast in the future, hence the blog title. We did have a caravan but gave it up at the beginning of this year as the cost of ground rent was going crazy and we just weren't getting enough use out of it.

Think that's enough of an intro for now. Will be back to update once the mortgage balance and end date gets amend to reflect my recent overpayment.

S xx

South_coast

8%, wowee 😯! That's motivation right there!

julicorn

Happy new diary! Are you able to get on a different tracker type mortgage with a lower rate but that allows unlimited overpayments? We did that a few years ago, but not sure what sort of products are available nowadays. 

gwynlas

Hi.how exciting to be in such a fortunate position but I suppose having to put up with the weather isn/t a problem as you are used to it!

Sugarplump

Thanks for your replies.
Yep 8% is definitely a massive motivation. We've looked at a fix but the rates they are offering would only save us about £20 a month as it such a small mortgage amount and would obviously hinder my overpayments as I'd only be allowed to overpay a max of 10%. Mortgage companies are so sneaky, they were happy to increase the SVR as the base rate was going up but when the base rate was reduced their SVR magically stayed the same. Shocker!

Still waiting for the mortgage company to acknowledge my overpayment from the other day and update my end date, love seeing this moving ever closer.

I have been looking at whether to just take out a bank loan and get it paid off.

gwynlas said:

Hi.how exciting to be in such a fortunate position but I suppose having to put up with the weather isn/t a problem as you are used to it!

The weather can be a bit grim up North, hence the need to book many cruises. 

Sugarplump

Whoop finally got an update from the mortgage company.
Overpayment has been received and new end date is 31/12/2027, balance is now under £12k, can't wait for it to be under the £10k mark as this seems like such a milestone.

beanielou

That’s an awesome position to be in. 

Sugarplump

Well here's to some good news. Hubby came home from work and announced he had won the works lottery, managed to win £10k. I couldn't believe how lucky he was but then he has been paying into that lottery for years.
He got his winnings in a split of cash and chq and has very kindly let me have the cash portion (£3k) to do with as I see fit.

I have made a £2k overpayment on the mortgage and managed to get the balance to below £10k and also shaved 7months off the term. Not sure what to do with the other grand yet as he really wants me to treat myself. I have been looking at cruises for 2026. The remaining of the winnings he has just added to his savings for now as he didn't have much.

If I can keep going with the large overpayments then I am on course to have this mortgage gone by June next year, so 8 months!!

Seems crazy to think when the mortgage is gone we'll have all that extra money to play with, would be good to know what Mortgage Free Wannabees move onto next?

Our eldest has just applied to a college which she'll need train travel for so some of our overpayments will be used to cover that and then the rest will be for holidays and treating ourselves a bit I think.

I'm really wary about writing all this down as I don't want to come across as bragging but at the same time we've worked really hard to get to this position and it seems like I should be able to shout it from the rooftops.

That's all for now.
S

South_coast

Oh wow, what a wonderful surprise! You must be so excited! Definitely not bragging, this is an MFW diary so everyone reading it will be expecting you to work towards paying your mortgage off early, so please don't feel ashamed when you do!

As for what MFWs do next, home improvements and retirement planning are common themes - I know that's what my money has gone on in the last few years (plus cars 😬)

beanielou

That's amazing.

Sarahwithlove

That's great he won so much! I hope you decide to do something nice with your remaining share.