Moving forward and upwards

Quick Monday update:

I've passed the initial checks with the lender :j

I have also arranged a second viewing of the maisonette for this weekend :T I'm only going to see if it still needs a lot of cleaning and airing, or whether it is possible to hire a carpet cleaner, give everything a good clean and leave the windows open to clear the ciggy smell or whether it is rip all the carpets / flooring up and a good clean.

There are no properties coming close to the size of it and three bedrooms, plus two large 'cupboards' (eg convert one to a library and the other to a study), plus other normal sized cupboards and a loft for boarding out and storage. Kitchen is huge and the whole place has great potential :cool:

Moved £10 to my MSA's.

Not sure where this is going update:

I've opened up a help to buy ISA with my normal bank and dropped £1200 into it from my savings, will top it up by £200 each month.

The bank I hold the majority of my savings are dropping their interest rates considerably, three of my accounts so far have had horrid drops of over 50% and they weren't even 1.50% some of them

I've now closed one of the accounts and moved the money to my new H2B ISA and my normal banks savings accounts.

I did have a very long online chat with my normal bank as I've got an ISA already and have paid into it this year, but have been assured I can open a H2B with them and keep my ISA with the other.

I'm currently debating what to do with my remaining savings and will look to see if I can do multiple transfers out the ISA, if so, that will fund the H2B for several years.

Regarding my broker, he got me a DIP, which was great, until the lender wants 20% deposit on any ex-authority properties :eek: :eek:

Every property I have looked at has been ex-authority. He did say I would be fine to offer etc now and would have until exchange to get the rest of the deposit together but I don't think it's viable as I would need to find just under £8k in less than 3 months; I've decided to aim for £90-100k property to stay within 30 minutes train commute of town. Broker agreed it wouldn't work and is going back to the drawing board next week.

I emailed him this afternoon, having had time to think about it all, said I would rather wait than rush to save the 20% or buy further out - there are alternative options if I wait another 6 months, I will have passed my probation and have a healthy deposit saved :T:T

It won't stop me looking for a property, just in case I spot something. At the same time, it also takes a bit of pressure off me with learning my job and doing my degree, means I can get Year one done, then move and start Year 2.

Just for a bit of context again, my credit history is getting better by the month, only have a couple of aged defaults and a satisfied CCJ (just over a year to go then the CCJ drops off, the defaults probably go before the CCJ do) but the things working against me is the AP marker (got about 4.5 years before that goes) and the fact I stopped my joint DMP with my ex, had the latter two (specifically the AP) not happened I probably would have been looking at a normal lender

I'm posting a bit of info just in case this helps someone in a similar situation :beer:

On a positive note, I told my OH to open a H2B ISA today, another few texts explaining about them and he has submitted his application! His foot is still causing him trouble as it's not healing, so will need another x-ray. I've enjoyed having him around and one day our plans will all join together!

Moved a bit of my wages to savings and edging ever closer to moving up another step!

Step I'm currently on:

Step 2

The start of December update:

At the moment I feel like I've had the rug pulled from under my feet, is it always one step forward, two steps back!?!

This 20% deposit on ex-council properties is a bugbear, I've gone through loads of adverse lender criteria's and they all have it

Yes, I did end up crying at work today when my broker confirmed it too.

Where am I going to find a budget, not-ex-council property, near the city I work in, when these were / are vast local authority areas.

The older new builds are expensive, the new builds are are really expensive and I don't like the idea of shared ownership as the rent element for the ones I've seen are high, let alone adding mortgage and repair costs into the equation.

I do have 20% for the cheaper properties 90 minutes away, but I can't do a 3 hour round commute 5 days a week. I can also currently afford to buy over the water (40 minutes to work, train and bus), but if the trains can't get back over here for whatever reason (accident / weather) then I won't get into work as the bus would have to take a huge detour.

I will keep looking and hope that something pops up, whilst still saving. At best it's 11 months til I get the remaining money together, but then it's also the risk of property prices increasing a bit too. If there was a huge crash, I will be well placed for being a cash purchaser

Have to try and work out my new step formula, but will figure that out by the time I next get paid.