Property

I've had this mortgage for about 13 months now, originally borrowed £152,000 on a bog-standard tracker mortgage. I had a 25% deposit (50 odd thousand - made from the sale of my first property bought 4 years) so I managed to avoid having my earning looked into.

 

We've looked at maybe doing that, but wouldn't work unfortunately. The wife works in London, and doesn't drive. The further away she is the more the train costs, which ain't cheap. I'm not sure that getting a diesel car would really offset the load of extra mileage that would entail. But also, i hate driving as it is.


So its a question of sanity really. Which is what all of this comes down to. Which is why i want a house, but conversely do not want to work too hard to pay for one. Ultimately, the way things are at the moment, the responsibility rests with me. It just pisses me off that in order to do something as basic as buying a home for a family, i have to become a whore to all the other shit.

The main reason for wanting a home of my own is so that at some point i can pay it off and eliminate that unavoidable last bill, at which point i can give up work and not prostitute myself any longer. Then i will also sell the car and all the other shite i don't want or need. I only have the car so that it can get me to the job i don't want to go to.

And its the crap of having to think about tomorrow all the time.

etc etc. can't remember what i was going on about now.

Ultimately, i imagine i will be defeated and will be stuck on this bloody roundabout indefinitely. oh joy.


cheers

EDIT. anyway there is a possibility i might stitch myself up soon with a house. either way i'm buggered, so might as well live somewhere were i'm allowed to put shelves up in the meantime.

 

I was based in Plymouth from 1977-1999...

We went through it on the train on Friday - long time no see. I don't miss that place at all, but that's not the debate here.

This old rent V mortgage thing makes me laugh. So a mortgage is "more affordable than rent" - but what if you can't borrow enough TO get a mortgage? This "Self certified" mortgage though - if you extrapolated a REALISTIC high the interest could go to from the current rate of a mortgage for £x and worked it against what you currently pay in rent, would that mean that a lender would give you the dosh?

IE - if I was paying, say, £350 pcm in rent, but could prove that I can pay that, then I could get a mortgage that was, say, £270 pcm at current rate and thus have £80 manouvring space in case the interest went up loads, or am I totally wrong on the self certified thingy?

 

It doesn't end with the mortgage. I paid mine off last year but I worked out the other day that I still need somewhere between 20k to 30k a year before tax to maintain my standard of living so retirement is still a distant dream.

You're not alone there

 

No, you're right. But it depends what standard of living you are talking about.

The bills i will never be able to avoid are utilities and food. But i can service them for a good wee while with enough saved up in the piggy bank. When it runs out, i'll do a few hours a week on a till in Tesco's or something . Can't eliminate it altogether, but can get fairly close.

The hunter gatherers had it about right. But we've progressed since then

 

Yep, my thinking as well. That's the main thing that got me thinking that I might not be able to stay living where I am currently am indefinitely and kick back on a lower paid job. Yes, the current location and lower paid job will see me through comfortably for the short term, but it won't put anything into the pension fund (erm what pension, I don't have one ATM ).

Mind you, I'd not need anywhere near as much as £30k per annum gross after retirement.

IME, "employee" is another word for "hooker". "Employeer" = "pimp".

 

Yes, 30k would be quite luxurious. 20k is not that extreme though when you include household maintenance. A new kitchen perhaps, or even just a new boiler, or a roof, or the occassional washing machine, etc. etc. These things may not occur often but averaged over the years, they come to a pretty penny per year.

At 20k, I could still run a car. Much less and the car would have to go. It's one of my long term ambitions to be car free anyway. A house move would be necessary first though. I don't think I could live where I am and go car free. It would certainly be a challenge.

 

20K would be my desired upper limit. Although having said that, I suppose there is also inflation to consider too. 20K is (more than) OK for my needs at the current time, but how much is it going to be really worth in say 20 to 30 years time. Hmm OK, 30K it is then... :cry:

IMO, anyone living in Somerset without a car is certainly in for challenge - I'd certainly not attempt to do so unless I lived near one of the only 2 main line train stations (i.e. Yeovil or Taunton). Getting from one side of the county to the other via bus is a nightmare, from what I saw once when I was weighing up taking a job in Wells.

 

Forms posted this morning HenryT..Perth here we come! Well, in a while anyway..

 

Hi Robs,

Perth eh? The summers look a wee bit hot for me, maybe. Is it dry or wet heat mainly they have?

Sounds cool... So you've done the interview with an immigration officer too?

 

Worked in the Sahara for a while, & spent some time in SE Asia...any heat is good heat!! (Think it's dry in Perth, but gets to 40+!).
Never actually been to Oz. Just going to go for it (and why not?!). No interview yet - just posted the application forms this morning... Youch - about £800 to apply now.
Don't have enough points without doing the investment for a year - nearly £40K..but I've got a house I can remortgage!!

 

£800? Which visa did you apply for? I was looking at the skilled worker visa (Skilled Migration Program), which I'm sure wasn't as much as that to apply for.

As long as it's dry heat I can cope. Although 30 degrees C is about as much dry heat as I can deal with comfortably I'd guess. I don't know actually, I've never experienced 30C totally dry heat. Although when I visit my parents in Hong Kong, I definitely find 30C+ of wet heat very ompressive and unbearable - it's always a relief to retreat into an air-coniditioned building during the summer months over there.

 

Independent Skilled Migration - costs A$1745 or thereabouts. Then you need skills assessed - $250, then medicals etc - will be plenty more than £800...

Do records warp in 40 degrees..?

 

Well, after all that, i've just gone and bought a house.

So if all goes to plan, i'll have to find something else to whinge about.

 

Good luck Cookie.....
Now comes the dodgy survey
Awkward mortgage company
Incompetent solicitors
Unreliable removal men.......
The worst bit is yet to come

 

Where did you buy in the end ?

 

Bracknell.

A few doors down from Robbo, poor chap.

All the joys which Lordsummit enumerated lie in wait now.

 

And then endless years of DIY, decorating and redecorating before finally getting it just how you want it. Then its time to move.

 

It's a bit cheaper out that way isn't it ? I'll be moving again soon (without the baggage this time!), so won't be restricted to living near Heathrow. Any recommendations within commuting distance of Slough (for rental, not purchase)

 

The plan is never to move. This should only be spoiled by either a seriously fertile wife, or an unforseeable drastic change in circumstances. Who knows.

Once is bad enough.

The solicitors fees dropped thorugh the letter box today and cracked the floor boards. :cry: