Owning your own home

I spent ages looking.. before getting my lease documents which explicitly said no wood floors, because flat. That might be reason 1.

You've then got three options; real wood, engineered hardwood and vinyl. Engineered seemed like the best option. There are plenty of sites you can use to workout the cost of materials and order free samples from. From reading I'd also go for the best sound proof underlay you can afford.

I think I'm OK in terms of noise as it's a ground floor flat. But definitely agree on getting best underlay - I imagine this is good for keeping the chill out too.

Engineered looks good as it can be refinished a few times, and looks a lot better than vinyl/laminate. Did you end up getting it done anyway?

You'll be fine on the ground floor, our lease said the same. To be honest, I researched the sh*t out of everything including underfloor heating options but then on moving realised we had no furniture so spent money on that and have grown to like the carpets.

I think I'm OK in terms of noise as it's a ground floor flat.

Still check your lease documents.

In our previous flat the downstairs neighbour put wooden floors in and we could hear his every footstep each morning.

His lease was the same as ours and said no wooden floors. We sold (to a developer) so it became someone else's problem. The flats just weren't built with suitable noise proofing.

Not worth putting them in if there's a chance you'll get told to rip it out and replace with carpet.

Engineered looks good as it can be refinished a few times

It depends what kind of finish you get on the timber, for example you can't really refinish a bandsawn timber board.

Try someone like Havwoods or Reeve for good quality not too spendy engineered timber flooring.

Cheers guys, appreciate it.

Thanks, betterbathrooms look good. I'm going to check out one of their showrooms.

I have Bristan taps and an Aqualisa shower in the existing bathroom which I'm hoping to reuse. Just debating whether it is worth trying the salvage the sink and the bog.

The floor will have to be taken up so everything will have to be removed and either re-fitted or skipped.

Mortgage talk.

2 years ago I went for a 2 year fixed because I was supposed to be dumping a load of cash (~50-100k) into my mortgage about now. That isn't happening, and I've got to re-mortgage anyway so I've been looking.

Thanks to an undervaluation 2 years ago and a decent hike in value in the last 2 years, our LTV is more like 60% now so there's some pretty tasty offers out there.

2 years ago, everyone said interest rates had nowhere to go but up, but they've haven't. I'm currently on 1.49% (2 years fixed), and the lowest rate I'm being offered now is 0.99% for 2 years fixed again, but I'm also being offered 1.90% for lifetime fixed, and I don't know if it's better to just go with that and not have to worry.

Any thoughts?

Yes I've got a spreadsheet, no I haven't plugged in the numbers yet.

I would lock in a low fixed rate for as long as possible.

With brexit on the horizon, who know what interest rates will do. If it was me, I'd rather have some certainty and be able to plan with it than be constantly worried about rate changes coming up.

1.90% for lifetime fixed

Take this. Hard.

UK 25 year gilts are 1.76

You would be borrowing at 14 bps more than the government - which is bonkers.

Even if you get it wrong, and interest rates stay low, you aren't missing out - because the rate is so low.

And you can budget your cash flow accurately for the next 25 years.

This is the less complicated way of saying what i said. I agree 100%

Agreed, for a relatively low rate like that I'd go with the long-term option. The next few years could be a bit rocky and, unless you have decent cash reserves to gamble against rates rising significantly, the extra payments are probably a small price to pay.

Are the fees included in the 0.99% or are they on top? If you're paying fees every two years then the gap between the deals narrow.

The one obvious thing to check is how easy it is to get out of the deal or transfer it to a new property.

We're looking into this now. Inflation is now the bugbear that's freaking out the markets, not interest rates. Expect another cut in interest rates followed by an inflation spike. The currency situation reflects that already.

I edited it to make it a lot more complicated...

It's why we are so fond of you.

Thanks @TW, that is what I thought too, and I think @aggi is right in that the 2 year deals at 0.99% don't include fees at a large £1k, so every 2 years splashing out 4 figures makes no sense.

This is why I need the calculator to work it out properly but I think even basic calculations tell me the lifetime at 1.9 is the right answer.

Now we've paid for the wedding we can start overpaying too.

Weddings are something I hope never to pay for or contribute to in any way ever again.

I'd go for another 2 year fixed, I don't see interest rates going anywhere in that time

A controversial opinion

Weddings are something I hope never to pay for or contribute to in any way ever again.

This.

Oh god, this.

Also I'm on a 5 yr fixie

I'm in the same boat and most of the low rate deals come with a 1k+ fees, plus a valuation fee, so when you work that out across the two year period it makes little to no difference to move to one of those deals, especially needing to drop 4 figures every two years to get it.

1.90% for lifetime fixed

I've still got 4 years of my 5 year fixed deal left, but I'd take that deal in a heartbeat if I could.

Who is it with?

I'm living with the current interest rates, but will probably jump onto another 5 yr fixed between now and march, just so I'm not fucked by any brexit shout by May. Last time I looked into this, staying with Barclays seemed the best option, but may need to do another looksee.

Lifetime deal sounds too good to be true! Worth checking if there are big exit fees if you want/need to release money or look to sell in the future.