Owning your own home

London house prices have passed 2007 peaks by a fair chunk of pretend money.

For the alcoves, on either side of a fireplace on the ground floor, we're looking at 80 x 40 x 5 cm floating shelves x 4, with 2 doored cupboards - we'll be providing the handles (and two f0ans to ventilate the cupboards), painted with Johnstones acrylic - There's no fancy routing, and I had no idea that there are different types of MDF

I'm going to resist posting a thesis on MDF but suffice to say there are many different thicknesses and qualities, I have pieces of 20 year old sheets and the middle is way more dense which used to make the whole sheet heavier. Gradually quality has changed and the choice of thicknesses and various moisture resistance etc. have become more widely available. Veneered MDF is very popular now, despite the extra cost per sheet because the finish is uniform/factory and the cost of painting can be avoided. I've seen veneered MDF so tough and good looking recently that it's hard to think of a better option.

So you've got 2 alcoves, ballpark £1500, I'd be revising that figure up or down following a conversation with you, the customer but I'd expect to end up between £900 and £2500 depending on how high a finished quality you want. A lot of the time/cost is the paint job and there are a lot of variables. Will your 50mm floating shelves have an mdf edge? are they going to sand all the cut mdf edges to 400 grit before painting? So many questions. Maybe my ballpark figure helps you but bear in mind I'm in the higher end of the market quality wise. I might say that the design you're considering has not been super popular with my clients in the last 10 years, although there's nothing wrong with it, floating shelves kind of got overdone. Johnstones acrylic will probably mark if you place heavy objects/metal objects and move them around. It's one of the big problems with standard acrylic paint. There are some formulations for shelves like Porslin from Ray Munn that have a much harder surface.

This is super informative post - thank you very much.

Time to get my negotiating hat on with the chippy.

Although the stuff he has photos of looks pretty decent. I'll probably get himn in for a smaller piece straight off, and see how it goes from there.

(The alcove has to wait for the damp to be sorted in any case).

Well?

My money's on a TAG.

He wasn't wearing one.
Most off putting.

Bit of a weirdo made an improved offer, but still lower than we can really accept.
Also he said it takes 7 weeks to complete and will we be gone? hahaha 7 weeks, classic.

One thing to note is it's easier to build a box and slot it into the alcove than it is to make floating shelves fit the walls. It sounds like you might have some plastering work done in the alcove but the chances of getting it perfectly square and flat are close to zero. If you build a square box off site and scribe a facing piece to the walls it can be much quicker. Although if damp is a concern you might not want to seal it in.

What is it with the guitars on show in almost every house on Zoopla? Starting to wonder if estate agency photographers bring them with them to make it look like the house is owned by 'creatives'

I've seen it mentioned on here before but can't find it, how do mortgage companies typically treat a variable (bonus) part of total remuneration for their calculations?

It depends - they will usually take a percentage of it into consideration. A decent broker will get a higher percentage taken into account.

I was told half of it is added to your basic

HSBC will take a bonus into account if I can prove that I've received it for 2 years. So we'll leave that out for now then, given I've been with the new company less than a year.

Remortgage at the end of the current fixed deal I am on

I moved from a 4yr 2.99 fixed to 1.49 tracker with Nationwide (no fees, minimum term or overpayment charges) and it was all just done over the phone with next to no questions - nothing about the job apart from is there any reason I think I might have trouble paying. Ltv had gone from 75% to 35% so I assume it's seen as pretty low risk

I only didn't take another fixed as I'm not sure how long I want to be there, so the tracker just ended up being a cheaper mortgage with no downsides (vs not changing it)

Staying with the same bank seems to involve much less admin than moving to a new deal somewhere else (but of course you may not get the best deal).

How can one find out if your council has plans to redevelop the estate you're on?

I work in E&C so am acutely aware of ayelsbury and heygate. #paranoia

When was the last time they did any serious maintenance or referb? If it's fifteen years ago then the writing might be on the wall.

The planning dept. will only tell you what is already out there and they should 'consult' with residents as part of the initial steps of a 'regeneration' plan.

Major refurb was just as we bought... Still waiting for a bill 3 years later.

It's an estate made up of blocks of 1 maisonette on top of the other. 2 maisonette total in a stack. If that makes sense. So nice and spacious and family orientated and right next door to a park.

What's the artisanal flat white to chicken shop ratio in the local area?

Advice please... Broker or the bank?

Pre-approved with the bank but want the ease and flexibility to go where we want after the initial two year fixed term is up... Pros, cons, traps, things to look out for, etc...

Spotted a couple of nice houses last week but dearly beloved wanted a week off househunting, the one she really liked has gone in the interim...

For me, I just used moneysavingexpert and looked for any additional cashback deals.

In my 5 mins walk, 1:1.

Exactly the same deal can be had going through the bank or the broker, just wondering if it'll be easier to have the broker on board to begin with so life is easier when that fixed term is over and we're shopping around again...

broker4lyf
don't ever put yourself under more pressure than you need to on something as life changing as buying a house