Owning your own home

Better than i expected - I’d probably take that, TBH, although it is still more than double what i fixed at a year ago!

Ah man that's awful :/

Yeah, it’s a bit galling moving from 1.84% to 3.9

I can imagine - I'm not looking forward to ours expiring! Oh well - it is what it is

Ours expires in June, currently 1.44% so would still incur an early repayment charge if we were to lock something else in now, or wait until Jan to avoid this but rates will obvs be higher then, or just let it roll until June and see where we're at then. Somewhere between fucked and proper fucked would be my guess.

@Vince thanks for the condolences, yeah it’s weird as it must be something they’ve encountered before.

@dbr cheers man, one of those things I suppose: trying to be stoic.

The problem is that we’re looking in Cornwall and there are even less places to rent than to buy so it doesn’t even feel like renting is a viable alternative

Fixing for five or ten years seems like madness.

I don't think I'd do 10 if it was the full mortgage, but mine's split between 2 accounts since I ported it when I moved. I figure if things drop significantly then I can probably pay the early redemption fee to get out in 3yrs when the other half of the mortgage is due to renew, and if things are still shit then I stick with it.

I have no clue tbh, all feels like a bit of a coin toss atm

@ghostface sorry to hear that. crap timing. Silver lining may be if the current interest rate hikes force a drop in prices and you end up paying less when you do move?

On the basis that we’re still at the start of spiralling down the economic drain, for a while things will still be getting worse before they start to get better. IMO a 5 year fix is best bet now..

The gap around the flue needs to be filled in too. Did they do they gas checks after installation and filled in the book?

Gah, 2 or 5 year? I know nothing. Rates are the same

I’d do 5 - I think they’ll go up before they go down, and 2yrs isn’t very long

2 year means paying the product fee 3 times to get to 5 years. That's somewhere from £3k-6k depending on the specific mortgage fee. Add in the hassle of looking for a new mortgage 3 times and I'd stick with 5.

At that point we should be well into a labour government with its sensible pants on.

Report them for what though? There’s A couple things not done right the blow off being one of them but there’s as much chance of GS doing anything for that as a hope in hell.

The jobs defo rough, I mean we would have defo done a neater job than that but there’s so many guys now that are fit it and fuck off and don’t give two fucks and that’s what your up against. how much did you pay?

For what it's worth I reckon mortgage rates have a way to go up yet. If you believe this chart, the market is saying that the Bank of England rate will get to just under 6% by May 2023(!). Hard to imagine that banks could ever offer 2 or 5 year fixes inside Bank Rate.

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We had trace/locate as part of our home insurance. They turned water off, drained the system and then filled it with a detectable gas and went around with a wand and picked it up fairly accurately.

They've just this morning come round and done this exact same thing with us. We have a 'massive leak' under a limestone floor, which is a bit upsetting. We can see it through a removed tile, there's literally water spraying out and dripping all over the joists and floorboards underneath.

The chap is trying to access through tiles that are under the worktops so fingers as we don't have any more floor tiles to replace any that we would have to rip out otherwise.

For others in this situation, Insurance covers the cost of trace and access, water damage and making good - it doesn't cover the labour and materials for actually fixing the leak (which is odd, but not the main cost).

You can apparently contact Thames Water, tell them you had a leak and you've fixed it and they often reimburse you the cost of the excess water. I wasn't expecting that, and that would be good as it was a massive bill.

For what it's worth, our insurance didn't fuck about with the making good, i.e new floor, repainting whole kitchen etc. they also put us in an air b&b for a few weeks so we had a kitchen and partner could WFH without disruption while the floor was up and drying.

The actual 'fix' ended up costing about £40 I think, just replacing the relevant bit of pipe.

All in all it was a relatively painless experience given what a nightmare we expected, and premiums didn't even really change that much.

Thames Water also credited our bill for the overpay which meant we haven't paid a bill since I think.

I feel out of my depth here, with my fixed rate mortgage finishing at the end of the year I don't really know what to do.

What I don't want is to get (say) a five year fixed rate at (say) 5% and then see interest rates fall below that, but equally it would be nice to have protection against rates going to 7%+.

Which means I go in circles. When our 1.89% fixed rate expires we go onto the variable rate of 5.04%, which increases our monthly minimum payment by around 10%, which is manageable.

Better to wait and see, or is it inevitable carnage in future and I should be getting the lowest fixed rate available for the longest period of time?

I'd go for a long fixed rate that I could afford. Paying as little as possible is a secondary aim, having a roof over your head is more important.

Overall affordability isn't an enormous problem - the flat is quite modest and the mortgage is small.

I just don't want to make a stupid financial commitment.

I dunno, that calculation depends entirely on how affordable increases could be / scope to pay it all off etc. There’s no perfect answer as it depends on your attitude to risk - do you value the certainty more (and are willing to potentially pay more for it) or are you happier knowing you’ve had a chance for the best deal?

A good compromise might be if you can find a fix for a long-ish term with relatively reasonable termination payments - if the cost of terminating it is low enough, at least you can choose to pay your way out if rates drop a lot.

I just don't want to make a stupid financial commitment.

996 thread >>>>>>>>

I just don't want to make a stupid financial commitment

Who knows what will happen in the next 3-6 months, but as of today the big High Street lenders at the top of the best buy table are offering 3.9% for a 5 year fix up to 85% LTV. I can't see how that is a stupid financial commitment. If you take a 20+ year perspective it's still a fantastic rate.

I try and tell myself that even if the risk you were worried about doesn't materialise, it doesn't necessarily mean that it was a bad decision to avoid that risk.

If I were you I'd be snapping up a 5 year fix as soon as I was out of the ERC window (sometimes up to three months before the deal ends). The only thing that would give me pause is if I thought there was a reasonable change I would want to emigrate within 5 years. In my industry that's not so unlikely the way things are going in the UK.

Included overpayments in your calculations? I think I'd rather lock in at an amount I can afford, and overpay, instead of get locked in at the same amount but with no benefits.
(3.75 monthly repayment £482 + £150 overpay) Vs (6.0 monthly repayment £635)

It's worth remembering that (in theory, at least, all other things remaining equal) the amount you pay over an arbitrary fixed rate term is expected* be pretty close to the amount that you would pay with a floating / tracking rate, plus a arrangement fee premium.

Just like you, the banks are taking a view of rates rising / falling, and setting the fixed rate accordingly. Personally, I don't feel I can second guess what a bunch of full-time analysts when it comes to rate moves, given the asymmetry of information.

I like fixed, as I can budget income against outgoings with more certainty. Ours ends in August next year, with an option to take a deal in February. I reckon we'll be waiting until August, as we want to pay a bunch down prior to rates heading upwards.

* conveniently ignoring the difference between expectations led pricing, and supply / demand pricing, even if there is convergence over the longer term.

Given that "The Market" seems to be closing down mortgage deals left right and centre, the question might be "are there any mortgage deals out there?"