Owning your own home

prices have only gone up c.20% in the last ten years

Is that all?!

Apparently so, it's what was in the local press according to my dad anyway...will do some digging and try and find it.

I know they bought the family home in the mid-to-late 80's for c.£150k and based on what others are going/have gone for recently it's probably sat at around £250k now.

It's not the greatest of places, but it's not that bad and it's bloody accessible for getting around the country.

Offset mortgages - pitfalls? pros? cons? pre-requisites?

My advisor just called saying that when my 2 year fix is up this Sept, he'd like to look at getting us on an offset as we should have the right LTV and our income has gone up.

Anyone got one and wish they hadn't or vice versa?

Had a read. Basically unavoidable unless we went to one of the banks that allows two people on the mortgage and a single name on the property deeds. That's something like £40k on top of a £500k flat. Fucksake.

We removed our useless cold water tank and old immersion heater and had a tiny water heater installed (same kind of thing as an electric heater). It works ok for bathroom basin, kitchen basin but I can't really speak for the bath as I use an electric shower not the bath. Basically, I prefer having the extra space. Cost something like £800 to have all the old shit removed (asbestos tank) and the new heater installed.

Smart apps are just another thing that will go wrong or get hacked. Fuck that.

They're only heating when they're in use, right. Rather than the stupid immersion heater that heats over night on cheaper rate and then cools down all day until you get home to try and use it. Shit idea. Electric showers and electric heater units ftw.
I think they're about £200 if you buy unit alone.

Either fainting goats or pygmy goats. The latter, preferably.

Or both, giving an amazing cross-breeding opportunity. Pygmy fainting goats anyone?

Self control is the only pre-requisite as you can buy stuff with equity in your house using a debit card.

I wouldn't have any other type of mortgage because I'm self employed and my income can vary between nothing and lots, depending on the month.

Also, I occasionally like buying stuff with the equity in my house.

A bit left field but have you considered air source heat pumps? Currently the government are offering interest free loans to install a system which would cover your heating and hot water needs, pay you back through the Renewable Heat Incentive and reduce you bills (although initially the savings would no doubt go towards servicing the loan). I was speaking to a chap last night who was selling it to my inlaws. The biggest pitfall I saw was that the loan stayed with you and not the house/system, so whilst the loan may take 10 years to pay back, if you move after 5 the rest of the loan would still be your responsibility whilst the new owners reap the benefit of the new system in place.

2% is too high for selling agent's fees, right?

Jesus wept those are expensive train tickets.

You can get an annual national travelcard with unlimited travel on any train at any time for way less than half of that in some European countries.

Yes, unless they can sell the place tomorrow for more than you are expecting them to.

TBF, that is what it would be for both of us...it's 'only'£7,484 for the fast line (£6,316 on the slow) as an individual to come out of the take-home pay.

Still ludicrous!

My annual season ticket cost £7816. Runs out at the end of the month. Bugger.

Fucking hell! I pay £1.70 per day on the DLR when I'm not walking /riding. How far does £7816 get you per year !?

160 mile return trip, average 3 times a week, say 44 weeks a year. Call it 21k miles. And a few extra trips to Stansted and down to London for the velodrome. Say 22k miles. To and from the mighty metropolis of Ely in the Fens' famous Fens. It is a 1st class season ticket. A standard class one is still over £5k though.

And it's not even tax-deductible.

I'd kill myself if I had to pay that to get to work.

I'd kill myself if I lived in London

Loft conversions - anyone had one done? How stressful is it?

Wut? Isn't that one journey off-peak?

Had mine done, they bust in through the roof so hardly any mess till the stairs go in. Worth paying for a skylight above the stairs to let natural light flood down so the loft doesn't feel like an adjunct.

We had one done in the last 3 months of pregnancy of our second child. The two lads who did it were excellent and the disruption was absolutely minimal. I'd wait a couple of months before decorating though, give everything time to settle down.

I've found a superb builder who does loft extensions in north and East London. I've viewed the guys work and it's class. Very reasonably priced too.

Back to my garage wiring removed by the managing agent situation, I looked at the lease:

Paragraph 5 here:

And 1.b) here:

If I am reading those correctly the lighting circuit should be reinstated?

All I can see is that they will maintain wires that cross the managed areas, not what services they will supply.

I presume they read this as the supply wires to the main building and any external security lighting or other equipment that they decide is necessary.

Probably grounds for requiring a consultation prior to removing a service but not necessarily grounds to force them to reinstate one.