Owning your own home

I used Iain Shaw - Google ijs financial solutions.

He's a member's dad on here and was very good.

Fair enough with the door opening but you might find your cat creates their own toilet area if you don't have a tray available indoors!

Yeah. Our last one seemed to work it out for himself after he was allowed outside. I know it's definitely a thing while they're kittens and not allowed out :(

You can, of course, make a hole in the brick pier so long as the engineering is properly considered.

But you'll need an [expensive] structural engineer to work it out.

Do you have a suspended timber floor? You could put a flap under the doors with a tunnel that pops up between two joists.

That'd be rad.

@Chalfie @Bainbridge @christianSpaceman thanks all

I fired off a quick question to the surveyor that did the wall in the first place to see what he thinks. The pier was right on the edge of what the minimum size it could be for regulations, so I imagine it would need at least another little lintel if you cut a hole in the pier but I can also see him just saying no.

A cat tunnel would be awesome! We have a suspended floor but new underfloor heating and stone floors. I think an exciting first floor exit might be the only way around this.

We only finished the kitchen a couple of months ago. This cat is looking like it could be expensive to install; I clearly missed a cat shaped variable when we designed our kitchen.

I wouldn't fuck up my house for the sake of a cat. But I'm not a cat person.

True. We don't even have it yet. Might turn out to be a complete bastard.

Thinking about it, you could work out the maximum hole size by practical means.

Start by drilling a little hole, make it bigger in small increments until the house falls down, then just put the last bit you took out back in.

And save hundreds on the surveyor! Brb, gonna get my Makita....

Questions. North London (N15). I'm selling a 1 bed. Any recommended estate agents? Ones to avoid? What fees are EA's charging at the moment? Are purplebricks et al causing them to drop their fees?

Questions. North London (N15). I'm selling a 1 bed. Any recommended estate agents? Ones to avoid? What fees are EA's charging at the moment? Are purplebricks et al causing them to drop their fees?

Can you report back when you’ve spent a few grand on the cat flap and it just looks at it and waits to be let out the front door.

Ha! - or gets run over the first time it goes out.

I have heard back from the surveyor this morning.

Turns out it's actually pretty simple; all I have to do is demolish the pier, insert a vertical steel beam from the ground up to reinforce the lintel already there. Then I have to have a steel frame made around the area that the catflap is going before rebuilding, refinishing and repainting the wall inside and out. He said it would be 'costly'.

You make it sound so simple!

Fixed rates going up...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41523941

Could I ask your opinions on the two following mortgages?

2 year fixed at 1.7% with no fees. 5 year fixed at 2.3% with a £1000 fee up front. Otherwise identical in early repayment etc.

Any thoughts appreciated!

I would take the 2 year but overpay to at least whatever you'd be paying for the 5 year, plus the grand that you would have paid in fees.

If you can see yourself staying in the house, I'd take the five year. Or better, find a five year with no fees.

We're in, but no couch and no fridge... Just a sea of boxes and two very grumpy people trying to get over the flu, worst timing for a house move ever...

We do have internet tho'...

Shower is shit, need to up the pressure... Dishwasher is tripping the fuse, don't know what that's all about, probably FUBAR... We only have one full set of keys, don't know how the previous owners managed TBH... I think we'll need to freshen the paint up, looks a bit tatty in places but overall it's pretty good... Great little house apart for the shit tiles in the kitchen and we've got too much fucking stuff but no garage to put it in now...

anyone had their victorian front path tiled of late? I'm getting some very hair raising quotes for what it a very small area...

Love the house, it's a very charming little thing... Needs a veranda out the front, a small shed out the back, solar panels, a few new stumps and then I'll be happy... Bloody nice as it is tho', can't complain...

Lori went out and ordered a fridge today, arrives tomorrow... I'll order the couch tomorrow, hopefully we'll be all done by the weekend and we can unpack and relax at our leisure... I'm currently watching The Story of Film on a Robin Day polo chair, my Brompton is sitting to my right, next to my bottle of cider and vape which are sitting on the floor... Not ideal... 🙂

Yep, ours was done by a chap based in Cornwall. Clearly the rate he charged was enough to cover his commute. It was a ten foot path, about 2.5ft wide, in black and white. Came to about 2500 I think. His name was something live Valentine Jefferson. Did a superb job. Then we sold the house.

The only thing not ideal about that is admitting to vaping.

But otherwise does sound well nice. I'd fucking love a veranda. I have a vague dreams from childhood of having a big (self-built) wooden house on a prairie somewhere. Probably from watching Witness too many times (which, when you think about it is a weird lesson to take from that film).