House buying, mortgages, insurance, etc

[itzdrk]

On 09/01/2024 at 13:53, 'WellDel said:

Thanks for your reply, lots of good info that will help going forward. My point on mortgage for no gain came purely from a quick search on the Halifax mortgage calculator which gave the option of buying a 2nd home, then when it came to whether it would be buy to let, an info box instructed you to select 'No' if you were planning to let family live in it. I know that's at the most simplistic level of the overall purchase and responsibilities involved, and that taxes etc would be involved, but led me to believe there is a specific mortgage tool for this purpose rather than btl.

The fixed rate on what's left of my own mortgage ends in the coming month or so, think I'll set up an appointment with a mortgage adviser in branch and discuss what our options are. Given her low credit rating, perhaps a guarantor or joint mortgage of sorts with my daughter could be an option? A lot to consider. 

Thanks again for your help.

I was in a similar situation with fucked finances and a low score but a family wanting to help sort me owning a flat.  I spoke to a mortgage advisor and they said it was unlikely I'd be accepted but let's credit check me against the main 3 firms anyway to see what comes up and we can either make a plan to sort it or somehow it'll surprisingly be fine.  Against all odds it was fine so from my experience is it's worth just giving it a go. 

[Sergeant Wilson]

2 hours ago, ICTChris said:

Throbber, I will pay to use your house as a meth lab / amateur porn studio.  This will solve all your financial problems.  DM me for details.

I take it you'll be bringing your own people, rather than the incumbents?

[jimbaxters]

8 minutes ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

I take it you'll be bringing your own people, rather than the incumbents?

Add a couple of hyphens and you could call the first movie that.

[Salt n Vinegar]

3 hours ago, throbber said:

Exactly. My kids are only 6 and 3 so it’s only going to get worse until I die and even then I won’t be able to pass anything on to my children.

My younger lad and his partner are trying to buy their first property, in the Glasgow area.  He works in the city centre. He was born and brought up in the Edinburgh area and hasn't a scooby about areas of Glasgow.  He keeps sending us details of properties in, shall we say, some less "desirable" areas.  In Star Trek terminology, so popular on these boards () some of them are in "shields up, arm phasers, load photons" territory.  So, despite both of us having retired years ago, and looking forward to a land of milk and honey, foreign holidays aplenty, etc, it looks like the Bank of Mum and Dad will be raided pretty soon!

Wouldn't have it any other way.  It's what parents are for IMO.

 

[TxRover]

4 hours ago, throbber said:

I have 2 parts to my mortgage as I moved house during a fixed term and had to take a second one out to cover the difference between property values. One part had gone up £170 and if interest rates stay same by July the other part will go up £300 + so will be paying over £500 a month extra and that’s just dead money because of the interest being paid. 
 

Im not entirely convinced this is good news.

Well now, the economists would point to the positive knock on effects from your payment interest…more income for the bank, increased profits for the bank, improved dividends for bank share holders…you know, wealth transfer from you to the rich. The good news is rates are already down, and forecast to be down near 4% by year end (optimistic buggers, those economists), so especially if you are getting close to 40% equity yet (possible with value increases considered), a 2-year deal now might result in an ability to seek a more favourably lower rate in late 2025/early 2026 father than locking in for longer

[Gorgie greatness]

If I was a young dude - burd starting out today I’d be interest only & investing the repayment part. 

[Molotov]

17 minutes ago, Gorgie greatness said:

If I was a young dude - burd starting out today I’d be interest only & investing the repayment part. 

If I was starting out I’d be looking to buy a smaller home first and pay off a lesser mortgage as fast as possible (perhaps rent out additional rooms) and set up an investment account on the side. Too many people tend to purchase properties at their maximum current wage affordability. 

Your strategy can be an emotional rollercoaster for folks that panic at the first stage of market drops. 

Don’t get me wrong - I understand your thinking but it’s a risky strategy for many people for a variety of reasons. 

[Leith Green]

24 minutes ago, Gorgie greatness said:

If I was a young dude - burd starting out today I’d be interest only & investing the repayment part. 

Is that possible? I think a lot of mortgage co's require a repayment and dont do "interest only" as such.

As a concept, I dont disagree - thats broadly what we did, but that was aeons ago.

[Gorgie greatness]

3 hours ago, Leith Green said:

Is that possible? I think a lot of mortgage co's require a repayment and dont do "interest only" as such.

As a concept, I dont disagree - thats broadly what we did, but that was aeons ago.

I’ve pals who are in the landlord game who do interest only for tax reasons so I’m assuming you can get an interest only mortgage.

[Gnash]

Most lenders still do interest only, but the bigger lenders have high minimum income requirements, eg £100k for joint mortgage and low maximum loan to value, eg 50% if it's pure interest only.  Usually you can top that up with a repayment element.

[throbber]

20 hours ago, TxRover said:

Well now, the economists would point to the positive knock on effects from your payment interest…more income for the bank, increased profits for the bank, improved dividends for bank share holders…you know, wealth transfer from you to the rich. The good news is rates are already down, and forecast to be down near 4% by year end (optimistic buggers, those economists), so especially if you are getting close to 40% equity yet (possible with value increases considered), a 2-year deal now might result in an ability to seek a more favourably lower rate in late 2025/early 2026 father than locking in for longer

I’ll be about 50% with the value increase as a rough estimate. I still think I’ll be on variable rate from July time til end of year then might lock in if it’s 4 or below. Can’t see it being down to 4 by July time? I dont know how it all works as you can tell.

[Molotov]

We are now mortgage free.

For many years while the interest rates were at historic lows we invested our surplus into pensions and investments. 

We could have paid our mortgage off years ago but it our rate was 0.19% above BoE base rate when we bought our last property in 2006.

It feels good to finally get rid of that loan. I thought it might have warranted a celebration but because we knew that we had investments to cover the outstanding balance it was neither here nor there when it was paid off last month. Reason for delay was just waiting for an upturn in some company stocks that paid out regular dividends that were reinvested. 

Crazy to remember the 80s when many people spent beyond their means. Ouch. 
 

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

20 hours ago, Salt n Vinegar said:

My younger lad and his partner are trying to buy their first property, in the Glasgow area.  He works in the city centre. He was born and brought up in the Edinburgh area and hasn't a scooby about areas of Glasgow.  He keeps sending us details of properties in, shall we say, some less "desirable" areas.  In Star Trek terminology, so popular on these boards () some of them are in "shields up, arm phasers, load photons" territory.  So, despite both of us having retired years ago, and looking forward to a land of milk and honey, foreign holidays aplenty, etc, it looks like the Bank of Mum and Dad will be raided pretty soon!

Wouldn't have it any other way.  It's what parents are for IMO.

 

What areas are they looking at? Might surprise you that some of the places that some folks look down at can be pretty decent places to live. Worth looking a wee bit further out from Glasgow too, lots of places in Clydebank/Bishopbriggs/Kirky/Dargavel in Renfrewshire and Dumbarton, as much as im a Bankie i was brought up in Dumbarton and if you ignore the disaster zone that is the town centre its actually not a bad place to live. 

[throbber]

11 minutes ago, Molotov said:

We are now mortgage free.

[Molotov]

2 minutes ago, throbber said:

 

I am 85 years old. Took a while. 

[throbber]

2 minutes ago, Molotov said:

I am 85 years old. Took a while. 

That’s the sort of reality that awaits the rest of us “home owners”. 

[Salt n Vinegar]

50 minutes ago, Inanimate Carbon Rod said:

What areas are they looking at? Might surprise you that some of the places that some folks look down at can be pretty decent places to live. Worth looking a wee bit further out from Glasgow too, lots of places in Clydebank/Bishopbriggs/Kirky/Dargavel in Renfrewshire and Dumbarton, as much as im a Bankie i was brought up in Dumbarton and if you ignore the disaster zone that is the town centre its actually not a bad place to live. 

The thing is, they need space.  Space in so-called "better areas" is quite costly, and because of their employment status their mortgage is really based entirely on our lad's salary at the moment.  Our lad works from home about 60% of the time in an IT related field so has an above average amount of kit at home.  Security is a key consideration.  He is often in on-line meetings. His partner is freelance in a kind of craft/manufacturing/ training/ workshops field, so she works at home and often at the same time as our lad.  That's why space is key. I'm not particularly keen on stereotyping areas, particularly since it's now decades since Mrs Salt and Vinegar and I left Glasgow, but when you know, you know.  

Today they are looking at a couple of properties in Knightswood. We'd be happy with either of these.  There's 2 railway stations within reasonable walking distance giving quite rapid travel to the city centre, where our lad works.

They have to move from their rented property within the next couple of months as their landlord has decided to sell up.  To be fair I can't blame the landlord as she has had to spend more than a year's rent on a new boiler and upgrades to the kitchen and bathroom.  They did think about buying the flat from the L/L but the property is too small for their needs.  It's good for them that we are able to help.  It must be really brutal for those without family who can help.

Properties outwith Glasgow would be an option, but we and they would rather they spent the money that would be spent on trains or buses on the mortgage instead, as they'd have a chance to get it back when selling.  They are also content to do some work on whatever they buy to hopefully get a bigger mark up when they sell.

We haven't bought a property since the early 90s so a lot of the process nowadays is different.  

[ICTChris]

I wondered where the cheapest property in Scotland is, found one in that abandoned estate in Port Glasgow for £11,000.  Fire damaged one bed in an estate where no one lives and will surely be demolished?  Could be a good investment to get @throbber out of his current financial predicament.

https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/66286642/?search_identifier=d645a1618dbc652e24a5fb9c8c9f0666cfa09e45c6a3e7ed0bae0b6f0a19307a

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

43 minutes ago, Salt n Vinegar said:

The thing is, they need space.  Space in so-called "better areas" is quite costly, and because of their employment status their mortgage is really based entirely on our lad's salary at the moment.  Our lad works from home about 60% of the time in an IT related field so has an above average amount of kit at home.  Security is a key consideration.  He is often in on-line meetings. His partner is freelance in a kind of craft/manufacturing/ training/ workshops field, so she works at home and often at the same time as our lad.  That's why space is key. I'm not particularly keen on stereotyping areas, particularly since it's now decades since Mrs Salt and Vinegar and I left Glasgow, but when you know, you know.  

Today they are looking at a couple of properties in Knightswood. We'd be happy with either of these.  There's 2 railway stations within reasonable walking distance giving quite rapid travel to the city centre, where our lad works.

They have to move from their rented property within the next couple of months as their landlord has decided to sell up.  To be fair I can't blame the landlord as she has had to spend more than a year's rent on a new boiler and upgrades to the kitchen and bathroom.  They did think about buying the flat from the L/L but the property is too small for their needs.  It's good for them that we are able to help.  It must be really brutal for those without family who can help.

Properties outwith Glasgow would be an option, but we and they would rather they spent the money that would be spent on trains or buses on the mortgage instead, as they'd have a chance to get it back when selling.  They are also content to do some work on whatever they buy to hopefully get a bigger mark up when they sell.

We haven't bought a property since the early 90s so a lot of the process nowadays is different.  

I get what you’re saying but if you’re looking at knightswood there is a bigger chance of the house being broken into than more outlying areas with the valuable equipment mentioned so home insurance will be a bigger consideration. Also densely populated area means potential for higher car insurance prices as one factor is vehicle crime in postcode area. Milngavie and Knightswood wouldnt be too much of a difference in price of buses/trains, theres also plenty decent newer homes out near Barrhead/Silverburn or even going the other way to Lanarkshire, Blantyre, Gartcosh too, again decent rail/bus links but not a million miles away! Anyway, im sitting in Knightswood the now and its quite handy for amenities etc so its definitely a decent location!

[Buddie Holly]

52 minutes ago, ICTChris said:

I wondered where the cheapest property in Scotland is, found one in that abandoned estate in Port Glasgow for £11,000.  Fire damaged one bed in an estate where no one lives and will surely be demolished?  Could be a good investment to get @throbber out of his current financial predicament.

https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/66286642/?search_identifier=d645a1618dbc652e24a5fb9c8c9f0666cfa09e45c6a3e7ed0bae0b6f0a19307a

https://www.urbandonedteam.com/reports/clune-park-estate