Final Payment!

[xanthe]

Huge congratulations!

We got very lucky and took advantage of the ridiculous London property bubble last year. The rise in prices allowed us to pay off the mortgage - something we never imagined would happen in a million years. However, said ridiculous bubble meant that we couldn't afford to buy anything even slightly bigger than our tiny 2-bed flat in a not so popular area in London without a massive new mortgage.

So we had the choice of buying something with 3 bedrooms that needed work outside London without a mortgage, or taking out a big mortgage for something bigger that needed no work. We looked at over 7,000 properties online, spent months looking at different areas and viewed over 50 properties and the one we move to on Wednesday was the only one that ticked all the boxes - and is the 3 bed with lots of work needed!

No mortgage is a massive relief as I can't get a job until I've had back surgery (which is on hold because they can't get funding approved for some bone substitute they want to use) as I'll need to take at least 3 months off followed by phased return and I doubt anyone is going to take someone on who has that on the probably not so distant horizon!

However, the extra cash will all be spent on the roof, walls, plumbing, electrics, etc etc etc so we will still be taking holidays at grandparent's house in Cornwall rather than somewhere exotic for the foreseeable.

My parents had an endowment mortgage - total nightmare with the economy around the time it finished. If it had been 3 months earlier they'd have walked away with over £50k, as it was, they ended up having to pay nearly £20k.

 

[Flyfisher]

Seems to me that housing bubbles are not beneficial to home owners unless they are able to move to a cheaper area of the country. Otherwise, the increased house prices just mean increased EA fees and more SDLT. But move away from London or the Home Counties and you can actually realise the equity in your home. It certainly worked for us when we 'downsized' to a house for half the price but twice the size of our Hertfordshire one.

As for endowment policies, we started one of those during the 80s when they were all the rage. After about 10 years the annual review stated that in order to remain on target to repay our mortgage we would have to increase our monthly payments by about four-fold!

I wrote them a polite letter pointing out that their policy documents clearly stated that the policy was guaranteed to repay our mortgage and might yield a surplus (fortunately I had kept the original blurbs). therefore, I said, I will continue to honour my part of the deal with my existing monthly payments and they will honour their commitment by repaying my mortgage as planned. It was admittedly a bit tongue in cheek and I wasn't hopeful of them taking any notice, but I received a reply containing formal complaint forms to fill in, which I did - again without expecting too much. But to my great surprise it resulted in the endowment mortgage being converted into repayment mortgage, a £20K-ish refund of my endowment payments and a £10k compensation payment. This was on a £65k mortgage, which we promptly reduced to £35k, saving a load of interest and could thus afford to pay off early. An early example of mis-selling compensation I suppose.

 

[Penners]

As for endowment policies, we started one of those during the 80s when they were all the rage. After about 10 years the annual review stated that in order to remain on target to repay our mortgage we would have to increase our monthly payments by about four-fold!

I wrote them a polite letter pointing out that their policy documents clearly stated that the policy was guaranteed to repay our mortgage and might yield a surplus (fortunately I had kept the original blurbs). therefore, I said, I will continue to honour my part of the deal with my existing monthly payments and they will honour their commitment by repaying my mortgage as planned. It was admittedly a bit tongue in cheek and I wasn't hopeful of them taking any notice, but I received a reply containing formal complaint forms to fill in, which I did - again without expecting too much. But to my great surprise it resulted in the endowment mortgage being converted into repayment mortgage, a £20K-ish refund of my endowment payments and a £10k compensation payment. This was on a £65k mortgage, which we promptly reduced to £35k, saving a load of interest and could thus afford to pay off early. An early example of mis-selling compensation I suppose.

And all that without a single unsolicited phone call from a company offering to get you compensation!

So... the drinks are on you then, FF!

 

[mims&pip]

Well done Flyfisher

We've never had an endowment mortgage ourselves, but I can speak as someone that a few years back successfully reclaimed over £40,000 in PPI, mis-sold to us when we were more naive than we are today......and without the aid of one of those blooming annoying reclaim companies, Penners :wink:

Mims x

 

[a twig]

Well, only 33 years to go on my mortgage... :shock:

 

[Flyfisher]

And all that without a single unsolicited phone call from a company offering to get you compensation!

So... the drinks are on you then, FF!

Well, it's not in pip&mims' £40k+ league, though I dare say I could rustle up a coffee & kitkat for anyone who wishes to drop in

Alas, I've had no luck with PPI compensation, having been too careful over the years, though I've lost count of all the accidents I've had according to various cold callers :lol:

 

[TheRoost]

Well, only 33 years to go on my mortgage... :shock:

Wow.. similar boat to you, we have 24.5 years to go! we were down to 15 years on the last house, but only just broken even selling it, such is the difference being up north!

Well done worms for becoming mortgage free.

 

[worms]

Well done worms for becoming mortgage free.

Also finally moved my buildings and contents insurance from the b&@/)!ds at Aviva over to NFU Mutual for HALF the premium, so feeling really smug!

 

[Penners]

I'm amazed! While all reports suggest that NFU is a good insurer, I've always found them more expensive than other quotes.

 

[worms]

I'm amazed! While all reports suggest that NFU is a good insurer, I've always found them more expensive than other quotes.

I think it says more about Aviva! I'm sure I could have got it a lot cheaper elsewhere but it was easier to walk into the NFU office and just do it than spend a weekend talking to the meerkats!

 

[livias]

My last house was insured with NFU and they were the cheapest by far when i got competitive quotes. Not only that, they came and surveyed the house to provide a rebuild value. I suspect that the critical difference between NFU and AN Other was that they did not panic when told that the house was within 250m?? of a watercouse.

500 years ago they knew where was the first bit of good dry land to build on, it has never been known to flood, nothing has changed so it is unlikely to flood in the next year. NFU understood that

Anna

 

[worms]

Actually, I think it was the local NFU mutual radio ads that hooked me...

"You don't have to own a coo,
to get a quote from the NFU!

 

[mims&pip]

On the subject of insurance, our last house - non-listed, Georgian stone thatch - was insured with NFU by the PO, but when we obtained quotes after purchasing in 2011 we found them to be the most expensive. We eventually went with Playle Russell (Special Risks) Ltd, whom we found to be very competitive. We were within 60m of a watercourse - the stream that ran through our garden - although the house was several feet above the water level and there was no history of flooding in the village. After a year with Playle Russell we tried NFU again and they refused to even quote - their reason being that the house was attached :roll:

 

[Penners]

You don't have to own a coo,
to get a quote from the NFU!

Of course, it's also true to say that:

You don't have to drink lager
To get a quote from Saga.

(That rhyme perhaps works best if you don't have a Scots accent!)

 

[Keithj]

I did the "many quotes" thing for the insurance last year, and NFU were about in the middle. They offered me a discount if I'd sign for five years (but with no guarantee about what the premiums might be in future years). I signed it with a comment saying "only if the annual increase is below 5%".

This year's renewal? +11%. A polite e-mail brought a revised premium that was very competitive. I'm happy. They are easy to deal with, and on the whole they don't mess around. One of the dearer quotes wanted me to have all the "valuable" items valued by an expert (at my expense).

We paid off the mortgage 18 years ago. Financially not necessarily a good idea at the time, but it was a great feeling to realise we don't owe anybody anything.

 

[Penners]

Keith's point about negotiating your renewal premium is an important one. I have found that virtually every insurance company, if threatened with the loss of your business, will magically find some fabricated reason to reduce their premium quotation.

 

[mims&pip]

Keith's point about negotiating your renewal premium is an important one. I have found that virtually every insurance company, if threatened with the loss of your business, will magically find some fabricated reason to reduce their premium quotation.

Yes, same experience here Penners - in our case there was one exception, the Co-op - the insurer we used for the house before our last one. This was a Tudor building that had been dismantled in the 1930s and rebuilt in a new location some 40-odd miles away.

Tbh, when we purchased it we were told by both EA and vendors that it was constructed in the 1930s - what made matters worse was that it's *new* location was as the centrepiece of a *model estate* and it had been so messed about with that it merely looked as though some extremely old (reclaimed) timbers had been employed in the process. This is therefore what we told the Co-op when we got them to provide a quote. None of the original documentation was in existence to shed light on the true history of the building.

It was only after we moved in and starting poking around that we became convinced the house had more of a history than we had been led to believe. Even then, after extensive research we only found out the whole truth a couple of years later, by which time - as we were planning on selling - we didn't bother informing our insurers. Indeed, the info I discovered relating to its history on t'internet has since curiously vanished from the web......

When we sold up and bought our new home (the Georgian thatch), the Co-op provided a very high quote and - having had a better one from Playle Russell - threatened them with going elsewhere unless they matched it.....which they declined :roll:

Btw, when we sold in 2011 our buyer's surveyor noted that the house was a 1938 build, which tbh was the date on our deeds :lol:

 

[Flyfisher]

I will be passing the Land Rover dealer on my way to the bank and the cheque would cover a new 110 CSW, though!

Just to revive this point, I occasionally entertain thoughts of buying an old Land Rover but I've just been astonished to read (Land Rover Owner magazine, March 2015) that in this final year of Defender production, they are making an "Autobiography" limited edition Defender (80 in the UK) for a cool £61,845! :shock:

I know the Defender and its forebears has a loyal following, but that's amazing - or ridiculous, depending on your point of view. Given that my budget is less than 1/10th of that, I'm thinking 'ridiculous'.

 

[Penners]

Our son works for a major humanitarian aid agency, and he has in the past been posted to some of the most hostile environments in the world. I'm sad to report that he would never consider using a Land Rover for that kind of rough terrain work. The Toyota Land Cruiser is the vehicle of choice for the great majority of such environments and is - he reports - virtually indestructible.

 

[mims&pip]

The Toyota Land Cruiser is the vehicle of choice for the great majority of such environments and is - he reports - virtually indestructible.

......but far less iconic - give me our 110 XS (with all its quirks) any day *

I actually thought - given the prices of other *British motoring icons* - that was a fair price - we used to have an SVX that was also considered over-priced when new.....we picked ours up second hand for less than £25k, although I'm guessing that all Landys will hold their value even more than previously once production has ceased :wink:

Mims x

*Although I hasten to add that, despite residing on an adopted lane with its fair share of pot holes, the terrain around here is not quite that rough!