I am Not Dead! Honest.
Wow. It really, really has been a while since I’ve posted. I apologise profusely. All work and no play, etc. But, I’ve got a little while before I’m due at work this evening, so it’s time for a well overdue blog posting.
A lot has happened since I last posted. Summer, I think, came and went. It rained for the most of July! July! Raining! But then again this is England so I shouldn’t be all that surprised. August hasn’t been too bad so far, so maybe we’re in for a late one?
I’m still bumbling along to becoming Debt Free; I’ve all but paid off one of my credit cards! It was a little earlier than I’d planned as I’ve been working working working, but it’s also saved me a few hundred pounds in interest charges, so that’s a double-good thing. That just leaves one other card and my loan to tackle, but in any case that should be paid up by the end of the year if I keep working hard. My remaining card is on a 0% deal, so I’ve just divided the debt by an equal amount to pay off monthly with a target of December.
Now, and this is my biggest news this week: I had a meeting with the mortgage advisor at my bank today. I’m not looking to buy any time soon, (I’m not even debt free yet!), but I wanted to introduce myself, explain my goals, and see if he would be able to help me. A very nice chap indeed, who devoted 45 minutes to me even though he knew I was in no immediate place or rush to buy, which I found very pleasant indeed. No rush, no hard sell, just him and me talking facts and figures. I’ve been with my bank a very long time (I think I opened the account when I was 12) and it seems loyalty does pay occasionally. “You have one of the highest pre-approved mortgage markers on your account I’ve ever seen” were his exact words, after we had finished discussing what I’d like to eventually buy. I nearly fell off my chair at that point. 
My bank are prepared to lend me £158,000 with virtually no questions asked! He went on to explain that very few people get pre-approved mortgages at all, particularly after ‘the crunch’, and to have one that high shows how much trust the bank places in me through the way I run my account and other external scoring mediums. As a potential first time buyer it was nice to hear these words. I do try and run my finances in an almost anal fashion. I check online banking daily; I keep spreadsheets; and yes while I do have credit and debts, they are all well managed, paid on time and kept in check.
Now, all that said, there are caveats to the mortgage. Of course! Their maximum LTV is 95%, but he said ideally for a good rate I want to be looking at 85%, and for the best deals I should be considering 70%. Now, 70% of £158,000 is £47,400. A lot of money. I reckon with effort I can save £20,000 a year, so in 3 years I should be able to have the down payment I need to get the very best deal, and still have enough capital left to basically furnish the place, do some DIY, and get settled in. That is cool beans indeed. Sure, I could get 5% which works out at a paltry £7,900, but I’ll be paying more for the privilege in the long run. For the sake of 3 years of hard graft on my part, I could go from paying (say) £1,100 a month on a mortgage to £700, for exactly the same amount of money borrowed over the same period, then I’ll damn well do it! It’ll also insulate to a degree against rate fluctuations. Let’s face it, rates will go up. They’re really low at the moment and won’t stay there forever.
So that’s me! I hope you are all well. I promise to start posting a little more often again. I hate neglecting blogs and friends.
Hi. 
