"Well, I woke up this mornin'..."

[Sandyn]

Apparently the deeds are only kept "electronically" these days - so even the building society doesn't actually have 'em - but if I want a hard copy I have to contact the Land Registry.

I managed to get a copy of the title deeds. Was very interesting to read the history of the house and owners over the years. Built in 1875, we are only the 4th owners.

 

[Cozzer]

Congratulations and welcome to the club, it's truly liberating after years of wondering if it would ever be paid off.

Yes.
And I'm only 109!

 

[JimJay]

Yes.
And I'm only 109!

Typical! You kids today don't know how lucky you are......

 

[Mr Christopher]

Cheers, Spectric....
Yes, I well remember sweating in the early 80's! Akin to 16% at one time, if I remember right?
The "recent buyers" who have calculated their borrowing to the max might well be in for a right ol' shock before too long.....

I hesitate in this company to say I was an estate agent for just over 30 years and I agree with you entirely. Many times in recent years I have reminded people that current rates are silly low and they don't know how lucky they are. When they were high in the mid 80's I seem to remember my mortgage was something like £47k and I was paying £500 a month for it. Fast forward to mid 90's and the market had collapsed. I was valuing 1 bed flats, which had been bought for £40k with a 100% mortgage, and were only worth £25k. If that was not a problem itself the single person that had bought was now a couple and quite possibly with a child on the way hence needing to move to a 2 bedroom place.

 

[Beatsy]

That's a welcome event to wake up to. Lucky you!

Money can't make you happy, of course, but it sure makes being miserable a lot easier...

 

[Phil Pascoe]

... a good reality check for many who never experienced the high interest of the eighties and have thought the very low interest rates over the last decade are the norm, many will now be wishing they had looked at history in more detail and paid off more when they could.

My first mortgage was at 14.7%. Every time the rate was lowered we kept the payment the same - over five or six years we knocked several years off the term.

 

[--Tom--]

Congrats,I found it was a mix of feelings of achievement and relief.

We’ve stayed in a modest terrace whilst friends have “climbed the ladder”. Now whilst their mortgages have grown ours has been repaid and I feel a lot more free not having to think about making the monthly payment.

Gave myself 6 months off to enjoy the extra and cash and then I started trying to put the amount in pension instead. Cash at the moment is losing value with inflation above interest so worth thinking what to do with the extra each month. Tools and timber seems the right thing to suggest

 

[Cozzer]

Congratulations a great feeling but I'm not so sure The Nationwide or any of the usual lenders should be called "a curse", they did after all enable you to actually buy the property, you could have chosen to rent somewhere instead.

Enjoy the experience of not seeing a whacking great payment going out each month, it's strange how things move on though, my council tax payments are a lot more than my mortgage payments ever were and we bought a motorhome in 2018 that cost as much as our original house did 30 years previously

Merely a light-hearted comment, Lons.
The only grouse I ever had with N'wide was when I moved house last time - just 6 miles distance, but crossed a county border, and for some reason it was deemed fit to change my branch to a different location without informing me first. Other than that, no problems with them.
In fact, I was one of the first customers to switch to their new Flexaccount (banking) system when they first started it, 40ish (?) years ago. Cheque book, £30 "guarantee" card et al : same as a bank, but not one!

 

[Cozzer]

I hesitate in this company to say I was an estate agent for just over 30 years and I agree with you entirely. Many times in recent years I have reminded people that current rates are silly low and they don't know how lucky they are. When they were high in the mid 80's I seem to remember my mortgage was something like £47k and I was paying £500 a month for it. Fast forward to mid 90's and the market had collapsed. I was valuing 1 bed flats, which had been bought for £40k with a 100% mortgage, and were only worth £25k. If that was not a problem itself the single person that had bought was now a couple and quite possibly with a child on the way hence needing to move to a 2 bedroom place.

Booooooo!
Hiss!!!!!!
Burn him at the stake!

Yes, one of our friends at the time got "caught" in the negative equity fallout.
Marriage breakdown as a result.
Had nice property near Edale, but eventually walked into the lender's office, put the house keys on the desk, and literally walked away from everything.
No idea what happened to him/them afterwards....

 

[Cozzer]

Congrats,I found it was a mix of feelings of achievement and relief.

We’ve stayed in a modest terrace whilst friends have “climbed the ladder”. Now whilst their mortgages have grown ours has been repaid and I feel a lot more free not having to think about making the monthly payment.

Gave myself 6 months off to enjoy the extra and cash and then I started trying to put the amount in pension instead. Cash at the moment is losing value with inflation above interest so worth thinking what to do with the extra each month. Tools and timber seems the right thing to suggest

Tools and timber....if only!
During my light-headedness yesterday, I got an email from BT advising that my current broadband deal expires later this month.
If I want to keep the current plan. I "need to do nothing".
Great. That's good. "Doing nothing" is what I'm good at!

But......
The current plan is rising by £7 a month!
Why?!
25% increase in one fell swoop!

Time to switch suppliers, methinks....

(Nationwide giveth, but BT taketh away)

 

[Cozzer]

I managed to get a copy of the title deeds. Was very interesting to read the history of the house and owners over the years. Built in 1875, we are only the 4th owners.

Yes, I'm tempted to get them.
(Mine, not yours!)

 

[Sandyn]

Yes, I'm tempted to get them.
(Mine, not yours!)

You might have some strange restrictions on your property you weren't aware of. For example in my deeds it says ""I am not at liberty to open or keep a public house or to retail spirits or malt liquors within the bounds of said plot"" but more interestingly it says I cannot build another property on the site without written permission of the original owners from 1881, or successors. and it must have a dwelling house on the site of similar appearance.

 

[Spectric]

Well i woke up this morning and

lucille was not in sight

the most beautiful girl

standing at the cross roads

when I woke up today

there's a starter

 

[artie]

But......
The current plan is rising by £7 a month!
Why?!
25% increase in one fell swoop!

Time to switch suppliers, methinks....

(Nationwide giveth, but BT taketh away)

Usually if you give them a ring they will knock most or all of that £7 off to keep you as a customer.

If not there are loads of cheaper companies.

Also, it matters not which name is on your bill, it's open reach which will be servicing your connection.

 

[Cozzer]

Usually if you give them a ring they will knock most or all of that £7 off to keep you as a customer.

If not there are loads of cheaper companies.

Also, it matters not which name is on your bill, it's open reach which will be servicing your connection.

Cheaper outfits, yes, but it's the thought of "losing" (all) our btinternet email addresses and having to remember who to inform accordingly.
Tempted towards Plusnet - which is actually BT anyway, I hear....

 

[J-G]

Cheaper outfits, yes, but it's the thought of "losing" (all) our btinternet email addresses and having to remember who to inform accordingly.
Tempted towards Plusnet - which is actually BT anyway, I hear....

Then create your own domain - get as many 'permanent' e-mail addresses as you wish - which don't depend upon your BB Supplier.

Yes of course you have the 'one time' "notification of change" to deal with but that is a single multi-addressee mail.

Move to ZEN.

 

[artie]

Cheaper outfits, yes, but it's the thought of "losing" (all) our btinternet email addresses and having to remember who to inform accordingly.
Tempted towards Plusnet - which is actually BT anyway, I hear....

I solved that by getting outlook and gmail addresses.

But I'm confident if you talk to them they will reduce your bill enough to keep you. They are advertising fast fibre for £25 on the radio so you could switch to that.

I know you wouldn't want to depend on it , but when I switched from talktalk the address continued to work for years.

 

[Lons]

Tools and timber....if only!
During my light-headedness yesterday, I got an email from BT advising that my current broadband deal expires later this month.
If I want to keep the current plan. I "need to do nothing".
Great. That's good. "Doing nothing" is what I'm good at!

But......
The current plan is rising by £7 a month!
Why?!
25% increase in one fell swoop!

Time to switch suppliers, methinks....

(Nationwide giveth, but BT taketh away)

Ring them and select the option that you're leaving BT, you'll be transferred to the retention team and you'll be offered some deals, don't necessarily accept what they first offer and be aware that they'll want you to take out a new 18 or 24 month deal. They are losing a lot of customers like me at the minute due to rural superfast fibre roll out and will be highly motivated to keep you.

I've been with BT for what seems like forever and I've always negotiated hard, my current broadband cost is under £6 but I have a basic call package on top as well as line rental which I pay in a lump sum to save £20. I pay for 50mb unlimited but wile the lines are able to receive 35mb I never get above 26mb, sometimes dropping down to their guaranteed 20mb which I complain about so it goes up again and steadily drops back over a few weeks so I'm fed up with them. In my case another company is busy installing full fibre which I can get for £25 a month with guaranteed 100mb so I've signed up and will drop my BT landline et al at the end of my contract in March, in the meantime I can get the new service to run at £5 a month until March as cancellation costs from BT are a lot more than keeping it going.
At £25 the new service is cheaper than my total BT contract, we rarely use a landline these days and in any case would be able to use the 'phones over VoIP if we wished, imo well worth the hassle of changing email addresses.

 

[whereistheceilidh]

Usually if you give them a ring they will knock most or all of that £7 off to keep you as a customer.

If not there are loads of cheaper companies.

Also, it matters not which name is on your bill, it's open reach which will be servicing your connection.

True Artie,
We have just renewed a business contract & got £12 off it. They seem quite keen to retain customers....but having said that would have chosen Plusnet if they provided in our area. Used them before & they were excellent.

 

[Droogs]

You might have some strange restrictions on your property you weren't aware of. For example in my deeds it says ""I am not at liberty to open or keep a public house or to retail spirits or malt liquors within the bounds of said plot"" but more interestingly it says I cannot build another property on the site without written permission of the original owners from 1881, or successors. and it must have a dwelling house on the site of similar appearance.

Mine (1865) states I can not operate a steam engine for any purposes in the garden (hence not a model engineer) nor can I conduct fishmongery from the front room but butchery appears to be allowed. The house on the corner of the street (was owned by a friend) has explicit permission to operate a cabinet makers business and even has a #4 carved into the doors.