The Frugality #4 I spy with my little eye a secret second storey reaching up to the sky.

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DeliriousDolphin said:
Was she seriously suggesting that they are thinking of replacing the windows themselves?! Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's the kind of job that need to be done by someone who knows what they're doing, and should have building regs sign off. These two couldn't manage to tile a patio!
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Definitely. They either need to be fitted and self-certified by a FENSA fitter or signed off by council building control. YouTube isn’t going to teach you to fit thousands of pounds worth of windows to a satisfactory standard 🤦‍♀️
 
it’s not been changed?! said:
How do you break a retainer?!
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They do snap fairly easily but you have to be careful with them. I’ve had mine for 3 years now and still managing not to break it! Even if you do it’s a minor expense to replace it

Lol they are soooo weird

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jaymie said:
She is still trying to act like the double storey extension never happened.
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It’s so weird. We can’t afford a side return but we can afford a two story extension. That story does not add up as it’s almost never cheaper to go upwards 🤷‍♀️

I could sort of get on board with it if they are wanting some privacy for parts of their home or for the children, but she posts their bedroom once a week or so.
 
uberoblique said:
We can’t afford a side return but we can afford a two story extension. That story does not add up as it’s almost never cheaper to go upwards 🤷‍♀️
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I don’t read any of her self pitying articles on how she finances stuff so pls correct me if I’m wrong, but imagine re-mortgaging on a 30% LTV mortgage kindly gifted to you by your parents makes endeavours like that very easy, but buying big ticket items people would usually use their income for is harder for them as they’re basically both milking the Insta thing for every penny.

Like I can’t articulate this and I’m NOT calling them low income but there’s clearly a gulf between their actual income versus the level of property they’re in. So they’ve been given a huge house in need of work but find it hard to keep on top of it, because they don’t have the income that a house like that actually requires if that makes sense? Like putting a kitchen on a credit card (+ not immediately paying it off, get it if you want the section 7 protection) is insane behaviour. Doing built in wardrobes whilst your front room window doesn’t open is also insane?! Instagram is an illness.
 
They already had a third bedroom - they just made it a bit longer.
heretoreaditall2019 said:
Like I can’t articulate this and I’m NOT calling them low income but there’s clearly a gulf between their actual income versus the level of property they’re in. So they’ve been given a huge house in need of work but find it hard to keep on top of it, because they don’t have the income that a house like that actually requires if that makes sense? Like putting a kitchen on a credit card (+ not immediately paying it off, get it if you want the section 7 protection) is insane behaviour. Doing built in wardrobes whilst your front room window doesn’t open is also insane?! Instagram is an illness.
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I found myself wondering the other day how they managed to buy their house. I thought I remembered reading that it didn't have a working kitchen or bathroom. You can't mortgage a house like that, right? Usually banks get nervous lending money on a house that isn't actually liveable. I just went and looked on her blog and what she said (a year later) was this:
"Yes we lived in it from day 1, not really because it was actually liveable (we had no heating, gas pipes, or a working kitchen) but because we didn’t have a choice…all our money went on the mortgage."
How did 2 people without steady jobs get a mortgage on a house with no heating, gas or kitchen? I actually think they were probably loaned the entire amount they needed by (her?) family, and then took out a mortgage later for what they could borrow on their "incomes", once they had sorted the heating and kitchen. Must be nice eh?

The retainer thing, I have no words. It speaks volumes that she wrote "couldn't be bothered" before "couldn't afford it". Talk about weird priorities.
 
BlairWaldorf86 said:
They already had a third bedroom - they just made it a bit longer.


I found myself wondering the other day how they managed to buy their house. I thought I remembered reading that it didn't have a working kitchen or bathroom. You can't mortgage a house like that, right? Usually banks get nervous lending money on a house that isn't actually liveable. I just went and looked on her blog and what she said (a year later) was this:
"Yes we lived in it from day 1, not really because it was actually liveable (we had no heating, gas pipes, or a working kitchen) but because we didn’t have a choice…all our money went on the mortgage."
How did 2 people without steady jobs get a mortgage on a house with no heating, gas or kitchen? I actually think they were probably loaned the entire amount they needed by (her?) family, and then took out a mortgage later for what they could borrow on their "incomes", once they had sorted the heating and kitchen. Must be nice eh?

The retainer thing, I have no words. It speaks volumes that she wrote "couldn't be bothered" before "couldn't afford it". Talk about weird priorities.
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I think technically all it needs is a sink to be classed as a habitable kitchen. But agree that the house is beyond their income. We almost bought a "fixer upper" but it would've been about 70k cheaper than the house we bought to make it worth it. Don't really see the point in maxing the budget on a house unfit for loving in, unless you have the skills to do it up yourself. Goes double if you have kids!
 
You can get a mortgage on a property like that, just not for the full amount. So let’s say a property in terrible condition is 750k, the bank will agree to give you a mortgage for say 350k-400k for it (amount determined by the mortgage valuation based on what the asset is deemed to be worth to the bank) so you need to make up the shortfall. As it was their second property, the equity they had in their flat would have covered the gap.

It just seems such flawed logic though, as other posters here have explained. The desire to create instagrammable rooms (or just sets really, not even whole rooms) for influencing purposes before structural work like repointing is just bonkers
 
I bought a house that only had a kitchen sink - it’s all you need to get the mortgage. We then got a “pop up” IKEA kitchen which cost £500 or so. We’ve been happy enough to put up with it for now as we will finally do the kitchen next year after almost 3 years of living here but it’s not for everyone! We did, however, prioritise a new boiler, complete house rewire and new bathroom after we put in the pop up kichen. Then one room at a time after that.
 
BlairWaldorf86 said:
They already had a third bedroom - they just made it a bit longer.


I found myself wondering the other day how they managed to buy their house. I thought I remembered reading that it didn't have a working kitchen or bathroom. You can't mortgage a house like that, right? Usually banks get nervous lending money on a house that isn't actually liveable. I just went and looked on her blog and what she said (a year later) was this:
"Yes we lived in it from day 1, not really because it was actually liveable (we had no heating, gas pipes, or a working kitchen) but because we didn’t have a choice…all our money went on the mortgage."
How did 2 people without steady jobs get a mortgage on a house with no heating, gas or kitchen? I actually think they were probably loaned the entire amount they needed by (her?) family, and then took out a mortgage later for what they could borrow on their "incomes", once they had sorted the heating and kitchen. Must be nice eh?

The retainer thing, I have no words. It speaks volumes that she wrote "couldn't be bothered" before "couldn't afford it". Talk about weird priorities.
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I wonder if they bought it at auction? That would be lower than market value and makes sense how they could afford it. I think for auctions the deposit has to be paid after they've won the house too? (iirc, happy to be corrected)

I don't remember her ever mention the house being bought at auction but she also never mentioned the two storey extension so 🤷‍♀️
 
I was out for dinner the other day and there were four of us. It was only when someone made a comment about the only useful cracker present is a mini screwdriver for glasses I realised *I* was the only one of us NOT wearing glasses.
 
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