Buy-to-let... is now the time?

Many of us are tightening our belts with the rising cost of living at the moment. It’s a challenging time for most of us and we’re having to re-evaluate how we spend our money. If this is something you’re particularly concerned about then there are measures you may wish to take to help you feel more in control of your finances and prepared for the changes we’re about to face. Here we have shared a check-list of ideas of how you can reduce your monthly costs and feel more in control of your finances…   Switch mortgage deals Many people don’t realise that this is an option. Remortgaging, or changing your monthly mortgage costs are options that you may find are available to you right now to support you with how much you’re paying out each month. Speak to your mortgage provider and also a mortgage advisor to see what your options are. Our Mortgage and Protection Specialist, Paisley Gray, is available to support you with any questions you may have in this area. Email Paisley on paisley@pmr-fs.co.uk   Food shopping and planning When shopping recently, you probably found that as you were putting items into your basket the costs of each individual item didn’t appear more expensive. However, a lot of items have increased by around 30p - £1 each. Which when added to the final total works out £20 - £50 more expensive per week for most average sized households. Cutting the costs of your weekly shopping bill may seem impossible without missing out on essentials, but there are ways to have a better handle on what you’re spending. Avoid food wastage by meal planning and only buying what you need. Shopping online is easier for this as it’s not as easy to get distracted by extra items you may see in the store. A lot of the ‘smart price’ items in store are also just the same item but cheaper packaging, so swapping for the reduced items will help to heavily reduce your bill. Swapping to supermarkets such as Aldi or Lidl can also drastically reduce your weekly costs.   Meals out and day trips Cutting back on meals out and changing how you spend your free time will save on food and also fuel costs. But this doesn’t need to mean minimising your adventures, instead just plan how they can be more affordable. Could you car-share to save on fuel costs, or take a packed lunch to avoid eating out? Also look into discount websites such as Money Saving Expert to see what savings you may be able to make on activities with coupon codes.   Extra money from selling unwanted goods You may find you have lots of pre-loved items just sitting around the house. Pages such as Facebook Marketplace, eBay, Gumtree and Depop are perfect ways to make a bit of extra money to put towards some of those extra expenses.   Budgeting The best way to save money is to know where you’re spending it. Look at your bank statements and (if you don’t already) make a monthly budget to help you track your spending habits. You could have subscription services you forgot all about which you can cancel, or maybe you’ll find other ways to save money, such as switching providers or consolidating some of your debts to reduce your interest rates. Having a budget will make it much easier to recognise where you may be able to make those savings.   Avoid wastage Finally, maybe there are ways to reduce your monthly bills by avoiding wastage. Look at the way you conserve energy, perhaps you could find there are ways to use less energy around the house. Try avoiding leaving the taps on so you’re only utilising the water you actually need. If you can walk, try walking instead of driving and using fuel. Switch your plugs off at the wall at night.   We hope you found these tips helpful. Share a comment with us to let us know what steps you are taking to reduce your monthly costs.

Moving home is notoriously one of the most stressful things you can go through in life. This can be made worse when buying and selling a property due to the many additional layers involved in the process. In 2021 around one in three UK property purchases fell through, which would have caused so much stress for those involved. Before embarking on your home buying or selling journey, it's important to be aware of the risks involved. Your agent will be able to guide you through and keep you informed along the way to make sure your expectations are always managed. Here's 5 of the main reasons property sales fall through: A Break In The Chain A property chain is a string of transactions linked together. Just one sale collapsing can result in the whole chain collapsing and leaving many people out of pocket. There are many reasons why a chain can collapse and unfortunately this can be one of the most unavoidable situations in a sale falling through, due to how many different parties are involved. Luckily most agents take several steps to avoid unreliable buyers so this situation does happen less and less in the current climate. Conveyancing Delays Delays in the conveyancing process can lead to buyers losing patience and sales falling through. The legal practicalities of buying a house can take some time, either due to delays in documentation arriving, slow local authority searches or an unresponsive conveyancer elsewhere in the chain. The best way to get ahead of the game is to instruct a conveyancer early in the process and a good agent will always advise you of those steps early on in the process. Problems Discovered In The Home Survey Home surveys can uncover a whole range of problems with a property, from smaller cosmetic issues to major structural flaws. If a home survey finds a major issue, the buyer may look to renegotiate the price or pull out of the deal completely. Gazumping Gazumping is when the seller accepts a higher offer from someone else after they've already agreed to sell to you. This is allowed as the sale isn't official until the contracts have been exchanged. You might wish to approach the seller with reasons to go ahead with your purchase but the key thing is to not overstretch yourself financially in an attempt to win back the property. Mortgage Problems A mortgage offer expiring or a change in circumstances can mean the buyer can no longer borrow as much as they need to purchase the property. Mortgage lenders also sometimes value the property at less than the buyer has agreed to pay (a down valuation) which means buyers have to either renegotiate the price with the seller, find the extra cash to make up the shortfall or pull out of the sale.