Chickens Roosting - Barratt "dream Homes" Scheme Screwed Up My Life

[R K]

Apologies for bringing up an old thread but it has helped me understand a lot and will probably save time going over old ground if I started a new thread. [/size]

I am one of the people who used the dream start to get on to the ladder back in 2008 and I have been looking at what will happen when the 10 years is up.[/size]

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Info: [/size]

House price 135k[/size]

Mortgage: 102k[/size]

DreamStart: 33k[/size]

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current valuation (mortgage provider): 125k[/size]

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I have the funds available to settle the 25% but I think the money could be better spent elsewhere. My thinking is to sell the house back to barratts (the have a part exchange scheme) for another new house where I own 100% of the house on a mortgage, the deposit would be the money I have set aside for barratts minus any negative equity I have from the current home. [/size]

​It is possible barratt will give me the best price for the house to reduce losses on the balance sheet.[/size]

[/size]

I accept that I am buying a house above market value and I will have to deal with that. One option I can think of to minimize this is to wait and see if a HPC happens in the next 2 years then approach barratt when they are struggling to shift houses for the best price at the time. [/size]

[/size]

what are your thoughts on this? I don't mind moving and I cant see a downside. I couldn't see a downside to dreamstart when I signed up for this house though![/size]

Another option is to ask barratts if they would be willing to sell a part ex property to us (larger home closer to actual market value and potential to extend ect)

Before I get flames I accept that when I purchased this house I made a mistake, I now want to minimize the damage to me going forward and make my money go as far as possible. [/size]

[/size]

When I took out this mortgage I also took out life insurance which I'm also looking at and it looks like they turned me over on that too, I will just have to chalk it up to the school of hard knocks.[/size]

[/size]

Cheers[/size][/quote

To answer your specific question, I would wait and see, and dont do anything. (Apart from save save save)

Whilst I can see how theres a temptation to part ex with Barratts , you are actually only potentially making a grim situation (which may not be that grim, but Ill get to that), into an even grimmer one. If this were 'loans', you'd be in effect borrowing a lot more at an extortionate cost, to pay off what you see as your current loan headache.

There is a substantial cost to selling and buying (if Barratt say they cover all costs, theyre lying, theyve weighted it onto the sale price). There is stamp duty. There is then your moving expenses. All that money has just been thrown away without making any impact on your 25% repayment headache. Dont do it.

The reality of the dreamstart scheme, was they offered 25% equity deals to avoid buyers having to provide deposits. The logic behind the 10year tie in, was to then allow that 'deposit' to be saved over the 10 years. Sadly, there will be many many on this scheme, who clearly couldnt afford to save a deposit in the first place, and then didnt set a 10 year savings plan in place to raise the 'deposit' retrospectively. The reason I say your situation isnt as grim, is that you have been saving.

Option 1. Barratts will absolutely negotiate a settlement figure on the 25% equity. I understand 20% discount is common, but as more and more fall foul of this, you may be able to negotiate 30% discount or more. You must have cash in your bank though to do so. Being in a position to settle 'here and now' will indeed save you thousands. So save save save (you did enter basically a deferred deposit situation in the first place, so their shouldnt be any complaints about having to raise it now) and it may be you could indeed negotiate a decent exit position that negates the negative equity.

Option 2. Barratts will extend the timescale. This will cost you money. They may have a clause in to start charging interest on the 10th anniversary, or they may renegotiate the whole thing at a substantial cost to yourself to do so.

Option 3. Sell. In the situation this is exactly what would happen if repossesion took place. Barratts will only have the 2nd charge on the property, not the 1st, so they are in the queue behind your mortgage provider. Lets say for example, you sold for £102k. Your mortgage would be clear, and Barratts would be stung for the full shortfall in a repossesion situation. What Barratts will wish to do, is retain some control over a private sale and see their 25% honoured before the main mortgagees. They may even threaten to refuse a sale to happen. However, get your buyer lined up, get the figures on the table, and then negotiate like crazy. Barratts have to see that there may be a continuing downward trend in property value and todays offer of £10k in full and final, may be better than £3k in another 5 years time. Selling in advance of repossesion is always the best and cheapest way to resolve debt issues.

Things I wouldnt do. I wouldnt overpay the mortgage.

Your mortgage provider will probably be the first people to refuse you a remortgage whether youve overpaid or not. Id guess they looked at your max affordability at the front of this deal, add to that that a higher remortgage is being requested a/ on a property that has dropped in value and b/ by individuals who have not cleared a 10 year debt, I fear noone is going to lend on that basis. What your mortgage provid has to do, is stick to the current contract theyve already given you. So look after your existing mortgage, do not in any circumstances default on that, but dont throw extra cash into it either as they will not allow you to draw your overpayments back out.

Dont enter into a further part ex situation, you are simply trebling your debt owed.

Dont agree to extending the timeframes, unless you really have no other options. If so, dont make the same mistake twice, and ignore that the debt (now substantially higher that your original 25% commitment) . Only extend if you can realistically save that amount over that period.

Raising a deposit was always the issue/sell point with these deals. Do accept that at some point in your life, you need to raise a deposit. Youve just been forced into that position now thats all. Its not something you should beat yourself up about, but it is the reality of home ownership.

Excellent post.

Selling house back to builder is similar to selling car back to garage at end of PCP contract. Convenient possibly but horrendously expensive in long run. If you have any sense at all (and cash available) you buy it outright at that point and keep as long as possible.

Stay in house, get Barratt off your back (hopefully with negotiated discount nearer expiry of 10 yr deal or wait and see if theres a class action) & learn lesson.

"Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice" etc etc

Edited May 11, 2016 by R K

[Haventaclue]

This just seems like a horrifically bad deal. So in five years if the value of the house goes up you need to find 25% of the value. So what are you options if there has been a huge increase - sell up and move?

Not quite. If there has been a huge increase, your borrowing capacity increases too. Yes you buy 25% at a higher price than 10 years ago, but you bought the other 75% 10 years earlier at the cheaper cost. Your bank should allow a remortgage in those circumstances due to the increase in equity in the property and the main mortgage should have been taken as a repayment mortgage and has therefore been reducing. Also it would be far easier to sell, releasing that increase in equity to move on to the next private purchase. The sting is everyone seems to ignore the fact that theyve tied in to basically a deferred deposit scheme, and then still fail to save for that 'deposit'. Some even took the main mortgage as interest only. The double whammy is they agreed to it being 25% (against private purchases where you may have only had to raise 10% or 15% deposit) caveated with that a 10 year drop dead date, panic sets in that the day of reckoning is fast approaching.

But theres no point in bashing anyone over the head as yes, quite rightly, if values had increased, this would not be an issue at all. indeed, it would be seen as being a relatively smart way to have used others money, whilst providing a roof over your heads, to realise an investment increase on 75% of a property, from a starting position of zero. Of course I can see the attraction of that, so the hindsighters bashing those who at least tried, arent worth responding to. But interest only, and ignoring the deposit 'debt' is a recipe for disaster.

[Stockton]

To answer your specific question, I would wait and see, and dont do anything. (Apart from save save save)

Whilst I can see how theres a temptation to part ex with Barratts , you are actually only potentially making a grim situation (which may not be that grim, but Ill get to that), into an even grimmer one. If this were 'loans', you'd be in effect borrowing a lot more at an extortionate cost, to pay off what you see as your current loan headache.

There is a substantial cost to selling and buying (if Barratt say they cover all costs, theyre lying, theyve weighted it onto the sale price). There is stamp duty. There is then your moving expenses. All that money has just been thrown away without making any impact on your 25% repayment headache. Dont do it.

Thanks Haventaclue, Yes barratts call centre will offer a 20% reduction and I have had a number of letters from them with similar offers.

Stamp duty wouldn't be a big concern if I wen like for like on the new house (circa 130k) I would be looking at less than £500. I think there would be some easy negotiation to be had on buying a new house from them as I am in effect selling them a house back, if they don't pay current new house price or around that then I can use that to reduce the cost of the new house based on knowing what the future value of the house is likely to be.

I would also ensure no white goods are included which are basically pushing up the mortgage cost for items that are not the house.

Moving expenses would be minimal as I would probably move within the same area (they are still building where I live) and I could complete the move myself.

The 25% loan would be settled by barratts when the purchase the house from me, wouldn't it?

If this was less than the value borrowed from them I would need to settle some negative equity with the bank but I think this makes better use of my money than giving it to barratts.

I currently have around 20k savings, after all the costs associated with moving house I would still expect to have 15-17k deposit for a new mortgage.

If I negotiated them down to 120k (best case)

Have 17k savings remaining (best case)

Barratts offer a 5% deposit (current offer on the website) of 6k

That gives me 14% deposit plus 6k (5% from barratta) 19% in total.

Ideallly I would want another 7k to give me a LTV of 75% and secure best mortgage rate. This is possible in the time a have remaining.

Barratts would want somewhere between 33750 (25% of 135k) and 31375 (25% of Halifax current house value) minus 20% discount gives me a range od 25 - 27k to repay them.

If I pay off Barratts at 25k that gives me a LTV of 75% in effect giving me an option to own a 10 year old house or a brand new house for the same outlay and end up at the same position.

If there is a HPC or the values of new houses reduce before the end of the current 10 year loan I could be better off in a newer house depending on how Barratts want their accounts to look.

The reality of the dreamstart scheme, was they offered 25% equity deals to avoid buyers having to provide deposits. The logic behind the 10year tie in, was to then allow that 'deposit' to be saved over the 10 years. Sadly, there will be many many on this scheme, who clearly couldnt afford to save a deposit in the first place, and then didnt set a 10 year savings plan in place to raise the 'deposit' retrospectively. The reason I say your situation isnt as grim, is that you have been saving.

Option 1. Barratts will absolutely negotiate a settlement figure on the 25% equity. I understand 20% discount is common, but as more and more fall foul of this, you may be able to negotiate 30% discount or more. You must have cash in your bank though to do so. Being in a position to settle 'here and now' will indeed save you thousands. So save save save (you did enter basically a deferred deposit situation in the first place, so their shouldnt be any complaints about having to raise it now) and it may be you could indeed negotiate a decent exit position that negates the negative equity.

Option 2. Barratts will extend the timescale. This will cost you money. They may have a clause in to start charging interest on the 10th anniversary, or they may renegotiate the whole thing at a substantial cost to yourself to do so.

Option 3. Sell. In the situation this is exactly what would happen if repossesion took place. Barratts will only have the 2nd charge on the property, not the 1st, so they are in the queue behind your mortgage provider. Lets say for example, you sold for £102k. Your mortgage would be clear, and Barratts would be stung for the full shortfall in a repossesion situation. What Barratts will wish to do, is retain some control over a private sale and see their 25% honoured before the main mortgagees. They may even threaten to refuse a sale to happen. However, get your buyer lined up, get the figures on the table, and then negotiate like crazy. Barratts have to see that there may be a continuing downward trend in property value and todays offer of £10k in full and final, may be better than £3k in another 5 years time. Selling in advance of repossesion is always the best and cheapest way to resolve debt issues.

Things I wouldnt do. I wouldnt overpay the mortgage.

Your mortgage provider will probably be the first people to refuse you a remortgage whether youve overpaid or not. Id guess they looked at your max affordability at the front of this deal, add to that that a higher remortgage is being requested a/ on a property that has dropped in value and b/ by individuals who have not cleared a 10 year debt, I fear noone is going to lend on that basis. What your mortgage provid has to do, is stick to the current contract theyve already given you. So look after your existing mortgage, do not in any circumstances default on that, but dont throw extra cash into it either as they will not allow you to draw your overpayments back out.

Dont enter into a further part ex situation, you are simply trebling your debt owed.

Dont agree to extending the timeframes, unless you really have no other options. If so, dont make the same mistake twice, and ignore that the debt (now substantially higher that your original 25% commitment) . Only extend if you can realistically save that amount over that period.

Raising a deposit was always the issue/sell point with these deals. Do accept that at some point in your life, you need to raise a deposit. Youve just been forced into that position now thats all. Its not something you should beat yourself up about, but it is the reality of home ownership.

I couldn't agree more, I knew at the time the 25% loan would mature and I am expected to pay it. My question is, is settling the loan outright the best value for my money.

Option 1 seems to be the best option out of the three here, let other people whos loans mature before mine go through the process and see what Barratts comes up with.

Option2 is a no go in my eyes, don't want to have in effect 2 mortgages on the house.

Options 3 wont fly. Barratts are still building on the estate so who would buy a 10 year old home when they could have a new one for similar money? The only people who would consider this in my eyes are Barratts to make the best of a bad job on the dream start scheme.

Things I wouldnt do. I wouldnt overpay the mortgage.

Your mortgage provider will probably be the first people to refuse you a remortgage whether youve overpaid or not. Id guess they looked at your max affordability at the front of this deal, add to that that a higher remortgage is being requested a/ on a property that has dropped in value and b/ by individuals who have not cleared a 10 year debt, I fear noone is going to lend on that basis. What your mortgage provid has to do, is stick to the current contract theyve already given you. So look after your existing mortgage, do not in any circumstances default on that, but dont throw extra cash into it either as they will not allow you to draw your overpayments back out.

Dont enter into a further part ex situation, you are simply trebling your debt owed.

Dont agree to extending the timeframes, unless you really have no other options. If so, dont make the same mistake twice, and ignore that the debt (now substantially higher that your original 25% commitment) . Only extend if you can realistically save that amount over that period.

Raising a deposit was always the issue/sell point with these deals. Do accept that at some point in your life, you need to raise a deposit. Youve just been forced into that position now thats all. Its not something you should beat yourself up about, but it is the reality of home ownership.

Realised around 4 years ago that overpaying the mortgage at this point in time is not going to benefit me, better off putting the money aside rather than being at the whim of the bank.

Correct Halifax will not provide me with another mortgage I have tried a couple of times and they have offered me higher rates than SVR at the moment, if I have 75% LTV they will offer a lower rate reducing mortgage amount by £100 a month or reducing the overall term of the mortgage.

I cant see /understand how I would be trebling my debt by part ex unless they offer me silly money for the current property but I wouldn't agree to that and my decision would be clear - stay put and pay off the 25% loan. It wouldn't hurt to have a look imho.

There is no want need to extend the timeframe, I would rather pay off the 25% loan then overpay the mortgage as much as possible during the low interest rates.

I agree I always knew I would need the deposit and Ive made sure its available. I want to make sure I'm doing the right thing with my money now. I feel let down by Barratts and everyone else when I purchased the house and I don't want this to happen again.

Without trying to rant on too much I though I was doing the right thing buying a house at 20 years old, listened to the sales woman who told me they would take care of it all and landed me with a 40 year mortgage and a crap life insurance scheme.

I knew about 4 years into ownership it was not going to be possible to sell the house and break even (not that I would want to I'm happy in this area and with the home) but I didn't realise until I've really started digging how much they have turned me over on the mortgage term and everything else which is taking an age to correct.

I may now be a bit bitter and want to get some credit back from Barratts and the bank.

[Stockton]

Excellent post.

Selling house back to builder is similar to selling car back to garage at end of PCP contract. Convenient possibly but horrendously expensive in long run. If you have any sense at all (and cash available) you buy it outright at that point and keep as long as possible.

Stay in house, get Barratt off your back (hopefully with negotiated discount nearer expiry of 10 yr deal or wait and see if theres a class action) & learn lesson.

"Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice" etc etc

Thanks R K

Is it funny that I PCP my car as well as buying a new house!

I guess youre right re getting burned twice but the price of the new houses here is still 135k so even if I do part ex so long as I get a reasonable price for my current house and a decent price for the new house I would be in the same position but with a newer house.

I will have to properly work out the cost to move to make sure this is correct but quick maths in my other post suggest that my thinking correct.

I could even downsize and reduce mortgage and bills to save a deposit for a larger home in the future

The key point I'm getting from all the replies is to sit tight and see what happens closer to the end of the 10 years so that's what I will do. Will be interesting to see how many of the homes around me start going up for sale and for how much.

[justthisbloke]

I guess youre right re getting burned twice but the price of the new houses here is still 135k so even if I do part ex so long as I get a reasonable price for my current house and a decent price for the new house I would be in the same position but with a newer house.

I'm struggling to see an arrangement by which you swap an old house for a new one with Barratts at no cost to yourself. Barratts bid/offer prices will ensure this.

Whatever you decide, the overriding aim should be to reduce debt and increase assets. Unless you're downsizing and liberating capital / paying down debt, I can't see any justification for moving. Certainly not from a financial perspective and, as you've done the snagging and made the place your own, not even from a soft issues viewpoint.

[Haventaclue]

Stockton, youre actually in a very strong position, considering the scheme youre in!

Firstly, just IMO, stop being dazzled by the whole new build thing. Its exactly the same as the new car issue, drive it off the forecourt and drop thousands. Youve already experienced that with your first 'new build' why are you talking yourself up that a second new build is superior to the 'old' house you have now? Youre wrong. Youve experienced drive away forecourt loss once, dont do it again, and if you think Barratts quality is somehow better today than 10 years ago, youre wrong again. Every corner that could have been cut on their building programmes has been. They all nearly went under in 2008 and they learnt their lesson........ make money by building as cheap as possible and sell as high as possible through 'schemes'. You are who they need to make this scam work. Dont be taken twice by them. Indeed I cant believe you write how bitter you are towards them, yet are even considering doing another deal. Are you thinking that somehow, your maths are smarter than theirs and you come off better on a future part ex?

You like where you live, and you clearly live where you need to live. Those are 2 strong factors. You have £20k pulled together, thats absolutely fantastic and will be you strongest negotiating tool. The fact the halifax wont remortgage, is only under the current circumstances. Thats absolutely fine and to be expected and dissapears as soon as you buy out the remaining 25%.

You indeed have 1 issue only, and thats the purchase of your remaining 25%.

You are absolutely in a strong position that Barratts have already offered you a 20% reduction on your 25%, from the numbers youve given here, I would be really be going in hard now with a counter offer of £20k for the 25%. Its cash in their hands and they dont have to do any wheeling and dealing work to get it. I would also imply, that whilst you can guarantee that £20k is available today, due to the current declining market value and your current mortgage providers restrictions, you cant guarantee £20k will be available at the 10year drop dead date. Point out that of course, your mortgage provider takes 1st priority over any other secured debts.

Sit back, enjoy the fact that in real terms, you may be able to secure the home you live in for a nett expense of £102k + £20k . (Im sure you would have been over the moon if youd got a discount to £122k when you first bought). Youre 10 years in on your repayment mortgage so should be nudging down to the early £90s now and continuing on the same trajectory, so a nice pot of equity is already building up, and overnight, once youve resolved the 25% equity buy out/loan position, every man and his dog will be offering you decent remortgage deals. You managed to personally save £20k over that period, so with no changes to circumstances, you can continue to save an equivalent going forward. Indeed the future looks very rosy. Good luck.

[Stockton]

I'm struggling to see an arrangement by which you swap an old house for a new one with Barratts at no cost to yourself. Barratts bid/offer prices will ensure this.

Whatever you decide, the overriding aim should be to reduce debt and increase assets. Unless you're downsizing and liberating capital / paying down debt, I can't see any justification for moving. Certainly not from a financial perspective and, as you've done the snagging and made the place your own, not even from a soft issues viewpoint.

Stockton, youre actually in a very strong position, considering the scheme youre in!

Firstly, just IMO, stop being dazzled by the whole new build thing. Its exactly the same as the new car issue, drive it off the forecourt and drop thousands. Youve already experienced that with your first 'new build' why are you talking yourself up that a second new build is superior to the 'old' house you have now? Youre wrong. Youve experienced drive away forecourt loss once, dont do it again, and if you think Barratts quality is somehow better today than 10 years ago, youre wrong again. Every corner that could have been cut on their building programmes has been. They all nearly went under in 2008 and they learnt their lesson........ make money by building as cheap as possible and sell as high as possible through 'schemes'. You are who they need to make this scam work. Dont be taken twice by them. Indeed I cant believe you write how bitter you are towards them, yet are even considering doing another deal. Are you thinking that somehow, your maths are smarter than theirs and you come off better on a future part ex?

You like where you live, and you clearly live where you need to live. Those are 2 strong factors. You have £20k pulled together, thats absolutely fantastic and will be you strongest negotiating tool. The fact the halifax wont remortgage, is only under the current circumstances. Thats absolutely fine and to be expected and dissapears as soon as you buy out the remaining 25%.

You indeed have 1 issue only, and thats the purchase of your remaining 25%.

You are absolutely in a strong position that Barratts have already offered you a 20% reduction on your 25%, from the numbers youve given here, I would be really be going in hard now with a counter offer of £20k for the 25%. Its cash in their hands and they dont have to do any wheeling and dealing work to get it. I would also imply, that whilst you can guarantee that £20k is available today, due to the current declining market value and your current mortgage providers restrictions, you cant guarantee £20k will be available at the 10year drop dead date. Point out that of course, your mortgage provider takes 1st priority over any other secured debts.

Sit back, enjoy the fact that in real terms, you may be able to secure the home you live in for a nett expense of £102k + £20k . (Im sure you would have been over the moon if youd got a discount to £122k when you first bought). Youre 10 years in on your repayment mortgage so should be nudging down to the early £90s now and continuing on the same trajectory, so a nice pot of equity is already building up, and overnight, once youve resolved the 25% equity buy out/loan position, every man and his dog will be offering you decent remortgage deals. You managed to personally save £20k over that period, so with no changes to circumstances, you can continue to save an equivalent going forward. Indeed the future looks very rosy. Good luck.

Points taken, I wont push the new house idea any further.

I hadn't considered/worked out the viewpoint highlighted in bold above that I could potentially reduce 13k off the cost of the current house if I offer 20k and it is accepted that would be a cracking result.

Thanks for the info all.

[Automotive Engineer]

Because of the way that the forum software handles posts embedded in posts in replies, the practice of embedding parts of your reply in the 'quote' does not really work. Further, if the post is considerably downstream of the post you replied to there is no an obvious heads up that the red emphasis is your additions.

It was my post you'd messed with and I did a double-take before I sussed what had happened.

I didn't "mess" with your post. I added my opinion in red, which is a fairly obvious addition of mine given the colour. But I agree with you that the embedding makes it hard to respond to others comments line for line.

[pl1]

Let's flag this early. Sometimes, but not always, it plays like this:

• Someone flags an interesting thread on MN
• Someone who posts here trolls the MN thread
• A MN poster posts a link to the hpc thread about the MN thread
• In the meanwhile on the hpc thread there has been an accumulation of bitter sounding posts, some with misogynistic overtones
• On the MN thread MN posters agree that we hpc posters are a grim lot of bitter, misogynistic losers (even the female hpc posters, one assumes)

Let's bear in mind that not everybody has a hobby tracking the minutiae of UK mortgage financing and house building and that many people believe that they can trust the banks and the big builders. I post here because I am appalled by how the banks and builders are able to grift off wage earners and exploit the national housing stock against us. I want banks and builders which which are essentially dull utility companies, providing boring safe loans and building adequate housing where it is needed, sold at prices which are a safe, conservative multiple of local median earnings.

If we really are right about the UK property market as a giant Ponzi scheme, then we need to pay attention to the PR a little. It's a battle for people's imaginations. Hearts and minds, etc. The Ponzi fails when enough people realise that it is a Ponzi scheme.

As the stock of people who can't buy is added to by bonkers prices and as owner-occupiers required to pay with repayment mortgages are outbid by buy-to-let 'investors' financing with interest-only loans, the chance to build a like minded political constituency is presented. We can all choose to play our small part in a big war.

Worth requoting, in case this did happen.

You spot this sometimes too? Old timer

Edited May 11, 2016 by pl1

[Bland Unsight]

I dislike the practice of editing quotes - even with coloured text. It becomes confusing as to who posted what.

You can split posts by changing into code edit mode (by clicking the "switch" in the top left of the editor) and entering a few "

"s and then switching back to WYSIWYG mode. It's a bit of a pain but it does work and is better, IMO, than doctoring someone else's post.

Another convenient trick is to Ctl+C and Ctrl+V the post you are replying to so you can produce duplicates.

You spot this sometimes too?

You respond, and cut then down the post you are responding to to the bit you are responding to.

You spot this sometimes too?

The post a another copy, and trim that.

Old timer

And you can keep doing this till you are done.

[19 year mortgage 8itch]

Another convenient trick is to Ctl+C and Ctrl+V the post you are replying to so you can produce duplicates.

You respond, and cut then down the post you are responding to to the bit you are responding to.

The post a another copy, and trim that.

And you can keep doing this till you are done.

There is however a limit of the number of time you can do that in one post.

So you just have to carry on in another post...

Edited May 12, 2016 by 24 year mortgage 8itch

[R K]

I'm struggling to see an arrangement by which you swap an old house for a new one with Barratts at no cost to yourself. Barratts bid/offer prices will ensure this.

Whatever you decide, the overriding aim should be to reduce debt and increase assets. Unless you're downsizing and liberating capital / paying down debt, I can't see any justification for moving. Certainly not from a financial perspective and, as you've done the snagging and made the place your own, not even from a soft issues viewpoint.

+1 If Barratts are transferring assets from themselves to their punters its time to short BDEV

fao "Stockton" fwiw I would also try and retain some cash to buy your car outright when PCP ends. Then you will have a house & a car & no monthly car repayments. Win/win.

They really need to teach young people this stuff at school frankly. Compound interest & bid/offer spreads are ripping off an entire generation.

[Venger]

+1 If Barratts are transferring assets from themselves to their punters its time to short BDEV

fao "Stockton" fwiw I would also try and retain some cash to buy your car outright when PCP ends. Then you will have a house & a car & no monthly car repayments. Win/win.

They really need to teach young people this stuff at school frankly. Compound interest & bid/offer spreads are ripping off an entire generation.

They do teach it at school. The breakdown squad simply wants to ensure those who messed about, didn't study, got bad grades, are protected from their choices of paying mad prices for houses/BTLs etc (BTLers are human beings to feel sorry for just doing what system.. yada yada).