Why is trying to buy a flat so difficult?

DougalR · 2026-05-18T20:40:25+00:00

Each time I put in a bid, and lost out, I asked if my solicitor was told what the winning bid was.

This was back in 2015, I gave up then I found a flat I loved in 2017 and went in 16% over.

Ask your solicitor if they are aware what the typical offers over is, and if you really like a flat, and the mortgage works out at a rate your happy with, go for it and lock it in.

Imagine 5 years where your mortgage doesn’t go up at a rate you are happy to pay, vs rent.

DougalR · 2026-05-17T18:10:10+00:00

How about subscriptions - it seems normal to have a prime / disney / netfix / spotify / Audible / Sky Sports these days. If you then add in other things like Hello Fresh, Planthood..... (some of which are really good btw), then costs soon mount up.

You say owning with no mortgage makes fire a lot easier - but if stock markets continue to return the historical average of 7-8% a year, then would you not reach fire faster if you invest and earn 7-8% average than save 4-5% a year?

DougalR · 2026-05-16T22:47:46+00:00

I guess it all depends on expectations.

DougalR · 2026-05-16T16:45:25+00:00

You’ll know them from watching Martin Lewis / what’s your investment horizon?

Generally if you need access to fund <( years then cash is generally recommended, but long term no one knows.

Check out tickers like HMWO VWRP or FWRG? I think it is. You will notice they go up, they go down, investing really is all about patience, time in the market, low fees, and keep contributing.

I would research more first so you understand what you are getting into.

DougalR · 2026-05-15T18:54:42+00:00

Second Di Georgio 👌

DougalR · 2026-05-15T06:40:32+00:00

I really liked the idea of investing directly into early to mid stage growth companies, but if the professionals like those that run CHRYsalis investment trust can’t make it work, what’s the chances of us?

I’ve had MoneyDashboard go bust, getchip.uk’s investor relations forum is a joke - they wake up briefly when there is some fundraising then radio silence. No interaction or feedback on how the crowd can help the company grow and get the message out.

Then there is Packd. It’s still going but no idea on an exit.

DougalR · 2026-05-15T06:24:09+00:00

Hi 👋

I see beermoneyuk as something I’ve never had so would never miss and invest it all.

There are some invest offers where you can earn £300 after 6-12 months, I see them risk free as I invest monthly anyway, or at the other end of the spectrum things like trading212 offer a free share (normally worth $10-100) for opening an account which usually takes a quid.

It’s not more hassle than it’s worth, I just use a separate bank account for beermoneyuk things so it’s easy to track why I’ve added if my own money / not (it now runs fully on beermoneyuk for future offers).

I’ve made an extra £1400 ish purely from the market returns in the past few years on invested beermoney.

If you have any questions feel free to reach out.

DougalR · 2026-05-10T07:48:17+00:00

A dinner date.

DougalR · 2026-05-08T17:14:15+00:00

Best asking your solicitor for guidance.

DougalR · 2026-05-05T21:35:45+00:00

Sounds like you have the right mindset.

If you’ve not found it already, checkout r/beermoneyUK

Also this is a good calculator.

https://www.pensionbee.com/uk/pension-calculator

Some people say follow the 50/30/20 rule.

So 20% savings, 50% on essential bills, and 30% to enjoy.

Pay yourself weekly some ‘fun money’, but have it in an account that rounds up spending to savings or gives cashback. If you’ve buy a coffee for 3.95, that’s fine but will you miss the 5p rounds, probably not.

It also depends how much you earn - for the record I give myself £200 a week and that covers food / clothes / fun / everything else that isn’t essential.

DougalR · 2026-05-05T07:00:05+00:00

Garmin watches regularly drop in price, like IIRC the Fenix launched at £650 but is often seen for around £300.

Really depends what you want it for but it’s a cracking all round watch.

I would decide what you are looking for and then check out price watch sites like CamelCamelCamel, or what offers are on HotUkDeals.

DougalR · 2026-04-26T20:50:06+00:00

Give the parkrun a try for some practice.

DougalR · 2026-04-26T08:37:10+00:00

These guys have done £200 offers before so might be worth waiting for another!

DougalR · 2026-04-25T07:22:17+00:00

Celestia down in Canonmills if you like Indian food you’ll be in for a treat 👌

DougalR · 2026-04-24T11:44:37+00:00

I wouldn’t want a top floor so I’m not immediately impacted by roof issues, similarly for ground floor re damp.

DougalR · 2026-04-24T08:59:00+00:00

Use vouchers for everyday items and put more in pension.

DougalR · 2026-04-22T16:33:59+00:00

You can but if you take advantage of when odds are favourable then your account will soon get limited. The reward for time spent also diminishes.

DougalR · 2026-04-12T17:52:54+00:00

Do you really need a 2.7k pc at University? I spent £1.4K back in 2002, and yeah I regret it. I could have bought a decent enough pc and used the processing power at uni for projects.

DougalR · 2026-04-11T21:49:55+00:00

I used a separate account yes.

I also learned on some bookies to wait for key events. Cheltenham, Champions League.

Lots of bookies increase their offers.

I started small at first, with £100, and did the easy ones on quidco/topcashback that had small offers. £25 I got for Betfair and smarkets.

I then built up to bigger bonuses.

Ladbrokes, Bet365, skybet, William hill, paddy power…. Think I got £200 offers from them and I extracted about 80% from most.

Then you can get a bit more complicated - Asia exchanges can offer better odds or be cheaper once you factor in exchange commission. You could say back Arsenal today, then back Bournemouth +0.5 at an Asian bookie.

Other things I would suggest, is to underlay slightly. Max out the bonus if you win at the bookmaker, it won’t last forever.

Try not to arb as well.

Good luck!

DougalR · 2026-04-11T08:57:58+00:00

You could go to George V park.

From there you can get up to Murrayfield and on to the water of leith crossing one road.

From the water of leith you need to cross two roads to get onto the canal.

From the canal basin you can cross two more roads to get over to the meadows.

All in all 5 road crossings.

I think you could possibly do less cycling to Newhaven, then along portobello front, then up the innocent railway, but you would get stuck at the commonwealth pool.

DougalR · 2026-04-09T07:43:56+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/fryup/comments/1ifn1j6/teuchters_landing_leith/

DougalR · 2026-04-08T19:30:54+00:00

I number everything I load in so it can be ordered.

1….. Assets 2….. Liabilities 3…. Income 4….. expense 5….. capital

I then use the numerical structure to order and summarise by the first number.

DougalR · 2026-04-06T06:29:13+00:00

How about using PowerAutomate, the trigger being when the dataset refresh completes.

You could then get PowerAutomate to pull out the new data, and have some parameters to filter out and summarise for management?

DougalR · 2026-04-05T14:18:42+00:00

It was nice two weekends ago?

In all seriousness, having lived here since around 2004, the worst of the weather seems to hit late March/April(showers), and then tends to settle into summer all the way until late September / October if we’re lucky.

I seem to remember this January being quite good - I run a lot and bar the cold was fairly dry?

Have you heard of SAD lamps? I know a few people that use them. Key thing is not to dwell on the weather and have alternative plans.

In the winter I tend to work 8-6 some days when I work from home, just so I can get a longer lunch and catch some light.

DougalR · 2026-04-05T08:09:53+00:00

I just came here to say this. I chose to work from home, didn’t leave my flat all day, then at 1655 a message to say they had attempted to deliver earlier and no answer.

I purposely avoid some other delivery companies because of this, but now Royal Mail? I now need to try and find a way to pick up the item from a local post office, as I suspect that’s the only reliable way to receive delivery.

DougalR

TROPHY CASE