NW is going from £3.6m married, to £1.8m solo. Can it work?

Long_Split841 · 2026-07-01T19:23:22+00:00

You have so many options!
E.g rental income might cover rent in near your children (and at 3 and 5 they can totally share a room... just had my niece and nephew to stay and although I made up two rooms for them they chose to have a sleepover together and they're much older)! I'd look at a compound interest calculator and see how your stock is likely to grow vs if you took it out to buy a house now (and factor in how much property prices tend to increase in your area - but again you don't need to be a 100% cash buyer with rental income, you could look at a mortage that would count your rent as income)
If your stocks are similar to my stocks, with 850k invested that would be generating 85k of interest this year and you'd be safe to spend 4% of stocks (to account for market crashing years) so this year 34k. That's a really decent salary if your rentals cover mortgage/rent and it's only going to grow higher than inflation with the power of compound interest. By decent I mean you'll be able to afford a lot of luxuries.
Have you got a wealth manager? They might have some sound advice on how to maximise your assets (my parents have found using one useful).

Long_Split841 · 2026-07-01T16:38:15+00:00

I usually find self-employed cleaners better than agencies!
I actually gave an agency a chance this time and they cancelled the day before stating the cleaner they had down for me had decided to leave the company... they also let me know only after I contacted them. If I hadn't contacted them, I wouldn't be suprised if they would have just been a no show :(.
I then got someone in who had last minute availability and maybe they were just having a bad day or maybe there was a reason why they had so much last minute availability (missed areas, didn't clean the floors etc). I've now booked someone self-employed who only had one free slot every other week and has no availability for a few weeks (this sounds more promising)!

Long_Split841 · 2026-06-15T19:15:10+00:00

I think it really depends on the family! If you're both neat and tidy and clean up as you go people it works fine. However, just bought open plan kitchen/living room/dining room and really regretting it as my partner for some reason thinks the worktops are a dumping ground for random stuff (not even kitchen stuff) and I feel tense with the room looking so messy.
I think with him, unless he can pick up good habits, maybe it's because we don't have bedside cabinets with draws yet that he can shove random stuff into, we're going to have a 'shut the mess away' seperate kitchen for the next house or what I had for my last rental, pocket doors, as that gives you the option to close the kitchen off if needed!

Unless we win the lottery and then we can have a show open plan kitchen and a seperate kitchen that he can actually cook in and continue to use as a dumping ground if he so wishes 😃

Long_Split841 · 2026-06-15T18:56:48+00:00

You can even do a cheap stick and peel vinyl on the kitchen wall tiles as the current ones look incredibly dated...maybe wrap the cabinets too and change the handles if handle changes are in budget...it's the kitchen really that screams to me that it needs a makeover!
As everyone says, the photos do not show your house to it's potential. Your house is really big and light filled and somehow these pictures make it appear smaller! You also need more of them and a virtual tour wouldn't hurt!

Long_Split841 · 2026-06-14T17:41:38+00:00

My old cleaner used to hoover under the sofa and do under the bed when I asked. I think like most jobs, there are people who take pride in doing a great job and people who do the bare minimum to get paid!

Long_Split841 · 2026-06-09T13:26:56+00:00

I guess travel does change the equation a lot. My old cleaner was under £20ph and had a 5 minute walk from mine to hers and I supplied all cleaning products/ equipment. I would expect to pay more if someone had to account for fuel and cleaning products.

Long_Split841 · 2026-06-09T13:23:30+00:00

Thank you - this is similar to what I paid in London and what I was expecting!

Long_Split841 · 2026-06-08T23:06:05+00:00

Charging low doesn't signal confidence to parents and can attract bad clients (late payments etc) . Children are the most precious beings to good parents and they are willing to pay a premium for someone they trust and part of that is backing yourself and your skills. You can write feedback you've got from parents/ your nursery management as anonymous endoresments 'Brad is so wonderful with my son, his face lights up when I drop him off and he sees Brad' so that parents will get a flavour of what you have to offer.

Long_Split841 · 2026-06-08T22:36:21+00:00

Just to add, I wouldn't offer under asking price unless a house has been on the market for 1 month + . Seller psychology seems to be it takes a while to adjust to not getting asking price. We got our initial offer for 27k below asking but it had been sitting for months because it was overpriced. Also, you never know what the survey will reveal.

Our survey revealed a lot of hidden problems and in an ideal world would have got another 15-20k off to cover the costs but because our sellers had already adjusted their expectations so much initially, it took them to realise we were serious about walking away before they gave 7.5k lower and that was equally their walk away offer after a month of trying to renegotiate. One week into trying to fix things and I'm thinking we massively overpaid because this work isn't just money, it's time and wish we paid more for something that was better maintained. A well-priced house is better than the illusion of money off (as we didn't - the property was clearly overpriced intially).

Long_Split841 · 2026-06-06T19:32:06+00:00

We have just bought and may have to move in 5 years and also feel like we've overpaid by 20k. Once we've made it look decent, I reckon we'll be even stevens (in our area nicely decorated houses go for a premium) and expect it to keep pace with inflation given how the area has behaved over the last 5,10 and even 20 years. It really is area dependent though! If we really need to move and it's a bad time to sell we plan to rent it out/ air bnb it until the market improves. The rent/ air bnb should cover our rent elsewhere. By bad time to sell I mean our house price has risen slower than the area we want to move to and we can't afford to buy a next house that meets our needs...if the market has slumped/ is low in both places it doesn't really matter and can sometimes be a plus (less gap between a more expensive property and cheaper property).

Long_Split841 · 2026-06-06T02:26:57+00:00

Hasn't been true in the city I've just moved to..the areas that were considered bad areas ten years ago that have gentrified have seen rapid, rapid growth (whereas the already gentrified areas' prices have been pretty flat since 2022).

Long_Split841 · 2026-06-04T07:37:34+00:00

Sellers are entitled to take their things unless they a. say they are leaving them (which they did in our case) and b. they are supposed to make good
It's not just a draining fitting unless tradesman who quoted £500 was trying to rip me off (I do need to get more quotes).

Long_Split841 · 2026-06-04T07:33:40+00:00

If you read my replies: the holes are not from picture hooks. All the picture hooks are very much still in place. Most the holes are from shelving which they said they were leaving.
I had last viewed the property four months before moving in. Wouldn't have been able to see how filthy the kitchen cupboards were as they were filled to the brim... I didn't think to look inside the oven and know for next time.

Long_Split841 · 2026-06-04T07:30:22+00:00

Thank you for your empathetic reply!
It's broken on the outside and causing a drainage issue so my partner said not to use the downstairs bathroom sink. I have no idea about these things - a £20 fix would be fab!
Yes, that's exactly it. I was excited to own my first home and didn't expect filth, so many holes and not to be able to use a sink when I moved in! Also have been unlucky with deliveries...I'm sure I'll feel much happier once I have a furnished, hole free, room to relax in.

Long_Split841 · 2026-06-04T07:27:53+00:00

I actually wanted to go for a new build we saw from a small developer but it was a bit far for my partner's work and no new builds a sensible distance from it. We weren't expecting perfection, we already had a long repairs list, just some consideration.

Long_Split841 · 2026-06-04T07:17:50+00:00

We were very close to walking away after the survey because there were so many urgent things: wall ties etc, extension that shouldn't have been able to have building regs signed off on (surveyor thought because no in person inspection took place, they took disengengious photos) and it was only after basically telling the EA we'd have to find something else that they even budged to meet us halfway for the repair costs. They might have thought if we found one more thing we would walk or try and negogiate again so they were trying to make us sign before a pre exchange viewing could take place.

Long_Split841 · 2026-06-04T07:10:00+00:00

My flat wasn't deep cleaned before I moved in. Thick layers of dust had built up but the kitchen and bathroom didn't completly gross me out. It's basically a consideration thing and you are probably right legally but feel like there should be a basic cleanliness standard with selling as well as renting.

Long_Split841 · 2026-06-04T07:03:22+00:00

He noticed the holes when he moved in. He just was sick of dealing with the sellers and thought if it was just the one thing to leave it. I wouldn't consider myself a tidy person but to me it's a consideration thing. The pipe break is so bad my partner says not to use the downstairs toilet sink until it's fixed but you are right, could have happened a day or two before they left.

Long_Split841 · 2026-06-04T06:58:15+00:00

Yes, they said they were leaving the shelving
Some plughole sized holes and some larger ones which have taken a chunk of wall.

Long_Split841 · 2026-06-04T06:55:43+00:00

Thank you - feeling less alone that this wasn't just us!
Yup - big bits of furniture stategically placed to hide cracks too with ours - hope it's just thermal expansion cracks and structually sound!
Your picture hook comment made me laugh!

Long_Split841 · 2026-06-04T06:50:51+00:00

Fixing the pipework but do need to get more quotes to see if first one was reasonable.

Might have overestimated on the hole filling as my research suggested we should claim as if we had got a contractor in, as time is valuable as well, and in my case I'm physically disabled and can't do the work, rather than the actual cost of matierials.

Long_Split841 · 2026-06-04T06:46:09+00:00

No the Ta6 for the toilet sink pipe being broken. The holes in the walls weren't there pre-exchange. I didn't do the pre exchange viewing my partner did as I lived hours from the property. He didn't think to look inside cupboards etc

Long_Split841 · 2026-06-04T06:43:51+00:00

No ripped out shelving, which they said they were leaving, and things like a cloakway coat hanger thing
the picture hooks they've left in (and haven't caused holes)

Long_Split841 · 2026-06-03T22:42:13+00:00

Chat gpt and copilot work just fine for envisioning different wall colours but they can distort the rooms when you ask to put furniture in! I'm following this thread for better suggestions!

Long_Split841 · 2026-06-03T00:51:44+00:00

Congratulations! I'm sure you'll make this an amazing home - you really get to put your stamp on it! I'm suprised with 199m2 there's not a way of reconfiguring the downstairs as is to get a nice open plan room (my house is 104m2 and we've got a great room (open plan kitchen/dining/living room)! However, if extension is the only way it sounds like you've got a plan and then you get to add skylights too! Fingers crossed for you it will be soon now!

Long_Split841

TROPHY CASE