Mortgages and quotes

More lights from the ICFF. And I swear that's another Vernor Panton second from the left.

This week has been full of tiny highs and near misses. Firstly, our current flat's mortgage rate is going to expire. In exactly three days. Three weeks ago our lovely mortgage broker Claudia - who's had the patience of a saint and the determination of a starving rat - started sourcing a new mortgage product for us. (I'm really getting into the financial services jargon).

Two weeks ago she found the "best rate on the market" which was a squeak inducing .89% more than what we're paying now. Cue argument with hubby about why he didn't listen to me two years ago and fix for longer in the first place yada yada.

Last week we had the valuation guy around to measure up our flat so he could make sure the new bank wasn't loaning us a silly amount of money. We were absolutely convinced that it would be a shoe in as friends sold their smaller flat 5 minutes walk from ours last year for £40K more than what we think our flat is actually worth. Oh how wrong we were. There's a "credit crunch" on so all valuations are coming in way below "market rate". Our valuation was 13% below what we thought it was worth, and therefore the new bank was nervous about giving us the loan. Brilliant timing huh? Here we are paying out TWO mortgages in London and they want to quibble about whether we can afford a hike at this point? Ha!

Plan B was to show them comparable sales figures of similar flats sold in the last three months to prove that their valuation was based on fiction. Claudia rang loads of real estate agents to be told that hardly anything's sold in the last three months because of the "credit crunch". Catch 22 anyone?

Yesterday hubby rang our existing bank and by some miracle secured a rate lower than the one the new bank was offering us. So for a set up fee, an application fee and now a high payment next month for being too close to the deadline, we are back in business. It feels like money is evaporating when we haven't actually purchased anything new.

Secondly, we've found another two builders to quote. This could be good in that it stops us being held to ransom by only having one option to pursue, but it could be bad in that one is a friend and I've heard that you should never employ friends. Sod it, we'll employ anyone who can renovate our house this side of Christmas.