HMO update

Things are getting increasingly close to lift off in our large HMO!

Here are the latest pictures of all the work that's been done - I can't wait til it's all finished now!

The new kitchen tiling and lighting

Downstairs back bedroom (just love those curtains!)

The new corridor downstairs (fire safe and acoustically sound -haha) 

Completed plastering in downstairs front bedroom (nice matress eh?)

Upstairs middle bedroom

New towel rail in main shower room

En-suite to upstairs middle bedroom

Floor in ensuite and towel rail

Upstairs front bedroom, plastered and ready for decoration and carpets

Shower in upstairs front ensuite

Toilet and towel rail in upstairs front ensuite. 

Carpets are ordered, curtains on their way, furniture needs to be arranged! Painting taking place as I write... not long to go before the 'To Rent' adverts are out!

Fringe benefits

Today I had a great chat with my hairdresser .. let's just call her B for short. She is a wonderful young woman, with two kids, a great hubby to whom she is happily married, and they have a lovely house. BUT we got talking a while ago and she opened up to me about the fact that all their income goes on servicing their debt. Mortgage debt, credit card debt, car loan debt etc etc.

Now I'm not saying that this is in any way unusual in the UK today. Many of my friends as I have discovered are on interest-only mortgages. In order to afford a home suitable for bringing up a family, sometimes that's the route you have to take.

But as B said to me, they have absolutely NO capital in anything. They have no money in the house as it has depreciated in value since they bought it five years ago. Their cars are a constant source of financial pain; their credit cards are maxed out; and they have no savings.

As we got talking I realised that she was a bright woman who understood the long-term implications of their situation, and recognised that as she got older she and her husband would not be having the kind of retirement they dreamed about - UNLESS they did something to change course NOW.

The first thing I suggested was that she read Robert Kiyosaki's 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad'. A GREAT book for anyone wanting to change their financial course in life. A few days later she texted me to say she had bought the Kindle version and was avidly chomping her way through it (not literally I hasten to add -  it's digestible but not edible)!

So when we met today I was interested to know just how she'd been getting on. Clearly the messages within the book had struck a chord and many changes had taken place in their lives since I last saw her.

1. They have changed their cars to pay off the loans completely and bought two much smaller, more economical cars. They no longer have car loans, AND they are saving money on fuel.

2. B has taken on some extra work (just a day a week). Although she has to pay for one day's extra childcare, the income she gets is going directly to paying off the credit card loan, which she thinks will in the long term be much better for her children and she makes enough to cover the childcare and make a profit.  (In September her son will qualify for 15 hours free childcare a week so that will also reduce their outgoings).

3. They have created a monthly budget which they stick to come hell or high water. As she said to me 'I used to think frugal people were so irritating - now I understand how exciting it is to find a bargain'!

4. They are looking around at better mortgage deals and looking to swap round their credit cards so that they can pay off more of the capital and pay less interest. (A great website to get started is http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/)

I was SO proud of her! She has

• believed in herself and the ability to change
• created a plan
• taken action
• been disciplined and stuck to it

Soon - she will start to see results!

I was so impressed with B - not only is she a great hairdresser, but she is starting to prove that no matter how much or little you have, you can CUT out excess, SNIP away at debt, SHAVE out unnecessary expenditure and ensure FRINGE benefits for life. There's no doubt that GROWTH will follow!

[Groans all round : ) ]

Immigration, communication and realisation!

One of our smaller - might I say 'bijou' - properties, is currently rented by a lovely Polish family. They are clean, considerate and polite. They always pay their rent on time and they have been extremely easy to deal with over the three years that they have lived there. That is, except for one embarrassing problem -we just can't understand what they say!

Over time, I have managed to work out the reason for the odd phonecall or other, when a word like 'boiler' or 'carpet' or 'garden' has appeared in their stilted English conversation. The rest of the chat has been pure guess work, but obviously we haven't been far off, as whatever the problem was seems to have been addressed, and all is quiet again.

It must have been just as difficult and frustrating for them as for us, dealing with an inept landlady who cannot speak a word of Polish. But over time we have muddled along and all has been good.

A couple of weeks ago they gave us their notice to leave the property so I advertised the house and within hours had a stream of messages from people wanting to look round. One call I had was from a lady who had an unusual accent (perhaps Eastern European) and we arranged a viewing for the following day. As soon as we met and she started to talk, I knew she was Polish (although she did have a much greater command of English than our other tenant) and I guessed she would immediately like the property (which she did).

What I wasn't expecting though, was that on entering the house she recognised the current tenant and a string of animated conversation flowed forth between them, complete with excited gesticulations and facial expressions. The communication between them was highly entertaining, especially so as I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about! Suddenly I realised how it must feel to be on the other side. Not knowing the language, not understanding the subtle cultural differences, not being able to pick up on the nuances of meaning conveyed through spoken language. It was both interesting and worrying at the same time.

I thought to myself : 'what is the current tenant saying to this prospective new tenant'? Hoping desperately she wasn't saying something awful about us as landlords! Actually, my fears were quickly allayed as I was told in no uncertain terms 'You have been excellent landlords'! As I stood there, glowing somewhat in praise, I was suddenly struck by her own confidence in speaking English that had clearly improved over the few years living here in the UK.

It must have felt very strange when she first came to the UK to make for her and her family a brand new life here. I bet there were times when she felt lonely, homesick and nervous. I could of course go on here about how important it is at a time like that to have quality housing etc etc. But actually I really want to make the point that it took her a great deal of courage and faith to immigrate here and yet I baulk at the slightest project hiccup!

I have the benefit of a wide network, good contacts, a reasonable command of English (less so the local dialect admittedly!), strong links with the community and a knowledge of where to go should I need information or advice. She had none of these, and yet bravely made the move. It's true, communication takes many forms and in this instance I can say that I definitely heard a great lesson about courage in the face of nerves that no words could convey.