MANY of us fall into the daily routine of working 9-5 just so that we can afford to pay off our mortgage.
But one savvy adventurer has told how he didn’t want to fork out on a whopping big mortgage, so he bought a caravan for £5.4k and converted it into a tiny home instead.
Karl bought a campervan and converted it into a tiny home[/caption]
He kept budgets low and bought bargain buys from Ikea for £60[/caption]
And much to the envy of others, he now travels the world and has visited over 26 different places.
In a post shared to TikTok (@justkarl_outdoors), he listed a series of ‘expectations’ that many of us face: “Get a mortgage, get married, work a 9-5, 28 days holiday a year, retired at 66.”
Responding, he then shared a snap of himself enjoying his travels and penned: “Na I’m alright…buy a van, sort it, travel.
“Climb K2, swim in lakes, hit the mountains, break free from the system, be rich with memories.”
Karl captioned the post: “You’re only here once. Make it a good one.”
In another post, he also helpfully revealed the full cost of his self-converted campervan.
He told how it set him back £11,009,90 in total, which includes the van, insurance and tax.
“I think I have done really well here to say I was on a 7 grand budget for the build and did it for £4,497,90,” he penned.
“I have tried my absolute best to get the best bargains for the build.
“Thank you everyone for following along and now its time for fulltime van life and hit some mountains.”
Amongst some of the costs includes 65 litre fridge freezer which set him back £249, a twin gas hob which was £50, sink for £56 and wallpaper and paint which totalled £48.
How to get the best deal on a mortgage
There are different factors that go into getting the best mortgage rate. Chris Sykes, technical director at broker Private Finance explains what you need to know.
- Bigger deposit
The larger the deposit you have the lower the rates you’ll have access to.
The different deposit tiers offered by lenders are generally 0-1% deposit, 5%, 10%, 15%, then generally it skips to 25% and finally cash or equity of 40% or more.
There are some exceptions in between but these are usually the bands.
Lenders then set different rates for each of these tiers, rather than having one rate for a 12% deposit and another for 14%, for example.
With a deposit above 40% there is usually no price fluctuation, which means you’d get the same rate with a 50% deposit to a 40% deposit.
- Keep your credit score healthy
A better credit score doesn’t necessarily mean more competitive deals, but a negative credit could mean worse deals.
For example, there may be some people with not a lot of credit as they’ve never had a credit card, or loan, will get the exact some deal as someone who has more credit history and a better credit score.
However, a bad credit history or score starts to limit your lenders and means you may need to move off high street to a more specialist lender which tends to offer higher rates.
If you have poor credit, look for easy ways to improve it.
- Look six months before your fix ends
It’s best to look at deals six months before a current rate ends. This might be to just have a chat with a broker and get things moving.
It might be that you can get a deal lined up and locked in that protects against movements in interest rates – for example if rates were to go up over the following six months. And you can also then improve the rate within that six months if rates were to go down.
- How to find a good broker
A good mortgage broker is invaluable for navigating the options available to you.
The best way to find a good adviser is through personal recommendations, everyone has a friend or family member who will have recently bought or refinanced – ask them who they used and if they were happy with the service.
You can also lookup reviews of that person online to find other customer experiences too. Unbiased.co.uk is one place where people can offer their reviews.
- Sort your paperwork
IF you are looking to buy or remortgage, contact a broker nice and early, as they can then guide you through what the expectations are from lenders.
This gives you plenty of time to make sure your accounts are up to date if you’re self-employed and you can see if it is worth filing tax returns early.
Meanwhile, he forked out £54 for a 410w solar panel, £75 for the worktop, £122 for the laminate flooring and spent £60 on a bed from Ikea.
The post quickly went viral, racking up a whopping 96k views and several comments from very impressed social media users.
“Looks fab! This is my dream saving hard enjoy your adventures,” praised one.
A second commented: “That’s an great breakdown for the build well done you should be really proud.”
A third penned: “I wish I had the time and skills to do that… just spent more than double of the sum total of every car i have bought since passing my driving test 35 years ago on a motorhome – enjoy!”
Meanwhile, another added: “That’s a really nice job, well done keeping so under budget.”