Equity Release

[diy_fun_uk]

I still stand by what I touched on before. Of course there will be small print you need to be aware of, however I reckon I might do it in years to come. Say I get to my mid-late 60s. I'm living in a house worth £x that I paid for over decades but I have no other means of tapping into its value. Who am I leaving it to? I have no partner or kids. Ok I have nieces/nephews but they'll carve their own way in life and have their own parents.

So, if I can release x% of my property value and use the cash to fritter away in the latter stages of my life e.g. that car I've always wanted, maybe some nice luxurious holidays etc, why not? If fees are accruing that will come out of my estate when I peg it, again so what? It won't be my concern.

 

[Deleted member 18243]

I'm living in a house worth £x that I paid for over decades but I have no other means of tapping into its value.

Take in a lodger, maybe a poor Albanian refugee, there's Government money in it.

 

[diy_fun_uk]

Take in a lodger, maybe a poor Albanian refugee, there's Government money in it.

If this Albanian refugee is (from birth) female, slim, aged between 25 - 40 with a decent rack and is good at cooking and cleaning, I might be tempted.

 

[Nige F]

Where we are situated , there are 2 park home sites - one @ each end of the town . Looking in various agents , moving could release £100k or more depending on the site and size of mobile home . Sounds good to me even paying site fees for a few years.

 

[gas112]

if i was old and needed the money i would rather sell entire house and rent somewhere . And if need be put name down for council sheltered accommodation years ahead of when you actually might need it just in case

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

It might be OK if you have nobody to inherit or you just think they should fend for themselves instead of getting a big lump of your money for doing nothing.

But... ensure that your house is suitable for you until the day you die, whatever happens. You probably won't be able to swap it for something more suitable if your needs change, for the simple reason that you won't own it. So a small bungalow might be a good idea, a house with an upstairs bathroom/bedroom probably not. Similarly a massive garden may be an issue too - if you're hard-up enough to look at equity release then you probably can't afford a gardener so will end up looking at a jungle of weeds and mess.

 

[JohnD]

legend.

Thank you

 

[jeds]

Never heard of anything good coming from equity release, with the possible exception of Jeanne Calment, a French lady who, at 90 years of age, sold her property to her solicitor with a deal to live in it for the rest of her life AND the solicitor would provide her with a regular payment until she died. The solicitor eventually died in his 70s, having paid her about a million francs, and she outlived him by a couple of years.

 

[Old Salt]

Park home fees can be increased with no controls in place and some only allow buy and sell via the park owner plus limits on how old the home can be.

 

[martygturner]

Downsize.

 

[Mottie]

Where we are situated , there are 2 park home sites - one @ each end of the town . Looking in various agents , moving could release £100k or more depending on the site and size of mobile home . Sounds good to me even paying site fees for a few years.

My mates parents (originally from East London) moved from Suffolk to be near him in Essex. The house they sold in Suffolk wouldn’t pay for a house in Essex so they moved into a Park Home. Been there about 5 years now and he says it’s bloody Marvelous. They have a great social life. He joked (I think) that he was considering selling his house and getting two Park homes. One in Essex and the other in Cornwall.

 

[gas112]

Park home fees can be increased with no controls in place and some only allow buy and sell via the park owner plus limits on how old the home can be.

Selling only through the park owner went around 2013 and there is meant to be a case going through the courts just now cutting the percentage of sale price paid to park owner being cut from around 10% to 5%

 

[JohnD]

Never heard of anything good coming from equity release, with the possible exception of Jeanne Calment, a French lady who, at 90 years of age, sold her property to her solicitor with a deal to live in it for the rest of her life AND the solicitor would provide her with a regular payment until she died. The solicitor eventually died in his 70s, having paid her about a million francs, and she outlived him by a couple of years.

Or possibly not.

"Pension fraud is a major contributor to extreme age claims."

43

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

My mates parents (originally from East London) moved from Suffolk to be near him in Essex. The house they sold in Suffolk wouldn’t pay for a house in Essex so they moved into a Park Home. Been there about 5 years now and he says it’s bloody Marvelous. They have a great social life. He joked (I think) that he was considering selling his house and getting two Park homes. One in Essex and the other in Cornwall.

I'm sure they're very happy with it, but many have had major issues. You're living on someone else's land with little or no legal ownership or rights. Fine while it all goes well, not when it doesn't.

Some park home sites have just given blanket eviction notices to people. They decide to go upmarket and boot all the riff raff in their old homes out of the way.

 

[Wayners]

Take £40k and 11 years later pay £110k back when you move.
Widowers can't downsize with the massive payment owed.
It's a get poor quick scheme although for a very few people it works well for them I hear.