Equity Release (1 Viewer)

[tick59]

Has anyone done Equity Release to get a bit extra money to make retirement a bit easy. Never had a chance to save much or get a private pension so thinking of going along with equity release. Morgage paid kids up and they are not interested in us leaving anything for them when were gone our parents never left us nowt and are kids think the same use the money in the house and enjoy what time you have left you only live once etc. fun!!! fun!!! fun!!!

 

[Judge Mental]

what about downsizing and releasing equity that way.....dont trust any schemes I'm afraid!

 

[Baycott]

I agree with judgemental. My mum had a couple of quotes and it seems to be quite a rip off unless you are really old and are likely to peg it really soon!!!

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Gaston aires]

Only makes sense to me if you have no dependents. That being the case then why not ?
Phil

 

[JeanLuc]

The issue is income generation in retirement which needs financial planning. Equity Release is just one option so in your position, I would get some professional advice before considering it. I know it costs money to get advice but it is likely to be a lot less than you could lose by making a poor choice of income source. Have a look at these sites to find an IFA in your area:
https://www.unbiased.co.uk/
http://www.financialplanning.org.uk/wayfinder/find-planner

 

[GJH]

I agree with Philip. The security of tenure offered by some equity release schemes isn't as secure as it's made out to be.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[davidbaldam]

I agree with JeanLuc you MUST get independent financial advise. Equity Release will get you a lower amount than you expect, down sizing is another solution but you need to find as many options as possible.

 

[steevie]

It can be the biggest rip off ever, but if you aren't bothered about leaving any estate, and the money offered is sufficient for your needs, then does it matter.

 

[buttons]

You say to make retirement a bit easier, this would suggest that you are still quite young. In my opinion ER is fools gold. Work it out for yourself, someone wants to make money from your property, now how are they going to do that. It will all end in tears. Downsizing is a much safer alternative without any third party taking the lions share.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Puddleduck]

Equity Release is only good news in very limited circumstances.

Moving to a cheaper alternative would be the way to go.....

 

[rikfos]

I financed my retirement by selling my house and buying one for half the money in Herefordshire.

 

[Brian and Jo]

IMO leave well alone,as has been said the sensible thing to do is down size.why give a chunk of your hard earned away.keep it for you and your family
Brian & Jo

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[jockaneezer]

Something on the news recently about an equity release company went into receivership, a bank took their assets ( mortgage deeds etc ) then informed tennants they had to get out of their houses as the bank was going to sell them on.

 

[tick59]

You say to make retirement a bit easier, this would suggest that you are still quite young. In my opinion ER is fools gold. Work it out for yourself, someone wants to make money from your property, now how are they going to do that. It will all end in tears. Downsizing is a much safer alternative without any third party taking the lions share.

I am 67 is that young????? fun!!! fun!!! fun!!!

 

[New Dawn]

Totally agree. We downsized, sold our last property & bought a 2 bed apartment. No equity release firms. Just us & estate agent. Invested money, now get income from that without losing capital, which is there if needed. (You never know)

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[buttons]

I am 67 is that young????? fun!!! fun!!! fun!!!

It could be....20/25 years of living under a ruthless landlord. Your release all spent no equity left and living an unhappy existence. What do you think.

 

[GJH]

I am 67 is that young????? fun!!! fun!!! fun!!!

Not compared to some of us you old b****r but young enough

 

[keith]

I did it twice to buy our first MH then moved and repeated the exercise, so it can work but as said you need financial advice.
It can be difficult to find the right deal yourself as there are (where) so many different options out there.
My situation was somewhat different as an ex IFA I had access to all the market place. Also back in the 90's there was more chance of your property going up in value, it's much different now.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Judge Mental]

Something on the news recently about an equity release company went into receivership, a bank took their assets ( mortgage deeds etc ) then informed tennants they had to get out of their houses as the bank was going to sell them on.

enough said!

 

[wanderer]

Are your kids in a position to buy your property singly or between them which could give you the extra capital and them a future asset . In Australia its now all the rage to buy a second property with your super(pension fund) rent it out and have the asset at the end plus its tax efficient.

 

[cruiser]

great advise , but would sell and move but the boss wont. so I might have to go down that route.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Robert Clark]

Are your kids in a position to buy your property singly or between them which could give you the extra capital and them a future asset . In Australia its now all the rage to buy a second property with your super(pension fund) rent it out and have the asset at the end plus its tax efficient.

One thing to add to this is that if your kids wanted to take a Buy To Let mortgage to release the cash, then they'd need to be careful as its often a against the terms of a Buy To Let mortgage to have a relative as a tenant.
I'd also advise against equity release, as my late mother in law did this, without telling the family. The equity release company (part of GE Capital I believe) gave her a bit of cash and put the rest into an annuity. Every year she got a visit from them which resulted in a list of maintenance jobs she had to pay for. Sadly she died after just a few years, so got almost nothing out of the Equity Release, but they got her house.
Very sad at the time, as we could of come up with a better solution for her, if only we'd known.
Regards
Robert

 

[bernardfeay]

Almost everyone is saying leave it alone.... including me. Sell the house now while we are at the top of the market, hold tight for a year or two (if you can) and then let the market drop and come back in again with a smaller house.

 

[Larby]

Sold our house and bought a Park Home nearby. Other half loves the reduction in housework, I love the reduced heating and running costs. We did not need a large 3 bed semi to maintain on a pension. There will still be the value of the Park home when we peg it rather than ER which will suck away the boys inheritance.
Meanwhile there is cash in the bank for ferry tickets and French diesel.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Mack100]

We are in the process of moving to raise capital, can't say we're downsizing as it's probably bigger than our present house.

What swung it for me was the image of the house on google earth that showed a motorhome neatly parked on the drive!

 

[Chris]

I would treat ER as absolutely the last resort.

I think there are tighter restrictions on it now and less sharks but not a preferred option for me.

Downsizing, or moving to a much cheaper area makes sense to me.

 

[GWAYGWAY]

Do not do it, My brother did it to get some money the do repairs to his house and now the company has the house and all nicely done up as well. £40000 for a £180000 house didn't they do well.
These companies do not do it as philanthropists, they do it for as much profit as possible.
Get some SERIOUS ADVICE before you consider it, The agreement might mean you turn up your toes and your wife is evicted shortly afterwards because of a clause you did not notice.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Khizzie]

I am 67 is that young????? fun!!! fun!!! fun!!!

It is to me at 70....haha!!!!y

 

[injebreck99]

WE took out ER 4 years ago, after lots of research and independent legal advice, no regrets so far, we did it through Aviva themselves, all went very smoothly, they will only lend you up to 25% of your property value, and you will never have to repay more than the value of your property.
We have no dependants and could not realistically downsize comfortably from a 2 bedroom bungalow, we will only have to repay the mortgage if we decide to sell the property, or are moved into a nursing home.
Assuming I keel over first, my O/H will be able to live here by by choice as long as she exists.
After we have both expired, our solicitor will sell the property and pay Aviva their due, the rest of any estate we have left to Norfolk Wildlife Trust of which we are keen members.
We did not buy our M/H with the money but have had some fabulously memorable holidays we could not have afforded otherwise, and have made many improvements to our property, works for us so far.

 

[Dorwyn]

Surely it depends on the value of the house and the extent of the loan. On a home worth hundreds of thousand and if you are considering an advance of only tens of thousands, the relative values mean the risks are very low. Say your house is worth 300k and you want a release of say 5 or 10 per cent you could still downsize if need be. And if finally you have to go into a home, the money will be gone anyway.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}