Help me to die poor!!

I am a single bloke, aged 54, with about £140 of equity in my house. I owe £30,000 on my mortgage and £50,000 on other, unsecured loans.

I have recently hit hard times and would really like to get my hands on $80,000 fast cash to pay off all my debts.

I have no dependents and do not feel a necessity to leave anything to anyone in my will.

I have heard rumours of companies who pay out cash in return for gaining ownership of your house when you die. Is this correct, or am I dreaming? I vaguely think I saw mention of such a deal in a TV advert recently. Anyone know of any such arrangements on offer, or similar things? Any leads would be appreciated.

Hank

Reply to
Hank
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PS make that £80,000...

Reply to
Hank

Google for Home Reversion schemes. They do have a reputation for being dodgy so be careful! You may be a bit young....

Reply to
Andy Pandy

For a straight home reversion sale, he could expect to get *maybe around*

25% of the house value at that age, if he can get a purchaser at all, as he is rather young. That's not going to be anywhere near enough to pay off his debts. On the other hand, there's no harm in ringing up a couple of firms to get an idea of their terms.
Reply to
GB

Google 'equity release' or 'lifetime mortgage'. They have dodgey reputation and are totally unregulated.

Reply to
whitely525

There is an excellent forum for debt issues here - - TMF dealing With Debt board. Start here

Many of the people have been there, done that, & got the T-shirt, so the advice is from people who have a detailed knowledge of the subject.

Beware of debt management companies -

"Debt Management Companies

A lot of people see the adverts on TV promising to reduce your payments to an affordable amount each month by negotiating payment terms with your creditors. The bit they miss is that they charge a fee

- usually around 15%. This is 15% of your money that could be paying off your debts! Instead, try the following companies who offer the same service at no cost to you:

- Free debt management companies: and

- Free debt advice: "

Quote from -

More links on my webpage -

hth

Daytona

Reply to
Daytona

Indeed. :-)

Thanks for that. I will search. And thanks for the warning...

Hank

Reply to
Hank

Will do. Thanks.

Hank

Reply to
Hank

Thanks... Even 25% of the house value would be a big help. What happens if I want to sell the house and move to another? Is that still possible under these schemes? Or does one have to pay back the money in the event that one sells the house?

Hank

Reply to
Hank

PS Yes, I see this is possible, after reading the basics of a few schemes.

Hank

Reply to
Hank

Say you got 25% of the house value, that would come to say 45,000 Pounds, but you would have to pay off your mortgage with most of it, so you wouldn't have that much left over. Still, you would be saved the mortgage interest. On the other hand, you would lose a lot of flexibility. I'm rather doubtful about this.

Have you thought of simply selling the house and moving somewhere smaller?

Reply to
GB

That's a crap deal, you'd be better off selling the housing and investing the money then renting with the yield.

Reply to
Virgils Ghost

In message , snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.co.uk writes

But will be regulated very soon.

Reply to
John Boyle

That is an option I hadn't thought of. Thanks for the suggestion.

Hank

Reply to
Hank

That is an option, but I would really like to avoid moving down-market, and I would like to avoid the upheaval and stress of selling and moving. Also, the house I live in has been converted into two flats, and it is very nice to be able to rent one of the flats to supplement my income.

I have looked into the possibility of selling one of the flats, but it would be difficult for a number of reasons. For one thing, I would have to get rid of the tenant in the other flat while the place was renovated and a buyer found. I just can't afford to be without that rent coming in. There might well be legal complications too, as the conversion was done without planning permission. And it could also result in me having to bring the place up to modern building regs standards, which would cost a lot of money.

I'm interested to know in what way I'd lose flexibility. Can you clarify?

I'll be 55 this year, which seems to be the youngest age typically acceptable for some of these arrangements. I like the idea of selling a *half*-share of the property, which would be more than enough to pay off all my debt. Earlier, you suggested that 25% would be the maximum I could get. Do you not think it is possible that one of these companies would buy a 50% share?

Thanks again,

Hank

Reply to
Hank

25% of the property value is what you would get for selling a 100% share.
Reply to
Jonathan Bryce

Remember they are not so much buying a share in the property (if they did they'd charge you rent for living there), but rather giving you a loan against it repayable on your death. They will be wanting an amount that includes 30 odd years interest on the money. Eg if they lent you 50,000, they'd probably be looking at wanting at least 300,000 when you die (which includes about 6-7% interest pa compounded).

Reply to
Andy Pandy

In message , Andy Pandy writes

A 'Home Reversion' scheme is when the company buys the home and rents it back at a nominal rent. A 'Lifetime Mortgage' is a roll up loan. Hank could possibly do either.

Reply to
John Boyle

Ah! Not so good! :-7

Hank

Reply to
Hank

That certainly describes one type of equity release scheme, namely the "Lifetime Mortgage". I'm wondering what happens if the property is not worth £300,000 when I die (in the above example). Their tough luck, pehaps.

But I gather there are other schemes that also come under the category of "equity release schemes" are there not?

Hank

Reply to
Hank

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