Equity Release

[Gettingbysomehow]

Anyone know where I should start with equity release, I want to release some funds for my DS buying his new home. I have my mortgage with halifax, would it be better to call them or look at outside companies.
I rang a few companies online and I'm already sick of the continuos phone calls.

You need to call Halifax and ask
It is typically a 2nd mortgage- and rates are grotty

I got an agreement in principle from NatWest in 10 minutes on Saturday but the rates are such that we are doing something else

You need to have enough income to meet the new payments and enough equity

You need to do this with your existing lender. It's not really 'equity release' - that's the thing that specialist companies offer to older people who want to release equity to live off. What you want is a second mortgage ie additional debt based on the equity in your home. We've done this a couple of times, and with Halifax.

I'll do that thanks, I'm very near retirement so I can't take out a loan or a second mortgage as I don't have enough years left to pay it off, my home is mostly equity now.

Equity release is an expensive way to free up money and will limit your options for you in the future - you’ll have to clear it when you leave your current property so if you want to downsize in the future, you might not be left with enough equity to buy the property you’d like outright. I’d exhaust all other options before you do this.

Only as expensive as mortgage rates. We released money a couple of years ago to do some work to the house and it was at the existing mortgage rates which were 1.8%. We've just done it again for school fees as part of the remortgage and the whole lot is at 4%. There's a difference between 'equity release schemes' and a second mortgage and OP needs the latter.

Hi

I work for an Equity Release Solicitors. I would suggest your first step would be to consult a Financial Adviser. I am able to point you towards one or two should you need.
Happy to help where I can.

This should be a very last resort. Interest rates are at their highest and of course it's compound interest. If you want to sell your house to downsize, then you will have to pay off some of the debt.

The deal with equity release is that once you have paid off your mortgage (or if it is nearly paid off) you effectively sell your house to a finance company for way less than its real value but retaining the right to remain in your home for life. The sum released could be enough to pay off the remainder of the mortgage and give your child a chunk of money towards a deposit but it's really important to realise that getting your hands on the money now will be throwing away a very large amount of money compared to other ways of handling your assets. You will definity be worse off.

You'll keep more of your wealth in the family and less in the pockets of finance brokers if you can sell your house ar full market value and downsize. Is that possible?

Avoid equity release if at all possible. As PP have said, most of the time you would be far better off with a simple second mortgage. Many lenders will lend post retirement (you just need proof of pension).

Equity release is only really viable if you pay the interest, then the amount owed won’t double after only 8 years.
At your age you won’t get more than 30-40% of the equity.
If you don’t care about the house being taken in full when you die, should you luve another decade, then paying not the interest won’t be of concern to you.
Have you not got a pension you could take a tax free lump sum from instead?