DM retirement flat. House not for sale yet

[ClaireEclair]

Hi there my 85 year old DM lives alone in her house which despite having a stairlift is not managing the upkeep and is spending a lot on gardeners for the large garden and cleaners. She has found the ideal flat in a retirement complex but has not put her house on the market yet.

The flat is £95k and her home is worth about £150k (no mortgage). She has about £40k in savings. Would any bank let her have a loan until the house is sold? What other options would she have?

Her house is in a good condition but is very much an home for an older person (wet room and stairlift).

thank you.

She maybe able to get a bridging loan? The interest rates tend to be high but they’re only meant to be short term.

Thank you. She’s just looked into that so it might be an option. Hopefully her age won’t go against her. She’s also looked at interest only. It’s a shame she can’t move in with me but I live 500 miles away. And also she would drive me insane 😀

Can she rent the flat while she is selling the house?

Does she absolutely have to buy a retirement complex flat? Other options could be to rent one, or to buy a more manageable properly.

Buying retirement flats is often a terrible financial choice. The service charges can be very very high and the owners estate has to keep paying it even after the resident has died. They can be very difficult to sell, leaving the resident’s family on the hook for hundreds of pounds a month. Then sometimes the developer takes a chunk of the sale price, which can be much less than the price originally paid (as most people want a Newbury flat, older ones are hard to shift).

The property market is fucked right now, so I’d also be deeply wary of a high interest bridging loan if you’re reliant on selling another property, which could be slooooooow.