The UK Mortgage Market (May 2008)

 

In recent months, much has occurred in the mortgage market and with such a lot of press/media coverage, this summary may be helpful to people who wish to understand and ‘take stock’ of the current situation.

 

What is happening?

 

The UK Mortgage Market is presently operating in a manner that it is unlike any other within the past 30 years.

 

From a position of over-supply this time last year – with intense competition among lenders – both new and traditional – on criteria and on price – we’ve moved to a state of under-supply, tightening criteria, widening lender margins and, consequently, higher prices to the consumer.

 

Many lenders have even left the market – some large, some small. Others have withdrawn from new lending and are ‘sitting on their hands’. Even those with strong balance sheets funded by deposits and savings accounts are restricting their new lending in order not to damage their operations or overrun their funding budgets.

 

The most obvious consequences of this situation are a shortage of mortgage products, mortgage products being withdrawn at very short notice, mortgage products being re-priced upwards and generally more rigid lending criteria.

 

Why is this happening?

 

There are three key reasons for this happening:

 

Firstly, a lack of liquidity in the money markets – that is money that would have been available for banks to lend to each other. In the past (the distant past!) banks would have used their deposits – money in savings accounts – to fund mortgage and other lending. More recently, however, mortgage lending has increasingly been funded by money markets – borrowing from other banks – or from the sale of ‘packages’ of mortgages (Mortgage Backed Securities or MBS).

 

Unfortunately, because of the incidence of very high mortgage arrears within MBS packages and, particularly, those used to fund the American ‘sub-prime’ mortgage market, banks have had to write off huge sums – billions of dollars or Euro. It is estimated that 20% of lending for a number of years in the USA has been to the ‘sub prime’ market (the UK ‘sub prime’ market has been better controlled and has accounted for only some 7-8% of overall lending).

 

 

 

Major banks are now in a scramble to have less money market funding for mortgages and other loans and more funding for such lending by deposits – just like the ‘old’ days! And, if a bank has surplus cash e.g. from a mortgage that is being redeemed, it is not going to lend it to another bank that may have financial problems hidden away in its balance sheet. The interest rate at which banks lend to each (LIBOR) is much higher than the Bank of England base rate (3 month LIBOR is, at the time of writing, 5.8% compared to the BOE rate of 5%) and, generally over the last few years, 3 month LIBOR has been running at only 0.15% to 0.25% above the BOE rate.

 

In short, there is not much cash around to fund new mortgage lending!

 

The second key problem is, simply, confidence. Lenders fear that, as a result of all of the other problems in the market, house prices will fall and that mortgage loan performance – arrears – will worsen considerably. The consequence of this is the tightening up of lending criteria e.g. the disappearance of 100% mortgages – many lenders are now insisting that potential borrowers have a significant deposit. No lender wants to be the last one left in the market with wide-open lending criteria.

 

The third issue is that of the lenders’ mortgage processing capacity. Lenders’ administration systems can run into serious problems if too much volume is taken on too quickly and many have taken the decision to ‘cool it’ by adjusting criteria or price (or both). In some cases, lenders are no longer ‘open’ for new business.

 

Of course, the situation could become a self-fulfilling prophecy – house prices will fall because buyers cannot obtain mortgages to buy property. This possibility is certainly a serious concern.

 

When will things ‘return to normal’?

 

The short answer is that nobody knows! Indeed, it is quite possible that we won’t see a return to the sort of market that we had in 2006 and 2007 for many years. Arguably, the market then wasn’t normal either – there were plenty of aggressive new lenders with big aspirations who made the market compete on risky terms with little or no profit margin. Following their departure from the market, the remaining strong lenders are rebuilding a more appropriate approach to risk – taking lending criteria back to where we were several years ago.

 

The hope in the market is that, perhaps, a year or so after the ‘credit crunch’ started and when all of the banks have gone through a whole new reporting cycle, all of the bad news will be exposed and the write-downs and losses will be history – albeit it, recent history. To date, we are some nine months into the ‘credit crunch’ and, if the history of previous financial crises is a guide, we are more than halfway through the current squeeze.

 

 

 

 

If the confidence issue can be handled, we may see lenders becoming competitive again and with a return to larger lending appetites and willingness to grow.

 

Essentially, everything points to a slow and steady recovery; there will still be tough times ahead with the numbers of arrears/repossessions ticking upwards.

 

The Bank of England has made £50 billion available to banks via a ‘Special Liquidity Scheme’ and this is a deliberate move to free-up liquidity and confidence in the market; this has to be considered positive news.

 

Are there any reasons to be cheerful?

 

There are some positives in the current situation – fundamentally – the fact that the UK is not USA!

 

In the UK, employment is at record high levels (unlike the early 1990’s) providing a high demand for housing. At the same time, there are not enough new homes being built in the UK. The economic law of supply and demand means that the housing market is strongly underpinned and is unlikely to suffer a ‘crash’.

 

Overall new lending is clearly down but demand remains strong, in particular for ‘buy to let (the rental market is boosted at such times) and for re-mortgaging (rate switching, debt consolidation and capital-raising). The lending for house purchases is quiet and will remain so until confidence returns to the market.

 

In addition, interest rates are on the decline and some economists have predicted the possibility of BOE rate becoming as low as 3.5% to 4.0% next year.

 

Whether falls in BOE rate will be followed by falls in mortgage rates is far from certain – with sufficient cuts, the cost of borrowing should become cheaper and, perhaps, encourage more people back into the mortgage and housing market.

 

Mortgage brokers remain the most favoured route for consumers to obtain mortgages from lenders and the proportion of mortgages arranged by brokers has increased over several years as ‘shopping around’ has become more common. Customers need advice more than ever and independent brokers have a key role to play in this regard – in order to obtain the best possible deals for their clients and to protect their client-banks from other brokers or lenders hunting for good quality business.

 

 

Nigel Osgood on 01628 636360 ext. 257 nigel@afpmortgages.co.uk

 

www.afpmortgages.co.uk – Winners – ‘TOP UK MORTGAGE IFA 2007’ – The annual awards ceremony sponsored by Legal & General and Mortgage Solutions Magazine

 

Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage



Sell House Quick

Becoming unemployed is not something we even like to give any thought to the possibility of happening. However redundancies do happen and you do have to be prepared for the possibility of it happening to you. If you do lose your job and income then things could be extremely tight until you found work again, and with jobs being hard to find, it could be many months before you find something suitable. Mortgage unemployment insurance is one way of safeguarding against this possibility.

The cost of the mortgage unemployment insurance policy would fluctuate between providers; you could also choose to take out protection for unemployment, accident and sickness together for a little more each month. Some providers offer age based cover which takes your age when applying into account, and this is the cheapest way for younger home buyers to protect the huge mortgage they take on. It would also depend on how much you wished to insure against, which can be up to a certain amount each month.

Your mortgage payment protection policy would allow you the peace of mind that you would not get into arrears. If you do get into arrears and cannot show the lender how you are able to catch up, then they will have no choice but to seek repossession of your home. Mortgage problems can begin from the first missed payment which will show up on your credit file and go against you and the problem can very quickly escalate to you being taken to court.

However there is no need to worry about any of this if you have protected the repayments of your mortgage. You would have to check when the policy would begin and end as these differ considerably. Some mortgage providers would payout an income after you had been unemployed for a period of 30 days continually. Others could ask for at least a 90 day waiting period before they would payout. You could get a policy that would run and provide an income for 12 months and some providers may offer a policy that extends for up to 24 months. The details can be found in the terms of the policy and need to be checked along with the exclusions.

You do have to consider the exclusions as these are what help you to decide if you would be eligible to claim on the mortgage unemployment insurance policy you are thinking of taking out. Problems in the past did arise as a result of consumers not being aware of exclusions and being sold policies they could not claim against. This was brought to the Office of Fair Trading`s attention and resulted in the sector being investigated by both the Office Of Fair Trading and the Financial Services Authority, along with an in-depth review by the Competition Commission. The majority of fines that were handed out were to high street lenders who tagged payment protection insurance onto loans and mortgages at the time of selling the loan. One of which was a mortgage lender who had failed to have the best interests of the consumer at heart. Mis-selling has ranged from selling protection to those of retirement age and to those not in a full time position.



Rent Back

These days, with all the easy to get credit available everywhere you go, and even dropping through your letterbox every day, it’s no wonder that a lot of people find themselves with credit problems. So if you want to buy a house, what bad credit mortgage options are available?

There are mortgage lenders that offer mortgages to people who have credit troubles. These mortgages are for people with less than perfect credit are called credit impaired mortgages or sub-prime mortgages.

When you go to the brokers office you will fill out an application form, and then the mortgage company will check your credit history. They do this by contacting special companies that keep records about the credit history of most people in the country.

If they look at your credit history and see that you have never had any credit problems then getting a mortgage will be very straightforward. But unfortunately, there are huge numbers of people who don’t have perfect credit. For these people, it could be more difficult to get a mortgage, but there are bad credit mortgage options available to you.

Bad credit is caused by a few things; one of them is CCJs, short for County Court Judgements. You can get one of these judgements if you don’t pay a loan, like a credit card, or car payments and the company you borrowed money from takes you to court.

Another bad credit problem is bankruptcy, if you’ve ever gone broke, and the people you owe money to have been hounding you. You might decide it to go bankrupt, to give you some breathing space to pay them back.

If you manage to pay them off within a year, or even you can’t manage to play them back. After 12 months you can go back to court and ask that you will no longer be responsible paying those debts.

This is good for clearing up all your money problems but mortgage companies are not always happy about lending money to people who have been bankrupt. This is another situation where you may have only a few bad credit mortgage options.

The final problem that mortgage companies have, that may cause trouble with your bad credit mortgage options. Is if you already have a mortgage, or had one before and had problems making the payments. This will make the mortgage company, nervous about you making your payments if they lend you money for another house.

But don’t worry there are several companies that can help with these credit impaired mortgages. So the first thing you need to do is find a good broker that can work with you. He needs to understand your problems, knows about your credit history, and has a few companies that he works with, that can help you to get a loan to buy your house.

These brokers are specialists in helping people with problems like yours; they have all the contacts you need to find a company that can help you get the mortgage that you want.

This broker, has probably spent years dealing with these companies and has got to know them, and knows what they want you to do so that you can get the mortgage, you deserve.

He will know all the right companies for you to try to get a mortgage with. He’s played commission for getting your mortgage, that is how he makes his living. If he doesn’t find you a mortgage, he won’t get paid. So if he is willing to spend time looking for a mortgage for you, it’s almost certainly means he will be able to help you out.

As you can see, even if you have bad credit, mortgage options are available to you. You just have to make sure that you find the right broker, who understands you, and is willing to help you to get a mortgage for your dream home.



Passive Income

Hey, wait a minute! In recent months, the national media has dwelled on the collapse of the subprime mortgage market and the surge of foreclosures. But there is another side to this story that should also be considered.

The Mortgage Bankers Association recently released its National Delinquency Survey and the numbers are not what you may think. True, the rate of loans falling into foreclosure last quarter was the highest in the survey’s 54-year history. 8.4% of subprime loans were more than 90 days late or already in the foreclosure process. That statistic is sobering, but it misses the point. If 8.4% are seriously delinquent or in foreclosure, 91.6% of the sub-prime borrowers are current with their loans and making their mortgage payments on time. They are enjoying the benefits of home ownership. Those borrowers were given the opportunity to own (rather than rent) because of the availability of sub-prime loans and have successfully taken advantage of that opportunity. For them, the “American Dream” has become a reality.

Of course, 8.4% default rate is high, but unanticipated financial problems happen. After all, people don’t buy homes, take out loans, and then intentionally default. Usually something serious happens to disrupt the natural process. Commonly, it is loss of job, divorce, medical catastrophe, or some other unanticipated financial emergency that causes people to default. Keep in mind, though, you don’t have to a sub-prime borrower to have financial problems. Prime borrowers also default on their loans and lose their homes in foreclosure (no one is immune in this market). Sure, the percentages are higher for sub-prime borrowers, but they are typically in a more vulnerable financial situation. Of course, they have a higher interest rate and pay a larger mortgage payments every month, so cut them some slack. Regardless, the solution is not to cut-off subprime lending, but rather to embrace these borrowers’ unique needs. Particularly now, lenders need to offer delinquent homeowners programs to restructure their loans and avoid foreclosure. Let’ look at why.

Delving deeper into the MBA survey, we discover several surprising facts. For example, the surge in sub-prime foreclosures last quarter was driven by four large states, California, Arizona, Nevada, and Florida. If it were not for the avalanche of foreclosures in those four states, there would have been an overall drop in the rate of foreclosure filings nationwide. Thirty-four states actually reported a decrease in the rate of new foreclosure foreclosures in the last quarter, and the remaining states (other than those four) reported only a modest increase.

There is also a wide divergence between fixed-rate and adjustable-rate loans. The delinquency rate for prime fixed-rate loans was essentially unchanged from the previous quarter and the rate for sub-prime fixed rate loans actually fell! In contrast, the rate of delinquency for prime adjustable-rate mortgages increased 36% and sub-prime adjustable-rate mortgages increased 227%.

Clearly, adjustable-rate mortgages (“ARMs”) are the culprit and present a unique problem. But there is nothing wrong with ARMS, provided they are utilized responsibly. They have benefits you can’t find with fixed-rate loans. They have lower interest rates and correspondingly lower monthly payments. They allow borrowers to qualify for loans they would not otherwise receive (of which the vast majority successfully pay each month). Plus, it just doesn’t make sense to obtain a 30-year fixed rate loan, when in reality most people sell or refinance their homes every 5-7 years.

Nationwide, California leads the way with over 17% of all sub-prime adjustable rate mortgages. Similarly, California has over 19% of the foreclosures for sub-prime ARM loans. In fact, the same four culprits; California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida, have more than one-third of the nation’s sub-prime ARMs, more than one-third of the foreclosures started on sub-prime ARMs, and most of the nationwide increase in foreclosures.

Another factor to consider is the distinction between owner-occupied and investor (non-owner occupied) borrowers. A majority of the delinquencies and foreclosure starts can be attributed directly to non-owner occupied loans. This is because investors are notorious for defaulting on mortgages when the market dips and they see the value of their properties evaporating. Further exacerbating the problem, investors’ share of defaulted loans was 32% in Nevada, 25% in Florida, 26% in Arizona, and 21% in California. Yep, those same four states. Those rates are high compared with a rate of only 13% for the remainder of the country. And those percentages will certainly increase as property values continue to decline.

One more thing. The media has been quick to blame mortgage brokers for “forcing” borrowers into sub-prime adjustable-rate loans. I laugh every time I hear that. Anyone who has ever been a mortgage broker knows that you can’t force a loan on borrowers, prime or sub-prime. It doesn’t work like that anymore. Homeowners are more sophisticated than ever before. They have access to the internet, television and the mass media, and analyze available loan programs. They understand the difference between fixed-rate and adjustable-rate loans, between amortized and interest-only payments, and between “stated” and full documentation. They shop and explore alternatives. Ultimately, they select the loan they want, not their mortgage broker. Regardless of what the media says, that process works successfully for the vast majority of American homeowners.

All tolled, the sub-prime mortgage crisis is bad, but not nearly as bad as the media would have you believe. If you dig deeper into the survey, and segregate the four problem states, subprime ARMs, and investor loans, you will discover that with the vast majority of American homeowners, default and foreclosure are not issues. At least not yet.



Quick House Sale

Bad credit history is a big problem in everyone life you are under financial problems and your credit history is not good moreover you want to avail the loan to fulfill your financial needs then apply for Bad Credit Mortgage Loans. If you are under financial crisis and the problems become deep when you have already borrowed the loan and now you are unable to apply for the loans. To face that type of problems you can mortgage your property and you can avail the amount enough to fulfill your financial problems as well as repay the loan amount. Bad Credit Mortgage Loans are found in two types. Long term Bad Credit Mortgage Loans and short term Bad Credit Mortgage Loans. The advantage of long term Bad Credit Mortgage Loans is that you can also choose for fixed rates and save considerably on the interests. Interest rates for Bad Credit Mortgage Loans can be significantly lower if your credit score is high. Interestingly, people with high credit scores are also offered Bad Credit Mortgage Loans with no down payment. There are a large number of Bad Credit Mortgage Loans available hence getting an affordable and easy Bad Credit Mortgage Loans should not be a problem. Even if you have a bad credit history, you should shop around a bit and surely will come across a suitable Bad Credit Mortgage Loans. Bad Credit Mortgage Loans are funds that are advanced from a lender to a borrower upon the latter are application for a loan. The loans are secured by real property. A mortgage is the document that serves as proof of the property being pledged as security. In the Bad Credit Mortgage Loans agreement, the person who pledges the property and secures the loan is termed the borrower. The institution or the individual that issues the loan is called the lender. The pledged property can be seized in the event of the borrower defaulting on payment of the monthly mortgage payments. The process of Bad Credit Mortgage Loans works by the borrower receiving the loan first and then making periodic payments, usually monthly, over the term of the loan. Once all the installments have been paid, the title to the property passes to the borrower. Repayment process of Bad Credit Mortgage Loans is for the long term. You can repay the mortgage loans with in 25 years. Rate of interest depends on the amount of the loan and the security that you have to place against the cash. You can solve all the financial problems easily with the help of the Bad Credit Mortgage Loans.



Rent Back Fast

In many countries the purchase of a home funded by a mortgage is a common practice. But many people find it hard to take out such a loan, because of their prior problems, such as adverse credit history, County Court Judgements (CCJs), having mortgage arrears, being self employed, or having no proof of income. But these people too need a solution to get out of an overwhelming debt. Even though your credit history may not be spotless, or you may not be able to provide evidence of a guaranteed income, you should not lose hope. There is an answer for you, too. There are financial institutions that can help you make smaller payments on your mortgage by finding another lender wiling to offer you a better interest rate. These are also the institutions that will help you rule out the option of selling your home when you want to release the equity that you have built up. If you fit into any of the categories described as follows, then you can rest assured; there is hope for you.

You know you have your source of income, which may or may not be very reliable, yet you cannot provide any proof of your earnings. You can still take out a mortgage loan, which is typically referred to as Self Cert Mortgage. If you can afford to make payments, but you find it rather difficult to use a traditional method to demonstrate that these earnings exist, then you, as the borrower, can declare your earnings, and not have to come up with any proof of them, and be granted a self cert mortgage. The Self Cert CCJ mortgage fits in the same category, and although you may have found it quite difficult to get a remortgage having received a County Court Judgement against your name, you should know that there is a wide range of products available even for you. All it takes is that you contact specialists in Self Cert CCJ mortgage, and you will have your chance at securing a competitive loan, regardless of the reason that generated the County Court Judgement.

CCJ mortgage products are widely available, because even people with bad credit history need to become homeowners. CCJ mortgage Southampton is one of these products, and its features are similar to those of any other product in this category of loans, meaning that you will probably be able to get a mortgage or remortgage in spite of any County Court Judgements that you may have received. With the CCJ mortgage Southampton products, you need not worry about not finding lenders. These services are available to you, too.

Bad debt mortgage Southampton is yet another one of the financial products that you have at your disposal if you have had the misfortune to experience some adverse credit history. In most cases, banks and other financial institutions are reluctant in offering you any loans but there are other lenders that you can turn to when you have experienced bad debt mortgage Southampton.

Problems obtaining a mortgage or remortgage may also occur when you are self- employed and have received a CCJ against your name. However there is a financial product called Self Employed CCJ Mortgage that you can make use of. There are lenders willing to help you obtain a mortgage or remortgage even in this situation. You will have to talk to Self Employed CCJ Mortgage specialist who will make sure that your aspirations, circumstances and needs are entirely explored and then together with you they will provide you with the best solution.

One other financial product that can help you regain control over your finances is the Quick Arrears Remortgage. Having arrears should not be an impediment from getting a remortgage if you appeal to specialized companies who deal with problems like this every day. Quick Arrears Remortgage is also a good solution because it gives you the opportunity to manage finances through one payment a month. If you have had financial problems in your past, there are plenty offers for you as well and companies who can help you financially.

For more resources about Self Employed CCJ Mortgage or even about Quick Arrears Remortgage please review this page http://www.a2bhomeloans.co.uk



Quick Property Sale

If you think that the rates of interest of your current loan is too high, then consider the highly preferred loan policy known as problem mortgage. Problem mortgage is a loan scheme in which a person can switch their mortgage from current lender to a new lender who offer low rate of interest. This is a secured form of loan as mortgage is used by borrowers to the lenders. Problem mortgage generally helps the person to reduce the burden of interest rates.

In problem mortgage, the new lender will pay all the dues of the borrower to the former lender in a single amount. And the borrower will be responsible to the new lender. Problem mortgage can be worth considering, if the rate of interest show a hike in the few months. With the help of this policy, you can very easily lessen your burden, and stabilize your financial positions. This scheme also creates opportunity to save money for the borrowers.

In the market, there are numerous lending institutions, who offer problem mortgage at marginal rate of interest. So, before coming to a particular decision always collect and compare the offered rates by different lenders. Following such steps will help you to get a rate according to your payback ability. You can also seek recommendations of the financial experts for a better deal.

Problem mortgage can be regarded to be the best loan strategy for bad credit holders. They can get an opportunity to recover and retain their weak financial position. Usually, in this loan policy lenders approve loans depending upon the applicant’s monthly income, repaying capacity and his latest bank statement.

If you are thinking of approving problem mortgage in instant, then click the online application device, which is offered by every lender. This application process is fast and reliable, as it saves your time, and provides instant results. While using the hi-tech application process, furnish the precise information concerning your personal and credit score. So, problem mortgage has brought a great relief to the people who are paying high rate of interest.



Passive Income

A balloon mortgage is a loan that is provided for a short period of time for a set amount of money. Balloon mortgages will often involve periodic payments that are made at a fixed interest rate. During this period, the loan may not be amortized. The balance of the loan has to be paid in full at a specific time.

Another feature of balloon mortgages is that they will combine many of the features seen in adjustable rate mortgages and fixed mortgages. The interest rate will remain fixed for a certain period of time, which may be from 5 to 7 years. The payments will be based on an amortization cycle that lasts 30 years. If homeowners can’t pay the balance by the end of the term, the lender will decide how the payments will be made. The sum is usually converted into a fixed rate mortgage.

Advantages?

A balloon mortgage can be good because it offers an interest rate that is much lower than standard 30-year mortgages. If you are buying a larger home, a balloon mortgage can help you. Larger homes tend to have interest rates that are high, and this can make them difficult to pay off if you don’t have a large income. Balloon mortgages can make things easier. They are also good for people who plan on refinancing the home before the term ends.

Despite this, balloon mortgages can be much more complex than standard mortgages. Some homeowners who use them end up running into problems. You will need to make sure you have solid documents before signing up for a balloon mortgage. You will want to make sure you choose the right lender and read all contracts carefully for hidden fees or other terms. Balloon mortgages can be risky for people who don’t understand them.

Extra Charges For Balloon Mortgages

One problem that customers run into with these mortgages is prepayment penalties. These penalties will often be placed on people who choose to pay off the mortgage early. If you refinance your existing mortgage or sell the home, this can lead to prepayment penalties. The problem with these penalties is that they greatly increase the chances that your home could become foreclosed. Mortgages that have balloon payments are highly susceptible to foreclosure.

Pre Payment Penalties

The cost of prepayment penalties can be large. They are usually calculated as a percentage of the total balance owed. This could be as high as 12% and many homeowners have found themselves paying thousands of dollars more than they expected. If you choose to get a balloon mortgage you should make sure there are no prepayment penalties. If you get into a situation where you can’t afford the home, prepayment penalties can keep you from being able to refinance the home in order to get out of debt. These mortgages can be risky, and should only be used by those who fully understand the risks involved.

Short Term Mortgage – Long Term Problems

A mortgage is a serious financial endeavor that you should take seriously. They involve large amounts of money that most people simply don’t have on hand. If you get into a situation where you can’t make your payments, you could end up losing your home and your credit could be ruined. Many people have made the mistake of getting involved with balloon mortgage without doing their research. They chose not to read the fine print on the applications. They often end up in situations that can haunt them for the rest of their lives.

While balloon mortgages may have low interest rates at first, you should have a plan to make your monthly payments after the first term ends. This can keep you from defaulting on your payments.



Rent Back Fast

Pensioners should be sitting pretty regarding mortgages shouldn’t they? After all, they should by now have completed their payments and be the sole owners of their homes. Sadly, for some 600,000 pensioners this is not true – they are still paying off their mortgages, and not just for a couple of years after retirement. For example, over 20,000 who still have to reach the final payment are in their 80’s.

Couple this with the research from the Prudential which reveals that almost 25% have insufficient funds to finance their retirement, and it becomes obvious that some serious problems exist. Having to find the necessary funds to cover the mortgage payments when on a fixed income inevitably means that some other parts of the living costs are not covered.

However, many pensioners would be pleased to be on a fixed income, provided that it was fixed at a point on the cost of living scale! When looking at the reality of an income which is usually increased annually, but by a niggardly amount which bears no relationship to the increases in costs generally (especially council tax), then the true effect is of a reducing income.

Inflation also takes its toll. True it is low at present, but even at 2.5% a year, the spending power of a fixed sum is down by virtually ¼ in just 9 years. So which way to turn? There are a few choices but none of them are particularly palatable.

To provide funds for day to day living expenses it is possible to use the home as security for a re-mortgage up to the age of 75, but the interest rates are set at an expensive level. This is a route taken by many pensioners who can see no other way out of their problems, or are not prepared to take on the complication of other methods. Competition in the marketplace has resulted in more flexible products being available, and a lifetime mortgage may be rather more acceptable than it appears to be at first glance. It has the very positive appeal that it can solve the problems without the necessity to move home, and is worth investigating.

Equity release is another option which helps the homeowner to avoid the need to move, although there are usually conditions which have to be met before an agreement can be reached. For example, it is likely that the person wishing to release the equity on their house will have to be above a minimum age, and the house itself will have to exceed a minimum value. Also the value of the equity release will be only a percentage of the house value and some may find the figure to be disappointing. You would doubtless make your life a great deal easier when you bank the loan, but do not expect to live like a king! One advantage of equity release is that you remain the owner of a substantial part of the value of your house, and so will still have money which you can leave to your family.

Many will probably have contemplated taking in a lodger on a rent-a-room basis. This can work well but a lot depends on the lodger you get. Taking a stranger into your home is not easy, especially if you are of advanced age, and will require some give and take on both sides. Nevertheless, over 15% of pensioners would consider this as a way out of their financial problems.

You do need to carefully examine all aspects of taking in a lodger. Speak to your tax office to establish what the effect of the extra income would be on your taxable money. Also, if you receive benefits you may well find that the additional income has an effect on your entitlements.

If someone else (such as a mortgage provider or an insurer) has an interest in your house, you must get their approval before committing to anything. It would not do any harm to also have a word with the Citizen’s Advice Bureau – they would give sound advice, and could point you in the right direction should you need further information.

If you are reading this and you are well below ‘pensioner’ age, you should take it as a warning – you could find yourself in this position unless you save hard for your pension and start doing so without delay. If you have been putting it off until you have ‘got more time’, you should realise that time is slipping by and you need to see a financial adviser and get things moving without further delay.



Repossession

Imagine as an example that the home is valued at $300,000 and my down payment is $30,000 (10%). What would the monthly mortgage payment plus (monthly) property taxes be? If the location would affect the property tax, then please answer with a range. Thanks.

Rent Back Fast