As the Bank of England has indicated that interest rates are likely to increase next year, here are some tips on protecting your mortgage from interest rate rises in the future.
One solution is to invest in mortgage insurance. For anyone with a mortgage over £500,000, the Interest Rate Protector will pay for a portion of the repayments on your mortgage when interest rates increase above a certain threshold, thus avoiding debt problems. If you decide to pay for Read the rest of this entry »
I have been getting a lot of questions about this lately, so here it is broken down. The equity release process goes through the following steps –
1. You will be offered a free personal home consultation that will provide you with all the necessary information about the schemes and will also answer your queries. They will also evaluate your choice and accordingly guide you.
2. They will then go about researching the perfect schemes for you. ( Week 1)
Lifetime mortgages are also known as Roll Up Mortgages and are loans that use the home of the borrowers as security. Lenders will usually offer the homeowner a lump sum of cash or the ability to receive some amount of income on a monthly basis, or a combination of the two. The value of the property is what is used to determine what amounts are offered.
With these mortgages just like most other mortgages there is an interest charge on Read the rest of this entry »
The ‘Home Information Pack System’ (HIPS) was designed to limit the number of property sales falling thorough by ensuring that the seller provides a comprehensive packaging of information with regards to the property in question. The HIPS pack consisted of several documents, including an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), standard searches, Home Condition Report and sustainability information.
The system had been introduced in late 2007 and was already gathering controversy, for example the cost of the HIP, between £300 and £600 Read the rest of this entry »
Currently many old people haven’t got much money to live on. Their pensions may not cover costs adequately, or they want to raise the extra cash to enjoy retirement and go on cruises and holidays. Despite having little funds and pensions, they may possess large houses which are valuable assets with money locked in them.
Releasing home equity allows this money to be released, so the money can be used for home improvements, holidays or can be spent on the Read the rest of this entry »
These days there are many older couples who have only gotten married recently, are owners of their respective house, and who do not live together. There are a number of reasons for this and often there is a problem with picking one as the main residence.
What normally happens to older couple who just got married is that their solicitor or your accountant will insist that you choose one as your main residence inside of two years of marriage. Read the rest of this entry »
For many older persons one of their desires is to be able to live their retirement years in peace doing what they want. They also want to financially secure, with a nice home, and the time to enjoy it all. One way for this to be achieved is through home equity release.
Usually after many years your home equity would have built up and it will be even more should the housing market take a more positive turn. It Read the rest of this entry »
Are you planning to buy a new house in the UK rose dramatically. The huge price rise puts the UK among the top five European countries to have the highest house prices. The increase in the house prices has turned the real estate into a Read the rest of this entry »
Homeowners with arrears could soon get a better deal if the proposal by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) goes ahead. The proposed changes aims at cracking down on the fees that lenders charge if a customer is in arrears. They also stress that repossession of homes should be used as a final option in extreme circumstances
Last summer the FSA came across problems with the manner in which persons who were having difficulties making their mortgage payments were deal with. Read the rest of this entry »
The Christmas and New Year period can often bring vital momentum to the housing market as people choose the start of January to finally make the move that they have been mulling over throughout the previous months. A brighter than expected January 2010 has exceeded expectations however and the buoyant start to the year has seen house prices rise by 1.2%.
There has been a string of positive, if quirky, stories about the propery market this week with news that Read the rest of this entry »