Parents need to Move ASAP

Princess1939

Hi,
My retired parents need to move house ASAP as my Dad can no longer manage the stairs and his health is deteriorating. They have seen a retirement apartment which is within budget and they are keen to move into it. They have put their house on the market and had 2 viewings in about 6 weeks. My Dad's health is getting progessively worse and they seem to be stuck where they are in terms of moving. What I want to know is would it be sensible/possible to buy the retirement apartment without first selling their home? Their current home has been valued at £230k, with an outstanding mortgage of £50k. The retirement apartment of £72k. They have a small amount of savings.
I'm grateful for any advice you can provide.

G_M

Depending on their age/income, it may be dificult/impossible to increase their current mortgage in order to buy the retirement home.

Or to get a 2nd mortgage on the retirement home.

So the alternative is to buy it outright. How much are theri savings? Could you/other family lend them the money to buy it? If so, your parents could repay you once the currentproperty is sold.

PasturesNew

The best thing you can do is to forget about buying the retirement place - and look at getting your dad into more suitable accommodation quickest.

You could approach the agents and see if the sellers would consider renting it to him until he's in a position to buy .... and to speak to the building managers to see if anybody else in that block has theirs for sale and would consider a short term rental until you've sold/bought something you want.

Retirement places can stay on the market for years before they sell - and they don't achieve a good price.

If you hit the streets and go door knocking around, trying to find somebody who would consider renting, or sniff out the one agent in the area that does manage the odd privage rental, then you'd get your immediate problem sorted and there'd be less stress all round.

There's one agent that you might look into - they seem to be buying up these places to rent. Girlings. http://www.girlings.co.uk/Property/Search

They aren't in every area, but if you read their page at http://www.girlings.co.uk/Pages/tenants says "We may be able to acquire a property for you to rent there or advise you when a property will be coming available."

I randomly found them when I was trying to solve a similar potential problem recently, before the situation escalated and it was off the cards.

You might also look for rentals on Rightmove as there is a tick box for Retirement. Of course that doesn't mean there are any within 20 miles of where you want to be, but the fact they can exist can bring hope.

pmlindyloo

There is another way and that is using bridging finance (bridging loan)

They can work if you do not need to use them for very long. The interest rates are very high.

I do not know how long it would take them to purchase the retirement home. It is possible that your parent's house will sell during this time. Don't forget that if they lower the price they may sell more quickly.

Since your parents have a lot of equity in their home they may want to either 1) reduce the price 2) go for the bridging loan. If you first made enquiries about bridging loans then it would give you a good idea of the 'loss' and help decide between 1 and 2.

I have no experience of bridging loans myself and it is obviously a great risk, particularly if they don't sell quickly.

I have been told that the bridging loan can go through very quickly. You need a specialist for this.

Good luck!

carefullycautious

Dont forget to check what the service charges are on these places as they can be horrendous.

I have found that if it is a non profit making housing association who own, the charges are not as bad as a private company.

The problems arise when you need to resell as you will still have these charges to pay each month.

Another option is to see if your local authority/ or housing association will accept him for rehousing. People who meet the medical points system are allowed to sell their properties and rent. I know of some who have been allocated a property whilst they have been selling so do look into this. There are some sheltered council run schemes which are ideal in this situation

Princess1939

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I'll be looking into these options for my parents. Hopefully something will prove suitable.
They have been on a Sheltered Housing list since November, but have so far not been offered anything. They are categorised as the lowest priority apparently, despite my Dad's health issues.
Happy Easter all.

geoffky

No one in their right mind would use a bridging loan with the housing market being so slow as it is..Average selling time for my area is over 300 days...Far too risky

martindow

Would it be possible to adapt the house so they could live on the ground floor? I'm sure they would prefer to live in the same house if that were able to happen.

bmar71n

it may be more convenient to make alterations to there current house so they can live there comfortably, as moving home can be very stressful