60+ mortgage for home improvements

elgripper

Hi, newbie so please be gentle! My wife and I are moving to a £400k property on the south coast from a flat in London, both retired on small personal pensions (total £20k pa). We will be cash buyers but the property ideally needs £50k of work. We have this and more but it is tied up in a property abroad we have had on the market for a while and despite price reductions are finding it hard to sell - will go eventually but not sure when. I am wondering if we should get an interest only mortgage of £50k to do the work, which we could then repay in full when we manage to sell the overseas place. If anyone has any thoughts on whether this sounds like a sensible or indeed possible option and if so which lenders to approach I would be grateful for your tips. 

MovingForwards

Best off speaking with a broker.
It may be easier to take a small repayment mortgage of £50k than try and raise a mortgage after.

Interest only mortgages tend to require an income of a lot more than what yours is combined.

elgripper

Thank you,  yes I was thinking of taking out a mortgage when we buy rather than afterwards. I was just wondering if anyone had been in a similar position before I go to the expense of a broker. 

Whats_your_forte

It is possible to do and if you have means to pay the mortgage and an income of £20kpa, consider a RIO (Retirement Interest Only) mortgage pending sale of the property abroad.

elgripper

Thank you, RIO sounds like just the thing. I will look into it