Arrangement Fees from Advisors for Equity Release - Do I need one?

MWT

Leodogger said:

Update - I phone StepChange Solutions but they can't give me a date with an advisor before 12 days time and she said it could take up to 4 months which is going to make it difficult for us as our daugher has now seen a property which she has put an offer in on, so she must commit to it in the next week or so.

You are going to struggle to find any route to equity release that is going to give you a confirmed offer within that sort of time-frame, but if one of the more expensive advisors can guarantee that, then it is perhaps something you might want to pay the extra for...

... but I would caution that most of the delays in the process are not within the power of your advisor to do much about, you could be waiting more than 2 weeks just to get the survey done...

Leodogger

MWT said:

Leodogger said:

Update - I phone StepChange Solutions but they can't give me a date with an advisor before 12 days time and she said it could take up to 4 months which is going to make it difficult for us as our daugher has now seen a property which she has put an offer in on, so she must commit to it in the next week or so.

You are going to struggle to find any route to equity release that is going to give you a confirmed offer within that sort of time-frame, but if one of the more expensive advisors can guarantee that, then it is perhaps something you might want to pay the extra for...

... but I would caution that most of the delays in the process are not within the power of your advisor to do much about, you could be waiting more than 2 weeks just 

I understand what you are saying.    I need to find out what timeframe Equity Release Supermarket are offering, but I am now thinking that as it could stretch out to longer than we might want, we may have to think of another way to fund my daughter's property until the equity release comes through.   Luckily it is a fairly cheap property in Spain and we may be able to raise the funds between us to cover it until then, i.e. savings and a small loan !

MWT

Just to give you some more context, we started the process on 30th September, received a confirmed offer by 6th November, and then delayed proceeding until 26th November so we were just past my wife's birthday, cash was in the bank by the 2nd week of December. .

Just something to consider but the interest rates, amount you can release etc. are linked directly to the youngest life on the property, so proximity to a birthday for the youngest life can make a difference that is worth waiting for, especially if you are close to a breakpoint in the LTV ratio for the lower interest products.

So while 2 weeks is not really on the cards, it may not take as long as 4 months either...

Leodogger

So from start to finish then it took you about 10 weeks then, but a bit different to the 16 weeks she quoted me !

MWT

Leodogger said:

So from start to finish then it took you about 10 weeks then, but a bit different to the 16 weeks she quoted me !

That wasn't a quote, that was a 'could take up to 4 months', and is is always wise to set expectations and then deliver early if possible...

With a different lender/valuer/solicitor it could have been longer, if we had been slower at getting documents and information back to them it could have been longer...

I'd say that 2-4 months is a reasonable range from our experience.

Leodogger

MWT said:

Leodogger said:

So from start to finish then it took you about 10 weeks then, but a bit different to the 16 weeks she quoted me !

That wasn't a quote, that was a 'could take up to 4 months', and is is always wise to set expectations and then deliver early if possible...

With a different lender/valuer/solicitor it could have been longer, if we had been slower at getting documents and information back to them it could have been longer...

I'd say that 2-4 months is a reasonable range from our experience.

Well this little venture is turning into a nightmare.   We have to get a "Trust" removed from our wills and I went online to see how long it takes to get the Land Registry to take off the Trust and basically THAT could take anything up to 3 months as they are all "all together now -    WORKING FROM HOME" .    The excuse used by the Civil Service to say they will work when they feel like it.   On top of that the solicitor has told me it takes a month to get the wills changed, even though they will be exactly the same as before the Trust was added, the legal admin said, they have to send a document to you for you to sign to say you want them to make the changes, return it, then they send the draft copy for you to sign and return and then you have to go in to sign them!!

Then they wonder why mental illness and stress is going through the roof.    I did say to her that whilst you are waiting for all that to be done one of you might die and then you would probably have to start all over again and have wasted your money !!

MWT

Unfortunately there is a lot of 'Hurry-up and wait' in these things

There are some other things you can do to help remove other potential obstacles while you wait for some of this stuff...

Keep in mind that I don't know you or your property, so just making general comments...

Do take some time to declutter the property, it is something the valuer will judge you on for the lender as they view this as an indication of how well you will keep things in the future, so rooms with significant quantities of 'stuff' piled up are a concern for them.

Similarly they will look for signs that you are staying on top of the maintenance of the property, so signs it should have been painted years ago, or broken fencing, missing roof tiles etc. are another concern...

Hopefully you've already considered more significant issues like adjacency to commercial/retail premises, 'rent-a-roof' solar PV and that the property is of traditional construction, as those will just stop the application in its tracks.

TrickyDicky101

Leodogger said:

MWT said:

Leodogger said:

So from start to finish then it took you about 10 weeks then, but a bit different to the 16 weeks she quoted me !

That wasn't a quote, that was a 'could take up to 4 months', and is is always wise to set expectations and then deliver early if possible...

With a different lender/valuer/solicitor it could have been longer, if we had been slower at getting documents and information back to them it could have been longer...

I'd say that 2-4 months is a reasonable range from our experience.

Well this little venture is turning into a nightmare.   We have to get a "Trust" removed from our wills and I went online to see how long it takes to get the Land Registry to take off the Trust and basically THAT could take anything up to 3 months as they are all "all together now -    WORKING FROM HOME" .    The excuse used by the Civil Service to say they will work when they feel like it.   On top of that the solicitor has told me it takes a month to get the wills changed, even though they will be exactly the same as before the Trust was added, the legal admin said, they have to send a document to you for you to sign to say you want them to make the changes, return it, then they send the draft copy for you to sign and return and then you have to go in to sign them!!

Then they wonder why mental illness and stress is going through the roof.    I did say to her that whilst you are waiting for all that to be done one of you might die and then you would probably have to start all over again and have wasted your money !!

Is your property already held in a trust?  Why would that be and when was it placed within it?

MWT

TrickyDicky101 said:

Is your property already held in a trust?  Why would that be and when was it placed within it?

There was a mention of a Tenants in Common Trust provision in the wills... so not in a trust yet, but the provision is an impediment to getting equity release as it is usually predicated on the entire value of the property passing to the surviving partner and then subsequently the full value being available at disposal to repay the loan + rolled-up interest...

Leodogger

MWT said:

Unfortunately there is a lot of 'Hurry-up and wait' in these things

There are some other things you can do to help remove other potential obstacles while you wait for some of this stuff...

Keep in mind that I don't know you or your property, so just making general comments...

Do take some time to declutter the property, it is something the valuer will judge you on for the lender as they view this as an indication of how well you will keep things in the future, so rooms with significant quantities of 'stuff' piled up are a concern for them.

Similarly they will look for signs that you are staying on top of the maintenance of the property, so signs it should have been painted years ago, or broken fencing, missing roof tiles etc. are another concern...

Hopefully you've already considered more significant issues like adjacency to commercial/retail premises, 'rent-a-roof' solar PV and that the property is of traditional construction, as those will just stop the application in its tracks.

Actually we are very organised people, our property is always tidy and we have just had a new roof.   Even Age Partnership said he could see we maintained the property really well.   Also we are nowhere near commercial premises and have no solar panels and have never been flooded !

The financial advisor just rang me from Equity Release Supermarket and told me that Aviva offer Equity Release WITHOUT removing the Trust Will but would only offer us £85,440, nearly £15,000 less than we wanted.  Also their interest rate is slightly higher than More2Life at 5.19% which means even though we would be taking £15,000 less, after 17 yrs we would (or rather my kids would be) paying back £199,000 on £85,440 just £21,000 less than an offer of £100,000 over 17 yrs or a final sum owing of £220,000.