Releasing equity bridges the gap for Huddersfield couple
05/10/2008
Not every couple enters retirement with their mortgage cleared, so when one Huddersfield couple were faced with this situation, they looked at all the available options and decided to use some of the equity in their house to pay off all their bills.
“The family home in which we had brought up our four children had needed a lot of major maintenance work in the last few years before we moved out,” says former police officer and police counsellor Jackie Jackson. “And that meant we were still paying a sizeable mortgage in retirement; so with pensions not stretching as far these days, the bills were really piling up for us."
Having already downsized to a smaller house in 2006, the Jacksons knew that they didn’t want to move again. “We took advice from our financial adviser and one of the possibilities he pointed out was releasing money from our new home. The company he recommended – In Retirement Services - went through all our options in fine detail, including the alternatives to equity release. At no stage did we feel as if we were being pushed into making a decision.”
The Jacksons decided to release a small part of the value of their new house, helping to ‘bridge the gap’ in their finances while allowing them to continue living in a lovely location a few miles away from their former home in ’Last of the Summer Wine’ country.
“In total we took out £35,000 from the equity in our home. We talked it through with our children as it will mean leaving less for them, but their response was: ‘You’ve earned it’.
“I must say it’s lovely not to have any mortgage hanging over us, and it frees you up to get on with all the things you want to do in retirement.”
For Jackie, that’s quite a lot. She has found the skills and experience developed in her career in great demand, and apart from helping to run various local organisations, she is actively involved in prison welfare. “And when I’m not doing that,” she laughs, “there are all the granny duties to perform!”
For a copy of the free Mature Times Guide to Equity Release, produced in association with In Retirement Services, click onto the link below.