Richard Latteman is an equity release adviser based in south east London. He has shared an extract of a book he is writing called “Bricks into Bread – Navigating through the Equity Release minefield”.
I stood up to leave. Paul thanked me as he shook me warmly by the hand. When Jane came over she ignored my hand and gave me a massive hug. “Thank you so much for your help Richard. I’ll be able to sleep tonight for the first time in months.” As I walked back to my car in the August sunshine I thought to myself ‘this is exactly why I do this job’.
What had made the difference for Paul and Jane? It won’t surprise you to learn that it was equity release in the form of a Lifetime Mortgage that had made all the difference.
It has been even more difficult than usual to avoid the doom and gloom merchants recently. While the current situation has been challenging to say the least the media seems to have concentrated far more on the negatives rather than the positives. I think it’s about time we redressed the balance.
I have been a financial adviser for 28 years and in that time I have helped clients with a wide variety of financial products which all have their place. Pensions, Investments and Protection are all vital to help build and protect wealth. However, in my opinion there is no other product like equity release that has the power to completely change someone’s situation for the better in a very short space of time.
Twenty-five years ago, Paul was living with his parents and they had the opportunity to buy their council house at a very good discount. His parents were retired so Paul was the only member of the household who was working. He helped his parents to buy the house and when they died he inherited the house. Recently Paul had been unable to work due to ill health and was just about keeping his head above water. He had about £60,000 left on an interest only mortgage. His existing mortgage company contacted him because he was less than a year from the end of his mortgage term and they wanted to know how he would repay them.
They wouldn’t extend the mortgage term and gave Paul an ultimatum: We want our money back in a few months’ time or we will go for repossession. Paul’s only way to pay them would be to sell the property that he had lived in all his life. An equity release loan of £60,000 enabled Paul to clear the existing mortgage and continue living in his home. That was why he and Jane were so grateful on that sunny August morning.
Meanwhile, Steve had just set up his own cyber security business and needed to inject £25,000 into it to get properly set up and take advantage of the contacts that he had already made. He released £25,000 from his flat and his business is now thriving.
Gerald and Judith live in Poole. Their daughter Jane and son in law Chris wanted to move down near to them so their children could be near their grandparents. However, Jane and Chris couldn’t sell their house near Guildford. Therefore, they didn’t have a big enough deposit to make the move happen in time for the new school year. Gerald and Judith released £100,000 from their property to make up the deposit shortfall and allow Jane, Chris and the grandchildren to move in time. The whole family are now all loving life being near each other in Poole.
I saw Ian and Anne last year. They owed £83,000 on their mortgage and the monthly payments were £800pm. Ian was working in quite a physical job and to be honest he had had enough. He was really only working to pay the mortgage and it looked like he would be doing that for the rest of his life. An equity release loan of £100,000 allowed them to clear the mortgage and have a bit left over to landscape their garden.
I was in the area recently so I decided to pop in and see how they were doing. Ian greeted me at the door. He looked 10 years younger. “You won’t believe the difference you’ve made in our lives Richard” he said as he proudly showed me around the garden. We joined Anne for a drink and they regaled me with stories of their recent cruise holidays. Again I jumped back in the car with a real sense that I was in exactly the right job.
These are just a few of the stories where I have been able to help change lives and I am not alone. I know that every other Equity Release adviser has a number of good news stories to tell. Let’s make a pledge to get those good news stories out there so that more lives can be transformed for the better.
