If you aged over 55 and have owned your property for a number of years, property price rises may have resulted in you having lots of equity tied up in your home. At the same time, you may have much less in savings. What’s more, state pensions have fallen behind earnings for years, so your income may be less than you would like. Equity Release allows you to free up a substantial part of the capital tied up in your home, without having to move.

Your dedicated Somers Financial adviser  will work solely on your behalf to make the most of the equity tied up in your property from providing an extra income, to providing lump sums to pay debts or mortgages, make home improvements, pay for holidays, cars or caravans – in fact whatever you want to spend the money on is up to you – and as a independent equity release broker, we make sure you get the best deals available and save you and your family the most money along the way.

Of course equity release is not suitable for everyone

Equity Release is designed to be a lifelong commitment, so we need to consider all your options before recommending a specific course of action.

You may find that if you change your mind, or your circumstances change, you could find yourself restricted financially, or liable for significant early repayment charges.

If you need to supplement your income in retirement, or need to fund a large expenditure it’s a good idea to consider the alternatives:

• Selling your property and moving to a smaller, cheaper one. Whilst this can be costly in terms of the emotional and financial resources needed to sell up, it could leave you overall in a stronger financial position

• Subject to your age and if you can afford the repayments, you could look to take out an unsecured loan or mortgage

• Seeing if you can use other assets or savings more effectively

• Renting a room in your home

• Checking with your local authority to see if they offer grants or loans for essential home repairs or heating improvements

• Claiming any benefits you might be entitled to

• Tracing any pensions you may have lost track of, using the Pension Tracing Service.

If you want to make the best use of the equity tied up in your home without moving house call us and let us fully explore all the options available to you.