Age 60 want money for a holiday and to do some renovations

Extreme is a mild word, it seems some think I'm sitting on a box of cash I don't realise is under me..... 'Income' as I've said a few times is the Pup payment, and I'm not sure if my business will bounce back after Covid..'Pension' is state pension at 66, no 'lump sum' there.The 'Equity release checker' that I checked on a UK site was smaller than I thought, so I'll wait for them to send me the info and take it from there. I will phone a local auctioneer to get his valuation, and see if he'd recommend spending 60k if it increased my value by 120k....
Q. If I borrowed 100k from bank, or the Equity co , who would I owe more to after 10 years... IF the bank did 10 year loans..
 
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There is no way you should even be considering taking out a long term loan to go on a holiday so knock that on the head straight away.

You don't know what your financial situation will be in 6 months when the Covid restrictions are lifted. Your business may recover or it may not. Therefore it is premature to be making any longer term financial decisions until then.

My advice is to forget about this whole idea until then.
 
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BrenWW said:
I will phone a local auctioneer to get his valuation, and see if he'd recommend spending 60k if it increased my value by 120k....
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This has all the hallmarks of your phone calls to the solicitor and the financial advisor. How do you think an auctioneer would be able to categorically figure out that spending 60K gains you 120K. Especially as you've no idea what you are doing.
 
Your solicitor and Financial advisor weren't able to deal with you. AAM isn't either. Next a madcap approach to an auctioneer and a builder dealing with you would want his head examined. You either hire a builder to do the job or you hire tradesman to do jobs, the very idea that a builder would do a bit of this and a bit of that with you doing a bit of this and that is a sure fire way to a bad relationship and loads of money being wasted. We've gone from spending a minimum to make it look good costing 60K to increase it's value by 120K. Totally contradicted by you tellin us it needs

- 220m2 house needing new windows
- BER (presumably insulation)
- Plumbing
- rewiring

And mad valuations from 400K to 800K swinging in the wind.
 
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BrenWW said:
I will phone a local auctioneer to get his valuation, and see if he'd recommend spending 60k if it increased my value by 120k....
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I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who had increased the value of their house by 200% the cost of the renovations. It's the sort of thing people in Location Location Location suggest before being shot down by Kirstie Allsop
 
shweeney said:
I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who had increased the value of their house by 200% the cost of the renovations. It's the sort of thing people in Location Location Location suggest before being shot down by Kirstie Allsop
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I think everyone would be interested in that. It would probably involve stolen materials and slave labour but let's not get all judgemental about it.
 
shweeney said:
I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who had increased the value of their house by 200% the cost of the renovations.
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Lets be fair here, first off the OP is looking for a profit of 100% of their investment for renovations, €60K -> 120K not 200%

BrenWW said:
House - E400-600k on similar local properties
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So, lets go in the middle, say €500K plus 60K on renovations equal a total of €560K 'invested' in the property.
He then hopes to sell at €560 + €60K = €620K
Which gives an overall percentage "increase in value of their house" of 9.8% above what it now 'stands' him.

Or look at it this way, for an outlay of €60K he hopes to increase the value of his house by 24% to €620K.

Either way it is long way from the newspaper style sensationalism of the 200% mentioned above.
 

The goal posts have moved. At first it was spend 50k to get 200. Then spend 60k to get 120k. I think the 200 was taken from this quote:
BrenWW said:
I'm pricing stuff I'd need, to see if putting say 50k in renovations would yield an extra 200k in the sale
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Thanks for that. The money I was intending to borrow was not for 'a (grand) holiday' as some suggested but majorly to bring the house up to a comfortable/BER /saleable condition as nothing's been done to it in 40 years, and also to try to live life without worrying about the next bill (Last ESB bill for 60 days was €950....improving BER and getting SEAI grants would lower my bills) ,and perhaps have an overseas holiday once a year... Not too much to ask for as others, some on welfare, seem to have more comfort than me..
Regarding local properties, another 6 bed house has come on market at €450k just across from the €1+mil 5bed property so I'll dig deep to see why there's such a difference.
I can see no other way except the life loan, and my last question was would people pay more interest on a mortgage over the same time period?
 
BrenWW said:
Last ESB bill for 60 days was €950....improving BER and getting SEAI grants would lower my bills
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- what type of heating have you?
- when did you last read your meter.
- can you ask the ESB to spread out your annual bill to an equal bill every two months.
- For example January 950, March 100, May 100, July 100, Sept 100 Nov 500 = 1850 Divided by 6 bimonthly bills is a much more maneagable 308 Euro. Maybe the ESB allows you to pay monthly. Such schemes exist in various formats.
 
BrenWW said:
(Last ESB bill for 60 days was €950
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How is that even possible?? That is almost my entire bill for the year for both heat and electricity!

I can sense your frustration but I think you need to sit down and really think about how you will get the most value in your retirement. Whether you sell or renovate and stay, you will need the property valued so start with some calls to estate agents to get a better idea of what that figure actually is.

If they say it is only worth €400k, you can potentially borrow 15% of that so €60k. If the bills are as bad as you say, the property is in need of a deep retrofit and it is much more than a DIY job. You really need professional work for all plumbing, electrics and insulation. Unless you are a qualified tradesperson, you should not be doing any of that as you will not add value to the property. Your DIY input should be reserved to decoration/painting and external landscape/maintenance. To bring a 220sqm property up to any reasonable BER rating will take well in excess of the €60k so you need to think very carefully about whether it is the right solution for you. Anyone willing to buy and do a €200k renovation will be ripping out what you put in so I don't think you will add much value with a DIY job

Probably the better option is to seriously consider downsizing without doing any work to your property. Your bills are high because of very poor insulation and a property that is far too big for 2 people. If you downsized to a €250-300k property that is more modern, your bills will be normal giving you more cash leftover from income or pension in time to come and you will also have the lump sum from the sale to enjoy those holidays that you want. You might have to make some sacrifices in terms of location and views but I would rather be warm and comfortable in the middle of winter and visit the scenic spots than sit in an icebox looking out at it.
 
BrenWW said:
Regarding local properties, another 6 bed house has come on market at €450k just across from the €1+mil 5bed property so I'll dig deep to see why there's such a difference.
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What valuation did you put on your property for the Property Tax? How did you value it?
 

If his house is worth 500K he'd be mad to borrow a Life Loan. Instead he'd be better off selling. Not borrowing at all. Purchasing a house for 300K or less. Giving him 5K annually for the next 20 years for a sun holiday. Plus 5K annually for the next 20 years for heating bils. And if he purchased wisely, the 300K would have an income built in of another 10K say in rent a room, tax free.

Do you honestly think he can put in new windows, new plumbing, new wiring and renovate something of 220m2 that hasn't been touched in 40 years for 60K.

If he borrows a Life Loan he's snookered. He has to stay put, have one holiday and have not a penny extra other than PUP, a growing debt on his only asset and not a hope of fixing anything in the house if he needs to going forward.
 
@OP What industry is your business in? People might be able to give more advice on the medium term prospects for it if they knew that.

Also, I don't see it confirmed but presumably there is no existing mortgage on the house? You don't seem to have answered why you're so averse to downsizing?

Just in relation to your own point about not liking the layout of the 1.3m property nearby, do you not think if you refurbish to your own taste that that might limit the people interested in buying your place, whereas if you sell it as is it would give them the opportunity to upgrade to their own taste?
 
Bronte said:
Do you honestly think he can put in new windows, new plumbing, new wiring and renovate something of 220m2 that hasn't been touched in 40 years for 60K
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I never once suggested, intimated or even hinted that he could. In fact I fully agree with what you have said so-far.

I'm just at a loss as to why you quoted my post and then followed up as you did?
 
Good idea to start with, like the old shilling in the gas meter job. I know in 'summer' the ESB is about €3.50/day, winter can be €12/day so some levelling out would help, their site shows my usage so it could be done.
 
Any figures I quoted re renovation costs were picked from the sky, it could be 200k AFIK... I'm currently doing a detailed list and making phone calls re windows etc. Sentimental house in good location, spaced out neighbours (not that spaced out ), is holding me back but am checking sites and Nordic prefab houses - norskehus.no as an alternative, good site + house = €200k built, but in reality we won't be leaving the property to the state or anyone when we go so not worried about a 'wooden house' lasting 50 years
 
It's safe too say I am completely confused.
Op best of luck with your home,hopefully it all works out for you
 
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