Practical help and ideas please!

[C~Q]

I need help for DP, his situation is getting pretty crappy and I am out of ideas..

So he owns his home...has about $230K still owing and the house is worth in a good market around $800K...he got is valued recently and they told him $600...crappy market plus it needs lots doing to it

The reason it meeds lots doing and it looks like a disaster zone is because he is renovating...reno's that he started before he got really sick.

Now he's really not doing well (he has cancer) and is struggling to finish. What would take some people an hour is taking him a day at least.

He can't work anymore so has no income other than disability pension which is not enough. Mortgage repayments are now $1800 a month. He has a loan and there is about $30K left which is what he is paying the mortgage with.

SO here is where I need the help and advice...he doesn't know what to do and I don't know what to tell him anymore...

How does he finish the reno's cheaply? Do you think the bank would give him some time off on payments for a while? He doesn't want to lose the house but knows it's better to sell once renos are done. He also doesn't want to lose it to the bank obviously...

It's awful knowing that what he takes away fromthe house has to last him the rest of his life potentially.

Soooo...any ideas?? Hit me please!!!

[Pretty Butterfly]

Could he use some of the $30G and get a local handyman from the paper to help him finish,then sell up?

He'll lose money from whats its worth, but I dont think the market is going to jump back too fast anyway.... plus it'll be a what, $300 G+ profit for now??
Hope someone with more money smarts can help babe.. xoxo

[ladybird11]

Do you or him have handy friends that could come in and do a working bee?

I think PB's idea is good too!

[AnyDream]

He could be entitled to payments regarding his disabled status that he doesn't know about. He needs to check ALL of these resources:

*He needs to check whether Mortgage Lenders Insurance was taken out on his loan. This is the insurance the Bank takes when you borrow a high percentage of the purchase price (usually paid as a lump sum of several thousand at the start of the loan). Total and permanent disability is one of the things the Bank's insurance should pay out on. Don't expect them to volunteer this info, he will need to track down policy documents etc. I know of a lady with BC who used this to have her mortgage paid out

*Superannuation - a lot of schemes have income protection insurance attached to them. It could be that he has been eligible for payments which he has not claimed while he was still working. Worth tracking down. ALSO many schemes have a clause where you can get the whole lot paid out due to disability or terminal illness (not sure which category he is in at the moment) - a few of the advanced breast cancer ladies I know have done this - it doesn't solve all your problems but it has allowed them to travel the world and chase some of their dreams while they are still healthy enough to do it.

*Talk to bank. Find out first (without divulging his circumstances) what their hardship provisions are. Find out if he can restructure the loan over a longer term (ie 30 instead of 20 years), it might make a difference to the repayments int he short term. Otherwise they may be able to do an interest-only loan provided it looks pretty certain that he will sell it and repay the loan sum in full at the end of that period.

*Are the family members who can help? Perhaps he could sell a percentage share of the property to a family member to raise the capital to pay someone else to do the renos for him.

*Put in a call to renovation rescue tv show

*Hospital/Cancer council social worker may have some ideas about assistance available/grants etc in his area. They may be able to refer him to a low cost or free financial planner for some assistance too.

The other thing is to try to get a realistic assessment of exactly how much more $$ completing the renos would raise. If realistically, it would only be $50K then maybe it's better to sell now without the stress of organising all of that. If however it is likely to be $100K or more then well, that's a couple of year's worth of living expenses. But it might pay to be realistic about what is in DP's power to achieve, either now or later on down the track when his illness may/may not have progressed.

[C~Q]

**** MD this is the first time i've seen him look excited in 5 months...so does he go into the bank for that info? He said he has mortgage lenders insurance and he has already had a payout from his life insurance because he has that Total and Permenant Disability....

[Miss E]

*Superannuation - a lot of schemes have income protection insurance attached to them. It could be that he has been eligible for payments which he has not claimed while he was still working. Worth tracking down. ALSO many schemes have a clause where you can get the whole lot paid out due to disability or terminal illness (not sure which category he is in at the moment) - a few of the advanced breast cancer ladies I know have done this - it doesn't solve all your problems but it has allowed them to travel the world and chase some of their dreams while they are still healthy enough to do it.:

I think you covered most of the bases MD, but I did want to add that when it comes to superannuation you can sometimes access the money you have in your account on financial hardship grounds (this is on top of any Death and TPD insurance you have). So it would be worth him going to his super fund website and downloading the form for early access of benefits. I'm not exactly an expert, but I'm pretty sure based on what you've told us he would qualify.

[AnyDream]

CQ, I'm not too sure, but I think if the lenders insurance was taken out, that information would be in his original loan documentation, so if he has copies of that it might be a good place to start for info about which insurance company & what the policy is called, then he could get a copy of the policy direct from the insurer. Probably best, again, not to divulge any info until he's sure he's eligible and what his plans are, though, kwim?

[Queen]

First xo
I would go to bank, and ask them for *leave* from payments, they do this, you will never know til you ask

Second, any chance of friends/mates/family getting in for *busy bee* we did this at my grandparents house, the entire family got together and did what needed to be done.

Good luck xo HTH