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!

[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

[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?

[C~Q]

Sorry I couldn't post more before (am rendering a wall lol).

Firstly thanks everybody so much...I said to him about a working bee...he puts on beer and pizza and everyone chips in. He said maybe...i'm getting my mum, when she gets here to look after the kids and i'll come up for 5 days and try and get a heap done!

As for Super...he's already claimed it all...he also got a life insurance payout a few years ago. They really thought he'd be dead by now :/

He has a friend that works at the bank and has called him to see what he thinks.

I'm crossing my fingers so hard, if this worked out then it would mean the world to him...and MD he would just be so grateful to you for suggesting it...so thank you so much x

[C~Q]

So he spoke to his friend at the bank, hes the guy who orgainsed the loan and he said he doesn't have that inssurance. He did when he had the loan with his ex wife but not when he re mortgaged. The guy also ssaid that only the bank gets paid out and the insurance people then chase you for the money??

I don't know anyway it's disappointing He's pretty bummed. I'll talk to him about extending the laon though...$250K is not that much really...

[AnyDream]

CQ, I really do hope it works out...though tbh I'm a bit cynical about insurance companies and what they wriggle out of...so please do keep me updated, if it's in the policy make sure he doesn't take no for an answer and contacts the insurance industry ombudsman if it goes that far. Also don't take no for an answer until he has read the policy documents for himself.

[C~Q]

Thanks MD...so if the insurance pays out the bank, doesn't the ins company then chase him? Or is the loan over with end of story he keeps the house? I don't think it matters as I don't think he has that insurance but i'd be interested to know...

[AnyDream]

TBH I'm not sure about the ins and outs, just know that someone else pulled it off, got the house paid out for free and no grief. But you're right, you'd want to check it out pretty carefully beforehand, read all the fine print. Maybe it depends on which insurance company it is?

Does his friend at the bank know what his situation is? MIght be worth asking the friend to put his thinking cap on, find out if there is anything that can be done to help, even if it's a little bit outside the usual, kwim? Your DP sounds like a pretty amazing person, I'm sure people will want to help him however they can.

[C~Q]

Thanks MD x His friend know the whole situation, he organised both the loans and helped him get his Super...i'm not giving up though...thinking of making a vid and putting it on youtube...looking for a surgeon who will do his surgery for free...you never know, it might work! I saw that someone made a vid saying they wanted to be a millionaire as a joke and someone GAVE hima million dollars!!! Lol if you don't ask...!

[Mak]

CQ - if he is interested in the surgery you will find a good surgeon to do it publically. Seriously get some names and ring around. Often the really experienced, high profile surgeons like a challenging case. xxx

[C~Q]

His situation is that he had a tumor in his ear, they operated and removed it and a year later it came back. Now they want to do an op and cut out half of his head and his ear. He'll lose his balance, maybe some nerve damage and vertigo...this may go but it may not. And they won't do the op he wants (the same as last time) and he doesn't trust them not to go further than he wants anyway. But I might call around and do some investigating on my own and see whatI can find out....thank you so much!!!

[AnyDream]

CQ - I didn't realise there were financial issues around his medical treatment as well as the house. Mak was right. Many of the best surgeons also spend time in public hospitals. They are needed there to pass on their experience and skill, often they are the consultants or may also have teaching roles in the universities that are associated with the hospitals (so we're talking tertiary-level, hospitals that have research programs). So it could be that, having found the surgeon who can do the surgery, that they would agree to get him onto one of their public hospital surgery lists? Doctors are normally very compassionate people. And they meet him and get the idea that he's a good bloke they are even more likely to help. A detailed discussion with his oncologist about which surgeons would be the best to approach to do the surgery in the first instance would give you some names, then you can google, ask around, then approach the surgeon. His GP (if he has a good one) might be able to assist by writing the referral).

There is one thing I learnt about my time in the medical system - you need to ask and be assertive from time to time.

[C~Q]

Thanks MD...I can't tell you how helpfull you're being...i'm so lost with all this! Ok so he asks his specialist to name some surgeons and when he finds one he likes asks them if they would do the op privately is that it? Maybe also if he (well me i'm guessing) approaches a hosp with research program as his cancer is so ridiculously rare.

What he's really worried about is that they agree to do the surgery he wants a radical mastoidectomy where they do in behind the ear but he's worried they'll say that they'll do that and then once he's under go for the full temporal bone resection. And to be hnest I can see why he doensn't want that. No ear and half his head replaced with skin from his arse...I don't understand, seriously, why it looks so hideous with todays surgeries and things...i've looked at pics...it's hideous.

The last surgeons he talked to wouldn't commit to not doing the other surgery so he said no.