Are your parents over sixty? Have they started to plan for their retirement or are they already retired?
This period of their lives introduces huge changes in lifestyle and habits and is a time when your parents will be considering what they want for their future, including what they wish to do once they leave full-time employment; from visiting countries they’ve never seen to spending more time with their friends and family.
Of course, you don’t always live around the corner from your parents and if they do live far away, they may feel that they are missing out on moments that they want to share like birthdays and graduations. It may be that they have also experienced health issues, and this is a time when friends and family could offer them much-needed support as they recover. Living miles from the family and friends they love can be lonely and a phone call is never the same as a face-to-face visit.
Understanding your parents’ current situation
Retirement isn’t something that everyone looks forward to. Money worries including outstanding mortgage or old debt can be a burden and there is the concern that they won’t always be fit and healthy. It’s important that you talk with your parents about their plans and offer them emotional support as they start to think about what things will look like when they retire. It’s not always easy, but there are resources available to help.
If both of your parents are over sixty, Homewise could help them to find the perfect home and free up funds to enable them to make the most out of their retirement. We help people find, secure, and move home every day using our Home for Life Plan.
Learn how our friendly team of experts could help and support your parents, making their move easier.
Homewise can help your parents:
We can help your parents find the perfect home
The Home for Life Plan is a Lifetime Lease and can be applied to nearly every property on the open market in England and Wales. The property doesn’t need to be advertised with Homewise.
We offer a bespoke saving* on the price of your parents chosen property, which could put the home of their dreams within reach. Your parents would be able to secure their next home for less than the market value, giving them the right to live in the property rent, interest and mortgage-free for their lifetime.
The Home for Life Plan is an alternative option to a mortgage, loan, or equity release plan. We’re not offering any form of financial service. We simply help people over 60 to find and move to a home they can live in securely, without any interest or debt, for their lifetime.
We can help protect your parents in a new home for their lifetime
We’re a family-run business at heart, and our values and ethos come from how we would like to see our own families treated. If it’s not good enough for our own parents, then it’s not good enough for our customers. You can trust we’ll always be honest with you and your parents, and if the Home for Life Plan is not the right option for them then we’ll say so.
The Home for Life Plan is a Lifetime Lease which means your parents will be secure and able to live happily in their home for their lifetime. If both your parents are on the lease agreement, the plan will only end when they have both moved into long-term care or passed away.
This means if one of your parents sadly passes away for example, your surviving parent will still be completely protected and secure in their home, with no rent, mortgage or interest to pay at any time, giving them one less thing to worry about when there is already so much to think about.
The Home for Life Plan can offer your parents security and protection and give them freedom from financial burdens, enabling them to enjoy the sort of lifestyle in their retirement that we all want for our parents.
We can help your parents free up funds for their retirement
As your parents plan for retirement, financial concerns may weigh on their minds; things like an existing mortgage or debt that needs to be cleared. This could mean that any budget they have available for moving could be reduced more than they initially anticipated.
If you’re helping your parents find a new home, it’s best to get a clear picture of their affordability from the start. We‘ve put together a worksheet that can help you to gain a better understanding of what they can afford. You can then use our free budget boost calculator to see how much the Home for Life Plan could boost your parents’ budget by.
By using the Home for Life Plan, your parents’ moving budget would be boosted which could help to broaden their search options. This means they could find the perfect property in their preferred location, plus pay off any previous debts and free up funds for their retirement without needing to take on any other debt.
With the money saved, your parents could focus on enjoying their retirement; they could travel more or put the money away for a rainy day.
During the initial phone conversation with our customer account handlers, we would go over the options available, so you’d all know what the boosted budget would be straight away.
Being open and honest about the Home for Life Plan is important and we believe that family support is vital when making important life decisions.
You are invited to participate in any consultations with your parents and we will arrange them at a time that suits everyone involved. If you are unable to attend, then we can provide you with recordings of the consultations and are available to answer any questions you might have.
If you have any questions about the Home for Life Plan please get in touch, we have a team that is happy to talk to you and answer any questions you may have. If your parents are currently talking to us and you want to discuss their circumstances, we are unable to share any details about their account without their permission due to GDPR.
If you want to find out more about how the Home for Life Plan could help your parents and see how it could boost their budget, we have a quick and easy to use online calculator that can give you an idea of what your budget could be.
We can help your parents safeguard future inheritance
Parents often worry about their family more than themselves, they’ll choose to rent or continue to live in unsuitable housing for the sake of leaving an inheritance behind. But if asked what you want for your parents, if you ask the family what they want for their parents, it’s more important that they are happy and have the opportunity to enjoy their retirement free of anxiety and unnecessary struggle.
With the Home for Life Plan, your parents have the option to protect and safeguard up to 50% of the property’s future value. This safeguarded amount can be used for inheritance or to fund their long-term care when the plan ends.
The percentage safeguarded is agreed and protected when the plan is set. This means your parents can live happily in the home of their choice, rent-free, until they pass away or go into long-term care, safe in the knowledge that their interests are protected too.
We can help your parents enjoy a stress-free move
When it comes to moving home, it can be a stressful time for anyone, especially if it’s been some time since your parents have done it. We have a team of property experts who have a lot of experience in navigating the property market and know it inside out. They can help to take some of the weight off their shoulders through our free Move Simply service, and they will be on hand to help your parents with every step of their move.
Learn more about our free Move Simply service and how our expert team could help your parents to move home in their retirement.
Our Home Moving Team can help with as little or as much of the process as you and your parents like. They can help by:
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Offering guidance and support on selling their current property
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Conducting searches
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Carrying out thorough due diligence on potential properties
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Placing the offer on their desired property
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Handling negotiations and liaising with estate agents
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Managing the chain
Our aim is to reduce our customers’ stress and alleviate any concerns they may experience during the moving process. We want to make everything as smooth and easy as possible.
Learn more about our free Move Simply service and how our expert team could help your parents to move home in their retirement.
Choosing Homewise and the Home for Life Plan
We know choosing a Home for Life Plan can be a complicated decision for our customers and it’s a big decision for loved ones too.
Before proceeding with any Home for Life Plan, an independent solicitor, acting on behalf of the customer, must sign a certificate confirming all parties fully understand the agreement.
We’re open and honest about how the plan works and will always take the time to explain each aspect of it to our customers and their families. Before any commitment is made to the Home for Life Plan, we will speak with you and your parents to go over the Home for Life Plan and ensure that we go through everything, so everyone understands it clearly. We are also available to answer any and all questions that you and your parents may have.
Your parents wouldn’t be asked to make a commitment to the plan until after they’d found and were ready to make an offer on their next home. Of course, even after this decision is made, your parents are free to change their minds right up to the point of exchange, as they would be with any normal house purchase.
We know the Home for Life Plan doesn’t work for everyone but for those we do help it makes a huge difference and we’re really proud of what we do.
Our mission is to revolutionise retirement in the UK. We want to help people retire happy and be secure in a home they love for their lifetime.
If you’ve ever searched online for information about Homewise, you’ve likely come across a few misconceptions about us and what we do. Take a few moments clear them up and read 7 myths about Homewise and our Lifetime Lease. We have helped a lot of customers to find their perfect lifetime home, you can read about how we have helped them in their own words by taking a look at our independent reviews.
There are many situations where the Home for Life Plan could be the right solution to help your parents to find the right home. The reasons for wanting to move vary. It could be that they want to:
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Move closer to friends and loved ones
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Be independent after getting a divorce
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Clear their outstanding mortgage or existing debt
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Set aside funds to enjoy their retirement
Whatever their reason for wanting to move, we were able to help them to achieve their goals and enjoy their retirement.
Still have questions about Homewise? Visit our FAQs page where our frequently asked ‘what happens if…’ questions are answered or simply get in touch to ask us anything, we’re here to help.
In the meantime, if you or your parents are over 60 and interested in finding out more about how our Home for Life Plan could help boost your budget and help to find the perfect home, you can use our online calculator. It’s incredibly simple and quick to use and could help provide you with a better understanding of your potential budget.
*Savings range from 8.5% to 59% and depend on the customer’s age, personal circumstances and property criteria. Only available to those over sixty years old.
Originally published 22/06/2018. Updated May 2023