Over 70's mortgages

No advice to offer Pippa but I’m so sorry for the sudden loss of your DH. I hope someone can offer you some advice, I’m sure there’ll be a GNetter along soon who can provide information.

Squiffy, thank you for your flowers, much appreciated. Hopefully, as you say, there will be someone with advice.
Kind regards from Cyprus

Discuss it with a mortgage broker. Look on line to see which companies are more geared to the older customer. Try the Coventry B S , they have been very helpful to us.
Sorry to hear about you DH.

pippa I am sorry for the loss of your husband.
My only advice would be that so soon after such a devastating blow, perhaps it might be better to defer a decision like buying a property and rent for a while?
Presumably you won’t know till you’ve sold your Cyprus home how big a mortgage you’ll need?

Pippa, I am sorry to hear of the loss of your DH...I agree with Jane, maybe renting might be a good idea for a while?

Very sorry to hear your news. It’s one of the reasons I’d never consider living abroad, downsizing is difficult enough here on your own. Good luck.
If you can find a goodindependent mortgage broker they will have a wider choice of mortgage deals than one institution.
The lenders are being a bit helpful now to us “oldies”.

How sad for you Pippa000. Hope you get things sorted out ok. There are quite a few building societies who lend to over 70s now (Nationwide is one I think). They recognise these days that older people often have more income to service a loan than youngsters. It obviously depends on individual circumstances but my 93 year old mother took out a small mortgage in her 70s when my dad died, on which she pays the interest only, and to be repaid when her house is sold.

Pippa I am very sorry to hear your news and agree waiting for a while may be a good idea.
Most Building Ss/Banks would look at a 10yr mortgage (maybe more) depending on the size of the deposit you are looking at and what your income is so it is possible.
Speak to a good advisor after you have sold your home as it could take a while to find the right buyer.

So sorry to hear about your loss. This must be such a difficult time for you. Do you have anyone in the UK that you could perhaps stay with while you wait for probate etc? If not renting maybe an option as suggested by Jainansworth as that would give you some breathing space before making the big decision on which property to buy when I am sure you have so much going on at the moment. My thought are with you.

What a lot of changes you are dealing with at such a sad time .

The option of renting first, as has been suggested, might be a good idea. Unless you already know where you want to live and the sort of property you want. In which case you could save yourself the extra work/cost of moving twice.

On to your question about Mortgages in older years? They are out there. As others have said get a good broker to help you get the best options.

Last year (2017) we thought about keeping our present house and buying an additional smaller house so would need a mortgage. We were both surprised by how much we could borrow and how many lenders were available.

Wishing you the best of luck with your house sale/move and may you find the help you need to get through this difficult time.

Kind Regards xx

Heartfelt sympathy Pippa I hope you can find the move you want.
You will have thought things through, so I won’t insult your intelligence, but just caution committing too quickly. From our experience in the early days of our marriage, the first years of a mortgage we ended up each year-end owing more than we had borrowed. It took a few years to be actually paying anything off.
After doing your sums, might renting e.g.near family, be a better solution?

dont go to a BS ,go to a reputable mortgage broker ,they can check all the mortgages on offer and find you something suitable .Our broker is situated in Dorset I can PM you his details if you'd like

Really odd this question should come up the first time I log onto gransnet in literally a year - I have just been investigating this sort of thing myself and found this article - although from the Daily Mail and although from 2016 it is very helpful and I have rung a few to start the ball rolling:
www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cardsloans/article-3709357/How-nab-home-loan-lasts-85-s-guide-getting-mortgage-later-life.html

Hope this helps and best wishes with it.

Thank you all for your lovely messages. We had already planned that this was the year to be selling and moving back, so that decision had already been made. Now I just have to do it by myself, with the help of my amazing and supportive DS & DD and DiL of course. I did think about renting but the idea of yet another move put me off that. As a forces wife and forces child I have already moved house 26 times in my life and really couldn't face many more moves. I do have a wing of my DS for when we were visiting home but need to find my own place, where I can have all our things with me.

paddyann I would be grateful for your brokers details although as I will be moving to Wales it may not be within his territory.

Kind regards and again thank you all.

I'm in Cyprus too Pippa000! Disappointingly I found that I couldn't get a mortgage because I hadn't lived in the UK for the two years previous to my application.

I believe its due to not being able to check your credit history accurately if you have been living abroad without a UK address.

A good broker is London & Country. Maybe it's changed since then.

I moved back to the UK from Spain in 2016 after I was widowed, and couldn't get a mortgage at the age of 60 despite having secured a reasonable job. Luckily a family member was able to loan me sufficient to put a modest roof over my head.

Dear mrsnonsmoker that was a very informative link. Thank you! (It gives a list of all the lenders with the age cap on lending for each).
It would be good if we could have a table of those 'reputable mortgage brokers' we always hear about and how much they charge for what when.

? Pippa can't help but good luck whatever you decide to do

Wait!
I am sure you feel an urgent need to return home but think carefully.
Is your home abroad in a Holiday spot? If so could you do a home swap for a few months until probate is granted? This would give you time to research the market and make sure you are doing the right thing.
A mortgage would be based on income only and not the equity in your current home, this could mean you wouldn’t be able to spend as much as you wished on a house.
Good luck.

I am sorry to hear of your loss Pippa000

Perhaps renting could be a good idea - we did this when we moved here although we had sold our previous house. It gave us a chance to look round and find somewhere we liked in an area we did not know at all.
If you intend to pay off this mortgage as soon as you probate is granted would a short-term bridging loan be better than a term mortgage?
Or could you put your things into temporary storage, stay in your part of DS's house until probate is granted?

If you need still to take out a mortgage you would have time to investigate and find the best deals.

Pippa000 I'm in the West of Scotland so Wales shouldn't be a problem to him .

PM sent

Pippa,
Very saddened to hear about your loss. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

Sorry to hear of your loss Pippa000.
Post your question on the forums of moneysavingexpert, Martin Lewis.
There are very many clued up people on there who will give you advice.