- Would you like the option of moving back home if the residential care setting is not to your liking?
- Do you think the value of your home will continue to increase?
- Would you like children or beneficiaries to inherit the family home?
- Do you think it is a poor time to be selling residential property?
- Would you like some more time to think about selling the family home?
- Does your spouse want to continue living in the family home after you move into care?
- Do you have insufficient funds to pay for a bond without selling the family home?
Accommodation Bonds
If you (or perhaps your parents) need to move into an aged care facility you may find you need to pay an accommodation bond upfront.
Until very recently it was often necessary to sell the family home to raise the funds for this payment. Not only can this be a costly transaction in a flat or declining property market, it can be a especially traumatic for those wishing to maintain the option of moving back home at a later time.
Thankfully, there is now another way.
On July 1st, 2005 Centrelink relaxed the rules surrounding accommodation bonds and retaining the family home, making the full amount of the bond exempt from the Assets Test. Consequently, one of our lender partners can now fund accommodation bonds through equity release.
There are some real potential advantages to this:
- You get access to the funds quickly and with minimum fuss
- You may avoid heavy transactional costs involved with disposing of a property asset
- Once in care, you can rent the home and receive this additional income with often no reduction in your existing pension entitlements
Contact Centrelink or your Financial Planner for further details.