Sell and rent back schemes are burgeoning as austerity chic hits the 'coping classes'.
Sell and rent back schemes could boom as more homeowners struggle to keep abreast with the rising cost of home ownership, mortgage repayments and the overall cost of living. Being in debt has never been so expensive as lenders pass on the costs of economic instability onto their customers. The high cost of living as more property owners are feeling the pinch means new phrases are being bandied around in the press, such as the 'coping classes' and 'austerity chic'.
'Austerity Chic' – Sell and Rent Back
'Austerity Chic' refers to the need for Brits to tighten their financial belts. Sell and rent back schemes offer one way of releasing equity in property, allowing home owners to stay put but still address their financial dire straits. And the newspapers are crammed full of lifestyle features embracing austerity chic – whether it's scouring the charity shops for the latest fashions or cultivating your own vegetable patch or taking up knitting to make your own jumpers and socks!
Sell and Rent Back – On the Verge
The 'coping classes' refers to those homeowners who took out large mortgages, with no or little deposit and who haven't had a chance to build equity, or bought too late to benefit from the now long gone property boom. The risk of negative equity is a real one. And as mortgage rates increase with inflation, many property owners are simply not coping any more. A sell and rent back scheme could be the only alternative to repossession for some families.
Get Sewing! Stop House Repossession
According to a feature in The Sunday Times, millions of Brits have been forced to find imaginative ways of cutting down their household expenses as a result of the credit crunch. For those who don't want to resort to a sell and rent back scheme, they could look into innovative ways of saving money such as investing in a sewing machine to make your family's clothes. According to the Times, sales in sewing machines have rocketed and courses in sewing skills are burgeoning. But for those desperately in debt, a sewing machine won't patch up the gaping holes in their bank balance, no matter how many cotton socks they sew – a sell and rent back scheme could be the only alternative to house repossession.