Many homeowners use equity release for things like home improvements, paying off debts, taking the holiday of a lifetime, or helping their children get onto the property ladder, but Mr Ken Wood used his to rescue a vintage train.
An active member of the Rural Life Centre, Mr Wood wanted to rescue a vintage locomotive from obscurity and used 20% of the equity in his home to do so.
A home reversion plan from Home & Capital offered Mr Wood the flexibility to use the money to make a valuable contribution to the museum's railway collection, whilst still leaving a substantial proportion of value in his home.
And, not only did Mr Wood preserve a locomotive relic for the Old Kiln Railway by releasing some of the equity from his Surrey home, but he was also able to reduce his inheritance tax bill.
Mr Wood says:
"Anyone with a house in the south of England these days is likely to end up paying inheritance tax. Equity release gave me a way of unloading some of the value," "I don't mind paying tax while I'm still around, but when I go I want my money used how I choose and not how the Government chooses.
"The value of my home has gone up by almost 20% since we fixed the value, so I feel as though I have lost nothing".
