A property is part of the property, but the current income cannot be improved. If you need money in old age, you can also sell your house without having to move out.
Berlin (dpa / tmn) - For many people, real estate is an important building block in old-age provision. But the pension cannot be increased without having to sell the house or apartment again. If you want to make your property money and still live in it, you have alternatives, reports the Stiftung Warentest in its magazine "Finanztest" (issue 7/2020).
There are six options available to owners: the life annuity, a life annuity, a usufruct sale, a sale in combination with a rental agreement, a partial sale with usage fee and a temporary reverse mortgage.
These models are particularly suitable if the owners have no related heirs or if the property would rather burden the heirs. The catch: the possibilities are difficult to compare. Among other things, the data used to calculate the remaining life expectancy and the question of whether the residents have to pay for the maintenance or not have an influence.
Always an individual decision
The decision for such a model must therefore always be made individually. For example, those who regularly need more money to live are better off with a lifelong annuity, according to "Finanztest" - those who prefer a higher income, on the other hand, can choose a model with one-off payments.
It is therefore important to also discuss offers with trusted persons and / or independent experts, for example experts from consumer centers or specialist lawyers. And questions need to be clarified, such as who is responsible for maintenance after the sale and how payments are secured. Which entries are made in the land register should also be clarified at an early stage.
Information from the Stiftung Warentest (some with costs)