The deposit that was hiding
in her own home

Meet Sarah

Sarah is a nurse from Nottingham. She bought her three-bed semi about nine years ago, put down the biggest deposit she could scrape together, and has paid the mortgage every month since. She does not think of herself as an investor. Property, as far as Sarah was concerned, meant the house she lives in. She ran a free PROXERA home check for one reason: curiosity. A friend had mentioned it, it took a couple of minutes, and she wanted to see what it said.

What the check found

Two things had been happening quietly for nine years. Her home’s estimated value had risen, and her mortgage balance had shrunk. Neither is news on its own, that is just what homes and mortgages do. What surprised Sarah was the gap between the two: the equity. She had never actually put a number on it. Seen in one place, it was large enough to matter, because a slice of it, released carefully through a remortgage, could realistically cover the deposit on a small buy-to-let.

What she did next

Sarah did not remortgage that week, and she should not have. What changed was the question she was asking. “Could I ever afford an investment property?” became “is using some of my equity the right way to start?” She took that question to a mortgage broker, with her position already laid out, and started looking at what a modest two-bed terrace would need to earn to stand on its own feet. Whether she goes ahead is a decision for her and her broker. But it is now a real decision, not a daydream.

What you can take from it

If you own your own home, you may already be further along than you think. Equity builds silently, nobody sends you a statement celebrating it, and most homeowners have never seen the figure. Knowing it does not commit you to anything. It just tells you what your home could make possible, and that is a better starting point than assuming the answer is no.

What this could look like for you

Sarah’s position is far more common than people think. If you own your home, the question is rarely whether you have options. It is whether anyone has ever shown them to you.

• You are probably further along than you think. Years of payments, and any growth in what your home is worth, quietly build a position most homeowners have never put a number on.
• Finding out costs you nothing. Checking what your home could make possible commits you to absolutely nothing. It simply replaces a guess with a figure.
• The first step is smaller than it sounds. Most people imagine a portfolio. In practice the realistic first move is usually one modest property that pays its own way.
• You would not be doing it alone. A good broker, an accountant when you need one, and a clear view of where you stand. That is the whole team behind most first investments.

The best moment to learn where you stand is long before you need to know. It takes about two minutes, and it is free.

Example scenario. Figures are illustrative and not advice. Speak to a qualified adviser, accountant or solicitor before acting.