Leon and Maggie Cooper-Smith were in their early 60s when they retired, or so they thought. They bought a lovely thatched cottage on Norfolk Broads, thinking they could pay for it with cash from their pension plan. But the economy turned sour and so did their pension plans, leaving them with 40 percent less than they expected.

So they opened their house as a bed and breakfast to supplement their retirement benefits.

“I started working at 16 and thought I had done enough,” Leon, now 72, told the BBC.

“You want to retire, and you want to have fun during the last few active years you have.”

The Cooper-Smiths aren’t the only people of retirement age who have been hit by the recession and have had to find ways to continue to fend for themselves. The government’s care system for the elderly has also taken a toll: approximately 6,000 elderly with intensive needs and 275,000 with less intensive needs do not receive formal care.

As a result, more and more are leveraging the equity in their homes to raise enough money to care for themselves in old age. Those who own homes often turn to equity release providers. But they won’t just hand you the cash, there’s usually a prepayment fee, which can range from five to 25 percent and can be applied only to the original loan or to any interest increases.

If the prepayment fee, along with your existing mortgage, is too high, you may not even be able to afford to downsize to a decent home. It can even prevent you from transferring to an alternative plan or provider.

Fortunately, retirees now have someone else to turn to. If they need to make a quick home sale, either because they need the cash for urgent medical needs or because they need to be able to pay their mortgage to fully enjoy their retirement years, they can sell to cash home buyers. They are all over the UK and on the internet, it’s very easy to get in touch with them.

When selling to cash buyers, there are no broker, legal, or refund fees from the time an offer is made to the sale closing. There is even the option to sell and then rent again for a fair and reasonable price, if they decide to spend the rest of their lives in the same house. Too good to be true? Well, cash homebuyers will buy your home for slightly below market value, but with the ease and speed with which you’ll be able to get much-needed cash, you can actually avoid potential losses due to delay.

But a “sell my house fast” scheme isn’t just for retirees. It could be for anyone who needs to sell their house fast, for example, those who are getting divorced, or moving for a new job, or who can no longer afford to refinance. This is also especially true for another age group, young adults or those who are just starting to build their lives.

While previous and some existing borrowers may have been lucky enough to enjoy low interest rates, incredibly high interest rates are affecting the ability of new home buyers to obtain a loan. Add to that the fact that banks, despite billions of pounds of taxpayer support, are restricting lending. In fact, according to the British Bankers Association, only 1,000 mortgages were approved a day in July; the numbers were double what they were before the credit crunch hit.

But then again, taking out a bank loan or refinancing is not the only solution, especially when you already have a home. Just like retirees, young adults when starting a new chapter in their lives, if they need quick cash for whatever reason, they can sell their property to cash homebuyers, solve their financial woes, and look forward to a long and bright future ahead. .