Monday, September 18, 2006

Reverse mortgage a loan against your home

Reverse mortgage is simply a loan against your home that you do not have to pay back for as long as you live there. The best thing is that the cash you get from a reverse mortgage can be paid to you in several ways. As a regular monthly cash advance or as a credit line account that lets you decide when and how much of your available cash is paid to you. You can also have a combination of these payment methods. It does not matter how this loan is paid out to you. You typically don’t have to pay anything back until you die.

The difference with a reverse mortgage is that you don’t have to make monthly repayments. So there is no need for a minimum amount of income to qualify for a reverse mortgage. You can have no income and still be able to get a reverse mortgage. With a reverse mortgage there are no monthly repayments to make so you can’t lose your home by not making them. You can easily see how a reverse mortgage works by comparing it to a forward mortgage which is the kind you use to buy a home. Both types of mortgages create debt against your home and both affect how much equity or ownership value you have in your home. The purpose of reverse mortgages is different than forward mortgages. With a reverse mortgage you are taking the equity out in cash. It is just the opposite. The amount you owe gets larger as you get more and more cash and more interest is added to your loan balance, unless the value of your home grows faster than the interest rate.

Reasons to apply for a reverse mortgage loan

A reverse mortgage is a loan you take against your house from the equity in your house that you do not have to repay, as long as you live there. You can choose to pay it off if you sell your home or you can simply live in your home until you both pass away and the home would then belong to the bank. Remember that you will still need to pay for your property taxes, insurance and repairs. If you do not, the loan could become due in full.


Who qualifies for a reverse mortgage loan?

Anyone who; is over 62 years of age, owns their home and has paid off at least 60% of their mortgage. Unlike a regular mortgage or line of credit, a potential borrower must meet with a reverse mortgage counselor to make sure you fully understand what you are getting. Your bank or the HUD will have a list.


Reasons to get a reverse mortgage:



  1. You can't keep up with your high medical bills.

  2. Your company let you go before you were eligible for the pension plan.

  3. Your children are financially sound, but you don't have enough money left after paying the bills to do anything fun or buy anything that's not a necessity.

  4. These are your golden years and you would like to travel and travel well and often, not a few budget trips.

  5. Your house is in desperate need of repair, but you don't want the additional monthly bill of a home equity loan or line of credit.

  6. Social Security isn't enough to pay your bills with.

  7. You lost a lot of money in the stock market and your savings are pretty small.

  8. Your children could use major financial help and your savings aren't that big.

  9. You have no children to leave your house to and your nieces and nephews are well taken care of.

  10. You and your spouse didn't have life insurance policies and now you're in trouble financially.

  11. You retired early or had to retire for various reasons, but you don't yet quality for Social Security or want to wait a few years to get a larger monthly payment.

Monday, September 04, 2006

Is reverse mortgage right for you

Any individual who is considering a reverse mortgage has a very important decision to make. An individual who is considering this type of loan is doing so because he or she needs the funds for some main purpose. Someone may have a large purchase that is necessary.


Have the ability to secure this virtually free type of mortgage. The older you are. The processing of a reverse mortgage is quick and painless. Which means you will have access to the finances you need much quicker. One of the main criteria for qualifying for this type of mortgage is equity. You need to have a significant amount of equity available in your home. Since the equity that available is ultimately what you will be tapping into to gain access to the money you will be receiving. Equity can be defined as the amount of money that the home is worth.


The equity and the value of the home are the same. Those that are looking to use a reverse mortgage need to have at least some equity to cash in. Since this is where the funds come from. The equity you cash out in a reverse mortgage will be needed to pay down the rest of what is owed on the mortgage. The rest will be yours to use as you please. Once the mortgage on the home is paid for. The reverse mortgage is an ideal choice for those people who are in need of funding.