Comments on: Reverse Mortgage Information

By: James

James — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 11:31:33 +0000

Monique I would exercise caution and make these decisions slowly. Whether your husband is still active, do you want to travel?, do you have assets to buy back the apt. after your husband is gone. I will make an assumption w/o anymore facts that your apt. is paid for. A reverse mtg. has its purpose but it doesn’t fit everyones needs. The fees on a reverse mtg. can be quite high. Using a reverse mtg. to avoid raiding a cd with penalty is generally not a good idea. With your age difference why encumber the apt. when you are likely to need it for years. If health issues and health costs are a concern then I would be more inclined to protect the apt. with such things such as homestead filing or examining other ideas. He probably has medicare and may have service experience which may give him health benefits and even income if he was in combat.
Temporary cash flow issues are not a good reason to encumber your home nor is debt. I would advise anyone to avoid encumbering their home to pay off credit cards. I have seen horror story after horror story about people who use their home to pay off unsecured debt and then lose or can’t afford the home even within my family. It is far better to get a part-time job than encumber your home. Alot of this depends on your husbands health. If you need a nurse or costly procedure look at all the alternatives first. Beware too of doing the extreme things to extend life when nearing the end because that is when medical debt can crush you and often for no good reason other than our inability to let go. If you are healthy you could even learn new skills so you are more valuable on the job mkt. Make these decisions slowly and with all the cards on the table so you are fully informed. God Bless.

By: Monique Hernandez

Monique Hernandez — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 13:23:30 +0000

I am 52 years old and my husband is 85 years old. we been married almost 30 years. We have an apartment in San Juan Puerto Rico, that is our one property were we live, the thing is that the apartment is in my name for some reasons that my husband back when he was working, he has his own company, when we buy the apartment he decided to do it that way.

The question is, Can we qualify for a reverse mortgage, because he have the age to qualify, and we are legally married?

Thanks always, Monique

By: TStrump

TStrump — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 19:08:27 +0000

A friend of mine is retiring and we looked at these but decided against them as they wouldn’t lend a large enough amount.
Instead, we went with a secured line of credit with interest-only payments.
This way, he only uses the money when he really needs it … this kind of forces him to be a bit more frugal, I think.

By: 180th Carnival of Personal Finance

180th Carnival of Personal Finance — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:10:28 +0000

[...] from Accumulating Money gives us the lowdown on “Reverse Mortgage Information.” Like I’ve said, it’s not a great product but there is a market for it. [...]

By: Clint

Clint — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:47:38 +0000

In order to obtain a reverse mortgage, interested applicants should contact a local lending institution and inquire about the different options and rates available.

Personal and financial history, including a credit report, will need to be made available to the lending institution. A property appraisal may also be required.

By: Krystle

Krystle — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:31:17 +0000

I’d never heard of these types of mortgages. Interesting. Do you have any guidance as to how to a person can actually go about applying for one?