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Young For Reverse Mortgage

  Dear Edith, Our home is about 60 years old and would probably appraise for $120,000.00.We have about  $52,000 owing on a first and a second  mortgage.

My husband and I are 65 and 66 yrs of age.Our retirement savings is being depleted very fast.We both draw Social Security, but are having difficulty paying two mortgages and trying to get debt free.Explain the advantages and disadvantages of getting a reverse mortgage and paying off both mortgages.Would you advise this? 
 
 

As you understand, a reverse mortgage, available to homeowners 62 or older, allows you to draw on the equity in your house, building up a gradual debt, with interest,  against the property.No repayment is due as long as you remain in the house.When you move out or die, the whole debt is paid off, usually by the sale of the property.

You're pretty young to borrow on a reverse mortgage, and that limits the amount you could draw monthly for the rest of your lives.  And that large debt already on the property would have to be paid off, so not too much might remain available to you.
 
I went to the web site reversemortgage.org and entered your figures, just to see.It appears that you  could qualify for a loan of about $72,000.By the time large closing costs are taken from that and your present mortgages are paid off, you could take about $4,700 in cash, or opt for lifetime monthly checks of about only $30.

You’ll have to decide for yourselves whether this is worth doing.It would, of course, free you from your present monthly payments.If you plan on moving within a few years, though, there’s no sense in burdening the house with a lien for those upfront closing costs.

 

    Edith
Originally published on January 6, 2006
 
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