Appraising Your Home for a Reverse Mortgage

You think your home is the nicest one on the block–after all you’ve probably put a lot of time and money into improving and maintaining it over the years. But is your home actually worth as much as you think? Given the lukewarm conditions in many housing markets across the U.S., you could have a lot less home equity than you think. It’s important to get a realistic appraisal for your home if you plan to apply for a reverse loan.

Reverse Mortgages and Home Equity

The amount of money you receive from a reverse home mortgage depends upon your home’s value, in addition to your age and current reverse mortgage rates. Before you spend money on a reverse mortgage appraisal, it’s smart to get an idea of your home’s value in today’s market. If you wouldn;t be able to borrow as much money as you’d like today, you might want to hold off, until increasing property values (and your increasing age) make it possible for lenders to advance you more money.

Real Estate Realities

While the inside of your home may look like something out of a home decorating magazine, the fact is that what’s outside your home has a lot to do with what your home appraises for. In addition to evaluating your property, appraisers look at what’s going on in your neighborhood. Having a lot of neighbors who neglect their properties can hurt your home’s value. Likewise, being in an area with a lot of foreclosures can bring down the price of your home. That’s because an appraiser considers recent home sales in the area whan valuing your property.

Estimate Value Before Applying for Reverse Loan

You can get a jump on valuing your home before applying for a reverse loan by talking with a real estate agent. He or she can do a comparative market analysis to get data on recent home sales. Home values can also be found on a variety of real estate Websites. Keep in mind that your home’s estimated value can vary widely depending upon which Websites you consult.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 7th, 2010 at 10:19 pm and is filed under Reverse Mortgage . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.