Walter Updegrave, Money Magazine senior editor, has now written about reverse mortgages.

In his article, Reverse mortgages: Beware the come-ons, Updegrave says “reverse mortgages can help cash-strapped retirees generate extra money for living expenses, pay for home improvements, lower other debts or fund the occasional splurge.

“There’s also a downside to reverse mortgages’ growing popularity, however. Loan-origination fees that can top $7,000 on a $500,000 home are attracting aggressive salespeople intent on getting you to take out a reverse mortgage whether you need one or not. Some may try to persuade you to invest the proceeds in high-priced financial products, such as annuities, boosting their commissions even more.”

Updegrave, who I met long ago when appearing on Oprah, offers several areas for borrowers to consider:

___Making sure you really need it

___Looking out for the product pitch

___Getting help from a financial planner

Updegrave also mentions what he calls “sure losers.” What does he mean? “A salesperson might prod you to get a reverse mortgage so you can buy an annuity. But the annuity’s value will never catch up to the mortgage debt.”

For the full story, see: Reverse mortgages: Beware the come-ons

This entry was posted on Friday, May 23rd, 2008 at 12:05 am 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.