Reverse Mortgage Can Provide Cash for Basic Living Expenses

The number of Americans using food stamps has soared to 36 million, according to the New York Times. People receiving the aid are young, old, single, married, unemployed, and employed. Also, the number of seniors who are getting help from food pantries jumped 81% to 408,000, according to the Associated Press. Some seniors who may be struggling to pay for food and other basic living expenses might benefit from a reverse mortgage.

Reverse Mortgage Brings Extra Cash

Reverse mortgages are not right for all seniors. But homeowners who have a lot of home equity and little cash may be struggling to pay for food, utilities, and other living expenses. Money you borrow through a reverse loan can be used for any purpose and does not have to be repaid until you move or die.

Get a Reverse Loan or Sell Home

Before signing up for a reverse home mortgage consider whether or not it makes more sense to sell your home and move to a less expensive residence. Think realistically about whether or not you can actually afford to keep up all the repairs and maintenance even if you obtain a reverse mortgage. If you live in an area with high property taxes you may need to decide if relocating to a less expensive town can help your financial situation.

If you believe that it makes sense to relocate to downsize you have a few options:

• Sell your home and purchase a less expensive place. This may be tough to accomplish as quickly as you want in the current housing market. There are also substantial costs involved.
• Sell your house and become a renter, which means you have to come up with enough cash for monthly payments.
• Get a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) and use the proceeds to buy another home.

Get more information about reverse mortgages by comparing quotes from several reverse mortgage lenders and talking with a housing counselor.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 10:41 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.