Reverse Mortgage Guide

For seniors in need there are alternatives to reverse mortgages, reports syndicated columnist Lew Sichelman, writing in the Chicago Tribune.

Sichelman says that seniors might want to look into “deferred-payment loans” from state and local governments to make home repairs, accessibility modifications and improvements to reduce energy usage.

Generally, says Sichelman, with DPLs “there are no origination fees; insurance premiums and closing costs, if any, are very low.

“The interest rate on DPLs is fixed, if it’s charged at all. And many programs charge simple rather than compound interest, so interest isn’t charged on interest. Some even forgive part or all of the loan if you remain in the house for a specified period of time.”

Sichelman also points out that some jurisdictions offer property-tax-deferral loans. Essentially the idea is that the local community pays your property taxes as long as you live in your home — and then re-coups the money when the property is sold.

This is interesting stuff and Sichelman does a good job explaining the programs in general.

For the full story, see: Look before slamming it into reverse

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 at 1:52 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.