What is a Reverse Mortgage?
If you are a senior looking to raise finance to help in retirement, you may have heard the term reverse mortgage. There is still a lot of confusion and misconceptions surrounding this financial product. Here we answer the question "What is a reverse mortgage?" After reading this you should be able to decide whether this is an option that is worth pursuing.
A reverse mortgage allows you to turn the equity in your home into cash. It is only available to people aged 62 or over, so it tends to be used by retirees as a way of supplementing their income.
You can receive payment by way of a cash lump sum, a line of credit or a monthly income. The attractive thing for many customers is that there are no monthly payments to make, unlike a normal mortgage. The money that is drawn down is tax-free.
There are many baby boomers coming up to retirement that are realizing that the amount of income that they are going to receive during their retirement is not going to be sufficient to live on. This has led to there being a big increase in interest in reverse mortgages.
The money raised can be used for any purpose. This includes supplementing existing retirement provisions, paying for medical care or carrying out modifications to the house such as installing a ramp or downstairs shower. You could even use the money to go on a holiday of a lifetime or buy a new car.
While this sounds very attractive, are there any downsides to a reverse mortgage? The main one is the amount of equity in the property will be reduced when you come to sell it. This maybe important to you if you were planning on having your children inherit your house.
There are plenty of helpful resources available to you to further learn about reverse mortgages. You can choose to speak to housing counselor or find resources online.
Get the latest on reverse mortgages at http://www.reverse-mortgage-choice.com. You can also discover how to avoid reverse mortgage pitfalls.
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