Unlocking a Retirement Asset
Should you consider UNLOCKING A LARGE RETIREMENT ASSET by means of FHA/HUD's current Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM)?
BORROW THEM in the form of a line-of-credit (mortgage) requiring monthly payments to a bank or to a mortgage company. Do you want another monthly debt, especially one in which you can lose your home should you default on payments? Is this a good option?
SELL YOUR HOME and move. If you buy elsewhere, most, or all, of your accumulated equity will probably go into the new property. Of course, you can always rent, helping someone else to accumulate equity while you spend-down your own assets. If you eventually have insufficient retirement income to continue paying rent, you might join a growing army of homeless. Does this sound like a better option?
Although the monetary equity that you have worked to amass in your home BELONGS TO YOU, it is not a LIQUID ASSET. You may never enjoy these fruits of your own labor even when pressed financially (other than by living and sleeping in them and by giving them away after death).
At some future date this asset may be lost anyway should it be attached legally due to unanticipated medical (or other) expenses. Prior to the Reverse Mortgage, in order to access these funds, you had to do one of the following:
Think of reasons why you should NOT use a REVERSE MORTGAGE to UNLOCK a portion of your home's equity while you are alive and healthy enough to use the funds for your own needs and enjoyment.
Should you then decide against reverse mortgaging, in addition to safeguarding your home's equity (if you plan to remain in your present home), you are opting to forego the use and enjoyment of these funds in order to provide a larger death-estate (through a Will or a Living Trust). In the case of joint homeowners, what remains of this asset will become a portion of the death estate of the second to die.
Would you like to know how much a Reverse Mortgage will yield you? If you have an existing mortgage, by exchanging it for a Reverse Mortgage with no monthly repayment required, you will retain for yourself your present mortgage payment. Naturally, since the house is YOURS, you must still pay your real-estate taxes and homeowner insurance.
Would access to these funds today benefit you significantly or provide you with peace of mind (perhaps through a monthly income) in coming retirement years?
Retirees who would never refrain from utilizing more-liquid personal assets (CD's, Stocks and Bonds, Money Market Savings, etc.) for their own benefit often do not consider accumulated equity assets.
After years of personal financial sacrifice, they may pass equity to others after death ("devise" it) either because they lack accurate information about a Reverse Mortgage, or because they have never taken the time and effort to consider one.
Keeping an open mind, let's look at this option more closely - Click here