Wells Fargo announced yesterday that they are exiting the reverse mortgage business, after more than 20 years of offering reverse mortgages. While it may not have been the shot heard around the world, it is interesting that Wells Fargo is not alone. Bank of America announced their exit from the reverse mortgage business in February of this year. Even more interesting is that both occupied the...
Are Reverse Mortgages A Good Idea For Retirement?
During your pre-retirement years, it’s important to keep your spending and savings habits in check. When this isn’t enough, a Reverse Mortgage might be right for you. One large problem facing retirees is the realization that the budget that was working for their first 10 years of retirement may not cover costs going into their next 10 years. This is largely due to people living...
Pros and Cons of Reverse Mortgage
CNN Money gave brief plus and minus analysis of reverse mortgages earlier this month (see video below). View the CNN Money Help Desk segment. While the segment was insightful it was not very detailed in its analysis. So below we’ve provided you a more thorough list of reverse mortgage pros and cons. Pros • Convert a portion of your home equity into tax-free cashflow without having to sell your...
Reverse Mortgage Definition
A home equity conversion mortgage (HECM) is a reverse mortgage. The HECM name is probably a bit more descriptive in that there is a conversion of the equity in the home, making it accessible to the homeowner. According to Wikipedia equity is the market value of a homeowner’s unencumbered interest in their real property or the difference between the home’s fair market value and the...
A Reverse Mortgage Loan Helps Extend The Value of Your Assets
With older homeowners struggling to find the best way to cover their costs in a down economy, many are left with the decision of whether to sell stock or utilize a reverse mortgage loan. Suze Orman recently gave advice regarding a homeowner facing this particular dilemma and had ascribed to the theory that it’s better to hold onto stock investments and employ a reverse mortgage. The rationale...