Reverse mortgages provide more seniors with a safety net
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reverse mortgage, seniors February 25th, 2008IMAGINE a scenario in which, instead of struggling to come up with the money for a mortgage payment that’s resetting to a higher level, you could tap the unused equity in your home not only to pay off that loan but also to have money for living expenses, remodeling, traveling or even investing in a vacation home. For seniors, there is such an option: the reverse mortgage.
And that’s exactly what 73-year-old Betty Jenkins chose after being laid off from her job with a health maintenance organization. Unable to afford the $1,500 monthly payment on the Chatsworth home she bought in 1988 after a divorce, Jenkins signed up for a reverse mortgage through Financial Freedom, a unit of IndyMac Bank and the nation’s largest provider of such loans. Not only did she keep her home and retire her existing mortgage, but she also was able to remodel her kitchen, pay her property taxes and insurance, maintain her car and keep her two dogs enjoying the lifestyle to which they’d become accustomed.
Tags: reverse mortgage, seniors
