As you get older and retire, you generally bring in less money than you did while you were younger and employed. This can make it difficult to pay for your lifestyle expenses, especially as the cost of living continues to rise. Many people also begin to incur more medical costs as they age.
If you’re looking to supplement your retirement income, you may be able to benefit from a reverse mortgage. A reverse mortgage is the opposite of a traditional mortgage. You don't borrow funds to purchase a home but instead, take out a loan using your home equity.
Read this guide to learn more about reverse mortgages and if one is the right choice for you.
It is a loan that homeowners can use to convert some of their home equity to cash. You can generally use these loans for whatever you want, but some can only be used for things like home improvements or medical expenses.
There’s no requirement to make payments throughout the life of this loan. You do need to eventually pay it back (plus interest), but the loan doesn’t have to be settled in most cases until you pass away, move out, or sell your home.
To calculate a reverse mortgage amount, lenders look at how much equity you have, the value of your home, the interest rate you get, and your age. To get a reverse mortgage, you need to be a homeowner and, in most cases, be at least 62 years old. However, some reverse mortgages are available to those as young as 55.
You can also only borrow against your primary residence. Scams are common in this industry, so do your homework and find the best reverse mortgage companies to work with.
Here are a few situations where a reverse mortgage might be a good choice.
You have significant retirement costs and have equity in your home
If your savings are dwindling and/or your retirement income can’t keep up with your costs, a reverse mortgage enables you to use some of the equity you’ve built up over the years to pay for your day-to-day expenses. Of course, make sure you read the fine print and speak with the reverse mortgage lender about any potential restrictions on what the money can be used for.
A lot more goes into owning a home than just paying the mortgage and being done. This includes home insurance, property taxes, utilities, and more. To keep your reverse mortgage active, you must ensure you can keep up with these financial responsibilities as you age.
If you fall behind for any reason, you could lose your loan. Not paying your home insurance and skipping on property taxes puts your home at risk, and lenders don’t like when their collateral is at risk.
When you miss out on property taxes, the city could put a lien on your home (a legal claim that a lender or other entity places on your home until you pay your debt).
A lien on your home is a public record and can make it difficult to sell or refinance. If you continue to fall behind, the government could foreclose your home.
Not paying home insurance means you have no protection if a fire or natural disaster devastates your property.
In some cases, if the lender is worried that your home is in jeopardy in some way, it can declare your loan as being due. If you can’t pay it back at this point, you could end up losing your home. As a result, make sure you can stay on top of these bills.
Reverse mortgages make the most sense if you plan on staying in your home for a long time. If you plan on moving out or selling soon, the loan becomes due, which means you mightn’t get much benefit out of it.
A big reason for this is closing costs . Like other loans, reverse mortgages have numerous closing costs you’re responsible for paying. This includes mortgage insurance, loan origination fees, appraisal, taxes, lawyer fees, and more. These can easily coadd up to thousands.
If you need to repay the loan soon after taking it out, these costs might not be worth it.
Here are a few indicators that a reverse mortgage might be the wrong choice for you.
The lower the amount of home equity you have, the less you’ll be able to borrow with a reverse mortgage. A reverse mortgage is a long-term plan to help stabilize your finances as you age and boost your retirement income, and you need to borrow a significant amount to make that a reality.
If you barely have any equity, you’ll quickly go through the funds you receive in a reverse mortgage. Also, if you still have a sizable mortgage, you may want to avoid getting a reverse mortgage, as any funds you get from a reverse mortgage need to be used to pay off your existing mortgage before it can be spent on anything else.
A reverse mortgage may not be right for you if you live with friends, roommates, cousins, or someone else who isn’t your spouse or kids. This is because if you, as the borrower, pass away, the loan becomes payable, and the home may need to be sold in order to pay the debt.
Similarly, the loan becomes due if you move out and the home is no longer your primary residence. This will leave the person who relied on you for housing with no option but to move out. While there are protections for spouses to keep a home if you die, this isn’t the case for others living in the house, and they’ll need to vacate.
If you want to be able to pass your home on to your kids or another family member when you die, a reverse mortgage can make that process more confusing and expensive. Your heirs will either need to pay the loan to keep the home or let the lender sell it to recoup its money.
This can lead to a difficult decision for heirs as they decide whether the home's sentimental value is worth the cost.
A reverse mortgage is helpful for getting the money you need to pay for expenses later in life. While it can be a great solution for some, it isn’t always worth it and can certainly be the wrong option at times.
Always consider your unique situation and your home equity before taking out a reverse mortgage. Consider contacting a reverse mortgage counselor if you’re still unsure whether it's right for you.