In general, to qualify for a reverse mortgage the youngest homeowner must be 62 years old or older and have sufficient home equity (about forty percent).

Determining whether or not there is sufficient equity in the home is an FHA calculation that takes into account:

    * Current interest rate
    * Whether the rate will be variable or fixed
    * Age of the youngest homeowner
    * Location of the property

You can use the online reverse mortgage calculator to find out if you have sufficient equity and what the loan principal limit would be.

Things that do not affect eligibility for a reverse mortgage:

    * Income
    * Credit history
    * Discharged bankruptcy
    * Health of the homeowners

Frequently asked questions:

    * If a homeowner is not 62 but they are permanent disability, can they qualify?
          o No. The FHA only looks at age to determine reverse mortgage eligibility and makes no exceptions for disability or Social Security status.
   

* Can someone qualify if they have a mortgage?
          o Yes. More than half of people who take out a reverse mortgage use it to pay off their existing mortgage so they can stop making monthly payments.
   

* Do all 62-year olds who own their home qualify?
          o No. About one third of homeowners who want to get a reverse mortgage are not eligible because they don’t have enough equity built up in their home. The younger the homeowner is, the more equity they need to have to qualify.
   

* What happens if there isn’t enough home equity to qualify?
          o This is called a “shortfall.” This means that the reverse mortgage would not provide enough money to pay off the existing mortgage on the home — it is coming up “short.” In this situation, some homeowners chose to make up the difference by paying down the balance on their mortgage by the amount of the shortfall so that they can qualify for the reverse mortgage. However, most people who want a reverse mortgage and have a shortfall don’t have enough money to do this.

Source

If you are thinking about a Reverse Mortgage, visit us at www.ctreversemortgage.com for more information.

Do the Math.

Just how much are you going to need in order to retire comfortably?

It may be the biggest financial question in your life. With 80 million baby boomers now heading into the flight path for retirement, it’s a pressing one, too.Yet a horrifying number of people have never even asked it — and may not know how to find answers.

Earlier this month, a survey from the Employee Benefit Research Institute, a leading nonprofit in the retirement field, found that fewer than half of workers, 46%, had tried to calculate how much they would need for a comfortable retirement.

Read more…

Visit www.ctreversemortgage.com for information about how a Reverse Mortgage can help you in Connecticut.

While real estate remains in the doldrums, many older individuals own homes that are still worth plenty. Some of these folks may be “house rich” but “cash poor.” Taking out a reverse mortgage could solve that problem, but what are the tax implications? Good question. Before answering, let’s cover the basics on how reverse mortgages work.

Reverse Mortgage Basics

When you take out a regular home loan, you have to make monthly principal and interest payments to the lender. With a reverse mortgage, the lender makes one or more payments to you, the borrower. No payments to the lender are required until a triggering event occurs — such as when the homeowner dies or moves out. Meanwhile, the accrued interest builds up, and the loan balance gets larger rather than smaller. That’s why it’s called a reverse mortgage!

Read more: Would a Reverse Mortgage Affect My Taxes?

For more information about a Reverse Mortgage in Connecticut, visit www.ctreversemortgage.com.

Just in the last two months we have received calls from two former borrowers who had been targeted for a new scam. It seems that there is a new way to try to separate borrowers from their money and at this time we don’t know if it is aimed specifically at Reverse Mortgage borrowers or all borrowers, but since the borrowers calling us are all homeowners 62 and over, we know they are targeting senior borrowers for certain.
 

Read more here

For more information please visit www.ctreversemortgage.com.

You may be thinking about getting extra cash from the home you own as a way to supplement your monthly living expenses. This article will explain how a reverse mortgage loans work and how to find the best quotes by these kinds of providers. Another name for these type of loans are called reverse annuity mortgages.

How Does a Reverse Mortgage Work?
Here is simple way a reverse mortgage is explained. If you are over the age of 62 years and are looking for some extra monthly cash, and you own your home you live in, you can convert part of the equity of your home into cash without selling your home or paying another new monthly bill. You don’t have to pay back the money your receive, unless you move out of your home, sell your home, or if you die. At that time, you are required to repay the reverse mortgage loan during those instances. In most cases the reverse mortgage income is tax-free and there usually isn’t any income restrictions.

What are the Best Reverse Mortgage Loans?

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For more information about how CTReverse Mortgage can help you, visit www.ctreversemortgage.com.

As baby boomers age, an old mortgage product — the reverse mortgage — has started to get a second look.

Reverse mortgages typically allow homeowners who are 62 and older to borrow against their home equity without having to repay the money until the home is sold or until the borrower dies or moves out.

While critics say that reverse mortgages are expensive — costing as much as $15,000 compared with less than $10,000 for a traditional mortgage — and confusing to the seniors for whom they are meant, proponents say they offer an avenue for people on fixed incomes to have extra cash.

Read more…

If you need more information about a Reverse Mortgage, contact CT Reverse Mortgage at 203-439-9400 Ext 421 or visit www.ctreversemortgage.com.

Senior years really are golden: Happiness increases after age 50, Gallup poll finds

Aging may seem like a pain, but a new study suggests that getting old is no reason to despair.

The study, based on a Gallup poll from 2008, finds that most people feel increasingly happy starting around age 50.

In general, life satisfaction is high at age 18 but sinks until about 50. Then, it starts to climb again, increasing so steadily that most people feel better about their lives at 85 than they did at 18.

“It’s a very encouraging fact that we can expect to be happier in our early 80s than we were in our 20s,” Andrew J. Oswald, who teaches psychology at Warwick Business School in England, told The New York Times.  “And it’s not being driven by things that happen in life.  It’s something very deep and quite human that seems to be driving this.”

Read more…

Alzheimer’s and the inability to increase savings are two steep obstacles to golden years.

When it comes to retirement, there are lots of things to consider: tax rates, earthquakes, and drug interactions to name a few. But experts say there are two big elephants in the room with which many of us will have to deal, sooner or later.

One is trying to make up for lost time on the savings front by assuming you can work later in life. The other is a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, either for oneself or a close family member.

Let’s tackle the tougher one first.

Some 5.3 million people now have Alzheimer’s, according to a recent report issued by the Alzheimer’s Association. That’s roughly the population of Colorado. The disease is the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S. There are some 10 million unpaid caregivers.

Read more…

At CTReverse Mortgage, we have the experience and knowledge about how a reverse mortgage might be the answer for your retirement needs. Visit us at www.ctreversemortgage.com for more information.

The FHA HECM reverse mortgage program is a loan that can help seniors create regular source of income for themselves. This loan works differently than any other type of mortgage loan on the market. Here are the basics of the FHA HECM reverse mortgage and how it works.

Read more…

If you need more information regarding a Reverse Mortgage in Connecticut, visit us at www.ctreversemortgage.com or call 203-439-9400 Ext 421.

Baby Boomers are “exhausted and emotionally frustrated with Wall Street.” As a result, “they are doing nothing and will not be able to retire,” Frank Troise from the company SoHo Asset Management told CNBC today.

Boomers were initially advised that they would see an 8 percent return in the market over 20 years. So, they built in this expectation for the long term.

When the financial crisis hit they were devastated by the crushing blows to their 401ks—the average loss to 401ks, 24.3 percent.

Read more…