Older Delaware sellers who find themselves in dire financial circumstances are looking around for solutions to their tough circumstances. Freeing up their home equity so that they can use the money for living expenses becomes a very real concern. In the process of sifting through what you know and understand and what you need to discover, if you are looking for financial relief and considering how to gain access to your home equity, this article is for you, especially if you are considering reverse mortgages to sell a condo or house.
Let's look at a couple things that might interest you right now. The first one is, basically, what is a reverse mortgage? And the second one is, what if you want to sell your home after obtaining a reverse mortgage? Both these questions lead to important considerations for all sellers now. Not every Delaware home owner is in a position to obtain a reverse mortgage, of course, since that legal financing instrument requires that the home owner has equity in his or her home at the time the reverse mortgage is put in place. Understanding the mechanics of a reverse mortgage is the first step to knowing whether it could work for your own situation.
The first reverse mortgages were offered by the FHA. Called the Equity Conversion Mortgage, it was designed to allow homeowners over the age of 62 years old to withdraw some of their equity as cash, and it was primarily designed for older Americans on social security. Converting equity to cash is somewhat like a backwards mortgage, meaning the reverse direction from the way most of us think about traditional mortgages. That's why they are called reverse mortgages, because the homeowner receives payments instead of making payments. The money that has built up as equity in the property is paid, month-by-month, to the owners of the home by a reverse mortgage lender. The homeowners are not required to repay the money they receive on a monthly basis as long as they are living in the home.
That's the basic concept. How a reverse mortgage works in practice is a little more complex. Let's start with the requirements to get a FHA-backed reverse mortgage. The home must be a single family home or a multi-unit building of up to four units, and one unit must be occupied by the borrower. If your Delaware condominium or mobile home meets HUD standards it may qualify as well. You have to own the property free and clear of any previous mortgage, or only have a small outstanding mortgage balance that can easily be repaid at your closing with the reverse mortgage lender. And it must be mentioned yet again, you must be living in the home and remain in the home during the course of the reverse mortgage.
Using reverse mortgages to sell a home is not the question or the issue. It is possible to sell a home during the period of time that a reverse mortgage is in place, and that is really the issue. The question reverse mortgage? That is the question many older Americans should be asking before obtaining a reverse mortgage. Knowing how it works is the key to knowing whether it can work for you now.
Probably the most crucial point to understand is that Delaware reverse mortgages are not really designed for homeowners who intend to sell a home. They are set up to help aging Americans stay in their own homes, while realizing a monthly income from their home equity. Alternatives to a reverse mortgage include selling the home and getting all your equity, and borrowing money in the form of a home equity loan. Selling your home to get the equity means you have to live elsewhere, and getting a home equity loan means you have yet another monthly payment to make. If neither of those options appeals to you, then a reverse mortgage might work out well instead.
Knowing that a reverse mortgage is an income stream derived from the equity in a home, and that stream can never run out as long as you live in the home, despite the fact that you might outlive the value of the home, you wouldn't want to sell it unless absolutely necessary. situations create the necessity for selling a home, such as moving to assisted living or a local Delaware nursing home facility. Another consideration is death of the homeowners. Those are all situations where giving consideration to reverse mortgages to sell a home must be handled well in advance of the changing circumstances.
Let's answer the most important question most older homeowners ask regarding reverse mortgages - No, you or your heirs can never owe the reverse mortgage lender more money than the value of your home at the time you or your heirs sell the home. In other words, the lender is taking a gamble that there will be more value in your home whenever you pass away or decide to sell it while you are still alive. Sometimes reverse mortgage lenders win that bet and sometimes they lose, which means the homeowners come out ahead financially.
Whenever you sell your Delaware home, either you or your estate on behalf of your heirs will be required to repay the cash you received in the form of monthly payments, plus interest and other fees, to the reverse mortgage lender. Any remaining equity in your home belongs to you or to your heirs. If there is no remaining value after the lender's equity, which includes the interest and fees you agreed to pay at the time you signed reverse mortgage documents, the lender takes possession of the home in order to sell it. A current appraisal is used to determine the market value at the time of any sale, irrespective of the price a new buyer is willing to pay.
There is some risk involved in using Delaware reverse mortgages to sell a home. The lender, and the property owner and the owner's legal heirs all assume some risk in the arrangement. Make sure you understand all the financial consequences of obtaining a reverse mortgage before you decide to take that route to accessing your home equity as monthly income.
Reverse Mortgage Calculator Aarp in Delaware
The high costs associated with reverse mortgages appears to be among the biggest arguments against securing a reverse mortgage, one must remember that the expense of selling a home, which may consist of significant repairs in addition to the property commission and closing expenses, will usually be greater than the expense of remaining in the home and getting a life time stream of income for as long as you remain in the home. Furthermore, it must be noted that the closing costs are not an expense cost, the expenses are funded into the loan, and not paid until the loan is paid off at the time the house owner permanently leaves the home.
Educating yourself or a family member about a reverse home loan is the only method to really discover out if a reverse mortgage is ideal for you or an enjoyed one. Every senior that wants to apply for a reverse home loan should go through a no cost HUD counseling class to be sure that they totally understand how the reverse mortgage works and exactly what other alternatives may be readily available to them.
Reverse Mortgage Explained | Chase Reverse Mortgage