Thursday, January 29, 2009

The Up and Down Side of the Reverse Mortgage

By Matt Vanrock

If you are a home owner, aged 62 or older, with a good amount of equity you have the opportunity to use a reverse mortgage to solve a financial problem.

Many people don't have much of a choice. They have to go forward with the reverse mortgage. For others it takes some evaluating.

Those refinancing with the reverse mortgage can use funds in any manner they deem necessary. I find most are getting themselves out of their current mortgage to free up money. Others want to pay off debt or to supplement income.

It's pretty easy to see why the reverse is becoming so popular. Using this mortgage a borrower can solve their problem, not be forced to make payments to the bank, and never lose title to the home.

On top of that interest rates charged for the reverse mortgages are very competitive with their conventional mortgage counterparts.

You can look at the reverse mortgage from a bird's eye view and tell it is pretty strong. That doesn't mean it is all good. It certainly is not.

To put it bluntly reverse mortgage closing costs are quite high.

You gotta wonder why this is the case.

Well, the biggest reason are the origination fees, mortgage insurance and title insurance are based upon the appraised value rather than the mortgage amount. The other main point is HUD insurance is two percent.

It doesn't take much to see how these fees can total to a lofty number.

When deciding upon going with a reverse mortgage these costs must be considered. It's not just the interest rate.

When meeting with a reverse mortgage lender you will receive a Total Annual Loan Cost analysis which will show you the cost of the mortgage on an annualized basis.

It will show you how much your loan costs in four future years.

As the loan ages it will become clear to you that the annualized cost goes down over time.

The idea is to give you real data to help you determine, based upon the actual costs, if the reverse mortgage is for you.

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