Reverse Mortgage

Today's financial market is one of the most difficult markets to navigate since the depression. Many questions about where to turn for advice and how to find the best financial products without sacrificing security abound. Reverse mortgages hold promise as a safe and secure tool, but many seniors have questions about reverse mortgages and the myths surrounding them. Questions include: How do they work? What do you give up if anything? And, how does the retention of home ownership work?

To start, let's cover the basics and history of a reverse mortgage. The term came from early products in the 1980's where the lender made payments to the borrower rather than the borrower making payments to the lender. As a result the product was named the "reverse mortgage". These reverse mortgages (RM) often had significant downsides. Once the borrowers passed away the home became the property of the bank who lent the money, and at times terms applied where the borrower could be displaced from the home if they lived too long. Interest rates were typically adjustable with no fixed rate options available. Closing costs were often very high as well. In the 1990's FHA, seeing great potential for the product, got involved and new rules were implemented allowing the borrower to pass on the home equity to their heirs, a guarantee to never be displaced from the home regardless of how long they lived, protection from home value volatility and much more. As a result, today's reverse mortgages are a great option with very few drawbacks.

So how does the RM work? A reverse mortgage is similar to a standard mortgage in that it is a loan that is secured by real property, namely the home. The big difference is that there are no mortgage payment requirements on the mortgage. How is this accomplished? The RM requires that you have equity in your home and that you are at least 62 years old. As a result a calculation is made to determine the amount of equity that can be lent by looking at the age of the borrower, the interest rate charged and the location of the home. This tells FHA and the lender how much they can safely lend without ever collecting a mortgage payment. As a result the lender can lend with minimal risk, but must wait to make their interest until the homeowner either chooses to move or passes away. Foreclosing is rarely an issue- only in cases where the homeowner does not follow the terms of the loan such as not living in the home, not keeping the condition of the home to reasonable standards or not paying the property taxes and homeowners insurance. This makes a loan that is very appealing to the lender who simply wants to earn interest on a low risk loan.

So where does FHA come into play? FHA had an impact on the reverse mortgage industry when it started insuring the lenders against losses in exchange for certain benefits to the homeowner. This helped reduce interest rates and eliminated most of the big drawbacks of doing a reverse mortgage. If the lender issues an FHA reverse mortgage they are insured against losses should the balance of the mortgage be higher than the value of the home when the homeowner's pass away. Further, the same FHA insurance leaves the borrower the ability to leave the home equity to their heirs- and in most cases there is equity left for the heirs. Today's FHA insured reverse mortgages are referred to as HECM loans, or home equity conversion mortgage.