Reverse Mortgage Calculator: A Good Place To Start

2/25/2008

posted by N. Sioris

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Using a reverse mortgage calculator can be a very easy and useful tool to use, if you are trying to quickly find out if you have enough equity in your home to qualify for a reverse mortgage loan.

If you are just starting your investigation into how these loans work and whether one might be right for you, using a reverse mortgage calculator is a good first step to take. It will quickly give you a snapshot into whether you qualify for a reverse mortgage. The reverse mortgage calculator will tell you approximately how large a loan amount you qualify for.

If you do not have enough equity in your property to qualify today, the calculator results will illustrate how much of a shortfall you might have. If the shortfall is not a huge amount, you may decide that it is worth it to you to liquidate another asset in order to be able to qualify for the reverse mortgage. In a situation like this, the benefit of being able to eliminate your current mortgage payments all together might be a big enough incentive for you to contribute funds in order to get the loan. By doing this your may be gaining the long term peace of mind of knowing that your house payments have been eliminated forever and that you will have no future mortgage payments for as long as you live in your home.

You can also use a reverse mortgage calculator to run "what if" scenarios as well. You can input different property values, different mortgage balances, and different ages. By doing this you will be able to get an estimate of when you may be able to qualify for a reverse mortgage in the future if you do not have enough equity in your property today. As you pay down your current mortgage, and you have another birthday or two, and possibly your property appreciates a little more, you will see that the results will come closer together and you will eventually be able to qualify for a reverse mortgage.

A reverse mortgage calculator is strictly an estimate and should not be used as an offer to make you a loan or a commitment that this exact loan amount will be offered. Reverse mortgage loans are subject to an appraisal report, a review of your title to determine all existing liens, if any, and the current interest rates at the time you apply for a reverse mortgage loan. But generally speaking, a reverse mortgage calculator is an excellent place to start in order to get a ballpark idea of what you may be able to get if you decide to apply for a reverse mortgage. The calculator also provides you with results for 2 or 3 different types of reverse mortgages and makes a comparison between the loan amounts and interest rates for the various choices.

To learn more about a reverse mortgage calculator and to use this handy tool, click here.

Reverse Mortgage: Part of Your Retirement Arsenal

2/18/2008

posted by N. Sioris

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As the retirement population continues to live longer healthier lives, more financial responsibility must be assumed by individuals. This reality may be a rude awakening for many retirees, who let themselves believe that they could live comfortably in retirement solely on Social Security. According to an AARP survey, the majority of Americans are counting on Social Security for most of their retirement income.

The problem with this theory is that by some government estimates, Social Security contributions will be less than the amount to be paid out to retirees by the year 2017. It is inevitable that adjustments will have to be made. Those adjustments may take the form of lower benefit amounts to be paid as well as higher minimum age requirements to receive benefits.

If you have been prudent enough to save for your own retirement through various other vehicles, you may not be as hard hit as those who have not saved. Some of you may have retired from a company that offered a defined benefit plan. If you are one of those, consider yourself to be among the fortunate. Most companies have phased the pension or defined benefit plans out in favor of 401K plans. The difference of course, is that 401K plans put most of the burden of saving and managing the account on the employee. The employers saved a boat-load of money by eliminating the defined benefit plans. The trouble with the 401K concept though, is that they are completely voluntary. Many employees do not participate in them and therefore, are not saving for their own retirement.

With costs of insurance, health care, medicine, gas, heating oil, food, and just about every other thing we need on a daily basis going up in price (despite what the government says about inflation) we could be facing the perfect storm: Decreased income from Social Security and increases in everyday costs of living.

If you have equity in your home, you may want to consider this asset as part of your overall plan for retirement income. By using a reverse mortgage, you can receive money from your home without assuming personal liability and without making any mortgage payments.

If you are fortunate to have additional assets in retirement accounts, annuities, pension funds, etc. you may still wish to consider a reverse mortgage as part of your overall arsenal of assets for retirement. If you are interested in finding out how much money you may be eligible for from a reverse mortgage, please click here for your personal benefit summary.