Has anyone here got a reverse mortgage on their home?

We got one just over a year ago, and it's been marvellous.

You have to own your home outright, then a valuer comes and gives a valuation of your house and then the finance company borrows you a percentage of the value of your house. The percentage increases the older you get. Mostly you have to be at least 55 yrs old to be eligible.
The money plus interest gets paid back to the company from your diseased estate, and they money owed can never be more than the house is worth, so your children aren't left with a huge bill once you die.

I was very nervous about it at first, but it's been great. We've had a wonderful holiday, done a few things to the house, paid off the car and still have a little in the bank, and....we're still eligible to get the pension.

Any comments or experiences...

I have not got one, but do not think that will happen so much over here as the property market is in quite a pickle.

i'm too young to even be thinking about owning a house, i'll get that out of the way first. And the student loan I have has currently put paid to that.

But the valuer has come round, valued the house so yes and so forth. Now the prices in the housing market have been going down recently, well in New Zealand anyway. So the people are out there with 'valued' homes that may no longer be worth what they were 'valued' at.

So when someone dies, and the bill is paid or whatever once the house is sold, there could be the issue where the company has lent out more money than the house is worth, leaving the family will a bill. Which if they can't afford, will default on. If lots of people do that, the company will be wanting to get its money. Will it mean that family have to sell their houses to cover the loan? The money has to be found somehow.

That scares me quite a bit.



Snap!

I know you have to pay off existing mortgages to get a reverse mortgage but the state of the mortgage market is unusal here at the moment. Valuations are going in reverse and I wonder how many people opted for money out of the house for every day living expenses which could affect the value of the reverse mortgage.

It's a possible good deal for many that could use the cash but I have a problem with a feature like this that they need to have a celebrity sell the product that should be selling itself ecause of its benefits to an older eprson needing a little extra cash.


A palm grower - babypalms explained.

I wish I was old

I had wondered exactly how all of that worked. I agree with monkeymadness, seems that leaves no inheritance (except for maybe the home itself) for your children, etc. Can you tell us more about the end results?


Life is never quite what we expect it to be, but it is all of what we make it.

Debi