Real Estate

The Most Common Types of Reverse Mortgages

Story Published on June 8, 2008 ⋅  Email this Story ⋅  Print this Story ⋅ Post a comment ⋅

Seniors over 62 can take advantage of the equity they have build in their home by applying for a reverse mortgage. A reverse home loan can help seniors because it works as a loan advance. With this type of loan, the owner doesn’t need to make monthly payments back to the bank and doesn’t need to pay back any of the money for as long as the owner lives in the property.

The homeowner doesn’t need to pay any money back and can not be kicked out of the home for lack of payments because there aren’t any payments to make. The homeowner can elect to receive the money from the reverse mortgage in one of three ways: a one time payment, a credit line or as regular monthly payments.

As a senior citizen, you can choose among one of three types of reverse home mortgages: a single purpose reverse home loan, a federally backed reverse home mortgage or a privately issued reverse mortgage.

Single Purpose Reverse Mortgage

This type of mortgage is offered by non-for-profit organizations and by state and federal Government agencies. It’s the cheapest reverse mortgage to obtain. The biggest problem is that it’s harder to qualify for this loan since you must be in the lower income bracket and complete a longer application. In addition, the funds from the loan can only be used for a specific reason( repairs, improvements or property taxes.)

Federally Insured Reverse Home Mortgage

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) backs this reverse home mortgage. This type of reverse mortgage is also known as a HECM (Home Equity Conversion Mortgage.) It’s a little more expensive than the single purpose reverse mortgage.

The biggest plus of this loan is that you can use the proceeds from it for any purpose you want. It is also easier to get and it’s available to homeowners all over the country. This kind of reverse home loan is by far the most common.

Proprietary Reverse Home Mortgage

This kind of reverse home loan is available through private companies that haven’t been HUD certified. They usually have the same requirements than a federally insured one.

Proprietary reverse mortgages can be very expensive. Since they don’t go through the same kind of control from the Federal Government, some private companies offering this type of loan have been know to take advantage of senior citizens by charging exorbitant fees.

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