“RightSize” New Home with a Reverse Mortgage?

“RightSize” New Home with a Reverse Mortgage?

According to recent National Association of Realtors figures, last year over 26% of homes were sold to homebuyers over the age of 50. And as the peak bulge of the boomer generation approaches retirement, the number of older homebuyers is expected to rise dramatically until it makes up the largest homebuyer cohort in American history.
But not everyone heading into retirement is certain they want to move, and a question I am commonly asked is, “Should we refinance the home we’re in, or buy something with less upkeep?”
Obviously I don’t know – but I have accumulated quite a body of knowledge regarding what retiring boomers take into consideration. Following is a starting point for things to consider:
1.     Is your existing home safe for the long-term, including layout and accessibility to bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen and laundry?
2.     Is the home the right configuration? How about size?
3.     Is the amount of yard and household maintenance appropriate?
4.     Is the location still right, meaning are you close to family and friends?
5.     Have traffic patterns gotten dangerous?
6.     Are you close to doctors, shopping, amenities, recreation, and your house of worship?
7.     Do you still know your neighbors?
8.     Will this still be the right house in 10 years? How about in 15?
If you answer a significant number of these “no,” moving might be a logical consideration. However, anyone who recently has applied for a home loan knows lending laws and regulations have become akin to major surgery. And for those looking to retire soon, or who have already retired, securing a loan can be very difficult.
However, FHA’s seniors’-only HECM for Purchase was specifically designed with the retired – or soon to be retired – buyer in mind. While there are qualifications that must be met, they are not as stringent as those governing “forward” lending.
A highly beneficial feature of HECM for Purchase is that you can buy your new home before you have sold your exit home. Not only does this get you into your new home in a timely fashion, but you now have time to market your exit home and wait for the next peak sales season to roll around before selling.
But perhaps best of all, rather than tying up a significant amount of your financial resources in the new house by doing an all-cash purchase, you bring to the table only a percentage of the purchase price, which allows you to keep liquid more of your savings, or more cash from the sale of your exit home.