Reverse Mortgage Costs

YOUR FREE COPY OF OUR REPORT EXPLAINING THE TRUE COSTS OF OBTAINING A REVERSE MORTGAGE Reverse Mortgages are often criticized for having high closing costs. However, if you start dissecting the costs of a reverse mortgage and compare those costs to alternatives like selling your home and moving, you may find that the costs are only high if you have other assets or sources of income to access other than your home. If you truly need a reverse mortgage in order to make ends meet or for other financial reasons, then you may realize that the costs are not too high given your particular circumstances.

Don't fall into the trap of listening to the negative hype without doing your own research. Find out what the true costs are and whether they are justified or not.

Compare the cost of a reverse mortgage to the cost of selling your home, downsizing or moving into assisted living. Pull back the curtain and take a good look, then make your own determination. Don't base your decision on an uninformed friend, relative or media reporter.

Let’s take a closer look at what the real costs of a reverse mortgage are and what these costs pay for.

The majority of reverse mortgage loans that have closed in the United States to date, have been the FHA insured HECM (Home Equity Conversion Mortgage.)

Because these loans are insured by FHA and backed by HUD they are considered to be the safest reverse mortgage loans available and usually offer the most benefits and more choices of how you can elect to receive your loan proceeds.

The guarantees that you receive with the FHA insured HECM reverse mortgage loan are: 1. Under the tenure option you will continue to receive your monthly payments from your reverse mortgage as long as you live in your home. That means that even if you outlive your life expectancy and your house is not worth as much as your reverse mortgage has paid you, you will continue to receive those payments, until you permanently leave your home. Guaranteed!

2. Your heirs or your estate will NEVER owe more on the loan than the value of your home at the time the loan is repaid. Reverse Mortgage loans are nonrecourse loans. The lender can never come back to your estate or your heirs if there is a shortfall at the time of repayment.

3. Additionally, if the lender should happen to go out of business or stop offering reverse mortgage loans, (as was the case with Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Financial Freedom, three of the biggest reverse mortgage lenders in the U.S.) the FHA insurance guarantees that you will continue to receive your monthly payments or have access to your credit line in accordance with the terms of your original loan agreement.

If the FHA mortgage insurance was not available, you can be sure that there would be very few lenders willing to make reverse mortgage loans with the favorable terms that are offered to seniors today.

The cost of the initial FHA insurance premium is 2% of the home value or the maximum FHA claim amount, whichever is less for the HECM Standard reverse mortgage. The insurance premium along with other closing costs are rolled into the loan. They are not upfront out of pocket expenses, they are simply paid by you or your estate at the time the loan is repaid.

The HECM Saver reverse mortgage was rolled out in October of 2010, as an answer to the objection of the "high costs" associated with obtaining a reverse mortgage. The HECM Saver FHA insurance premium was reduced to .01% or $62.50 whichever is less....essentially zero.

However, the HECM Saver reduces the maximum loan amount you are eligible for by 10 to 20%, depending on your age(s). When deciding on which HECM loan offering to choose, you will have to weigh the lower FHA insurance premium cost against not getting as much money from the reverse mortgage loan. If you have an existing mortgage balance to pay off, you may not be able to get enough money from the HECM Saver, and will have to choose the HECM Standard.

But, for those that don't have a great need for the full loan amount, the HECM Saver could be the more attractive choice.

The only way to really analyze all of this is to request a complete side by side cost comparison and loan quote for all the HECM loans you are eligible for from a licensed professional located near you. It's a major decision and one that you should take your time making, so that you really get the most benefit for your personal situation. Request a Quote Today!

Loan Servicing Fee: A monthly loan servicing fee of up to $30.00 per month is charged to the borrower as part of the overall closing costs. All lenders charge a loan servicing fee. However, on a forward mortgage the loan servicing fee is incorporated into the interest rate on the loan, so the borrower often times isn't even aware of it.

On a reverse mortgage the servicing fee is set aside upfront and is calculated based upon the life expectancy of the youngest borrower. The lender receives the servicing fee each month as long as the loan is in force. If the borrower leaves the home permanently before the servicing set aside is exhausted, the balance remaining is distributed to the borrower or the borrowers' estate.

Loan Origination Fee: The loan origination fee is the fee that is charged by the lender to originate, process and close your reverse mortgage loan application. FHA-HUD stipulates that the loan origination fee is capped at 2 percent of the initial $200,000. and 1% on the remaining balance, not to exceed a total maximum cap of $6,000. Some lenders have been known to negotiate the loan origination fee and the loan servicing set aside fee to compete for business.

The three fees mentioned above make up the lions' share of the closing costs for a reverse mortgage. In addition to these three, you will have customary costs that you are familiar with from previous mortgages that you have had. They are fees such as, appraisal, credit report, flood certification, courier, recording, document preparation, pest inspection, closing or escrow fee, title insurance, survey. (This may or may not be a complete list, depending on your area of the country.)

So Are The Costs Really Too High? - You Decide It is best to view the costs in comparison to the value that you will receive from the benefits of getting a reverse mortgage. You must evaluate the costs compared to the improvement in your lifestyle, your increased monthly income, and the fact that you are not burdening your family at this time in your life.

Personally you will not feel the impact of the closing costs. They are simply a cost from your estate at the time your house is sold or refinanced and the loan is paid off. It is foolhardy to reject the idea of getting a reverse mortgage based strictly on the cost of this valuable financial planning tool.

After all, if you considered one of the obvious alternatives, which would be to sell your home, you would be looking at paying 6% in real estate commissions as well as typical sellers' closing costs and possibly some costly home repairs. You would then have relocation costs for yourself which could include a down payment of 5% - 20% for another home, moving expenses of $5,000. or more and closing costs of 2% - 3% for a new mortgage. As you can see the cost of selling your home far outweighs the cost of obtaining a reverse mortgage.

A Word of Caution: Now that you know that reverse mortgage costs can be higher than the costs of a traditional forward mortgage, hopefully you also have an appreciation for why they are high. That being said, you probably are not a candidate for a reverse mortgage if you anticipate permanently leaving your home in less than five years. Five years seems to be the consensus among industry experts, to be the critical time frame to remain in your home to make the costs worthwhile. If you feel you will leave your home sooner than five years, you should consider alternative options, such as a cash out refinance or a home equity loan to tide you over until you sell or move out of your home.

We sincerely hope you have found this information beneficial for assessing whether a reverse mortgage is right for you and your family.

We would be honored to assist you in locating a reputable reverse mortgage loan adviser. If you would like your own computerized analysis of how much money is available to you, please visit us again at Let Your Home Pay You and complete the short questionnaire. You will be contacted shortly, without pressure and without obligation.

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