How many of our retirees have no place to go? How many of you have parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles cousins who are senior citizens? Well it looks like more and more of them are losing their homes. Many retirees and elderly people who have been in their homes for years and years are now losing their homes to foreclosure. Unscrupulous mortgage brokers and companies are preying on individuals who have equity in their homes. Many of these individuals are 60 to 80 years old and are on fixed incomes. They are being told if they refinance their high interest home loans, they will have a lower monthly payment. They are also being told there credit cards and other smaller bills will all be paid off and they combine everything in one monthly payment. (Their House) Are they really giving them the whole story? Many of these retirees/pre-retirees and elderly are not being told when they refinance their homes the interest rate will only be fixed for two years (2) and after the two years (2) the rate is variable and may increase as much as 5% or more in less than three (3) years.
They are not being told there are other options such as Reverse Mortgages, a HUD based program that pays off the mortgage in full and the retirees/elderly are only responsible for maintaining the property, taxes and insurance payments and they can stay in their home for the rest of their life. They are not being told if there is enough equity left over from the Reverse Mortgage they can use the money to do home repairs, pay off other creditors, save the money, or go on vacation. They also are not being told they can get monthly supplemental payments from the Reverse Mortgage or take a lump sum payment.
I have helped many retirees get Reverse Mortgages, there are no upfront fees and many of my clients have funds left over. I had a client last year that got $ 25,000 cash from her house; she was in her 70’s and told me she was going to take a Cruise, she was so happy because she said she never had any money. I had another lady who was in her 80’s she received $56,000 for her house through the Reverse Mortgage program, her house needed a lot of repairs and she was able to do all the repairs she wanted vinyl siding, new windows, remodel her bathroom and still had money left over, her house went from the ugliest house on the street to the nicest house on the street, and she does not have a house payment. I had another lady in her late sixties who was in foreclosure, her house payment was $1,200.00 a month she was working two jobs and using her retirement to pay the mortgage she fell behind and almost lost her house. I contacted her mortgage company negotiated a short payoff on her house and then got her approved for a reverse mortgage, she was short about $5,000.00 for her reverse mortgage, but she had saved her mortgage payments for about six months and was able to get approved. She now only pays her taxes and insurance and does not have to worry about her house going into foreclosure because she no longer has to pay that high monthly mortgage payment.
Let’s help our retirees and elderly, not hurt them. They’re our individuals right now who have made bad decisions and put their homes in jeopardy.
We need to help our seniors many of them are barely making it. Many of them are out here right now wondering if they should pay for their medication or pay their high mortgage. These people really need help. There is some foreclosure help free of charge such as Community Housing Solutions, Consumer Credit Counseling Services, but many of these free agencies are overwhelmed with clients and do not have the staff to help all of these people.
Do me a favor spread the word; let’s not turn our back on our Seniors, because one day you could be in the same situation.