Greg Snow - Southwest Florida Real Estate Expert provides real estate services to Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Sanibel and Captiva Islands

Reverse mortgages could be the best gift coming Senior’s way since the mythical, Fountain of Youth. Just to fell younger feels nice sometimes for us folks over 50 or 60. ( I just turned 60)

In October of 2007, HUD issued Mortgagee Letter (#2008-33), which out lines many features, including reverse mortgage purchases, effective January 1, 2009. Talk about giving some smiles to our senior population. Do you have family members or friends over 62 and have lamented about not being able to PURCHASE a new residence because of lack of a mortgage product that would accommodate them? They may have wanted to downsize, move closer to family, friends, or move into a senior community to take advantage of the amenities and activites offered.

Possibly the current residence does not meet the ever changing needs associated with human aging.

HUD (Housing and Urban Development) did a pretty good job of making reverse mortgages “borrower friendly” and

enough safeguards to protect against scams, abuses, and frauds. The purchase of a new property requires upfront payment of the mortgage insurance premium, all funds needed to close must be verified, and secondary financing to close the purchase is disallowed. Senior’s may decide to cancel the purchase transaction at ANY time prior to the date of the closing.

So getting to 62, and having a desire to purchase, no longer need to be constrained by trying to qualify under conventional underwriting guidelines. A new vehicle for you to use to purchase a new residence. One that very well may suit their current needs or lifestyle. One that means NEVER having to make a mortgage payment and hang on to some of their money that prior to 1/1/09 would have been needed to put down to acquire a new home. Sure seems like some of the “golden years” are opportunistic to keep smiles on some of our elders.