The two of you have always committed to taking care of both sets of elders. With your mother-in-law having recently passed, your father-in law, in his early nineties, insists he wants to “age in place”, continuing to live in the modest two-story home they’d owned for many, many years. You and your wife are going to pay for whatever home modifications are needed to make that possible for him. In the course of researching different options, you’ve concluded that a home elevator might actually be easier for your father-in-law to use than a stair-lift.
In fact, you have become excited by the possibility of having an elevator installed in your own home as part of an already planned remodel, avoiding the need to someday move your master bedroom to the main level. (Your own parents moved years ago into a retirement community that offers assisted living, that lifestyle is not your first choice.)
While you had set aside cash for the original remodel plan of your own home, in order to pay for both elevators, you would need to cash in investments, triggering some tax costs. With talk of interest rates easing in the near future, you’ve considered a home equity line of credit.
An alternative way of using the equity accumulated in your home would involve a reverse mortgage. Withdrawals from the line of credit would be tax-free, avoiding the need to trigger tax events by cashing in investment holdings. While allowing your father-in-law to remain in his home, you can make your own residence more aging-in-place suitable. Meanwhile, whatever portion of your housing wealth is not being used will grow at the same rate as the interest being charged on the reverse mortgage loan.
You might say that the combination of home elevators and a reverse home equity loan can allow both your father-in-law – and the two of you – to “move up and down without moving out”!
If you’d like to see what you might qualify for with a reverse mortgage in Indiana, or to download your Reverse Mortgage Guide Click Here (and scroll down)