HOUSING WEALTH CAN ENABLE AILING SPOUSE TO STAY HOME
For the past six months, your wife’s health problems have been worsening, and the recommendation has been for her to move into an assisted living facility nearby. Right after COVID, the two of you, both age 71 at the time, had decided that you were not going to sell your home, instead resolving to “age in place”. To that end, you had made certain structural changes to the home, including having a walk-in bath installed and moving the laundry room to the main floor.
Now, the realities of your wife’s illness have forced you to take a new look at your overall situation. Although you each have a Long Term Care insurance plan, the first 100 days of facility care are not covered, and the plan benefits cover only three years of care for each of you. True, even after the home upgrade, you have remained debt-free, it is plain that health care costs are going to present more of a burden than you’d anticipated. With the value of the home having increased (both because of overall real estate appreciation and the upgrades), you’re wondering whether applying for a home equity line of credit might prove your best course of action.
Consider accessing your housing wealth through a reverse mortgage. Right now, both of you qualify as eligible borrowers, since the property is your primary residence. If your wife later moves to an assisted living facility, so long as you continue to live in the home and meet the ongoing obligations of paying property taxes and insurance on the home, the reverse mortgage would remain in place.
On the other hand, you might speak with your wife’s physicians about the feasibility of using in-home healthcare services. In fact, one significant benefit of reverse mortgages is the ability to use the proceeds to pay for in-home medical care (which can be less costly than nursing home or assisted living facilities. What’s more, unlike a “forward” loan in the form of a home equity line of credit, with a reverse mortgage there will be no principal or interest payments due, and withdrawals from the line of credit will be tax-free.*
Tapping the value built up in your home is all about using housing wealth to create “healthful” ways to cope with medical costs.
https://mutualreverse.com/david-garrison
Readers, 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).
*Please consult a tax specialist. David Garrison, NMLS ID 1595194. Mutual of Omaha Mortgage, Inc. dba Mutual of Omaha Reverse Mortgage, NMLS ID 1025894. 3131 Camino Del Rio N 1100, San Diego, CA 92108. Indiana-DFI Mortgage Lending License 43321. Michigan 1st Mortgage Broker/Lender/Servicer Registrant FR0022702. These materials are not from HUD or FHA and the document was not approved by HUD, FHA or any Government Agency. Subject to credit approval. For licensing information, go to: www.nmlsconsumeraccess.orgEqual Housing Lender