A reverse mortgage is a type of financial agreement between two people wherein one of them is a homeowner who gives up a certain mutually agreed percentage of an amount of equity on the house in exchange for regular payments from the other person. This allows the homeowner to earn some cash against their home’s equity, while still maintaining a fair amount of ownership of their home. This article intends to give you an insight into reverse mortgages along with the pros and cons of the same for seniors.

The benefit of having a reverse mortgage is that in a conventional mortgage agreement, the borrower pays and the lender accepts payments. In reverse mortgages, as the name suggests, the lender pays the borrower in a variety of ways which may be a lump sum, or regular monthly payments, or even a line of credit. The reverse mortgage is usually repaid in either of the cases where the borrower dies, permanently moves, or the property is sold. Having said that, it is important to know that you must be over the age of 60 in order to qualify for a reverse mortgage. Hence, you can see that the reverse mortgage is for seniors exclusively.

It is important to note that these plans are reverse mortgages for retirement since the qualification age mandates that the borrower is over the age of 60. Here is a list of the pros and cons of reverse mortgages.

Pros

• A reverse mortgage is a lien against the property. You retain full ownership.
• You or your heirs will never owe the lender more than the market value of the house.
• You choose when to leave your home and won’t be evicted.

Cons

• There are a lot of small costs involved that add up in the long run. This becomes a huge disadvantage.

Make sure to read from a lot of sources and make an informed decision while taking up a reverse mortgage.