Philadelphia Weekly

REAL ESTATE

Seniors eye low-cost reverse mortgage

HECM Saver program offers smaller loans, smaller fees

By Inman News Feed

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Jan. 26, 2011

That cohort borrowed much more than their pay-it-off parents whose primary goal was to own the roof over their heads. Those boomer funds -- for cars, boats, vacations and tuitions -- came via a home equity loan and then were often refinanced.

The HECM Saver and HECM Standard appear to be a viable solution for the near future. However, more realistic guidelines, coupled with a combination of the two current HECM programs -- perhaps a new hybrid -- will be required to service the equity-short boomers. They've changed every product they've touched: jeans, automobiles, ice cream, homes. Reverse mortgages will be no different.

Tom Kelly's book "Cashing In on a Second Home in Central America: How to Buy, Rent and Profit in the World's Bargain Zone" was written with Mitch Creekmore, senior vice president of Stewart International, and Jeff Hornberger, the National Association of Realtors' international market development manager. The book is available in retail stores, on Amazon.com and on tomkelly.com.