Are Seniors And Mortgages A Bad Mix?

When you are retired, you no longer have to deal with a daily commute during rush hour, professional networking events that eat up your limited free time, or waking up to emails notifying you that you must urgently fix a problem that your insufferable, overpaid boss created.  Retirement is not all peaceful walks on the beach and discounted senior breakfasts at Denny’s, though.  Debt is as much of a problem for seniors as it is for the younger generations.  If everyday expenses are unaffordable on most people’s employment income, they are unaffordable on most people’s retirement income, too.  Retirees account for a substantial portion of bankruptcy filings, and they make up a large percentage of auto title loan borrowers, too.  Believe it or not, retirees can get home mortgage loans, too, and it happens more often than you think.  If you are wondering whether a home mortgage loan fits into your retirement plans, contact an Orlando estate planning lawyer.

Just Don’t Think About How Old You Will Be When the Loan Matures

Home ownership is just one example of the widening gap between the wealthy and everyone else.  In the best economic times, home ownership feels like a realistic goal for people who have steady employment.  Today, home mortgages are prohibitively expensive.  It practically takes a miracle to get an interest rate less than seven percent, and one of the symptoms of financial long COVID is that no one has enough money saved to put a down payment on an FHA mortgage.  This is what the talking heads on the news mean when they say that homeownership is only for nepo-babies, since young people cannot buy a house unless their parents give them money for a down payment.

By this logic, you would think that there are only two types of seniors, those that can sell their empty nest in Bethesda, Maryland and use the proceeds to buy a tiny house in an outer suburb of Tampa, and those who worked their fingers to the bone until they were too old and sick and then retired without a penny in savings.  In fact, many seniors who don’t have enough cash to pay full price for a house can get a mortgage.  As with any applicant, the loan officer will look at your income and see if it is enough to make the monthly payments on the amount you are financing.  With your long credit history and the down payment from the sale of your old house, your retirement income should be sufficient to qualify, and your mortgage may be refreshingly affordable.  Best of all, if you later transfer the house to your children and they assume the mortgage, they will be getting a much better deal than their peers.

Contact Gierach and Gierach About Building Generational Wealth on a Modest Budget

An estate planning lawyer can help you decide whether it is worthwhile to finance the purchase of a house in retirement.  Contact Gierach and Gierach, P.A. in Orlando, Florida to discuss your case.

Source:

cnn.com/2024/06/01/success/buying-house-in-retirement-mortgage/index.html?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc