Maintaining Your Home for a Reverse Mortgage

As part of the agreement for borrowers with reverse mortgages, they must continue to keep up with the maintenance of their home. But to what degree does a homeowner have to maintain their home?

What does the lender look for?

When it comes to maintaining your home, the lender is looking to make sure that there is nothing that can cause large and irreplaceable damage to the home. Lenders are not looking for minor repairs such as a leaky faucet, but issues such as a cracked foundation, which may lead to larger damage can be an issue.

A good way to keep the home in shape, is to continue maintaining the home as you have in the past, and if you are no longer able to do it, recruit the assistance of family members, neighbors or professionals.

Why does the lender require the home to be maintained?

Keeping up with the maintenance of the home is because when a reverse mortgage becomes due, the home may be sold in order to satisfy the loan. However, if the home is in poor condition, the home may not have enough value at sale time to make the investment worthwhile. While it is not required to do a huge makeover on your home, it is important to continue upkeep on your home as you normally would.

Will you lose your home if you do not maintain it?

Along with not paying the taxes and insurance on your home, not maintaining your property may cause you to lose your home in a reverse mortgage. It is important for homeowners to maintain their home, not only to keep the value of the home, but to also ensure the safety and the longevity of the home for the borrowers. If one chooses to do so, borrowers can put aside a portion of their reverse mortgage funds to be used for any home repairs you may need.

To learn more about reverse mortgages and how they can help you, speak with one of our Senior Advisors at 1-888-808-8486.