“I don’t know what we’d have done without it” Richard and Myrtle B. have lived in their Salt Lake City home for 35 years. Richard says, “After 30 long years, we finally own it. It’s a great feeling.” Three years ago, they needed some additional money. They wanted to put in a new lawn sprinkling system, put a new roof over their deck, and purchase a new car. But they didn’t want to take the necessary money out of any of their retirement plans for fear of hurting their retirement. “We had heard a little about reverse mortgages over the years,” says Myrtle, “but we really didn’t know all the details or how to go about it in the best way.” Then they set up a free meeting with one of the counselors at FSI Mortgage (the “FSI” stands for “Financing Seniors’ Independence”) and found out that a reverse mortgage was a great solution for them.“I don’t know what we’d have done without it,” says Myrtle. Richard agrees saying, “We got enough money to do all the things we needed to, plus we got a substantial amount to add to our retirement savings.” They haven’t decided yet how they’re going to spend the additional money, but they agree that it’s a good feeling to have that extra financial cushion available for their future. “The best part,” said Richard, “is that there were no taxes on the money.” But according to Myrtle, the best part was that “we found a way to access our own money that was tied up in the house, but never have a mortgage payment for as long as one of us lives here. And we intend to live here for the rest of our lives.”
“This program paid off all my bills – including my mortgage" “I’m persistent,” says Virginia M., age 70, of Salt Lake City, “When I start on something, I don’t give up very easily.” In her case, that persistence paid off with big rewards. Virginia had some challenges from the beginning. She wanted to purchase some property and then move her existing home onto that property – quite an undertaking for a 70-year-old. She used a reverse mortgage. “I had to come in and see Sabra (her financing counselor) many times in order to get it all done right,” she said. “But we succeeded – we paid off my previous mortgage, a small credit line and all my bills.” Perhaps the most difficult thing for Virginia was deciding what she really wanted to do. She read, asked questions and pondered for a number of months before deciding to go ahead with her plans. “Eventually the reading and hard work all paid off,” she reported. Virginia had known a little about reverse mortgages for a number of years. Then she attended a 2-hour seminar at a local Senior Center sponsored by the University of Utah Continuing Education Division. Her conversations with instructors proved very helpful in giving her a complete understanding of how it could help in her unusual situation. What she likes best is, “I don’t have to pay the money back for as long as I live here. And the house will still go to my kids after I am gone.”
“It gave us a nest egg – some serious money for retirement” When CC and Marcia W. bought their last car and paid cash, the salesman said to them, “Someday I would like to be able to pay cash for a new car, just like you.” The secret of CC and Marcia’s apparent financial freedom was the new reverse mortgage program. A friend had told them about the loan, so they called for information. They studied it for a few weeks, and then decided that this was exactly what they needed. Actually they had been doing just fine for cash flow to fund their retirement. Between his military pension and their combined social security checks, they were able to meet all their obligations and have a little left over for fun and projects. But the problem was that if something were to happen to CC that left Marcia as a widow, then CC’s pension and one of the social security checks would stop. Marcia would be left with an inadequate income for her lifestyle. CC says that the thing he liked best about the program was that it enabled them to put away some serious money for retirement – a nest egg that Marcia could use if she really needed to. He also liked the fact that there were no mortgage payments. “I got a new car and a financial nest egg for the future,” he said, “and I didn’t have to take on any mortgage payments.” Said Marcia, “What I like is that this is safe. It is an FHA insured mortgage. Just about every other thing we have done has caused us to lose money.
These materials are not from HUD or FHA and were not approved by HUD, FHA or any other federal government agency.
