Using Your Reverse Mortgage For Protect Your Home Value

The mortgage crisis of 2007 marked catastrophe for millions of homeowners who suffered from foreclosure and short sales. Most of the problems involving the foreclosing of families’ homes could boil down to risky borrowing and lending. Lenders were pushed to ensure families would be eligible for a loan, when in previous years the same families would have been deemed too high-risk to obtain any kind of loan. With the increase in high-risk families obtaining loans, there was a huge increase in home buyers and subsequently a rapid increase in home prices. As a result, prices peaked and then began falling just as fast as they rose. Soon after families began to default on their mortgages forcing them either into foreclosure or short sales. Who was to blame for the risky lending and borrowing that caused the mortgage meltdown? Many might blame the company Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but in reality the entire system of buying and selling and free market failed home owners and the housing economy.

The mortgage lender’s claim to the property has priority according to both chapters. However, it looks like chapter 13 discusses debt workout plans for the borrower. Which in turn may cause delays to foreclosure. In turn, increasing costs for the lender and possibly causing the property value to decrease due to neglect.

The State of California has a mixed approach in that it is a lien theory and title theory state. According to lien theory "execution of a mortgage or a deed of trust only creates a lien against the property, it does not transfer title. The borrower retains full title to the property throughout the term of the loan and the lender simply has the right to foreclose the lien if the borrower defaults. California is a lien theory state in regards to mortgages but is a title theory state in regards to deeds of trust. According to title theory, the property is transferred but only as collateral with no possessory rights and is referred to as "legal title, bare title, or naked title." (Haupt, 2009, p.206) In either case, should the borrower default, they will lose the property.

There are many interesting proposals to help homeowners who are in the process of foreclosure. Just recently, before the election, Senator John McCain proposed to the Treasury to spend $300 billion to purchase troubled mortgages at face value and then the “Federal Housing Administration would issue a new, federally guaranteed 30-year fixed-rate loan, based on the property's present value, at a "manageable" interest rate” (McKinnon, 2008). Under McCain's plan, the government would pay for the loans and take the whole loss rather than putting the responsibility on the lenders. His plan carries large benefits for the homeowners, but it will decrease

The foreclosure crisis that took over the United States a few years ago left many people facing economic hardships. This crisis happened because there was a huge housing bubble that was unsupported by actual home values. The bubble began bursting in spring of 2008 and the crisis culminated in mid-2009. Many lenders went out of business and many home owners began losing their homes. When the government became aware of this problem and began to implement new programs, it was already too late for many homeowners. Those homeowners are not at a point where they might be considering buying a new home. The housing crisis has created new rules, regulations governing the mortgage industry, and has also created a new agency dedicated to consumer protection. This consumer protection agency is called the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. These dramatic changes have helped to create more responsible lending. The improving market conditions such as low housing costs and competitive interest rates are allowing those affected by a foreclosure to become homeowners again. Prospective buyers have a multitude of programs available to them, so even those with less than clean slate have several options.

“When you rent, you write your monthly check and that money is gone forever. But when you own your home, you can deduct the cost of your mortgage loan interest from federal income taxes, and usually from your state taxes” (Home Buyers Guide, p4). Buying a home can be alarming, if you are not prepared, whether for the first time or even for the fifth time. If you take time before going into the process to gain the knowledge needed, one might see that

The economic crisis that hit the country took many jobs or people had their hours cut. With this situation happening, many people were finding themselves short on their mortgage payments and needing to go into foreclosure or having a short sale on their homes. Either option the homeowner chose or had chosen for them, they found themselves with poor credit and no way to become homeowners again. However, most wait times before was a minimum of two years up to seven years before that previous owner could be eligible for traditional loans.

Foreclosure has become an outbreak affecting the entire United States of America. Realtytrac just reported in the month of April 2011 that one in every 593 housing units received a foreclosure filing. (N1) That statistic is for just one month! Some states such as Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan and Nevada continue to be plagued with an influx of homes falling victim to foreclosure or some other form of default. Each home that is a casualty to a foreclosure, short sale or even bankruptcy was collateral for the lender holding the promissory note. The consequences tend to come at a cost for the lender selling the property but a deal for the buying investor. The costs incurred and the losses experienced by the

I often used to watch a show called “Extreme Makeover” where a team of builders would come to a neighborhood, build a need worthy family a beautiful new home, and then just give it to them. “Wow! What a lucky family,” I would say. “How fortunate.” However, as time went by, that same family would be in the news again. Why? The house was in foreclosure. The people had gone to the bank and taken out a mortgage against the home, then spent all the money they got for it on other things.

Many of those families whose homes were not foreclosed were forced to sell their homes in

Banks such as Wells Fargo gain full ownership of foreclosed homes after they were unsuccessful selling the property at auction, explains Investopedia. The common term for bank-owned homes is real estate owned properties, or REO.

Origination fees and closing costs for reverse mortgages are high. Some people try to avoid these fees by instead borrowing against their home equity for retirement living expenses with a regular home equity loan or home equity line of credit (HELOC). However, this is not always a smart strategy. The reason is that with either a conventional home equity loan or a HELOC loan, you will have to make regular monthly payments that may be at a higher interest rate than can be earned on the loan proceeds without undue risk. Also,

Mortgage lending is a major sector with the United States financial market today. “The modern mortgage has only been around since the 1930s, but the idea of a mortgage has been around for a lot longer.” (History of Mortgages, 2016) The literal meaning of the word ‘mortgage’ has Latin roots: ‘mort’ or death and ‘gage’ or pledge. Translated it supports “the idea that the pledge died once the loan was repaid, and also the idea that the property was ‘dead’ (or forfeit) if the loan wasn’t repaid.” (History of Mortgages, 2016) A mortgage is an agreement for the terms of your home loan, technically not the home loan itself. Real estate transactions require written documentation and this is the purpose of a mortgage.

Around 2006 the price of houses began to fall substantially fast. “The oversupply of houses and lack of buyers pushed the house prices down until they really plunged in the late 2006 and early 2007” (The Subprime Mortgage Crisis Explained). These actions threw investors into a big dilemma. In the beginning they believed buying the mortgages would bring them a profit, but quickly realized that the mortgages would cost them more financial damage than reselling the homes. “Nationwide, home vales have declined about 16% since the summer of 2006 and experts project that the drop will continue until homes have lost about 25% of their value” (Biroonak, 2008). In other words mortgage homes are “underwater”, that is, the mortgage owed equals or exceeds the value of the house (Biroonak, 2008). Investors and homeowners started to go more in debt trying to pay off their original debts.

Analysis: But sometimes buying a house isn’t the best choice. It’s a long-term commitment that requires the homeowner to have a stable and secure job. If you default on your mortgage, for example being late on your payments or even missing payments the mortgage lender can take your home away. Then the lender can sell your home resulting as a foreclosure. Foreclosure also affects your credit making it harder or almost impossible to purchase a house in the future.