How Often Can You Refinance a Home Loan? More Than You Might Think

Homeowners with a mortgage often hear about the benefits of refinancing—to snag a lower interest rate, reduce their monthly loan payments, and tap into their home equity. The list of advantages is long and enticing. But if you’ve recently refinanced but have seen interest rates drop even further—or start creeping up—you might wonder if you… [Read More]

Motley Fool: Home Equity a ‘Surprising’ Source of Retirement Income

While Americans have a multitude of potential options and avenues they can use to fund their life after completing a career, many Americans — including current seniors — often find themselves unprepared for retirement. This is why it may be necessary to seek out less traditional sources of retirement funding, and one such potential source… [Read More]

Forbes: Reverse Mortgages Can Help Seniors Pay Down Debt in Retirement

One often overlooked tactic that seniors can employ when seeking to pay down outstanding debt in retirement is the strategic use of a reverse mortgage loan, one of several options that an older American can use when examining their finances during their post-working years. This is according to contributor Bob Sullivan and editor John Schmidt… [Read More]

COVID-19 Completely Transformed the Way We Buy Homes—but Will It Stick?

Remember lazy Sunday afternoons when home buyers could leisurely hop from open house to open house, partaking of wine and cheese laid out to reel in more foot traffic—the more the merrier. Much can change in a year. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, triggering a wave of lockdowns… [Read More]

Half of U.S. Households Face Retirement Risk

Based on the recent release of the Federal Reserve’s 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), as much as half of today’s current American households are at serious risk of not having enough resources in retirement. Some of these risks can be mitigated with financial products including reverse mortgages, but more action is needed to fix… [Read More]

Should You Buy a Home or Keep Renting? How To Decide in 7 Steps

It’s a big question with no easy answer: Should you keep renting, or is it time to think about buying a home? One of the major benefits of being a homeowner is building equity with each mortgage payment, instead of putting money into your landlord’s pocket. But that doesn’t mean buying is always the best… [Read More]

U.S. News: Social Security Retirement Age Hits 66 and 10 Months in 2021

While a retiree can begin claiming his or her Social Security benefits at age 62, payments at that age will be reduced for anyone seeking them before full retirement age. As of January 1, for many Americans full retirement age does not begin until someone reaches age 66, but also not right at the birthday,… [Read More]

4 Crucial Questions To Ask Your Partner Before Buying a House Together

If you’re hoping to buy a house with your significant other, it can be easy to get caught up in the fun stuff, like deciding the style of home you’d love (Victorian, midcentury modern, Cape Cod?) and finding the perfect neighborhood (downtown or middle of the woods?). Still, don’t be fooled: The home-buying process is… [Read More]

Deciding if a Reverse Mortgage Makes Sense for You

A reverse mortgage, specifically a federal government-sponsored Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM), has a lot of moving parts that may make the product concept intimidating for some people. For those who are looking for alternative ways to try and create more cash flow in retirement, there are clear benefits as well as some inherent complexities… [Read More]