Why Reverse Mortgage May Provide Relief for Family Caregivers

Family caregiving typically includes fixing meals, doing housework, personal care such as bathing, dressing, and feeding, and transporting loved ones to the doctor. The value of such caregiving to our society has been estimated at $306 billion annually and will continue to rise due to the fact that 10,000 people everyday are turning 62.

Caregivers; provide an average of 21 hours of care per week and although this is “free” care, it is not without cost to the caregiver. Many caregivers feel isolated and stressed by balancing work, family, and caregiving.

In a study by MetLife, at least 6 out of 10 employed caregivers reported that they had made some work-related adjustments as a result of their caregiving responsibilities. Often caregivers have to leave their job, take early retirement, or reduce their hours from full-time to part-time. ”Where or how will they replace the losses”

One hundred percent of caregivers surveyed in a study by “Everycare” say their personal health has gotten worse as a result of their caregiving. The most common results of worsened health for caregivers included: energy and sleep (87%), stress and/or panic attacks (70%), pain and aching (60%), depression (52%), headaches (41%), and weight gain/loss (38%).

Of those surveyed in the Everycare study, 53 percent said that their health problems were increasingly affecting their ability to provide care. Despite their health problems, caregiving responsibilities do not subside for these caregivers.

Family members providing care for aging parents struggle to have time for themselves and their families. They jeopardize their health and put their own ability to retire at risk when they can no longer balance work and caregiving.

Respecting the wishes of aging parents to stay in their own home often complicates the ability to give care, especially if the aging parents are long-distance.

A reverse mortgage can be the ideal solution for keeping aging parents in their home for as long as possible by affording the products and services that ease caregiving efforts.

RM’s; enable homeowners 62 and older to borrow a portion of the equity in their home with no repayment for as long as they live in their home. It does not affect Social Security or Medicare benefits. Plus, it allows for a temporary stay in the hospital or a nursing home not to mention the availability for home health care.

“We are able to structure the reverse mortgage so that it best serves the needs of the senior family member being cared for, as to provide the money needed for care. “This may include a combination of a lump sum upfront for immediate needs, monthly payments to cover ongoing care, and a line-of-credit to draw from for unexpected or larger caregiving expenses.” In this mortgage there are no limitations or control as to how the monies are spent, so they can be used for anything at all to provide care.

In some areas of the country there are also assisted living facilities, which are sold as condos, the family could in fact purchase the condo and then sell the home in the future to pay back the loan. There are many options available with the mortgage that will give caregivers piece of mind.

Funds from the reverse mortgage can provide family caregivers relief by paying for adult day care, home cleaning services, home health care, errand and companionship services, a medical alert system, transportation services, home modifications, as well as products that make bathing or other daily caregiving activities easier to handle.

To learn more about reverse mortgages, and who provides a free reverse mortgage informational package and confidential estimate by calling the number listed.

Tim Robbins

http://www.articlesbase.com/elderly-care-articles/why-reverse-mortgage-may-provide-relief-for-family-caregivers-679650.html

How Debt Relief Affects Your Mortgage Choice

The interest only loan that you have available to you today, is the same one that many Americans since the early 20′s had available to them and used. So, your grandparents, or there parents perhaps may have looked for a bit of debt relief with the interest only loan themselves.

There were some differences in the loans from that time to now however. Let’s take a look at some of those differences. This may help us become better educated so we may more efficiently shop for these loans.

In the 20′s the interest only loan was more of a pure product, meaning that they were interest only for the loans life. So, only interest payments and no principal had been paid. This seemed to be a good system until the stock market crashed, and the Great Depression came along. This left a number of lending institutions with a mortgage that was foreclosed, and with no cash. At this point most lenders decided that it would be a better idea to just give out more traditional loans so that equity could be built up. This helped the homeowner have a sort of savings to build wealth in. It helped the bankers as well with their mortgage balances being less outstanding.

The interest only loan these days is not well suited for everybody, and can be a detriment to many homeowners, however for some it is a suitable match, for instance investors who will probably flip the property anyways, or others who will likely be moving sooner than later, and will have no ill effect of the fact that they’re not building any equity in the home.

Nowadays, when lenders offer the interest only loan, they’re required to ensure that no more than half of the loan can be applied to the interest only portion. This helps avoid the same tragedy that was faced in the 20′s and the stock market crash. This type of mortgage is more likely t be appealing to the compulsive shopper who insists on instant gratification, with no solid debt management skills.

As well as putting many borrowers in a position where they own a home, but really have no solid equity in it, it also puts them in a spot where they cannot eventually afford the payments when the principal portion of loan does kick in.

These types of loans, plus the booming of the real estate market has increased purchasing power, and allowed many wannabe homebuyers to make that dream come true. However, every bubble must eventually pop, and the mortgage companies must feel the affects as well.

On the flip side is the purchaser, who may not be able to withstand the consequences, should say the home is suddenly not worth the original amount of the loan.

The one that gets the most benefits out of this loan is by far the lender, and the risk goes mostly to the homeowner. Please practice responsible money skills, and be very selective on the type of mortgage that you choose to go with.

Peter Wilson

http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/how-debt-relief-affects-your-mortgage-choice-82117.html

Seeking Relief From your Mortgage Lender

If you are behind on your mortgage one area of relief can come what may seem to be a strange place: your current mortgage lender. Yes, contrary to what you may think, your mortgage lender is your best friend when it comes to paying off your mortgage. Read on and you’ll soon learn how to work this relationship to your advantage.

When you took out a home loan to finance your home purchase, likely you did not anticipate falling behind on payments even to the point of possibly losing your home to foreclosure. Well, neither did your mortgage lender. A lost job, economic misfortune, a blunder on your part, medical bills, or a host of other expenses could be intruding into your life making it difficult, if not impossible to escape the mortgage mess.

Your lender has every right to foreclose on your home especially if you haven’t been in contact with them and you are several months behind on your payments. However, this is a move of last resort for them as they stand to lose thousands of dollars in a foreclosure. This is especially true because:

–Foreclosure proceedings costs several thousand dollars to bring to pass. Court dates, filing fees, attorney consultations all must be added in.

–Once the foreclosure has been accomplished, your mortgage company must then manage the home until it is sold. Administrative costs, maintenance, repairs, and payment of back taxes as well as the right off of bad debt can add thousands to that total.

–In a soft market, your lender could end up selling the house below its market value. Otherwise, the longer the home sits in their portfolio the more that it will cost them over the long run.

Clearly, your mortgage lender has much to lose perhaps even more than what you could lose!

Keeping this in mind, if you are behind on payments, contact your mortgage lender and tell them:

–You are in desperate financial straits but you desire to make good on your loan.

–Ask for the mortgage company to renegotiate the terms of your loan, lower the interest rate, or tack on the outstanding payments to the end of your loan.

A mortgage company would be receptive to your proposal if you have a job and a way to make future payments. Regardless, in a soft market look for more cooperation from a lender than in a hot market where you likely will be abandoned straight away.

Adamheist

http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/seeking-relief-from-your-mortgage-lender-107908.html

The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007

President Bush signed into effect on December 20th of 2007 the Mortgage Forgiveness Act of 2007. The debt forgiveness act through mortgages applies to transactions taken place in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Finding out further information is what a person must have to make an informed decision and to see if the act applies and works for the individual. There is specific information that can be attain through the Internet at www.irs.gov, by calling the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 or by visiting a local IRS office. Many people confuse the act with general debt relief, but this is incorrect since this act deals primarily with mortgages.

The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act provides assistance to struggling homeowners by not taxing the debts forgiven or cancelled through either buying, building or substantially improving the principal residence or used to refinance the debt incurred for those reasons. It does not give a tax break on a second residence, debt from credit cards, car loans or anything other than the debts incurred from the primary residence or on principal balances over two million dollars.

A form is is required to be filled out and filed along with the proper year’s federal tax filing. This information must be filled out properly on a Form 982 for reporting the debt forgiveness. The lender forgiving or cancelling the debts need to provide another form, the Form 1099-C or Form 1099-A to show the exact amount of debt that was forgiven or cancelled.

Rather than face foreclosure the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act may be able to a person out. Normally when a forgiveness of debt occurs it is viewed as an income gained, reported on taxes as such and therefore taxed by the government, even though in the case of debt forgiveness there was no actual money to tax. The government realizing the increasing number of foreclosures tried to decrease the number of foreclosures through allowing resolved or cancelled debts to not be taxed, truly making the debts forgiven and nothing to be paid back.

If a mortgage refinance was done, the cash-out option to the refinance will depend on whether a person can qualify for the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act. Checking with a professional will help to decide if one qualifies or not. With the recent mortgage crisis and declining values in homes and poor resale of homes, more and more homeowners are in desperation for some kind of help from the government.

While this may help an individual, there are other methods to prevent a person from foreclosure on their home and marring their credit score for a long time to come. Debt counselors are many times able to provide areas of improvement in everyday life to gather wasted money spent. Another way is to take on sources of additional income, a second job or selling unused or unwanted items or perhaps adding a roommate to help pay with the source of many financial problems, especially today – the mortgage. This last option can actually make the home help pay for itself.

Hanri Parker
http://www.articlesbase.com/debt-consolidation-articles/the-mortgage-forgiveness-debt-relief-act-of-2007-679157.html