Seniors and Mortgage Debt

For decades, Florida has been an attractive destination for retirees, but it has changed a lot since today’s old geezers were young.  In the 1980s, tiny anole lizards scurried across the sidewalk everywhere you went, but iguanas were only in zoos, but today, the sight of enormous green lizards lounging in the trees or staring menacingly at you from a neighbor’s lawn is an everyday occurrence.  There weren’t nearly as many young people in South Florida when your parents were young; Florida increasingly became a place where people moved for work opportunities and not just for retirement.  Of course, America’s workforce is going through tough times financially, and Floridians feel the stress as acutely as anyone does.  Those who have home mortgages are struggling to pay them, and the ones who don’t have little hope of ever qualifying for a home mortgage and the homeownership that goes with it.  At least seniors don’t have that problem, or do they?  It is just a stereotype that all retirees are either so rich that they own their homes outright or so poor that, like the main characters of the movie Shut Up, Little Man, they live in cramped apartments in dilapidated buildings with sickly pink exteriors, because their Social Security checks will afford.  Seniors have mortgages, too, and maybe you are one of them.  If you are a retiree struggling with mortgage debt, contact a Boca Raton foreclosure defense lawyer.

You’re Never Too Old for a Mortgage Loan

You know life is good when you become a first-time homebuyer in your 30s, and on your way home from closing, you do the math in your head and look forward to celebrating paying off your mortgage when you are in your 60s.  If you take out a 30-year mortgage when you are 40 or older, then it is scary to think about how old you will be when it is paid off.  Mortgage lenders don’t think that way.  They don’t base their decision to lend based on whether they expect you to live for the entire term of the loan.  As long as they make money off of you, they don’t care whether you live or die.  You can qualify for a mortgage if your income is enough to make the monthly payments, even if that income comes from Social Security or a pension.  If you are using the proceeds from the sale of your empty nest as a down payment, your monthly payments should be affordable, even as a retiree.

Is It Generational Wealth If It Comes Encumbered by Debt?

Senior mortgages are the poor man’s generational wealth.  You can use your lifetime of creditworthiness and your hefty down payment to get an affordable mortgage.  Later, you can transfer the house to your children, and they can assume the mortgage payment.  It will be much more affordable than what your children could get based solely on their own credit history.

Work With a Debt Lawyer About Gray Mortgage Debt

A South Florida debt lawyer can help you if you are struggling with mortgage debt late in life.  Contact Nowack & Olson, PLLC in Boca Raton, Florida to discuss your case.

Source:

cnn.com/2024/06/01/success/buying-house-in-retirement-mortgage/index.html?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc