Reverse Mortgages California: Growing Steadily

Seniors who own a home in California have, in general, a valuable asset. Regarded as one of the most desirable states in the union, California has a lot to offer including ample job opportunities and pleasant weather. As most real estate agents will tell you, a desirable location creates strong demand. This strong demand for real estate causes home values to climb faster than other locations and stay higher even during the cyclical slowdowns.

Seniors who have owned California real estate for a long time have been the fortunate recipients of massive increases in their home equity due to price appreciation. Perhaps they have not been able to count on their stock market investments, maybe their employer pensions have been cut, and social security alone may be too little to live on, but the value of their home is most likely through the roof.

Prior to the arrival of the reverse mortgage in California, a huge pile of home equity did not do much for the senior homeowner.  There were only two ways to tap into it and neither was very attractive.  A senior could sell their beloved home and move somewhere unfamiliar or take out a new mortgage against their home.

For many seniors, giving up their home in order to have money to live on would mean giving up an important part of their sense of security, comfort and pride. This seems like a tragedy.  The other option- cashing out some of their home equity with a new mortgage- seems to many seniors, a risky proposition. This brings the risk of running out of money for making the mortgage payments, resulting in being forced to sell the home or be foreclosed upon.

Enter the reverse mortgage in California. While the name initially sounds scary to most seniors, when they investigated it, they found that in many cases, it is the perfect solution.  Without selling their home or taking on a mortgage payment, the reverse mortgage allows California seniors to receive a portion of their home equity in cash. The California reverse mortgage is much better than giving up their home or entering a new traditional mortgage because the senior continues to live in their own their home with no new debt payments.

Statistics released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development indicate that the popularity of reverse mortgages in California has increased tremendously in the last several years.  This is no surprise given the need for additional retirement money for many California seniors.  The benefits of a California reverse mortgage, with only minimal tradeoffs, are leading large numbers of seniors to seek out the program, increasing its already notable success. These facts have made reverse mortgages in California an increasingly common way among seniors to utilize their home equity in order to enjoy a better retirement.