IntrODUCTION TO Home Keeper Mortgage

 When you took out a home mortgage, you paid your mortgage lender the down payment and then proceeded to pay your monthly amortization.  Through regular amortization, you have been able to steadily build up your home equity (the part of the value of your home that you own).

The moment amortization is over and your home is free and clear of debt, it becomes solely your property and your home equity becomes equivalent to the value of your entire home.  At this point, this stored value or home equity can now be considered as your savings.

To withdraw your ‘savings’ in your home, you can take out a reverse home mortgage like the Home Keeper Mortgage.

What is a Home Keeper Mortgage

The Home Keeper Mortgage is a reverse mortgage that is backed by Fannie Mae.   It allows you to cash out on the equity in your home and have it paid to you in a variety of ways.  In most states, you can choose to have your loan paid to you as a monthly supplement to your income, as a line of credit that you can use as you see fit, or as a combination of the two.   If you live in the state of Texas, contact your local reverse mortgage lender as the options for your state is different.

The Home Keeper Mortgage lets you borrow against the equity that you have stored up in your house, allowing you to fund your retirement or even to have a little fun during your golden years.   What makes the Home Keeper special is that you do not have to make any payments on your loan until you sell your house, pass away, or convey the title to someone else (or if you move out of the house, even without selling it).  

The special provisions of this reverse loan means that you do not have to worry about making monthly payments when you use the Home Keeper Reverse Loan to supplement your retirement income.  Even better news is the fact that when the loan becomes due, you or your heirs will only have to pay only the lesser of the actual amount due or the value of your home.   This means that even if you borrow more than your home is worth, you will only have to pay back the sale price of your home rather than struggling to pay a greater amount.  

Fannie Mae also backs the Home Keeper Mortgage, which means that your payments will continue to come in for as long as you are eligible.  What this means is that if your lender stops sending you your payments for any reason, Fannie Mae will ensure that you still get your money, making the Home Keeper Reverse Mortgage a safe option for seniors.

 In the Home Keeper Mortgage plan, a reverse mortgage lender will lend you money with your home as collateral.  In a reverse annuity mortgage setup, for instance, the lender will give you a monthly income.  Depending on the terms of the contract, you can get a credit line, instead, or a monthly income plus credit line combo.

To get an estimate on the amount of monthly income or credit line you can expect to get from your home through the Home keeper Mortgage, you can use a Reverse Mortgage Calculator.

It would also be best if you were to talk to a financial consultant to get relevant reverse mortgage information before you decide to take out a Home Keeper Mortgage.  The structure of reverse mortgages may differ by state.  The additional reverse mortgage info will let you make informed decisions.

Repayment commences only after you cease living in your home or if the reverse mortgage loan contract has been breached.  The money for repayment will come from the sale of the house itself.  In case you or your heirs wish to keep your home, though, you can come up with the total amount you owe and use that to pay off the loan.

If your home were sold to pay for the loan, the total amount of the sale would become your repayment.  However, if your loan balance were less than the actual sales proceeds, the reverse mortgage lender would take only the actual balance.  Any amount in excess of your total balance would become yours or your heirs’ to keep.