The financial "crisis" has created additional needs

When I look back on the people I have helped in the past year, I've found that reverse mortgages are now able to help people get through these hard financial times.  Many people have dramatically reduced their income due to the collapse of the share market. This in turn has wiped out the reserves many people had to help them with living expenses.

What I want people to be aware of is that you shouldn't PANIC and do something foolish like selling your house if you don't want to.  This isn't the best time to sell a home so you should consider the benefit of using a reverse mortgage to see you through these rough times.

Lets say you've run out of your reserve funds and your dividends or annuity is not allowing you to live as you have been accustomed.  You may feel that to get back on your feet it may be better to downsize so you can raise some capital to improve your lifestyle.  First of all have a good hard look at what selling your home will cost you today. There's the real estate commission, stamp duty on the new purchase, removal expenses, etc. which can add up to maybe $20,000 to $50,000 depending on the price of your home.  Add to that the LOSS you may take in selling in today's market.

Alternatively, you can determine what your shortfall is in your preferred standard of living and see how much it would cost you to have something like an overdraft facilty using a reverse mortgage. If you required $500 per month to help alleviate your stress, then the cost of acquiring this with a reverse mortgage would only be $6,000 per annum plus interest.  This buys you time and relieves you from being placed in a stressful situation where you are FORCED to sell your home now for LESS than it is worth.  Compare the $6,000 to what you could potentially lose by selling up and it's not easy to see what the best option would be.