Dear Harry: I've gotten myself into a bind. We bought our home in 2006, and the monthly payments of $1,344 were a breeze because we were both working at good salaries in pretty secure jobs.
My wife lost her job in January, and I was pretty much forced to retire when I hit 65. SS and our pensions are just not enough for us to get along. We are using savings to make up for our monthly deficit. If we could cut our mortgage payments in half, we'd be OK. However, no bank could offer us any kind of deal that will do it. A guy approached my wife recently advising us to get a reverse mortgage that will not only pay off the current balance of $194,000 but give us about $500 a month. The kicker is that he estimated the total up-front fees to be more than $15,000, which he said could probably be incorporated into the reverse mortgage. The house is worth about $375,000. How does this sound? And don't tell us to move to a less expensive home. We LOVE living here!
