Buying a House After Retirement

Your dream has always been to move to Florida when you retire. You first set the intention to retire to Florida when you visited the Sunshine State during a Spring Break trip in college, and you have never deviated from it. Time flies, and you are ready to retire, but your financial plans have not worked out quite the way you had hoped. Your original plan was to save up enough money during your career that you could buy a house in Florida while keeping your empty nest up north to use as a rental property or to let your younger relatives live there rent-free if they needed it. That did not pan out, and your next plan was to sell your empty nest, which would be paid off by the time you retired, and use the proceeds to buy a house in Florida. Meanwhile, prices skyrocketed beyond what you or anyone could anticipate. Now, even if you sell your house up north, you will need a mortgage loan to buy a house in Florida. Is it even possible for retirees to get a home mortgage loan? If it is, then is it advisable? If you are considering applying for a mortgage loan to finance your purchase of a home for your retirement, contact a Dade City estate planning lawyer.

How Risky Is It for Seniors to Borrow a Mortgage Loan?

A mortgage lender will not reject a borrower’s application for a loan simply because of the applicant’s age. Lenders are in the business of making money, not in the business of ensuring that you become debt-free during your lifetime. If you are 80 years old and you apply for a 30-year mortgage, and you have enough money, the lender will simply lend, collect your monthly payments for as long as you stick around, and then get as much money as it can from your estate after St. Peter inevitably calls you before the loan matures.

Of course, even the most math-phobic people know better than to borrow a 30-year mortgage loan after they have started drawing Social Security. Therefore, when seniors take out mortgages, the repayment term is usually 15 years. That means a bigger monthly payment than you would have with a 30-year mortgage.

It is often possible for retirees to afford the payments on a 30-year mortgage. You can make your monthly payments lower by placing a bigger down payment on the purchase. This is feasible if you are using most or all of the proceeds from the sale of your previous house toward the down payment on the new one. Keeping up with mortgage payments is also feasible if you have multiple income streams, such as Social Security income for both spouses, plus distributions from an employer-provided retirement account.

Contact a Florida Estate Planning Attorney About Affording a Home Purchase in Retirement

An estate planning attorney can help you figure out how to afford a home purchase in Florida for your retirement.  Contact The Law Office of Laurie R. Chane in Dade City, Florida to discuss your case.

Source:

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