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"My garden is my favorite teacher." ~Betsy Cañas Garmon
Today's Community Review
January 8, 2023
Rancho Carlsbad, Carlsbad, California
Carlsbad is a classic California beach town and the setting for Rancho Carlsbad, an established, gated 55+ manufactured home community with two clubhouses, a dog park, RV storage, mature landscaping and more.
More Communities
Sunbird Resort, Chandler, Arizona
Outside of Phoenix in southern Arizona, Sunbird Resort is a large, established 55+ community with single family homes, manufactured homes, an 18 hole golf course and a good menu of activities, classes and events.
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Toxaway Views, Lake Toxaway, North Carolina
Lake Toxaway is in the lush Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina and is the setting for Toxaway Views, a wooded, secluded condominium community with a heated swimming pool with a waterfall, walking paths and more.
Alligator Park, Punta Gorda, Florida
On Florida's Gulf Coast, Punta Gorda is the site of Alligator Park, a low key 55+ cooperative with low maintenance mobile/manufactured/park model homes, a fishing and boating lake, a heated swimming pool, a chapel, a bounty of resident activities and more.
Diamondhead, Hot Springs, Arkansas
In lush central Arkansas, Hot Springs is the setting for Diamondhead Resort, a lakeside community popular with empty nesters and baby boomers. Amenities include a golf course, tennis courts, a marina and more.
Ford's Colony, Williamsburg, Virginia
Charming Williamsburg is in southeastern Virginia and is the site of Ford's Colony, a wooded, all ages community popular with baby boomers and empty nesters. Single family homes and attached homes in a variety of architectural styles are for sale, and amenities include swimming pools, tennis courts, nature trails, RV storage and much more.
Cresswind, Summerville, South Carolina
Not too far from romantic Charleston, Summerville is the site of Cresswind, a lovely 55+ single family home community with a clubhouse, swimming pools and tennis courts, not to mention a restored farmhouse, an onsite YMCA, a coffeehouse, fishing ponds, live oaks and more.
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Retiring with a Mortgage?
Most financial advisors will tell you to pay down your mortgage before you retire. The reason for this is that since your income is most likely to decline during retirement, it makes sense that your monthly expenses also decline.
Yet more retirees are carrying mortgages than ever before. This is because people are buying houses later in life and then refinacing to tap into their equity, which usually extends the lenghth of a loan.
Nearly 50% of people age 65 to 79 have a mortgage, with a median balance of $77,000. Twenty-five percent of people age 80 or better also carry mortgage.
There are two potential downsides to carrying mortgage debt during retirement. One, if you find that you can't make your payments and your home is foreclosed, then you have less time to recover from the loss.
Two, if you have to pull from your retirement accounts to make your mortgage payment, that can leave you short on cash if an emergency arises. And it is not as easy at age 70 to pick up a job to help with mortgage payments as it is at age 35. Retirement account withdrawls can also trigger more taxes.
If you are going to have mortgage payments during retirement and are worried about them stretching you too thin, then you might consider refinancing the debt with a 30 year loan before you retire. Doing so can get your monthly payments down to a manageable level.
You might also consider a reverse mortgage if you have a good amount of equity in your home. This type of loan lets you stay in your home without a monthly payment and lets you tap into your equity, providing you with a lump sum payment or monthly cash payments.
If you are retiring with a mortgage, you are not alone. But not having one or refinancing the debt to lower your payments can make retirement a little easier.
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How to Qualify for a Reverse Mortgage
All borrowers must be at least 62 years old. The older you are, the more funds you can receive from a reverse mortgage.
You must live in your home as your primary residence for the length of the reverse mortgage. You must own your home outright or have at least 50% equity.
You must meet with a HUD-approved reverse mortgage counselor prior to applying for a reverse mortgage to learn exactly how a reverse mortgage works and how much it costs (fees, etc.). The counseling session is to ensure that the borrow completely understands how a reverse mortgage works.
Single family homes, manufactured homes built after 1976, condominiums that are FHA-approved and town homes are all eligible for a reverse mortgage.
You must show the financial ability to meet your loan obligations, including paying property taxes, insurance and HOA fees if applicable. You must also maintain the home.
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Best Mortgage Lenders
Homeowners approaching retirement often have enough equity to sell their current home and buy a less expensive one outright. Some people, though, want to keep the cash from their home sale and finance a new home, while others might need a small or short-term mortgage to cover the gap between their available cash and a home's purchase price. If you do need a mortgage, it is important to choose the right one. Here are three of the best lenders.
Better Mortgage - According to Nerd Wallet, this mortgage company charges no commission fees and has no application, underwriting or origination fees. They also close most loans within 21 days, two times faster than the national average.
Quicken Loans - This mortgage company has a five star rating in the 2019 J.D. Power U.S. Primary Mortgage Origination Satisfaction Study and an A+ rating with the BBB. Quicken Loans has processed more than two million mortgages.
Vylla Loan - This mortgage lender has multiple loan programs for people with less than steller credit and considers alternative credit data, such as bank statements and rent payments.
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