Category: Elder
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I’m a Senior, Looking for a Mortgage. Will I Be Treated Fairly?
Great question. The first thing to know is that the Equal Credit Opportunity Act is on your side! Under this federal law, lenders may not consider an applicant’s age as a reason to approve or turn down your application. Simply stated, seniors can get mortgages if they demonstrate their ability to make the monthly mortgage…
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Buying My Grandmother’s Home. What’s My Game Plan?
Your grandma is selling her paid-off home. Perhaps your grandparents have moved into a retirement home and you’d like to buy their home. Or perhaps your grandparents have passed on, and you are purchasing the home from a grandparent’s estate. Very often, an estate sells a home to young relatives of homeowners who’ve passed away.…
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A “Silver Tide” of Boomers Will Pass Their Deeds Along — And It’s Rolling
Freddie Mac is planning for nine million baby boomers to let their homes go — gradually. Freddie Mac’s recent analysis predicts just 300,000 boomer-owned homes will be released to the market this year. Larger numbers will follow, though, increasing year by year. Freddie Mac’s report shows the silver tide has begun to roll. Expect the…
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Reverse Mortgage Scams? What Seniors Need to Know.
If you or someone you care about is 62+, you’ll know it’s important to avoid sketchy financial offers targeting older adults. But what about reverse mortgages? From time to time, media outlets point to scams or high-pressure tactics involving reverse mortgages. And it’s true that reverse mortgages are designed for senior homeowners. But are these…
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Is Moving to a 55+ Community a Good Decision?
You or someone you know may be one of the generation of people aged 55+. And you might be thinking about downsizing or moving to a 55+ community. Here, we orient curious readers with the pros and cons, and go over the deed restrictions to understand before and after buying in.
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Multigenerational Homeownership: How the Deed Is Vested
Millions of U.S. households have multiple adult generations. How do they divide up the worth of their home and the upkeep that goes into it? Who pays the mortgage, insurance, and property taxes? What happens if an owner leaves the home, or passes away? A lot comes down to good deed planning. In this discussion…
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What’s Best in Retirement: Owning or Renting?
To transfer the deed or keep the deed? That is the question. And it tends to come up when retirement age approaches. This phase of life often involves downsizing — to lower the household tax, insurance, and maintenance costs. Paying off the home mortgage can net longtime owners enough to unlock some great options. Rent…
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Locked Out: Less Than 5% of U.S. Housing Is Accessible to Older, Disabled Residents
Tens of millions of U.S. residents have a problem. There aren’t enough homes for the elderly and disabled population. One in four of us — more than 60 million people — have a disability. And our older adult population is rapidly growing. As a general matter, the United States needs something between 3 million and…
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Property Tax Breaks for Older Homeowners (New Changes for NJ, PA, and MD Seniors)
For some seniors and people with disabilities, property taxes can feel like the proverbial last straw on the camel’s back. On the other hand, local governments need funding. They tax their residents to fund resources like emergency response departments, schools, and libraries. How much will you owe in property taxes? It depends on what your…
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How Middle-Income Earners Considering Retirement Housing Get “Trapped in a Gap”
It’s a great time to sell a home at a profit, but…not the easiest time to downsize. Across the United States, attractively priced homes are hard to find. And opting for a retirement community keeps getting pricier, too. As an article in Forbes recently put it, “There just doesn’t seem to be anything affordable for…
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Warning: When Not to Sign Over Your Deed
Transferring the deed to your home is a simple matter. Generally, you just have to find the current deed to your home, then get the right deed form to write up your new deed to convey to another party, and take the document to a notary. Then your signature can be notarized and the deed can be…
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Welcome News: Some States Are Helping Seniors Defer Their Property Taxes
Taxes keep going up, following property values. But some homeowners — and buyers — can tap into county or state property tax breaks. Some states exempt seniors from property tax. Some states let eligible homeowners put off paying property taxes — in many areas, for as long as they own the home. An exemption doesn’t…
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In the News: Struggling and Elderly Homeowners Targeted by Deed Fakery
Imagine a licensed real estate broker — of all people — accused of taking other people’s homes and selling them. Imagine someone deciding to fake a deed to steal the house of an elderly homeowner who’s ill and in a nursing home. These are both real stories, now unfolding in Florida.
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Heirs, Protect the Seniors in Your Life From Deed Theft
A 91-year-old Floridian recently sent a payment to his insurer. Then the agent called to say the company wouldn’t be able to renew the homeowner’s policy. The deed had been transferred. The home was now legally owned by another person. Some days later, from his bedroom, this shocked and disoriented senior heard three people come…
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Living at Home as an Older Adult? Caring for Someone Older? Home Tech Can Help
On October 1st, Tesla revealed a model of its Tesla humanoid robot, Optimus. Some viewers think it might have retail potential, as a robotic home assistant. Tesla seems serious about the project. The company even sidelined the creation of an affordable ($25K) electric car to focus its expertise on robot technology. But Optimus is still…
