Your Estate

A few reverse mortgage headlines from the week:

• How To Squeeze More Money From Your Home (Forbes)
• Reverse mortgages get a boost from Uncle Sam (CS Monitor)
• Reverse mortgages as a way forward (Cape Cod Online)

Only a few more hours until HUD’s “target date” for the new HECM loan limits…

Happy Halloween!

The MetLife Mature Market Institute released its national survey of adult day services and home care costs which found that the national average daily rate for adult day services is $64, up $3 per day or 5% from 2007.  The national rates for home health aides also increased 5% from 2007.  The study includes expanded coverage of statewide averages for all 50 states, in addition to rates for each state’s largest metropolitan regions.

“The trend toward older persons desiring to stay in their homes or ‘age in place’ has increased the demand for in-home care and other programs and services available during the day,” said Sandra Timmermann, Ed.D., director of the MetLife Mature Market Institute.  According to the National Adult Day Services Association, there are more than 3,500 centers nationwide that help over 150,000 Americans each day. 

“We are closely watching this data and the trends in this industry as new adult day centers are opening in virtually all parts of the country.  This form of care has gained prominence as caregivers realize that these facilities provide a less costly alternative to nursing homes and in-home care” added Timmermann.

“Despite the increase in home health aid rates, home care costs overall have remained relatively steady for the past few years,” said Timmermann, “though these options continue to be costly. We underscore what we have been saying about long-term care costs for years: those planning for retirement should save adequately for their care needs later in life and working with a financial professional is the best way to make sure that they will be able to achieve a reliable retirement income stream with adequate plans for covering their long-term care.”

To view the report click the link below.

2008 MetLife Adult Day Services and Home Care Costs Survey

If there are any Reverse Mortgage Daily readers around the Chicago land area, be sure to check out this years Chicago R.E.Connect TechTalk on December 10.  It’s being held downtown at TechNexus and has speakers from around the country flying in to talk about ways companies can leverage the web to increase their business.

I was asked to present along with the much more qualified list of people below:

• Dean Rutter - EVP, Bus. Dev, Liquidus Media / Founder, Apartments.com
• Brian Stalzer - Midwest Sales Dir., Zillow
• Hilary Marsh - Managing Dir., Realtor.org
• Todd Carpenter - Founder, Lenderama.com
• Blagica Bottigliero - Founder, CondoPerks.com
• Dan Green - Founder, Bring the Blog
• Brian Timpone - Founder, BlockShopper.com
• John Yedinak - Founder, ReverseMortgageDaily.com
• Geoff Dougherty - Founder, Chi-Town Daily News
• Matt Nathan - VP, Bus. Dev, ePageCity
• Kris Petersen - Founder, NeighborHuddle.com
• Ray Casey - President, Arestar, LLC

If anyone is interested in coming enter in “crecttnetf” to receive a $15 discount on your ticket.  Let me know if you plan on attending.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008 from 11:30 AM - 05:30 PM (CT)
After-Party at 7.

TechNexus
200 S Wacker
Chicago, IL 60606

Chicago R.E.Connect TechTalk

Technorati Tags: Reverse Mortgage,News,HECM,FHA,HUD,Chicago,Real Estate

My children are all grown, so I’m not dealing with their Halloween makeup, costumes and accessories anymore. However, I still enjoy greeting children at my front door with their bags held out in eager anticipation of the candy I’ll give them. As a participant in the tradition of “Trick or Treating,” I am very conscious of the children’s safety as they come and go from my front porch.

I think of my own childhood Halloween experiences growing up in Chicago. (That’s the city, not suburbia.) My parents would allow my sister and I to freely wander the neighborhood, up two or three flights of stairs to knock on the doors of the flats (apartments) of people we didn’t even know. We traveled in packs of friends, being loud as we checked our candy booty under the light of a corner street lamp. It seemed everyone became your neighbor on Halloween, even if they lived blocks away.

It’s a different Halloween “world” for kids today. Closely escorted by their parents, they move cautiously through their neighborhoods and subdivisions, usually knocking on the doors of immediate neighbors and friends of the family.

The caution I take as a homeowner is to provide a lighted area of my porch stairs, and rather than open my storm door to distribute candy, I’ve come up with a safer alternative.

Like so many people who have adopted the habit of changing their smoke alarm batteries at the time of the seasonal clock change, I use Halloween as a marker for my storm door change. I remove my screen from the door, which leaves that portion of the door completely unobstructed. It’s from this vantage point I distribute my Halloween candy.

Some children are a bit surprised to see my hand reach out to them while the door is closed; some don’t seem to pay any mind. For me, I feel I’ve just provided a safe environment for kids to receive the payoff of Halloween - a handful of candy. That’s part of what makes the holiday a sweet deal for me!

Posted by Sharon Walker

Articles about reverse mortgages have been popping up across all sorts of publications like the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and now Kiplinger.  Journalist Mary Beth Franklin covers the upcoming HECM changes in Reverse Mortgages Get Better.

The article starts off with basic information about HECMs but then describes a Denver area couple who recently used a reverse mortgage to finance about $60,000 worth of home improvements and to boost their monthly retirement income.  “We can do some extra things now, such as travel,” says John, 75, who enjoys working in his home sculpture studio and cruising in his ‘82 T-top Corvette. “We discussed it with our children and they said, ‘It’s your money — enjoy it,”says Phyllis, 72.  Kind of sounds like the Robert Wagner commercial where he is standing next to the classic car right?

As baby-boomers move into their retirement years with fewer pensions, inadequate savings and increasing health-care costs, reverse mortgages are well positioned to serve as a financial solution, says Brian Montgomery, commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration. Peter Bell agrees.”We expect the growth of reverse mortgages to accelerate as seniors look for additional sources of income,” he says, “and because the new provisions of the Homeownership Act of 2008 broaden the market and make them more attractive.”

The article also describes a situation of how using the HECM purchase might make sense.  Definitely worth the read.

Reverse Mortgages Get Better (Kiplinger)

Technorati Tags: Reverse Mortgage,News,HECM,FHA,HUD,Kiplinger,NRMLA

A quick reminder that Monte Rose will be providing a free training session to RMD readers on Wednesday, November 5 at 12pm (EST).  During the session Monte will cover :

• The first observable signal of Sales Productivity is Traction
• The 5 Reasons people "spin their wheels"
• Top 10 Sticky Marketing Tips to maximize your time and money.

In addition, Monte will feature a segment from an interview he conducted with Peter Bell, who will give a pre-LA convention assessment of the reverse mortgage horizon.  Lastly, there is one, and only one, True Test for Productivity…only a few more spots left

Sign up!

Last week CNBC’s Suze Orman was asked about reverse mortgages on her TV show.  One of her viewers called to ask if his 85 year old father should consider a reverse mortgage.  According to to the viewer, his father has been selling stocks to keep up with maintenance and other larger ticket items but is now considering a reverse mortgages.

The viewer asks, “Is it better for my father to keep unloading stocks or borrower against his kids future?”  Yes, the caller said his fathers assets were his future… sad.

What do you think the South Side of Chicago native said?  Check out the video.

Suze Orman - Reverse Mortgage Question

Technorati Tags: Reverse Mortgage,News,HECM,FHA,Suze Orman,HUD,CNBC