I kept seeing the commercials and I just kept ignoring them like a swarm of bugs.
Then I guess my brain kept working on it.
Then I started thinking and researching it and it looks interesting.
What I do know is that I have to wait at least 11 years (I'm 51 years young).
I already own my home outright.
I'll need more money when I retire.
I don't plan to ever move.
What do you guys think about reverse mortgages.
Would "reverse mortgage" be a pension paid monthly to home owner based on mortgage on his house/flat, that is being sold later by the bank/whoever is providing the "pension", after the owner dies?
We do not have that here, and I did not hear about it in EU either. The main reason is that banks in Europe are more heavily capitalized than in USA and there are strict regulations diving bank from non-bank investment sector. Banks do not like anything except highly liquid assets,so messing around with houses is the last thing they want to do.
However, this sounds good. There is a tradition in Europe of parents leaving house or flat as inheritance to sons and daughters.
We have a strange situation that old ladies are living alone in apartments that are 150+ m2, in one room, have monthly income of 300 US$, yet they do not want to leave their apartment and buy a smaller one etc. We also have a tradition of owning houses - almost 90 % of people in my country own their homes. The same is in Italy or Spain. Consequence is that workforce is not mobile, and usually you are born, work and die in the same place.
Depending on the amount of monthly cash flow derived from the equity, this could be a good idea, unless you want to leave it to your son or daughter.