Wealthy Boomer: Reverse Mortgage Hunting by Jonathan Chevreau, Financial Post/National Post: "Best time is when you don't need to" With recession-based financial stress still commonplace, property owners can be pressured by their children and/or grandchildren to tap into home equity to bail them out. In the case of family pressuring for a reverse mortgage, there is at least one other significant solution...<< MORE >>

Reverse mortgages and emergencies have something in common. You'll fare best with both if you prepare with foresight to avoid whining in hindsight...The type of thinking required to prepare your home and family to thrive in the face of emergency, is very similar to the type of long-term forecasting that is essential when deciding if it is this home and no other that will suit you now and in the years and decades to come.<< MORE >>

Establish What You Own with a Land Survey...Land Survey Ensures Certainty. “Just by looking at the land, you don’t really know anything,” says Brian Munday, Edmonton-based Executive Director of the Alberta Land Surveyors’ Association. Assumptions can be expensive...<< MORE >>

Smart Shopping Tips For Residential Systems One benefit of a reverse mortgage is that you do not have to sell your home to convert the accumulated value in the property into cash. One disadvantage of a reverse mortgage is that, because you retain ownership, you remain responsible for maintenance of your property. Home equity management involves preserving, building and maintaining home equity, which means that cost-effectively modernizing and up-grading the property is an important. For Five Smart Shopping Tips to help you ace your next major purchase for your home check out the April 21 article on "Decisions & Communities"...<< MORE >>

Reverse mortgages have become a hot topic in many circles, however, much of the information bandied about is incorrect. I am struck by the increasing number of property owners, from both sides of the border, who have best-friend and worst-enemy stories to tell me about their reverse mortgage adventure...More and more consumers and professionals talk about reverse mortgages and home equity conversion with consumers increasingly intent on understanding the value and pitfalls of these financial, lifestyle and wealth management tools before they are needed. Reverse Mortgages & Home Equity Management, In Context is available as a 3-hour/3-credit continuing education program, as a featured presentation...<< MORE >>

We want every house, condo and semi owner to have access to reverse mortgages, but not everyone will need or want one. These tough economic times have too many property owners digging into their savings to prop up investment income short falls and job loss...HOMEQ Corporation announced earlier this month that its subsidiary, HomEquity Bank, reported record originations of reverse mortgages of $43 million in the fourth quarter of 2009--an increase of 77% over the same period last year and an increase of 11% over the previous record set in the second quarter of 2008.<< MORE >>

For the property owner who has everything and wants to keep it...Reverse Mortgages: Best Friend, Worst Enemy...Your Choice! Available in ebook and print formats from www.CatapultPublishing.com. Special offer for Canadians.<< MORE >>

CHIP interest rates lowered...HomEquity Bank (Banque HomEquity), Canada’s newest chartered bank, has announced the reduction of its variable rate on CHIP Home Income Plans to 3.75%... HomEquity Bank is a Schedule I Canadian Bank and a wholly-owned subsidiary of HOMEQ Corporation, www.homeq.ca... Reverse mortgage rates have traditionally been higher than forward mortgage rates and this has been a real or psychological barrier for many borrowers. Rates matter, but administrative fees, appraisal costs and ongoing charges can erase any advantage offered by lower rates. The cost of borrowing must go well beyond quoted rates. For more on reverse mortgage costs...<< MORE >>

When selling financial products generates rewards for professional salespeople, whatever their credentials, can consumers with less knowledge than these sellers make informed buying decisions? ... The effects of predatory mortgage lending are devastating and far from over in the US. Canadians may have dodged a financial bullet, but have property owners learned important financial lessons? "Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it" has proven true in economies and for individuals...The New US National Consumer Law Centre (NCLC - www.consumerlaw.org ) will release “a comprehensive new report on the growing dangers posed by aggressive reverse mortgage lenders...If consumers don’t learn to be proactive and learn all about the risks and workings of financial products like reverse mortgages BEFORE they need the money and must sign on the dotted, who will stop history repeating itself? << MORE >>

Do you know what you don’t know? "Reverse Mortgages & Home Equity Management—In Context" Attend Tuesday September 22 and you’ll learn how professionals can protect themselves when asked “What about a reverse mortgage?” This equity-conversion alternative to selling is now a viable option for property owners... Understanding reverse mortgages involves a different perspective on equity and ownership. Did you know that this fresh viewpoint can also become a powerful marketing and relationship building tool? For where and when...<< MORE >>