Is A Reverse Mortgage Right For You? Here's A Calculator To Help You Decide.

If you are one of the millions of Baby Boomers whose retirement years are quickly approaching, you may be thinking of a reverse mortgage as a way to fund your future while allowing you to stay in your home. But getting a handle on just how much financial security a reverse mortgage can mean may seem like the kind of math normally reserved for a Ph.D. in advanced calculus, unless you are smart enough to simply use a reverse mortgage calculator.

With Internet access, you will easily find your way to one of the dozens of online lenders offering reverse mortgage calculators on their websites. Extremely user friendly, these reverse mortgage calculators demand no more input than a reasonable estimate of your house's market value. Reverse mortgage calculators are ideal tools for providing the information you need to decide if it will be in your best financial interests to take out a reverse mortgage.

AARP Can Help

If you're a member of the American Association of Retired Persons, or AARP, you may know about reverse mortgage calculator at www.aarp.org. You don't have to belong to AARP to access the calculator, and in fact it is the most widely used of all the online reverse mortgage calculators.

The AARP reverse mortgage calculator will ask you first to enter input on the ages of both yourself and you spouse, your home's approximate worth, and you zip code. Deciding to supply this data will start you on your way to either proceeding with, or passing on, an application for a reverse mortgage.

Good Data In, Good Data Out

Try to be as precise as possible when you enter your home's value, because the information the reverse mortgage calculator provides will depend on your data. The financing of a reverse mortgage is entirely different from that of the mortgages you are used to, and some reverse mortgage calculators will ask you not only your home's present market value, but for the amount you may still owe on an existing mortgage.

The most advanced reverse mortgage calculators process detailed data, including the total amount you would like to get with a reverse mortgage, and if you would like it as a credit line, in monthly installments, or as a single cash payment. It will even ask if you would like some combination of the three!

Once you input all the data, the reverse mortgage calculator will tabulate your information and produce a reasonable accurate response letting you know what taking out a reverse mortgage will do for your financial prospects.

But you need to accept the fact that reverse mortgage calculators, as amazing as they may be, are only good for approximating reverse mortgages according to national averages for reverse mortgages, and that what you can really expect will be greatly influenced by the interest rates where your home is located.

Clarifying The Picture

When you have computed a ballpark figure with a reverse mortgage calculator, you should head for a local lender and discuss what adding the various reverse mortgage fees will do to your final figures. Each reverse mortgage will have application, closing, origination, and continuing loan service fees attached, and those you do not pay up front will be included in your loan balance. So they will be accumulating interest charges for the duration of your reverse mortgage loan.