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Americans are saving less and less for retirement these days, which is a big problem all around. As a result of this, many are now looking at their home as the source of their income for their golden years. By the time most homeowners are ready to retire, they have probably built up a significant amount of equity to tap into to supplement their income when they are not working. The biggest dilemma for most homeowners ready to retire and ready to use some of their equity is how. There are so many ways that homeowners can tap their home equity these days that it can be difficult for retirees to determine which way is right for their specific circumstances and situation. For a person to determine which way is most effective to tap their home equity they must determine a variety of things such as how much they want to leave to their heirs, their monthly cash-flow needs and whether or not they want to keep the home at all. A February 27, 2007 article by Tom Lauricella of The Wall Street Journal, “Options for tapping the equity available in your house,” discusses the various ways someone could take advantage of their home equity. The most obvious way to take advantage of home equity is to sell the home and downsize to something smaller and less expensive or even to rent instead. Although this is probably one of the hardest things for a homeowner to do, especially if they have lived in the home for a significant amount of time. “For many older adults, walking away from a home is among the most difficult decisions in later life -- even when a move makes economic sense. In a recent survey of retirees, Fidelity Investments' Fidelity Research Institute found that 43% didn't want to cash out the equity in their home because they wanted to live where they are "comfortable." An additional 9% explicitly cited ‘sentimental’ reasons. ‘There are big emotional barriers to selling...and those barriers appear to grow as you age,’ says Guy Patton, who heads the Fidelity group.” But moving isn’t the only option for homeowners looking to take advantage of all of the equity they have built up; there are various other ways. “The Fidelity Research Institute considered the outcomes from seven different strategies for a hypothetical 75-year-old couple who own a $400,000 home and need to pull out cash. The options included major steps like selling the home and buying a smaller house, as well as less-dramatic moves, such as taking out a reverse mortgage. Fidelity calculated that the couple could pull anywhere from $18,000 to $307,000 out of their home over the remainder of their lives depending on the strategy.” In their research, Fidelity found that the most lucrative way that the hypothetical couple could profit from was to sell their home and downsize to a smaller property while taking out a reverse mortgage on the new home. As you can see, there are many options available. Talk to an LEI mortgage coach today to explore some options for making the most of your home equity. For greater information about mortgage refinancing or more related subjects about refinancing or about home equity loan refinancing please review these links.
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