Renting Your Reverse Mortgaged Home?

The following article from Bob Bruss contains some excellent information on what happens when someone with a reverse mortgage moves into a nursing home. In this case, this could mean having to sell her home.

Q: DEAR BOB: My 90-year-old mother-in-law, who recently moved into a nursing home, has a reverse mortgage on her home to pay her living costs. My husband is to inherit her house after she dies. We plan to demolish the house and put a new house on the property. What are the financial ramifications of renting the house to tenants until her death? My husband is reluctant, but I don't want to see the house sitting there vacant, when it could bring in $2,000 monthly rent. -- Elaine H.

A: DEAR ELAINE: Because your mother-in-law moved out of her principal residence, her reverse mortgage will become due and fully payable in full after 12 months of her not occupying the house. Reverse mortgage lenders periodically check up on their borrowers to see if they are still alive and are occupying their primary residence, except for absences less than 12 months.

If the house is rented to a tenant, when the reverse mortgage lender discovers the owner no longer lives there, the lender can require the loan balance be paid in full or it will be put into foreclosure. For more details, read the reverse mortgage documents and consult a lawyer.

Readers with questions should write Robert J. Bruss at 251 Park Road, Burlingame, Calif. 94010, or contact him via his Web page, http://www.bobbruss.com