A
retired
public
school
teacher
living
in
the
Pacific
Northwest
told

MarketWatch
that
he
is
feeling
stressed
by
high
property
taxes
on
a
fixed
income
and
asks
if
he
would
be
a
good
candidate
for
a
financial
adviser.
One
planner
solicited
for
input
thinks
that
a
reverse
mortgage
could
be
a
worthy
consideration,
among
other
options,
according
to
a
new

blog.

“I
am
a
76-year-old
widower
who
is
[a]
retired
school
teacher.
My
Social
Security
and
retirement
income
is
fixed
at
about
$5,600
per
month,”
he
said.
“I
have
lived
in
Edmonds,
Wash.
for
49
years,
and
my
property
taxes
rise
quickly.
My
property
taxes
are
about
$16,000
for
2023-24,
and
likely
will
be
$20,000
or
more
for
2025;
home
sales
drive
up
my
property
taxes,
not
improvements.
I
do
not
have
the
money
to
keep
up
with
these
taxes
with
a
$10,000
IRS
limit
on
deductions.”

Kenneth
Robinson,
a
certified
financial
planner
at

Practical
Financial
Planning
in
Cleveland,
said
that
the
retiree
could
consider
a
reverse
mortgage
as
a
option,
noting
he
has
come
around
on
their
benefits.

“Once
federal
regulations
were
adopted
some
years
ago,
the
Home
Equity
Conversion
Mortgage
(HECM)
eliminated
many
of
the
problems
we
came
to
associate
with
the
term
reverse
mortgage,”
Robinson
told
the
MarketWatch
blog.
“I
used
to
dislike
reverse
mortgages.
Now,
for
many
homeowners,
they
can
be
the
most
efficient
way
to
stay
in
their
homes.”

Since
the
homeowner
is
a
retiree
on
a
fixed
income
and
is
well
above
the
required
minimum
age
to
engage
with
the
HECM
program,
the
product
could
be
an
option
if
he
meets
other
necessary
qualifications,
Robinson
said.

“The
home
is
the
only
asset
the
lender
can
use
to
pay
back
the
money
owed,”
he
explained.
“If
the
loan
ends
up
being
more
than
the
home
is
worth,
the
difference
can’t
be
made
up
from
other
assets
and
the
line
of
credit
will
grow
at
a
rate
that’s
determined
at
the
outset
of
the
reverse
mortgage.”

Reverse
mortgage
professionals
often
cite
financial
advisers
as
their
most
ideal
referral
partnerships,
but
uptake
on
the
product
category
by
those
in
the
profession
has
been
tepid.
Many
originators
in

high-priced
housing
markets
cite
financial
advisers
as
pivotal
partners,
and
certain
financial
planners
have
started
to

more
openly
embrace
reverse
mortgages
as
a
tool
to
help
protect
their
clients
against
market
forces
and
other
potential
losses.

But
this
take
is
not
universal.
A

2023
study
published
by


Mutual
of
Omaha
Mortgage
suggested
that
misunderstandings
about
reverse
mortgages
remain
rampant.
It
showed
that
despite
plenty
of
investment
in
education,
the
industry

has
work
to
do
before
it
gets
to
where
it
wants
to
be.

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