We’ll correction, it’s a renegade that I rented. My bad, I don’t know the difference. I wanted a ford but the wife thought this one was cute. Which it is I guess. I just don’t know how to drive it.
I do not have a car with this space age new generation technology, so I have not had opportunity to try it out yet. What I am wondering is that if the dealer only gives you one thing to use, how easy is it to get spares? I am old fashioned. I have a key that unlocks and starts my car. The key does not need any high tech battery or chip in it. If I want a spare key to start and warm up car, I can go to local hardware store and get spare key. How do I get spare key with this new stuff? also how many years does this last for? I know that electronics can last for decades, but what happens in fifteen or twenty years, if it breaks?
What happens in fifteen or twenty years if it breaks? You have it fixed.
“With the old tech system, if you forget to turn on your headlights at night, the fact that you can’t see your speedometer and gauges instantly alerts you to the fact.”
…and yet, some people drove without lights prior to the new technology.
I will grant you that there are more people driving–sans lights–at night and in poor visibility conditions today than there were years ago, but the fact remains that we have always had a segment of the population that operates cars with little regard to safety.
“Henry Winkler seemed to be able to shake his hips and apply a good thump with his elbow and things were set straight”
…and today, he is hawking Reverse Mortgages to the unaware and the uninformed…
Those celebrities certainly make reverse mortgages sound like a great deal. I wonder which bank dreamed up that scam and how much the lobbyists charged to get it going.
The reverse mortgage act was signed into law by Ronald Reagan.
What’s wrong with a reverse mortgage? I mean, let’s assume you have nobody to will your house to…get paid without the inconvenience of moving.
You know @meanjoe75fan, I heard that financial advisor Ramsey guy who recommends broke people to buy Ford Granadas tell an 87 year old widower with no kids and half $million in the bank not to get a reverse mortgage on his $250,000 home. Ramsey’s going to stick to his agenda even when it’s nuts to do so. But the Reverse mortgage has resulted in a great deal or grief for friends who dealt with them after the death of a family member.
What's wrong with a reverse mortgage?
If 60% of Americans live pay check to pay check how can it be surprising that there are people eager to jump into such a great(?) deal?
Mike,
I read that article you linked. Some good points, but I think most of them are due more to “casual use” of reverse mortgages, vs them being inherently “bad.”
The (IMO) “appropriate” time for them is when you in such financial difficulty that your other alternative is to sell the house (probably at fire-sale prices, 'cause you need that money NOW) and leave the family homestead where Granny* got married and raised her 5 kids. It give you the OPTION to cash out “gradually” and not deal with the psychic trauma of being “86’d at age 86.”
A LOT of the issues raised (you lose the home if you into hospice care, your heirs will have to pay off the note) seem to imply the reverse mortgage wasn’t used as a last resort, but sorta for “walking around money” or other non-essential desire. I see it as the “less lousy of two lousy options,” and if you use it, accept that it’s goodbye to the house (eventually).
And it had the unfortunate tone of implying that borrowers (especially the poorer sort) are “innocent idiots”; i.e. pure in motive, but too stupid to realize the “error” of their ways (i.e. condescending tone). Well, I work at a tax prep that specializes in pricey loans like that–and there’s NO WAY we could be in business if we didn’t offer such loans–they’d flock to our competitors. (More to the point, I could do my work solo, at 1/3 the price, and struggle for customers since I can’t loan money and need payment up front).
I’d wager that most of the folks complaining the loudest about “predatory lending” have never actually needed to (say) raise $5,000 to bail a loved one out before Christmas. Under the right circumstances, 20% interest can be a bargain!
*Gender-specific because the high probability is that the husband pre-deceases the wife.
VDCdriver: I suspect the drivers of the old tech system who were not alerted by their speedometers and gauges being dark were the ones who never looked at their speedometers and gauges in the first place.
It’s ironic that you mentioned bailing out a family member at Christmas @meanjoe75fan. Several years ago a customer who was financially suffering and quite out of touch with all things legal called me about her son who was in jail on Christmas Eve and she was desperate to get him out and willing to sign on to outrageous debt to free him. Because this is a small rural town a district judge who was an old family friend answered my phone call and when assured that the young man was not dangerous he was released on his own recognizanse. It’s funny how those who can afford to post bond can get the ear of those who can cancel it while those who cannot afford it get kicked under the bus.
And in this state the pay day loan offices are limited(?) to 592% APR by state law that was apparently written by the loan sharks… Was indentured servitude any worse than the legal trap of such predatory loans?
I don’t think anyone can predict their health situation 10 years from now. Get hit by a truck…slip on ice…heart attack…etc…etc. In a reverse mortgage and you have to go to a care facility…you could be screwed.
“. . . tell an 87 year old widower with no kids and half $million in the bank not to get a reverse mortgage on his $250,000 home” If he’s got half a mil in the bank, why would he NEED a reverse mortgage?
" I mean, let’s assume you have nobody to will your house to…get paid without the inconvenience of moving. " Or, suppose you don’t WANT your kids to inherit your house, for whatever reason. You spent a lifetime working for what you have, you are entitled to enjoy it while you’re here. You’re kids aren’t “entitled” to get your house or anything else, unless you want them to have it. Remember that old guy who married that Playboy gold-digger 'cause he was feuding with his son? He died and they spent a decade in court fighting over his money, and both of them died before it all got resolved. That old man knew what he was doing!
Based on what I"ve personally experienced in my family, I think a lot of old people do themselves a disservice trying to stay in their own homes. My mom sold the home and moved to a CCRC, lived a longer, better life than she otherwise would have, carefree and not socially isolated in “her own house”. Got better medical care too, as doctors were right on premises. Of course everybody’s situation is different. Moving into the CCRC did substantially cut into her heirs “inheritance” but so would a reverse mortgage. P.S. I’d sell my house and move into a CCRC tomorrow if I were old enough to qualify.
"If 60% of Americans live pay check to pay check how can it be surprising that there are people eager to jump into such a great(?) deal? " THAT is the part that surprises me the most. I am dumbfounded that the kind of people who “are eager to jump into such a great deal” ever managed to accumulate enough home equity to qualify for a reverse mortgage in the first place.
I had a colleague who used to work for H&R Block. He once told me they didn’t really have to push the refund anticipation loans, people would walk in, slam their W-2 down on the desk, and say “Gimmie my check!”
Edit to add (2/26) Whoops, sorry about the abbreviation thing. VolvoV70 already clarified. Usually I’m the one sitting at my screen scratching my head at some abbreviation I don’t know, and I turn around and do the same thing. My bad.
CCRC ?
CCRC - Continuing Care Retirement Community - This is the problem using abbreviations that not everyone knows. Basically these type places you move to and start with independent living and progress to some low level care and on to full level care if need be without having to leave the community.
I have looked at one and it seems to be a solution to a growing problem.
I can’t get into it here but you don’t really own the house anymore. Even though you have a life estate and get a check every month, at the end the bank gets the farm. Is that what you want? Plus you’ll need that money every month to keep the place up in the fashion the bank has become accustomed to. Bad deal. Just sell and keep everything plus earnings or second mortgage.
Hi - could you please bring this back on-topic? Thanks.