During normal times Citizens First, the bank of TV developer, will have a monthly reverse mortgage seminar at Arnold Palmer CC given by Jennifer Grovesteen. We attended one in early 2017 and liked the benefits it would give us. My wife and I were both over 62, we have no children, both our parents are dead and we have have no brothers and sisters, essentially no heirs to worry about.
Our neighbors received one about six months earlier. After we listened at the seminar we decided it was for us, so we took steps to get one in April 2017. We own our CYV outright, paid cash in 2011. The out of pocket expenses was two items. First an appraisal, which was about $300 and then a phone counseling that made sure you were aware of what you were doing, that was about $100.
Citizens First gathers all the facts and info and then turns it over to Sun West Bank who will actually handle the loan, I believe Citizens is paid $3,000 for their services. Our fees were about $9,000 which are just part of the loan, which I don't ever plan on paying back. Our CYV was appraised at $239K when it was done almost 3 years ago, it's worth about $259K now. You will receive about 45% of the appraised value. We took out $50,000 initially and paid off a car and some other things. Since we haven't touched the balance, our funds available will climb about $200 a month. It's nice knowing we have something to fall back on if something big comes up, peace of mind.
Right now if we were both to die, whoever we left our home to would sell it and then pay back about $68,000 and the rest would be theirs. The $50,000 we've taken out, the $9,000 in up front fees and about $7,200 in accrued interest ($200 a month during the loan).
Reverse Mortgages | Citizens First Bank - The Villages, FL