Local Focus: San Diego, California

Posted by charles dennis

June 16, 2008

San Diego Reverse Mortgage

The principle behind reverse mortgage is practically the same all over the world. There are however, slight variations in miscellaneous details per country, per state and even per county. A good example of variation would be the interest rates as mandated by law per country. There may also be additional charges given off by different states and counties. So if you are indeed looking for a lending establishment that can afford you loans regarding reverse mortgages, it would be best if you could look into those aforementioned establishments within the city or county where your house is located. You house is the integral part to this equation, because you are actually trying to get a loan using your home equity.

Now in San Diego, the domiciles that can be used as collateral for reverse mortgages can be a condo unit, a single-family house, a townhouse unit and even home units in planned urban living developments. In special cases, even leasehold properties and a few properties held under a trust’s name are also eligible to be used as collateral. If you have such a property and you are thinking of getting a reverse mortgage, it would be in your best interest to actually hire a financial adviser or at least a home appraiser to see just how much monetary issuances you can get for your home.

A home appraiser can set you back between $300 to $600 – the rate of which is dependent on the appraiser you hire and the other services he or she can perform for you, including re-evaluating your property, if need be. Although this may seem a bit steep, you do have to remember that a home appraiser fee is but one of many other expenses you have to go through if you want your reverse mortgage application approved. Besides, if you can get an appraiser that will give you an accurate estimate of your home’s value, you can actually walk away with the upper hand on this deal.

Some homeowners, or make that: a lot of home owners do not actually know the real value of their homes. If the appraiser performs all the necessary inspections, he or she might point you to the structural flaws and damages in your home. If you can get a contractor to fix these flaws or damages, the value of your home may rise dramatically. A well-valued home translates to more monetary value for your loan.

Other fees you have to contend with if you are living in San Diego are: credit report fee, courier fee, document preparation fee, escrow fee (which may or may not include contract writing, deed writing, title searches, etc.), flood certification fee, mortgage insurance premium (for your new reverse mortgage loan), pest inspection fee, recording fee (for the Country Recorder’s Office or any similar agency), surveys, title insurance fee (in case some other entity challenges your claim on the said property) and a host of servicing fee from the lending establishment itself.

There is also the issue of origination fee. Most reverse mortgage are entailed to have an origination fee because this is the primary source for the cost of the actual loan from the lending establishment. In other words, this is the fee that the lending establishment charges the home owners for processing the reverse mortgage loan papers. An origination fee varies from one loan to the other. However, it is approximated that this fee should cost the home owner no more then 2% of the actual loan.