Mortgages for Seniors and Retirees

Buying a home is a dream for many Americans. However, if you’re a senior or a retiree, you may be worried about buying a home so late in life. You may believe mortgages for seniors and retirees are difficult to maintain.

Many seniors and retirees live on limited, fixed incomes from savings accounts, Social Security, and pensions. Because of these fixed incomes, many seniors and retirees worry they won’t be approved for home loans.

Keep reading below to learn about mortgages for seniors and retirees, if you can get a home loan as a senior or retiree, how to qualify, and how to find mortgage assistance.

Before you do, enter your ZIP code into our free comparison tool above to find affordable mortgages for seniors and retirees near you.

Can you get mortgages for seniors and retirees?

You may be wondering if it’s even possible to find mortgages for seniors and retirees. After all, you may be worried about whether your age affects a lender’s decision to loan to you.

Fortunately, you don’t have to worry about being denied a loan based on your age. Thanks to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act it is illegal to discriminate against a credit applicant because of age.

You’ll still be able to compare quotes for mortgages for seniors and retirees.

However, that doesn’t mean it’ll be easy to get approved for a home loan. If you’re a retiree living on a fixed income, it may be tougher to meet the criteria required for a home loan.

How do I qualify for a home loan for seniors/retirees?

As mentioned earlier, your age has no bearing on your ability to apply for a loan. Lenders consider the same criteria when reviewing the loan application of a 30-year-old as they do a 65-year-old. Those criteria are:

• Your income and total assets
• Your credit history and credit score
• Any outstanding debts you may have

As you can imagine, it may be tougher for a senior or retiree to meet these criteria considering their limited fixed income. But it’s not impossible.

You can find home loans for seniors on Social Security as long as your monthly income meets the lender’s requirements.

Lenders simply want to make sure you can repay the loan. If your Social Security income, pension income, and retirement accounts meet the lender’s requirements you should have no problem finding home loans for seniors on Social Security.

In some cases, senior citizens on the verge of retiring can even consider pension-advance loans to get cash now in exchange for a percentage of the borrower’s future pension payments.

However, many experts advise against this.

Is there senior citizen mortgage assistance?

As a senior or retiree, you may be wondering if there is senior citizen mortgage assistance for those buying homes later in life. After all, since you likely lived on a fixed income, you may have more trouble coming up with the money to purchase a home.

Fortunately, there are government home loans for senior citizens in the form of reverse mortgages or FHA Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECM).

An HECM works by allowing seniors to convert the equity in their homes into cash. This cash can then be used to take out a mortgage loan for the purchase of a new home.

You will have to meet certain requirements to qualify for HECM, one of which is you must be 62 years or older. Check out the rest of the requirements on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development website.

Even with the HECM program, you should still compare rates for mortgages for seniors and retirees from multiple lenders. You could find special rates for senior citizens.

Now that you know how mortgages for seniors and retirees work, enter your ZIP code into our free comparison tool below to find affordable mortgages for seniors and retirees today.