If you have significant equity in your home, a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:reverse mortgage is a popular way to access money in later years to help support your living expenses. Having a reverse mortgage requires you to keep the property in good repair; otherwise, the balance of the loan becomes due. If your home is located in a flood zone, you may be required to have flood insurance, o﷽r you may want to have it just in case. If you don't have flood insurance and a flood damages your home, you may have to pay back t🧸he reverse mortgage sooner than expected.

What Is a Reverse Mortgage?

A 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:reverse mortgage is a type of mortgage for individuals who are age 62 or older and have significant equity in their homes. Unlike a traditional mortgage, you don't have to make payments on your reverse mortgage until you move away or die. Importantly, your reverse mortgage will become due if you fail to keep the property in good repair or don’t keep up with insurance coverage and property taxes. If your reverse mortgage comes due and you lack the money to pay it off, you will go into 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:foreclosure.

Insurance Coverage and Reverse Mortgages

When you have a reverse mortgage, you must meet certain requirements because the reverse mortgage is secured using your home as 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:collateral. Notably, you must stay current on your 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:homeowners insurance premiums and keep the home in good repair. If your home becomes significantly damaged in a flood, you’ll need to repair it quickly, or your reverse mortgage will become due.

Reverse Mortgages With Flood Insurance Coverage

Due to their complexity, reverse mortgages are prone to scams and unscrupulous lenders. If you live in a federally designated flood zone and flood insurance through the National Flo꧑od Insurance Program (NFIP) is 🤡required for your 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:ho๊me equiꦑty conversion mortgage (HECM), it’s best to make sure that you have adequate coverage by doing your due diligence.

You could be 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:at risk of defaulting o♈n your reverse mortgage if you don’t have or maintain flood insurance and were required to. Be sure to look up your address on the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Federal Emergꦯency Management Agency's (FEMA) Flood Map Service Center to see if you live in a designated flood zone. If you do but don’t have flood insurance, be sure to get it right away.

Even if you aren’t required to have flood insurance, you should strongly consider getting it, as 100-year floods are becoming more common. Without flood insurance, your reverse mortgage will become due if your home is damaged in a flood. In that case, you will have to depend on assistance from local organizations, charities, and FEMA to try to remain in your home and avoid 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:defaulting on your reverse mortgage.

The Bottom Line

As floods become more common and more severe, everyone with a reverse mortgage should strongly consider getting flood coverage if they live on a 100-year flood plain. Without coverage, you are on the hook for repairing your home and will default on your reverse mortgage if you can’t afford to repair it.