Many retirees are worried if they’ll ever be able to pay off their mortgage. Forty-four percent of 60- to 70-year-old retirees have a mortgage in retirement, according to American Financing’s 2017 Retirement and Mortgages Survey. Thirty-two percent predict it will take still take them more than eight years to pay off their mortgage.
Baby boomers are carrying mortgage debt into retirement more than previous generations, a survey by Fannie Mae showed earlier this year.
“Part of the American dream, and homeownership, is the expectation that after years of hard work, you can retire with financial security—but the unfortunate reality for many of today’s baby boomers is that their debt burden remains high,” says Carrie Niess, business analyst at American Financing. “As concerning as this is, there are still many untapped options, such as refinancing and reverse mortgages, which a lot of folks could benefit from.”
Sixty-four percent of 60- to 70-year-olds say, as of now, they plan to remain in their current home. Sixty-two percent say they plan to one day leave their home to their children or their estate, according to the survey of 800 consumers between the ages of 60 and 70 across the U.S.
Fifty-eight percent of boomers say they have refinanced their loan at some point, mostly motivated to do so in order to lower their mortgage rate. But 19 percent say they do not know what a reverse mortgage is.
Source: American Financing
