For seniors living on fixed incomes, reverse mortgages have long been an option to support ongoing living expenses, writes radio show host Gerri Detweiler in an AOL real estate news column this week. However, there are also some more creative ways of using a reverse mortgage, Detweiler writes. 

From helping kids to paying for long term home health care, the reverse mortgage can help in several ways, she writes. 

“What you may not have heard, though, are some of the creative ways homeowners are using reverse mortgages to help them navigate today’s challenging economy. I recently interviewed Russell Silver, senior residential mortgage consultant for US Mortgage Corporation, on my radio show “Talk Credit Radio.” (The firm also sponsors some of the show’s podcasts). Following is an edited excerpt from that interview.

…Here are some ways his clients, and other homeowners, are using reverse mortgages:

1. Have a say in how your heirs spend their inheritance.

If you’re like many seniors today, the equity in your home will be a major part of the inheritance you leave your heirs. As much as you hope that money will be put to good use, there’s often a nagging worry that it will be wasted. Maybe you’re worried that your granddaughter will use it for that plastic surgery she’s been hinting about. Or that your money will end up in the hands of your son’s freeloading girlfriend.

Or maybe you’d just like to see your kids and grandkids enjoy your money now rather than after you are gone. A reverse mortgage may help you accomplish that. Silver explains:

I can’t even tell you how many grandparents or even parents we speak to that want to take out a reverse mortgage to help out their kids. A lot of people use it for their kids’ or grandkids’ college educations. One couple took their entire family on a cruise for their 50th wedding anniversary. It was something they never ever would have been able to do otherwise…

Read the full article at AOL.com

Written by Elizabeth Ecker