‘Am I going to survive this?’: Man may lose home he thought was paid off

CHARLOTTE — Bill Tavernier moved in to his mother’s house to take care of her.

“My mom asked me to come,” he said. “My dad had died and she felt safer with someone else.”

She added him to the deed in 2007 and passed away a few years later. He thought the home was paid off.

“She was a wonderful woman, wonderful person, but that generation,” he said. “You didn’t discuss any of that with your kids.”

Here’s what they hadn’t discussed: he says his mother had a reverse mortgage. Basically, she borrowed money against the house — around $70,000 — and he says, now, the federal government is calling in the loan. More specifically: HUD — the Department of Housing and Urban Development — sued him to take his home.

“I was in shock for a couple of weeks,” he said.

He filed bankruptcy, so plans to sell his house are off for now.

“Am I going to survive this? I don’t know,” he said. “My dog and I are going to be homeless. That’s what I’m staring at.”

Channel 9’s sister station in Orlando reached out to HUD to ask about the communication issue and if there’s anything it can do to hold off on the auction. It didn’t answer those questions in time for this report.

Action 9 attorney Jason Stoogenke says always do a title search when you transfer property, even if it’s between relatives. That can turn up concerns like a reverse mortgage. They cost a few hundred dollars, but can prevent major problems. And — if you take out a reverse mortgage — you may want to make sure your family knows.

Want to know more about reverse mortgages?

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says:

A Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM), the most common type of reverse mortgage, is a special type of home loan only for homeowners who are 62 and older.

This information only applies to Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs), which are the most common type of reverse mortgage loans.

A reverse mortgage loan, like a traditional mortgage, allows homeowners to borrow money using their home as security for the loan. Also like a traditional mortgage, when you take out a reverse mortgage loan, the title to your home remains in your name. However, unlike a traditional mortgage, with a reverse mortgage loan, borrowers don’t make monthly mortgage payments. The loan is repaid when the borrower no longer lives in the home. Interest and fees are added to the loan balance each month and the balance grows. With a reverse mortgage loan, homeowners are required to pay property taxes and homeowners insurance, use the property as their principal residence, and keep their house in good condition.

How does a reverse mortgage get paid back?

With a reverse mortgage loan, the amount the homeowner owes to the lender goes up–not down–over time. This is because interest and fees are added to the loan balance each month. As your loan balance increases, your home equity decreases.

A reverse mortgage loan is not free money. It is a loan where borrowed money + interest + fees each month = rising loan balance. The homeowners or their heirs will eventually have to pay back the loan, usually by selling the home.

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