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| September 22, 2006 Barnstable Patriot |  |
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home when planning these projects. Still, it's a good
idea for homeowners , LLeweln suggests , to get a sec-
ond opinion- from perhaps another home improvement
expert- and/or a realtor on the practicality of contemplat
ed improvements.
Money tall-
There are a variety of financing options available for
home improvements. Because you are already a home
owner you can tap into your stored wealth by borrow-
ing against it with a home equity loan. The interest
payments on an equity loan are tax deductible up to
$100,000. A number of local banks offer home equity
loans that require
less than a 20
percent equity
interest. The inter-
est that you pay
on your home
equity loan is usu-
ally a variable rate
that floats with the
prime rate.
Reverse Mort-
gages enable se-
niors to withdraw
the current equity
in a home to pay
various expenses but you must be 62 years or older to
qualify for a reverse mortgage. These loans have be-
come popular in recent years . Angelo Zona of Hyannis,
with the nation's largest reverse mortgage company
Financial Freedom , indicates that reverse mortages have
become increasingly popular for seniors to get cash out
of the equity in their home without selling or moving.
Zona and reverse loan specialist Peter Feeney of Cen-
terville see a significant number of seniors using reverse
mortgage funds to do a variety of home improvements.
Reverse mortgages typically involve up front closing
costs , but unlike other financing techniques discussed ,
they do not require the borrowers to make payments.
Both home equity loans and reverse mortgages have
the disadvantage of drawing down the equity in your
home.
If you wish to do home improvements and not tam-
per with the equity in your home, Falacci indicates that
there are several consumer lenders that make renova-
tion loans such as GE Consumer Finance and Capital
One. These types of loans will float somewhat above
the prime rate. In the case of GE, there's an option to
make no payments and pay no interest for 180 days, no
application fee and no prepayment penalties. Secured
GE Consumer Finance home improvement loans, ac-
cording to Falacci, involve tax deductible payments. To
consumate these types of loans your contractor must
meet all required licensing, bonding and certification
standards- all of which provides peace of mind for the
homeowner.
David LLewelyn points out that many homeowners ,
over 59 1/2 years old have financed their remodeling
efforts by withdrawing funds from 401K's, IRA' s or profit
sharing plans.
These withdraw-
als have the ad-
vantage of being
non taxable and
avoiding drawing
down the equity
in your home.
One great ad-
vantage of home
improvements is
that they repre-
sent an opportu-
nity to invest in a
real estate asset
that you know all about- your own home. Unquestion-
ably, over the last five to ten years many home purchas-
ers have been very pleased with their homes' apprecia-
tion in value. These homeowners can continue to partici-
pate in future Cape Cod real estate market strength _,__,
by making well-planned conservative mmwr
home improvements. ^AMWT
Reverse Mortgagesenable
seniors to withdraw the
current equity in a home
to p ay various exp enses
but you must be 62years
or older to quali
fy f or
a reverse mortgage.
Financing home imp rovements