“This program paid off all my bills –
including my mortgage"

“I’m persistent,” says Virginia M., age 70, of Salt Lake City, “When I start on something, I don’t give up very easily.” In her case, that persistence paid off with big rewards.

Virginia had some challenges from the beginning. She wanted to purchase some property and then move her existing home onto that property – quite an undertaking for a 70-year-old.

She used a government guaranteed reverse mortgage. “I had to come in and see Sabra (her financing counselor) many times in order to get it all done right,” she said. “But we succeeded – we paid off my previous mortgage, a small credit line and all my bills.” 

Perhaps the most difficult thing for Virginia was deciding what she really wanted to do. She read, asked questions and pondered for a number of months before deciding to go ahead with her plans. “Eventually the reading and hard work all paid off,” she reported.

Virginia had known a little about reverse mortgages for a number of years. Then she attended a 2-hour seminar at a local Senior Center sponsored by the University of Utah Continuing Education Division. Her conversations with instructors proved very helpful in giving her a complete understanding of how it could help in her unusual situation.

What she likes best is, “I don’t have to pay the money back for as long as I live here. And the house will still go to my kids after I am gone.”