Real Stories: The Gambler

A CPA and a trust attorney team introduced me to a client in her late 70’s. She lived near Santa Barbara and between her investments and her divorce, that had happen 12 years earlier, she was set for a secure retirement. 

However, in a depression brought on by her estrangement from her grown daughter and being denied access to her grandchildren, she had developed a gambling addiction some years earlier. This resulted in her burning through all of her retirement funds and accruing $100,000 in consumer debt. All she had left was her home free and clear, social security and a small monthly pension.
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​We structured a reverse mortgage to pay off her debts and supplement her income with tenure payments for life. However, there was a wrinkle. The lender, not wanting to enable her problem, wanted assurance that her addiction was over and that she would be fiscally responsible. So I negotiated delaying the closing and enrolled her in a 12-step program for 4 months. This satisfied the lender and today she is financially stable and still in the program.

These are real stories about people like you who have benefited from a mortgage program designed by Mathius Marc Gertz. Only their names have been changed or omitted.