Yale Study Probes Reverse Mortgage Motivations, Racial Disparities

A study by Yale University Professor Danya Keene published in The Gerontologist investigated why some older Americans opt to take out reverse mortgages, and how racial and socioeconomic factors can influence their decision-making, reports Reverse Mortgage Daily . Keene and her team contend the study's qualitative outcomes can offer guidance for future queries into the convergence of race and reverse mortgages. For example, black respondents often cited troubles with selling their homes or obtaining other forms of credit as reasons why they turned to a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (or HECM). "These racially structured constraints and opportunities may similarly contribute to the need for reverse mortgages as foreclosure prevention tools among black homeowners," the team states.