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Real Estate and Retirement

By: Tymon Hytem Most people are always on the lookout in finding ways to increase their retirement income. One of those ways is their homes which is their greatest assets. A lot of older people failed to plan effectively to have a nice nest egg to fall back on and now are looking to their real estate to supplement their income.
The problem with this though is that the real estate values are as unpredictable as the weather maybe even more so, especially with the decrease in the real estate bubble. Prices in some cities are flattening while others are falling. So this is a big problem if you are trying to get the most from selling your home to supplement your retirement income.
To plan effectively you must be realistic in what price you may get for your home. Because of the up and down market of real estate it is best to probably go by the traditional real estate market when valuating your home, with gains in value equal to the inflation rate. If the gains in real estate values are better than the inflation rate, then you will have more. But it is best not to count on this.
You want to get the most out of your real estate as possible. The number of people 65 and older with mortgage debt has nearly tripled, adjusting for inflation. If you are making payments on your real estate in your retirement years this should be a major concern for you as this will deplete your savings and retirement income faster then just about anything imaginable.
The 3 main reasons to pay off your real estate mortgage would be to decrease the expenditures in your retirement years. Also, you can use the mortgage interest rate that you will save to add into your retirement fund. Thirdly, it builds more equity, this way you have it as extra income to fall back on later. So paying off your mortgage is a very sound thing and prudent thing to do.