The median limit on a reverse mortgage Maine homeowners get is $215,660, and you borrow against your home without owing anything each month. That's the initial principal limit, the amount you can first borrow before you pay off a current mortgage or your closing fees. A total of 143 loans in Maine, rising from 140 the previous year, had a median home value of $466,000. The median note rate sat at 5.75%. Most borrowers stayed in their homes; 13 refinanced a prior reverse mortgage and 2 bought a house. An additional 7 borrowers owned homes valuable enough to reach the $1,249,125 national lending limit.
The April 1 deadline, plus Maine's property tax deferral and Fairness Credit
You're required to pay your property taxes and homeowners insurance under federal rules that cover all states. You must also use the property as your main home and keep it in good repair. If you get behind on property taxes, your loan could go into default. Default happens when you don't follow the loan rules, and then the lender has the right to demand repayment. That’s what makes Maine’s tax relief programs especially valuable.
Town ordinances and the State Property Tax Deferral Program
Through the State Property Tax Deferral Program, you get a lifeline loan that can pay each year’s property tax bills. It was designed for Maine residents 65 or older, or those with a permanent disability, who can't afford the tax bills. You’re required to turn your application in to the State during the 1st quarter, by April 1 at the latest. Under Title 36, chapter 908-A, towns may also offer an elderly tax deferral program. They do that by adopting a local rule known as an ordinance. These town programs let older homeowners stay in their homes, using local age and income cutoffs.
April 1 exemptions and the Property Tax Fairness Credit
The Property Tax Fairness Credit allows qualifying taxpayers to get back a portion of the rent or property tax they paid that year. Even if you owe no Maine income tax, you request it when you file your Maine individual return. You can also apply for partial exemptions from property tax, like the ones for homesteads, veterans and blindness. The taxed share of your home's value is reduced by an exemption. Those exemptions need to be approved by your town as of April 1.
Does the Maine Bureau of Consumer Credit Protection let you verify a license?
Yes, the Maine Bureau of Consumer Credit Protection supervises non-bank mortgage lenders along with other consumer finance companies. The Bureau operates under the Department of Professional and Financial Regulation. Under Maine law, a Bureau license is mandatory for loan officers at loan brokers and non-bank mortgage companies. As you shop for reverse mortgage lenders in Maine, you can look up a non-bank lender's license or send a complaint to the Bureau. Before you apply, you'll also talk with a housing counselor, and Maine has 1 HUD-approved counseling agency.
Rules on predatory lending in Maine, along with the removal of Title 9-A, section 8-206-B
Maine's Consumer Credit Code, Title 9-A, section 8-206-B, once contained a reverse mortgage provision enacted in 1995. Through Public Law 2011, chapter 427, the Legislature repealed it in 2011, meaning that section has no force today. Maine’s 2007 predatory lending law is also found within Public Law 2007, chapter 273 as well as Title 9-A, section 8-103. The law’s definition of a residential mortgage loan leaves out reverse mortgage transactions. With that exclusion, the protections the article gives to standard home loans don’t extend to reverse mortgages.
