AOL Real Estate - Blog http://realestate.aol.com/blog AOL Real Estate - Blog http://realestate.aol.com/blog/media/feedlogo.gif AOL Real Estate - Blog http://realestate.aol.com/blog en-us Copyright 2013 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Lawsuit Forces NY State to Give Mentally Disabled Couple a Homehttp://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/05/23/lawsuit-forces-ny-state-to-give-mentally-disabled-couple-a-home/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/05/23/lawsuit-forces-ny-state-to-give-mentally-disabled-couple-a-home/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/05/23/lawsuit-forces-ny-state-to-give-mentally-disabled-couple-a-home/#commentsFiled under:

Paul Forziano, Hava Samuels seated at their wedding

By Kevin Dolak

A newly married, mentally disabled couple's dream of living together -- up until now beset by legal troubles and care facilities that refused their wishes -- is about to come true. New York state is providing them with a home of their own. Paul Forziano, 30, and Hava Samuels, 36, (both pictured above) who both have mild to moderate mental disabilities, met seven years ago at a day program run by the Maryhaven Center of Hope, which is part of Catholic Health Services of Long Island. After they met, each immediately began telling their parents about their new friend. It wasn't long before they were calling each other "boyfriend" and "girlfriend."

On April 7, 2012, they married on Long Island's North Shore. The wedding initially was pushed back because the couple wanted to be able to live together once they were married. So before their big day, their parents began trying to figure a way for the two, who lived in separate group homes three miles apart, to establish a home together.

"They started dating and gradually got more and more serious about each other," Paul's mother, Roseann Forziano, told ABCNews.com. "Four years ago, they started talking about getting married. At the time, I didn't know if people with developmental disabilities could be married. So I started doing research."

Forziano said that she "naively" approached the Independent Group Home Living Program, which has housed her son since 2009, and asked if this could be facilitated. She told ABCNews.com that the state-sanctioned nonprofit that ran the home told her that the couple would not be allowed to share a living space within the IGHL program. Eventually, the families would file a lawsuit in January 2013, claiming that the IGHL, the Maryhaven Center for Hope, where Hava lived, and the state were violating the couple's rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Housing Act and the 14th Amendment.

According to that suit, IGHL's clinical director had concluded that Paul and Hava were not capable of cohabitation. The director stated that if a person "cannot wash, cook, iron, and take care of money for themselves, then that person cannot take care of another person," according to the complaint. Undeterred by this conclusion, Forziano and her husband decided to research the rights of their son and his wife-to-be. "We went to the law library and looked up regulations," she said. "They said that agencies cannot deny people's civil rights. The state has to regulate the agencies, and ensure that they uphold [Paul and Hava's] civil rights."

Forziano said that she and her future in-laws then had her son and his bride-to-be assessed by psychologists at the YAI Agency in Manhattan to determine whether they were emotionally and mentally mature enough for a sexual relationship. The couple attended relationship counseling, and based on this, a psychologist from the Cody Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities at Stony Brook University concluded that the couple's desire to marry was appropriate.

Still, the families continued to hit roadblocks in trying to secure housing for the couple, with representatives from IGHL unresponsive to the couple's desires, according to the suit. Ultimately, Forziano and her husband, along with Hava's parents, decided that IGHL, Maryhaven and the state had failed to provide adequate assistance in finding Paul and Hava a home. That's when they decided to sue.

Norman Samuels, Hava's father, told ABCNews.com that he and his wife, Bonnie, were repeatedly told by Maryhaven that they didn't feel Hava was clinically capable of being in a marriage.

Read the rest of this story on ABC News.

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]]>Catholic Health Services of Long Islanddisability lawsuitHava SamuelsMaryhaven Center of HopePaul ForzianoABC News2013-05-23T15:00:00 00:00Bomb Shelter Boom Has Luxurious Living Coveredhttp://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/05/21/luxury-bomb-shelters/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/05/21/luxury-bomb-shelters/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/05/21/luxury-bomb-shelters/#commentsFiled under: ,


By Colleen Curry




The latest real estate boom to sweep America comes with all the trappings of luxurious living: custom-built swimming pools, gyms, full-length basketball courts, and even airplane hangars. The only catch is that this time, the features are all buried underground. The boom in bomb shelter sales over the past 15 years has taken the spartan 1950s notion of a fallout shelter and given it a makeover, according to the owners of three companies that make and sell shelters. Now, custom installations can create 100,000-square-foot underground dwellings that could hold dozens of people for months or years.

"You can have all your major amenities: TV, high power and high voltage [appliances] ... horticulture rooms where you can grow vegetables and gardens, a full shower, all the amenities of your full home. We're not limiting what people can do," said Brad Roberson, marketing director for Rising S Company, which builds and installs custom shelters.

The basic requirements that most owners want in a shelter include air filtration systems to protect from nuclear, chemical and biological warfare, ventilation systems and a toilet system, as well as blast-proof and fallout-proof casing on the outside, he and other makers told ABC News. But in addition to that, shelters can have "secret doors, hidden passageways, panic rooms, bulletproof glass," running water, toilets, showers and electricity, according to Roberson.

Related: How Survival Real Estate is Surviving (and Thriving) After the Apocalypse

"Budget and imagination are the only limits," he said. A bunker on the small side of 10 feet by 20 feet starts at about $54,000. They go up from there to $10 million, Roberson said. At Utah Shelter Systems, corrugated pipe shelters start at about $50,000 for an 8-foot diameter by 32-foot length shelter. They go up to about $490,000 for a 12-foot by 50-foot run, Packer said.

Rising S recently built an $8 million shelter in Colorado that measured 15,000 square feet, with camouflaged elevators and handicap ramps to provide access to a disabled client. They placed a log cabin over the top of the bunker to serve as a safe house. Behind the logs will be a bulletproof half-inch steel plate protecting the structure, he said.

"Everything above ground is camouflaged by an old barn or water silo that sits above it," Roberson said. "He's got a basketball court, and airplane hangar large enough to park 2 Cessna planes that will open up to face a hill or mountain. He's got a large gym, 22 rooms, he has a large family."

Bomb Shelters Make a Comeback Amid Nuclear, Economic Uncertainties

In the past 15 years, companies that make and sell underground bunkers have sprouted up around the country, mainly in the West and South, according to the founders of three companies. "I think probably around the year 2000 we started seeing quite an increase in sales," said Sharon Packer, co-owner of Utah Shelter Systems in Draper, Utah. Her company installs shelters made out of 10-foot-wide concrete pipes linked together to create rooms six feet underground.

"People were concerned about the very real issue of possible effects on our computers. 'Y2K' started the upsurge, and for 13 years it's been a good steady business," Packer said. "After 9/11 we had a big surge in the East, in New York."

Related: Luxury 'Doomsday Bunkers' Promise Survival and Pampering

Recently, fears of a nuclear armed Iran or North Korea have stoked the fear that a nationwide disaster would force residents to retreat to safety underground to wait out nuclear fallout or social instability, Packer and others said.

"It's sad to say, the worse the state of affairs get, our government gets, the closer we see these policies the government is forcing down our throats, and foreign threats as well. It inflames peoples' desire to give themselves a retreat," Roberson said.

Read the rest of this story on ABC News.

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]]>bomb sheltersluxury bomb sheltersluxury real estatesurvival real estateunderground homesABC News2013-05-21T10:00:00 00:00Sequestration Will Hit Washington, D.C., the Hardesthttp://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/18/sequestration-washington-dc/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/18/sequestration-washington-dc/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/18/sequestration-washington-dc/#commentsFiled under:

Washington, D.C., skyline

By Sarah Parnass

Sure, the men and women who voted for sequestration won't take a hit in their paychecks, but nowhere will the federal government's $85 billion budget cuts be felt more acutely than inside the beltway. Visitors to Washington, D.C., and locals alike are already beginning to feel the burn. Want to go on a tour of the White House? It's not easy. The White House canceled tours for the public last week, claiming it will save $74,000 a week in Secret Service pay.

Now the National Archives is cutting back, too. Its exhibit spaces are usually open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. each day -- with hours extended until 7 p.m. from March 15 through Labor Day. But this year, administrators have canceled those extra hours. They are also doing away with extended hours in research rooms at two locations. "We don't take these reductions lightly," David S. Ferriero, the Archivist of the United States, said in a statement. "We are working hard to achieve our mission and minimize disruptions to the services we provide to the public."

The city's public transportation system -- the Washington Metro-Area Transit Authority -- could also take a hit if cuts persist. Metro could lose about $8 million in federal funding, according to spokesman Philip Stewart. On top of that, with furloughed federal workers staying home instead of riding the rails, WMATA stands to lose millions more. If that's the case, picture the road to recovery from sequester as one long escalator, frozen in place. "Our capital rebuilding could be at risk, but we will never compromise on safety," Stewart told ABC News in an email Monday. "There are also no plans to scale back our levels of service. Certain non safety-specific projects, however, could be deferred. "

One Washington bulwark that will be spared sequestration cuts is the National Cherry Blossom festival. Set to start Wednesday, the celebration is expected to be as spectacular as ever, according to National Park Service spokeswoman Carol Johnson. Johnson said the Park Service had shifted staffing around and planned far enough in advance that the festival would not be sunk by sequestration.

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Sequestration Leads To Cuts In Austin Housing Programs

 

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]]>budget cutssequestrationwashington dcABC News2013-03-18T12:00:00 00:00Only a Third of Renters Have Insurance, Survey Showshttp://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/11/renters-insurance/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/11/renters-insurance/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/11/renters-insurance/#commentsFiled under: ,

Renters insurance: ransacked homeBy Elisabeth Leamy

Most responsible people wouldn't think of driving a car without car insurance, but many of those same people rent a home without renters insurance. A new survey commissioned by InsuranceQuotes.com found that only 34 percent of American renters have renters insurance. Granted, the survey was conducted by a company that wants people to have renters insurance, but I want you to have it, too!

Recently my friend Cindy -- last name withheld to protect the ignorant (I mean innocent!) -- was burglarized. Separated from her husband, Cindy has been renting a house for herself and her 9-year-old son. The thieves made off with thousands of dollars worth of Cindy's jewelry and her son's electronics -- even his allowance. The feeling of violation is bad enough, but Cindy has no recourse because she had no renter's insurance.

It's a crying shame (and she has cried a lot) because the average renters policy costs just $185 a year, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Such a bargain for the peace of mind that all your worldly belongings are protected. So why don't more people get renters insurance? The InsuraceQuotes.com survey found that 60 percent believed renters insurance must cost $250 a year or more and 21 percent guessed it would cost a painful $1,000 or more!

"Renter's insurance is a lot more affordable than most people think," said Laura Adams, senior insurance analyst for InsuranceQuotes.com. "Most renters don't realize that their landlord's insurance usually only covers the structure and not the renter's belongings."

That's right, your landlord's insurance is dead to you. No use at all. And yet for $15 a month or so, renters can be protected from theft, fire, water damage and more. Many renters' policies even include replacement housing if you have to live somewhere else while your place is fixed. As with homeowners insurance policies, flood and earthquake coverage are not included. And you'll have to pay extra to insure valuables like pricey jewelry and expensive electronics.

If this is a wake-up call to you or someone you know, here are the steps to take:

1. Shop around for a renter's insurance policy. Prices do vary from one company to another.

2. Purchase car insurance and renters insurance from the same company and you could get a discount.

3. Be generous when you calculate the value of your belongings. Renter's insurance is so inexpensive that it's better to have too much than not enough.

4. Ask the insurance agent whether you need extra coverage, called a "rider" for jewelry, electronics or other valuables.

5. Figure out if you also need flood or earthquake insurance, based on where you live.

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How to Buy Renters Insurance

 

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]]>homeowners insuranceInsuraceQuotes.cominsurance costsrenters insuranceABC News2013-03-11T16:30:00 00:00Stanley Colorite of Florida Shares Home With 2,000 Barbies (VIDEO)http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/09/stanley-colorite-barbie-man-florida/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/09/stanley-colorite-barbie-man-florida/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/09/stanley-colorite-barbie-man-florida/#commentsFiled under: ,

'Barbie Man' Stanley Colorite

By Gillian Mohney

For one man, Barbie isn't just a childhood staple, but a way of life. Since 1997, Stanley "The Barbie Man" has collected anything and everything related to the iconic doll and has amassed a staggering collection of more than 2,000 Barbies. The pink and plastic collection is worth, in his estimation, approximately $80,000.

Barbies from Stanley Colorite's collectionHis Florida home is his showcase with his collection covering the walls from the floor to the ceiling. But his collecting doesn't stop with Barbie, he's also purchased plenty of accessories, including a Barbie plane, pink Corvette, and anything else the pint size doll could want. "Anything that I find at a garage sale that has the B-a-r-b-i-e on it, I'm buying it," Stanley said.

His most expensive Barbie named 'the Pink Splendor' cost him $975, although he knows a good deal when he sees one. He bought a vintage Barbie for only $4 at a garage sale. "I think it was like $4. The lady thought it was a reproduction. I played right along, played right along," he told ABC News affiliate WFTS. After 16 years of collecting Barbies, Stanley has no plans to slow down anytime soon.

He still goes to Barbie conventions and garage sales and is always on the hunt for a Barbie he doesn't own. "Barbie's not just for little girls. It's for everybody who enjoys quality," he said. Even though the dolls have overtaken his bedroom, he's happy to share the space. "You wake up in a good mood, because you always have beauty around you," Stanley told WFTS.


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]]>2000 Barbies Florida homeBarbie collectionsBarbie ManStanley ColoriteABC News2013-03-09T19:00:00 00:00Princeton University Giving Away Homes for Free -- With Just One Big Catchhttp://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/02/25/princeton-university-free-homes/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/02/25/princeton-university-free-homes/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/02/25/princeton-university-free-homes/#commentsFiled under:

Free homes in PrincetonBy Alexa Valiente

Princeton University, in Princeton, N.J., is giving away free houses. What's the catch? If you become a homeowner, it's up to you to haul the house away. The houses are on Alexander Street, south of the campus, and are available to the public for free in "as-is condition," Martin Mbugua, a university spokesperson, told ABCNews.com. The buildings have been used in the past as university offices or for other purposes, but they will soon face demolition to make way for future university construction. Anyone can contact Princeton for a free home, but the houses cannot remain on Alexander Street.

The area is going to be the site for a new development on campus, the Art and Transit project. It will include a new train station and retail ventures, as well as public spaces and buildings for the arts. Construction is expected to begin in early 2013. Mbugua said that the houses are not in move-in condition, and some have gone through significant changes "mostly in the interior, due to remediation work in preparation for the project."

There is no specific deadline for taking up Princeton's offer. But those who want a free house must apply as soon as possible, before work on the project commences, and the houses need to be moved by the end of April. According to Mbugua, there have been many interested candidates, but no one has actually offered to move a house off the University's property yet.

Interested people with access to a house-sized dolly system or structure-lifting contractor can contact the Princeton University Office of Community and Regional Affairs at 609-258-3204 or email pucra@princeton.edu. For now, the houses sit empty, each marked with a red and white X. That's a signal to the local fire department that the house is empty.

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Iowa 'Haunted' House Moved, Will Ghosts Move Too?

 

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]]>Princeton New JerseyPrinceton New Jersey free homesPrinceton UniversityPrinceton University free homesPrinceton University giving away homesABC News2013-02-25T16:50:00 00:00Andre Barbosa's Music Video Pokes Fun at Squatting Stint in Boca Raton Mansionhttp://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/02/13/andre-barbosa-music-video-boca-raton-squatter/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/02/13/andre-barbosa-music-video-boca-raton-squatter/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/02/13/andre-barbosa-music-video-boca-raton-squatter/#commentsFiled under: ,

Watch More News Videos at ABC | Technology News | Celebrity News

By Susanna Kim

The Florida man who gained notoriety from claiming he had a legal right to squat in a $2.5 million home in Boca Raton has published a music video, shot against a backdrop of the mansion, days after police ejected him from the mansion. Bank of America asked a court to eject Andre "Loki" Barbosa from a home it owned in Boca Raton, Fla., leading police to seize the home last week while he was away from the house.

On Monday, Barbosa released a music video on YouTube, showing he and others dancing in front of green screen images of the home, as first reported by the Sun-Sentinel newspaper. The Brazilian national, 23, has not been charged by police for any crime. In December, he filed papers with the court, using a legal maneuver to say he had a right to stay in the home called "adverse possession." Bank of America filed an injunction against Barbosa last month.

Last week, in a statement issued after the home was secured, a spokeswoman for Bank of America said it appreciated "the assistance of local authorities and the patience of neighbors as we worked to have the trespassers removed. "We take trespassing seriously, and in the interest of the community, we will take appropriate legal action to protect this and all properties we service," the statement said. The entirety of Barbosa's video, called "I Don't Wanna Let You Go," is below.




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Squatters Living Under the House?
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]]>Andre BarbosaAndre Barbosa Boca Raton mansion squatterAndre Barbosa I dont wanna let you goAndre Barbosa music videoAndre Barbosa music video I dont wanna let you goAndre Barbosa squatter boca ratonAndre Barbosa squatter music videoBoca Raton mansion squatterABC News2013-02-13T19:00:00 00:00Full Disclosure Laws: Janet Milliken Sues Seller, Realtor Over Home's Notorious Pasthttp://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/01/28/full-disclosure-laws-janet-milliken/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/01/28/full-disclosure-laws-janet-milliken/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/01/28/full-disclosure-laws-janet-milliken/#commentsFiled under: ,

Janet Millikan's home was a crime scene.

By Susanna Kim

Stigmatized homes are tricky. It can be hard to sell a home where a murder has taken place (as the owner of Jeffrey Dahmer's childhood home can attest). These homes often sell at deep discounts because of their grim histories, but sometimes that works out for investors. In any case, some states have disclosure laws that require real estate agents to inform potential buyers of past deaths in a home that occurred at least a year in the past. In this case, the state didn't and the buyer feels burned.

A Pennsylvania woman has appealed to the state Supreme Court in her lawsuit against a homeseller and real estate agent who failed to disclose that a murder-suicide had taken place in the house she purchased. When Janet Milliken (pictured below), 59, moved from California after her husband died, she had hoped to start a new life with her two teenage children in Pennsylvania, near family. She bought a home in Thornton, Pa., for $610,000 in June 2007. She learned a few weeks after she moved in from a next-door neighbor that a murder-suicide had occurred the year before in her house.

Janet MillikanShe sued the seller and the real estate agent for fraud and misrepresentation, saying that they made a "deliberate choice not to disclose the home's recent past," according to a court document. The trial judge granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants, saying that state law does not require agents to disclose such events. Then in December 2012, a panel of the state appeals court affirmed that decision.

The matter dates back to Feb. 11, 2006, when a previous homeowner, Konstantinos Koumboulis, allegedly shot and killed his wife, then shot himself in the master bedroom. Joseph and Kathleen Jacono had bought the home on Oct. 31, 2006, knowing of the murder-suicide, for $450,000. Less than a year later they sold it to Milliken, who wants the transaction rescinded and her money back.

Filing a petition to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania last week with the hope of arguing the case further, the attorney for Milliken, Tim Rayne, said that they "hope to have Pennsylvania recognize that having a horrific event occur within a property can be just as damaging and troubling to a future homeowner as a physical defect, or perhaps even more so."

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"Having a gunshot murder-suicide committed within the home is much more devastating than having a small leak concealed by the previous homeowner," Rayne said. "Physical defects can be fixed. Troubling events that could and did occur in this home could never go away." Rayne said that sellers should be required to disclose troubling events "at least for some period of time."

Abraham Reich, the attorney for the Jaconos and their agent with Re/Max, said, "The majority, en banc [full-court] opinion of the Superior Court was well reasoned and consistent with years of industry practice in Pennsylvania. While the issue is interesting, the number of times it comes up does not warrant Supreme Court review. The Superior Court opinion provides guidance for any real estate transaction in the future and puts to rest the uncertainty of whether a seller has a duty to disclose a murder-suicide or any other type 'psychological damage.' In my opinion, the result is a good one."

Rayne said that Milliken, 59, was "disturbed" when she learned of her home's history from a neighbor. "As she was struggling what and if to tell the kids," he said, her children's friends visited the home for Halloween and told the children about the murder-suicide. "They were very upset upon learning about it and disturbed about the whole situation," Rayne said.

"They were dealing with the death of a father and husband, and wanted to move closer to family, and then this happened to them," he said. "It was a tragedy all around." Rayne said that Milliken and her children are still living in the home. He said they would prefer to move out of the home but can't afford to do so without selling it.

"They feel that if they sold it, through good conscience they would have to disclose," Rayne said, "so it would negatively impact the value."

See also:
Old Haunts, New Buyers: How to Handle 'Stigmatized' Properties
Buyers Beware: Was That House a Crime Scene?

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Family Finds Human Skull and Bones in Backyard

 

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]]>crime scene real estatefull disclosurefull disclosure lawsJanet MillikenJanet Milliken murder homemurder homesstigmatized homesstigmatized propertiesThornton PaThornton PennsylvaniaABC News2013-01-28T18:10:00 00:00Reverse Mortgages Pose Big Risks for Seniors, Warn Attorneys and U.S. Officialshttp://realestate.aol.com/blog/2012/12/06/reverse-mortgages-risks-seniors-government-warning/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2012/12/06/reverse-mortgages-risks-seniors-government-warning/http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2012/12/06/reverse-mortgages-risks-seniors-government-warning/#commentsFiled under: ,,,

Warning on reverse mortgages

By Jim Avila and Serena Marshall

Linda and Jim McMahan said that they could not believe their luck in 1993 when they found their dream house.

"We loved it," she said. "It wasn't a huge house, but it was a nice size. ... It had the big trees in the yard. And we have deer in the yard every day, and wild turkeys. What more could you want?"

As is true for so many Americans, the McMahans' home in St. Croix, Wis., was the couple's dream and nest egg. That is, until their home was drained of its 19-year equity by a reverse mortgage and sold out from under Linda McMahan to pay it back as soon as her husband died.

Linda McMahan: reverse mortgage took her home."They must read the death notices, because I'd say within two days, I get a letter: 'Sorry to hear about your husband passing away,' " said Linda, pictured at left. "And they said, 'Well, you either have to buy the house or move out.'"

Only people 62 and older qualify for reverse mortgages. They work by giving homeowners the option of an immediate cash payment in exchange for the future value of their house upon death or sale.

When the McMahans applied for the reverse mortgage in 2005, Linda was under 62, so her name was not included on the reverse mortgage. When her husband died, Linda had no claim to her home of nearly two decades. She lost it.

The McMahans did receive the required counseling before receiving the mortgage and were aware that she would no longer be listed, but were unclear about the process needed to add her name -- which would have required another refinancing when she turned 62 as outlined in their mortgage documents.

Related: HUD Mortgage Sale Could Help or Hurt Thousands of Distressed Borrowers

It's only one of the dangers inherent in the reverse mortgage that government officials are warning consumers about today.

According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, right now in America, 57,000 seniors like McMahan are in danger of losing their homes -- a 9.8 percent foreclosure rate, four times higher than for traditional mortgages.

Reverse mortgages peaked in 2009, rising to an all-time high of 114,639; so far in 2012, 54,676 have been issued.



California currently has the most reverse mortgages with nearly 7,000 issued just this last year; Texas and Florida follow with 4,800 and 3,300 respectively.

Critics say the TV commercials, with celebrities like Fred Thompson and Henry Winkler, prey on vulnerable seniors by claiming that homeowners can "turn their equity into tax-free cash."

Today, the government is warning: Reverse mortgages are not free money.

Prescott Cole, senior staff attorney for California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, says seniors are a target because many have money saved, are often isolated and at times have "cognitive impairments" reducing their ability to make rational decisions.

"They're not being told about the downsides," Cole said. "When we hear about reverse mortgages, we're hearing the good things ... that these are loans that don't have to be paid back either until the senior dies or permanently moves out of the home ... they're told, nothing to worry about."

Peter Bell, the CEO and president of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association, says the commercials are not misleading.

"How much can you get in a 30-second commercial?" Bell said. "These are not ads to get a reverse mortgage, but ads to get more information and learn about reverse mortgages."

Seventy percent of the time, seniors exchange the equity in their homes for the reverse mortgage payout as a lump sum and the money is too often spent by the time it's needed for late-in-life hardships.

Warning on reverse mortgagesThe Department of Housing and Urban Development is expected Thursday to recommend that Congress limit large lump-sum payments, and that seniors be very careful with reverse mortgages.

Hubert H. Humphrey III, the assistant director for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Office of Older Americans, says that a reverse mortgage should be the last option.

"This is your nest egg. This is what you use when you don't have any other resources," he said. "People are not taking this out as a last available resource, they're all too often taking it out at age 62, right when they just qualify, and so they live another 15, 20, 25 years, and when they really need the money there's nothing there."

Humphrey said that couples who live together should always borrow together to protect both parties' interest in the property, so that the McMahans' experience will not happen.

By law, the Department of Housing and Urban Development requires counseling before someone receives a reverse mortgage, and recommends that extended family also take part to ensure that the risks are clear, a stance that the NRMLA supports.

The National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association also says that the industry itself has worked to improve counseling for potential borrowers.

"All in all there is a concentrated effort by all parties involved to improve counseling and we have seen a steady trajectory of its improving," Bell said.

According to the NRMLA, reverse mortgages have helped more than 750,000 senior households and if the Department of Housing and Urban Development does recommend a limit on borrowing, the association will support it fully.

For Linda McMahan, the risks of her reverse mortgage -- an option that she wishes she had never been presented -- now means living in a small apartment a block from her dream house.

"It's a wonderful house," she said. "I hope somebody will enjoy it."

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