“A huge stress has been taken off me. I am happy and I feel good about it.”
— Linda, real HomeSafe customer
Meet Linda
Living in San Francisco for the past 46 years, Linda has found her happy place.
Every Sunday, you can hear Linda singing in her church choir. She’s an experienced alto but has recently been dabbling as a tenor, though she admits it’s not something that has come naturally to her. And when she’s not harmonizing with the choir, she’s helping out in the children’s center.
It’s not just the kids who benefit from Linda’s generosity, she graciously shares her home by hosting international students who are studying abroad to learn English. “I’ve met a lot of students from all over the world…that has been rewarding and a lot of fun to do.”
Being self-employed has given her freedom, but a lot of stress too. Linda recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of running her product specialty company. But as she explains, “There is a lot of stress being self-employed, and as I am getting older, the amount it costs to live and pay off my debt was getting to be too much for me.”
Her historic Victorian San Francisco home was built in the 1870’s and is her pride and joy. Being historic means that Linda needs to keep up the outside of the home to preserve the original charm and her porch was in need of major repair.
Linda worked with her mortgage broker to learn how a reverse mortgage loan could help her actually save money each year even after she paid off her mortgage, paid off most of her credit card debt, and even set aside cash for emergencies that’s earning interest.
After a long day’s work, Linda cuddles up to her beautiful cat, Tealey. Her home has a lot of character and isn’t typical, especially for San Francisco. The backyard itself is a whopping 2,000 square feet—unheard of for homes in a population-dense city.
There’s no wonder why Linda couldn’t imagine uprooting her life to move to a less expensive area for retirement. She loves her home and the life she’s built. Thanks to a HomeSafe reverse mortgage from Finance of America, she had the opportunity to relieve her financial stress of existing debt and living expenses.
