NEW YORK – Nov. 6, 2018 – A home purchase later in life comes with considerations unique to seniors. Where is the cash coming from? If you tap retirement savings, make sure you’re old enough to avoid an early withdrawal penalty. You may be exempt if you’re a first-time homebuyer. If you take from brokerage accounts, don’t forget the tax bill the following year. Do you plan to age in place? Will the home meet your needs later when your health changes? Do you want live-in care? The house should accommodate these outcomes. Consider buying a condo, a more affordable and easier-to-maintain option. Can you afford the expenses long term? Make sure your savings and withdrawal rate support a mortgage payment and other home costs such as property taxes, insurance, home association fees and maintenance. Can you swallow these costs along with others such as medical expenses? Be conservative. Take Rupert and Pat Haller. Since 1974, these high school sweethearts planned to buy a quiet, spacious home, a far cry from the fourth-floor walk-up apartment in Jersey City where they spent most of their lives. They finally closed on their first home in September, a ranch-style house in Toms River, New Jersey. “It’s really what we strived to do,” said Rupert, 65. “After 45 years of marriage, we’re both retired, we have a house, and we spend every moment together. I’m very blessed.” The Hallers represent a tiny but growing sliver of first-time homebuyers in this year’s housing market. The share of homebuyers 55 and older has more than doubled in the last 15 years to 38 percent. And senior first-timers accounted for 9 percent of that share – the highest level since data was first collected in 2003, according to the 2018 Homebuyer Profile report from the National Association of Realtors® given to USA TODAY exclusively. “People are living longer, working longer and have steady income in retirement if they even retire at all, so they feel comfortable taking on a mortgage in their senior years,” says Jessica Lautz, NAR’s managing director of survey research and communications. Affordable rent and earlier financial woes kept many of these older homebuyers on the sidelines as they worked long hours, raised children and eventually welcomed grandchildren. As their golden years approached, their circumstances changed, and new possibilities opened. A lifelong dream Almost a year after Rupert and Pat married in 1973, the newlyweds moved to a railroad-style, two-bedroom apartment in a building managed by Rupert’s father and owned by his aunt. It was on the top floor. “I can’t emphasize fourth floor walk-up enough,” Rupert says. But the low rent and short commute to work made it hard to leave. “We were supposed to stay there a little while and buy something of our own,” he says, “but a little while turned into 44 years.” By 1995, the property had passed to Rupert and his sister, who also lived in the building. No longer paying rent, Rupert and Pat squirreled away the extra cash for a home in retirement. A year ago, they began looking and, in Toms River, they found a house with sliding glass doors leading to an in-ground pool, hardwood floors, private lot and woods in the back. “We knew as soon as we walked in that this was the house,” Pat says. “We didn’t have a poker face.” They made an offer that was accepted, then rejected by a higher offer the next day. The Hallers, armed with four decades of savings, came back with an all-cash offer to seal the deal. “We can’t believe it,” Rupert says. “We wake up in the morning and have breakfast together. I have a birdfeeder out here and a few days ago we saw two deer across the street. It’s like a dream.” Putting family first When her sister started to have memory problems, it was bad case of deja vu for Vanessa Blunt. Years before, her mother suffered from Alzheimer’s. Vanessa helped pay for her mom’s care but it took a toll on her financially. Now many years later, Vanessa, 58, and her husband Kevin, 60, are in a better position money-wise to help her sister. But that meant moving out of their two-bedroom rental in Queens, New York, where they lived for eight years and buying a house that could accommodate her sister’s changing needs. “I needed space in case her situation went from bad to worse,” Vanessa says. The Blunts, using their savings for a downpayment, looked at a dozen houses and put losing offers on three before they landed a Long Island home with three bedrooms on the main floor plus a basement apartment with its own kitchenette. They scooped it up for $400,000, up only $1,000 from its listing price. “When I told Kevin the final price, he bugged out a bit,” Vanessa says. “What sold him is if things went south, then we can rent out the basement, which is now his man cave.” Now her sister has a huge bedroom of her own with a separate entrance. The Blunts’ adult son and a family friend also live with them. “It’s a full house, but we have the room,” Vanessa said. At the landlord’s mercy In 1980, Cindy and Jim Schwartz – coming off separate divorces – moved in together with five children between them in a rental house in New Hampshire. For the next 38 years, that’s where they lived, raising the kids and ultimately never paying more than $900 a month for the house. “That’s a big reason why we didn’t move,” Cindy, 69, says. Last year, their landlord decided to sell the house. He gave them the first right of refusal, but the price was too high. But they didn’t want to rent again. They wanted a house of their own. To get a downpayment, Cindy cashed in stocks that were earmarked for their retirement. “What the heck, you only come this way once,” says Cindy, a compensation manager analyst. Jim, 71, is an excavation supervisor for a homebuilder. They would borrow $150,000 and no more. With their tight budget, they focused on fixer-uppers and expanded their search to a 50-mile radius in the state. They looked at 38 homes and lost three bidding wars. “We couldn’t compete,” Cindy says. When they laid eyes on their eventual home, they knew “it had to be gutted, but the bones were good,” she says. The listing price was too high at $234,900, so they put in a lowball offer and finally got it for $207,500. Since closing in July, the couple have knocked down walls to create a large kitchen and dining area, added French doors to the deck, replaced the flooring, installed new windows, updated the master bedroom and renovated the second bathroom, all by themselves. “We’ll be good for Thanksgiving,” Cindy says. Financial discipline A year before Jill Charles and Glen Person bought their townhouse in September, the couple focused on putting their financial house in order. “We sat down together and talked about our goals, what we needed to survive and retire comfortably,” Jill, 64, says. The married couple from Denver saved $8,000, bought life insurance, opened an IRA and improved their credit score. When they finished paying one bill – mostly medical expenses, some that had gone into collections – they would put the extra money toward the next one. “We went from about a 575 (credit score) to 680,” says Glenn, 61, a general manager for a retail outlet. Staying in their apartment also didn’t fit into their plan. The rent had doubled in the last nine years with no end in sight. They originally looked at mobile homes, but most of those sat on rented land, a turn-off for the couple. So, they turned to townhomes. The search was difficult because they needed to stay between $175,000 and $225,000 in the hot Denver market and find a property that could be financed by an FHA-backed mortgage. In September, they closed on a one-bedroom townhouse with a fireplace, updated kitchen and views from every window. They were one step closer to their retirement dream. Jill, who works three days at a facility for disabled adults, plans to work for as long as she can. As for Glenn? “I’m going to have to work until I’m 70,” he says. “But on my 70th birthday, I’m going fishing.” Copyright 2018, USATODAY.com, USA TODAY, Janna Herron

Sometimes people who have been diagnosed with a mental condition will opt to have an emotional support animal, also referred to as a comfort animal. Those animals provide support to a person with disability through affection, companionship or by being a distraction from daily life issues. Comfort animals can play an important role in their daily lives. However, unlike trained service animals, they aren’t granted any rights to public spaces. “There is a difference in service dogs and comfort dogs,” said Dennise Burbank, of Yuba City, who has been raising service dogs since 2012. “Service dogs are trained for specified tasks, and are covered under the ADA (American and Disabilities Act). They are allowed to go anywhere their person is allowed to go – stores, restaurants, hospitals, etc.” Emotional support animals, on the other hand, don’t share that right. “Emotional support animals, sometimes called comfort animals, if prescribed to an individual as part of their treatment plan for a mental health disability have civil rights protections in most residential housing situations, and any domestic air travel,” said Kevin Campell, CEO of American and Disability Rights, Inc. “Outside of these two specific locations, an emotional support animal has no additional civil rights granted.” While emotional support animals are typically dogs and cats, they are not limited to those species and do not require training. At the national level, emotional support animals are only protected under the Fair Housing Act, Rehab Act and Air Carrier Acts, which means they can legally be banned from entry at restaurants, theaters, grocery stores, etc. at the discretion of any place or business. For more information, visit americandisabilityrights.org. © 2018 the Appeal-Democrat (Marysville, Calif.), Veronica Catlin. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Because of changes in legislation, lending requirements and related issues, FHA regulations and underwriting requirements are subject to change from time to time. Some of the changes come as part of new laws that close legal loopholes, improve the fairness of the FHA mortgage loan process, or modernize the FHA loan program. Other alterations are made in response to current market conditions and economic issues. Because of the changing nature of the FHA home loan program, the information new house hunters may have gathered a year or two ago when considering a new home may not be the same if they chose to wait to start the loan application process. This is definitely the case for any potential borrower who investigated their FHA loan options recently. FHA issued new guidance in the last several years on the minimum credit scores needed for certain FHA guaranteed home loans. Minimum credit score requirements for FHA home loans depend on which FHA loan product the applicant needs. Generally speaking, to get maximum financing on typical new home purchases, applicants should have a credit score of 580 or better. Those with credit scores between 500 and 579 are, according the the FHA guidelines, “limited to 90 percent LTV”. Applicants who have a minimum decision credit score of less than 500 are not eligible for FHA mortgages. Those with credit scores of 500 or better are eligible for 100% FHA loan financing with no down payment required when using the FHA 203(h), Mortgage Insurance for Disaster Victims. The FHA does make allowances for loan applicants with a “non-traditional credit history or insufficient credit” may be able to be approved for an FHA loan if they meet FHA requirements for such circumstances. The minimum credit scores listed here are in effect for most FHA home loans for single family residences with a few exceptions which include (but are not limited to) Title 1 HECM loans and HOPE For Homeowners loans. Always ask an FHA loan expert or your local FHA lender about your credit score and what you qualify for. Don’t assume you cannot be approved for an FHA insured home loan–do you have changes in your credit score since the last time the credit reports were run? You may have options that can improve a poor credit score over time. Some potential borrowers may need to spend a year or so repairing bad credit and establishing a reliable payment history. Those with past credit problems can often improve their scores over time and become eligible even under the new updated FHA minimum credit score requirements. The first step is to request help from the FHA for credit counseling or first time homebuyer counseling. Help is available at FHA.gov.