A house near Grandma's house
My grandmother enjoys telling the story of how I helped them find their new home. I was about 10 at the time, and they were looking at a house in an area of Riverdale called Fieldston, near what would become my high school. I don’t remember all the details, but when I saw the house, I told them that they should buy it and then the whole family could move in. I found rooms for my cousins, my aunts and uncles, my parents, and my brother and I. The house is not that large, but again, I was 10. And it was cozy and gorgeous.
As the years passed, I have a lot of great memories of my time spent there. I remember watching the Clinton impeachment trial from the study and my first experience with the Romance channel. There were family gatherings, tea, chamber music and split pea soup. And I remember, more than 12 years later, going back for the reception after my grandfather’s funeral.
It’s amazing how a place can have so many memmories, and a memoir, essay, or post could probably be written about each of them. And when I first heard about reverse mortgages, it was my grandmother’s house that I thought of first. Because so many of the stories in our family are tied to places, like The House in Stockbridge and The House on River Road, and, as I grow up, those are the stories I want to tell my children. Those are the homes I want to show them, so I can say “Look, this is where I grew up.”
I am young. I have very little idea of anyone’s financial situations and could never dream of making a reverse mortgage calculation. And, due to my love of the house and its high property value, I don’t know what I’d choose to do were I the one mulling over the reverse mortgage option. But any time I see a photo of a “grandma’s house,” I’m glad a program like this exists that can help keep grandparents in their homes should they choose to stay there.