I’ll never forget it. As I drove down the wooded driveway I saw it- a 40-foot used RV. I was a bit perplexed as I approached the front door of the couple who had inquired about a reverse mortgage the week before. There was no application submitted or even completed for that matter. I quickly learned they assumed their loan would go through and decided to buy the RV to treat themselves for an upcoming family reunion. Sadly they didn’t qualify.

The lesson? The poor spending habits of older homeowners not only continue after they get a reverse mortgage, but are often one of the largest contributing factors why they needed to eliminate an existing mortgage payment in the first place...