One of the great features of the home equity conversion mortgage (HECM) program is that eligible seniors have multiple options designed to meet a variety of different needs. They can a) draw cash upfront; b) select a credit line on which to draw in the future at their own initiative; c) receive a tenure annuity for as long as they remain in their home; and d) receive a term annuity for a period the senior selects.

These options allow seniors to meet a large variety of needs. Here is a partial list, indicating the option involved:

• They can relieve themselves of the monthly payment obligation on an existing mortgage or other debt by paying it off with a HECM, which has no required payment (a).

• They can minimize the cash drain involved in purchasing a house by taking a HECM in conjunction with the purchase (a).

• They can draw funds intermittently to meet unanticipated or special occasion cash needs (b).

• They can offset the loss of a pension when the spouse drawing the pension dies (b).

• They can supplement their income for as long as they live in their home (c).

• They can supplement their income for a limited period until they sell their home (d).

• They can replenish the gap in available funds when they outlive their financial assets (b and d).

The list above is partial because it does not include the use of a HECM for multiple purposes. Seniors can combine a cash withdrawal with a credit line, a tenure payment or a term payment. Similarly, they can combine a credit line with a tenure payment or a term payment. Option combinations substantially expand the list of needs that can be met with a HECM.

But sadly, most seniors are not taking advantage of this versatility in the program. Most simply draw the maximum amount of cash allowed at the outset, period. While this is justified in some cases, indications are that in too many cases the funds are not being deployed prudently. There are three interrelated reasons for this:

• Shortsightedness on the part of seniors. They tend to overvalue the present and undervalue the future, just like their juniors.

• Absence of good advice. Loan officers would lose money if they encouraged seniors to shift from cash withdrawals to credit lines, and counselors are barred from expressing a preference for one option over another.

• The poor quality of information available on alternative options. Some seniors don’t even know there are options other than all-cash withdrawals, and many of those that do know are deterred by an unjustified fear that the adjustable-rate HECMs required for all but the all-cash withdrawal would be risky for them.

The best available information is poor because lenders don’t view the provision of information as a help in generating business. Most lenders don’t have HECM calculators on their websites, and almost all of those that do require users to identify themselves so that they can be contacted afterwards by salespersons.

Users do not have to identify themselves to use a calculator from Ibis Software that is available from HUD’s Web page on HECMs, and from the website of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA), the trade association.

This calculator, however, does not cover all the relevant combinations of HECM features that might interest a senior; it does not allow users to see how the different options affect their future finances, and it provides very little explanatory information.

My colleagues and I decided to remedy this and have designed a new HECM Calculator that is now on my website. The calculator is actually 10 interconnected calculators designed so that one of the 10 provides the precise HECM option or combination of options that the senior needs.

The calculators show not only the transaction features, but also project the status of the transaction (including outstanding debt and unused credit line) every year until the senior reaches age 100. Each calculator includes explanatory text and examples of how it is used. The table shows how our calculator compares to the Ibis calculator:

HECM Feature	MP Calculator	Ibis Calculator
Interest Rate, Fees and Other Closing Costs	Yes	Yes
Maximum Cash Withdrawal	Yes	Yes
Maximum Credit Line	Yes	Yes
Maximum Monthly Tenure Payment	Yes	Yes
Maximum Monthly Term Payment	Yes	No
Maximum Credit Line With Specified Cash Withdrawal	Yes	No
Maximum Credit Line With Specified Tenure Payment	Yes	No
Maximum Credit Line With Specified Term Payment	Yes	No
Maximum Tenure Payment With Specified Cash Withdrawal	Yes	No
Maximum Tenure Payment With Specified Credit Line	Yes	Yes
Maximum Term Payment With Specified Cash Withdrawal	Yes	No
Future Loan Balances	Yes	No
Future Home Equity	Yes	No
Future Credit Line	Yes	No
Examples of Each Possible HECM Option Use	Yes	No
Online Help	Yes	No

Source: FoodNetwork.com

Searching for a place with some good cooking vibes? Look no further than this Brooklyn townhouse, which was deemed perfect for filming a new cooking show, “America’s Best Home Cook,” hosted by chef Bobby Flay. The show pits “home cooks” in weekly competitions to determine the best in America.

The Bedford-Stuyvesant home, located at 44 Monroe St, Brooklyn, NY 11238, is all exposed brick and stone walls with an open floor plan that centers, of course, around a spacious kitchen.

The building was constructed in 1899 and was recently restored, adding another three stories to the original dwelling. The listing notes the home’s capacity for entertaining — which is likely why producers of Flay’s new show picked the property. According to Prudential Douglas Elliman director of PR Ashley Murphy, the home is being rented by the Food Network until the end of November.

After that, the townhouse is up for grabs for $1.65 million.

Besides a chef-worthy kitchen, the home has herringbone wood floors, exposed beams with walnut molding and a dining room closed off to the kitchen by glass French doors. Measuring 2,400 square feet, the home has 4 bedrooms, 2 baths and a generous terrace.

The listing is held by Jerry Minsky of Prudential Douglas Elliman.

According to Zillow’s home affordability calculator, a monthly payment on the home would be $5,751, assuming a 20 percent down payment on a 30-year mortgage.

Q: My fiancé and I reside in Georgia. He’s been in Afghanistan since January and is due to return in 2013. We are looking to purchase our first home once he returns.

I’m making sure I get my credit report in order and educating myself about the process in the meantime. The area we live in really doesn’t have many new homes, so we are really leaning toward building our own. Can you suggest some resources and things I need to know before deciding to build our dream home?

A: Congratulations on all the momentous life milestones you’re about to experience. You’re wise to get prepared as far in advance as possible and to do some serious research before you proceed down the path of trying to build a custom home.

I’m going to make some assumptions here, including the assumption that what you’re actually contemplating is hiring a contractor to build a custom home for you rather than simply buying a newly built home in a developer’s subdivision.

Personally, I like old and older homes; I like to live in neighborhoods that are more established, and I like the idea that any glitches or flaws in the home will certainly have made themselves known before the time I move in. No home is perfect, but with new homes, the home and the neighborhood often have to settle for a year (or a few) before any problems start to surface.

But to be clear, this is largely a matter of personal preference. There are many advantages to buying new, as well.

Understanding the financial and logistical hurdles

When you buy a resale home or even a new home in a subdivision, you’re generally able to do the basic work of getting your credit and down payment ready, conducting a house hunt, and closing a single mortgage and purchase transaction in one fell swoop.

When you decide to build a new home, you have much more work ahead. You may need to find a lot that is suitable for building the sort of home you like and buy it. You may have to bring utilities to the lot and obtain permits to build on it. You will need to select architects, engineers and contractors to do the work. Finally, you’ll need to have plans drawn up and undergo the building process and all that entails.

You might have to come up with cash out of pocket for the lot, as very few (if any) lenders will lend money to borrowers for a bare lot. Then, unless you have the cash to pay for the build out of pocket, you’ll have to obtain a construction loan, which is a separate transaction that requires the lender to sign off on the plans, and often involves a much larger down payment requirement than a traditional home loan.

Construction loans also require the lender to sign off on your building plans and choice of builder upfront, and to be involved in approving and doling out funds for construction throughout the process. You’ll have to obtain construction insurance, and be prepared to deal with your city building inspectors every step of the way.

I don’t mean to paint an overly negative picture of the work involved with building a custom house from the ground up, just a realistic one. It requires much more time, work, and energy than buying an existing home or a new home in a subdivision, and some would say it’s also more risky.

And that’s a lot for a first-time homeowner to take on.

I would encourage you to ask other folks in your area on Trulia Voices about their experience in building a brand-new home to get a full picture of what the experience is like, warts and all. I also strongly recommend you read the classic book “Building Your Home: An Insider’s Guide, Second Edition” by Carol Smith (Builder Books, 2005) to get a better sense for the complexities involved.

Get clear on if and why you’d rather buy new

Often, people simply like the idea of living in a home that no one else has ever lived in before, or the idea of creating a home layout, design, etc., from scratch, to their personal tastes and needs.

What I’ve found, though, is that the average layperson is less skilled at coming up with good ideas for a home’s design than all the architects, builders, developers and designers who have worked on homes over the years.

Sometimes, custom-built homes end up with well-intentioned but ill-conceived features that make them difficult to resell precisely because they are so heavily customized that the home simply doesn’t work or appeal to many other buyers than the home’s original owners.

Are you absolutely, 100 percent certain that you couldn’t get your wants and needs met with an existing home or a new home in a subdivision already being developed?

If you haven’t already, start house hunting online and start visiting open houses; you might find that a home that has been recently remodeled, or a fixer-upper that is in need of an update, can give you the fresh, customized-home look, feel and features you want, with a fraction of the cost, risk and hassle of building brand-new.

Don’t fall for the myth that it’s cheaper to build

If your primary motivation for wanting to build a new home is the rationale I hear so often that it’s “cheaper to build” from the ground up than to buy an existing home, beware the many pitfalls and fallacies that are often built into this line of thinking.

Is it ever cheaper to build than to buy a home? I’m sure it’s possible. But I often hear people say this who have seen a single, inexpensive lot somewhere, heard an anecdote about a cousin’s cousin who paid $12,000 to build a house, and then add those things up and conclude it’s so much cheaper to build! The reality is that the one lot they saw might not even be buildable, and whoever related the story about their cousin was talking about a treehouse!

Buildable lots, the cost of bringing utilities to them and obtaining the city’s “entitlements” to build on them, the costs of building permits, architect and engineer services, and the margin of error for building cost estimates are all much greater than the average person would estimate. So, don’t let the thought that it might be cheaper to build stop you from exploring other alternatives for owning your dream home.

Utilizing social media is a great way to spread the word about your brand or your business. Some businesses rely almost exclusively on social media to get the word out about their products and services. If you are going to use social media for your business, you should be aware of some key rules to follow in your communication strategy. Here are what we believe to be the 15 Commandments of Social Media Communication:

1. Keep your Interactions Clean & Positive

Any time you post content, or comment on someone else’s posts, you are representing your business. Try to avoid saying anything offensive or controversial unless that is what your brand is all about. In most cases, it is best to be polite and courteous, so that people will view you and your company in a positive way.

2. Respond to all External Communications

When you post content on a social media site, people will usually comment on it. You should respond to the comments quickly or even it’s not quick, just make sure you respond. This will show that you take your business seriously, and that you appreciate the people who take the time to read your posts or watch your videos.

3. Take Time to Get Involved in the Community

It’s tempting for a business owner to use social media only for their own benefit. They don’t want to waste time on something that is not going to bring in more customers. However, if people get the sense that the only reason you are involved in a social media site is to promote your business, they may not like it too much. Take some time to participate in discussions that are not directly related to your business. You never know, doing so may actually bring you more customers and at the very least, it will make you look like a more valuable member of the community.

4. Respect the Ownership of Digital Property

When someone posts articles, videos, photos, or anything else online, it’s not okay to use that content however you see fit. You cannot use someone else’s content as if it were your own or even change it up and repurpose it in some way. If you want to post something on a social media site, make sure you are posting original content.

5. Lay off the Sales Pitch Once in a While

Social media is a great way to get traffic to your website and sell more products and services. However, it’s a good idea to just participate in some of these communities once in a while without trying to sell products. If every message you ever send out on social media is pitching a product, a lot of people won’t be interested in following you or reading your content any longer.

6. Learn from your Competition & Not Attack It

It’s a good idea to follow your competitors on any social networking sites so that you can see what they are up to. You may have competitors following you as well. Be respectful and never attack your competitors.

7. Handle Negative Communications in a Positive Manner

If someone posts a negative comment about you or your products on a social media site, you don’t want to get into a fight with that person where you start to verbally assault each other. However, it’s not always a good idea to simply ignore people either. You need to defend your products or services, but be as courteous and respectful as you can when doing so.

8. Be Modest When You Get Positive Reviews

If someone posts positive comments on your products or services, it may be tempting to re-tweet those comments every time you get them. If you are over the top in pointing out the praise you are getting, it will turn a lot of people off.

9. Don’t Use Cookie-Cutter Responses

When someone comments on a piece of content you have posted, take some time to come up with a thoughtful response. It won’t look good if you just paste in “thanks” under every comment and your followers will appreciate it if you are actively involved in conversations taking place about the content you have posted.

10. Promote Other Peoples Products and Services too

Your followers will appreciate it if you recommend good quality products and services to them, even if you are not the owner of those products and services. If you promote some quality products and services that you do not profit from directly, it can help build trust and respect in your followers.

11. Don’t Try to Hide the Fact That You Are Promoting a Business

If you are using social media to try to sell products and services, be upfront about it. Most people will realize if you are promoting your business and it looks very dishonest if you try to hide it.

12. Get to the Point

There’s no need to have very long, drawnout messages when you post content to social media sites. Keep your messages short and sweet, and get to the point. People are busy and your followers may not have time to read a 2000 word essay.

13. Participate Consistently

It’s a good idea to post content on social media sites on a regular basis. Even if it’s just once or twice per week, make regular posts to keep in touch with your followers, and of course to keep your products and services in front of your potential customers.

14. Provide Some Visual Interest

Most of the time on social media sites, you will be posting text. It’s also a good idea to include a photo or a video once in a while to keep things visually interesting.

15. Provide Value to Your Followers

To keep your followers interested in following you on social media sites, provide value to them. Post useful information, or links to useful information. But avoid spamming on social media sites.  If you offer your followers value on a regular basis, they will continue to follow you.