When John and Mary Williams, aged 85 and 81 respectively, paid off their mortgage in 1997, everyone, including their children, celebrated.

“They both worked so hard to pay off the mortgage,” said daughter Gloria Johnston. “There was a great sense of accomplishment when that final payment was made.”

Soon after, John and Mary decided their 3-bedroom, 2-bath home near Charleston, S.C., needed an extensive makeover. “The kitchen and bathrooms needed to be repaired,” said Johnston. “My parents didn’t have much discretionary income to make home improvements because they were scraping together just enough money to pay the mortgage. Now that it was paid off, all us kids agreed that the home needed to be taken care of.”

Johnston said her father was reluctant to get a second mortgage to pay for the home repairs. “Heck, Daddy just got done paying off the first mortgage…The last thing he wanted was another monthly loan payment.”

Instead, Johnston suggested to her parents that they get a reverse mortgage. “I had read about reverse mortgages,” she said. “I thought it was something that my parents might consider pursuing.”

Her brothers and sisters agreed. “We told our parents ‘you worked hard to pay this home off, now you do whatever it takes to keep it in good shape.’”

Johnston said both parents were excited to learn that they could use a reverse mortgage to tap some of the equity from their home without having to take on a new monthly payment.

John and Mary met with a reverse mortgage lender to discuss their options. “I accompanied my parents to the mandatory counseling session just to make sure they understood fully what they were getting into,” noted Johnston.

Once the counseling was completed, John and Mary decided once and for all to get a reverse mortgage. The couple took an initial draw of $20,000 to cover the repair costs to their home. With the money left over, John and Mary elected to receive $350 in monthly income to supplement what John receives from the golf pro shop he has worked at for the past 25 years.

“My parents are so much happier now that the bathrooms and kitchen look brand new,” said Johnston, “and it really turned Daddy on to know he could get all this money without having a new payment to worry about.”