By DENNIS FLOYD

In this day and age, people are living longer and healthier than ever before. For most home owners, the question isn't "Will I continue to live in my home after retirement?" but "How long after retirement will I be able to stay in my home and continue living independently?" In some cases, people who retire at the age of 65 will be physically capable of living in their homes for another 25 to 30 years. But will they be financially capable of doing so?

People tend to have the majority of their wealth in their homes, so when it comes to needing money in one's golden years to pay for medical care, home repairs or other bills the key is to tap into that source of wealth.

Along comes the reverse mortgage to the rescue. Designed specifically for home owners aged 62 and older who have paid off their mortgages, a reverse mortgage allows people to draw from the equity in their home without putting them in danger of losing their home and without requiring them to make monthly payments on the loan.

Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored entity responsible for backing a huge percentage of the nation's mortgages every year, has its own version of the reverse mortgage product, appropriately called the Home Keeper Mortgage. Older home owners can receive a lump sum payment or monthly installments, all drawn from the equity in their home, and the loan amount to be repaid can never exceed the value of the property from which it's being drawn. The loan doesn't have to be paid back until the borrower dies or moves out of the house, at which point a sale of the home usually occurs and the loan gets paid off from the proceeds.

Make no mistake, reverse mortgages do come at a cost, and there are some catches for example, you can't borrow the entire amount your house is worth and you do pay certain loan fees which are financed as part of the package. Anyone who is considering the reverse mortgage option for themselves or a parent should consult a financial planning expert to be sure they're making the right move. But in the case of an older person who wants to continue living in their home and needs income to pay for repairs or perhaps home health care, a reverse mortgage may be just the answer.

Loan products like this one help emphasize the fact that housing is a very good investment; your home can actually help take care of you as you get older. Fannie Mae is a great source of information on reverse mortgages, and can provide a list of lenders through which its Home Keeper product is available. Just log on to www.fanniemae.com or call Fannie's Mae's Consumer Resource Center at 1-800-732-6643. The American Association of Retired Persons also has a guide to converting home equity into case. You can get it by writing to: Home Made Money, AARP Home Equity Information Center, 601 E. Street, N.E. Washington, D.C. 20049.

(Dennis Floyd, CEO of Chadwick Homes, is president of the Home Builders Association of Midwest Georgia, which serves a membership of 385 builders and associate members in Fayette, Coweta, Spalding, Heard and Meriwether counties.)

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