Reverse Mortgage Video Story: A Family I’ll Never Forget—the Millers of Greater Boston
Some cases stay with you. The Millers are one of mine.
I first met Mrs. Miller when she was 95 years old. Her retirement savings had run out six years earlier, and one of her daughters had stepped in to cover her expenses — groceries, bills, healthcare — with the understanding that she’d be repaid when the home eventually sold. By the time they came to me, that daughter had already spent more than $150,000 out of pocket. She was stretched thin, but she never stopped showing up for her mom.
The solution was clear: a reverse mortgage.
The equity was there.
But the path to get there was anything but straightforward.
Mrs. Miller didn’t pass her HUD counseling sessions. She was present, she was warm, she did her very best—but at 95, the complexity of the process was simply too much. What followed was nearly a year of legal work: her son Bill had to obtain a conservatorship, power of attorney, and a guardianship declaration before he could sign on her behalf. It was a long road.
But we got there.
When the reverse mortgage closed, it worked beautifully for everyone. Her daughter was fully repaid. $150,000 was drawn from her line of credit and placed in a checking account to cover Mrs. Miller’s ongoing expenses. She never needed to take another draw again.
And most importantly—she got to stay in the home she loved, with in-home healthcare, for the rest of her life.
Along the way, I became part of the family.
I was honored to be invited to Mrs. Miller’s 100th birthday party, right there in that home.
Of all of the gifts she received on her 100th birthday, her favorite gift was a painting of her actual home that you can see her holding with pride and joy.
After she passed, her son Bill called me to help close things out. I went to her home in person to meet him, and he graciously agreed to share his experience on camera.
You can watch his testimony in the video right here.
Because the home, which had been appraised at roughly $1 million at the time of the loan, had appreciated over the years, it was sold at almost $1.5 million after she passed.
Her three children received hundreds of thousands of dollars more than they would have if they had sold the home and moved her to an assisted living facility instead of getting the reverse.
Bill said I made the process seem easy. I had to remind him—it took a year.
But that’s the work. Sometimes the path is hard, and you just stay on it together.
