Bill and Yvonne: A New Normal in Retirement

Bill and Yvonne Wehr bought their home thirty five years ago when their oldest child was just three months old. Bill is thoughtful and deliberate, an avid reader who likes to be prepared. Yvonne is sharp-witted and full of questions. “Even after I have my answers, I still have questions,” she laughs. Together, they’ve made an effective team, working together in the mortgage industry and raising two children.

Yvonne has struggled with nagging health issues over the years. Looking back, Bill sees now that those symptoms were hints of what would be diagnosed in 2006 as Multiple Sclerosis. After the diagnosis, Bill gradually scaled back his work and became Yvonne’s full-time caregiver, resulting in a substantial reduction in their income.

“After a number of years in the mortgage business, we decided that it was about time for [us] to do a reverse mortgage,” Bill remembers. In order to obtain a reverse mortgage, homeowners are required to meet with a HUD-approved reverse mortgage counselor. From a list provided by HUD, Bill called the Community Housing Resource Center, and to his surprise, the voice on the other end belonged to that of his old coworker and .

The Wehrs completed their counseling over the phone a few weeks later. At the end of the session, Kevin informed them that their counseling fee entitled them to two years of services. He explained that in addition to reverse mortgage counseling, the Center provides financial education, mortgage default prevention and credit and debt management counseling. The last one caught Bill’s attention, and he scheduled a time to come into the Center to discuss ways Kevin could help them honorably satisfy their creditors.

A few months later, the Wehrs met with Kevin in person to begin settling their debts with part of the proceeds from the reverse mortgage. “Even for someone like myself,” Bill says, “it can be intimidating. I think one of the big things with Kevin is that we trusted him, and each step of the process he reinforced that original trust that we had.”

Everything was going as planned until one afternoon, thirty minutes after getting out from behind the wheel of his car, Bill had a seizure. Yvonne called 911, and he was rushed to the hospital where doctors discovered that he had a brain tumor. After letting his family know, Bill called Kevin to advise him of the situation. He wanted to get more of his finances settled before the surgery. “He fit me in ahead of time. It was greatly appreciated because of the stress we were under,” says Bill.

Fortunately, the tumor was benign, and Bill expects to make a full recovery. In the meantime, Yvonne is his caregiver, a temporary reversal that exemplifies their lifetime of team work.

“One of the medical books that I read on brain tumor surgery and the aftermath is about finding and adjusting to what your new normal is,” Bill says. The Wehrs still have a few accounts left to settle, but thanks to CHRC, that new normal will include the home they’ve lived in for the last thirty five years and the financial security they need for retirement. Not that Bill is quite ready to retire. “I’m looking at doing something along the reverse mortgage line,” Bill says with a broad smile. “Somehow there has to be something that I can do to give back.”