Reverse Mortgage Jan-Feb 2021

JULIAN FREDIE, 80 and his wife, Deanna, 75, grew up in the Boston area. Julian was raised in Hingham, in south Boston, graduated fromNewman Prep School, attended col- lege, spent time in the military and worked in construction. “I worked as a field engineer for several large construc- tion companies, then I wound up as a facilities manager/ director at Harvard,” says Julian, where he and his team did everything necessary to keep the Harvard campus buildings operating at peak capacity. Deanna was raised in Braintree, graduated from junior college and went to work for Polaroid as a secretary. She retired 38 years later as a marketing manager. The couple bought their first home in 1989. It was a custom-built home encompassing 5,000 square feet and one acre. It was perfect for the couple and their two girls. Julian got his first mortgage from George Downey, CRMP, owner of Harbor Mortgage Solutions in Braintree. The two served on the board of directors for the Greater Boston Food Bank, and they struck up a friendship. At that time, Julian was an operations manager at Digital Equipment Corp., a major American company in the computer industry from the 1960s to the 1990s. He invited Downey to come talk to Digital’s workforce about mortgages and tips for buying a first home. The two kept in touch over the next two decades, even after Julian retired. After their kids moved out to get married and start their own families, the couple realized that they had out- grown their home. “I realized I had slowed down some,” he remarks. “The maintenance of the home and its grounds got to be too much. We had bedrooms upstairs that were used maybe once or twice a year when we had visitors. We never went upstairs unless it was to clean them. The house was too big for us.” Julian estimates he and Deanna were using only 1,500 of the 5,000 square feet. “We’d go from the bedroom to the kitchen to the family room to the kitchen to the bedroom. Those We Help Condo’s Reverse Mortgage Provides Safety Net Boston-Area Couple Had Downsized Years Ago By Darryl Hicks Julian and Deanna Fredie got a reverse mortgage on their condo to give them financial security, plus some extra cash. 32 REVERSE MORTGAGE / JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2021