LETTERS / RETIREMENT

Believing that a 1,200-square-foot house in Tarzana was ever worth $800,000, and indeed was in 10 years to be worth $1 million, requires almost an astounding lack of reason in both the owners and the Realtor. (“Facing old age with less as home value falls,” Money Makeover, Jan. 18.)

At the height of the market, the house might have fetched $550,000. It is worth at least $200,000 less now, much closer to its true value.

Still, it does allow the purchase of the Laguna Woods condo for the couple as well as the additional purchase of a small L.A. condo or house that can be rented out and will bring the couple the income they are looking for.

Probably safer than any investment they might attempt.

Linda Winsh-Bolard

Brea

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My compliments on this important article on the impact of the recession on the senior population.

Rising medical expenses, which consume an ever-increasing amount of older people’s budgets, can also jinx retirement. And only one in three large private employers offers retiree health benefits to supplement Medicare, compared with two in three in the 1980s.

Meanwhile, Medicare’s new drug benefit has barely dented seniors’ out-of-pocket spending. This issue of medical healthcare was barely touched on in this article.

John Krikorian

Glendale