Posted by Hugh Nations Signing Agents of Austin on 12/14/06 4:17pm
Msg #165974

Wave of the future

Reverse mortgages are the future for signing agents -- along with refis from ARMs to fixed rates, when the higher interest rates start biting.

Two years ago, I did maybe one Reverse Mortgage a month. For the past two months, they have constituted 40 percent of my total volume, and an even greater percentage of revenue. Plus, I did them for four different companies; as recently as six months ago, all my reverse mortgages came from one title company.

In addition, I'm seeing many more upscale borrowers turning to reverse mortgages. Previously, the majority of those I did were for seniors with limited rsources who were simply trying to have some reasonable quality of life in their latter years.

Reply by Les_CO on 12/14/06 4:50pm
Msg #165982

What's the country coming to when people have to mortgage (in many cases) their only asset to buy food and medicine?

Reply by cntrlcalntry on 12/14/06 5:13pm
Msg #165987

My favorite RM was the one in which a couple was taking thier
dream cruise around the world! How exciting for them!

Reply by Laurie_PA on 12/14/06 5:27pm
Msg #165989

My parents did one because the money was easier to access. They have retirement accounts, but unfortunately the way they are set up you need to wait to get your money. And a bulk of it goes directly to medical expenses (Insurance etc. does not cover all) and other monthly bills.
Unfortunately this became an issue when my sister passed away and expenses were hard to meet when money is scheduled as such.

They are now having a great time w/ the extra cash and quite frankly they should, its theirs after all. They worked hard to pay off their house and now they can reap the benefits.

Reply by Hugh Nations Signing Agents of Austin on 12/14/06 5:55pm
Msg #165993

Reverses are comparatively expensive money, there's no doubt. On the other hand, the lender may be sitting there for 30 years with his money invested, and no immediate return on the investment.

Reverses make sense if all the children are well-established, and an asset as big as a house is not working for the owner except to provide shelter. With a reverse, the money invested in the house can go to work and at the same time the borrower will continue to get the value of shelter.

I think the only reason that reverse mortgages are not the majority of financing options for those over 65 today is that the public is just becoming aware of them. Most of the people whose loans I close indicate they discovered reverse mortgages just shortly before they applied for one.

Reply by janCA on 12/14/06 7:51pm
Msg #166011

And it's usually from a TV advertisement.