Many senior homeowners feel like they've lost their independence to the high cost of living on a fixed income. Even those who planned carefully are finding that the pension and savings they thought would carry them through their retirement years just didn't do all they thought they would, the social...

The other initial step which can be done before or after the package is completed for the lender, is the mandatory reverse mortgage counseling - HUD requires that every borrower attend a counseling session with a third party counselor approved by HUD - To be certain that borrowers are not being push...

The margins on the Treasury-based product have been rising significantly over the past year and slowly the LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) has replaced the CMT as the product of choice by consumers In efforts to help standardize and simplify Reverse Mortgage Rates and product offerings FNMA ha...

The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) granted authority to add individual manufactured housing units located in condominium projects to HUD for FHA insurance. This property type had always been ineligible prior to this legislation for loan programs insured by FHA, which included the H...

The Housing and Economic Recovery Act and The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act have made the Reverse Mortgage program available to even more seniors across the US. These changes include provisions for higher lending limits, eligibility for Co-Op properties, Purchase transactions and more.......

The line of credit reverse mortgage is still the most popular option for senior borrowers when choosing how to access their funds with their reverse mortgage. According to AARP, borrowers have recognized this choice at about 66% of the time when obtaining a reverse mortgage as being the right choic...

In their continuing efforts to try to protect seniors, HUD continues to update and refine their reverse mortgage counseling protocols and requirements. I can only also hope that borrowers understand that counselors may not be current in market related information......

There is not as much flexibility in how you get your funds, but there are a couple of very good things that fixed rate reverse mortgages can do. For example, right now with all the increases to the margins that the adjustable rate loans have seen as of late, the fixed rate that we have offers borro...

In an ever-vigilant effort to protect seniors and the reverse mortgage process, HUD has just released Mortgagee Letter 2009-10 to clarify counseling issues. HUD has 4 reasons for issuing the new Mortgagee Letter; to be certain that all borrowers initiate their own counseling; to delineate the requi...

I always have people asking me which option is better, a fixed rate or an adjustable rate for their HECM. Both have benefits and both have drawbacks. And what about now while the margins keep moving and since lenders just announced another round of margin increases......

I know that there are those reading now that are saying to themselves, there is no way in today’s market that any builder would miss out on legitimate sales. But we have had two instances of it already and solely due to the builder not being aware of the manner in which the purchase reverse mortg...

gives seniors an opportunity to stay in their home and gives them time… time to wait for a healthier economy to sell their home if that is their goal; time to live payment free or with additional income during a very trying time in this economy...

HUD has acted extremely quickly in putting out the new HECM reverse mortgage limits of $625,500 as established as a result of the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). This limit is effective for all loans which receive credit approval in the calendar year 2009...

The one that everyone has been asking with regard to how the benefit amount will be calculated is stated as follows: “For HECM purchase transactions only, The maximum claim amount will be the lesser of the appraised value......

Can the $625,500 Reverse Mortgage Limit help you? The HUD Reverse Mortgage program is included in the Stimulus Bill which was approved by the House-Senate Committee yesterday which provide an increased limit to $625,500...

No one wants to see HUD begin a program which is subject to abuse and fraud, but the ability to use the appraised value would help many more seniors get into homes...

Reverse Mortgage Limits: comparison of $362,790, $417,000, $625,500 proceeds. See how much more you may be eligible with the proposed increase to $625,500...

A Reverse Mortgage is a Big Decision but Is it The Right Decision For YOU? We are pleased to offer our visitors a free guide to Reverse Mortgages covering Frequently Asked Questions and Common Misconceptions. Get yours today!...

we would love to see it going to reduce Up Front Mortgage Insurance Premiums for Senior HECM borrowers and FHA borrowers alike; release the HECM for purchase program...

Bill containing a provision to raise the HECM limit through the end of 2009 to $625,500 which has been introduced in the House of Representative according to the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association ...

reviewing the earlier decision to implement the single national loan limit at $417,000, rather than at $625,500. Bell believes that HUD might have the "authority" so re-interpret the statute, without further action by Congress...

If you have been waiting for the Purchase HECM program, hang in there. HUD has so much on its plate right now but since the implementation date was supposed to be January 1, 2009, they should clarify the program any day now...

2009 status on reverse mortgages for home purchase, coop properties, high-cost limits & manufactured condos...

Many people get very confused when they try to grasp how a reverse mortgage really works. They look at the different interest rates, the mortgage insurance, the servicing fees, principal limits, net principal limits and before long, they just want to know the bottom line as they’re so confused the...

I can almost hear it now, "This is an article written by a guy who does reverse mortgages There probably wont be any cons! As passionate as we are about the reverse mortgage product, there are some drawbacks in some instances and we make certain that we point out the pro’s and con’s to all rever...

With the weakening economy and with the jobs lost, the effect on seniors has been devastating. Seniors have seen their life savings and their retirement funds disappear lately with the $2 Trillion Dollars that the State Department has estimated has been lost in the capital markets. Now with the jo...

Starting January 1, 2009, FHA will begin to insure reverse mortgage loans for purchases. What does this mean? Senior borrowers age 62 and over can now purchase a home using a reverse mortgage rather than a traditional forward mortgage. This is great news to seniors who have had a desire to purcha...

Exciting news to Senior Americans who have wanted to purchase a new residence, those who wish to downsize, move closer to family and friends, move into senior communities for the activities or amenities they offer...

The fixed rate option for the HUD HECM Reverse Mortgage for the week of October 28, 2008 is down to 5.68% (this is the Initial Interest Rate and the Effective Rate on the fixed program since there are no indices or margins to consider)...

HECM program will now have a national limit of $417,000 (with the exception of the high cost areas such as Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands which will be 150% ...

If you or a loved one are 62 or older and own your own home and have recently seen your retirement funds shrink with all that has happened in the financial markets, before you panic, you may want to take a good hard look at this government-insured program. ...

This morning, FHA Commissioner Brian Montgomery announced that the new HECM nationwide loan limit (maximum claim amount) will be $417,000. The target effective date is November 1. This is a target date right now, not a set deadline. We still expect FHA to increase the floor on the origination fee f...

There is a new scam out involving reverse mortgages that everyone needs to be aware of as it doesn't affect just senior borrowers. It seems that in their effort to constantly find a way to beat the system, there are some who are looking for ways to use senior borrowers and reverse mortgages to flip...

Lehman was the source for one of the two remaining proprietary or jumbo reverse mortgage loan programs in the market for senior borrowers, age 62 and over. Just as 2006 and 2007 saw the birth of many......

It is very important to the senior homeowner who is applying for a reverse mortgage to know the significance of the change to the new higher margins for CMT based loans, as well as for the specialist who is serving them. The Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA or Fannie Mae) has just announ...

Regardless of which option is implemented, these higher loan limits will provide a great refinance opportunity for seniors with higher value homes......

Today, President Bush signed HR 3221 into law which has many significant effects on homeowners. The Bill, in its final form, covered a number of subjects that Congress had been trying to resolve from the modernization of FHA, to foreclosure assistance for homeowners, to the shoring up for Fannie Ma...

Late yesterday, the House passed HR 3221, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, by a floor vote of 272 (yes) to 152 (no). This House version includes amendments that were negotiated since the passage of the Senate version two weeks ago. The Bill will now go back to the Senate for a vote an...

Life doesn't hold too many real guarantees anymore. Seniors work hard their whole lives and expect to receive a pension and often those pension funds aren't available or the company closes and the individual is left looking for work late in life with no pension at all, starting over. Borrowers go ...

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke again today, this time about inflation, economic growth and the possibility of future rate hikes. A full story on the speech can be found on Wall Street Journal's Market Watch and basically what Bernanke is saying is that although the weak dollar is driving costs up a...

ATTENTION: SINCE THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED INDYMAC BANK OFFICIALS HAVE MADE THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS "Customers of IndyMac's reverse mortgage subsidiary will retain unfettered access to their funds, Bovenzi said. Reverse mortgages provide elderly homeowners with either regular payments or a line o...

On July 5th 2008, Robert Powell of the Wall Street Journal online posted an article which quotes the Chief Executive of The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Mary Schapiro, entitled Three Warnings for Hard Times¦Beware of Strategies That Put Nest Egg at Risk. I really must admit tha...

What better day to talk about obtaining your financial independence than on Independence Day?! I don't think our forefathers ever considered the right to a reverse mortgage when framing the Bill of Rights and our Constitution, but ever since 1988 when Ronald Reagan signed the bill authorizing the D...

If you have been reading the articles about jumbo or proprietary reverse mortgages available, you may be wondering what is going on. A jumbo or proprietary reverse mortgage is any program that is not the FHA, government insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM or "Hek-um") or the Federal Nation...

Many people are not aware of all the opportunities available to senior borrowers with the Reverse mortgage program. For example, did you know that HUD does not require any title seasoning or seasoning for time off the market when doing a Reverse Mortgage? What exactly does this mean to senior borr...

Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a comprehensive housing package comprised of two separate bills. The first bill, H.R. 3221, has as its centerpiece, an authorization of $300 billion in FHA refinancing to help homeowners facing trouble meeting their mortgage payments. New FHA-insur...

HUD Permits Borrower-Paid Counseling Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development published Mortgagee Letter 2008-12 to permit counseling agencies to charge seniors a fee for counseling services. HUD said the counseling fee should be reasonable and customary for the service provided a...

Being the age I am and having more than 32 years experience in the mortgage banking industry, I always choose fixed rate mortgages for my own financing needs. When the first fixed rate reverse mortgages came out, we received a lot of phone calls from borrowers who were very interested in also gettin...

As industry professionals, we often have an opportunity to sit in on conference calls on market trends and other things that affect reverse mortgages and the senior borrowers who get them. We were on one today that echoed something that we have been saying so it seems that it’s to a point where w...

Reverse Mortgage Loans are unlike traditional loans or forward mortgages in many ways. Even the costs are figured differently. Because a Reverse Mortgage is often paid to the borrower in monthly payments or in the form of a line of credit that the borrower can access as they choose, the origi...

I just finished reading yet another article on the internet by AP Economics writer, Martin Crutsinger, in which he states Sales of existing homes fell to the lowest level in nearly a decade in January while the median price for a home dropped for the fifth straight month. His article quotes t...

Reverse Mortgages are a very good tool for many senior borrowers to enable them to access the equity in their home while never having to make another payment as long as they live in those homes. However, a Reverse Mortgage has always been a fairly expensive proposition, usually carrying a price tag...

One of the things that we always explain to senior borrowers when they ask about reverse mortgages is that they are non-recourse loans. The next question is always, "What is a non-recourse loan?" This is a very important feature of the reverse mortgage and I want to take a moment to explain jus...

Many senior homeowners have lived in their homes for a very long time, have no desire to move and have gotten reverse mortgages so that they can continue to live in their homes payment free for life while accessing their equity to help supply them with income or cash to meet their living needs. St...

Reverse Mortgages are a very good tool for many senior borrowers to enable them to access the equity in their home while never having to make another payment as long as they live in those homes. However, a Reverse Mortgage has always been a fairly expensive proposition, usually carrying a price tag...

Reverse Mortgages are not short term, hard money, bridge or balloon loans normally associated with the type of loans people are forced to get to stop a foreclosure proceeding. But for seniors aged 62 and over, a reverse mortgage can be a life-line that rescues the seniors in danger of losing t...

I just finished reading an article about a network news program that did a negative report on reverse mortgages, citing an incident in Los Angeles of a senior borrower who was talked into buying annuities that did not mature until the year 2033 without a substantial penalty. I saw the actual N...

I received a call from the son and daughter of a senior borrower today and they wanted to know if their mother could refinance her reverse mortgage loan. I answered them honestly that yes, she could, but had to ask why was she thinking about refinancing. The reason I asked for the borrower's m...

You've made the decision to get a reverse mortgage and you've heard that there is no income or credit qualifying so you think you will have no issues getting your loan. All you have to do is get your counseling, sign all the paperwork and you're set, right? Not exactly. There are some things...

Are you currently thinking about a reverse mortgage? Have you been told that with your property value, you really might be better off going with a jumbo or proprietary reverse mortgage, but you really wanted to get the government insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM or "Heck-um")? Ha...

Did you know that if you are a senior borrower, aged 62 and over you can use a reverse mortgage to purchase a home as well as just to refinance your existing home? Many senior borrowers have heard about the benefits of paying off an existing mortgage with a reverse mortgage, that they never hav...

As I talk to borrowers and their families, I'm often asked what restrictions there are on the use of the funds from a reverse mortgage. The answer is simple, there are no requirements or restrictions on what you can do with your money, only restrictions against what you must do with the proceed...

I have seen a lot of good that Reverse Mortgages have done for senior borrowers. I've seen them change lives and living situations for the better. I've seen people come out of foreclosure with a reverse mortgage and never have to make another mortgage payment. But is there a time when a rev...

Since first offering reverse mortgages, I've often been asked, "How do I/we know if a reverse mortgage is right for me/us?" This is a question that has a different answer for different people. I always start with the same first response, "The first thing I would recommend is that you seek the ...

You've made the decision to get a reverse mortgage and now you talk to a bank or mortgage broker and the representative is telling you that you have a choice of the Government Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM or "Heck-um") or a Jumbo or "Proprietary Program". Is one better than the other?...

Many senior borrowers who start looking into reverse mortgages are not aware of it, but there is a fixed rate Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) available. The HECM or "Heck-um" as you may hear it called, is the government insured reverse mortgage program offered by lenders and insured by ...

Have you been considering a reverse mortgage but are just afraid of some of the negative things you've heard? There are some negative "myths" that senior borrowers have heard about this type of financing that simply aren't true and we're going to expose some of those here. Myth #1 The Lender...

There seems to be a new phenomenon in the mortgage world known as the reverse mortgage. The ads touting how they can improve quality of life are everywhere and if you're a homeowner, age 62 and over, you receive them in the mail almost daily. Then there are the articles warning that reverse m...

Many senior borrowers who start looking into reverse mortgages are not aware of it, but there is a fixed rate Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) available. The HECM or "Heck-um" as you may hear it called, is the government insured reverse mortgage program offered by lenders and insured by ...