Orange County Reverse Mortgage

Your Orange County Reverse Mortgage Specialists

About: Orange County Reverse Mortgages

According to the HUD web site, the Orange County housing market can be described as follows: The Orange County Housing Market Area (HMA) is coterminous with the Orange County, California metropolitan area. Los Angeles County borders the HMA to the north, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties to the east, San Diego County to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Anaheim, Santa Ana, and Garden Grove are the central cities in the HMA. Santa Ana is the largest city in the HMA. Anaheim, the second largest city in the HMA, is the home of the Disney Company, the leading private employer in the HMA. Two distinct submarkets are in the HMA: North Orange County contains the older central cities, such as Anaheim and Santa Ana, and South Orange County the newer cities, such as Irvine.  http://www.huduser.org/Publications/PDF/OrangeCtyCAComp-2.pdf

The HUD Home Ownership Center (HOC) is located in Santa Ana in the Orange County Market and they have endorsed over 7,200 Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECM’s) making this consistently the second or third highest volume of HUD reverse mortgages in the nation.  Even with this large number of HUD HECM’s, Orange County is also known to have a median single family home price of $591,460 (down from $747,260 according to Mish’s Global Economic Analysis http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2008/04/car-median-home-prices-down-29-in-march.html ).  Considering that the median sets the “mid-point” and half of all the homes in the county are valued above that, many of the homes are valued well above the limits that would be advantageous for a HUD HECM Reverse Mortgage.  Therefore, many of the borrowers with these larger and more expensive properties have opted for jumbo or proprietary programs which are not included in the HUD numbers.

Orange County Reverse Mortgage Limits

Congress has passed a bill, H.R. 3221 which has raised the limits and will accommodate more of these higher balance properties.   The old lending limit in Orange County for HUD was $362,790 and it is being replaced with the new nation-wide limit of $417,000, which means that more Orange County residents will be able to utilize the HUD HECM program than ever before.  There was a question as to whether or not the Bill was going to raise the limit to $625,500, which would have helped even more homeowners with higher value properties, but HUD has posted the $417,000 limit on their website now and it is official.  For those who were waiting for the higher limits, there is no reason to wait any longer.

A reverse mortgage works based on actuarial tables and borrowers receive more money they older they are.  Therefore, 62 year old borrower just meeting the age requirement will receive much less cash than a 78 year old borrower with the same $500,000 home.  When borrowers do not take all their funds at the beginning of the loan and choose to use the line of credit option, the line of credit grows annually on the unused portion as the borrower would be eligible for a higher loan amount at the increased age.  Some borrowers have asked whether or not they should wait for a few years until they are older to apply to take advantage of higher principal limits for older borrowers.  Only you and your trusted financial advisors know your situation but there are other factors which go into the determination of how much money you will receive on a reverse mortgage including interest rates and property values.  If your property value declines, you may be eligible for less money.  If the interest rates rise from their current near-historic low levels, then you may also be eligible for less money.  The other factor that changes and we have already seen several changes this year alone is the eligible margin.  The margin is added to the index to determine the final rate you pay and margin have risen this year as the uncertainty has grown in the mortgage secondary market.

The only constant is your age…you do know how old you are and you do know when your next birthday is.  No one can predict the future with interest rates or property values.  If the values rise considerably, you can refinance a reverse mortgage and the HUD insurance does not need to be paid a second time…you would just pay the difference, if any, from your old premium amount to the new premium based on any increase in the principal lending limit in your area.  The Senior Specialists at All Reverse Mortgage Company are committed to helping you with answering all your questions and if the reverse mortgage is right for you, closing your loan quickly easily.  If it’s time for you to put your equity in reverse so that you can keep your life moving forward, then we’re here to help!

Specializing in Orange County Reverse Mortgages for seniors. A reverse mortgage enables Orange County senior homeowners to sustain their retirement while living in the home and community they love. Contact us for reverse mortgage information and our no obligation reverse mortgage informational package. We provide reverse mortgages for seniors throughout Orange County, California and surrounding area. All Reverse Mortgage Company, Orange CA.  

Call us at (714) 663-2818