More than a year later, officials at Sun City West voted to change a key covenant that had caused residence to not be able to obtain a Reverse Mortgage. Since the fall of 2016, even though this language had been “on the books” since the mid-1990’s, residence haven’t been able to obtain an FHA loan. […]
October 2, 2017 will be remembered in the HECM world as the day major changes to the HECM product took effect. It is one of the most comprehensive changes to the program in recent years. Specifically, there were three major changes that occurred. First was the lowering of the interest rate floor. The ramifications of […]
FHA relaxes the requirements on Certificate of Occupancy requirements! September 29, 2017 FHA said they would now allow lenders to take applications for a HECM (reverse mortgage) without a certificate of occupancy and before the completion of reverse mortgage counseling. This is a long awaited change and a very good change. As virtually any other […]
Sep
Mortgagee Letter 2017-12 Effective October 2, 2017 Mortgage Insurance and Principal Limit Factors (think max. loan amount) changes HUD “sprang” this one on the industry, as no one was expecting it. And HUD has made some very significant changes in the HECM program. First, they have changed the mortgage insurance premiums. Reverse mortgages require an […]
Jul
A retirement confidence survey asks seniors how much they think they’ll need to live comfortably in retirement. According to the 2017 Retirement Confidence Survey done by the Employee Benefit Research Institute and Greenwald and Associates, here are the results: 21% – Under $250,000 15% – $250,000 – $499,999 27% – $500,000 – $999,999 13% – […]
Jun
Reverse mortgage professionals have long grappled with homeowners’ later-in-life resistance to assuming more debt. After all, many homeowners aged 62 or older have spent a good chunk of their adult lives attempting to rid themselves of the purchase mortgage that allowed them to buy their family homesteads. But those attitudes are changing, and the New […]
Jun
U.S. homeowners aged 62 and older saw a 3.1% increase in total home equity between the fourth quarter of 2016 and the first quarter of 2017, driven by rising home values. These older American homeowners sat on $6.3 trillion in total home equity at the end of the first quarter, according to the National Reverse […]
Jun
Reverse mortgage professionals have recently been touting the use of Home Equity Conversion Mortgages for clients that may be experiencing what has been coined “gray divorce” or “silver divorce” — divorce among the retired population. While divorce among Americans overall has fallen in recent years, from 8.2% in 2000 to 6.9% in 2014 according to […]