Please submit your reverse mortgage-related question in the comments section below and a reverse mortgage specialist will reply shortly.

If you’d like a free one-on-one consultation with one of our reverse mortgage specialists please visit www.rmform.com and submit your contact info.

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ANSWER:
The answer to this is a resounding YES!

First of all ask yourself, ‘Have you heard anything about reverse mortgages amid the media heyday about the financial markets?” No you haven’t, nor will you. Reverse mortgages are very scrutinized by government regulatory agencies and there are many protective features built in.

1- Over 90% of the reverse mortgages done are HECM loans. The HECM is a federal government design. Each loan is approved by HUD.
2- These loans are individually insured by FHA, the Federal Housing Authority.
3- Most importantly, by design, they are non-recourse loans. Almost all loans of any kind are recourse loans. This simply means if there is a shortage for any reason the lender can go after the estate to get paid. All mortgage loans I am aware of are recourse loans, except reverse. In a reverse mortgage only the house is collateral; the rest of the estate is protected. Hence, if a senior has a ‘regular’ mortgage currently then they can potentially pass a problem to their heirs that would not occur if a reverse mortgage were in place.
4- Most reverse mortgages use either the Treasury Bill or the LIBOR as an index. These indices have been shown to be very stable over time. This is the reason the government hooked reverse mortgages to them in the first place. In the last year the rates on a reverse mortgage have actually gone down, not up like the rest of the market.

To talk about your specific situation we suggest you talk it over with a Professional. Please go HERE and enter your info and a Professional will contact you.

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TRUE STORY
An elderly woman went into her local bank branch to apply for a home improvement loan in order to replace the roof and gutters on her home as well as to buy a new air conditioning unit. Because she is on a low fixed income her “debt to income” ratio didn’t fit the bank’s profile and she was declined for the loan. The banker suggested she speak with a reverse mortgage consultant about the possibility of getting a reverse mortgage. Despite the “debt to income” problem, she was able to easily qualify for the government program. The reverse mortgage allowed her to receive a lump sum from which she was able to make all of her necessary repairs, pay-off some small debts and leave the rest of the money in an open line of credit to be accessed whenever she wanted. Being able to do this with no payments, principle or interest, was very important to her on a fixed income!
Want to see if this will work for you? CLICK HERE.

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TRUE STORY
A 75 year old Veteran has a home worth 170K and he owes $85K combined on his current 1st and 2nd mortgages. He is on a fixed income and is barely making it. He is turned down by his mortgage broker on a VA loan because of his low credit score and he still has $5000 left to pay on a Chapter 13 bankruptcy! He also has 2 liens on his home from a bail bondsman because he bailed his son out of jail, twice. The HECM reverse mortgage pays off all 5 items and, although he receives no cash, the $1800 he has been spending each month is now his to live on. As you can imagine his life will be quite different now.

Have you been told your credit score is too low? Click here & talk to a Professional today. You may be OK.

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TRUE STORY
After learning about Reverse Mortgages a regular mortgage loan officer started thinking about her grandfather. After we talked about the specifics it occurred to her that her grandparents may not be as well off as they seemed, even though their $350,000 home is paid for along with their cars. One of the telltale signs was that Grandpa would not let Grandma run the A/C in the 100-degree weather! She spoke with them and they agreed to sit down and talk. A Reverse Mortgage Professional was able to show them how to convert their home equity into a more comfortable living. Now they will be receiving over $150,000 in the form of $1000+/month Payments tax free for the rest of their lives. Even though a proud senior didn’t want to admit to need, it was still there. Think about the seniors in your life.

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How Foreclosure Works (To know how this applies to you personally click HERE!)

When a person borrows money to buy real estate, such as a house or condominium, the loan is called a mortgage and requires monthly payments. In general if the property owner falls behind in making those payments, the lender can step in and sell the house at auction to settle the debt. Doing so is known as foreclosing on a property.

In most counties in the United States these auctions take place every month.

In most States the law allows lenders to conduct an auction without having to go before a judge on one condition: The lender must give the borrower - and the public - proper, legal notice of its plans to foreclose. Proper notification means advertising in the county’s official legal newspaper. The lender must advertise its intent to foreclose once a week for the four consecutive weeks leading up to the sale date. To auction off a property the first Tuesday of March, for example, a lender must have published a foreclosure notice during each of the four weeks of February.

How to Use the Information

• Property Owners: Protect Your Interests
During the weeks leading up to the courthouse auction date, many property owners are able to work things out with their lenders, seek bankruptcy protection or line up other arrangements to prevent the bank from selling off their homes.

Read the rest of this entry »

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YES!
But, this is very much a legal issue and you must get professional advice. Another post on this site, located here, explains Foreclosure. Educate yourself by reading it carefully. Then, it is important that you talk to an attorney, if you can afford one. You should also talk to a Reverse Mortgage Professional. (Please keep in mind that although your attorney may be a wealth of information he is likely NOT an expert on Reverse Mortgages. Very few regular mortgage people even understand them! Talking to both kinds of Professionals will give you the safest course.) I recommend The Professionals on this site. They are knowledgeable and will offer assistance at no charge or obligation.

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YES!
For those with a HECM
In many cases you can get more money to use for whatever you need by refinancing your Reverse Mortgage. If you currently have a HECM (Home Equity Conversion Mortgage) refinancing it is called a “HECM to HECM”. Naturally, there will be new closing costs and a lot of technical things you will need to know to help you decide whether it is worth it to do it. We suggest you GO TO THIS WEBSITE and fill out the small amount of information requested and let a Professional gain an understanding about your situation and offer sound advice. These Professionals are a great information source for specific situations and they offer their advice without strings attached.

For those with a JUMBO Reverse Mortgage
The new higher county limits that are coming in the next few months on HECM loans will have a HUGE affect on you. You may be able to switch to a HECM loan and end up with more money in your pocket and lower your interest rate at the same time. Like the one above this can be a tricky decision with lots of pieces to the puzzle. We suggest the same in this case. GO TO THIS WEBSITE and fill out the form. A Professional will contact you and give you valuable advice at no cost or obligation to you.

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For years FHA, the Federal Housing Administration (essentially the mortgage insurance arm of HUD), has set lending limits for each county in the United States. These limits only effect Reverse Mortgages sometimes. If the Reverse Mortgage is a proprietary loan designed by a private firm they don’t apply at all. If a government-designed HECM (Home Equity Conversion Mortgage) loan is being done then the amount received by the Senior, called the “Benefit”, is a percentage of either the appraised value of the house or the County Limit, whichever is less. The amount a Senior can get is a percentage of value based on a formula derived from their age, 62 being the minimum. Many trying to understand how this works try to come up with simple ways to understand the formula, but the only way to do it right is to enter the required data into a reverse mortgage calculator. To look up your current county limit click HERE.

The new House Bill 3221, signed by President Bush on July 30, 2008, established a nationwide county limit so all counties will be the same. Industry Professionals think the new limit will be $417,000 with a provision for higher cost areas to be as high as $625.500. The old limit has ranged from $200,160 to $362,790. This is a major change, but will only affect those with home values higher than these old limits. The new higher limit will have the greatest effect on homes with values up to $500k that are in rural counties. If you are in this category this County Limit change is very important to you. We suggest you GO TO THIS SITE and fill in your basic info so a professional can consult with you about your situation. The professional can help you stay of top of the changes that will affect you specifically and how best to take advantage of these changes.

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California Senator Issues Letter About New Reverse Mortgage Loan Limits
(Please see a post elsewhere on this site to gain an understanding about FHA County Loan Limits

According to California Senator Barbara Boxer, the HECM loan limit has been increased to $625,000. Below is the 1st paragraph from the letter.

Thank you for contacting my office to express your views on Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs), reverse mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Authority (FHA). As you may know, previous legislation increased the size of the loans the FHA could offer but failed to raise the limit for HECMs. I am pleased to report that the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 – which passed Congress and was signed into law on July 30, 2008 – permanently raises the HECM loan limit to $625,000.

Entire letter from Senator Boxer

Senator Feinstein, also from California, sent out a letter that stating that $417,000 is the new HECM loan limit… great to see California’s Senators are on the same page. Bottom line, HUD has not yet made a decision.

House Bill 3221, signed by President Bush on the 30th of July, mentions both amounts. Professionals in the industry assume that $417k will be the nationwide county limit, but there will be an allowance for higher priced areas to be as high as $625,500. Everyone is still waiting for HUD’s attorneys to interpret the law and announce the effective date of the new loan limit. In the meantime we all wait.

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