Reverse Mortgage Education Week Help spread positive messages about the versatility of using home equity as a retirement planning tool to your colleagues in related businesses.

During the week of April 18, NRMLA will host a series of online educational sessions to teach Realtors, health care workers, financial advisors and other professionals how reverse mortgages work and how they can help meet their clients’ financial needs.

At any time, professionals and service providers who work with seniors could be asked, “What is a reverse mortgage? Should I get one?”

Education Week is about helping them respond with good information about how a HECM works and how it can help. NRMLA is working with the Mortgage Bankers Association, the American Society on Aging and the National Association of Realtors to reach their members, and interested guests, with educational content emphasizing the features, responsibilities and consumer protections of HECM loans. Speakers will also discuss the spectrum of ways seniors can use reverse mortgages to pay for in-home care, defer Social Security, make retirement savings last, protect investments from market volatility, do home modifications to age in place, pay off credit card debt, buy a new home, or any number of reasons a senior may consider tapping home equity to meet their needs.

NRMLA is also hosting a special webinar on Friday, April 22, at 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time that will be free and open to all professionals who work with seniors. The online educational event, “Meeting Your Clients’ Needs with a Reverse Mortgage,” will feature an overview of the product and discussions on how seniors can use a HECM loan to manage the costs of aging, enhance a financial plan and purchase a new home.

You can be a part of NRMLA Education Week by encouraging the professionals in your network to register for one of the sessions listed on the event calendar. Contact Jenny Werwa, NRMLA’s director of public relations, at [email protected] with questions about Reverse Mortgage Education Week.

Borrower Outcomes Study Confirms HECM Fulfills Intent A new study of HECM borrowers shows that homeowners who got reverse mortgages were generally current on property taxes, had a higher overall sense of well-being and were satisfied with their decision.

The key findings come from “Aging in Place: Analyzing the Use of Reverse Mortgages,” a comprehensive research effort led by Dr. Stephanie Moulton, a professor at The Ohio State University’s John Glenn School of Public Affairs. A first look at study outcomes is published in the March-April issue of Reverse Mortgage magazine.

The outcomes, both data-supported and anecdotal, confirm that the HECM program has fulfilled its intent and improved the lives of utilizers. Read the complete article and link to the study at nrmlaonline.org.

In the Press:

• “Reverse Mortgages Get a Makeover,” published in the April issue of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine, explains how with lower costs and less risk, reverse mortgage loans can be a flexible source of retirement income.
• “Take your pick: Reverse mortgage, HELOC or cash-out mortgage?”, published on bankrate.com, features senior living adviser Dr. Don Taylor, who compares the pros and cons of reverse mortgages with other funding options, including home equity lines of credit and cash-out conventional mortgages, for a couple in their late 60s struggling to make ends meet.
• “7 Moves for Retirees to Survive a Market Swoon,” published on nasdaq.com, summarizes different strategies to help retirees and near-retirees recover from recent stock market losses, including a “home-equity line of credit or reverse mortgage that can provide income for living expenses while you wait for stocks to recover.”
• “3 Ways You Can Get More Money in Retirement,” published by The Motley Fool, recommends reverse mortgages as one of three options to stretch your retirement dollars further and open up new opportunities for income.
• “Reverse mortgage: After spouse’s death, can you keep home?”, published by the Houston Chronicle, explains to non-borrowing spouses how the Mortgagee Optional Election, or MOE, assignment process works.
• The Chicago Tribune published an article entitled “Have you planned to take care of your parents?”, which recommends reverse mortgages as a possible resource to help cover the cost of in-home aides and reduce the burden on family caregivers.

On the Docket:

FY 2017 Budget Highlights President Obama published his final proposed budget for HUD. Here are some highlights:

• Negative Subsidy Receipts

The $222.7 billion in loan volume projected for the entire MMI portfolio in fiscal year 2017 is expected to generate $9.1 billion in negative subsidy receipts, including $61 million in negative subsidy receipts from the HECM MMI, which are transferred to the MMI Capital Reserve account and available to cover any projected cost increases for the MMI portfolio. Negative credit subsidies represent the projected savings to the government of operating a loan guarantee program.

• Permanent Removal of HECM Cap

This proposal removes the aggregate mortgage cap in Section 255(g) of the National Housing Act, which limits the total number of HECM loans that can be insured by the FHA. The department proposes to repeal the first sentence in the act to remove the cap permanently.

• Clarification on Non-Borrower Spouse Upon Death of HECM Borrower

This proposed section revises the National Housing Act to clarify that the term “mortgagor” does not include the successors and assigns of the original borrower. In addition, it allows that the obligation to satisfy the loan is deferred until the death of the homeowner, the sale of the home or other occurrence of other events specified in regulations of the secretary. Finally, it provides for the secretary, in his sole discretion, to provide for further deferrals.

• Statement from Ginnie Mae section

Currently, FHA’s HECM program allows Ginnie Mae-qualified issuers to help underserved and elderly borrowers while tapping into a safe, secure and guaranteed capital markets solution. Ginnie Mae’s securitization and MBS is the only securitization program for reverse mortgages in the world. Ginnie Mae’s securitization of HECMs reduces costs to seniors by allowing issuers to offer loans at lower-than-market interest rates. By focusing on senior housing, Ginnie Mae is well-positioned to serve the needs of a major demographic subgroup that is predicted to increase rapidly in the coming years.

New Members NRMLA welcomes the following companies that recently became members:

Alpha Mortgage Corporation Wilmington, North Carolina (Lender member)

EverBank Boston, Massachusetts (Associate member)

Lakeland Bank Oak Ridge, New Jersey (Lender member)

OSC, a Breckenridge Company Irvine, California (Associate Member)

Silex Financial Group, Inc. Hawthorne, New Jersey (Lender Member)

New CRMPs NRMLA congratulates the following people for achieving the status of Certified Reverse Mortgage Professional:

• Judd Brown, PS Financial Services, Miami, Florida
• Kyle Buck, Affinity Mortgage, a division of Mann Mortgage, Nampa, Idaho
• Jeff Flanery, Cambria Mortgage, Eden Prairie, Minnesota
• William Nass, Gershman Mortgage, St. Louis, Missouri
• Rick Rodriguez, Proficio Mortgage Ventures, LLC, Henderson, NV
• Daniel Fullmer, Affinity Mortgage, a division of Mann Mortgage, Nampa, Idaho

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