REMALO, one of the first reverse mortgage membership sites is closing its doors at the end of March.
The site was founded by Sam Collins in 2009 and went through a few different phases. The site originally started as a Reverse Mortgage Association for Loan Officers but changed direction later that year to become a community driven membership site. According to Collins, the site grew substantially over the years but admits it has fallen recently as a result of Wells Fargo and Bank of America exiting the business.
“There are roughly 700* members [right now],” said Collins during an interview with RMD. “There used to be a lot more than that and people can still sign up now, but I’ll probably shut it down for good at the end of the month.”
The decision to shut down the site didn’t come easy to Collins, but it was taking up more and more time.
“[Running] REMALO is very time consuming and I need to put my efforts towards my other business,” he said.
Collins said he will continue to originate reverse mortgages through Delaware Financial Capital Corp., a firm he owns.
“There is still plenty of opportunity for people in reverse mortgages,” and at the end of the day, “I love the industry.”
Editor’s note: A previous of this version stated incorrectly that there were 70 members of REMALO currently. The actual number is roughly 700. RMD regrets the error.
