New Daily Post: Current News, Notes and Shorts!

Hi Everyone:

Today I'm starting a new page called "Current News, Notes and Shorts!" to keep you up to date on informational items that don't qualify for a whole page on their own. I will still be posting a larger story or item, too. So, don't forget to check it out.

Reverse Mortgage Counseling

The date is drawing near (October 1, 2008) when the new limits on Reverse Mortgages will be raised to a minimum cap of $417,000 nationwide (and perhaps all the way to $625,000 in high-cost areas soon thereafter) Demand will for the new loan will be dramatically increasing; people will want their money before the Christmas Holidays. Now is the time to do your mandatory counseling, before Counselors are overwhelmed with requests. The "golden counseling certificate" (which must be done before we can open title or order the appraisal) is good for 180 days so you don't have to worry about it expiring.

I can arrange for you or your parents to be counseled by a FHA/HUD approved company. Depending on the agency there may be a charge to you, by the counseling agency of $125.oo, and you will have to give the counselor your credit card information. This is not a Lender charge; in cases of extreme hardship, this fee may be added to, or reimbursed at the time of settlement.

Australia

One thing that keeps occuring in warnings to people about Reverse Mortgages is the complaint that people have to deed their house to the bank, and the bank then pays them monthly payments for as long as they live in the house. And, that means they lose their property and any control over it.

Guess what I saw in an article in the "The National Business Review" of Australia. One sentence in the report said: "Reverse mortgages are mostly taken up by pensioners who give title to all, or part, of their home in exchange for instalment payments of cash. The money is recovered from a pensioner's estate upon death." So please understand that in the USA, when people get a FHA Reverse Mortgage, they NEVER deed the property to the bank; they ALWAYS keep the title, and have the power to exercise all their property rights.

Maybe that's where some of the confusion is coming from? You think?

PHOENIX, AZ

Phoenix Business Journal (9-2-08) is reporting that Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard is concerned that some of the less reputable mortgage brokers who were part of the adjustable-rate and subprime loan mess are migrating to the reverse mortgage business. "Because of their complexity, I believe reverse mortgages are the next area where fraud artists can get the advantage on people," he said. "I think it is already starting to happen."

Goddard said the Attorney General’s Office is currently looking into several reverse mortgage operations and will prosecute if fraud is uncovered, though he acknowledged that fraud cases often are difficult to prosecute when consumers sign off on mortgage documents and disclosures.

As I've said many times on this website: CHECK OUT YOUR REVERSE MORTGAGE LENDER AND THEIR REPRESENTATIVE; DON'T SIGN ANYTHING YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND.


(Don't forget to look at today's feature on Borrowing Against 401K's - Good? Bad?
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