A lot has happened in the past week. Presidential election results aside, it was also a busy week for reverse mortgages, complete with a major industry milestone, a story on what’s happening with appraisal delays, and what the recent President-Elect might have in store for mortgage regulations.
Here are the most popular reverse mortgage news stories that captured the attention of RMD readers in the last week:
Reverse Mortgage Lenders Face Long Appraisal Delays in ‘Pain Point’ States—Appraisal delays are stalling real estate market activity nationwide, but slow turn times in some states are dragging out the loan origination process for reverse mortgage lenders by an extra month, at the very least.
Walter Investment Weighs Reverse Mortgage Opportunities as Losses Widen—Walter Investment Management Corp. (NYSE: WAC) saw its reverse mortgage losses grow during the third quarter of 2016 as the company continues to explore strategic opportunities for this business segment amid recent changes to its leadership and operational structure.
Lower Costs, Price Transparency Key to Higher Reverse Mortgage Take-Up—It’s no secret that the penetration rate is abysmally low for retired homeowners who could potentially benefit from getting reverse mortgages. But new research suggests that improvements to loan costs and the market’s lack of price transparency could increase take-up rates for reverse mortgages.
Trump Presidency Means Big Changes for CFPB’s Reign in Mortgage Industry—While it is unclear what policies Trump plans to tackle related to housing and mortgage finance, experts agree that significant changes likely will come to regulations long contested by Republican lawmakers, particularly when it comes to rules on banking and financial services administered by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
One Million Reverse Mortgages Later, Industry Leaders Look to the Future—The reverse mortgage industry reached a milestone last month as the number of Home Equity Conversion mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration surpassed one million loans for the first time since the birth of the HECM program 27 years ago.
Written by Jason Oliva
