After announcing in August it would enter the proprietary reverse mortgage market, Urban Financial of America this week released additional detail around its HomeSafe jumbo reverse mortgage, now available in four states.
The HomeSafe, which UFA is rolling out this week, offers borrowers with high valued homes the opportunity to borrow up to $2.25 million in loan proceeds—compared to the maximum lump sum option under the Federal Housing Administration’s Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program of just shy of $470,000.
“Now homeowners with significant value in their homes have a reverse mortgage option that may afford them more loan proceeds, and potentially a greater amount of cash up front, than a HECM product,” said UFA President Steve McClellan in a press release. “Ultimately, HomeSafe can give borrowers an opportunity to tap into more of that property value when they need it.”
Urban shared initial information regarding the launch last month, and is this week releasing additional loan information. The minimum age for a HomeSafe loan is 62, and while borrowers can use the proceeds however they so choose, UFA notes the loan may be well suited to extinguish existing mortgage debt, making home improvements, supplementing medical and home care coverage, or purchasing a new residence.
HomeSafe does not carry a required mortgage insurance premium and is more flexible than a HECM, UFA notes, in that it offers seller concessions and lender credits in purchase transactions, and opens the option of a reverse mortgage to condo owners. Additionally, all of the loan proceeds are available upfront at closing.
“UFA has been a trusted resource for traditional HECM reverse mortgages for more than a decade,” McClellan said. “With HomeSafe, now we can meet the needs of even more consumers through a compelling and competitive proprietary reverse mortgage product.”
As of this week, the HomeSafe is available to qualifying borrowers in California, Florida, Hawaii and New Jersey; UFA plans to expand the product reach into additional states.
Urban is the first company to offer a new jumbo reverse mortgage in more than four years; the most recent jumbo introduction previously being the Generation Plus from Generation Mortgage. American Advisors Group has also stated publicly it is working on development of a jumbo product, and Generation says it may update its product in the changing marketplace.
Written by Elizabeth Ecker
