Hello, LOs!
Hope you all had a great Fourth of July! We cooked a few racks of ribs in the smoker, drank some beer, and, as usual, talked real estate. It was lovely!
And now we're back. It's only Monday (strike-thru) Tuesday and we've already got quite a bit of news.
For starters, Mr. Cooper announced that it intends to sell its reverse mortgage servicing portfolio to Texas-based Mortgage Assets Management.
MAM is acquiring a portfolio, under the banner of Champion Mortgage, with a UPB of $16 billion. Mr. Cooper said it was not a "material driver" of its business. The lender and servicer appears uninterested in hanging out in the reverse space.
It's also interesting that MAM does see a future business line with reverse servicing, even after selling off Reverse Mortgage Solutions to Ocwen (in a deal that was estimated to be around $12.4 million).
Also, you may have missed the announcement due to the holiday, but HW Media just announced the acquisition of B2B publication Reverse Mortgage Daily. This means a lot more coverage of what's happening in the reverse space.
And it is undeniably an interesting, growing space. Homeownership rates for seniors 65-plus is close to 80%. But many younger Boomers didn't receive pensions and other benefit plans like their older cohorts. For many of them, their wealth is tied up in their house. A reverse mortgage could be a great financial option for them.
Still, reverse mortgages have a reputation issue to overcome, and many LOs are unfamiliar with how to originate them. It's still not a mainstream loan product.
So that brings me to my questions, LOs: Have you seen any increased interest in reverse mortgages from your clients over the last year? What do you make of the aging-in-place theory? Do you expect the reverse mortgage to be part of your list of products? What kind of coverage would you like to see about the reverse space? Please shoot me an email at jkleimann@housingwire.com.
James Kleimann
Managing Editor, HousingWire
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