I attended a seminar last week that I thought was a total waste of time. It was a class on how to work with buyers on short sales, and there was nothing new.
However, one of the sponsors was a large bank touting how to make sales with seniors using reverse mortgages to buy a home. I still didn't think it was a big deal. The very next day, I had one of my sellers want to see a home that was on the market, and we didn't have a contract on his home yet. He was also reluctant to lower his price, so at first I was thinking this was a total waste of time. You know the drill.
Before I showed the home, I had both husband and wife in for a consultation to try and find a solution to get him to lower the price and get his home sold so he could buy. He knew what price home he wanted to buy and was convinced he had to get that money out of the sale of his home, which I knew wasn't going to happen,
I got them on the phone with the reverse mortgage lender and by asking their ages, he determined that they could buy a home for $180,000 with only $89,000 cash. They would never have to make a payment. So instead of needing $180,000 net from the sale of their home, they now only needed $89,000. He could now reduce his price on the home he was selling, get it sold and buy the home he wanted for less than half the price. Talk about changing the playing field!
This couple lived pretty far out of town and really needed to get close in so the wife could get the medical treatment she needed. The new home would also be much easier to maintain. My waste of time seminar wasn't a waste of time anymore. I learned something completely by accident that helped me make 2 sales for a lovely couple who really needed my help.
I have been in this crazy business for almost 25 years and I am still learing new ways to get things done. These reverse mortages can solve a lot of problems and help you make sales you thought were impossible. I am not a loan officer, but I am sold on this product for some.
Does anyone else have any stories, good or bad, about reverse mortgages? It sure worked well for my clients.
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