2009 will go down in history as one of the most tumultuous, unpredictable years ever in the Reverse Mortgage world.
The year started off great with the principal limits being raised at the end of 2008 and with the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program being extended to include Purchases and Co-ops in legislation passed at the end of 2008.
The HECM for purchase program was initiated quickly and we are still waiting for the HECM for Co-op program to get started. Originations started off strong and tapered off towards the end of the year.
Reverse Mortgages took a lot of hits in the media, as well as a few good pieces here and there.
The announcement that the HECM program would produce its first shortfall (by $800 million dollars) and the speech by John Dugan of the OCC that compared Reverse Mortgages to subprime loans were two of the lowest points in the year.
The absolute lowest point of the year came in October when HUD announced that they were cutting principal limits (loan amounts) by 10% and gave the originators a whole week to get their pipelines ready. This was disgraceful.
Hopefully 2010 will have less turmoil and more good news.
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