Lenders One Mortgage Cooperative announced the addition of MetLife as its newest preferred investor.  The relationship positions MetLife Home Loans Reverse Mortgage Division to purchase cooperative members’ closed reverse mortgages and fixed-rate home equity conversion mortgage (HECM) products said a company statement. 

“The reverse mortgage product is very important to seniors looking for ways to fund a comfortable retirement, as well as to our members, for whom the reverse mortgage business represents significant opportunities for growth,” said Scott Stern, CEO of Lenders One.

“Reverse mortgage lending is still a relatively untapped business channel for many lenders. We believe that MetLife’s experience in this sector of the industry will support our members’ efforts to grow their business in this market and allow an additional way for them to provide needed products in the communities they serve. We are so pleased to welcome MetLife as a preferred investor, especially because they are the top issuer of Ginnie Mae HECM mortgages in the country.”

Unlink the majority of wholesalers in the business, MetLife allows mortgage bankers to act as true correspondents by purchasing closed loans.

“With maybe 10 investors in the country buying reverse products, there are limited resources and knowledge available to lenders,” explained Michael Mooney, Wholesale and Correspondent Sales Director for MetLife Home Loans, a unit of MetLife Bank, N.A. “Partnering with Lenders One provides us a great opportunity not only to help those lenders already offering reverse mortgages, but also to help more small- to mid-sized lenders venture into this special market and support them with an appropriate level of understanding to be successful – and, above all, to help more seniors to remain comfortably in their homes.” 

MetLife has seen its wholesale business skyrocket this year, seeing volume of 5,738 through August, up from 775 in 2008 according to HUD data.