In an effort to streamline the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage claim payment process, the Federal Housing Administration announced Monday that it has updated requirements for servicers assigning loans back to the FHA for processing.

Effective upon release, Mortgagee Letter 2018-08 gives FHA-approved servicers more alternatives when it comes to required supporting documentation for their loans that have reached 98% of their maximum claim amounts. FHA said that by “relaxing the documentation burden” during this process, the FHA can achieve more timely claims payments to the servicers.

“Streamlining the HECM claim payment process makes us more responsive to participating lenders and helps continue our effort to put the program on a more financially viable path,” FHA Commissioner Brian Montgomery said in a statement about the changes.

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To help clarify the latest changes to the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage appraisal process, the Federal Housing Authority has published new Frequently Asked Questions to help make the transition smoother.

The FAQs touch on the expected time frames, property-flipping cases, financing, and other guidance around the new appraisal rule.

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As originators determine their overarching plans in the midst of low volume and lower principal limit factors, two reverse mortgage originators have turned their sights to politics.

Paul Dilks, a reverse mortgage specialist with Investors Home Mortgage, is running as the Republican candidate for the First Congressional District of New Jersey for the U.S. House of Representatives — and Christine Jensen, the Arvada, Colo. branch manager for Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp., is running as the Republican candidate for Colorado Senate District 20.

Dilks says he is running because he feels there is too much corruption in New Jersey, and top in-office goals for him would be working with the the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Housing Authority.

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Just days after Arizona’s Sun City community announced that its residents could begin obtaining Home Equity Conversion Mortgages, more Sun City 55-and-over communities have gotten the reverse mortgage green light.

Originator Michael Thomas, a reverse mortgage specialist with V.I.P Mortgage, Inc. in Peoria, Ariz., said he received a lender alert from Reverse Mortgage Funding on Friday, announcing to its wholesale channel that more communities are deemed approved. In addition to Sun City, AZ, applications could begin being taken for Sun City West in Arizona, Sun City Anthem in Henderson, NV, and Sun City Anthem in Florence, Ariz, the letter dated October 19th states. The letter also states that Arizona’s Sun City Festival and Sun City Grand are both under review.

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As more Home Equity Conversion Mortgage borrowers are short to close since last year’s principal limit factor reductions, originators are getting creative with ways to help their clients who need to bring funds to closing.

Most commonly, borrowers find out they are short to close when their mortgage balance is still too high, they must make repairs on their home, or they must provide a life expectancy set aside to cover costs like property taxes or homeowners insurance.

In the greater Washington D.C. area, Laurie MacNaughton, a reverse mortgage consultant with Atlantic Coast Mortgage, sees many couples who have recently moved to the area as federal contractors. Because many still have relatively large forward mortgage balances, they tend to have short-to-close issues — something she says has been exacerbated since October 2017. While it is not her favorite topic to bring up to borrowers, said she has become comfortable with it.

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More than 80% of seniors want to age in place for as long as possible — and they plan to make home modifications and use the latest technology to do so.

For the survey Aging in Place or Assisted Living Facility: Where Do Retirees See Themselves Living, the Retirement Living Information Center asked 2,300 adults 50 and older about their living preferences as they age. Of the respondents, 1,819 were age 62 or older. The overwhelming majority said they want to live at home as long as possible, and 75% reported they don’t plan to leave unless health matters force them to relocate. For 30%, losing the ability to drive would make them move, said Retirement Living content manager Jonathan Trout, who oversaw the study.

“What stood out mostly was it felt like people saw assisted living as a kind of last resort,” he said. “Even with push factors, people said they would rather stay at home and have home health care or an aid instead of living in an assisted living facility. It’s surprising because its 2018 and a lot of the assisted living facilities are nice.”

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While recovery remains sluggish, Home Equity Conversion Mortgage endorsements continued to climb in August, rising 9.8% from July for a total of 3,191 loans, according to the latest data from Reverse Market Insight.

The HECM Originators report shows the gains were spread across both retail and wholesale channels, with retail up 8.2% and wholesale up 12.1%. This is the first time that both FHA and non-FHA originators experienced growth since January when the October 2017 principal limit reductions were beginning to show their effects.

“Both channels were up for the first time since the most recent round of product changes kicked in, which suggests more sustainable volume levels longer term than a more narrow recovery in just one channel or the other,” RMI president John Lunde told RMD in an email. “Obviously it’s not as good as stronger growth but I think it sets the stage for future growth and recovery.”

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