My problem with Reverse Mortgages (prop 7)

When I was in the title insurance industry in the Wash, DC are, reverse mortgages were a fairly new thing in that area. At the time I thought it was a new concept.

It seemed like a good idea then - a way for teh elderly to actually use the equity in their homes. - To live on , I mean. The bank would not have access to the property until either the morgtgagee died or the property was sold.

As I said, it sounded like a good concept. at least.

Call me cynical, but my general rule of thumb is that there is no good concept that can't be twisted, contorted, and generally screwed around into something self serving and laden with greed and corruption by marketers for lending institutions.

Banks are now pushing this and are eager to get into the Texas market, which has been closed to them thus far. You can bet it has nothing to do with how they can provide a service, it has to do with one thing only: GREED!

I voted NO on every one of those stinking amendments. If the Texas Legislature is for it, I'm agin' it :)

I was concerned it would somehow be exploited to screw the consumer at the benefit of the banks.

Glad to know I wasn't alone on that one. :hi:

Reverse Mortgages, on the face of it, sound like a good thing. But after reading the proposition, I really had some serious concerns about how this thing might be twisted around and used against us..

absolutely HATED bankers & the banking industry. they grew up during the depression, & came by their distrust of bankers that way. anything bankers want automatically gets a :thumbsdown: from me.

dg

that type of philosophy bred republicans? Oh well, glad you turned out OK

and all texans in general had a wide distrust of large corporations. the values my parents raised me with are now more in line with the democratic party.

dg

but they were Democrats. Actually, my mom was from Mississippi and came here after marrying my dad.

It's what MY family is experiencing in another state that allows reverse mortgage....if there are adult children who are good at manipulating an elderly parent the reverse mortgage deal could easily have these "children" convincing the parent to use the reverse mortgage as a way to give the not-so-nice offspring cash....so by the time the parent dies and it comes time for the house to be sold and the profit split among ALL the offspring, imagine the surprise for the NON-manipulative offspring when they find out that there is a reverse mortgage loan that has to be settled, and their "share" of the house has already been given to the manipulative siblings in cash over a period of time while the parent was still alive.

It has not officially happened with us yet but it is on the verge of it. But given the manipulative sibling involved, it may have already happened and we just don't know it yet.

Knowing a little bit (from the 90's) about the Mortgage Finance companies in Texas, I can see opportunity for abuse from both family and the Finance companies. It's pretty easy to legally "find yourself in default" on a Mortgage Loan for a minor infraction. An unscrupulous banker may just want to foreclose on Grandma's house rather than give her a chance to get caught up.

When I first read about them, I couldn't wrap my mind aroudn why anyone would want to have one, its so twisted. Frankly, i think this push for reverse mortages is out there using the elderly as an excuse sop they can ensnare poor non-elderly people.

Its just financially wrong, so are no-interest loans... I worked in mortgage and frankly if I were a loan officer, I would be very uncomfortable to put ANYONE in either. I just couldn't do it.

I think that the elderly already have the option of selling and living in a cheaper home, which is so much more financially sound of a decision than reverse mortgages.

it was the only one that gave MORE liberty to the citizens of the state. The rest of them were doing just the opposite.