Michael Pinter's Reverse Mortgage Blog

As expenses for food, fuel, heat and other necessities have risen and the income of the elderly has not, Reverse Mortgages have shown to be an excellent way for many people to use the equity in their homes to make ends meet and not have to pay it back until they no longer live in there.

As expenses (e.g. gas, heat, food) rise and the elderly's fixed income does not, Reverse Mortgages are the best options for millions of people who cannoty make ends meet and cannot qualify for a regular "forward" mortgage. I speak to dozens of people each week in the same perdicament. Unfortunate...

We are in a big mess. Fixing it will take months or years. What the stock market does in the short term has no bearing on whether the Fed is "doing enough" or whether the measures "are working" or not. This thinking is beyond ridiculous.

In the past two days, I can't tell you how many times I heard something like: "It appears the bailout has not done enough" or "What else can the Fed do?" Does anybody undertsand that whatever the government is doing to help the economy does not take hours, days or even weeks? It takes months and ...

The Fed and several other national banks of other countries just cut rates. It is not a bad idea and it is part of their job to cut rates to help the econmy, but once again: The only way for the mess to end is to let it hit bottom. I still don't understand how government officials can think that ...

The unfortunate reality is that the Federal bailout, which may have been necessary for other reasons, will not stop the housing market from continuing its decent. The same goes for the stock market, the oil market, the currency market  or any other market. Markets (in a capitalist democracy, like...

Most Reverse Mortgage Loan officers in high-cost areas like California and New York are as upset as I am over the new limits being raised from $362,790 to $417,000. If you live in a low-cost area where the limit was $200,160, you are now very happy that your limit doubled, but for us, this is a m...

I just received notice that HUD announced the new limits. To say that I am dissapointed is an understatement. The new limit is $417,000. That is an absurdly small increase here in New York where the limit was already $362,790. I have to start calling everyone who was waiting for the news. They ta...

We were all hoping that we would know how exactly the Housing & Economic Recovery Act (HERA) that passed on July 30th woul be interpreted by HUD. Specifically, what the new FHA limits would be for Reverse Mortgages and when they would be put into effect. October 1 was rumored to be the date when ...