Reverse Mortgages and Grey Divorce with Laura Phillips

Keeping the house after divorce can feel like the last thread of stability, but the numbers do not always cooperate. If you are over 60 and facing a gray divorce, you might be sitting on substantial home equity while struggling to come up with the cash needed for a buyout, repairs, or everyday income. We wanted a real, practical conversation about one of the most misunderstood tools in divorce financial planning: the reverse mortgage.

We’re joined by Laura Phillips, a reverse mortgage specialist, to break down what a reverse mortgage actually is, how an FHA HECM works, and why “no monthly mortgage payment required” can be a game changer for retirees who would never qualify for a traditional refinance. We walk through an easy-to-follow example of using a reverse mortgage to pay a spouse and set up a growing line of credit for future needs. We also cover who qualifies, why age affects how much equity you can access, and when a proprietary jumbo reverse mortgage may be worth comparing for higher-value homes.

Then we get honest about the concerns. Reverse mortgages can be expensive, and negative amortization is real, but so are the protections: mortgage insurance, non-recourse rules if the market drops, and updated spouse and partner safeguards that prevent the horror stories many families remember. We also spell out the rules that matter most, like paying property taxes, keeping the home as your primary residence, and staying on top of annual occupancy certifications, plus what happens if assisted living becomes part of the plan.

If you’re trying to decide whether staying put is realistic, listen, take notes, and share this with someone who’s house rich and cash poor. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: what would you need to feel confident using your home equity?

• To reach out to Laura Phillips, https://calendly.com/laura-559/informational-consultation?month=2026-07

Visit us at Roessler Divorce Consulting to learn more about Jacki's practice and to find valuable resources for your case or to schedule a free 30-minute initial consultation.

Center for Financial Planning

The Divorce Rich podcast is proudly sponsored by Center for Financial Planning: Striving to Improve Lives through Financial Planning Done Right! https://www.centerfinplan.com/

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Divorce Attorneys for Women: Michigan's Original Divorce Attorneys for Michigan.  DAWN - Michigan's Original Divorce Attorneys for Women

Transcript

Welcome And What Rich Means

SPEAKER_02 0:05

Welcome to the Divorce Rich Podcast. I'm your host, Jackie Ressler, and I've been a certified divorce financial analyst for 28 years, helping clients and their attorneys navigate the financial issues in divorce. If you are in the process of or considering divorce, now is the time for you to take a deep breath and give yourself permission to find clarity on the financial decisions that you're facing. The definition of rich is many fold. The best definition that I found is someone who has access to many resources. Along with my guest on this podcast, I am going to make sure that you have access to all the resources you need to make good decisions for yourself.

Sponsor Center For Financial Planning

SPEAKER_02 1:12

That's why I want to tell you about the independent wealth management team at the Center for Financial Planning. Their team of certified financial planners specializes in helping people just like you navigate life changes with confidence. Whether it's assessing your new financial circumstances, creating or updating your retirement plan, or helping you adjust to the new normal, they'll work with you to get a clear, customized plan to feel in control and move forward with confidence. So if you're interested in working with a financial planner, you can trust to have your best interest in mind. And you're ready to take the next step. Visit centerfinplan.com at centerfinplan.com and schedule a conversation. Center for Financial Planning.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

Live your plan. Disclosure. Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services Inc., member FENRA, SIPC. Investment Advisory Services offered through Center for Financial Planning Inc. Center for Financial Planning Inc. is not a registered broker dealer and is independent of Raymond James Financial Services. Center for Financial Planning was a sponsor of the Divorce Rich Podcast. The Center for Financial Planning and Raymond James are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Divorce Rich Podcast.

Gray Divorce And Keeping The House

SPEAKER_02 2:38

Hi everyone and welcome back to the Divorce Rich Podcast. This is Jackie Ressler, and we have an exciting topic today. We have a topic that comes up in a lot of gray divorces that I work on in my own personal practice. And I know that other CDFAs around the country run across this issue as well when people have our house rich, cash poor, and one person really wants to stay in the house, and it is a gray divorce scenario. So someone who is, you know, over the age of 60 or in that within that range. Um and so our guest today is Laura Phillips. And Laura specializes in reverse mortgages and also in helping people understand what they have available to them to use as far as equity in their house, how they can make the equity in their house work for them. So welcome, Laura. Hi, thanks so much for having me on board, Jackie. I am so glad to have you here. And we are going to bust a lot of myths about reverse mortgages.

Reverse Mortgage Defined Simply

SPEAKER_02 3:39

So, first of all, but can you tell us just like a basic definition of what a reverse mortgage is?

SPEAKER_03 3:46

Absolutely. It is a mortgage. We're going to start out with that. Reverse mortgage is 100% a mortgage. What it allows you to do is somebody that is over 62, which is a regular FHA HECAM reverse mortgage, can access a certain amount of equity and not be required to pay it back. I think that's the biggest piece with a reverse mortgage, is it does not require a payment. However, if you want to make a payment or you win the lottery and like to pay it down some, absolutely the bank is going to be happy to take that money.

Buyout Example And Line Of Credit

SPEAKER_02 4:21

Okay, so for for let's just using simple numbers. Let's say that someone has a house that has um it's fully paid off. They have a, they think the fair market value of their house is around a half a million dollars. What does a reverse mortgage look like? You said that that they can take out a reverse mortgage and not have a payment. So practically speaking, what would that look like?

SPEAKER_03 4:44

Oh, this is a great one. Um so reverse mortgages use, I c I call them three gears, and they all turn together to actually figure out how much equity you can access at any particular point. So somebody who's 62 would only be allowed to probably access maybe 40% of their equity. Somebody who's 75, 80, um, all the way up to 90, I've had a couple 90-year-olds here recently. Oh, they I know they can access more like 70% of their equity. Hoping that number is accurate. So um, if you remember your old logarithm tables from high school, and you flip to the back and there was a a chart and you went down and over, and that was the number you were supposed to use. That is, in essence, how we work with reverse mortgages. I can't pull it out of the top of my head or pull out my don't know, or pull out my trusty HP 12, but I can give you a range. Um, I love my HP 12. I do too. I you know, I I'm probably on my fourth edition and I I won't use anything else, but it I I know it online.

SPEAKER_02 5:49

I found a version online that I can use.

SPEAKER_03 5:52

I have it on my phone, but the buttons are really tiny.

SPEAKER_02 5:55

Yeah, right. Because it's it's portrait, right, instead of landscape. Absolutely. So let's say that okay, they someone is 62 and they have 500,000 equity in their house. They want to take out, let's say they need to pay their spouse out. They're getting divorced, they need to pay their spouse a share. And their spouse says, Well, I need to have $100,000 at least in cash. What would that look like for the person staying in the house? They take the $100,000 loan. And then what does that do to the what does that look like in their long-term picture? They don't have a payment on it, they they don't have to make a payment.

SPEAKER_03 6:31

Correct. And and what's happening is you're actually using your equity sooner than later. So the reverse mortgage does continue to grow in its balance. Um, there's a term called negative amateurization, and that usually causes everybody to run out the door. It is a scary term, and but if you know understand what it's doing and how it's helping you access your equity when maybe you aren't able to fully make that mortgage payment at the at your age of 62 years old, then it's absolutely not a problem. It might mean that your children get a little less in the end, but it's still going to allow a lot of flexibility. So that person who's 62 years old and has a $500,000 house might be able to access $200,000. So they would get $100,000 to give to their soon-to-be spouse ex-spouse. And the other $100,000 could go into a line of credit. And that would be allowed to grow each year. And it grows in the amount of how much more money is in that pocket, in that bucket called the line of credit bucket. And that's going to allow them next year to have a little bit more money next year if they need it to make a repair on the home or whatever incidentals that are coming up for them.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

Okay. And they don't have to make a payment on it. Correct.

SPEAKER_03 7:52

They do not have to make a payment. Absolutely. Do not have to make a payment.

Who Qualifies Plus Jumbo Options

SPEAKER_02 7:56

What who is eligible for a reverse mortgage? I think that you kind of alluded to it a few minutes ago, but who would be eligible?

SPEAKER_03 8:04

Absolutely. You have to be a homeowner. You can't uh you can't be a renter. You gotta own the home. Right. Number two, you should have at least 50% equity in your property. It doesn't have to be free and clear, by the way. A lot of people think that's the case, but it doesn't have to be free and clear. It needs to be your primary home. So we can't do a reverse mortgage on a second home, um, things of that sort, or a rental. That has to be your primary home. Other than that, um, the age group is 62. Now, if you have a house that's over a million dollars, and in some areas of the country, now that is definitely a reality. Um then we have what we call, I call it a jumbo. Um it's a proprietary reverse mortgage. Um it addresses those home values that go up to $4 million or higher, or actually the loan amount goes up to $4 million or higher. So obviously the house can be worth more than that. That particular age is $55.

SPEAKER_02 9:02

Oh, really? Okay. Yeah, yeah. So what is the threshold for that? Is the the lower threshold for a jumbo reverse?

SPEAKER_03 9:10

The jumbo loan is $55 for the age group. It's lower. It is a proprietary loan. So um California, we love California. They own so many new products are developed in California mostly because of the values of the home, just exceeding what's going on in the rest of the country. So this product was developed about five-ish years ago, and it's been slowly rolled out. It's almost in every state now and in these states.

SPEAKER_02 9:37

Um for homes over a million?

SPEAKER_03 9:40

Yeah, that's where the numbers work. Those, you know, at that point, when if you have a house at $1 million uh and you were working with me, I would look at a regular FHA HECM, uh, which does sound like you're coughing something up, but it stands for home equity mortgage conversion. Um, or we would look also at the proprietary, the jumbo loan, and just see which one fits the needs better. You hit $2 million enough, uh obviously that is your best product.

SPEAKER_02 10:08

Okay.

Myths And Newer Spouse Protections

SPEAKER_02 10:09

And let me ask you, Beth. So I know reverse mortgages have been around for a long time and they get a really bad rap. So what are you what are the biggest myths that you hear people people think about a reverse mortgage and you know, what are the protections that have been put in place recently to try and help safeguard that as a product for consumers?

SPEAKER_03 10:32

Absolutely. If you tell somebody that you're gonna get a reverse mortgage, chances are you're gonna hear, oh, don't do that. They're really bad. And there's a lot of misconceptions and myths about it. Um and they're those were earned. I'm not, I'm not gonna lie, those were earned. The product came out during the Reagan era, and there wasn't always, I call it a lot of thought involved um in in the development of it.

SPEAKER_02 10:57

Is it the Reagan era? During the Reagan era? Oh my goodness. Wow. It's been okay.

SPEAKER_03 11:02

Yeah, they've been around for quite a while. Um, but they didn't think about putting the spouse on. In that time period, mostly it was just the men on the loan. Oh, okay. Or the male. Let's put it that way, the male on the loan. Um, so you would hear, well, my my grandmother or my great-grandmother was on the street, you know, and and kicked out of the house. Well, that was because sh she wasn't on the loan. So one of the protections now going forward is that we look at both spouses and we both partners. And it doesn't have to be a married partner. We can have um, you know, we're very uh liberal in that sense of creative enough of how we how we live with each other these days. So we look at the youngest person and and we base all of our numbers off the youngest person um going forward. So that person is protected on the reverse mortgage. I mean, that's a big one. The bank isn't gonna kick grandma out to the street any longer. Um, I see.

SPEAKER_02 11:59

So if you have someone who where there's a big age difference between the couple, they go on the youngest person's. They do.

SPEAKER_03 12:06

Now, if that person's less than 62 years old, we want to make sure that that they understand one, that that both parties understand that the where the money is, why it's been reduced, how much is less because of doing the loan, um, and basing on the younger age, and what protections are left for that party who is the youngest person. So it it's a a little bit more um in-depth protection on that party, but definitely the protections are out there.

SPEAKER_02 12:33

What

Alternatives And Asset Based Underwriting

SPEAKER_02 12:34

are some other options for people? So if somebody comes to you and I mean, are there other alternatives that they can consider alongside reverse mortgage?

SPEAKER_03 12:43

Absolutely. You can always do a regular mortgage. Um you have to make the payments, you have to qualify and make sure that you qualify to be actually able to do the payments. Um, there's an advantage to a reverse mortgage not asking for that. Um, you can do a home equity line of credit. That's another option, but again, that requires payments. And both of those two loans that I know of require qualifications. Like we want to make sure there's enough income coming in and there's assets. The reverse mortgage is an asset-based loan, which means we it's looking at the house and the value of the home. We do pull a credit report, we want to see what's going on, but we're not really diving as deep into your personal finances as you would see if you did a regular loan. So, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:31

So for people that are retired, that their income might be Social Security and distributions from IRAs, they there isn't that strict guideline, uh underwriting guideline that they would have with a regular loan. Okay.

Costs, Mortgage Insurance, Interest Rates

SPEAKER_02 13:46

What is the cost of a loan like that compared? What is the is a reverse mortgage more expensive, the same cost? Um if you were if someone were to compare costs for a regular loan, a conventional loan, and a reverse mortgage?

SPEAKER_03 14:02

That's an elephant in the room. And and I definitely talk about they are expensive loans. They're not made to be short-term loans. Uh they may not be the last loan you ever do, but you're certainly not going to say chase interest rates down and refinance every year because the rate's going down. They do cost. And it's because it has an FHA mortgage insurance. So the standard FHA Heckham loan, which is somebody who's 62 years old, does have a mortgage insurance on that. And that mortgage insurance is used to protect the borrower and their heirs should the house ever become worth less than the loan, that there's no recourse coming back to them to pay the balance or the difference. So it's considered a non-recourse loan because of that.

Non Recourse Protection In A Crash

SPEAKER_02 14:49

So can you give me an example of what that would look like? So if how should if somebody is worried that they take out a loan for $200,000 and then the housing market crashes. Right. So what you're saying in that scenario, what would that look like for someone with a reverse mortgage?

SPEAKER_03 15:06

Okay. Um Well, I'd say I'll just do the math in my head here.

SPEAKER_02 15:12

So if the house is up, if the if the mortgage is more than the house is worth.

SPEAKER_03 15:16

Correct. The mortgage is more than the house is worth. And you, the uh the the owner and the borrower of the loan no longer want to live there. Maybe you'd like to move closer to somewhere else, closer to family or or or better climate. You know, it's really hot here in Colorado right now. You might want to go somewhere cooler.

SPEAKER_02 15:35

So you know, then it's hot here in Michigan too.

SPEAKER_03 15:40

Oh yeah, my brother said that. So you could actually just say, I want to move because it's no longer going to be my primary med residence. The house is worth less than the loan, and I'm just gonna, in essence, give you the keys back to the quote, you know, the lender, the bank, and there's no recourse. They're not gonna come after you. You remember how we had the the collapse of the mortgage industry and so many people were hit with extra extra money that they didn't know that or didn't think they were gonna owe. That's not gonna happen with a reverse

Default Triggers Taxes And Primary Home

SPEAKER_03 16:13

mortgage.

SPEAKER_02 16:13

And that's in any scenario where somebody would get kicked out of their home.

SPEAKER_03 16:17

No, well, there are two scenarios that I can think of of how that you would be kicked out of your home. And these are actually the guidelines and rules for having a reverse. It's got to be your primary home. If you decide to go live somewhere else and make your primary home the rental as a reverse, that is a default, and you're not gonna be kicked out, but it would be a call on the loan. If you don't pay your taxes, then you know, taxes are a big deal. Uh they're property taxes, then that's gonna cause another problem and could potentially, hopefully the lender and you can work something out and be able to make that work, but but potentially you could lose the home to taxes and tax liens.

Assisted Living And Selling The Home

SPEAKER_02 16:57

So just thinking this, thinking it through, what um if someone, let's say someone is in their house, it's their primary residence, and then they have to go into assisted housing. What does the family do with the family home that had that has the reverse mortgage on it?

SPEAKER_03 17:16

Well, the family, I mean, I can't say enough what what with whatever low you have to be in contact with your servicer, with your mortgage company. When things like this come up, it it it just it makes life so much easier. So you the the family would be in contact with the servicer and say that the the uh owner of the home has gone into assisted living and either there's money left between the house and the mortgage, or there's not, and that those heirs would be able to, and they're not really heirs, but the the family would help mom or dad be able to navigate handing the house back over, particularly if there's no more money left in the home. Now, if there is money left in the home and and the party is now in assisted living, I would I would assume the family is going to consider selling at that point. Right. They would have the legal capacity to sell the home. Then what would happen is the home is sold either to themselves, um, you know, the or uh, you know, they could buy it themselves or they put it on the market. After that, they would do a typical payoff like any other loan that's out there. The money left over would come back to the party that that the loan is in, but then they would have, I assume, again, the legal capacity to work with those funds at that point. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 18:35

But they also should do some pretty thorough estate planning when there's a report.

SPEAKER_03 18:39

It would help to have estate planning, you bet. Um, or trusts, you know. I just finished a trust uh recently. Um so those things absolutely help in that. Again, I'm not uh I'm not an attorney at all, and know enough to be dangerous, as I say, in understanding the situation. But absolutely it does help. But you know, a lot of people don't have that, and they're and they're actually a little bit afraid of it. It still can work. It's still, it's just again, communication. Make sure that you're talking to the service or in the lender and letting them know what's going on. These are not unusual requests that these that the services are hearing. They to start out with, they understand they're working with an aging population. Right.

Why People Fear Reverse Mortgages

SPEAKER_02 19:20

So they're what do you think is the reason why so many people are afraid to get so I mean, I have family members that I think a reverse mortgage would be a really good option for that are still in their home, you know, they're 80 plus and they they need more income, but they're really afraid to pull the trigger on a reverse mortgage to and you know to turn that equity into an income stream for themselves. What do you tell people that are really afraid about that?

SPEAKER_03 19:48

Oh, that's a hard one because I think a lot of it is personal belief. I think it's how you were raised, never have a mortgage. I mean, I I could think people in their 80s might have had parents that had grandparents that went through the depression and lost their homes. And so I think there's a lot of demographic in that, and that, in that uh upbringing, that you know, just pay it off as quickly as possible. We don't want to have a lean over our head. We want the house free and clear. And so it's really hard to kind of come to that decision. I think there might be some like shame, like I I had to get a reverse mortgage because somehow I wasn't able to provide for myself. To start out with, we live a lot longer than we can ever provide for ourselves. And I don't, I just can't even imagine how we could save that much money, what it would really take. Um, and it's a tool. It's a tool that helps you stay in the home and live out the rest of your life comfortably.

Loan Timeline And Annual Occupancy Check

SPEAKER_03 20:49

Right.

SPEAKER_02 20:49

Are there any are there any rules about how long a reverse mortgage needs needs to stay in place? Um so like if someone is concerned about, well, if I get it now, and then I do have to go into assisted living, how does that impact?

SPEAKER_03 21:04

It does impact. So the younger you have it, the chances of, I'm not gonna lie, the younger you get it, if you're 62 years old and you live to be 80 or 90 at this point in your life, you know, a lot of us are living closer to our 90s. The chances are the home may be upside down. It may have less value than the loan. Um, and so that's a consideration when you're looking at it. What are your needs? What do you want the house to do? Are you gonna try to give it to your kids? Um, or do you not have any children and you don't care? You know, I mean, those are are those are conversations we have all I have all the time with my clients. So the loan is calculated out for 30 years. Um, but my 90 year old that I just did this week, his loan was calculated for 10 years. So I guess ultimately we're looking at somewhere around a hundred years old.

SPEAKER_02 21:51

Um if he lives longer, he just he stays in the right. And so even if someone has a loan for 30 years. And there isn't any equity, they're not going to get kicked out of the house. They're just not going to have an asset to lead to their neirs.

SPEAKER_03 22:06

Right. They still need to say every year that they're living in the home and it's your primary home. Um, I love that that we're in a computer age with a generation that's not 100% a computer age generation. So if they send you an email, I I in fact I'm meeting another client later this week because he doesn't quite understand what they're asking on the computer. So I'm just gonna set meet him at his house and we're just gonna go through the forum together. They they can mail it to you also. So every year you're gonna get this notice and says, hello, we're your mortgage company. Um, you know, we have your reverse mortgage. Do you still live in the home?

SPEAKER_02 22:42

And so if people say that they, if they say they don't live in the home, then is that or they don't respond to that, then that's a trigger.

SPEAKER_03 22:49

And and everybody's gonna go, oh, like red flags and sirens are gonna go off at the mortgage company, and they're gonna say, Well, we need to talk to you about what's going on. Are you temporarily in rehab and you're just not living there today? Because people misunderstand questions and they could say, No, I'm not living there right now, but that's not the reality. Maybe they are just in rehab because it got uh a hip replacement. Um and you know, so that's again, that's that conversation. It's so critical. Um, it's so critical with all loans, but probably very, very critical with these loans.

Why The Loan Is Expensive

SPEAKER_02 23:24

So when you mentioned that the the a reverse mortgage is more uh expensive, yeah. Is that because there are costs built into it? Like so you said there's an insurance piece that has to be paid. Um doesn't I mean as far as it the the expense of that, the interest rate is higher?

SPEAKER_03 23:42

Is that interest rate on the FHA ones, the the HUD product ones, are pretty much part of what you'll see if you were to go out and get an FHA loan or even a conventional loan for that matter. Those rates are pretty much the same from day to day. So uh what's the most expensive piece is the mortgage insurance. You're still gonna have title commitments, you're still gonna have an appraisal, um, you're still gonna have closing costs. Those closing costs are pretty much standard across all loans. I I mean I've been in the lending business for 30 plus years, and they're the same. You know, they don't go up and down. But what costs the most in a reverse mortgage is that mortgage insurance. Now, on the loan that's the proprietary loan, the jumbo loan, it doesn't have mortgage insurance on it. And how they work around that is the interest rate is higher. So it's a trade-off. So yes, and so in essence, they are expensive loans. Um, I had one financial advisor that wanted to really do a short-term loan for his client to just kind of help him get over a bump, a financial bump. And he and he looked at me and said, This is expensive money. And I went, Yes, because it's not designed to be a short-term fix. You know, a short-term fix, right? Right, it's not a short-term fix.

Kitchen Table Planning With A Specialist

SPEAKER_02 24:59

Correct. Okay. Well, it sounds like you do a lot of work with people on the intake when they are looking at this as an option and really explaining to them all of the pros and the cons and all of the different things to look at. Is that a big is that a big part of your job? Is it when you are working with people?

SPEAKER_03 25:19

For me, absolutely. Uh I'm a uh a boutique shop, I shop being a lender. Uh I uh I have a processor. Uh, we all work remotely. So I I might see my processor in person once a year. She is here in Colorado. Um I I do meet with all of my clients in person. Um I like to do that and sit down, literally, as I call it a kitchen table conversation. Let's talk about what your needs are. What do you want to do? You know, why did you call to find out about a reverse mortgage? Because that was the big trigger point was for them to pick up a phone or reach out via email and say, I want to know more. And then kind of go from there. And then we'll look at some proposed numbers. They aren't the numbers in concrete, but they're like, here's some options. Let's see. What does this work? Does that work? Can we make it a combination to work for your needs and move from there? Um so yes, that I am very hands-on.

SPEAKER_02 26:16

Okay. Yeah, I mean, I would think that you really have to

Required Third Party Counseling Explained

SPEAKER_02 26:19

be. And I there is some counseling, right, that people have to go through in order to get approved. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_03 26:26

There is. There's counseling for both the proprietary loans and for the regular Heckham loans. Um, and it is done by a third party. Most counseling is either through an organization that offers third party counseling or it's done through your county. Um, what my county offers uh homeowners counseling. So you could go and do that. It is an out-of-pocket charge. I can't help support that or put it as part of the closing costs because it might be considered that I was, quote, steering, unquote. And I I'm not going to do any steering. That's not that's not who I am.

SPEAKER_02 26:59

So it's like a neutral counseling. It's a council.

SPEAKER_03 27:02

Yeah. Absolutely. And that counseling session, I had a wonderful opportunity to participate in a class where they did a mocked counseling between uh the counselor itself and a couple of people. And they ask about your budget and and how are bills paying and and what are you anticipating for how is your health? And you know, does your house need some work? Or I mean what how are you going to handle these costs? Um, and then they, after after that kind of gentle conversation, no judgment, just food for thought, right? Let's think about the things that need to be thought about. Um, then they go into here are the numbers. Let's make sure you understand the numbers. It you can either get a fixed-weight reverse mortgage or you can get a line of credit. The line of credit is an adjustable rate. Let's make sure that you, the client, understand that it means the interest rate can go up and it can go down. And how does that affect the loan? So that's done regardless of what loan you're in. Um, it's good for six months, um, and you can take it at any time in your process. We can start the loan on the last day of the six-month time period, and you don't have to go take the class again. Uh, most of the time, I think all of my class clients now are doing them all remotely on a phone call. My 90-year-old did it via Zoom. Wow. Yeah, we're getting very progressive. Yeah. So uh, so uh, you know, they they do that and I get a certificate and we go forward. I really can't officially start the loan until you have that canceling certificate. I want to make sure that you really and that's one of the protections that have been put into place to protect the seniors that are doing this, to make sure that they're safe and understanding what's going on.

SPEAKER_02 28:48

It's it's really it's great. I mean, it it would be nice if people that were getting a conventional loan had to go through some sort of questions about that as well. So I actually I love that piece

How To Choose The Right Lender

SPEAKER_02 29:00

of that. Um so I want to end on a positive note for our listeners who are thinking about, you know, who are considering this. And I think it's something that should be at least considered if there's a situation where someone has to buy out the other person's interest and they don't have a lot of cash, or if they need to get some income to be able to stay in the home. Right. Divorce typically leaves people overwhelmed and feeling like they'll have to give up the life that they built. What would be your message to someone who's sitting in their home right now wondering if they're able to stay there? If they are, let's say they're 65, they're going through a divorce. Um what would be like one piece of advice that you would give someone thinking who's considering, should I even think about a reverse mortgage?

SPEAKER_03 29:48

I would say consider it. Really, can give it give it some thought. It may not work. It may not be what your goals are, but if you don't look at it, you don't know. And uh you people are really surprised at at how good it is for them, how it works for them. Uh there are a lot of lenders out there. The SEO thing I would say is it's kind of like seeing doctors. Find one you like. That's the piece of advice I would give you. Uh I wouldn't necessarily go to a generalist um for a general message. Right, exactly. Go to a generalist for a mortgage. Uh people who do conventional or FHA mortgages may not be as schooled as a person who just does reverse mortgages all the time. Um, if you can find one of those, interview him, see if you like him that's gonna work with him. You can you talk to him and and hopefully that works out.

SPEAKER_02 30:42

Yeah, I'd love that advice. I think you're absolutely right that you don't want to go to someone that just dabbles in that because it's complicated. So you want to have somebody that really knows what they're talking about.

Where Laura Can Help Nationwide

SPEAKER_02 30:53

Laura, I so appreciate your time. We're gonna have all of your contact information in the show notes. Can you tell our listeners before we um before we let you go what states that you have are able to to give a quote for a reverse mortgage in?

SPEAKER_03 31:08

So we have listeners all over the country. Absolutely. I am in Colorado, so obviously that's my home state, and I'm fully licensed in Colorado, in the state of California and in Florida. Um I can with advanced notice. Yeah, it it takes a while to get licensing. I have been licensed in Arizona because I had uh a friend move there and we did a purchase for her at a reverse mortgage. So with an advanced notice, I can at other states if if need be.

SPEAKER_02 31:38

Okay, awesome. Thank you so much. And I hope that more people listening to this to this podcast just acknowledge that a reverse mortgage is an option that can it might be able to work for them.

SPEAKER_00 31:50

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 31:51

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 31:53

Thank you.

Legal Sponsor Message And Closing Ask

SPEAKER_01 31:55

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SPEAKER_02 32:43

Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to listen to Divorce Rich Podcast. If you like this podcast, please follow us on Apple or anywhere that you download podcasts and share this link with any friends or family that you think might benefit from this information.