The Reverse Mortgage Process

Although the reverse mortgage underwriting process usually takes 4-6 weeks, the borrower’s involvement is fairly simple. Below is an outline of the steps it takes to get your reverse mortgage.

Step #1:  Application and Counseling

Once you have spoken with a McGowin-King reverse mortgage professional, who will answer your questions and pre-qualify you, you are ready to get started. To protect the senior homeowner, FHA requires as a consumer protection measure that all reverse mortgage borrowers be counseled by an FHA approved counselor. This can be done in person or over the phone and your McGowin-King Loan Officer can help you with this. Next, a McGowin-King Reverse Mortgage Professional can come by your home (we make house calls!) with the initial documents. After reviewing all the documents (and having completed your counseling), you will know if a reverse mortgage is right for your personal situation.

Step #2:  Appraisal

After the application and counseling have been completed, the preliminary processing takes place. A part of this is having an FHA appraiser visit your home and submit an appraisal. We will get the go-ahead from you before ordering the appraisal since this is the only out of pocket cost that you will incur. The appraisal will determine the value of your home for purposes of your reverse mortgage.

Step #3:  Closing

After all the requirements have been submitted, and any loose ends tied up, your loan will be approved for closing. Just as with the application, we can conduct the closing at your home (or elsewhere if you prefer). This will take approximately one hour to complete. After closing, you have up to three days to change your mind and back out of the loan. This is another consumer protection measure. Your loan will fund on the fourth business day after closing and you can choose to receive your money in a lump sum, monthly payments, a line of credit, or some combination of the three.