MLS Reverse Mortgage

(Story told by the Reverse Mortgage Professional)

One day after returning to the office from an appointment, there was a message on my desk to call Mrs. Lumpkin. Apparently, she called our office and requested information about reverse mortgage products. It was my job to follow up with her to answer any questions she had. My initial telephone conversation was extremely strange. When I asked to speak with Mr. or Mrs. Lumpkin, the woman that answered said they no longer lived there. She went on to explain that she had just bought that house and moved in a couple of weeks ago and had been getting all kinds of mail and phone calls for a Mrs. Lumpkin and had no idea who that person was. Obviously, I thought it was kind of strange, but I made it clear I would not bother her anymore, thanked her for her time and hung up the telephone.

The next day I received a voice mail message from Mrs. Lumpkin saying that yes, she lived at the address, and yes, that was her telephone number and begged me to please call me back. When I returned the call, the first thing she said to me was, “I know you're my angel sent from heaven. I know you are.”

That first conversation lasted almost an hour. In that time, I learned she was in a lot of financial trouble which is why she did not want to answer the telephone. When I initially called, she assumed I was the bill collector because her home was in foreclosure. Mrs. Lumpkin had refinanced her home, and now simply couldn’t afford the monthly payment. She and her husband lived on a tight budget made up of her husband’s retirement income and her disability. Since refinancing their original home loan, their new mortgage payment was nearly half of their income.

Then she explained to me that there was a gentleman that was working with her bank to buy her house out of foreclosure. Mrs. Lumpkin felt it was important for me to talk to him. I asked her why she was inquiring about a reverse mortgage if she already had a plan to stop her bank from the foreclosure. Her response was that she was desperate for help and needed a back up plan if the man did not buy her home.

I asked Mrs. Lumpkin to schedule a call with the man who was buying her home, and shortly thereafter she set up a three-way call between all of us. Mrs. Lumpkin’s plan was to make sure the gentleman confirmed, in front of me, everything he’d agreed to in previous conversations with her. During the conversation, the gentleman agreed that he was going to purchase Mrs. Lumpkin’s home for a mere $50,000, was going to allow the Lumpkins to rent the house back from him, and in a few years he would sell it back to them “real cheap.”

I could not believe my ears! After hearing the ludicrous deal he was offering Mrs. Lumpkin, there was no doubt in my mind this guy was scamming them. He might fully intend to purchase the house, but I doubted he would rent it to the Lumpkins, and I certainly doubted he’d turn around and sell it back to them.

It was a good thing Mrs. Lumpkin called our office when she did because there was no doubt she was going to need that back up plan after all.

I needed to talk to my boss about this situation. After everything I heard, I got the impression the man Mrs. Lumpkin was working with was trying to take the house out from under her. I really had no idea how to handle this especially since I had only been selling reverse mortgages for six months. I might not have known exactly what to do, but I knew I wanted to be the one to help. I am not too far away in age from seniors myself, so I feel I can relate on a more personal level. My boss guided me through next steps.

My first step in helping Mrs. Lumpkin was getting the initial reverse mortgage papers signed in order to proceed and get their existing mortgage people talk to me. Once I got them signed, I was able to speak to the person in litigation that was working on their mortgage. That person confirmed the Lumpkin’s home was indeed in foreclosure, and their house was supposed to sell within a few days. My negotiation strategy to buy some time was to let him know that when the Lumpkins reverse mortgage closed, they would be able to pay the bank $71,000 of the money owed (and let the Lumpkins stay in their home) instead of the $50,000 the current buyer was offering.

Money talks! He told me to send him the paper work on the proposal. I faxed the paperwork over to him and he immediately approved it! The litigation manager stopped the foreclosure but only gave me until the 24th of that month to actually close the deal.

Thankfully, we were able to complete the appraisal, and we ended up closed the day that the bank said was her deadline. The Lumpkins were ecstatic. The house is theirs for the rest of their lives. Mrs. Lumpkin kept repeating, “I told you, you were my angel.”

I want to be an angel for other seniors because I believe so much in the reverse mortgage and saw how it has helped a lot of people.

Thanks to our Loan Officer for her hard work and dedication to our senior clients.