The country’s largest originator of federally insured reverse mortgages has begun offering traditional mortgages for its mostly older customers. Dozens of hirings are planned.
Last year, American Advisors Group was responsible for a record 12,775 home-equity conversion mortgages that were endorsed by the Federal Housing Administration, according to data from Reverse Market Insight.
That was the most HECMs originated by any FHA mortgagee, more than twice as many as the next-biggest lender, and
22 percent of all HECMs endorsed by FHA during 2017.
Now, the Orange, California-based company has begun making traditional mortgages.
According to an announcement Wednesday, AAG began offering forward mortgages last year to prospects generated through its advertising.
“AAG interacts with more than 400,000 older Americans every year, many responding to the company’s TV advertisements featuring acclaimed actor Tom Selleck,” today’s statement said.
Now the company, which was founded in 2004
by its chief executive officer — Iranian refugee Reza Jahangiri — is opening an office in Folsom, California, to handle traditional mortgages for borrowers in Northern California.
By the end of this year, AAG hopes to hire up to 80 loan originators.
The planned hirings follow last year’s
addition of 25 employees at a new Austin, Texas, operations center where AAG plans to fill another 125 positions.
“For many retirees, income from savings and retirement accounts isn’t enough to cover expenses, and they experience a significant drop in their quality of life,” Jahangiri said in today’s statement. “At the same time, older Americans have amassed over $6.5 trillion in home equity. What we’ve seen is that when seniors include home equity in their retirement planning, proactively, they have better outcomes.”
