Portland Reverse Mortgage Loans
Many Seniors today are using a Portland reverse mortgage to enhance their retirement. The Home Equity Conversion Mortgage or (HECM) is the government insured mortgage provided by private lenders and insured by the Federal Housing Administration.A reverse mortgage may be a good option for you if you would like to:
- Live independently in your own home and maintain ownership
- Make home improvements and other enhancements
- Eliminate the monthly principal and interest payment on your mortgage
- Have more liquidity with a line of credit
The question that most people ask is how exactly does this all work.
You may qualify if:
- One homeowner is at least 62 years’ old
- The home is your primary residence
- The loan proceeds are enough to pay off your existing loan and closing costs
- Pass Financial Assessment in underwriting
Reverse Mortgages Broker Portland OR
The best way to find out if a Portland reverse mortgage is right for you is to begin with education. Our President, John Barlow, has written an informative book called “Understanding Reverse Mortgages”. He discusses all of the ins and outs of this product and shows three examples of clients using a Portland reverse mortgage who have different situations. You can find the book here on Amazon, www.amazon.com/author/jbarlow. The next phase is to give us a call to see what your loan proceeds will be and which advantages apply to you. The loan amount will be determined by the appraised value or max claim amount, age of the youngest borrower or a non-borrowing spouse, and the expected interest rate.Reverse Mortgage Portland OR
Sound Financial Mortgage LLC believes in supplying our customers with a solid education, outstanding service, and a wide variety of product options to meet your needs. We believe in honesty and integrity and we will always work to maintain your trust. If you are interested in learning more about Portland reverse mortgages, we would be honored if you would consider Sound Financial Mortgage LLC as one of your Portland reverse mortgage brokers.Contact us if:
- You would like to speak with a professional serving Portland
- To receive personalized Portland reverse mortgage information
- Like to learn more about how it works and if it is right for you
- To find out more information about reverse mortgages
- If you are interested in learning more about the advantages vs. disadvantages
- If you would like more information on reverse mortgage counseling
- To determine eligibility requirements and how much you may qualify to receive
Portland Tidbits
The Oregon Trail migration, the arrival of the Hudson Bay Trading Company, and the Lewis and Clark expedition can all easily be associated with the early history of Oregon. A momentous coin toss involving Francis Pettygrove and Asa Lovejoy might be somewhat less familiar. However, without Pettygroves' penny and Lovejoy's quarter, the largest city in Oregon may not have been born.A Massachusetts attorney named Asa Lovejoy and a drifter from Tennessee named William Overton beached their canoe on the banks of the Willamette River in 1843. Mr. Overton was fascinated with the region and realized that there was great potential for this land that was rich in timber and ringed with mountains. However, he didn't have the 25 cents required to file a claim on the land. Therefore, Mr. Overton offered Mr. Lovejoy a share of the 640 acre plot of land that he called 'The Clearing' in return for the 25 cents.
Soon, Mr. Overton sold half of his claim to a man named Francis Pettygrove after becoming bored with building roads and clearing trees. However, the new partners couldn't decide on a name for their fledging community. Mr. Pettygrove wanted to name it after his native Portland, Maine and Mr. Lovejoy waned to name it after his hometown of Boston. In order to break the impasse, they decided to flip the coin that has come to be known as the Portland Penny. Two out of three tosses were won by Mr. Pettygrove. With it abundant natural resources and deep water, Mr. Pettygrove and Mr. Lovejoy knew that their new community would become a prosperous and popular port one day. However, they may have been shocked to learn how popular it soon became and for what sort of activities.
In the late 1800s, Portland had a dark history that started with a hotel owner named Joseph "Bunco" Kelly, who became notorious for selling young men he had kidnapped to ship captains. Many hotel operators and bar owners supplemented their business with this Shanghai trade. Mr. Kelly was paid by unscrupulous captains to intoxicate some potential crewmembers, and then he would deliver his intoxicated quarry to waiting ships. These reluctant crewmembers would wake up the next day stranded at sea and forced to work for indefinite periods of time.
Kelly frequently boasted that it would only take him less than 12 hours to gather a full crew. He was inevitably challenged by a ship captain. With his desire to fulfill his bragging, he found some potential crewmembers one evening who unknowingly came across the open cellar of a mortuary. The men drank some cups of embalming fluid believing that it was liquor and the cellar was a part of the Snug Harbor Pub. By the time Mr. Kelly found them, many were dying and several others had already died. Mr. Kelly sold all 22 men to a captain by claiming that the dead men were simply unconscious from too much liquor and before the truth was learned, the ship had already sailed.
Trying to make some fast money, Mr. Kelly brought a wooden Indian wrapped in blankets to a ship. The next morning, when the ship's captain discovered that his new crewmember was a wooden Indian, he threw it overboard. Almost 60 years later, it was recovered by two dredge operators. In the late 1800s, another interesting character in the history of Portland was nicknamed Sweet Mary, who owned a brothel. She ran her bordello on a barge that operated on the Willamette River, just outside legal jurisdiction in order to elude city laws and paying taxes.
However, the colorful early years in history came to an end in the early 1900s. The economy in the area was stabilized by the California Gold Rush, which provided goods and secured wealth and jobs in lumber mills that provided the population in the community with additional income to regulate the unscrupulous activities on the busy waterfront.
A teetotaler, lumber baron, and philanthropist named Simon Benson personified this change in attitude. Mr. Benson smelled alcohol on the breath of one of his workers one day while he walking through his mill. He asked the man why he was drinking during the daytime, and the man replied there wasn't any fresh drinking water downtown. As a result, Mr. Benson commissioned 20 beautiful freshwater drinking fountains, currently called the Benson Bubblers. After these fountains were installed, the consumption of beer decreased by 25%.
On the downtown street of Portland, the water fountains that Mr. Benson commissioned are still invitingly bubbly. Around the fountains has grown a community of bookstores, bridges, microbreweries, coffee carts, outdoor artwork, and parks. Portland is a people-friendly community that has city blocks that are half the size of those in other communities. There are outdoor benches crowded with readers enjoying spring sunshine and good books, and the surrounding countryside is within a 20-minute drive from the core of the community as a result of limits on growth.
The enthusiasm that captured William Overton so many years ago is still expressed by many people in Portland who still consider the community a paradise. For 25 cents, it wasn't a bad investment.
