Unlocking Financial Freedom: How Reverse Mortgages Can Support Your Retirement, with Bloom Financial’s Rachel Rogerson

In this insightful episode of Real Life Mortgage Solutions, Len Lane sits down with Rachel Rogerson, Director of Business Development at Bloom, to uncover the real benefits and myths surrounding reverse mortgages. Rachel shares her expertise on how reverse mortgages can provide financial relief to Canadians aged 55 and older, tapping into home equity without the burden of monthly payments.

Tune in as Rachel explains the safety nets in place to protect homeowners, such as Bloom’s Home Equity Guarantee, and dispels common misconceptions about losing home ownership. Discover how reverse mortgages can help you or a loved one enhance financial independence while maintaining home equity, and learn why this option is becoming increasingly popular in Western Canada.

About Rachel Rogerson

With over 10 years of experience in mortgage financing, Rachel is a passionate and results-driven leader who helps people achieve their homeownership and financial goals. She is currently the Director of Business Development at Bloom Finance Company Ltd., a leading provider of home equity reverse mortgage solutions.

Rachel leverages her skills in data-driven decision-making, market analysis, sales and marketing strategy, and relationship management to create and execute growth initiatives, expand the customer base, and increase Bloom’s brand awareness and reputation. She also collaborates with a team of talented mortgage professionals who share her vision of delivering exceptional service and value to our clients. She has a proven track record of leading mortgage financing from origination, structuring, negotiation, and due diligence to documentation, and she has been recognized as a top performer in the industry.

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Contact Len Lane | Brokers for Life:

Contact Rachel Rogerson | Bloom Finance Company:

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Transcript:

Len 00:02

Welcome. My name is Len Lane, and I am the founder and president of Brokers For Life Inc, and we are Dominion Lending Centers in Western Canada. The topic of our podcast will be about what we consider to be Real Life Mortgage Solutions.

Len 00:19

Welcome back. Today, our guest is Rachel Rogerson, and her background is as a mortgage broker, but she is now the Director of Business Development for Bloom Reverse Mortgages. Welcome.

Rachel 00:32

Perfect. Thank you so much, Len, for having me.

Len 00:33

Probably a lot of people listening to this, maybe for the first time, not in the age group where reverse mortgages applies to them yet; maybe, let’s start with just talking about, in general, what reverse mortgages are.

Rachel 00:46

Absolutely. So, reverse mortgages they’ve been around for a very long time, but only recently have they become a bit more popular. You know, as the cost of living is going up, and Canadians in that age group, which is 55 and over, are sitting on quite a bit of equity. So what it is, it’s just a way to tap into the equity in someone’s home without having that financial pressure of the monthly payments. So, and the proceeds from reverse mortgage can be used for so many different things. Probably the most popular reason is really just to increase that monthly cash flow. So with Canadians, 55 and older, especially in that retirement age group, you’re on a fixed government income, so CPP and OAS, and with things getting more expensive, that money is stretched more and more thin as the years go on. So for an example, if someone’s been living in their home for 30 years and they had a small mortgage before, let’s say for 200,000, 100,000 and in the last few years, their payments have tripled, so that fixed monthly income that they have is now probably going the majority of that’s going to their mortgage payment, and they’re not left with a lot of funds at the end of the month to be able to pay for necessities like food and gas and everything else that they need to pay for for that month.

Len 02:12

Yeah, and it’s funny, you should put CPP and OAS in there. I don’t know anybody who could live on that. Tell you the truth if you still had a mortgage at that point. Again, unfortunately, maybe equity in their properties. I do have one story that one of our agents did with a client in British Columbia is where she was basically on that small government pension above and beyond OAS and CPP, but a million dollars worth of equity in her property. Like $400,000 reverse mortgage, put it into an annuity, and that’s what she’s been living on, probably for the last four or five years.

Rachel 02:50

Wow. And I’m sure quality of life has gone up significantly without that financial burden monthly.

Len 02:56

It’s crazy. So that’s kind of one uses for the funds. What else have you seen clients use the funds for?

Rachel 03:03

For sure. Well, I am based out of Vancouver, BC, so as we all know, it’s very expensive place to live; so we are seeing a lot of parents and grandparents tap into their home equity through reverse mortgage to pull out money for their kids as a gifted down payment. So, well, up until a couple of days ago, the cap was a million dollars. So, you know, 20% of that is a significant amount of money for someone younger to get into the property market. So we see a lot of parents pulling out money for that. And we call that a living inheritance in some cases. So, instead of money being passed through generations after the parents, the grandparents have passed away, it’s being done while both parties are still alive. And you know, the benefit of that, the few benefits, actually, is that the person who’s receiving the money can get into the market earlier, and both parties are still alive to see the benefits of where that money is going and what it’s doing. So that’s a big one. Traditionally, that money has been taken out via home equity line of credits or private mortgages, which, as we know, come with very large monthly payments, which is a, you know, a huge burden for the parents, the grandparents, to take on. So, gifting that money with no monthly payments is a huge benefit. Another one that we’re seeing is home renovations. And if you’ve been in your house for 20-30 years and money’s a little tight, and you know, things are getting more expensive, probably the first thing on your list is not to fix that back deck or fix the bathroom, put a suite in the basement, whatever it may be. So, taking out money through a reverse mortgage and being able to add value to your home without those monthly payments is amazing because, you know, the person who has reverse mortgage, they’re only going to benefit from increasing the value in their home.

Len 05:06

Yeah, no question. And obviously, Alberta’s market value is going up already. We were start…