American Advisors Group (AAG)

He paused after certain things to see if I had a question. If I didn’t, he kept going. Then, if I did have a question, he answered it right away. He didn't have to put me on hold. He didn't have to go check with someone else. He just kept saying, “I know the experience that you had before was totally different. But this is all we do.” He also said, "We take this very seriously.” So he made me feel comfortable from the very first phone call.

We had the big freeze in Texas and Jason called and informed me that he would let me know as soon as AAG will move forward for all of their clients. But lo and behold, I get a call from him and he told me that my house has been appraised. Even he was shocked it's gone so quickly. But at one point my disability was not approved. So I had to go through that. I called Jason and left him a message. “Okay, Jason. I know you're not the one that’s going to make the decision. But basically, I'm $150 difference from what is going in the bank right now, and what would be going in the back from Disability.” I told him that I wanted my $585 back for the appraisal that hadn't happened yet. He called me back and he was so kind. Both of us would start laughing because I'm the kind of person that laughs anyways. Then he called me a day later and he said he already got the email and that we were moving forward.

Jason called me every time something happened or sent me an email. He gave me the number on the appraisal and it was 275. So he went through the process saying, “If HUD chooses to get a second appraisal, then that's what we'll have to do. And that usually takes three or four more days.” Lo and behold, the next day, he called and said that HUD has already made a decision and there was no second appraisal. He told me that I have one person that's going to be calling me. Now, I'm waiting for that person. Jason already gave me his name and what he does. From my experience a year ago, to working with AAG is night and day. I haven't had one bad experience. I have dealt with another company before and it was a nightmare. Everything had to be mailed to me. But with Jason, I could do the DocuSign.

When I talked to the counselor, she told me to go to a certain page and look for the number. She didn't tell me the ups and downs of a reverse mortgage. She just read from a script and that was it. She ran out the clock. Also, when she called, I told her that my girlfriend was on the phone with me. She said, "Well, that's a problem." I asked her how was that a problem? She then spent 10 minutes collecting all my girlfriend's information, including her Social Security.

I read the original document thoroughly. In that document, it makes it perfectly clear that the one thing you cannot do is allow your homeowners insurance or your taxes to be delinquent. When I got on the phone with the counselor, she told me that part six times. Then, she reworded the questions to test me to see if I remembered. I said that she was like giving me a second-grade test but it's not a very complicated concept. I told her that I got it and to tell me something I didn't know. So I basically wasted $175 on the counseling process.

The girl who came for the notary was also a joke. She was two hours late from my original appointment, and she walked in telling me she was running late because her schedule is overbooked. She gave me this big stack of paper. Somewhere in that stack, there were five pages that I had to sign. It wasn't organized. There were two stacks, one for her and one for me. As we go through them, I'll read them. But she's said, "Don't worry, just sign here." I told her, "No, I'm not gonna just sign. Let me read the damn thing." The question on that one document is asking me, "Do I want to waive my three-day right?" I don't want to waive. There were two boxes you can possibly check, one says you're waiving your rights and one says you don't. So if I didn't read the document, then how would I know what I was checking?

It took me a while to get it. At first, I was all for it. But I was listening to many people saying to go with the equity loan because I would not be getting much with a reverse mortgage. I had to apologize to my loan officer Andrea because she was trying everything that she could to explain to me and let me know to hold on. I was concerned about how much I was getting at first. Then I was nervous that I won't be able to pay off the credit card because during this time, I had my carport checked into and there was a problem with it. I didn't know how much money that was going to cost. I started questioning why I should get this equity loan and I talked to somebody.

But then Andrea called me back and told me that the appraiser went through and this would be more than I would be getting from the equity loan if I took it. Plus, I would have all this interest and all this other stuff going through. First of all, it gets me out of debt. I can stay in my home, and with the repairs, it will be great. Also, I don't want to move anymore. She took the time to reassure me and that was something that I valued right from the very beginning. She was still there for me and that was one thing I liked about it. I felt comfortable with her. This would be the best thing for me and I decided to go through with it.

American Advisors Group was really great and I couldn't believe how fast everything went. There was no beating around the bush type of thing. When I was working with my equity loan, since I've taken off two loans from them since I've been here, sometimes they'll say one thing, and then the next thing, it was something totally different. I didn't see that when I dealt with Andrea. There was a number that was on one of the papers that she sent to me, and I didn't understand it. When I called her, she told me which paper to look at and explained everything to me. That is somebody that cares.

My loan officer is a really good guy. He answers my calls, returns my calls and emails, and he's in communication with me whenever I need it. AAG's service is perfectly acceptable. There were just a few minor, insignificant things that happen all the time. The appraiser didn't call me like he was supposed to before we did the appraisal so I don't know what the results of the appraisal are yet. I called them yesterday because I heard they've already gone out. And because of COVID, they can't actually go in the house. I wanted them to understand that this is not just an old house. It's 100% new construction, everything except for the foundations. And even when the foundations had work on it, everything is new. I've already put a considerable amount.

I put my retirement savings, my 401K that I had, I had put in the proceeds from the sale of my mobile home. I've put quite a bit of my own money into it, maybe $10,000 short of finishing. That's why I was wanting the loan. The value of the property is secured more than 100% because it's only like a 50% loan-to-value. He just says, “Oh, this is a 1940, 1,000 square foot cottage.” I only wanted the appraiser to base the appraisal off new construction cost per square foot for new construction. He had already completed the appraisal. He didn't call me before he came out.

I called AAG and I said, “You guys already have the appraisal.” They said, “No, we don't have it.” So, there's a miscommunication somewhere between the two. I don't know who's the problem, but I'm a little nervous. I should hear today what the appraisal came in at. Hopefully, it came in enough to cover what we need. Our market’s crazy right now. Even if they have to reduce the loan amount a little bit, that's no big deal.

I told quite a few people what I'm doing, and I get the same comments that I had from people when I was working for a bank like, “Oh, they're gonna take your house, and there won't be anything left for your kids.” I have to work twice as hard to dispel the rumors and the fears that people have about reverse mortgages, but I recommend AAG.

There were times when our rep said one thing that we agreed to. I didn't have all the money to put up for the frontal costs. At the time that we made the loan papers and signed them, he said they would take care of it on the backside of the loan. Then I got calls telling me I needed to pay for $500 for appraisal and I have to pay the notary and the counseling fee. We're on a fixed income and I started paying these things. Then they said I have to pay the insurance and taxes when they're due until we get to closing. I just made a payment for my homeowners fire insurance and it's taken all my money away. Usually, I don't have to pay these things until March. But I had to pay it now to prove to them that I'm paying for these things before we go into closing.

I didn't have money for the appraisal. The rep had to discuss it with his manager in order to see if we could just do this $500 on the back end of the loan. He called me up the other day and left the message to say that he talked to the manager and it would be okay if we use the $500 on the backside of it. But it just gets a little aggravating. I thought it’d run a little bit smoother when he promised that it would be taken care of on the backside of the loan but he's calling me up every other week asking me when can I pay this amount or that amount. I'm having problems with my budget ‘cause I’m on Social Security. Now I have these payment that I have to make.

Hopefully, everything will work out. Right now, we're in the process of getting all the copies ready. We had to wait for Social Security copies and for a Social Security card that was misplaced. We just finally got them and we're sitting down tonight with the printer and starting to print these things off and mail it to AAG. But I would still recommend them to a friend. It's a good program. If you have money to pay for the closing costs upfront, it's not so much of a hassle.