Those We Help JOHN LEER III had been helping his father run the family business for 32 years when he decided on a new career path in the mid-2000s. He settled on becoming a reverse mortgage loan officer after the positive outcome his parents had getting one. It all began in 2005, when John III’s parents read an article about reverse mortgages in the Chicago Tribune. “They called me and asked if I would look into it,” says John III. “I had no idea what a reverse mortgage was other than all the misconceptions that are still common today. I called a friend who was a mortgage manager at Wells Fargo, and he explained how it actually worked and connected me with a reverse mortgage consultant.” John Jr. and Patricia Leer, who were 80 and 75 at the time, managed a successful, family-owned wholesale-to- retail business in Chicago that John Jr.’s father founded in 1925. “We sold home accessories for the kitchen, bar, etc., to retail shops and earned a commission on the sale,” says John III. “I left the family business 15 years ago, but my wife, Sarah, oversees things now. Her current specialty is ladies handbags and home accessories.” When John Jr.’s health started to decline, John III and his siblings convinced their parents it was time to move closer to family. “I said, ‘You know, I think it’s time that you move back up to Minnesota.’ Both my parents grew up in Minneapolis and then ended up in Chicago where I grew up,” says John III. “I didn’t know how they would react to that, but my mother was very forward thinking. She was a businesswoman. She was very pragmatic, and she was like, ‘Yeah, you’re right, I think it’s time that we move.’” The Leers took the equity left over from the sale of their condo in Chicago, borrowed funds from Patricia’s brother and bought a new condo in Eden Prairie, a suburb of Minneapolis, for $260,000. They immediately took out a $160,000 mortgage to pay back Patricia’s brother, which resulted in a monthly mortgage payment of $1,000. “Having a $12,000 annual mortgage expense on a house that, more than likely, would have never been paid off in my parents’ lifetimes put extreme pressure on their living expenses,” says John III. “It also put a tremendous amount of stress on their IRA (individual retirement account). If they would have continued on a path of traditional mortgage payments, they would have run out of IRA money in ten years.” After learning about the pros and cons of reverse mortgages from their son, John Jr. and Patricia proceeded to get one from Wells Fargo. After closing costs were paid, the Leers netted $190,000 in reverse mortgage proceeds, which allowed them to pay off the $160,000 mortgage and set up a line of credit for the remaining $30,000. John and Sarah Leer Reverse Mortgages Help Parents, Then Son By Darryl Hicks 32 REVERSE MORTGAGE / MAY- JUNE 2022
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