Confronting HECM Fiction: Harlan Accola

by Shannon Hicks
| 5 Comments
| September 20, 2021

Part 2

<h2 class="p1">Without audience targeting are Google Ads Dead? Think again…</h2> Early this month Google announced new restrictions for targeting specific audiences. The restrictions apply to content related to housing, employment, credit, and those who are disproportionately affected by societal biases. The news of these restrictions created quite a stir among industry brokers and lenders who heavily rely upon targeted Google ad campaigns. All which may have you asking if these changes will kill future reverse mortgage advertising on the world’s most popular search engine. In just a moment we’ll hear from our online SEO expert Josh Johnson to find out. [read more] Google’s restrictions are not necessarily novel nor unexpected. It was just over two years ago Facebook faced scrutiny from federal regulators for allowing those offering credit or housing finance to restrict ad audiences by race or religion among other questionable metrics that would violate HUD’s fair housing rules. An investigation by ProPublica broke this news in October 2016. It was nearly two years later in August 2018 that HUD filed a formal complaint against the social media giant for discriminatory advertising practices. Seven months after HUD’s complaint Facebook announced sweeping changes. Both Facebook and later Google, took a blunt approach much to the chagrin of lenders and service providers. What ad filters are going away? In its official release Google revealed, “credit products or services can no longer be targeted to audiences based on gender, age, parental status, marital status, or ZIP code.” Is this the end of Google ads for reverse mortgages? To answer that question I reached out to Josh Johnson who heads up Reverse Focus’ Online Dominance SEO program and Google marketing. Here’s his explanation. Here’s what makes Google unique from other platforms and why reverse mortgage Google ads will continue to reach the intended audience. To summarize, older homeowners are intentionally seeking out reverse mortgage information on Google which means, yes-your ads will be seen by your target audience, even though you can no longer target specific age groups. <img fetchpriority="high" fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="wp-image-21372 alignnone" src="https://apirodev.com/reverse-mortgage-news/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/In-post-pix.004-300x169.jpeg" alt="" width="691" height="389" srcset="https://www.hecmworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/In-post-pix.004-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://www.hecmworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/In-post-pix.004-1024x576.jpeg 1024w, https://www.hecmworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/In-post-pix.004-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://www.hecmworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/In-post-pix.004-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://www.hecmworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/In-post-pix.004.jpeg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 691px) 100vw, 691px" /><img decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-21373" src="https://apirodev.com/reverse-mortgage-news/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/In-post-pix.001-1024x576.jpeg" alt="" width="681" height="383" srcset="https://www.hecmworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/In-post-pix.001-1024x576.jpeg 1024w, https://www.hecmworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/In-post-pix.001-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://www.hecmworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/In-post-pix.001-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://www.hecmworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/In-post-pix.001-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://www.hecmworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/In-post-pix.001.jpeg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 681px) 100vw, 681px" /> <img loading="lazy" loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-large wp-image-21374" src="https://apirodev.com/reverse-mortgage-news/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/In-post-pix.002-1024x576.jpeg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://www.hecmworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/In-post-pix.002-1024x576.jpeg 1024w, https://www.hecmworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/In-post-pix.002-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://www.hecmworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/In-post-pix.002-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://www.hecmworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/In-post-pix.002-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://www.hecmworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/In-post-pix.002.jpeg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /> <img loading="lazy" loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-large wp-image-21375" src="https://apirodev.com/reverse-mortgage-news/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/In-post-pix.003-1024x576.jpeg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://www.hecmworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/In-post-pix.003-1024x576.jpeg 1024w, https://www.hecmworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/In-post-pix.003-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://www.hecmworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/In-post-pix.003-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://www.hecmworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/In-post-pix.003-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://www.hecmworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/In-post-pix.003.jpeg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /> [/read]

Reverse mortgage information exposed & corrected

Join us for the final installment of our interview with Harlan Accola who penned a column in NASDQ fact-checking Dave Ramsey’s erroneous reverse mortgage claims.

[read more]

View Nasdaq article

[/read]

5 Comments

Michael J Friedman
September 20, 2021 at 5:45 am
Excellent segment. Harlan is correct. When it comes to the children, what’s the difference between a $500K house and a $500K IRA.
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- James E. Veale, CPA, MBT
  September 20, 2021 at 10:10 am
  An IRA versus a house? Really? They are GENERALLY not comparable.
  
  An IRA is a vehicle to hold assets. So what is in the IRA? Are they marketable securities, TICs or other forms of real estate, precious metals, or what?
  
  Is the IRA, an after tax IRA, a taxable IRA, or a Roth IRA that is more 5 years old? If it is a Roth that is at least 5 years old, there are no tax issues and generally selling commissions on underlying assets are less than 4%. The beneficiary can take any percentage of the assets without “disposing” of the IRA. There are NO taxes associated with HOLDING the IRA.
  
  What are the net proceeds from selling a $500,000 house (after selling and fix up costs)? Holding this asset means daily accrual of real estate taxes (most likely accrued taxes from last paid to date of death as well). What are typical real estate commissions in the area? Is the property so far away that it is unmanageable?
  
  For income tax purposes, the house will generally get a step in basis. IRAs have no step up in basis but the distributions on a Roth IRA that is over five years are not taxable for income tax purposes. The after tax IRA is only table on any increase in value that is considered distributed; while the increase is ordinary income (versus capital gains), the return of contributions are non-taxable. All distributions from a taxable IRA are taxable as ordinary income.
  
  So if the IRA is a Roth that is at least five years old and the underlying assets are marketable securities, give me the IRA every single time.
  
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Jim Warns
September 20, 2021 at 5:57 am
Great interview, Shannon! Kudos to Harlan for carrying the reverse mortgage banner forward.
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Owen Coyle
September 20, 2021 at 6:21 am
Shannon, those two interviews with Harlan were EXCELLENT. Thanks so much for sharing that information with us loan originators.

I’m looking forward to watching any future interviews with Harlan. As I’ve told you many times before, you’re doing a great job at Reverse Focus, I hope you continue to do it for many years to come.

Owen Coyle
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Karen Pryor
September 20, 2021 at 1:11 pm
Thanks so much for putting these interviews together Shannon. So much great info!
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