Without audience targeting are Google Ads Dead? Think again…
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.
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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.
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Is an appraiser shortage slowing down appraisal turn times?
Many reverse mortgage professionals are reporting longer turn times between an appraisal order and completion and they’re not alone. In fact, traditional mortgage professionals are facing the same challenge. Naturally, the question one asks is why? But the answer may not be quite as simple as one would think.
To get a clearer understanding of what is really happening we interviewed John Dingeman. John is the Chief Appraiser for Class Valuation…
Freddie Mac Report: Spotlight on Appraiser Capacity During the Pandemic
4 Comments
Appreciate you Shannon for your tireless efforts with the industry and also much appreciation to John for coming on your show. I did think I was listening to the typical spin from our politicians. It’s not a shortage issue, but capacity??? Mr. Dingeman has certainly learned how to pivot. Another statement I found interesting is it’s up to the appraiser and borrower to work together…to what? help with the capacity issue? Plain and simple…there’s a shortage!
My office is in Granite Bay, CA. Appraisals within the Sacramento region don’t have delay’s, but appraisal’s ordered in more rural areas can take up to 20-25 days and cost roughly $200 more then within the metro community.
Oregon changed the requirements for appraisal licensing a few years ago. They changed the law to state that an appraiser has to have a 4 year degree instead of the prior law requiring a 2 year degree. This created a drop out of a lot of folks in the apprenticeship and on their way to being appraisers. They did not change the apprenticeship time, just the education requirement. This eliminated a lot of folks in the apprenticeship program and stop new applicants that did not have a 4 year degree. As far as I can tell this was just a self serving move to restrict the number of available appraisers.
Dallas Texas area – reverse mortgages seem to come in lower for appraised value over my conventional forward refinances.
I recently had a very bad report from an appraiser who was way too old to be doing appraisals. He’s was an elderly appraiser – I believe he came out of retirement to capitalize on this $$ market.
Investor will not challenge the report ( ROV ) even thought the appraiser forgot a bathroom & made several other mistakes.
Now fair to this borrower.
H E L P
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