Your Local Online Business Presence

Establishing The Local Presence Of Your Reverse Mortgage Business Online

Wouldn’t it be great if prospective reverse mortgage borrowers would seek you out? Well they may just be doing that, and you may be missing out.

Google Places

Your Reverse Mortgage Business Online

In this day and age we all know that “Google” is widely accepted as a legitimate verb… at some point we have either told someone to, or had someone tell us to “Google it”. So when a potential borrower is considering a reverse mortgage, one of the first things they will likely do is “Google it” in the hopes of finding information on a trustworthy and well established reverse mortgage lender in their area.

The question is… will they find you? Have you established your Google Places listing? These listings are the first results to appear in Google searches related to local businesses. They are what you see in the map results, and what a large number of people use when seeking out a business in their area.

Why are the Google Places results so appealing to “searchers”?

  • This is obvious, but they are the top. People want the information they are seeking as quickly as possible.
  • They immediately provide people with contact information – phone number, location, directions.
  • They lead people to your website. A Google Places listing has the option to add a link to your business website, so even if your business website is not on page 1 in Google, this map listing that is at the top of the results will lead them directly to your website where they can gather more information about you.
  • They can include reviews. People can learn about the reputation of your business, which often gives them that extra motivation to make that call to you.
  • They provide an established third party summary of your business. A business must verify to establish it’s Google Places listing, so it gives people an extra bit of comfort that you are who you say you are.
  • Also, these listings can include images, summaries, categories, links, and give people an overall picture of your business.

Establishing Your Google Places Listing

Establishing Your Google Places Listing

As daunting as internet marketing can be, getting yourself listed in Google Places is something you can do yourself.

  • Create Your Account – First you need to create your Google Places account.
  • Follow The Prompts – Once you have created your account, you will be guided through a series of steps that take you through the process of establishing your listing.
  • Locate Or Create Your Listing – You will be asked to search for your business. If your listing exists, you will be asked to verify it right away. If it is not yet established, you will be asked to create the listing, and then verify it.
  • Verification – You will be given the option to verify by phone or by post card. The phone verification is immediate, but you must be able to accept a call at that moment at the phone number of your place of business that will be on the listing. The verification post cards come within 2 weeks of you prompting a request for one, but some people prefer these if the phone verification is difficult – for example, if your business has an automated phone system, the automated Google verification call cannot get through it, so you will need to select the post card option.
  • Develop Your Listing – Once your listing is created and you have verified it, you will be able to edit it and add information, categories, and images. Adding these items is important to give your listing credibility and to attract interest.

Maintaining Your Google Places Listing

Once your listing is established, it will serve as a significant part of your local business presence in Google and online in general.

  • Keep Your Information Current – It will be important to always make sure your listing has your current contact info, website address, etc., as this will be a highly visible representation of your business. People calling the wrong number or looking for your business at an outdated address could turn them off to working with you. Keeping the information current establishes reliability.
  • Respond To Reviews – You cannot control the reviews people will leave you but you can take time to respond – to positive and negative reviews. If reviews are positive, thank people for their kind words and for using your services. Other searchers will view this as you having a good rapport with your clients. If there are negative reviews, take the high road and leave a cordial response. Apologize for their negative experience and offer the person the option to contact you to discuss their issue more. This often shifts the negativity off of your business because people see that you are concerned about your service, and that you are willing to work with people.
  • Encourage Positive Reviews – Whether it be through your website, Facebook page, or in person, encourage your happy clients to leave you reviews on Google. When a list of results comes up, those positive reviews can be the difference between someone choosing your business over another listing right next to it.

Taking this small step today can have long term positive benefits for your business, so establish your listing, and when people are told to “Google it” for a great reverse mortgage business in your area, they’ll be likely to find you!

Manifesting Their Purpose as an Elder

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Reverse Mortgages Helping Seniors Maintain Their Vitality

 Ellie Drake, a physician and the founder of BraveHeartWomen.com suggests older adults “Forget your age, be the sage!” She’s been meeting many women in their 50s, 60s and beyond who tell her they’re about to burst with an idea that is aching to be born through them, and Drake acknowledges the time has never been more ripe: seniors have gained “the experience and life lessons they require for the magnitude of their vision to come through.”

And a reverse mortgage may be precisely the vehicle to support the birth of this later life vision. Our sixties, seventies, even eighties and beyond are no longer a time to “retire and wait to die”; they are years of vibrant possibility.

 

Reverse Mortgage News
It’s not how old you are, but how you are old, that matters most.

For example: suppose a senior would like to age in place, yet lacks the social support that would make this option viable. One innovative solution might be sharing their home with a student or other young adult who can offer companionship, in addition to fulfilling some basic needs such as assistance with grocery shopping, cleaning or gardening. If the home requires modifications in order for the senior to remain there in safety and comfort, a reverse mortgage can help provide an income stream to enable these changes — as well as allow a companion to live there as a friend who helps enrich the senior’s life, rather than just a paying tenant.

Enrichment can also take the form of work or community contributions that add meaning and purpose to later life. While the majority of older people in good health don’t want to return to the workplace on a full time basis, they are often reluctant to give up the social interaction — and many would also like to put a lifetime of experience and knowledge to good use.

With these thoughts in mind, two avid fishermen put their heads and skills together and approached a sporting goods store manager, suggesting he hire the pair for one full time job, which they shared. The store personnel enjoyed having the elders there — and the fishermen already knew about all the equipment and the best fishing spots. Customers loved them, sales rose, and everyone was happy.

Creativity in all its forms is a key component to successful aging. Charlotte, a self-described “shrinking violet,” confronted her social fears following retirement in her mid-sixties and joined a community theatre. By her early seventies she was acting and singing publicly. Robert, 88, a retired government lawyer, tried his hand at photography and wound up producing an international photo series, traveling from Alaska to Tahiti.

Then there is ElderWisdomCircle.org, a virtual “Dear Abby” for the mature years: more than 600 advisors aged 60-105 offers free online guidance to anyone who writes to them.

Whatever a senior’s aspirations and expectations, a reverse mortgage can serve as an essential resource to help them remain as vital as possible, perhaps enabling them to tap an inner wellspring that has been ripening for decades, awaiting its full-blown expression later in life. As noted in a recent blog post on elder wisdom, it’s not how old you are, but how you are old, that matters most.

 

Difficult Decisions

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Reverse Mortgage And Senior Support Services

HECMs can be financial lifesavers for seniors who want to age in place. But what if an individual or couple’s ability to age in place changes over time? Children or other significant relatives who live at a distance would be wise to plan ahead in order to help the elders in question remain independent for as long as practical.

This article on long-distance caregiving explains what family members need to know. Reverse mortgage professionals may want to keep such information handy to share with the children of clients and prospects who are participating in their parents’ HECM process, as well as to use as a handout when addressing groups about how a HECM can help seniors age in place.

Some of the key issues include:

  1. Medication management
  2. Food shopping and meal preparation
  3. Transportation
  4. Household safety and household management

One of the benefits of aging in place is mobility: being able to frequent the places one is accustomed to, such as bookstores, cafés, theatres, etc., whether a senior gets there by car, bus, bicycle or on foot. An increasing number of towns across America offer affordable senior transport such as Paratransit, a flexible shared transportation option that typically uses minibuses to take seniors and people with disabilities where they need to go. There are also transport services specifically for medical appointments.

The greater problem may be not the availability of such services, but persuading older adults — especially men — to use it.

Driving can be a thorny issue for families, as handing over the car keys signals “the end of independence” to many elders. Men who have managed businesses as well as been heads of household may insist they’re fine, even as slowed reaction times and visual or hearing impairments make continuing to drive dangerous — not necessarily because the senior isn’t being cautious, but because they may not be able to respond quickly enough to other drivers’ errors, or to an unexpected event such as a child darting into the street.

This page offers a wealth of information on aging and driving. The gentleman who curated the content reports that when he surrendered his car keys — even though he chose to do so due to failing eyesight — it was “a devastating experience. To live outside the security of a private bubble with a steering wheel put me in alien territory.”

Contrast this perspective with that of an 86-year-old woman who recently moved into a spacious senior apartment that she adores: “Mondays through Fridays, hourly from 9 am to 4 pm I can ride the Macon County Transit with a $25 monthly pass, permitting me to shop for groceries or whatever I need along a fixed route that includes Kmart, Walmart, library and also trips along the way by request. This solves the problem of being without a car. Perhaps the reality is that even should I feel it is something I could afford, at my age — with slowed reactions, hearing deficiencies and readily distracted — I would simply be a road hazard and danger to others.”

Winston Churchill said, “We are shaping the world faster than we can change ourselves, and we are applying to the present the habits of the past.” The more we can flow with the rapidly evolving options for seniors that both a reverse mortgage and senior support services can provide, the greater the opportunity today’s and tomorrow’s elders will enjoy to age in place with purpose, participation and joy.

 

 

Elder Wisdom: What A Tale Their Thoughts Could Tell

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Gordon Lightfoot (whose signature lyrics from If You Could Read My Mind are reflected in the post title) turns 75 this November, and Bob Dylan has said that when he listens to a Lightfoot song, he “wishes it would never end.” That’s pretty high praise from a fellow septuagenarian maestro. Perhaps this is because seasoned songwriters instinctively weave life’s essence and lessons into a succinct truth that resonates to the marrow with those who listen, and thus appeals across the decades to both original fans as they age, and to a new audience.

reverse mortgage newsThe same might be said of elders. There’s so much wisdom to be gleaned from older team members. Consider this recent ad on CraigsList.com, headlined, “Looking for a 72-year-old writer”:

“I’m looking for a few good writers between the ages of 70 and 74. Seeking contributions from geographical locations all over the United States from persons who were in high school during 1959. For details about my project please go to http://www.classof59.net. It is okay if someone younger writes a contribution that was obtained orally from a member of the high school class of 1959.”

What a lovely tribute to what has been labeled, “The Silent Generation.”

“It is not how old you are, but how you are old,” said Academy Award-winning actress Marie Dressler. We’re moving from a model that focuses on disease, disability and death to one of “passion, purpose, and participation,” which happens to be the tagline of COPA (Collaborative on Positive Aging), a new volunteer division of the Council on Aging in one California community.

At the initial COPA gathering, much of the guiding wisdom for how future meetings might be organized was provided by people in their 70s and 80s, such as: “To remain vital, we need a mix of social/learning/leisure/contribution.” How perfect a reminder to anyone who serves seniors — reverse mortgage professionals obviously included — that as people age they become not a group apart, but more of who they’ve been, with a blend of needs and desires to enrich and fulfill these later years.

Consider the Sun City Poms, Arizona cheerleaders whose minimum age requirement is 55, along with the requisite “dance skills of rhythm, agility, poise, energy, and showmanship for performing. Acrobatics and baton twirling are a plus.” Wow! These women are weaving their social, leisure, learning and contributing into a bountiful blessing for everyone.

In his brilliant essay on conscious aging, Rabon Delmore Saip, a presenter at the COPA meeting, quotes developmental psychologist Paul Baltes: “One of the great challenges of the 21st century will be to complete the architecture of the human life course.”

The seniors reverse mortgage professionals serve today are playing a vital role in constructing the future of humanity, as they (and we) reinvent what it means, and what it “looks like”, to be “old”.