Doing your homework before the sales appointment has its advantages…
About John Luddy: John has trained reverse mortgage professionals how to be successful when sitting face-to-face at the kitchen table with prospective HECM borrowers. Norcom is looking for qualified loan officer candidates. To learn more call 1-860-507-2582 or email John Luddy here
Creating Age-Friendly Cities
When we’re young, living in the city means nightlife, culture, great eats, and easy transportation to work and play. For older adults, however, the picture can look very different: skateboards and scooters may pose a threat to sidewalk safety, slower gaits make it harder to cross the street in time, and mass transit can be both a health and safety concern.
Yet transportation is just one aspect of what makes a city age-friendly — or not. According to AARP, where we call home, how we communicate with others, how we move about, and what we do with our time all contribute to active 
aging. Katy Fike, co-founder of Aging 2.0, takes it a step further, delineating 9 pillars of age-friendly cities:
AARP and Fike agree: it’s up to each community, city, and state to develop and implement policies and programs that enable elders to thrive, wherever they dwell.
Fortunately, technology is optimizing these pillars to ensure adults who choose to age in place — perhaps with the help of a reverse mortgage — can be healthy, secure, mobile, and engaged as they grow older.
Apps and Emerging Technologies For The 9 Pillars
We’ve explored many of Fike’s recommendations in previous posts, particularly those related to aging apps and health; taken as a whole, these technologies create age-friendly opportunities for seniors everywhere, with a lot of positive overlap.
Here’s a summary to share with your reverse mortgage clients, prospects, and their families:
Transportation: Lyft, Uber, self-driving cars — and Go Go Grandparent, a safe and affordable senior-specific car service.
Inclusivity: Rendever, a virtual reality app that expands an elder’s world, enabling someone to relive and reconnect in the comfort of their living room. Rendever has been shown to boost happiness, and reduce loneliness and depression.
Housing: Silvernest roommate matching service and Treehouse intergenerational housing enhance connection, socialization, and inclusiveness.
Meals: Instacart (Whole Foods home delivery), Blue Apron meal delivery, and Amazon Prime Pantry.
Social participation: Stitch, a friendship site for older adults, and Televisit, a non-profit that provides meaning and purpose to isolated elders through facilitated group activities delivered via teleconference and tablets.
Engagement: Uber and Lyft — this time as part-time job opportunities — and becoming an Airbnb host.
Connection: Teeniors, tech-savvy teens who help seniors with technology one-on-one, and TechBoomers, training in how to shop, learn, play and socially engage online.
What We Can Learn from New York
You might think a bustling metropolis like New York City would be more difficult to adapt for aging adults than smaller communities — and you’d be wrong. While vibrant West Asheville, North Carolina has done an excellent job of making its community more walkable and age-friendly, in the last decade New York has enacted a profusion of senior-friendly changes throughout the city, including:
“When we talk about aging services, it’s often been narrowly focused on Medicare, Medicaid, and the Older Americans Act,” says aging expert Amanda Lehning, assistant professor at the University of Maryland’s School of Social Work. “What’s really exciting now is that the aging-friendly community movement is broadening the discussion about what kinds of things we should be doing so older adults can continue doing what they’ve done throughout their lives.”
Since the founding of the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) in 2011, lenders have found themselves navigating the ever-changing waters of regulatory compliance. Reverse mortgage lenders have recently felt the impact of the agency with three lenders paying substantial penalties levied. Today more than ever before, compliance is not a merely a burden, it is imperative for the well being of lenders and our industry as a whole. Breaking the Bad News: It’s not the kind of news one wants to break during a corporate earnings call. Walter Investment Corporation revealed two subpoenas related to their former origination unit: Reverse Mortgage Solutions. The subpoenas focused on the former HECM lender’s origination, underwriting and appraisal practices. Even more troubling was the announcement that… Download the video transcript here.
Changing someone’s mind is no easy task, but it is in fact your chosen profession if you are a salesperson. That’s our reality. Quite frankly, unless you want to be walked over you are probably trying to change people’s minds every day, friends, a loved one, family members and other salespeople.
“Everyone should think like me!” If we are honest, it’s a thought we often have when we run up against those with opposing views. Thankfully our world is filled with diverse opinions, viewpoints, and preferences. Let’s be honest if we are frustrated when doesn’t agree with our ideas is it because they won’t budge or the fact that we just don’t know how to persuade them? Consider that for a moment.
Here are some points to remember when trying to persuade others in your professional sales career or outside of the office.
1. Don’t correct them. Research has shown that correcting someone often leads to them doubling down on their position or even worse feeling embarrassed and consequently adversarial. Try the feel, felt, found approach that we’ve discussed on previous episodes. Remember, we are emotional beings and do not operate on logic alone.
2. Make it personal. Be sure to…
Steps to keeping you and your staff safe when meeting in homes. ..Safety: a little-discussed subject that should not be overlooked when going to someone’s home…
About John Luddy: John has trained reverse mortgage professionals how to be successful when sitting face-to-face at the kitchen table with prospective HECM borrowers. Norcom is looking for qualified loan officer candidates. To learn more call 1-860-507-2582 or email John Luddy here
Elder Wisdom for today
We’re living in highly disruptive times. That’s a given. That our elders are key to elevating how we live in these disruptive times may be less obvious. But behind the scenes — and often front and center — the senior population is demonstrating our path forward. Asking your reverse mortgage clients and prospects about their interests and background could lead to some very interesting conversations. Here are a few role models who might serve as talking points:
World-changing wisdom
Deep ecologist Joanna Macy, 87, brings a lifetime of commitment to her world-changing work. The Buddhist scholar, teacher, and author of Coming Back to Life, Active Hope, and World As Lover, World As Self (among many other books) helps people transform denial, despair and grief in the face of the social and ecological challenges of our time. She has been a respected voice in the movements for peace, justice, and ecology for more than five decades, and in 2015 created Work That Reconnects, a groundbreaking theoretical framework for personal and social change, and a workshop methodology for its application.
Macy refers to this time on Earth as The Great Turning, and has had a tremendous impact in educating and empowering people globally to awaken and step up for positive change. Now an elder in the fullest sense, Macy shows no signs of slowing down.
Abuzz for charity
On a smaller but no less significant scale, 94-year-old Jean Bishop, known as the Bee Lady, is the queen bee of fundraising. Bishop has been raising money for charity for 25 years, dressed as, yes, a giant bumblebee (although a comparatively small one, as humans go). Over the years she has raised 112,000 pounds ($139,000).
Evincing the same joie de vivre that characterizes 98-year-old yoga teacher and ballroom dancer Täo Porchon-Lynch, Bishop says, “I didn’t want to put the costume on at first, but when I did it went down like a bomb. Of course, being 94, it does take it out of me a bit, but I won’t let it stop me.”
No failures, experiments
Thomas Edison said, “I have not failed; I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” This is the wisdom a trio of British centenarians embraces that, along with an ability to look ahead — and a sense of humor — keeps them mentally limber.
Two of my favorite pieces of advice come from 101-year-old Cliff Crozier: “Time spent on reconnaissance is seldom wasted. Be as independent as you can, but don’t be reluctant to ask for help when you think you need it.”
Crozier bakes his own bread and cakes from scratch. He says, “I don’t have many failures. If I’m making a cake and it fails, it becomes a pudding.”
Five takeaways
These elders, and many more like them, demonstrate some of the keys to healthy aging:
The political landscape changed with a sudden seismic shift felt across the world. Domestically the impacts of a new populist, small government philosophy may manifest themselves in a variety of ways that will impact reverse mortgage lending this year.
Slashing Domestic Spending:
The Trump administration is contemplating substantial cuts in excess of $6 billion dollars from HUD’s budget, according to documents obtained by the Washington Post. While alarming to some, would such cuts, if realized, substantially impact the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage? The short answer is no as most are speculated to be directed at housing initiatives such as Section 8, community housing projects and assistance programs for elderly low income Americans. Some industry participants however, wonder if continued budget subsidies for the HECM program would place the program in the crosshairs of the federal government’s efforts to reign in domestic spending.
Trump vs. The Fed:
Will Trump regret his comments about the Fed? Throughout his presidential campaign, Donald Trump criticized the Federal Reserve and it’s chair Janet Yellen, of maintaining artificially low interest rates to help Hillary Clinton. In December the Fed raised interest rates on quarter of a percent, the second rate increase since June 2006. Central banks have been reluctant to raise interest rates in the wake of the 2008 financial crash, and home prices have consequently been on a tear. Today, the Fed is projecting three rate hikes this year alone. The impact would be felt by
Perhaps you’ve attended the same classes I have. Self improvement, time management, fitness training, or business coaching. While it is exciting to embrace the idea that we can in fact improve, often times we are setting ourselves up for disappointment because we are in fact, fighting with ourselves. Welcome to Friday’s Food for Thought, brought to you by Open Mortgage, where better is possible.
The odyssey of self-discovery and improvement has many rewards. What often is ignored is when we should quit pushing the same rock uphill and instead reevaluate if we are forcing ourselves into someone else’s ideals or or own.
Time is more than a sequence of events or controlling how we interact with our daily obligations. Chaos, abnormally long hours, diminished health, strained relationships, and procrastination are all good indicators that the wheels have begun to fall off the wagon. One of the biggest traps we can fall into is the quest for efficiency versus being strategic. Let me give you an example.
Hearing loss is a common challenge for the older homeowners you meet. Here are some simple, yet powerful tips to communicate and…
About John Luddy: John has trained reverse mortgage professionals how to be successful when sitting face-to-face at the kitchen table with prospective HECM borrowers. Norcom is looking for qualified loan officer candidates. To learn more call 1-860-507-2582 or email John Luddy here
Power that elevates and heals
If 60 is the new 40, is 90 the new Fountain of Youth? Aside from 95-year-old Betty White, who may be bionic, a number of nonagenarian women exemplify the spirit of how to live — at every age. In fact, 90 may soon be the average female life expectancy in some nations, according to new research. To interest a vintage woman in a reverse mortgage, read on for a deeper understanding of how to approach her:
Joan Kennedy is an accomplished speaker, author and mentor who embodies Helen Keller’s dictum, “Life is either a grand adventure, or nothing.” She recently published Women of a Certain Age Answer 7 Questions About Life, Love and Loss. While the title may be slightly misleading — the ages of contributing authors span eight decades — what’s perhaps most significant about this book is Kennedy’s age: 94. She markets herself as “the oldest motivational speaker in the US.” In describing her enduring success, Kennedy quotes Grandma Moses, who was asked why she began painting so late in life. The legendary artist replied, “At 79, I was too old to work in the fields…but I was too young to sit on the porch!”
Yet Kennedy is by no means unique in these times of extraordinary health and longevity.
Dancing Down the Decades
Täo Porchon-Lynch drives a smart car, is a competitive ballroom dancer, and teaches yoga. She’s one of the more qualified yoga teachers alive, having been a practitioner since 1926. Porchon-Lynch is 98.
She’s led an extraordinary life: becoming a well-known Parisian model, friends with Marilyn Monroe, marching with Gandhi, meeting the Dalai Lama, publishing her autobiography, and stopping the clock on America’s Got Talent (watch this inspiring video!), despite having had three hip replacements. It’s intriguing that her first name means, “the absolute principle underlying the universe.” Her mantra is: “There’s so much to do, and so little time to do it!” Clearly, Täo Porchon-Lynch has not only done it all, she continues to do so, with joie de vivre.
Do these nonagenarians have a telomere-lengthening secret? Yes, though it’s less biological than psychological. While elders such as Betty White, Joan Kennedy, and Täo Porchon-Lynch obviously have excellent genes, their sunny outlook and can-do attitude are the true age-defying attributes. And while scientists aver that aging is reversible with epigenetic reprogramming, turning back the hands of time only makes sense if someone wants more of the life they’ve lived. This is why psychological fitness is as important as physical health.
Helping Others is a Natural Fountain of Youth
Someone like Christie Brinkley, now gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated at 63 with daughters Alexa, 31, and Sailor, 18, may be a candidate to become a nifty nonagenarian, thanks to her lifelong positive perspective.
Then there’s the 92-year-old who recently served as bridesmaid for her granddaughter, who wrote, “At 92 years young, my granny was the most beautiful bridesmaid! I am so fortunate!” The bridesmaid swims one mile a week, line dances, and still owns and maintains her own home, added the bride. (The article didn’t mention whether she has a reverse mortgage. Perhaps she feels she’s still too young to apply.)
Finally, these nonagenarian women honor the Golden Rule. 97-year-old Evelyn lives in a retirement community that discontinued its twice-weekly bus service. Her friend Joyce was despondent, thinking she’d have to move now that she had no way to get to the grocery store. Evelyn promised she’d take Joyce food shopping — even though her driver’s license had been revoked because someone decided she was “too old to drive.”
Evelyn got feisty. She said, “I made a promise,” so she went to sit the driving test and get her license back. She passed, her license was reissued, and she and Joyce now drive to the grocery store together every week.
