If more than one-third of your reverse mortgage loans are HECM-to-HECM refinances you’re running out of time. Time to refurbish your loan pipeline. Time to build effective and productive referral relationships.
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Knowing HECM-to-HECM refinances will eventually fade, here are 11 practical ways to grow your business in any market.
-Shannon Hicks
Last fishing season I sat down with my friend Mike and caught up on his recent fly fishing exploits in Shasta Lake, California. As an experienced fisherman, he related to me how he adjusted his typical techniques due to the rapidly-rising waters in the reservoir after several weeks of heavy rain and snowfall. The water was brown in several spots obscuring the fish below the surface, the currents had changed, and small inlets disappeared. Basically, he had to reinvent his approach in a rapidly changing environment. His flexibility paid off with over 20 fish caught and released.
Mike’s technique is specific and targeted. The opposite approach is deep sea drift netting, which hangs several large net curtains under the water’s surface catching nearly everything in its path- often entangling smaller fish that must be thrown back.
While it is easy to lament the decline in homeowners taking a reverse mortgage, the more intriguing question is how do a handful of HECM professionals succeed in today’s marketplace? Here are just a few of the ways today’s top producers tell us they attracting and closing qualified homeowners.
Whichever method you choose, commit to hanging up your driftnet and pick up your fly rod and reel. Explore the smaller niche inlets and coves overlooked by most that are rich with opportunity.
Here’s a short ‘how-to-guide’ on how to get on your local television station and what topics to present.
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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Last fishing season I sat down with my friend Mike and caught up on his recent fly fishing exploits in Shasta Lake, California. As an experienced fisherman, he related to me how he adjusted his typical techniques due to the rapidly-rising waters in the reservoir after several weeks of heavy rain and snowfall. The water was brown in several spots obscuring the fish below the surface, the currents had changed, and small inlets disappeared. Basically, he had to reinvent his approach in a rapidly changing environment. His flexibility paid off with over 20 fish caught and released.
Mike’s technique is specific and targeted. The opposite approach is deep sea drift netting, which hangs several large net curtains under the water’s surface catching nearly everything in its path- often entangling smaller fish that must be thrown back.
While it is easy to lament the decline in homeowners taking a reverse mortgage, the more intriguing question is how do a handful of HECM professionals succeed in today’s marketplace? Here are just a few of the ways today’s top producers tell us they attracting and closing qualified homeowners.
Whichever method you choose, commit to hanging up your driftnet and pick up your fly rod and reel. Explore the smaller niche inlets and coves overlooked by most that are rich with opportunity.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.” – Charles Dickens ~ A Tale of Two Cities
While Dickens’s opening lines are not prescient they certainly could describe the current state of affairs in which we find ourselves. Lenders are seeing a significant rebound in consumer interest as evidenced in new application activity, as several retirees and seniors face lean times seeing the coronavirus continue to spread across the globe.
Today long-term inflation remains moderate, however, food prices jumped significantly this quarter as supply chains were temporarily interrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. NBC reported that beef prices jumped 20.4% from April to July. Everyone is feeling the squeeze- the mass affluent, middle class, and low-income older homeowner.
However, beyond daily expenditures seniors who dutifully saved are feeling the brunt as well. Millions of older Americans count on dividends to make ends meet. These shareholders are seeing dividend payouts slashed as over 700 publicly traded companies seeking to preserve cash in an uncertain economy announced a reduction or suspension of dividends. For example, last month MarketWatch noted the highly-touted Halliburton (HAL) slashed their quarterly dividend payouts 75% in May to 18 cents a share. The Janus Henderson asset management group sees this trend continuing. In its recent Global Dividend Index report, Janus projects dividend payouts will decrease between 15-34% by the end of 2020.
Consequently, older homeowners with substantial investments who rely on dividend payouts and those whose home is their most significant asset are facing lean times; both will need a source of funds to bridge the gap. Investors may be forced to tap into their cash savings or worse, sell stocks at a significant loss. Moderate and lower-income senior homeowners have limited options and are likely to begin viewing their home’s equity in a new light.
Americans are an optimistic lot not naturally inclined to anticipate unnerving ‘what-if’ scenarios. However many ancient philosophers did anticipate potential outcomes practicing ‘premeditatio malorum’- which loosely translated means to ‘anticipate the worst and plan accordingly’. Reverse mortgage professionals can encourage this mindset by asking some simple questions. “How long would your cash reserves last if you continue to use them to cover monthly expenses?” “Do you have a plan if you no don’t receive any dividends this year or next?”. Those working with a financial professional may be hearing similar probing inquires from their advisor.
Your mission should you choose to accept it is to continually build momentum in presenting the reverse mortgage not as a cure-all for one’s financial woes, but simply as a valid and established potential solution which could help older homeowners weather the economic storm in which we find ourselves. Now is the time to schedule those financial advisor introductions you’ve been putting off or plan your first public seminar.
Fortune favors the bold, especially when opportunity presents itself in the midst of adversity.
We all love a good story. Here’s how you can use storytelling with your potential borrowers.
Our developers have been busy little bees adding these new amazing improvements to MyLoanOfficer- your compliant, responsive professional reverse mortgage website. Questions? Contact us here.
The story is etched in my memory. My friend Eric recounted last year how his mother had told him about her plans to get new window-coverings throughout the house and why he told her to cancel her next appointment. We’ll get to that in just a moment.
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My friend is like most adult children I know. They don’t want to intrude into mom and dad’s privacy, but they’re also protective. One way adult children try to ensure their parents are not taken advantage of when purchasing a good or services is to check on the chosen individual or company. And how do most of us research a company before we do business with them? Online.
Eric asked his mom for the name of the company and she handed him the business card the young man had left behind. No website was listed, so he searched for them online and found nothing. Zero, zilch, nada. Rather than risk his mom doing business with a complete unknown who isn’t online, he asked her to cancel and go with his personal recommendation. That window/blind salesperson lost out on a $5,000 sale, all for the mistake of not having an online presence.
All which leads us to the question. What will happen when the adult children look you up online? Will you be found? Do the search results build confidence or undermine it? Even better, would mom or dad have found you first online searching for ‘reverse mortgages’ in their city? If you’re going to win that game you have to show up on the first page of the search engine results. Studies show that 94% of web users click on the links on the first page of their search results, with only 6% clicking on a listing on the second page.
If you cannot be found online, your competitor will be. How many additional loans could you have closed this year had your website (if you have one) showed up on Google’s first page results?
If you’re serious about learning how online dominance and a sensible online strategy could work for you, register for our upcoming webinars.
