Beyond the top reverse mortgage stories for this year there are some greater lessons to be gleaned from what is sure to be noted as a watershed year for the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program. Here are a few take aways for us to consider…
Continue readingThe Holiday Spirit: How to Show You Care
To a senior whose life partner may have passed on, or to someone who is ill and alone, or too frail to travel, the holidays can be simply one more reminder of mortality. A look at ways to extend your reverse mortgage mission of senior service to encompass the holidays…
Continue readingShaping the Message: Extreme Summit
Controlling Our Market Brand and Perception
Marketing experts see plenty of companies begin a public relations campaign and then leave it in the hands of the media. When it comes to reverse mortgages one can safely say the media has done its share of harming the reverse mortgage’s reputation with half-truths, inaccuracies and outright misleading statements. Sure some media outlets have given balanced or positive coverage but are we controlling and shaping the message. The good news is that our industry is taking action. The National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association in cooperation with several lenders is launching the “Extreme Summit”. Its a PR effort focused on geo-targeted advertising, driving positive impressions in the news and rebranding the HECM product itself.
The idea was born from a brainstorming session held at NRMLA’s 2012 annual meeting in San Antonio led by Liberty Home Equity Solutions CEO Otto Kumbar. Lender participants are putting there money where their mouth is committing over $2 million dollars to date. Such a campaign is critical since the perceived typical reverse mortgage borrower is becoming more scarce in light of reduced lending ratios and the financial assessment. If we let the media and general public push the erroneous notion the loan is only for the house rich and cash poor our marketshare stands to take another cut. Rather than playing damage control…
Stay Warm! Winterizing Senior Housing
Yet a winter-worthy home is not only essential for a senior’s health and well-being; one of the underwriting requirements for a reverse mortgage is a permanent source of heating.
Continue readingAgainst The Wind
[vimeo id=”81221046″ width=”625″ height=”352″]
2014 Presents Challenge & Opportunity for HECM Industry
The classic Bob Seger song laments, “Against the wind. I’m older now but still running against the wind.” Both retirees and our industry are pressing against the resistance of retirement funding and a more restrictive product for us to offer. The good news is that the reverse mortgage industry and the HECM product have proven their staying power having endured one of the worst housing crashes in history, an economic crash and numerous product changes. Also increasing home values have buoyed production with an increase of 15% through November.
The next headwind will be felt once HUD enacts the financial assessment in it’s effort to reduce risks of borrower defaults and subsequent claims against FHA’s insurance fund. But are some of these recent developments a blessing in disguise? Columnist Phil Hall in the National Mortgage Professional Magazine says yes. Hall says, “A new oversight regimen may finally help to erase the lingering doubts surrounding the product.” If we look at the true obstacle for market growth it’s not the 15% reduction in principal limits, the elimination of the Standard Fixed rate or increased insurance premiums. It’s our industry’s reputational woes. Hall cites one originators experience…
Speak, Memory
Memory is a powerful pathway into deep sourcing; manifesting has to do with public accountability, and, once we embody (live) what we are creating, sustaining it is an ongoing process of learning and personal growth.
Continue readingExpanding the Service Circle
Looking to expand your reverse mortgage reach? Here are two creative ways to serve seniors, and build goodwill.
Continue readingRetirement Views May Expand Reverse Market
[ad#Network Funding]
[vimeo id=”80085113″ width=”625″ height=”352″]
Changes In Retirement And The Reverse Mortgage Market
In recent years American’s views on retirement have changed substantially. Many are working longer not from choice but need. Dan Gorin, supervisory policy analyst for the Federal Reserve said “The definition of retirement has changed dramatically. In the past when we asked people surveyed, those who were planning to work forever had answers that were twofold; some said ‘I like to work,’ and some said, ‘I need the money.’ More recently, more people saying they’re never going to retire because they need to work.” What is ironic is that only 8% of those aged 62 or older have even considered a reverse mortgage and 2% actually took one according to a nationwide survey conducted last December by the RAND American Life Panel.
So what are the other 92% doing? It may boil down to denial and resistance in seeking assistance. Gorin says fewer than half, yes half of Americans actually seek advice on housing and retirement finances. This is tragic as the the home represents the majority for even moderately affluent individuals pre-retirement wealth. Many Pre-retirees are aware of the benefits of non-taxable home sales gains, mortgage interest tax deductions and energy tax credits but oblivious of the assets full potential when employed in a comprehensive retirement plan. Not surprising since most senior homeowners have no experience in converting debt into cash flow. This chart from the American Housing Survey in 2007 shows the sleeping giant of home equity with 64% having no mortgage whatsoever and 35% holding some combination of a mortgage, second or line of credit. Today’s retirees overlook their home being more concerned with equity security than income security. Equity security is hard-wired into the American psyche. Work, save, payoff your mortgage and retire with no mortgage payments as you transition into the fixed income years of your retirement. Income security however, lends itself more to truly solving the most vexing issue in retirement…
Find reverse mortgage news, tools and training at ReverseFocus.com !
Retirement Planning in the Age of Longevity
Researchers say the biggest challenge seniors face is failing to plan for retirement at all. Only a third of adults in their 50s have ever tried to devise a retirement plan…and only two-thirds of those who have tried have succeeded.
Continue readingA Bigger Pie – Expanding Our Marketshare
Larger Market = More Qualified & Interested Borrowers
[ad#Network Funding]
[vimeo id=”78962141″ width=”625″ height=”352″]
It’s a marketshare problem. As an industry we have been negatively impacted by falling home values, cuts in lending ratios or principal limits, elimination of products and borrower qualification guidelines. In 2009 over 114,000 reverse mortgages were endorsed versus only 54,000 in 2012. Consequently we can easily point to any of these factors as the leading cause of our lack industry volume. But are we not seeing the forest through the trees? One well-respected industry leader told me “I don’t want a bigger piece of the pie but a bigger pie itself”. Otto Cushman, CEO of Liberty Home Equity Solutions was quoted in Reverse Review’s article entitled “Extreme Summit” saying “ Less than 1% penetration, We are failing”. He backs his assertion comparing 50,000 endorsed loans in 2013 to 200,000,000 [correction made from 200,000] qualified senior households with sufficient equity equally a paltry one quarter precent of available marketshare. It’s boils down to the law of numbers. The same principle that motivates us to look at how many leads it takes to generate X amount of loans per month should be our approach to marketshare. More positively interested potential borrowers equals more loans. So where do we beign?
Reverse Mortgage News, Training & Technology at ReverseFocus.com
