Over the past year, members of the reverse mortgage industry have made a more concerted effort to connect with their counterparts in the term mortgage space. The efforts have not gone unnoticed, as more forward-thinking mortgage companies – especially in a higher interest rate environment – have begun to see value in the potential addition of reverse mortgages to their product lineups.
While some term loan companies have gone out of their way to acquire reverse mortgage lending divisions and incorporate them into their ongoing operations, others have strengthened their existing reverse mortgage lending divisions. And some reverse-only companies have sought to forge closer ties with the much larger forward mortgage industry.
This year Association of Mortgage Bankers (MBA) Annual Convention and Expo, several reverse mortgage professionals were in attendance to try to create these closer ties with their future counterparts. HousingWire‘s Reverse Mortgage Daily (RMD) spoke with some of these professionals to discuss their experiences.
Conference connections
Jim Cory, Director of Reverse Mortgages at Guild Mortgageis in a unique position as he was also recently elected co-chair of the National Association of Reverse Mortgage Lenders (NRMLA). Cory said NRMLA hopes to prioritize exposing the reverse mortgage product to more people in the coming year – and outreach at industry events is part of that.
When asked about the level of receptiveness of the forward-thinking professionals he spoke to about dealing with the topic of reverse mortgages, Cory said the openness people have is much better than in years past.
“There’s a new group of big forwards compared to years past,” Cory said. “That, I think, has increased the acceptance of talking about it. The MBA is much more interested [in reverse] and it really fits this mission well. People are talking and want to hear more.”
There was also a more pronounced presence of reverse mortgages at the MBA event in Denver in October. Cory, who attended the 2023 event and spoke along with some industry colleagues during the programming, said he did not recall any reverse lenders on the exhibit hall floor and could not recall if there were any reverse mortgage sponsors.
This year, however, there was one major reverse lender on the floor and another a sponsorship, which he says represents progress.
Finance of America (FOA) was present with a stand at the event. Ashley Smith, the company’s senior vice president of brand marketing and strategic communications, said home equity was a hot topic during the event. That made it easier for FOA representatives to start conversations, she said.
“There’s been, I think, a definite increase in interest,” Smith said. “We had a lot of visitors to our booth, our account managers had meaningful conversations, and HomeSafe Second in particular is a product that visitors heard about for the first time and that really seemed to resonate.”
HomeSafe Second is FOA’s proprietary reverse mortgage product. It is currently the only second lien reverse mortgage available on the market. The product has been a major focus of FOA’s outreach efforts since it was reintroduced to the market in early 2023.
“It is the only closed-end second on the market that does not require monthly payments and checks many boxes for consumers,” she said. “So the novelty, I think, of being able to talk about a product that fills gaps in the mainstream product selection was interesting to people.”
But more progressive mortgage companies are also striving to connect with consumers in new ways. Smith said the attitude seemed to reflect a greater openness to dabbling in what has long been a niche product on the rise.
Expanding the Rolodex
Longbridge financial also participated more actively in the MBA event this year with a sponsor presence. The company, which has focused on building partnerships with brokers, decided to make an appearance at MBA Annual in an effort to facilitate more conversations with major lenders on the progressive side.
“Our goal at MBA is to meet as many of these types of lenders as possible,” said Adrian Prieto, senior vice president of wholesale at Longbridge, in an on-site interview at the October event. “The conversation can be as simple as reverse mortgage 101, or how their service portfolio [could be open] to options with reverse mortgages.”
But there was still a lack of reverse mortgage representation at the event, which could be due to multiple factors, Prieto added. Getting meetings with the kind of people they want is an incredibly competitive process, he said, but this serves as an important first step in further building these kinds of relationships.
Smith acknowledged this too. While traffic and conversation at the FOA booth have been productive – especially around the company’s own product – an environment like MBA Annual shows that the upside industry still has work to do to get more attention from the progressive side.
“The intent was for our top executives to be there to open new relationships to talk at a deeper and more strategic level about incorporating our products into the growth strategies for lenders across the country looking to diversify,” said Smith.
