with mortgages,” he says. “The biggest challenge with reverse mortgages is getting over those misconceptions. There’s still so much education to go around, regardless of age.” Adding Reverse to Forward Portfolios Kilty is making those points to clients from the perspective of someone who knows both forward mortgages and reverse mortgages. He is one of many examples of loan officers (LOs) who started with forward mortgages and eventually added reverse mortgages to their offerings. In recent years, industry leaders have increasingly sought forward mortgage professionals who are willing to learn how to add reverse mortgages to their portfolio of products. At Guild Mortgage, the company has made a concerted effort to get its vast network of forward LOs to add reverse mortgages to their product portfolios, says Jim Cory, CRMP, Guild’s managing director of reverse. “We are leveraging the large workforce of traditional loan originators who are at Guild so that they can offer reverse and offer it with some level of expertise,” says Cory, who is also vice chair of NRMLA. “We strongly believe in the forward originator being able to do the reverse mortgage themselves with assistance from the reverse folks.” The past year has been difficult in the mortgage market, which has made it a good time to ramp up the training with LOs. When teaching them about reverse mortgages, Cory likes to point out the similarities in the processes, which help people learn quickly. “The reverse is quite a bit different than the forward products, but we feel that it should be another product that a loan originator can offer, just like a Federal Housing Administration or Veterans Administration (VA) loan,” Cory says. “We try to make the product simple. We like to say that, if you come across a veteran or active-duty person, you’re going to offer them a VA loan. It’s the same thing if you come across people 62-plus—you should offer them a reverse mortgage option.” Many LOs might be hesitant at first because they don’t fully understand the product. The company counters that by offering training through large events, as well as one-on-one coaching. It also will pair people up with mentors. Whether early, midway or late in their careers, most LOs have been responsive to the training, he adds. Spreading Reverses Through Forwards continued on page 26 Jim Cory “The reverse is quite a bit different than the forward products, but we feel that it should be another product that a loan originator can offer, just like a Federal Housing Administration or Veterans Administration loan.” —Jim Cory, CRMP, Guild Mortgage’s managing director of reverse and NRMLA vice chair REVERSE MORTGAGE / JULY-AUGUST 2024 25
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