“A lot of folks who have been in the business for a long time and have a robust book of business are looking at it and going, ‘Wow, this is an excellent opportunity,’” Cory says. “And people newer to the business are saying, ‘Wow, this is interesting. I didn’t realize I could offer this, and I’m ready to add that to my toolkit.’” Removing Doubt Chriss Carr, a LO at Guild, has seen the value of reverse mortgages and become a convert. Carr, who started his forward mortgage career in 1979, says he doubted the value of reverse mortgages until he started studying them this past fall. “I had known about reverse mortgages for probably 30 years, but I wasn’t even attempting to originate those loans,” Carr says, adding that he once owned a forward mortgage company. Reverse mortgages weren’t part of that business. “It was never something that I had any interest in.” That changed in 2023 when sales leads through Guild started coming in for reverse mortgages. He acknowledges that he hadn’t been paying attention to the materials distributed by Guild that explained how the products worked. “I began thinking that I should start listening to the webinars, and there were several to listen to. And the more I was educated, the more excited I got about it,” Carr says. “I started to believe in the product.” He liked that it could help people whether they needed the cash flow to pay bills by shedding their mortgage payment and having a cushion or they wanted to have some extra spending money. Along the way, he got a reverse mortgage for himself. “It didn’t make sense to have this housing wealth and do nothing with it,” Carr says about his pursuit of a reverse mortgage. As he works with clients, his own experience helps. “I didn’t get a reverse mortgage so I could sell it. I got it because I wanted it. But it resonates with people that I have one.” Because he has been in the mortgage business for so long, he can now go back through his past deals and see who else might benefit. “It’s all about getting in front of people,” Carr says. “The people who say, ‘I’m not interested right now,’ I don’t get discouraged about that. This is not a product that you’re going to talk to someone today and they’re going to get tomorrow. You must get it into people’s heads.” When talking to a neighbor recently, the topic came up organically, so he was prepared to discuss equity release as an idea to consider. “He didn’t know about the product,” Carr says. “Now he is interested in it and wants to get more information.” For other LOs, they, too, need “to get educated and open their minds to it,” he adds. He read the book Housing Wealth by Don Graves, who takes the mystery out of reverse mortgages, Carr says. “Graves says in his book that it’s just a mortgage. And once you learn about it, it’s not that different from a forward mortgage,” Carr says. “And the good news is that qualifying is much less restricted. People have to have a significant amount of equity in the property. But once you grasp it—and it took me at least a couple of months—it is not rocket science. It’s a pretty simple process.” Having Conversations Kilty started in the mortgage business 25 years ago right out of high school and while working his way through college. He added reverse mortgages to his mix about 15 years ago. “Reverse mortgages were one of those things that was different, and there was a need,” Kilty says. “It can work for people in different situations.” Eventually, he started talking to his forward mortgage clients about reverse mortgages. As those clients age into retirement, they will have years if not decades Spreading Reverses Through Forwards continued from page 25 Chriss Carr “It’s all about getting in front of people. The people who say, ‘I’m not interested right now,’ I don’t get discouraged about that. This is not a product that you’re going to talk to someone today and they’re going to get tomorrow. You must get it into people’s heads.” —Chriss Carr, loan officer at Guild Mortgage 26 REVERSE MORTGAGE / JULY-AUGUST 2024
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