From the Top The LTC agent came back to me a while later complaining about the guy she was working for and begging me to let her and her partner come work with us. She promised, “I’ll teach you how to do reverse mortgages.” That was the beginning of my journey, and I’ve never looked back. RM: What motivated you to obtain the CRMP, and how have you benefited from it all these years? NS: I wanted to set myself apart. When it first came out, I already met the qualifications, and what did I have to lose from some extra continuing education (CE)? Any licensed attorney can handle a bankruptcy, a divorce or an estate case, but should they? Are they an expert in those particular fields? You want to set yourself apart as an expert in something, and the CRMP certification was a way for me to set myself apart as someone who is dedicated to the reverse mortgage space, who knows it, understands it. Not just someone who can do reverse mortgages, but someone who does them as a regular part of his business. RM: How do you utilize it? NS: My clients sometimes ask me, “Why should I use you?” Usually, my answer goes like this, “Listen, I’m not someone sitting in a call center who started doing this yesterday. I’ve been doing reverse mortgages for years. I’m an expert in this field and am part of a small group of people who are certified.” That’s the value. I also think people find me occasionally on the NRMLA consumer website as being certified, and that also provides value. I can’t quantify it. I don’t know how many times that happens. But it has taught me that a lot of times people are doing background checks on you before they decide to do business. I’ve seen my LinkedIn profile sitting on the kitchen counter. I want to stack the deck in my favor in any way possible. RM: Tell us about Atlantic Coast Mortgage and what distinguishes it from other mortgage lenders. NS: I think the culture at ACM is different than a lot of other places. Our forward loan officers are an amazing team of top industry producers who are helpful to each other and supportive of what we do in reverse. Our leadership team is generally very accessible, and great guys. The mortgage business in general has a history of being a sort of “good old boys” network, but at ACM, our top producers every year, maybe 90 percent of them, are women. The company is also supportive of reverse mortgages. Reverse mortgage professionals who work in shops that primarily do forward mortgages often say that they feel like redheaded stepchildren. Sure, we have a much smaller team, but I’ve never felt like an “other” here. RM: How many people are part of the reverse mortgage team? NS: The company overall has about 175 loan officers. Our reverse mortgage team has six right now, and we are looking to grow. We’re able to close reverse mortgages in 28 states with licenses pending in a few more. That gives us a pretty good footprint. RM: You’re an active member of the HUD Issues Committee, which spent a great deal of time this past fall reviewing the HECM Handbook. What new policies in the HECM Handbook are you most excited about? NS: I’m a purchase guy, so the improvements there piqued my interest. Interested party contributions are going to be super helpful. Prohibited seller concessions have always been a hurdle for us, particularly with new construction, because it meant many of our buyers were leaving money on the table or the builders in some cases just refused to modify their contracts. Now, we have a method for calculating concessions and moving forward with the transaction. It’s a huge step in the right direction. It’s going to take a lot off our plates not having to explain, amend and rewrite contracts. From a contractual standpoint, HECM loans work pretty much just like a traditional forward mortgage. RM: Do you think allowing for seller concessions will help increase HECM for Purchase (H4P) volume? NS: I am hopeful. Anything we can do to make the reverse seem more “normal” to agents, builders and sellers should help us increase volume. Time will tell. RM: Are there particular approaches to marketing and lead generation that you try to instill in your sales team? NS: We don’t buy leads or do TV commercials. We’re all doing our own thing to generate business, and my team is pretty good at it. We don’t have to do a lot of coaching. A lot of my business comes from referrals. From the Top continued from page 9 10 REVERSE MORTGAGE / MAY-JUNE 2024
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