To help our members get to know one another, NRMLA publishes periodic Member Spotlights that feature professionals from across the reverse mortgage ecosystem.
Meet John Luddy, senior vice president in charge of reverse mortgage lending at Norcom Mortgage, based in Avon, CT.
John has been in the mortgage business for over 40 years. During the first 20 years of his career, he originated only forward mortgages, averaging over 500 per year. For the last 20 years, he has originated only reverse mortgages.
As the manager of the reverse mortgage division, John travels throughout the country, helping branches learn the reverse mortgage business. John lives in Connecticut with his wife of over 40 years Bernadine. They have two grown children.
What topics in the reverse mortgage world are you focused on?
My main focus is training forward loan officers on the features and benefits of reverse mortgages and more importantly how to ‘sell’ them to their lead sources. I love sales training!!!
If you could offer one piece of advice to someone who wants to get into the reverse mortgage world, what would that be and why?
My one piece of advice for people trying to enter the reverse mortgage world is to be a perennial, not an annual. Think of flowers. A perennial builds a strong root system. An annual is a burst of color but cannot survive inclement weather. In the reverse mortgage world, you should chase lead sources, not leads. Build a strong root system, a network of referral partners that can sustain you throw out any changes in the economy. Refinancing HECMs is not a career.
If you could trade places with anyone for a day, who would it be and why?
I would like to be the head of HUD for a day so that we could return back to spot condo approvals. It would help homeownership immensely. Creating opportunities for first-time buyers to enter the world of homeownership. And it would help so many of our seniors remain at home without having to worry about their finances. It would be a huge help to the real estate and finance community and would help so many of our needy and deserving borrowers.
What was your favorite NRMLA conference?
Although I have been to many and I’ve been on several panels, I think my favorite was the convention in Long Beach, California. I gave some practical sales tips. When it was over, members rushed to the stage to tell me my ideas could help change their careers. I have to say quite frankly, it was very gratifying to help others who have been in the business for as long as some of them have.
