May-June2020 Issue

In Reverse Find Leads Through Community Agencies Tap Those Helping People Who Are Aging in Place By Thomas A. Barstow SOME OF THE MORE OBVIOUS sources of sales leads— financial planners and Realtors—always will offer sound referrals, and developing those relationships means getting involved in your communities through various business groups and meetings. But as newer generations of older Americans continue to want to age in place, entire new industries have been created or are expanding to support this trend. Those businesses might include agencies that help with transportation, provide home healthcare and retrofit houses. They could be church groups seeking solutions for their flocks. Indeed, a check around your community or with a local chamber of commerce will steer you to such businesses, as will the National Aging in Place Council (NAIPC), which has chapters nationwide and is growing. Getting involved not only will be an opportunity, perhaps, to give back to your community but also to provide contacts for those who might not know about or understand reverse mortgages. In this issue of Reverse Mortgage, we examine some of these trends. In the cover story written by Joel Berg (p. 20), he notes that the list of professionals is extensive, including therapists, elder law attorneys and audiologists, all of which you might not have considered before as people whose patients or clients might benefit from the extraordinary opportunities offered by a reverse mortgage. Your job, of course, is to understand those needs enough to explain how problems can be solved by releasing equity in a home. “Getting a referral from somebody in the National Aging in Place Council is better than when someone calls in based on a website or a card they pick up in a deli,” Timothy Kennedy, CRMP, tells Berg about his work in Long Island, NY, with US Mortgage Corp. As a member of the NAIPC’s Long Island chapter, Kennedy explains that he can talk about his products with people who have gotten to know and trust him. “It gives me a pulpit, so to speak, to educate other professionals on the misconceptions of the past and to explain the benefits available today,” he tells Berg. Laura Giunta, Long Island chapter chair, notes that the education helped her see the opportunities with reverse mortgages. “When we see someone who’s struggling, it’s a In Reverse continued on page 4 REVERSE MORTGAGE / MAY-JUNE 2020 3