Reverse Mortgage magazine Nov-Dec 2020

LESS OFFICE SPACE. More video conferencing. Renewed efforts to build on the past year’s growth in the reverse mortgage market. That’s the broad outlook for 2021 from some industry executives, even as they grapple with the fallout from 2020. “They didn’t shuffle the cards. They handed us a new deck, and we have no idea what the cards are,” says George Downey, CRMP, founder of Harbor Mortgage Solutions Inc. in Braintree, MA. “That’s the reality that we’re dealing with. Nothing is for certain anymore. Everything is in question.” Like many executives, Downey is planning in the year ahead to look past what he can’t control, focus on what he can and prepare to change course as needed. Nonetheless, he was optimistic about the future of the reverse mortgage. “Properly utilized, a reverse mortgage, like a vaccine, may help seniors ward off or diminish finan- cial risk, and reduce the fear of run- ning out of money,” says Downey, who is on the board of directors for the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association. When it hit the U.S. in March, the COVID-19 pan- demic transformed the reverse lending industry, from meet- ings with clients to conducting appraisals to complying George Downey 2021 Offers Potential Reverse Mortgages Prove Their Worth Through Crisis Year By Joel Berg 18 REVERSE MORTGAGE / NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2020