Reverse Mortgage Jan-Feb 2021

In Reverse Realism,With a Dose of Optimism Now Is Not the Time to Let Up By Thomas A. Barstow EACH DECEMBER, WORKERS and leaders nationwide scramble to tidy up work, close out books, if their fiscal year mirrors the calendar year, ponder last-minute tax maneuvers and otherwise do a myriad of tasks to open some free time for the holidays, while looking for a fresh start with the changing calendar. It’s almost as if some sort of finish line is being crossed, where nothing but good times will follow in the New Year. “The thing is,” a mentor in the newspaper industry once told me early in my career, “on January 1, we still have a daily newspaper to get out. And then another one on January 2. And each day, every day, for the rest of the year.” My old boss was a bit of a killjoy. But I came to appreciate how there is no true finish line in any business that expects to stay in business. That realism isn’t so harsh, however, if it is tempered with a bit of optimism. There is nothing like put- ting an old year behind with the hope and expectation—and a large dose of hard work—the new one will be better. So, we start January 1, 2021, with a lot of the same problems from 2020. Even the full impact of the election will play out for months, as you will see in this edition’s cover story (p. 16), Now What? With the 2020 Election Over, Experts Gauge Political Winds . The new year starts affecting every business in the reverse mortgage industry, with Ginnie Mae no longer allowing adjustable-rate HECMs to be tied to the LIBOR Index. That is a year earlier than initially anticipated. The leaders at NRMLA had been working diligently on the changeover well ahead of time, so they have been able to adjust. But that task has not been easy, as you will see in the article (p. 24), LIBOR Issues Explained . If you didn’t know much about the LIBOR change and what it might mean to your business, writer Joel Berg will give you an overview that at least should get you asking all the right questions. And notice how I haven’t mentioned the pandemic. No one needs to point out that 800-pound monster in the room. We all know it is there. It has been there since last winter. It was there all spring, summer and fall, and it is grinding into 2021 with all the negative forces that brought the wider national economy to a crisis. Those who tried to ignore the monster might be floundering. But those who acknowledged its presence—adjusting, In Reverse continued on page 4 REVERSE MORTGAGE / JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2021 3