and learning everything she can about them. She can then send them handwritten notes containing gift cards for the things they love when she wants to thank them for a referral. “It really does wonders for my clients,” she says. Class Act It’s no secret that the public’s general understanding of reverse mortgages often falls short. But the same is true of professionals in areas such as real estate and finance. Matt Harrison, CRMP, a loan consultant for loanDepot (Editor’s Note: Harrison has since changed companies) in Utah and a former real estate agent, didn’t learn of the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program until he had been originating mortgages for more than a year. But he quickly saw their potential, particularly on the purchase side. “I wish I had known about it back when I was actually doing real estate,” he says. He now tries to make sure other real estate agents aren’t missing out. He developed a continuing education (CE) course on HECMs for Purchase, obtained a state license and began pitching his course to real estate offices. “It was amazing to me, right off the bat, the number of offices I was able to get into,” he says. “Whether there was a [marketing service agreement] currently with another lender or not, it did not matter. They said, ‘You know what? We need the CE. Sounds like a great course.’” He was equally pleased at the reaction of the professionals who attended the courses. They stuck around after the class to ask questions and refer people who might benefit from a HECM. Real estate agents also have begun asking for more advanced classes on the topic, Harrison adds. “This is all about getting the information out, getting yourself into a position where you are the expert,” he says. “People will trust you and they’re going to go to you for questions.” Working the Phones Video chat in all its permutations has been the “it” technology of the pandemic. But the telephone remains a vital tool, particularly when following up on sales leads. The key is to quickly win the trust of the person on the other end of the line, who may already be on the defensive, says Ryan Philip, CRMP, a senior reverse mortgage specialist with Longbridge Financial in Bloomfield, NJ. “The first thing I’ve always tried to do is to break down that barrier,” Philip says, citing an example from his own life. After coming home from work and sitting down to dinner, he got a phone call from a phone company salesperson. Philip let the caller know he was having dinner. “And he responded with a question,” Philip says. “He said, ‘What’s for dinner?’” The question broke down the barrier, Philip says, and he heard the salesperson out. Now, Philip says, he sees it as a challenge to get past whatever a potential borrower throws at him and to react without fear. “That’s what I always try to stress,” he says. “Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t psych yourself out before the call.” He also advises not to give up on borrowers who say they have picked another lender. “When I get that, I’ll say, ‘Have you taken a look at some comparisons? Let’s make sure you’re getting a fair deal.’” The borrower often isn’t interested, Philip says. But he says he will follow up three weeks later to ask about the lending process. “I can’t tell you how many deals that has led to because they may have said, ‘Oh, that John was too pushy. I didn’t want to deal with him,’” Philip says. Even after a loan closes, it’s important to remain in contact, adds Harrison. “We need to go into this industry with a completely different mindset. We’re no longer in the industry of selling mortgages, whether they’re forward or reverse. We’re in the industry of helping our clients manage real estate assets over time. And if we have that mindset, we should be talking to our clients at least once a year.” Closing Fast A good loan originator can bring a HECM from application to funding in 30 days. But it can take longer—often for reasons outside the originator’s control. Sales Boost continued on page 20 Ryan Philip Matt Harrison REVERSE MORTGAGE / MARCH-APR I L 2022 19
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