ONE OF MELINDA Hipp’s clients is a grandfather who takes each of his grandchildren to France when they get old enough. His philosophy: Enjoy his grandchildren’s inheritance with them while he’s living. Every client has a story, says Hipp, and that is what makes this business so interesting. “You’re doing just one product, but you’re dealing with so many different people,” Hipp says. “They all have different needs—everything from the person who just really needs to fix up the house to the borrower whose kids are paying $5,000 out of their own pockets to pay for their home care because they want to age in the home they love.” Hipp is a trailblazer in Texas reverse mortgages who also has opened doors for women in golf. Like many reverse mortgage professionals, she followed a winding career path. As a child growing up in Texas, she dreamed of becoming a band director. When teaching didn’t suit her, she earned a master’s degree in arts management and an MBA. She was hoping for a career managing symphony orchestras, while her tuba-playing husband took “audition after audition after audition” with symphonies. When he won a seat in the San Antonio Symphony in the early 1990s, the city became their home. In those years, Hipp’s grandmother, with whom she was close, moved to the area to be near family. Hipp had also dabbled in real estate, and when she was refinancing her own mortgage, a lightbulb went off. She jumped into mortgages in 1998 and has never looked back. “I could use my brains and background in real estate,” she says. “I had my MBA. This is a job I could do on my own and build my own business.” In 1999, Texans voted yes on a constitutional referendum to allow reverse mortgages to be made in the Lone Star state. After a long process of compiling the documents, creating a marketing plan, contacting referral partners and building a team, Hipp started writing reverse mortgages around 2007–08. The passion of attendees at a NRMLA regional conference in Denver in the mid-2000s “set me on fire,” she says. Texas needed more services for an increasingly aging population, and she saw a niche. “I could specialize in something,” she says. “I could stand out. I’ve always been one of these people that did something everybody else didn’t do.” After seven years, her employer decided against doing reverse mortgages, so Hipp struck out on her own. For about four more years, she originated forward and reverse mortgages until switching branch affiliations and focusing increasingly on reverse mortgages. Then came the pandemic, and Hipp had time to think. The industry was changing, and Mutual of Omaha was aiming to become a top contender in reverse mortgages. A regional manager had been encouraging her to come on board, and she asked for—and received—a management role. She started with about four workers. In less than two years, she had 14, specializing in HECMs. Mutual of Omaha is “all about retirement,” she says. “That’s the whole key.” That, and the Baby Boomer generation’s fond memories of the 1960’s must-see TV staple, Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. “It’s been a great ride,” says Hipp. “This is where I’ll be the rest of my career because it just fits my sensibilities.” To Hipp, the CRMP designation is a niche within a niche, further distinguishing reverse mortgage ‘It’s Been a Great Ride’ A Chat With Melinda Hipp, CRMP, Area Sales Manager for Texas & Oklahoma, Mutual of Omaha Reverse Mortgage By M. Diane McCormick Melinda Hipp CRMP: Across the Kitchen Table 16 REVERSE MORTGAGE / NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2022
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