Jan/Feb 2023 RMM

RM: Tell our readers about PRMI. How many states is the company licensed in for reverse mortgages? How many employees do you have in the forward and reverse divisions? SS: PRMI is a national mortgage lender that was founded in 1998. It’s licensed in 49 states, and we have about 1,200 employees. RM: How many PRMI employees originate reverse mortgages? SS: Our philosophy at PRMI is to allow anybody who wants to originate reverse mortgages the avenue and the opportunity to do so. There are some barriers to entry. There’s a certification process that individuals must complete. There’s sales training, product training and systems training, but once they get through that training, we certify them to originate reverse mortgages. About one-third of the 1,200 loan officers at PRMI are reverse mortgage certified. They can leverage the support and assistance of our reverse mortgage leadership team. We have a loan scenario desk, a pricing desk and a marketing team. This is the direction that the reverse mortgage industry must go. We need to attract more forward mortgage companies and more forward mortgage originators and leverage them and their referral partners, their Realtor relationships, and support them with folks behind the scenes who are the foremost experts in the reverse mortgage space. RM: I couldn’t agree more. We’re seeing this same approach being taken by an increasing number of forward mortgage companies. SS: I think PRMI has taken it a step further. Our reverse mortgage department processes and handles all the operational execution. We all know the processing is vastly different. The title is vastly different with reverse. We’ve centralized all reverse mortgage support and operations. We have our own account executives and sales managers. Our forward loan officers don’t reach out to external AEs (account executives) for support and guidance. They get it internally. We process all the files, and that just makes life a lot easier for the loan officer and the manager and a much more pleasurable, quicker experience for the client. RM: What attracted you to PRMI? SS: I came to PRMI in 2019. There was very little infrastructure. My colleague George Morales arrived a year prior and started to lay the building blocks and the foundation for me to come in and then build on that foundation. The reverse mortgage platform was bare bones when I arrived so it was a daunting task, but it was a test that I was excited about. What drew me to PRMI was the executive leadership and the deep commitment to reverse. PRMI is a national, multi- billion-dollar, balance-sheet organization. They don’t make investments lightly. When they get into something, they go all-in. At my first meeting with the executive leadership, they brought me to Salt Lake City, where the corporate office is located, and they asked me, “We want to become a Top 10 lender in the space. What is that going to take?” I gave them a monetary dollar figure and the number of years that it would take. They didn’t blink an eye. We’re still on that journey today. We’re not yet Top 10. I believe we’re 19 or 20, depending on the month, but we’re on our way. PRMI has delivered on every promise that they made to me. RM: Is there anything else that distinguishes PRMI from its competitors? SS: PRMI is very methodical. We’re long-term, visionary thinkers. At our planning meetings and strategy sessions, nobody is thinking about rising interest rates and the immediate impact on business. We’re planning five, six, seven years out, and the foundation that we’re still laying today is that foundation to thrive and be that Top 10, or Top 5, lender in the space many, many years out. That’s what I love about this company. It’s just so unique—most of the time at least. Again, through my experience in the mortgage industry, the discussions tend to be focused on “what have you done for me lately?” and “we need immediate ROI [return on investment] and immediate results.” PRMI is a company that just doesn’t think that way. RM: I see you frequently on social media, especially LinkedIn, promoting reverse mortgages. Which From the Top continued on page 12 From the Top REVERSE MORTGAGE / JANUARY–FEBRUARY 2023 11

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