counsel. Face-to-face and video conferencing—the only difference is I’m not shaking your hand. Otherwise, we’re doing the same thing. You have your paperwork. I have my paperwork.” While scheduling can happen within two to three days, instant appointments aren’t a best practice because customers need time to review the materials in advance. “If they go over it with their loan officer and read it themselves before going over it in counseling, that’s much better than doing it too fast,” Cosentini says. Housing counselors agree that most clients are ready for the conversation. It helps them when the loan officer has started building trust, instills that same trust in the counseling and avoids framing the counseling as a short, pro forma exercise. “If they just told clients that the counseling is unbiased, and the counselors have your best interests at heart, that’s all we ask,” she says. If the client can’t answer five of the ten questions, or the counselor senses a problem, such as impending dementia, the counselor must explain the items the client didn’t understand and ask the questions at another time. “We try everything in our power to get that certificate to the client,” Mohan says. “We don’t want to impede. There’s a reason why they’re doing the reverse mortgage.” Because HECM-certified counselors are required to take continuing education from a HUD-approved curriculum, they remain up to date with what is expected. Skills sharpened include active listening, empathy, crisis management, awareness of home repair scams and financial exploitation, and dealing with specialized circumstances, such as clients whose homes are in flood zones or who are transitioning out of a natural disaster. Many agencies augment available training internally. Cambridge educates counselors on such topics as nonborrowing spouses and counseling people listed on deeds or titles who won’t be involved in the HECM. Mohan’s team regularly audits past sessions—such as HUD’s audits—and holds quarterly reviews where staff share trends and situations they’ve encountered. “The stronger you are in education, the better for the client to be educated and not taken for a ride,” Mohan says. Housing counselors also can help clients assess their daily expenses and find possible relief—even if it alleviates the reason behind seeking a reverse mortgage. HUD created its Client Budget & Resource Tool to help counselors find local and national support for help with food, prescriptions, utility bills, home care, home upgrades, child care for grandchildren, mental health resources and other pocketbook draining expenses. “We’re going to help them look for resources that help them stay in that house longer and possibly do the reverse mortgage and help them find alternatives in the meantime,” Cosentini says. “We’re taking a holistic approach.” Budget counseling can help equip clients to pay the taxes, insurance and any homeowners association fees necessary to retain the reverse mortgage, Espino says. Proprietary reverse mortgages may also be within the wheelhouse of housing counselors. As always, the counselors stay neutral, but they can provide the same guidance ensuring clients understand the benefits and risks. Cosentini sees demand returning after a COVID19-era slowdown. “The more products there are, and the more training on those products, the better,” she says. Setting the Stage for Success With the strong encouragement of HUD, many agencies offer post-HECM services to ensure the long-term success of the loans, especially as clients’ circumstances change. While counselors in the original sessions prompt clients to think ahead about income losses or other repercussions, they also are there on the back end to counsel on refinancing or foreclosure avoidance if the need arises. Housing counseling agencies take pride in helping their senior clients sort through their options. Just like lenders, counselors build trust, and at the end of the conversation, Cosentini says clients always ask, “Would you do this?” “We can’t answer that,” she says. “It’s so hard. All we can say is that they have to make the decision on their own, and if we didn’t think this was a good product, we couldn’t do this job. A reverse mortgage isn’t right for everybody, but I couldn’t talk about this all day long if I didn’t believe it was a good thing for many people.” REVERSE MORTGAGE / MAY–JUNE 2023 29
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