What it’s like connecting reverse mortgage professionals with forward lending partners

Over the past year, members of the reverse mortgage industry have been making a more concerted effort to connect with their counterparts in the forward mortgage space. The efforts have not gone unnoticed as more forward mortgage companies — particularly in an elevated rate environment — have started to see value in the possible addition of reverse mortgages to their product suites.

While some forward lending companies have gone out of their way to acquire and incorporate reverse mortgage lending divisions into their ongoing operations, others have bolstered their existing reverse mortgage divisions. And some reverse-only companies have aimed to establish firmer ties with the much larger forward mortgage industry.

At this year’s Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Annual Convention and Expo, several reverse mortgage professionals were on hand to try and establish these firmer ties with their forward counterparts. HousingWire’s Reverse Mortgage Daily (RMD) caught up with some of these professionals to discuss their experiences.

Conference connections

Jim Cory, managing director of reverse mortgages at Guild Mortgage, is in a unique position since he was also recently elected co-chair of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA). Cory said that NRMLA hopes to prioritize exposure of the reverse mortgage product to more people in the coming year — and outreach at industry events is a part of that.

When asked about the receptivity level for the forward professionals he spoke to about engaging with the reverse mortgage topic, Cory said that the openness that people have is far better than it has been in years past.

“There’s a new set of big forward players compared to years past,” Cory said. “That, I think, has grown the acceptance of talking about it. The MBA is far more interested [in reverse] and it really pairs well with this mission. People are talking and want to hear more.”

At the MBA event in Denver in October, there was also a more pronounced reverse mortgage presence. Cory, who attended the 2023 event and spoke alongside some industry colleagues during its programming, said he did not recall any reverse lenders on the floor of the exhibit hall and could not recall if there were any reverse mortgage sponsors.

This year, however, one major reverse lender had a floor presence and another had a sponsorship presence, which he said signifies progress.

Finance of America (FOA) had a booth presence at the event. Ashley Smith, the company’s senior vice president of brand marketing and strategic communications, said that home equity was a commonly discussed topic during the event. That made it easier for FOA representatives to initiate conversations, she said.

“There is, I think, a marked increase in interest,” Smith said. “We had good foot traffic to our booth, our account executives had meaningful conversations, and HomeSafe Second in particular is a product that attendees were hearing about for the first time, which really seemed to resonate.”

HomeSafe Second is FOA’s proprietary reverse mortgage product. It is currently the only second-lien reverse mortgage available on the market. The product has been a major focus of FOA’s outreach efforts since it was reintroduced to the market in early 2023.

“It’s the only closed-end second on the market that doesn’t require monthly payments and checks a lot of boxes for consumers,” she said. “So, the novelty, I think, of being able to talk about a product that fills gaps in the mainstream product selection was of interest to people.”

But more forward mortgage companies are also aiming to connect with consumers in a novel way. Smith said that the attitude seemed to reflect more openness to engaging with what has been a niche, nascent product for a long time.

Expanding the Rolodex

Longbridge Financial also participated more actively at the MBA event this year with a sponsorship presence. The company, which has centered its focus on building its broker partnerships, decided to make a play at MBA Annual in an effort to facilitate more conversations with major lenders on the forward side.

“Our goal at MBA is to meet with as many of these types of lenders as possible,” Adrian Prieto, senior vice president of wholesale at Longbridge, said in an on-site interview at the event in October. “The conversation can be as simple as reverse mortgage 101, or how their servicing portfolio [could be open] for opportunities with reverse mortgages.”

But there was still a dearth of reverse mortgage representation at the event, which could be due to multiple factors, Prieto added. Getting meetings with the kinds of people they want is an incredibly competitive process, he said, but this serves as an important first step to further build these kinds of relationships.

Smith acknowledged this too. While foot traffic and conversations at the FOA booth were productive — particularly around the company’s proprietary product — it’s clear from an environment like MBA Annual that work remains for the reverse industry to get more attention from the forward side.

“Having our top executives there was about opening new relationships to talk on a deeper and more strategic level about including our products in the growth strategies for lenders across the country that want to diversify,” Smith said.