The big surprise despite low HECM loan volumes

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EPISODE #811

HECM volume and 1st-time borrowers 

 

[Reverse Market Insight]

RMI’s Jon McCue reviews recent data that reveals a surprising trends despite depressed HECM endorsement activity. Here’s what he had to say…

 

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Retirees Conflicted on Home Equity

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Despite challenges many reluctant to tap equity in retirement

 

reverse mortgage newsOlder American homeowners find themselves beset by a variety of retirement landmines- exploding medical costs, uncertain markets and income security. Despite these challenges, retirees remain conflicted about tapping their home equity.

Mortgage and financial professionals are well aware that the baby boomer generation is less adverse to mortgage debt than the generation that preceded it. A recent New York Times article cites the seismic shift of how older American’s managed mortgage debt. The Federal Reserve reports that home-secured debt held by those aged 65-74 was only 18.5 percent in 1992, 32 percent in 2004 and 42 percent in 2004 as reported by the 2013. The percentage of those holding mortgage-related debt into retirement is expected to continue to rise as an estimated of 10,000 baby boomers turn 65- each day.

Despite the widespread acceptance of leveraging debt among boomers, retirees financial needs and uncertainty about tapping into home equity remain. The conflict between the need to fund aging in place and tapping into home equity through a mortgage is addressed in Jamie Hopkins recent column in Forbes.

“American retirees are facing a laundry list of retirement challenges. The only certainty is that

The Coming Revival?

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Our Industry’s Market Opportunities & Challenges

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As a child growing up in the pentecostal church I often heard adults speak in hushed tones about the coming revival. Good things were just right around the corner. As I grew older I realized the promise of revival was a motivation for the faithful to endure despite present circumstances. Similarly there are more stories, rumors and hopes that the reverse mortgage industry will experience it’s own revival in the coming years. An article last Monday in Reuters entitled “U.S. retirees return to reverse mortgages, big banks stay away” addresses the baby boomer wave and the increasing need to fund retirement. It opens with “U.S. baby boomers desperate for retirement income are increasingly turning back to a financial product that, after the housing bust, had been left for dead…

See Secruian’s retirement study here

Download a transcript of this episode here.

Looking for more reverse mortgage news, training & technology? Visit Reverse Focus today here.

Boomers Rock with a guitar, not a chair

Reverse Mortgage Marketing to the Mature Home Owner

Marketing to the Mature Home Owner / Part 2:
If They Rock, It’s With a Guitar!

A business magazine recently ran this “humorous” column: “Middle-Age Texting Codes”. The list included such abbreviations as ATD (“At the doctor”), BFF (“Best friend fell”), BYOT (“Bring your own teeth”) and FWIW (“Forgot where I was”).

It’s doubtful these acronyms would amuse many people in their eighties, let alone someone who considers him- or herself middle aged. President Obama celebrated his mid-century birthday last month, and while he loves his BlackBerry, it’s unlikely he’ll be texting any of the above messages any time soon.
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The eldest of the approximately 79 million Baby Boomers reach retirement age this year, at the rate of about four million per year. For reverse mortgage professionals marketing to active adults 57-65 years of age — early Boomers who are planning work and lifestyle changes — respect is the keynote that will win their attention, and ultimately, their interest in qualifying for a reverse mortgage. As noted in the first post in this series, Marketing to the Mature Home Owner / Part 1, nobody becomes “old” overnight simply because they celebrate a birthday.

From the Baby Boom generation onward, the new American senior might best be defined by the Dylan Thomas poem, “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”. They will forever consider themselves youthful, and as such, the marketing mindset that worked with previous generations must be modified if it is to succeed.

Younger seniors (many of whom prefer terms such as “mature” or “older adult”) will be interested in quotes for a reverse mortgage, not because they want to rock on the front porch (unless it’s with a guitar), but possibly because:

  • They’re planning to help put kids (or grandkids) through college
  • They need to care for an elderly parent (these days it’s not uncommon for two generations to be “seniors” simultaneously)
  • They want to travel
  • They’re considering surgery — plastic surgery, to look as good as they feel

To make the second half golden for both your “younger” reverse mortgage prospects and your business, focus on how you can help these elders fulfill the next great adventure in their lives. That’s the spirit that will win their trust, because while denial may not be a river in Egypt, it flows through the fecund minds of the newly minted senior set.