Whereas 2024 was rife with challenges for the mortgage {industry} broadly — throughout ahead and reverse — a brand new yr brings a brand new mindset. Some challenges stay, with mortgage charges being chief amongst them. Schooling and distribution may also possible be improved. However there are additionally new alternatives for the {industry} in 2025, and the eternally optimistic reverse mortgage {industry} is greater than able to embrace them.
That was the overall tenor of conversations with {industry} professionals at a number of firms, who shared their views on the approaching yr with HousingWire’s Reverse Mortgage Every day (RMD).
Outreach to extra ahead mortgage gamers
The previous couple of years have seen renewed efforts on the a part of reverse mortgage firms to higher join with their counterparts within the conventional mortgage house. When charges started to rise, extra ahead firms appeared to embrace the potential of including reverse mortgages to their overarching suites of merchandise, and the reverse mortgage {industry} continues to see this as a stable alternative within the new yr.
“I believe the chance, and what we began in 2023 and undoubtedly continued in 2024 particularly, is that this distribution subject,” mentioned Jim Cory, managing director of reverse mortgages at Guild Mortgage who was additionally lately elected co-chair of the Nationwide Reverse Mortgage Lenders Affiliation (NRMLA).
“My function at NRMLA, for example, is to work on totally different outreach to different organizations to construct the distribution,” he added. “I see that as an enormous precedence in 2025, as doubtlessly the ‘yr of the collab,’ if you wish to name it that. I see extra collaboration with totally different enterprise models, for each the broader {industry} and inside Guild, as nicely.”
A few of that was echoed by Steve Irwin, president of NRMLA, in a latest interview with RMD.
“There’s loads of motion and conferences occurring with me and the co-chairs, Mike Kent and Jim Cory, about increasing our outreach to adjoining industries and related educational entities,” Irwin mentioned. “Like assume tanks and different associations associated to ageing points, but additionally impartial mortgage bankers, connecting with them, getting concerned of their occasions, in addition to actual property brokers’ occasions and their academic content material.”
Spreading the phrase continues to be a precedence and NRMLA will proceed to spearhead it, Irwin mentioned.
“[We want to let them know] how a reverse mortgage works, and the way including reverse mortgages to a product portfolio is advantageous to them and to senior householders at giant.”
Lisa Moriello, nationwide retail reverse gross sales supervisor at loanDepot, mentioned that this outreach was a vibrant spot in 2024 and absolutely anticipated each industry-wide and company-specific efforts to proceed into the brand new yr.
“The excellent news for 2024 for us was that we had loads of ahead mortgage officers understand that reverse mortgages are an ideal piece [to add to] their enterprise, and lots of people took the initiative to get licensed,” she mentioned. “And so we’re working arduous to get them educated, assist them construct enterprise, get them out of their communities, in order that we will introduce this piece into their markets.”
Digital processes and getting out of the ‘darkish ages’
In an announcement to RMD, Finance of America (FOA) president Kristen Sieffert spoke concerning the priorities the corporate is pursuing within the new yr, stemming from recognized alternatives.
“As we look forward to 2025, our major focus is on advancing digital innovation to ship seamless experiences for our clients and modernizing our advertising technique to beat earlier adoption boundaries inside our {industry},” she mentioned. “We consider that concentrating on these two areas is essential in our mission to determine residence fairness as a mainstream retirement answer for retirees.”
Expertise was additionally seen as a precedence by Peter Sciandra, EVP of reverse lending secondary advertising at Fairway Unbiased Mortgage Corp.
“We’re methods to scale back prices to the borrower, as a result of we have now at all times been checked out as having a little bit of a excessive upfront price,” he mentioned. “So we wish to try to handle {that a} bit within the course of itself. There could also be methods to enhance that, whether or not it’s modifications in tips or modifications in know-how. We’re beginning to give attention to these items. And to me, that’s actually thrilling.”
Sciandra mentioned that the {industry} nonetheless has far to cowl relating to bringing the {industry}’s know-how as much as trendy requirements, however the alternative to take action is being embraced.
“We’re nonetheless, sadly, at the hours of darkness ages in lots of respects so far as know-how goes,” he mentioned. “So we’re some issues, working with among the software program distributors on the market to perhaps make some modifications with how issues are achieved.”
