Reverse Mortgage Industry Sees Positivity During COVID-19

May 19, 2020

Older gentleman using iPad with headphones. Credit: iStock.com/Geber86

Director of Events

Reverse mortgages have proven to be one of the resilient products during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those who are in the reverse lending space have witnessed a number of positive signs, even in the face of the outbreak. That has been broken down to "three surprises" in reverse mortgage lending, according to a Reverse Mortgage Daily report.

While the reverse mortgage industry won't come out of the pandemic unscathed, Reverse Mortgage Daily reports positive signs in borrower motivation, technology, and more specifically, younger borrower interest.

"One pleasant surprise," according to Scott Harmes, national manager of C2 Reverse Mortgage in San Diego, is the "increased level of borrower motivation and speed to close some loans," according to the report. "I’ve been doing mortgages for 38 years—and reverses, specifically, for 10 of those years. The decision-making cycle on a reverse mortgage tends to be very slow, but since the pandemic, that cycle has been shortened up significantly. There’s a sense of urgency to get your ducks in a row," Harmes said.

The pandemic has also proven to be a learning experience for folks like Christine Jensen, branch manager at Fairway Independent Mortgage in Arvada, Colo., who said she was pleasantly surprised with her ability to walk her older clients through technological issues.

The report also stated that younger borrowers, many of them in their 60s, are making more inquiries regarding the reverse mortgage product.

Click here to read the full story from Reverse Mortgage Daily.

About the author

Navi Persaud

Director of Events

Navi Persaud is Director of Events at NMP.

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May 19, 2020

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