ReverseVision president Joe Langner appeared on Wednesday’s Mortgage Leadership Outlook. He joined series' host Andrew Berman, head of engagement and outreach for National Mortgage Professional magazine, as they discussed where mortgage technology is today, its roots, what he sees for future opportunities in technology and why he felt reverse mortgage was such a huge opportunity that he joined ReverseVision
Langner has been in top executive positions at some of the biggest tech brands in mortgages including Ellie Mae, Blue Sage, PC Lender (Fiserv) and now with ReverseVision. He took over as its president just as the COVID-19 pandemic forced nationwide stay-at-home orders in March.
Highlights from the interview:
- As part of developing mortgage solutions, Langner said understanding the holes in the industry helped him develop the best solutions. Knowing how every piece of the process works hand-in-hand helps him create solutions that make these processes work seamlessly. He also learned a lot from visiting numerous trade shows and speaking to other companies within the industry. Langner says he takes information from other C-level teams and brings it up to leadership, then brainstorms ways on how to fix any issues that arise.
- “Questions are the answer.”
- “I think the industry and technology have made some great strides forward. I wish it would be faster but it’s not just a technical problem. When you think about a digital mortgage it’s not just the [loan origination system], it’s not just the [point of sale software], it’s not just the [customer relationship management software] it’s really making sure these things can talk together.”
- “Let’s say you had a perfect, end-to-end, complete digital mortgage. You still have to have the investors be willing to say, ‘I’m going to risk the liability of a digital mortgage.’”
- “I actually would say that this COVID crisis has helped a bit,” said Langner when speaking about the current state of mortgage technology. “What it did do is it put a spotlight on it and the government has done a really good job of supporting alternative ways for appraisals, FHA counseling sessions being virtual versus having to be face-to-face, assistance in the secondary market and others.”
- Langner said when the coronavirus hit, he wasn’t prepared for the stress levels of additional responsibilities that their team members had such as having to take care of their kids and balance their jobs all in one.
- “One of the other challenges that we’ve seen is huge volatility in the stock market. Many folks have their assets in the market to get appreciation and less money in the bank,” said Langner when breaking down how reverse mortgages received additional attention during the pandemic. He added that folks who pull their money out of the market during times such as these won’t benefit from any rebound.
- “Having a reverse mortgage as an option, a lot of folks are saying, ‘Let me convert my current mortgage to a reverse mortgage, I’ll still make payments, I’ll build up more equity and then I have a tax free loan that I can use to live off of.”
- Langner says reverse mortgages aren’t always a solution but since the pandemic, his company is finding that more financial planners are recommending reverse mortgages for folks who are looking for retirement solutions, because of the volatility in the market.
Check out the full interview between Langner and Berman below.
Previous guests include Robert Broeksmit, Josh Friend, Joe Dahleen, Tim Nguyen, Kristy Fercho, Tony Thompson, Mat Ishbia, David Luna, Barry Habib, Rob Chrisman and more.
See all the interviews from the Mortgage Leadership Outlook series on its YouTube channel.
