Pandemic Boosts Positive Sentiments Among Reverse Mortgage Professionals

The COVID-19 pandemic has boosted interest in reverse mortgage products according to an Industry Outlook survey that was conducted by Reverse Mortgage Daily. The report also revealed that professionals in the industry "expressed overwhelmingly positive feelings" about business prospects for the remainder of 2021.

The reverse mortgage industry has one of the best years to date in 2020, according to the report. The success is being attributed partially to the financial uncertainty driven by the economic downturn caused by the pandemic. RMD's survey, which the publication conducted between Nov. 11 and Dec. 2, 2020, found that 34% of the more than 150 participants survey are very optimistic about the outlook for the reverse mortgage industry in 2021. Additionally, the report showed that 44% are somewhat optimistic about the reverse mortgage industry outlook in 2021. Meanwhile, 11% remained neutral, 7% are somewhat pessimistic and 4% were very pessimistic, according to RMD.

"The phone is ringing every day, I can’t write them fast enough," said Tim Kennedy, director of business development at U.S. Mortgage Corporation in Long Island, N.Y. to RMD. "Increasing the lending limit has helped. Where I’ve had borrowers in the past that didn’t qualify or didn’t get enough money, I’ve now been able to call them back and rerun the numbers. What’s happening is they’re a year or two older, their house value has gone up a little bit more. Or, if it’s over the $822,375 they get that much more money."

Click here to read more from RMD's reverse mortgage outlook report.