What we also see is that there are four distinct groupings in the Top Ten. The first is MetLife, the second for now is composed of One Reverse, Genworth, and Urban. The next stratum is Generation, AAG, and Security One. The final is composed of Layton First, Cherry Creek, and Reverse USA.

Will the groupings become somewhat permanent over the next 12 months or so? It will be hard to unseat MetLife but the others could easily change in that time. [Even if its policy change knocked out 40% of the applications which would normally become endorsements in March through May, it would probably not impact the number one standing of MetLife although it might level the playing field some.]

While the total endorsements for this month are up 11.6%, that is very misleading. The total is also 19.8% lower than the total for January 2011. For the first third of this fiscal year, total HECMs are less than 19,120 which reflects a pace of only 57,360 endorsements for this fiscal year. 57,360 endorsements are not 50% of the HECMs endorsed just three fiscal years ago. Last year at this time the total for the same four month period was just over 24,840 which was a little more than one-third of all HECMs endorsed during that fiscal year.

The inventory of HECMs available for endorsement as of the end of the calendar year complicated by the drop in the conversion rate for applications with Case Numbers assigned is not encouraging. While 58,500 endorsements for this fiscal year is not unrealistic, even that number may now be too high. Remember the financial assessment mess at MetLife will not be seen for awhile. The good news is that many of the MetLife disqualified HECMs were approved by other lenders so the overall impact to industry wide endorsements should be negligible.

If home values are doing better, that fact is not being reflected in the total Case Numbers being assigned. The trailing 12 month totals are getting worse with no let up yet in site. However, we will not know about case numbers assigned last month until near the end of February. Perhaps that number may prove better and produce better endorsement totals for June.

As we head into an ever more difficult originating environment, having sales support from a group like Reverse Fortunes will become ever more valuable.

Look at how you refer to those you uphold. You call them “top producers,” not “top educators.” It is doubtful if one of them referred to their contacts, leads, prospects, applicants, certified counselees, customers (or clients), or borrowers as “students.” Did any of them goal set by looking at how many students do they want to teach versus how many originations they want to reach? Is their compensation based on how many classes they hold or how on many deals they close? Teachers who come into this industry need help learning how to close a deal. They want to stop when it seems the senior gets their message. It is that additional step which separates great educators from top producers. Convention speeches are great but language betrays the real situation.

We put a high value on education because without it, our sales would be unethical and questionably moral. Did the alleged top producers emphasize how to educate more effectively and focus on content of that education or on how education results in more sales? Did they provide more insight into what proper education is composed of or on how to get more sales through educating? What they emphasized was the best tool to use to get more sales.

Counselors are paid to teach. It is not their job to close a single HECM. We on the other hand can teach all we want but if we do not close a loan, we do not get paid.

We are blogging on a website supported by an organization that supplies those things which support higher sales, not higher teaching standards. I am licensed by the same organization as any other mortgage originator not by a licensing teaching organization. No lender wants to hear its employees bragging about how well they present the facts about reverse mortgages if they are not taking applications to those “students” and getting them signed.

If you really want to see how much our industry appreciates education, just look at our CRMP. One does not even need to meet one single formal education requirement. All we need to do is attend 12 hours of convention meetings, take a three hour ethics course, and pass an exam about our product. Yet, if an originator, one needs to have closed fifty HECMs. That looks to me like a credential for a knowledgeable and experienced salesperson not a credential for an “educator.” I am not putting the CRMP down but rather putting it in its proper perspective.

When I applied for my first originator position and my second, no one looked at my educational background to see if I have ever had a single course in mortgages or HECMs. They wanted to know if I was willing to originate reverse mortgages and had the information about the product needed to succeed at originating them.

Do you really believe that the US Department of Education will ever make a grant so that our education efforts can be realized? Will it underwrite our CRMP costs? Sales education has its place but I am still more CPA than salesperson. I hope to be an ever better educating salesperson.

It is very bothering to read your comment on the senior having money in the bank.

There is no doubt you understand the basic purpose of the HECM for purchase and that was to avoid duplicate upfront and closing costs but it seems that somehow when it comes to use of proceeds most originators think of it as something which should only be done as a fixed rate HECM.

A HECM for purchase should rarely be a fixed rate HECM from a financial point of view unless almost all proceeds must be used to close the transaction meaning the senior has few other resources to close the acquisition. First the senior is paying interest and MIP for money in the bank. Does that make financial sense? Second, if their purpose is to avoid running out of money, why put the money into a taxable interest earning bank account when they can leave it in a line of credit where the the available cash will usually grow at a higher rate?

Most originators want to believe that only fixed rate HECMs make sense in the purchase transaction. The fact is if the senior will have excess cash in the bank, it rarely does. Why would excess cash not make sense in the refi transaction but make sense in the purchase transaction? Yes, it is a great way to sell a HECM but it generally is not in the best interests of the senior.

Fixed rate HECMs should make sense to the originator because of its higher comp but that does not mean it is the right answer for the senior.

Be sure to sell your accomplishment to the competitors of the company you just did one for. They will be the most interested people of all.

Are you referring to a new manufactured home or a resale?

The NRMLA approach as presented in the letter to Ms. Hill on June 24, 2011 is an excellent starting point. It cannot possibly prevent all defaults but will be useful in preventing a large percentage of them. With several tweaks, the concepts presented in that letter on mandatory set asides have a lot of possibility for success.

If you really like challenges, go for an RM MH purchase!