Cohen says her method is conversational and relaxed. “I don’t try to get them to commit to the program immediately,” she says. “I consider myself to be very soft-touch in terms of my sales style. I’m a teller, not a seller. The vast majority of the time, that works really well for me.” Cook says he tries to learn as much as he can about the client in their initial conversation. “My approach is to just find out as much as I can about them— not only their current situation, but their background and what kind of person they are,” he says. “That can help your sales approach. A guy who used to be an accountant is different from a widow of a construction worker… You don’t want to go too much into finances, numbers, costs and rates too early on; that’s just a [portion] of what you’re actually offering. The No. 1 thing is figuring out why. It allows you to determine what direction you’re going to take.” McDermott agrees that at first, it’s more important to listen than to speak. “It’s always better to be asking questions, so I know whether they understand it or not. I like to say I use my ears and mouth proportionately.” Florian Steciuch, who works for Retirement Funding Solutions from his home base in Indiana, says he finds it important to be reassuring. “Some of them feel guilty or embarrassed, and I just remind them that this is all about their quality of life,” he says. “They’re not doing anything wrong, and they certainly shouldn’t be ashamed to say that they need some kind of financial help in the later stages of life.”
WORKING THROUGH THE CHALLENGES As with any job, the business of originating HECM loans comes with its challenges. For many, the public’s general misconceptions about the product is a persistent roadblock. Paterson says this is a major hurdle. “The biggest challenge is getting the client to make that phone call and not pay attention to the neighbor or the friend who says, ‘Oh, reverse mortgages are bad.’ It’s overcoming that
negative image.” Steciuch says he finds confusion about the loan among financial planners to be the most challenging. “Demystifying the reverse mortgage for financial planners is probably my No. 1 challenge. They will say, ‘My clients don’t need any money.’ I say, ‘Well, they don’t need any money now.’ Or they just refuse to learn; they just don’t want to know about it.” Cohen says the process can be long and taxing. “I think there is a lot of burnout in this field, because it can be very stressful. It’s a very, very long sales process. When you first talk with someone, they’re not going to do an application for eight weeks, on average. You’re in constant contact with them. There’s a lot of hand-holding. You’re sitting down at the table with them and their family members, and then you’re demonized by someone in the family who heard from somebody’s hairdresser that this is a bad thing and that their house will be taken away. I have to fight that every day. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said to a borrower, ‘I’m not harming people here. I have two children who have to look up to me. I have to do the right thing.’”
FINDING FULFILLMENT While the work can be tough at times, the reward can be tremendous. “The greatest rewards of my job are when clients call me, when it’s someone I did a loan for many, many moons ago,” Kirkpatrick says. “Or when somebody passes and their children call me and tell me how this changed their life so much for the better. I really believe that if we do our job well, which I always try to do, we are providing people with options that they might not otherwise have had.” For Paterson, building new relationships brings a sense of joy to her work. “It’s meeting people and touching their lives and hearing their stories,” she says. “I’m creative, I’m a problem solver. I don’t look at this as a job—it’s a career, it’s a life… I love the work that I do and using my skills and talents to make a difference in the lives of others.”
Cohen says seeing her clients’ relief is her reward. “Hands-down the most rewarding aspect of my job is when a person calls me to say that since he’s closed on his reverse mortgage, he’s had his first good night’s sleep in two years. For me, it’s all about the sleep.” Steciuch echoes Cohen’s sentiments. “You hear people say things like, ‘Now I can sleep, now I can stop crying,’” he says. “Just seeing the relief in people, knowing they have security, that’s a good feeling.”
A CALLING AND A PASSION HECM advisors often build meaningful, personal relationships with their clients, and they feel passionate about the work they do, aware of the relief their services can provide. “I look at this as my ministry,” Paterson says. “I’m helping and making a difference in people’s lives. It’s not a church ministry, but it is a ministry, and I have a strong faith.” Paterson’s dedication is clear. She meets with every client in person, doing whatever it takes to ensure their comfort. “I do all of my applications face to face,” she says. “We go to all the closings, even in blizzards. We once picked up a closing agent and drove five hours in the middle of a blizzard to close. I think the hand-holding is of the utmost importance.” McDermott makes a similar connection. “On my website, I call myself a HECM evangelist. That’s really what I have to do, be out there preaching the good news,” he says. “I find it a blessing to be able to do the work. I’ve made a lot more money in corporate sales, but this is by far the most rewarding work I’ve done.” Kirkpatrick says the work of a HECM advisor is more than just a job. “It’s more of a calling, a passion, like social work would be,” she says. “I find that reverse mortgage loan officers are some of the most ethical, socially caring people that I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with.” n
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