Attendee
reactions
were
generally
positive,
from
executives
through
front-line
loan
originators
and
other
industry
participants.
Ashley
Honoré
Smith,
senior
vice
president
of
brand
and
communications
at


Finance
of
America
(FOA),
was
particularly
interested
in
the
discussion
around
the

industry
advocacy
update.

“It
is
manifestly
clear
that
we
have
a
distribution
problem,
and
that
that
needs
to
be
a
focus
for
the
category
to
bring
in
more
people
talking
about
this
product,”
she
said
in
an
interview
with

HousingWire‘s
Reverse
Mortgage
Daily.

“When
it
looks
like
a
program
that
is
on
the
fringes,
that
really
creates
a
barrier
for
everyday
people,
as
well
as
the
broader
mortgage
industry,
to
adopt
it.”

Jonathan
Scarpati,
FOA’s
chief
production
officer,
was
encouraged
by
the
event
too.

“Anytime
we
can
spend
this
amount
of
face-to-face
time
with
our
customers
is
always
extremely
beneficial,”
Scarpati
said.
“I
think
some
of
the
sessions
have
been
hitting
home
with
a
lot
of
people
and
overall,
it’s
a
great
meeting.”

Others
got
value
out
of
the
event’s
other
programming
content,
even
if
the
material
didn’t
align
perfectly
with
their
industry
work.

Alvin
Toney,
branch
manager
with

NID
Housing
Counseling
Agency
in
Moreno
Valley,
California,
said
that
while
some
of
the
more
mechanical
discussions
around
topics
like

servicing
or
secondary
markets
weren’t
as
relevant
to
his
work,
he
felt
like
he
absorbed
helpful
insights
from
other
content.

“There
was
definitely
a
lot
of
stuff
that
we
could
take
back
to
the
Inland
Empire,
which
is
about
40
miles
from
here,”
he
said.

Toney’s
colleague,
Lynell
Holden,
is
not
specifically
a
reverse
mortgage
counselor,
but
she
does
work
as
a
reverse
mortgage
loan
officer
and
praised
the
content
of
the
event.

“I
thought
it
was
comprehensive,”
she
said.
“I
learned
some
information
and
also
made
a
couple
of
contacts.
I
think
that
I
need
to
come
to
more
of
the
conferences,
because
everybody
always
has
some
tidbits
that’ll
help
you
within
the
business.”

Mark
Klein
with

Citywide
Home
Mortgage
found
the
camaraderie
with
other
reverse
mortgage
professionals
to
be
valuable.

“It
was
great
networking
with
other
like-minded
professionals
about
a
product
that
is
very
misunderstood
and
underutilized,”
he
said.
“It’s
our
mission
to
get
people
educated
so
our
seniors
can
retire
comfortably
in
their
own
homes.”

Carlos
Camargo,
the
reverse
mortgage
division
director
at
the

Franklin
Loan
Center
in
Ventura,
California,
enjoyed
the
event
but
felt
like
more
industry
participants
should
have
attended.

“I
think
it’s
interesting
that
not
enough
people
in
our
industry
choose
to
come
and
support
our
events,”
he
said.
“There
is
valuable
information,
from
the
regulatory
panel
to
the
loan
officer
panels,
to
be
able
to
pick
up
an
idea.
It’s
nice
to
be
able
to
have
people
you
can
talk
to
but
also
have
a
variety
of
products.”

Christina
Harmes
Hika
of

Reverse
Loan
Solutions
in
San
Diego
said
she
appreciated
the
lunchtime
keynote
speech
from
economist
Richard
Green,
director
of
the
University
of
Southern
California’s
Lusk
Center
for
Real
Estate.

“The
economist
really
blew
my
mind
today,”
she
said.
“I
really
like
to
geek
out
on
that
kind
of
stuff,
I
always
have.
Overall,
I
think
the
event
was
really
good.
It
was
interesting
that
it
was
only
one
day,
but
I
really
enjoyed
the
[advocacy]
session
too.”

Amber
Jones
of


C2
Financial
appreciated
that
NRMLA
was
focused
on
a
holistic
perspective
of
the
reverse
mortgage
ecosystem
as
opposed
to
focusing
only
on
origination.

“It
shows
how
NRMLA
is
not
just
focusing
on
the
originating
piece,
but
they’re
also
focusing
on
it
in
its
entirety
as
an
industry,”
she
said.
“So
I
really
enjoyed
that.
I
also
really
enjoyed
the
economist’s
talk,
since
it
got
more
thoughts
flowing
for
me
on
how
to
continue
looking
for
clients’
needs.”