Increased
adoption

When
asked
about
how
reverse
mortgage
business
is
going
in
the
first
half
of
the
year,
Ogata
said
that
he’s
happy
with
the
division’s
performance
and
its
ability
to
enlist
the
company’s
forward
mortgage
professionals
to
take
a
closer
look
at
reverse.

“I’d
say
in
the
last
two
or
three
months
in
particular,
we’ve
seen
a
lot
more
adoption
from
our
sales
force,”
he
said.
“It
took
us
a
little
bit
of
time
to
get
things
up
and
running.
Self-admittedly,
I
didn’t
really
know
that
much
about
reverse;
I
had
to
learn
the
business
before
I
could
actually
go
out
and
sell
it.
But
now,
think
of
me
as
sort
of
the
go-between
for
the
forward
world
and
the
reverse
world.”

It
took
some
time
to
create
a
flow
between
the
forward
and
reverse
salespeople,
but
now
the
larger
sales
force
has
grown
considerably.

“We
started
off
with
a
handful
of
loan
officers
looking
at
it,
and
now
we
have
900
strong
in
our
sales
force
who
have
completed
our
certification
process
and
are
actively
out
selling
the
product,”
he
said.

A
‘UN
interpreter’

Pohlmann,
who

spoke
about
reverse
mortgages
last
month
at
The
Gathering
by

HousingWire,
added
that
traditionally,
there
has
been
a
barrier
between
dedicated
forward
and
reverse
salespeople
at
the
company.
Bringing
down
that
barrier
is
one
of
the
ways
the
division
is
moving
ahead.

“Traditionally,
there
have
been
reverse
sales
forces,
and
there
have
been
forward
sales
forces,”
he
said.
“Ryan
has
played
a
critical
role
in
bridging
the
gap
between
these
two.
He’s
seen
as
one
of
them
because
of
his
background
in
managing
large
sales
teams.
He
says,
‘Hey,
I’m
one
of
you.
This
is
how
you
position
it.’
Ryan
helps
with
the
language
on
how
they
interact
with
their
consumers
and
referral
partners.”

Pohlmann
equated
Ogata’s
role
with
that
of
a
United
Nations
interpreter,
helping
to
provide
the
delegates
with
real-time
translations
in
a
language
they
can
understand
so
they’re
not
lost
in
important
conversations.

“For
some
forward
loan
officers,
this
is
a
brand-new
opportunity,”
Pohlmann
said.
“While
many
had
financial
advisers
as
referral
sources,
the
vast
majority
did
not.
Ryan
shows
them
that
they
can
expand
their
referral
sources
by
adding
reverse.
…
He
bridges
the
two
different
languages
of
forward
and
reverse
sales,
making
the
transition
smoother
for
everyone
involved.”

No
distinguishing

Ogata
added
that
a
hallmark
of
the
division’s
approach
is
to
avoid
consciously
dividing
forward
and
reverse
salespeople.
Having
the
company’s
loan
officers
sell
both
sets
of
products
in
tandem
helps
to
improve
the
full
slate
of
offerings,
he
said,
without
having
needless
dividing
lines.

“We
don’t
think
of
it
as
someone
being
either
a
forward
or
reverse
loan
officer,”
Ogata
said.
“We’re
trying
to
get
the
forward
loan
officer
to
think
about
how
they
can
start
selling
reverse,
because
it’s
not
that
difficult.
They
just
have
to
familiarize
themselves
with
enough
of
the
reverse-specific
terminology,
and
to
get
an
understanding
of
the
mechanics
of
the
program.”

That
way,
when
a
customer
comes
through
the
door,
they
can
diagnose
the
need
and
suggest
the
right
product,
whether
it’s
a
forward
or
reverse
mortgage.

When
asked
about
how
long
the
process
took
for
him
to
become
adequately
educated
about
reverse,
Ogata
said
that
his
assessment
leads
him
to
a
conclusion
that
is
relatively
uncommon
for
a
forward
mortgage-first
company.

All
about
the
language

“Now
that
I
understand
both
sides,
if
I
had
to
be
objective
about
it,
reverse
is
easier
than
forward,”
he
said.
“I’m
from
the
San
Francisco
Bay
Area
and
have
been
a
jumbo
(loan)
guy
my
entire
career
up
until
the
last
six
months
or
so.
It’s
a
much
easier
qualification
from
the
standpoint
of,
not
underwriting
but
qualifying
at
a
high
level.”

Instead,
the
sources
of
complication
come
more
from
differences
in
specific
language
than
anything
else,
he
said.

“Objectively
speaking,
I
find
the
forward
space
to
be
much
more
complex
than
reverse.
When
you
approach
it
from
that
standpoint,
reverse
is
really
more
about
understanding
the
terminology
and
maybe
translating
it
into
forward
terms,”
Ogata
said.
“These
are
not
very
difficult
concepts
to
grasp.
You
just
have
to
understand
the
mechanics
of
them
and
translate
them
so
that
forward
people
can
pick
it
up.”