As
any
professional
involved
in
it
will
know,
bringing
new
people
into
the
fold
of
the
reverse
mortgage
business
can
be
a
difficult
task.

Reputational
challenges,
the
narrow
focus
of
the
product
and
low
mortgage
market
penetration
are
just
a
few
of
the
reasons
why.

With
the
right
ambassador,
that
task
is
made
simpler.
The
partner
engagement
program
at


Finance
of
America
Reverse
(FAR)
aims
to
bring
new
people
and
professional
relationships
into
the
orbit
of
the
nation’s
top
reverse
mortgage
lender,
and
it
is
spearheaded
by
Ryan
Schmidt,
FAR’s
vice
president
of
partner
engagement.

After

learning
about
his
path
into
the
business,
RMD
sat
down
with
Schmidt
to
learn
more
about
his
approach
for
enlisting
new
partners
at
FAR
and
across
the
wider
industry.

Engagement
team
goals

Schmidt
explained
that,
considering
the
size
of
the
reverse
mortgage
business
relative
to
the
forward
side,
finding
a
way
to
bring
the
broader
community
of
loan
originators
into
the
fold
is
a
priority.

“I
take
all
that
experience
I’ve
learned
over
time,
along
with
the
experience
of
some
of
my
team
members,
to
help
them
get
up
to
speed
with
reverse
mortgages
if
they’re
brand
new
[to
the
business],”
Schmidt
explained.

“I
don’t
do
that
so
much
internally
right
now
because
we’ve
got
this
separation
in
retail
and
wholesale,
but
my
job
is
to
do
that
for
the
partners
and
for
the
86,000
loan
officers
out
there
not
offering
reverse
mortgages.
My
goal
is
to
activate
some
of
those.”

When
asked
to
explain
the
engagement
program’s
particulars,
Schmidt
said
that
it
has
been
a
priority
he’s
sought
to
implement
for
the
past
three
years.

“After
I
transitioned
into
wholesale
marketing,
we
had
very
few
resources.
I
knew
the
first
thing
we
needed
to
do
was
to
combine
our
training
and

marketing
approach,”
he
said.

“The
usual
practice
is
to
throw
classes
at
people,
show
videos,
and
then
after
the
session,
you’re
left
thinking,
‘What
do
I
do
next?’
So,
I
wanted
to
empower
people
with
a
clear
next
step.” 

But
without
necessary
resources
such
as
a
training
team,
and
having
only
a
few
marketing
professionals,
implementation
was
a
challenge.

“I
kept
pushing
leadership
to
combine
these
efforts
and
eventually
things
fell
into
place,”
he
said.

He
offered
an
example
of
a
partner
who
was
part
of
the
engagement
team’s
pilot
program,
who
sought
to
post
on

social
media
after
taking
a
class
about
the
reverse
mortgage
product.
Despite
being
warned
about
the
potential
for
negative
feedback,
he
created
the
post
anyway.
The
response
was
swift.

“He
received
four
phone
calls
within
15
minutes,
leading
to
new
business,”
Schmidt
claimed.
“We
want
to
take
such
tips
and
insights,
integrate
them
and
share
them
with
our
partners.
I
believe
that
this
‘edu-marketing’
approach
is
crucial
for
fostering
understanding
and
providing
practical
steps.”

Partnership
definition

When
asked
what
a
“partner”
is
for
the
purposes
of
the
program,
Schmidt
said
it’s
wide-ranging.

“Technically,
it
encompasses
brokers,
principal
agents
and
closed
loan
sellers,”
he
said.
“We
use
‘partner’
to
group
all
these
roles
together.
Our
goal
is
to
foster
partnerships
to
help
them
grow
their
business.
We
focus
on
sharing
our
knowledge
with
smaller
brokerage
shops
seeking
guidance,
offering
them
a
playbook
for
integrating
our
program
into
their
business
model.”

There
are
limits.
Regulatory
requirements
prevent
the
team
from
giving
these
partners
everything
they
could
possibly
need,
he
said,
but
the
availability
of
guidance
from
experienced
reverse
professionals
is
something
that
the
team
sees
as
a
differentiator.

“To
our
competitors:
watch
out,”
Schmidt
said.
“But
to
the
partners
we
want
to
welcome,
we
aim
to
be
more
targeted.
If
you’re
a
large
company
with
specific
needs,
we
have
a
playbook
for
integrating
reverse
mortgages
into
your
sales
approach.
If
you’re
medium-sized,
we
can
help
create
a
referral
program
for
all
your
loan
officers.”

For
smaller
companies,
the
program
can
aim
to
ensure
that
adding
reverse
mortgages
doesn’t
have
any
negative
business
impacts.
Schmidt
also
said
that
understanding
the
core
constituency
that
could
be
served
by
the
product
requires
work.

“We
understand
that
for
many
consumers,
this
is
their
last
major
financial
decision,
so
we
aim
to
take
time
and
care
in
addressing
their
needs,”
he
said.
“By
providing
this
type
of
guidance,
we
hope
to
shift
the
perception
of
reverse
mortgages.”

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