Reverse Mastermind Summit kicks off with practical advice, choice words

Reverse mortgage professionals converged in Knoxville, Tennessee, this week for the inaugural Reverse Mastermind Summit — a three-day event designed to bolster the sales skills of industry newcomers by surrounding them with knowledge from industry veterans.

The event opened Tuesday with remarks from three leaders behind the event — Loren Riddick of NEXA Lending, Shannon Hicks of HighTechLending and Dan Hultquist of REVERSE plus and Movement Mortgage.

“This is our collective love letter to the industry,” Riddick told a packed room at the start of the day’s presentations.

Riddick referenced his past life as a collegiate basketball player with his message on the need for leadership in the industry. His words come at a time when Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) business remains low but the home equity accumulated by American seniors is nearing $15 trillion.

“You may not make every shot, you may not make every dribble, you may not make every pass, but hustling for loose balls, working and giving your heart will always, always get you through,” Riddick said from the stage.

“I promise you, if you think for a moment that reverse is easy, it’s not. Deals aren’t missed by a few dollars. They’re missed by a few words. And if you don’t know the words, if you don’t have a mentor that’s going to help you through it, you’ve got to find that mentorship. That’s what today is about — iron sharpening iron.”

HECM refi ‘sugar highs’ are over

Hicks, who recently came aboard as chief content officer at HighTechLending after a 15-year tenure at Reverse Focus, focused on three key points during his presentation.

First, he told the audience that it’s currently a good time to be in the business of selling reverse mortgages, even as the “sugar highs” of the pandemic-driven HECM refinance boom have worn off. While senior homeowners have collectively built trillions in equity, many of them have not found practical solutions for tapping into it.

“Traditional mortgage lending, such as cash-out refis or home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), they’re beginning to fail the older homeowner more today than they ever have before,” Hicks said. “And we’re not talking about individuals who are cash poor, but house rich. We’re talking about folks who we might even call the mass affluent, people who have a lot of equity.

“They look good on paper, but they’re liquidity constrained, and that’s a real challenge today. … Traditional underwriting is failing many of them. In fact, when it comes to HELOCs, for older Americans today, we’re seeing about 40% to 60% being rejected.”

His second point was that “reverse mortgage lending is no longer operating in a vacuum.” He referenced the growth of proprietary reverse mortgages — which recently eclipsed HECMs in terms of the dollar volume originated — as well as alternative equity release products like Longbridge Financial’sHELOC for Seniors and HighTechLending’s EquitySelect.

Lastly, Hicks discussed the opportunity to “diagnose borrower needs” and come up with appropriate solutions, rather than trying to fix every borrower into the same box.

“The future of the reverse mortgage industry isn’t going to be defined by those who can explain the loan best. It will be defined by those who can understand the borrower the best,” he said.

Potentially harmful marketing

As the director of reverse mortgage communications at Movement Mortgage, Hultquist helps to run a multistate retail lending operation and frequently reviews marketing materials from competitors.

Without specifying names, he called out some companies for their marketing tactics, including direct-mail campaigns where the materials appear deceptive. Some look like a check or a final notice before collections, while others parrot a borrower’s existing servicing statement.

Hultquist said this is especially problematic at a time when the industry continues to battle public perception around product legitimacy.

“I review all of it from a compliance standpoint. This nonsense needs to stop. If we’re going to improve as an industry, if we want to have a better future for our business, let’s talk a little bit tomorrow about calling (these practices) out,” he said.

In a similar vein, Hultquist took a stand against the burgeoning home equity investment (HEI) space, which has recently come under fire through lawsuits and regulatory actions in several states.

“We should have no filter to talk about these products,” he said. “Understand what they are and do your research. If you don’t recognize how predatory these products are, do the math. …  If I have my way, those products will be banned.

“These products will be our industry’s single biggest threat in 2026 … if we don’t counteract some of the deceptive advertising,” Hultquist added. “‘Oh, it’s not a loan.’ Wait, you’re giving the client money that has to be repaid. How is that not a loan?”