Part of the problem of promoting yourself as a noble profession which serves the best interest of seniors is that the idea that you’re a business somehow rings as if you’re hypocritical. People who are in business clearly for the purpose of profit love to point fingers at reverse mortgage lenders and loan officers as “fixating on money”.
While the reverse mortgage industry is enjoying exponential growth, particularly in an era scarred by lenders in other mortgage arenas being thrown overboard in order to stay afloat, the key to our success is being ethical. As a member of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association, (NRMLA), we are held to a stringent Code of Ethics. If you review this Code, you’ll see that it is essentially broken down into two sections.
- Values
- Rules
The values we are expected to uphold are listed as follows:
- Fairness
- Confidentiality (protecting the privacy of consumers)
- Integrity
- Competence
- Diligence
- Professionalism
The rules portion of the Code of Ethics more clearly defines how we perform our jobs and uphold these 6 values. My point in sharing this with you is that you see we are in an industry designed for seniors, but some seem to confuse us as a charity. Can one be charitable and very profitable? Does being one disqualify you from being the other? I do not think so. I would think most agree with me, yet, the criticism of reverse mortgage lenders and loan officers sure does cause one to wonder. Now don’t get me wrong. I am not saying we’re some kind of charity. We’re not. My point is that though we are in a business which is designed to be profitable, we also are legitimately passionate about assisting seniors and helping them achieve their goals.
We are ultimately in a business. As a loan officer, I let the banker mucky mucks in their suits and beautiful offices concern themselves with the profit stuff and business development. They have to make sure everything we are offering and doing meets with the standards set by NRMLA, RESPA, FHA, and all the watch dogs out there, not the least of which; the media. Reverse mortgages and those of us in this business are being watched very closely. I say bring it on. If you’ve got nothing to hide, it’s easy to sleep at night.
Personally, I’m in the people business. You can have your corner office on the top floor of a downtown skyscraper. I’m perfectly happy meeting people in their homes, looking at their family photos, listening to stories and making friends. Because I have to keep the roof over my head, keep food in the refrigerator, make car payments and all that other good stuff, I do need to be paid for what I do. Guilty. However, huge paychecks are not my motivation for doing this job. If they were, I would have quit it a long time ago because I could get bigger paychecks selling homes rather than helping seniors stay in theirs.
