Stories about the industry’s reaction to the changing Reverse Mortgage consumer captured RMD readers’ attention this week, with an all-in-one guide to HECM for purchase leading a pack that also included an analysis of Reverse Mortgage Funding’s new pitch to potential borrowers and a look at how originators have won over financial advisors with pure data.

7 Must-Read Reverse Mortgage for Purchase Resources — RMD compiled a list of seven articles about the under-the-radar home equity conversion mortgage for purchase (H4P) transaction, in which borrowers use a HECM to buy a second property. RMD’s list includes breakdowns from such varied outlets as Seeking Alpha, About.com, and the Denver Post — all in one easily sharable place for clients and mortgage professionals alike.

RMF Uses “Unconventional” Message to Reach New Audience — Executives at Reverse Mortgage Funding noticed that consumers in focus groups were consistently skeptical of ads that promoted the HECM “no-payment” option. So they created a new spot that downplays that aspect in favor of a “flexible payment” approach, which RMF says has been getting a positive reception from viewers.

Lenders Adapt Approach to “New” Reverse Mortgage Borrower — RMD explored how lenders are working to hone their messages to borrowers that plan to use HECMs as a part of their retirement portfolios, and not to meet immediate financial needs — while they tend to be more informed than the needs-based borrowers of years past, they can also sometimes be harder to convince.

Data Key to Financial Planners’ Reverse Mortgage Perceptions — A financial planner who once thought HECMs were only loans of last resort learned to discuss them with clients the same way that he was convinced to change his perception: the presentation of cold, hard numbers.

Reverse Mortgages Around the Web

Reverse Mortgage Nightmare — Long on all-caps words and short on details, Mobile, Ala. NBC affiliate WPMI shows that news organizations still use the phrase “reverse mortgage” to scare the public into tuning in.

ReverseVision’s Birdsell Honored — Jeff Birdsell, vice president of professional services at the San Diego, Calif-based software provider ReverseVision, was named as one of Mortgage Professional America magazine’s Hot 100 for 2017. Birdsell has been developing mortgage-origination software since the 1990s, and is a founding member of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association.

And finally, a reminder that RMD’s offices will be closed for the Presidents Day holiday on Monday. We hope you enjoy your long weekend, and our daily coverage resumes on Tuesday.

Written by Alex Spanko