Reverse Mortgage Interview

Here is an interview with Reverse Mortgage Specialist Valerie VanBooven from Reverse Mortgage Nation.

Valerie's Interview with NRMEC

September 2006

Valerie VanBooven, NGFS Marketing Director

Interviewed by Lyn Link, President of the National Reverse Mortgage Education Center

Link: I would like to start the interview in the newsletter with a brief introduction about you and the Next Generation Financial Services. Do you have something already prepared that we could use?

VanBooven: Next Generation Financial Services, a division of 1st Mariner Bank, uses creative financial techniques that have a proven ability to help consumers achieve their financial goals. These goals could range from paying off their mortgage early, funding a family member's education, increasing their retirement income, obtaining long term care or a variety of other financial goals. "The NGFS philosophy is based o¬n a blend of traditional banking and insurance products in an untraditional way.”

NGFS was an idea and a business model that was created by Brett Carter, President of 1st Mariner Mortgage, Doug McLain, and Frank Neubauer. Three great guys with a very solid and productive vision for the future of this market.

Valerie VanBooven RN, BSN, PGCM is the National Marketing Director for NGFS. Her job is to help the hundreds of financial advisors who have been through the NGFS training program, understand how to market their services to seniors, baby boomers, and adult children of aging parents. She does this is by showing advisors amazing, effective, lead generation methods that leave the competition in the dust! Valerie is the author of "Aging Answers: Secrets to Successful Long-Term Care Planning, Caregiving, and Crisis Management", she is also a professional speaker, radio show host, and contributor to the Weekend Today Show on NBC, as well as having appeared on CNNFN's "Your Money" with Ali Veshi. Valerie has been quoted in Time Magazine, and many AP articles across the country.

Link: Your background provides you a very special perspective on the health and financial burdens senior adults face on a daily basis. How and why did you got started in the reverse mortgage profession?

VanBooven: After completing my first book in late 2003, I realized very quickly that reverse mortgages were going to become one of the biggest "helpers" for seniors with regard to increasing cash flow and paying for long-term care...I was getting a lot of questions from clients and from people all across the country, so I decided to get educated! I went to an NGFS training class in Baltimore, Maryland in early 2005. It was one of the best professional decisions I have ever made. The class was outstanding. By September 2005, NGFS had offered me a job as their national marketing director. I accepted because I see the 3 Trillion dollar opportunity standing before us, and I see thousands of seniors finally getting the help they need.

Link: You are also the author of Aging Answers: Secrets to Successful Long-Term Care Planning, Caregiving, and Crisis Management. Please tell us about your book and whether it would be beneficial for reverse mortgage professionals to read or share with their senior customers?

VanBooven: "Aging Answers" was written as a simple guidebook for seniors and adult children of aging parents. The first half talks about the importance of planning ahead for long-term care while we are still healthy enough to do so, and the second half discusses what to do when it's too late to plan ahead, and your family is in the middle of crisis. "Aging Answers" is designed to point people in the right direction, it's not the encyclopedia of elder care. The book is appropriate for anyone who works with seniors on a daily basis, including reverse mortgage specialists. When we write reverse mortgages, we find that many seniors have a whole host of social service issues that need to be addressed. Having a reference like "Aging Answers" can really help the person advising the family know where to turn.

Link: The Next Generational Financial Services (NGFS) business model is leading the way in combining the reverse mortgage with financial products and planning. Describe for us NGFS's business model and what makes it so special?

VanBooven: This is so much fun for me! Here's the scoop: In "the old days" (which was 5 years ago), the only way a financial advisor or insurance agent could get a reverse mortgage written was to refer their client away to a captive reverse mortgage specialist. Most financial advisors will tell you that this makes them feel uncomfortable, and some will even tell you that they have been burned in the past because they lost control of their case design. Fast forward 5 years, and now it is possible for financial advisors to not only write the reverse mortgage, but also enjoy the commission on the reverse mortgage, as well as any other product sale.

My belief is this: When we write a reverse mortgage for a senior, there should always be a plan in place for where that money is going. It might simply mean paying off a current mortgage, or it might mean buying a long-term care insurance plan, or life insurance. Or, it may simply be a way to increase cash flow for that senior so that they can make ends meet, and afford to pay their bills. I don't think it's wise to enter into a reverse mortgage without a case design strategy that makes sense for that family. How many times, without proper case design and a plan in place, do seniors come back needing more money in 6 month or a year? It happens a lot. By training financial advisors on how to write reverse mortgages and put good case design strategies together, we avoid those issues, the family is happy, and their money is protected.

Link: Are there any regulations that prevent combining financial products and services with a reverse mortgage and if so, how has NGFS been able to comply with these regulations?

VanBooven: NGFS follows all federal rules and regulations. We are very very careful to train our advisors not to use variable products with reverse mortgages, and to make sure that each case design they put together meets the needs of the client and their family, and is not a risk to their assets. Seniors aren't usually in a position to tolerate any risk with their money. We advise against putting them in that situation. In 5 years, we have never run across any of our advisors who have made that mistake. When an NGFS Loan Consultant takes an application for a reverse mortgage, we have included many forms that must be filled out and signed by the senior stating that they are not putting their money into risky products. It's VERY clear.

Link: Do you feel that NGFS's business model is the future for the industry, and what advantage does it give NGFS in the marketplace?

VanBooven: Yes, I would say our model is the future for the industry, but as an industry we need to be very careful. Our program requires that each person who attends training go through a set of background checks and a drug screen before they become official W2 employees of the bank. They must also attend the three day training class in person. No exceptions. We honestly try to screen out anyone who may be an undesirable representation of our bank and our program. One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch! Other models that are similar to ours are less careful about who they let in the door. Some will allow you to send in $300 and watch a video, and you are "in". I think that's dangerous and not a good business model at all. We are THE example in the industry of how this model should and DOES work for the future of reverse mortgages and cash flow planning in general. A video just doesn't do it.

Link: How does combining retirement planning and financial products such as long term care insurance and annuities with a reverse mortgage benefit the senior customer?

VanBooven: In the last couple of years, The NCOA published a study on using reverse mortgages to pay for long-term care. Shortly after that, The Deficit Reduction Act '05 passed. The landscape for seniors changes every single day. The laws change, the rules change. Reverse mortgages can be used to plan ahead for long-term care by using the proceeds to purchase a long-term care plan, or the proceeds from a reverse mortgage can be used to pay for in - home care (crisis management) in the immediacy when the senior no longer qualifies to purchase long- term care insurance. Either way we can keep people at home longer. Long-term care insurance should be thought of as "lifestyle insurance". If you want to stay in your own home, with your own remote control, watching your favorite shows, then you need to plan ahead with long-term care insurance. It's that simple. For folks who thought this was unaffordable in the past, we can now show them away that they can afford it-- without touching a penny of their savings, investments, or current income. That's the beauty of the reverse mortgage.

As for annuities, there are some case designs that make a lot of sense. For those out there who sell annuities already, you have probably heard of a laddered or "stacked" annuity strategy. We can show you how to super-charge that strategy and increase your client's income by 210% (using a reverse mortgage). over what you could have done for them before. It's safe, and these are not variable products.

Link: What kind of specialized training does NGFS provide to the financial professionals it hires to originate reverse mortgages?

VanBooven: As I mentioned before, it's a 3 day training class. Full 8-10 hour days. The training is not only educational, but also entertaining and fun. We train once a month in a different part of the country. Las Vegas, Tampa, and Baltimore are the cities we rotate through currently. At the end of training, everyone is pumped, excited and realizing that they have a new marketing tool that literally blows the competition in their town out of the water!

Link: If you don't mind sharing with our readers, what type of marketing are you and NGFS's loan officers doing that is unique and effective in our industry?

VanBooven: I have some formulas that I like to use to train our advisors on how to market themselves more effectively. We provide over 100 print pieces, including newspaper ads (atypical- not vanity ads), postcards, seminar invitations, seminar ads, lead drip pieces, free reports, newsletters to send to clients, letters to other professionals and current clients, press releases, the church program (which is fantastic), and everyone's favorite- the "radio show". I won't go into detail on how we get all of this done, but I will tell you that our copy is outstanding, our marketing methodology is amazing, and it's not your traditional muckety-muck that you see everyone else in the industry doing. We actually get results. In order to understand why Jane Doe buys what Jane Doe buys, you MUST see the world through Jane Doe's eyes. That is the unique perspective that I bring to the table as marketing director- from the social service and health care perspective, I get it, and now so do all of our advisors.

Link: How many reverse mortgage loan officers does NGFS currently have and what are their goals for the future?

VanBooven: It appears that we have put about 1200 people through training, we have around 700 active employees. We terminate anyone who hasn't been productive in at least 6 months. We are serious about that, and that's another reason why we are so successful in this market. We see 50 new faces a month on average in our training class. Our goal is to cap our employee list at 2500 active loan consultants. We have no desire to have 10,000 people on our list just to say we have 10,000 people on our list. We want serious producers who do the right thing for their clients.

Link: If someone wanted to find out more about a career with NGFS, how do they get in touch with you?

Anyone can email me at valerie@nextgenfinser.com , they can call me at 877-529-0550, or if they want to come to training and need more info they can always visit www.ngfs.net

By the way Lyn, thank you for this opportunity to share our story!