I've been spending a great deal of time the past few months educating Realtors about the FHA HECM program, primarily as it's reincarnation as a true Purchase Finance tool but also, and this is reflected by the general population and financial professionals alike, on basics of what a reverse mortgage is and how it works.
What has struck me isn't so much how different we all are in the way we manage and grow our knowledge, but how similar we are, from senior homeowners to financial planners to Realtors... an amazing number of us are too comfortable thinking that we "know" about a subject when we really haven't taken the time to get the facts.
I should know, before I entered the Reverse Mortgage world my prior career was insurance and financial planning. You'd think we'd have a pretty good handle on all things money related - but we (read I) didn't - we relied on a great deal of second hand information, particularly if it was involving products that we weren't directly involved in on a day to day basis.
The day that I learned the facts about the FHA Home Equity Conversion Mortgage was a real shocker... I had attended numerous "introductions" to the program put on my various providers, but never took the time to verify. Not until I was hired to help set up a financial services division for a large mortgage company did I even learn the inside story on conventional mortgages (and oh what an eye opener that was!). It was only then did I realize that the majority of people, both consumer and professional, were wrong... dangerously wrong.
This is a program that has helped hundreds of thousands of seniors live with greater safety, security and independence... but sadly there are millions more who could find relief from their current financial woes if they only got the facts.
But, that requires an open mind, and the courage to realize that we maybe don't know all that we think we know, and for all too many it's too much to accept.
In this New Year one of my resolutions is to simply continue to learn, to get the facts and not rely on general opinion. Please join me. The Truth is out there, it's not hard to find, the hard part? Being willing and open to the realization that what we know is minuscule compared to what we don't.
Be brave, be open, learn, teach!
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