Reflections from NRMLA 2025: All Roads Lead to Demand

 NRMLA 2025 was an event I’m unlikely to forget.  From not knowing if I was going to attend, to ending up giving a keynote presentation, it was a sequence of serendipitous events that concluded with the strengthening of my resolve on the much-needed direction for the reverse mortgage industry.

Just a few days before the conference, the government shutdown caused HUD to have to cancel their travel and thereby their planned presentation. I received a call and was asked to fill the spot. Although it was short notice, I was both honored and excited to be trusted with filling this critical time slot (and it certainly wasn’t the first time I’ve had to develop a presentation in a moment’s notice, some might say it’s my specialty!). From my years of working alongside financial advisors and loan officers, I’ve seen firsthand both the potential of reverse mortgages and the persistent misunderstanding that continues to hold the industry back. As somewhat of an outsider to the industry, I knew this would be a unique opportunity to share what I’ve learned and observed with the inside industry leaders.

Rather that rehash what I spoke about in my presentation, I’d like to share what I took away from the overall conference.  In preparing my presentation, in listening to the other key sessions, and in conversations with attendees, I left with a very clear theme: 

All roads lead to the need for increased demand.

A Systemic Misunderstanding — and a Massive Opportunity

There is still, across nearly every corner of the housing and retirement ecosystem, a deep and widespread misunderstanding of how reverse mortgages actually work. From the secondary market to banks, from regulators to financial advisors, and even among loan officers themselves, there’s confusion, misinformation, and in many cases, simple lack of context or the ability to communicate.

 That misunderstanding doesn’t just create individual roadblocks; it suppresses demand across the entire system.

Without understanding, there is limited demand.

With limited demand, there is limited production.

Lack of production, limits revenue and capital resources.

Without capital, there aren’t resources to create new products or technology.

Without innovative products and technology, the market stays small and inefficient.

When the market stays small, the messaging doesn’t get out to create more demand.

And without demand, there’s limited production… 

It’s a circular cycle and it’s costing the industry its future.

Supply and demand gaps, the simplest economic theory. 

The Market Math Problem.

By my rough math, there are around 33 million U.S. households that could both qualify for and benefit from a reverse mortgage. That’s the addressable market. Yet, this year, we’re once again on pace to close fewer than 30,000 loans.  That’s the market capture, less than 1/10 of 1%.  Or, 0.0009 market capture.  And shrinking every day when you account for the 10,000 people becoming age qualified each day.   

That’s not even a rounding error in the total addressable market. If we reached just 0.05% of eligible households, we’d be closing 165,000 loans per year. At 1.0%, that number jumps to 330,000, a level of volume that would transform the industry and finally justify investment in new products, training, and innovation.

But instead, we’re moving backward.

This is not just an issue of sales; it’s an industry-wide problem that demands immediate attention. The need is growing, the opportunity is expanding, and yet we’re collectively falling further behind. Something has to change if you want your industry to exist, and I think most would prefer to see it thrive.  

Why Understanding Comes Before Simplicity

The irony is that everyone says reverse mortgages are too complicated, yet complexity is only a symptom of shallow understanding. True simplicity lives on the other side of understanding.

Until the people explaining the product, especially loan officers, have a clear, accurate, and complete understanding of how it works and why it matters, they can’t explain it to consumers or other professionals in a way that resonates. The result is a lot of talking about reverse mortgages but very little progress in helping people truly understand them.

Half of what’s being said out there is complicated, confusing, or flat-out wrong. If we want to grow this industry, that has to change, and it starts with education that’s broad, consistent, and credible.

The Economics of Interest

Here’s another way to think about the challenge. Imagine I’m an investor with $10,000 to allocate. You come to me pitching an opportunity; a mortgage-backed security tied to reverse mortgages. You tell me about the returns, the risk-reward profile, the diversification benefits, and it all sounds great. But then you mention that the total market is so small that the most I could invest is $10.

 At that point, I lose interest; not because the idea is bad, but because the scale doesn’t justify the time and effort it takes to understand it. That’s the situation we’re in now. The market is simply too small to attract meaningful capital. Until we create sufficient demand to expand the size and scope of the marketplace, it will never draw the investment dollars necessary to make it efficient.

And without meaningful capital, innovation stalls. Again.

Expanding the Circle of Understanding 

So where does this change begin? It must start with a commitment from the reverse industry to face the truth that most reverse loan officers can barely explain how a reverse mortgage works.  You must invest in the training and education of your people; the current way is not working. 

However, there aren’t enough reverse loan officers with enough reach to make a difference. The real progress will come when we elevate understanding among all mortgage loan officers. And even better yet, other financial professionals; advisors, insurance agents, tax professionals, attorneys, those who already hold the trust of consumers and influence how retirement plans are designed.

When advisors understand how housing wealth fits into the retirement equation, it becomes part of a normal, comprehensive financial planning conversation. That’s how we move from niche to mainstream. That’s how we increase demand.  Not by selling harder, not even by “educating,” but by modeling a different way of thinking.

Where We Go from Here

The takeaway from NRMLA wasn’t just about where the industry stands today; it was about where it could go next.

If we can collectively invest in broad-based education across the lending community, the advisory world, and even regulatory and investment circles, we can turn the tide. And if the industry could come together for long enough to create a collective consumer campaign, imagine what that could do!  

The reverse mortgage industry doesn’t need more slogans; it needs more understanding. Because understanding leads to simplicity, simplicity drives trust, and trust drives demand.

And demand is what will finally unlock the innovation, scale, and impact this industry has been waiting for.

To get there, we need to do something different. It’s time to get a group of smart, forward-thinking people in a room, not just those interested in growing their companies, but those committed to growing this industry. We need to ask the tough questions and face the hard truth:

Why is demand not increasing?

Then we need to map out a top-to-bottom strategic plan for overcoming it. My belief is that this will require:

• And a comprehensive training program for loan officers who are the boots on the ground carrying this message forward,
• A massive PR and awareness campaign that reshapes the public narrative around reverse mortgages,
• A broad educational process that reaches beyond our industry and into the advisory, regulatory, and investment communities,
• An extensive outreach effort to financial professionals who guide clients’ retirement decisions.  

Done right, this movement could improve the lives of millions of seniors, create greater stability for the HECM program, and open the door for long-overdue innovation in the marketplace.

It’s time to stop waiting for the market to catch up and start leading it there.

We’re doing what we can with the Equity Wealth Academy, we welcome and invite any and all who believe what we believe to connect and collaborate with us in our efforts.  The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few…