Unlocking Home Equity to Help Your Funeral Home Customers

By Peter Klamkin

Every funeral home has at least three file cabinets. The first is for those at-need families you’ve served; the second is for those who’ve prearranged and funded; the third is for those who have taken the step to let their wishes be known but did not fund it.

By having a passing knowledge of home equity conversion mortgages and a relationship with a licensed, experienced reverse mortgage specialist in your area, you can help families access existing equity in their homes to not only lock in funeral costs, but to pay for other current and future needs such as health care costs, credit card debt, home improvements and more. Currently, there’s over $13 trillion available in seniors home equity in the U.S. that is not being used.

Addressing the financial needs of those you serve has never been easy, but there are a few tools that can help.

First, know the signs of when to ask about financial distress. Has your family dismissed the idea of funding with a credit card? Have they talked about other pressing financial needs such as health care costs? Are they concerned about the potential loss of Social Security income?
Secondly, is having the discussion preneed versus at-need. Unlike applying for a loan through a credit company, applying for a home equity conversion mortgage takes time –

generally about 30 to 45 days. It’s similar to applying for a traditional mortgage. These are FHA-HUD insured loans, designed specifically for those 62 and up.

Lastly, as a reverse mortgage specialist isn’t qualified to discuss funeral planning, know your limits in discussing accessing home equity. Partner with an expert. Like you, they meet regularly with families at the kitchen table and have built lasting relationships with both referral partners and many families in the area you serve.

These professionals can also help you build your file cabinet with funded prearrangements by offering marketing support. They can provide on-premise brochures, do joint lunch and dinner seminars, and build a mail campaign. If you currently run a prearrangement survey letter, it may be as simple as asking one more question: “Do you own a home?”

Accessing home equity isn’t for everyone, and there are several qualifying questions. However, in the right situation, you can have one more tool available to provide peace of mind to those you serve.

Peter Klamkin is a senior reverse mortgage coach with Guild Mortgage and also a vice president of business development with Cardinal Financial Co. He can be reached at via email at Pklamkin@guildmortgage.net.