R Wagner NONOWhatever happened to those annoying Reverse Mortgage TV ads by Robert Wagner?  If you were among hundreds of thousands who called the 800 number and eventually received the promised CD or Video… you might have been disappointed with the contents.  I certainly was.  Possibly, you were more annoyed by the stream of dinner time followup phone calls from strangers located far away trying to “help” you.  You see, your name, address and phone number was probably sold to someone you don’t know and you were targeted for sales calls as a result of your inquiry.

Reverse Mortgage Ads Not Useful

The parent organization of the company behind those ads has experienced some financial difficulties of late.  I’m not seeing Mr. Wagner offering “much, much more” information via his TV ads these days.  Just as well.  They were not particularly useful anyway, in my opinion.  Most forms of Reverse Mortgage advertising are designed to snag your name & phone number and are not too informative.

Face To Face Is Key

And, how could you ever have a face-to-face family meeting to discuss reverse mortgages when the “loan officer” contact is actually a youngster located somewhere in Colorado?  This is not really a decision you want to make on a conference call with a junior telemarketer, is it?  You want your loan officer to have some life experience (maturity) in order to be able to relate to issues that concern seniors.  That’s what made Wagner’s ads so successful… for the lender.  Too bad he was not able to sit down at the kitchen table with you to provide real answers to your questions.

UPDATE: October 19, 2009 He’s back !!!

Author – Robert H. Irving, CSA
Senior Reverse Mortgage Consultant

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