From his most memorable moment and his craziest experience to his thoughts about the challenges facing the reverse mortgage industry, we get the personal and professional facts from Michael D. Kent, president of mortgage lending at RMS, in our monthly edition of The Hot Seat.
You can’t always be right.
Something nobody knows about me is that I am a complete sucker for babies.
My favorite vacation was in Costa Rica with my daughter and seven of her teenage girlfriends.
My celebrity crush is Sheryl Crow.
If I were a professional athlete I would be a baseball player.
My first car was an Oldsmobile Delmont 88 named Maurice.
The craziest thing I’ve ever done was participate in several ritual tribal ceremonies in the jungles of Peru while studying with a shaman.
If I had three wishes they would be to end poverty, to end hunger and to grant access to education for all people.
My favorite movie is Pulp Fiction.
I never miss an episode of Justified.
Every morning I work out.
I can’t go without coffee.
When I was a kid I lived in the most kid- and family-friendly town in America: Park Forest, Illinois.
I’ll never forget to thank God daily for where I am now.
My first job was as a newspaper delivery boy.
My parents taught me how to be humble.
My favorite time of the day is the very early morning.
The best lesson I’ve ever learned was to live life in a way that allows you to look in the mirror every day and respect the person you see.
The most memorable moment in my life was when my daughter, Mickey, was
born.
If I could time travel, I would be here, in the moment!
The biggest challenge in the reverse mortgage industry
is its size. We need to continue to look for new and innovative ways to grow our market. Having a growing and dynamic industry provides the underpinning necessary for capital markets to stay interested in our product.
Ten years from now, the reverse mortgage product will be a standard retirement financial tool.
People should seek a career in the reverse mortgage industry because it is an industry filled with some of the best and brightest people I have ever known and promotes a product that can radically change a person’s life in a very positive way. By working in this industry with integrity and with our customers’ best interests at our center, we honor our parents and their contributions to our country.
Reverse mortgage professionals can best support the public image of reverse mortgages by keeping the best interest of the customer at the center of their work.
The most important influence technology will have on reverse mortgages is to open access to the product to a larger number of people and help to commoditize the product.
