I’m back from the NRMLA conference in LA and one of the “big announcements” was the launch of NRMLAPedia, a resource guide for lenders that provides technical knowledge about reverse mortgages. Think Wikipedia for reverse mortgages… great idea right? I think so…
NRMLAPedia was created by NRMLA members over the past few months and NRMLA has decided to charge a “nominal” fee for access to it. Yes, NRMLA is charging its own members to access something they created… such a NRMLA move. Maybe they want to recoup the costs of burning NRMLAPedia onto CD’s since that’s the way they’re planning on distributing it. The press release does say that they will eventually put it online, but doesn’t say whether or not they charge members to access it.
I’m going to offer to host NRMLAPedia on my server for free… as a dues paying member of NRMLA, I will happily incur the costs of bandwith and storage as long as NRMLA agrees to provide access to other members for free. The members of NRMLA contributed all of the content for it, why should we have to pay for it?
This is part of my frustration with NRMLA and I know others feel the same way. At the conference I was told that NRMLA is looking for new ways to generate extra revenue… makes sense, but why are they trying to increase revenue by nickel and diming its own members instead of trying to increase membership? We all know there are plenty of originators in the business who are not NRMLA members… why not use something like NRMLAPedia as a way to entice originators to join?
Whether it’s the $25 Learn While You Lunch or the “nominal fee” for access to NRMLAPedia, why do they charge members for these things? I know this is a bit of a rant, but I’m tired of not saying anything about stuff like this. Am I the only one that thinks their membership should include these things?
