Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation has promoted former national reverse marketing specialist Timothy Harder to the position of head of national business development for the company’s reverse mortgage division. As his first move in the new role, Harder has added reverse mortgage industry veterans Scot Mountcastle and Trish Kauker as account executives.
Harder joined Fairway in June 2020 and has nearly 19 years of experience in the reverse mortgage industry, including roles in national business development at Mountain Pacific Mortgage, and most recently at Cherry Creek’s 1st Reverse Mortgage USA division where he served as VP business development and reverse mortgage specialist. Harder has also previously served as president and board member of the Colorado Mortgage Lenders Association, and is described as being very active in the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA).
In terms of the experience of the new account executives, Trish Kauker previously led national sales training at Financial Freedom, and has also worked in reverse mortgage roles at WSFS Bank, MetLife, and 1st Reverse Mortgage/Cherry Creek. Scot Mountcastle previously worked in reverse roles at Financial Freedom, Senior Lending Network, Colonial and 1st Reverse Mortgage USA.
“Trish and Scot are some of the best the industry has to offer,” Harder said in an announcement of the hires. “They are the perfect pros to help nurture our Branch Initiative, and make sure that every Fairway loan officer has the support they need to create more reverse volume.”
For the company, the eye is firmly set on expanding the business of the reverse division to take advantage of new eyes on the product category stemming from the very eventful year for business that was 2020.
“We are dedicated to building the best team in the industry – our reverse business is diversified, our forward loan officers are eager partners, and we are on a track to not only transform the industry, but the way retirement is done,” said Harlan Accola, national reverse mortgage director at Fairway.
RMD previously cited Fairway as a reverse mortgage lender “to look out for” in 2021, owing to its efforts in bringing more forward loan officers aboard to conduct reverse business, as well as its recently forged partnership in 2020 with the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA) which will see Fairway provide educational materials for NAIFA-sponsored events like webinars, blog posts and print pieces in the association’s Advisor Today magazine publication.
According to recent Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) endorsement data, Fairway is currently the eighth-largest reverse mortgage lender in the business, recording 1,989 loans in the 12-month period ending in March 2021.
