OneTrust’s Gabe Bodner on selling reverse mortgages to affluent borrowers

In a 2026 mortgage market defined by higher-for-longer interest rates and softening home values, the traditional reverse mortgage playbook is facing headwinds. But top-producing originators are finding an avenue for growth by selling the product as a wealth management tool for affluent, asset-rich retirees rather than a lifeline of last resort.

Gabe Bodner, a reverse mortgage planner and president at OneTrust Home Loans — a national retail lender featuring a consumer-direct division— exemplifies this strategic shift. 

Bodner originated about $40 million last year, according to mortgage platform RETR, by targeting borrowers who don’t necessarily need a reverse mortgage but can leverage one to optimize their retirement portfolios. His pitch to high net worth borrowers centers heavily on tax mitigation and cash-flow analysis.

To execute this strategy effectively, Bodner has increasingly turned to proprietary reverse mortgages. These products, which he said have surged to 35% of the pipeline at OneTrust, allow borrowers to access more equity on higher-priced homes without the friction of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)’s steep upfront mortgage insurance premiums.

In this interview with HousingWire’s Reverse Mortgage Daily, Bodner breaks down the mechanics of his sales pitch to affluent clients and explains how he overcomes cost objections. He also discusses the pressing need to modernize Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) guidelines, the changing dynamic between proprietary and FHA products, and the positive impacts of the recent ban on abusive trigger leads.

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Flávia Nunes: With higher-for-longer interest rates, how has 2026 been so far for reverse mortgage originators? Do you expect any changes to the macroeconomic environment? 

Gabe Bodner: Overall, 2026 has been a challenging year. Part of the reason is that with interest rates being higher, it has reduced principal limit factors, and we’re finding many borrowers are short cash to close, unfortunately.

The other interesting thing is we’ve seen home values softening across most markets, but homeowners have an inflated opinion of the value of their home. And that has resulted in quite a few instances where values are coming in short or low, which is again causing borrowers to be short cash to close. 

I do think that we’re going to continue to see the same challenges throughout the rest of the year, especially as it relates to HECM. On the flip side, there’s a lot of opportunity within the proprietary space. I’m very excited that Tennessee is now allowing proprietary products. We have one of our top loan officers in Tennessee, and that’s going to be a big lift for him and his business.

Nunes: How is your portfolio currently divided between proprietary and HECM products?

Bodner: If you had asked me maybe a year ago, I would have said, as a company, we are a lot more HECM than proprietary — probably 80% HECM and 20% proprietary. But this year we’ve seen a very large increase in our product mix for proprietary. I’m estimating 65% HECM and 35% proprietary.

That is because proprietary guidelines are growing and expanding, and they’re more flexible than HECMs. No. 1, proprietary products allow for higher-value homes, meaning it allows borrowers to access more equity. No. 2, it allows borrowers to pay off debt to qualify. FHA still does not allow that.

Additionally, FHA has made it very challenging to finance condominiums with a HECM. Proprietary has opened up the doors in many cases to be able to offer financing for non-FHA-approved condominiums. 

Nunes: What are the main issues with HECM products, in your opinion?

Bodner: The FHA and HUD have not done enough to improve the HECM product. It’s a wonderful product. I call it the gold standard of reverse mortgages. But HUD has to, in my opinion, continue to evolve the product and make changes to serve the need.

There are challenges for some borrowers with the mortgage insurance fee structure. There’s a 2% upfront mortgage insurance premium based on home value and a half percent of mortgage insurance annually. And many borrowers, especially non-needs-based borrowers, have a really hard time paying that large upfront mortgage insurance premium when they have a significant amount of equity in their home.

Nunes: Are you seeing a larger share of affluent or “asset-rich/cash-flow constrained” retirees entering the market?

Bodner: I would still say the majority of borrowers, by far, are needs-based borrowers. I personally do quite a bit of business with planning-based borrowers, as I call them, who don’t need a reverse mortgage, but they see the value, whether their adviser showed them the value or they attended one of my classes. There are a lot of those borrowers that we can serve, but those are the borrowers that have the most friction when it comes to the upfront mortgage insurance premium.

As an example, I’m in Boulder, Colorado. We have a lot of home values that are over $1 million. I speak with a lot of people who have a million-dollar home and either own their home free and clear or have a very small mortgage. And they have to pay $20,000 in upfront mortgage insurance in a very low loan-to-value situation. They have to assess, does the cost outweigh the benefit? I believe it does personally, but not all borrowers can see that value.

Nunes: How do you convince these borrowers to access the equity in their homes? 

Bodner: I try to do a cash-flow analysis and ultimately compare where they are getting money from today. Let’s just say they have a million-dollar home and they have a million dollars of assets under management, and they have some type of fixed income in retirement, but they’re drawing money from their portfolio every month to live off of.

Well, that money they’re taking out of their portfolio, in most cases, is taxable. So when they take money out of their portfolio, they’re increasing their overall adjusted gross income, and therefore increasing their overall tax liability. They’re depleting their portfolio at the same time, which means they’re losing future growth opportunities on the portfolio.

I present the reverse mortgage line of credit as a way to come in and utilize funds from the line of credit as an orchestrated strategy with their portfolio. This reduces their adjusted gross income, reduces their tax liability, and sometimes can even help them stay in a lower tax bracket.” 

Nunes: So that’s the segment where you see more opportunity for growth in the next 12 months?

Bodner: Currently, with the FHA guidelines, yes. But my hope is that with some lobbying efforts from the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association and the Mortgage Bankers Association, HUD will consider making some changes to the guidelines and to the mortgage insurance premium structure.

HUD actually opened up for comments several months ago, and I made some comments and suggestions on how HUD could enhance and improve the HECM product.

I do believe that if HUD is willing and open to adjusting the principal limit factors, increasing the borrowing potential, and changing the structure of the upfront mortgage insurance premium, that will absolutely open up more opportunities and more doors with the FHA product. If they don’t make any changes, I do predict that proprietary products will continue to exceed FHA volume.

Nunes: Who are your primary lead sources today? 

Bodner: My primary referral partners are financial advisers. No. 2 are Realtors, and No. 3 are other loan officers — what I would call forward or traditional loan officers who don’t do reverse mortgages.

As the stock market has continued to perform beyond my expectations and many people’s expectations, many financial advisers are riding that wave. When there was a lot more volatility in the stock market, I was seeing more referrals from financial advisers.

I personally feel like financial advisers value this product in a volatile or down market. But as the stock market continues to just go through the roof — or so it seems, regardless of the fact that all economic signs point to the contrary — advisers are just sort of letting their clients’ assets ride and not worrying as much as they probably should about what happens if there’s a downturn.

Nunes: How do referrals from real estate agents compare to those from financial advisers? 

Bodner: Realtors will usually refer a client for a reverse mortgage only when somebody asks them about it. Most Realtors are not utilizing it proactively in their real estate business.

It’s usually only when a client asks them, “Hey, do you know anybody who does reverse mortgages?” That’s typically when they will refer them to me, versus a financial adviser who is incorporating it into their financial planning practices with each of their clients who are of retirement age.

With many Realtors, advisers and other referral partners, they really do want to work with a specialist in this space. That’s not to say that a loan originator can’t do both, but I feel like it’s such a niche product with a client base that really needs a lot of hand holding, guidance and education. 

Nunes: Have you noticed any recent changes due to the ban on abusive trigger leads?

Bodner: We have been impacted by trigger leads, but I have seen a dramatic improvement there. It used to be that when we would run a credit report for a borrower, they would immediately start getting phone calls, emails and solicitations from other lenders.

I’m not kidding — they’d be sitting in my office, I’d be running the credit report and the application, and their phone would start ringing while they were still sitting there. Then it would be nonstop for several days. It seems to have improved, though. Also, as a company, we are starting to incorporate direct mail as part of our consumer-direct team.

Nunes: With OneTrust actively growing its reverse mortgage division, what do you see as the primary opportunities and challenges for originators entering this space right now?

Bodner: There’s a significant amount of opportunity. When we consider the number of seniors who are reaching retirement age today — somewhere in the ballpark of 12,000 a day — there’s about $14 trillion worth of senior home equity. Given the fact that, as an industry, we’re only serving 2% to 3% of the potential market, there’s a ton of opportunity.

I would encourage anybody who wants to get into the space to do it, because it’s a wonderful product that’s very misunderstood, especially by forward mortgage originators. When you have a 65-year-old client walk into your office and ask for a 30-year mortgage, that’s probably not the best product to serve them long-term, right?

Those opportunities just don’t always fall into your lap. You have to go out, be proactive, network and develop relationships. It’s like getting back to the basics of selling. An originator has to know that most people they speak to already have a preconceived notion of what this is. You can’t get offended and you can’t get your feelings hurt. You have to have a way to handle objections, if that makes sense.