Top 10 reverse mortgage lender Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation has appointed industry veteran Tane Cabe as its new reverse business development manager with focus on Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) for Purchase (H4P) business. Cabe’s duties will include assisting Fairway’s loan officer corps with cultivating relationships with referral partners necessary for the creation of H4P business, including home builders and real estate professionals.
Cabe will also be responsible for teaching strategies regarding “executable strategies” around H4P loans to Fairway’s loan officers who refer, originate and market reverse mortgages. Citing data compiled by Reverse Market Insight (RMI), Fairway describes itself has having become the second-highest H4P lender in the reverse mortgage industry for 2021.
“We are excited to welcome Tane to the Fairway Reverse team in this leadership role,” said Harlan Accola, national reverse mortgage director at Fairway. “Tane comes to Fairway with his playbook of H4P strategies that have been proven to work in real life. With Fairway’s scale and Tane now onboard, we are well-positioned to achieve exponential growth in the H4P space for years to come.”
Echoing the enthusiasm for Cabe’s new appointment is Tim Harder, Fairway’s national reverse business development manager, who says that his strategic mindset should be instrumental in helping Fairway expand its H4P footprint.
“Tane has a strategic mindset for business growth, and I can’t wait to see how he’s going to help us to help more senior homebuyers to buy and better afford the homes they really want in retirement,” Harder said. “Our Reverse team is eager to soak up his vast knowledge like a sponge, because we know his tried and true H4P methods will give us the best opportunities for success with builders and [real estate agents].”
Cabe shifted focus exclusively to the reverse mortgage business in 2011, and has maintained his focus there ever since. He comes to Fairway from previous experience at 55places Mortgage, Churchill Mortgage and Security One Lending. He describes a scenario in which Fairway will allow him access to new resources to expand on the work he has already accomplished in the H4P category.
“I joined Fairway because of the people and leadership, its culture and its commitment to improving retirements for senior homeowners and homebuyers,” said Cabe. “Fairway has scale, and it’s amazing. Being a leading HECM for Purchase lender has huge advantages. My objective is to do the things I’ve been doing at a much larger scale. The way I see it, homes are meant to store people, not cash, and I get a great sense of satisfaction from when my efforts help homeowners to enjoy the retirement they always imagined, with less financial worries.”
While HECM for Purchase made up just over 4% of total reverse mortgage industry volume in 2021, certain reverse mortgage professionals have cited it as a market with potential particularly after the end of a current boom in HECM-to-HECM refinances subsides. In 2021, Fairway lost some ground in terms of its overall volume but made very specific gains in H4P loans, according to RMI President John Lunde.
“[Fairway’s] 2021 volume shows the lowest HECM-to-HECM (H2H) refinance share and highest HECM-for-Purchase (H4P) share of the top 10 lenders, a clear sign of the difference in their approach,” Lunde said in February. “It sets them up very well for sustainable growth in a way that refinances don’t.”
