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This week’s HW+ member spotlight features Omar Ennabe, who serves as president at Ennkar, a reverse mortgage lender. Below, Ennabe answers questions about the housing industry:
HousingWire: What is your current favorite HW+ article and why?
Omar Ennabe: I enjoy reading anything Chris Clow writes. Chris Clow helps keep me apprised of what’s going on in my unique niche of the mortgage markets. I start my day with a cup of coffee and Chris Clow’s updates on the reverse mortgage market.
HousingWire: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Omar Ennabe: To look inward. I have found that people can be grouped into 1 of 2 categories. Those that blame others when things go wrong and those that look inward and see what they could have done better.
Since I heard that from a person that I respect and admire, I have tried to reflect on situations with that in mind and think about what could I have done better as opposed to blaming someone or something else.
HousingWire: When do you feel like a success in your job?
Omar Ennabe: When we took people with zero mortgage experience and grew Ennkar to the 9th largest reverse mortgage lender in the country. Many thought we were going to fail and ignored us or chose not to work with us when we attended our first mortgage convention. Now those vendors may be kicking themselves for passing.
HousingWire: What is your most useful tech tool?
Omar Ennabe: My smartphone. The technology in my smartphone allows me to stay connected wherever I am in the world. It ensures my clients and my team can get a hold of me in the event of an urgent situation. It allows me to stay up to date with market news and ensures that I am well informed to make decisions that impact our business.
HousingWire: What are 2-3 trends that you’re closely following?
Omar Ennabe: The obvious trends I follow would be the ones related to our business, such as housing trends, home values and interest rates. On a personal level, I do try to stay on top of technology trends and viral video trends. I love being the first one with the new iPhone or tech gadget!
HousingWire: If you could change one piece of housing regulation, what would it be and why?
Omar Ennabe: I would like to see the document packages for reverse mortgages become much simpler. The current application packages and final doc sets have become very long and full of legal jargon that most laymens don’t understand.
It would be nice to simplify them for consumers and not require hundreds of signatures on pages that will likely not be read or understood by most. I also would love to see the FHA move faster when it comes to adopting new technology. They seem to be years behind traditional mortgages when it comes to electronic signatures as well as other related tech items.
HousingWire: What keeps you up at night and why?
Omar Ennabe: At the moment, it happens to be my 7-month-old. But, I am confident that this question was intended to reference the housing market. I am not too worried about the housing market in the long term.
I believe in the U.S. economy and it’s ability to self-correct. I am hopeful that investor demand for our product will return as we have seen a drop off in the number of investors buying mortgage-backed securities (specifically reverse mortgages). I also think product innovation will help my space as the demand from consumers for reverse mortgages has never been higher.
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