The top 10 reverse mortgage LOs in the country

On Wednesday, Reverse Mortgage Daily (RMD) brought you a ranking of the top five reverse mortgage loan originators in America. Today, we’ll round out the rest of the top 10 based on data from mortgage recruiting software provider Modex.

#6: Jacob Flax, Caliver Beach Mortgage, $76.17 million

The third member of the Caliver Beach Mortgage crew to make RMD’s top 10 list, Flax has been steadily growing his business over the past four years.

Per Modex, he’s averaging about $6.7 million per month in reverse mortgage volume (or more than five units). He has more geographic diversity than most others too. In just the past calendar year alone, he’s done business across New Jersey, Colorado, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Tennessee, Connecticut, Virginia, Georgia, Utah and Texas.

According to Modex, the bulk of his business has gone to Nationwide Equities Corp., Traditional Mortgage Acceptance Corp., The Money House Inc., the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and PHH Mortgage. There are some high loan amounts too — one reverse mortgage on a home in Palisades, California, was for $9.1 million.

#7: Ryan Smith, Finance of America, $71.91 million

Smith is located in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and does reverse mortgages across the country. According to Modex, he’s averaged six-plus loans a month with an average loan amount of $990,000.

His originations over the past year are in Texas, Oregon, Washington, California, Virginia, Florida, Colorado and Indiana. His highest individual loan amount was $3.52 million for a home in Avon, Colorado.

A former top wide receiver in high school, Smith has also been a real estate investor for decades.

#8: George Vrban, Movement Mortgage, $70.29 million

A former top LO for Fairway Home Mortgage, Florida-based Vrban jumped to Movement in 2023 and has remained a top originator. As previously detailed in RMD, Vrban took out a reverse mortgage for himself after turning 62 to create more efficient retirement income.

As an originator, Vrban is averaging about eight loans a month with an average loan amount of $786,000. Much of his business comes from his backyard in Florida, but he also does deals in Alabama, South Carolina, Maryland, Louisiana and Colorado.

His highest loan amount over the past year was $1.81 million on a home in Larkspur, Colorado.

#9: Kathryn Halliday-Otten, Mutual of Omaha Mortgage, $69.93 million

A reverse-focused originator since 2004, Halliday-Otten started in the reverse mortgage business as a production partner and operations manager assisting with closing documents. She became a licensed adviser for Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs) in 2010.

She averages more than eight loans a month, with an average loan amount of $788,000. Geographically, Halliday-Otten does loans across the country, with originations in California, Virginia, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington, Georgia, Mississippi, Delaware, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Hawaii in just the past few months.

Halliday-Otten’s largest HECM deal of late was a $2.35 million origination in Bonita Springs, Florida.

#10: Shivonne Espinoza, PHH Mortgage, $68.20 million

Based out of West Palm Beach, Florida, Espinoza has been with PHH since 2021, according to Modex licensing records. She has also held banking roles at Continental National Bank and Ocean Bank during the course of her career.

According to Modex, she has averaged nearly eight transactions a month, with an average loan size of $765,000. Her book of business stretches across California, Texas, Ohio, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Florida, Illinois, Georgia and Rhode Island.

Espinoza’s largest HECM deal was a $1.81 million loan on a home in Fremont, California.