Like anything – a good burger, a trip to the aquarium, or an RV windshield repair – the cost to fill up the camper with a full tank of gas largely depends on the state. Cheaper in Texas, costlier in Florida, and Arizona?
Too long ago to remember, says Jordan Nutter, better known across digital channels as the @mobilemortgagemom.
On average, $175 for a full tank.
In mid-February, Jordan, mortgage loan originator and vice president of the Creator Collective at the Baltimore-based NFM Lending, set out from Los Angeles with her husband, Zach, and infant daughter, Charlotte, on a 12,000-mile journey to deliver mortgage education to borrowers and train real estate agents on using social media to do so. NMP has been following along with daily updates from Jordan on her progress.
On the fifth day, en route to Tucson, Ariz., a rock splintered the RV’s windshield, which couldn’t get repaired until Dallas. Another rock cracked it the following day.
Before the first week had ended, the pair of large dogs they brought had to be driven back to California to stay with Jordan’s mother-in-law.
Last week, I caught up with Jordan over Zoom for a longer conversation as her family departed Tampa, Fla., en route to Fort Lauderdale, sunlight streaming through the (newly repaired) windshield of the 38-foot camper that has been their literal mobile home for the past six weeks – and will continue to be for the next six months.
Edited for length and clarity, our conversation explores insights gleaned and challenges overcome in the early weeks of Jordan’s months-long pilgrimage to preach financial literacy to – well, anyone who will listen.
Six Weeks On The Road
A housing market still plagued by low sales volume made yesterday’s audience of Tampa-based real estate agents eager to listen to Jordan’s insights on incorporating financial literacy into their conversations with home buyers.
She warned them about not being heard should they attempt to communicate to too broad of an audience. The variety of platforms, properties, borrowers, and challenges facing homebuyers provide ample opportunities for specialization. By understanding your core community and its unique challenges, agents and originators can educate to differentiate.
“I was speaking to that group yesterday about how to really hone in on your community,” she tells me. “Not every agent wants to do listings or buy-side, and some prefer VA buyers.”
The same reasoning applies to finding the platform that resonates most with the content creator and the consumer of that content.
“Yesterday,” she continues, “I had a gentleman come up to me. He was a boomer, so he really liked his platform. He has 3,000 subscribers or followers on LinkedIn. I told him, ‘If that’s where your community resonates with you, that’s where you should go in and make your content. If you decide down the road you want to expand, you can do it that way.’”
Jordan presenting to a team of real estate agents.
Jordan offered similar advice to a west Texas-based loan officer and coaching client that she met up with a few weeks ago, along with his family, at Blue Sky Texas, a popular, local burger chain that Jordan says served the best burger of their trip so far.
Fresh accompaniments, not overcooked, and most importantly – good fries.
Located just off the Texas Tech University campus in Lubbock, the restaurant had murals of the school mascot, logos, and history. There have been lessons to learn about educating borrowers at all stages of the trip for Jordan.
“I’ve been coaching him now for probably a little over a year,” she says, “because he was very new to the industry and needed help talking with his community, how to get involved and really implement himself into the community.”
In a similar way that at the burger joint “an overall good experience amplifies the food that much more,” positive customer experiences increase closure rates for originators who grasp the importance of rooting both their in-person and digital strategies in communities – even if you can’t dress up a 30-year conventional with murals and cowboy hats.
Now leaving Tampa, Jordan says many of the agents she presented to there were industry veterans intent on increasing their retention of repeat buyers. Why? Tappable home equity.
“A lot of them I was speaking to focus more on the repeat buyer. Those clients, from what they tell me,” she adds, “tend to have a slightly higher purchasing advantage because they carry that equity, whether they bought during the pandemic or they bought prior to the pandemic. Now they’ve accrued enough equity to be able to move into that second or third home.”
Challenges Getting Her Foot In The Door
With more than a month, 3,000 miles, and six states in the rearview mirror, Jordan says Tempe, Arizona – her first stop on this cross-country tour – feels like forever ago.
She confesses that the first presentation in front of a team of real estate agents in Tempe was “a little nerve-wracking.” Turns out, there was nothing to worry about. “Everybody had really great questions.”
The reception Jordan and her family have received in the numerous cities they’ve visited while traveling across the southern U.S. has been positive, overall – whether at real estate offices, high schools, or RV campsites.
Jordan discusses her reception – and meeting followers – at RV campsites.
She has encountered challenges in booking venues and audiences, though.
“It’s definitely hard because nobody has done this before,” Jordan explains, “and so I’m going out on a whim and contacting all of these different libraries and churches and community centers. Some of them are on board and some of them are just not. I think that I still have the same difficulties as any other lender does when it comes to trying to put a presentation on.”
Some community venues lack scheduling availability. Others aren’t convinced by the message. Jordan published a video detailing these hurdles – and received some bad reactions for her honesty.
“A lot of people are like, ‘I can't believe you moved your whole family into a bus and you didn't even have a schedule laid out,’ and ‘Why would you do this? This is such a big undertaking.’”
But, the online chatter blends with the sound of the road, she says, focused on the mission ahead – changing people’s perceptions about the need for increased financial literacy around homebuying.
“If I just say that I’m going to, that I want to, and I don’t really do anything, there’s no change that could possibly happen,” she believes.
A couple weeks ago Jordan was able to join an event called “The Jam” at David W. Carter High School in South Dallas. Part school dance, part academic family-fun night, Jordan parked the RV at the school and spoke with students’ parents (mostly) on various homebuying topics.
The role of consumer credit in qualifying for a mortgage was of particular interest to that audience, she says.
She has more of these borrower-facing education events booked for the coming weeks in Savannah and Atlanta, Georgia, as well as one in Virginia for 10th- and 12th-grade students.
New Construction
A lack of available homes for sale has been hurting sales volume in many markets across the country for the better part of two years. Yet, on her travels, Jordan has observed a lot of new construction in places like Florida and Texas.
Knowing what’s being built and where is an effective way to “educate to differentiate” when addressing inventory challenges with prospective homebuyers, she says, online or in-person.
Traveling from Lubbock to Dallas to Waco to Austin to Houston, new construction in Texas surprised her most.
“The communities they’re building,” Jordan says, “include multiple neighborhoods and multiple activity centers, to where there’s thousands and thousands and thousands of people moving into these communities, to where they have to build schools within the community.”
It’s the way the land is developed that differs from other parts of the country, like Florida.
“In Florida, obviously, a lot of it is developed,” Jordan says, “but they are trying to gentrify certain areas. I’m seeing a lot more condos and townhomes, things that just don’t take up quite as much space. I did see a neighborhood or two with single-family homes. It’s just interesting as we’re going through this country to see the difference in new construction along the way.”
Those regional differences present different challenges for borrowers and originators.
The mega-communities in Texas, for example, tend to partner with preferred lenders offering borrowers financing incentives. In smaller communities, though, Jordan’s had success as an “outside lender” because, at the end of the day, developers simply want every unit sold.
She explains: “I had a buyer. The home was already done, so they were trying to just get it closed because the previous buyer fell through. They were willing to let me come in as the lender because I had already been working with the client and they still gave them those incentives, which was $15,000. It wasn’t that huge of a community, it was just a traditional new construction neighborhood.”
The Power Of Social Media
With so much time on the move, not to mention managing her own pipeline, there’s little opportunity for Jordan to reflect on the magnitude of what she’s set out to do.
“I understand we’re not doctors, we’re not saving lives, we’re not nurses, we’re not firefighters, but, we truly do make an impact on people's lives when it comes to the real estate world, especially the people that never anticipated, expected, or thought that they could possibly purchase a home.”
The power of social media to push financial literacy to borrowers is its reach. It’s good for originators needing leads and good for borrowers who want to be informed consumers. It also connects originators and borrowers who likely would not have found each other otherwise.
“I have clients,” she explains, “that will reach out to me that say, ‘I've been watching you for the last two years. I'm ready to buy. You're the only lender I want to use, and I trust you.’”
Jordan tells me the story of the very first borrower who called her from her TikTok platform – the same story she recounted yesterday to a real estate team.
“He called me, and that’s when I had my number everywhere because I didn’t have that many followers. He was like, ‘I’m in Indiana. This big national lender ghosted me and I’m supposed to close in two weeks and I don’t know what to do. I don’t know why I don’t qualify. They won’t answer me. I can’t get ahold of the loan officer, and I know that you’re so busy and I understand that the loan is a really small purchase, but I don’t know who to trust and I need your help.’”
With Zach driving, it was at this point of our conversation that Charlotte began fussing somewhere in the rear of the RV. Jordan stepped away to quiet her daughter, returning a minute later saying, “That’s life on the road, I guess.”
Life on the road also entailed celebrating Charlotte’s first birthday in Dallas. Her sister-in-law and mother-in-law flew in to celebrate with trips to an aquarium, Build-a-Bear, and the Rainforest Cafe. (Yes, the Rainforest Cafe is still around!)
Build-a-Bear has a birthday incentive where kids can ‘build a bear’ for the cost of the age they’re turning. So, Charlotte’s bear only cost a dollar. Jordan learned about the deal on TikTok.
Then, she returns to her previous thought.
“I get calls like that and it reminds me, we’re not doing this for the views, we’re not doing this for the comments, we’re doing this to help people.”
Look for NMP's next update of "Notes On The Road" with the @mobilemortgagemom in May. Stay tuned!
