Create an Authentic Personal Brand That Attracts Next-Gen Homebuyers
Brian Vieaux
Helping Loan Originators Reach, Assist, Engage & Nurture Homebuyers With The Best Personal Finance & Homeownership App | Co-Author Rethink Everything:You Know About Being A Next Gen Loan Officer | CMB | 30K Connections
This week, Rob Chrane, CEO of Down Payment Resource, Jeffry Walker, CEO of CredEvolv, Strategist & Consultant, Jeremy Potter, and Brian Vieaux, President & COO of FinLocker, provide advice on creating an authentic personal brand to attract and connect with next-gen homebuyers.
Stand Out by Building Your Brand Around Down Payment Assistance
Rob Chrane , CEO & Founder, Down Payment Resource
A problem we often hear from real estate agents is that many have a hard time finding loan officers willing to work with buyers who need down payment help or even offer down payment assistance programs (DPAs). This represents a missed opportunity for loan officers aiming to build their brand, grow their purchase business and cultivate new agent partnerships.
Also, according to a newly released?Urban Institute (UI) study, 43.6% of 2022 homebuyers in the 10 largest MSAs were potentially DPA-eligible. Another staggering statistic is that 30.7% of declined loans in these areas last year could potentially have been salvaged with DPA. This is solid proof that DPA can make a significant impact in this brutal housing market and can even prevent more declined loans by improving DTI ratios, a growing issue as interest rates rise.?
The first step for loan officers looking to incorporate DPA into their product offerings is to learn more about these programs and what’s available through your organization. Take the necessary steps to become an approved lender with at least a few program providers in your market. Get some product options on the table and educate yourself and your fulfillment team about the requirements. Then, talk to your real estate agent, broker, and builder partners and discuss a strategy for new buyer intake.
Along the way, make sure to leverage the tools available from resources like?DownPaymentResource.com, your local DPA providers, your state Housing Finance Agency (HFA), and your referral partners. Being a DPA subject matter expert is a great way to set yourself apart with buyers and real estate agent referral partners. And homebuyers will thank you in the long run for having a dedicated team in place from whom they can learn, get qualified, and solve their down payment obstacle.?
Mosi Gatling , a top producer at loanDepot , is?a shining example of how to build your brand around DPA. Her team of six does nine-figure volumes by engaging partners like Diane Arvizo at the Nevada Rural Housing Authority on affordable mortgage solutions to find the best programs for local homebuyers.
When it comes to building a brand that sets you apart from the rest, become the DPA expert in your market. I can assure you that new buyers are waiting.
Connecting with your Audience through Personal Branding
Jeffrey Walker , CEO & Co-Founder of CredEvolv
Mortgage loan officers are in great company…there are at least 150,000 of you across the US today. Creating a personal brand that can help you stand out from the crowd should be your priority, but where do you start?
Start your branding journey by assessing authenticity. Understanding what sets you apart and the meaningful things you stand for is a great way to find your voice. Resist the temptation to define yourself as a loan officer - that is what you do; it is not who you are.
Craft a compelling brand story by sharing your journey, experiences, and expertise in a way that resonates with your audience. Find little ways to reinforce your story without beating the mortgage lending drum. If you are passionate about customer experience, talk about daily encounters you have that amazed you or disappointed you; if you are an expert in minority lending, talk about how every day you see opportunities or successes communicating with a particular demographic.
Tell your story through multiple channels. It seems simple, but everybody learns and engages differently. If you typically post textualized content, consider adding unscripted video content, forgive yourself for imperfection, and have fun. One of my favorite LinkedIn vloggers is Kevin Peranio?from Paramount Residential Mortgage Group Inc. (PRMG Inc.) because he’s consistent, informative, and unscripted.
Last and probably most importantly, always have a camera with you when you network. As basic as it sounds, nothing creates more genuine engagement with followers than seeing themselves or members of their network show up in your photos. It’s not only a sure-fire engagement tool, but it also demonstrates your interest in others, and that is infectious.
The One Constant is Change when Reaching Next Gen Buyers
Jeremy Potter , President titleLOOK? by Mainspring Services
Managing an evolving brand is second in difficulty only to establishing the brand in the first place.?When it comes to getting that brand in front of future first-time homebuyers, it is even harder.?First-time home buyers are hardly consistent. Fortunately for you, change is the one constant in our industry. Don’t worry, there’s more good news. The change happens faster and faster every year.?
As you look to update and evolve an existing, strong, successful personal brand, homebuyers, culture trends, social media, technology and the economy are all in faster and faster rates of change.?Understanding the future homebuyer means being comfortable across new technology, all first-time homebuyer life stages and familiar, if not comfortable, with the complexity of the consumer economy too.??
In fact, what makes the process of trying to navigate the complexities and changes tricky is how overlapping and interrelated these concepts can be.?Tech changes influence social media while social media posts influence how users feel about tech, economic trends, politics, etc. Consumer perception of homeownership are influenced on social media yet also shaped by the consumer experience (or lack thereof) available through new technology tools like budgeting apps and digital savings programs.
That is why it is too easy to simply dismiss social media platforms as a fad or as “beneath” your brand.?At the same time, it is too easy to assume you can just jump on social media and “be you” and get results. To maintain a modern brand, a modern MLO needs to stay current on what customers are seeing and hearing from sources such as those on social media.?Then after learning and listening, the ability to leverage social media and other tech tools to grow your brand will feel natural.?
Authenticity is one of the key attributes that has made social media the phenomenon that it has become.?To engage naturally in a way that benefits your brand while using your time efficiently you have to feel comfortable on these platforms. Instagram.?TikTok.?Even podcasts.?
The result is actually the same answer as it always is in our industry - you have to do the work to understand the customer and find them where they are.??
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Another contributing factor to modern complexity is technology. The future homebuyer is comfortable with technology.?Your brand is competing with the expectations set by other consumer-facing companies in other industries that continue to deliver delightful and empowering digital tools.?The expectations on real estate and mortgage are quite high; and the expectations are changing.
As one member of Gen Z (and a potential first-time homebuyer) put it, “Isn’t it all just math?” The expectation was (and remains) that a mortgage approval should be easier.?We all know the real problem - access to actual data.?Once you have actual data, mortgage is just a series of rules engines.?Yes, math.?Underwriting. Loan Amount. Pricing.?
Similarly, homeownership is not the motivation it used to be. According to some recent research published by the Wall Street Journal, the average monthly mortgage payment dramatically exceeds the average monthly rent.?As all experienced MLOs know, the consumer shops monthly payment more than home or interest rate. Today’s economy not only means less house but uncertainty about appreciation and skepticism about income stability.??
Understanding the life experience of the future homebuyer is critical to evolving your brand in this industry. Understanding the customer experience, particularly as the customer changes, is the key to a long-lasting authentic brand.?Understanding the technology and platforms that shape our market is the insurance that your brand remains natural, authentic and effective.?
If we’re going to create demand for homebuying and evangelize the benefits of homeownership, we each have to embrace the complexity.?That way, as soon as you feel confident that you have applied what you learned, it will change again.
Maximizing ChatGPT to Elevate Personalized Content Creation
Brian Vieaux , President & COO FinLocker
Are you looking for easier ways to create more content for your community? Have you used ChatGPT?
Whether you are new to ChatGPT or want it to output better content, you need to create your own ChatGPT profile by providing custom instructions. To access this feature, click on your name at the bottom left of the screen.
?What would you like ChatGPT to know about you to provide better responses?
To train ChatGPT to write its output to mimic your writing style, feed it 4 pieces of content (at least 1000 words) that reflect your authentic voice or the voice you want to train ChatGPT to use for you. Feed each piece of content into Chat GPT, then use the prompt: Analyze the writing voice, tone, and structure of the article above. Output bullet points.
Once ChatGPT has analyzed all your content, review the results and note any patterns. If specific descriptors resonate with you, jot them down; ignore those that don't.
Now that you've identified the characteristics of your writing style, add them under How would you like ChatGPT to respond? Here's a template you can use to input your instructions:
Use this voice: [enter your descriptions, e.g. authoritative and engaging]
Use this tone: [enter your descriptions, e.g. conversational and motivating]
Use this style: [enter your descriptions: e.g. informal]
Use this structure: [enter your descriptions, e.g. start with a brief problem statement and then explain the solution.]
Once you've identified your writing style and added custom instructions to ChatGPT, it's time to start experimenting. Ask it to write your next video script or add humor to your social media posts. As you begin to use that prompt that's based on you as an individual, you can start mixing in topics that are housing or mortgage-related, so your personal brand will begin coming through those individual pieces of content, too.
If the outputs don't resonate with you, tweak your writing style descriptors or try new prompts. Instead of an informal tone filled with slang, consider what you're really going after is a slightly conversational but professional tone. Keep training until you get the results you want.
While you should always review and edit content output by ChatGPT, training ChatGPT first will save you time writing content that amplifies your personal brand.
Brian Vieaux, President & COO, FinLocker, has partnered with Kyle Draper, author of "Rethink Everything You Know About Social Media," to inspire loan originators who are aiming to evolve into next-generation mortgage advisors with expert insights, innovative strategies, and practical tips for serving next-gen homebuyers and building lasting connections that will elevate your career and redefine your role in the mortgage industry.