Nate "Mortgage Creator" Fain has amassed 250k followers with straightforward messaging
Few loan originators know the power of social media content more than Nate Fain (pictured). Since deciding earnestly to produce video content in 2018, he has amassed a quarter-of-a-million followers – and growing – eager to learn from his insights into the mortgage industry.
His success caught the attention of the Krish Marketing podcast where he detailed his social media strategy to Krish Dhokia this week. The key to engaging social content, he suggested, lies in storytelling in lieu of a dry recitation of mundane mortgage matters.
It’s about empathy and being relatable – something the Pensacola, Fla.-based branch manager for Kind Lending has done effectively. One memorable TikTok video centered on a couple questioning whether they should buy a home.
Tuning out the noise when buying a home
“They immediately began justifying why they bought a house,” Fain said, likening it to the couple pleading guilty to something they had done – a vacillation driven by an acute focus on the mortgage rate at the time of purchase. “I still believe in the power of homeownership no matter what the rate is right now,” Fain said. “It became evident that a lot of people in their lives had told them it was a bad idea. Or they had heard in the news that it was a bad idea.”
The lesson of the story: “It really comes down to your personal situation, and not to listen to all the noise,” Fain said. “For sure, take some feedback and try to learn some lessons from the people who know what they’re talking about. But if I’m going to buy a house and you’re going to buy a house, we’re going to have different needs that prevent us from buying a house too. It might be a good time for you to buy in your area, whereas it might not be a good time for me to buy in my area.”
That piece of content resonated with many given its relatability, Fain said. “Personal finance is personal,” Fain said. “This decision is personal.”
Given such intimate dynamics to each scenario, buying when rates are low doesn’t always fit the equation. Fain explained: “Even when rates were low, some people should not have bought then because of their situation. Think back to the spring of 2021: Rates were still low, but everything was a bidding war. Let’s say you were someone who was strapped for cash and didn’t have a lot of money to go over the asking price. Technically, that wasn’t the best time to buy a house because you were overextending yourself by draining all your savings, whereas now you can buy a little less of a house but not drain your savings.”
It’s not that complicated, he suggested, in describing the goal of his video featuring the couple. “One of my goals in that video was to redirect and rewire some people’s thinking of ‘OK, I hear all the noise on social media, from the news, from uncle Wayne who’s never originated a mortgage, my aunt Betsy who’s never sold a home.’ It comes down to surrounding yourself with professionals who want what’s best for you and have a fiduciary responsibility to do what’s best for you, listening to their guidance and doing what’s best for you and your family.”
Dispensing wisdom as “The Mortgage Creator”
Such clarity of thought has earned him the self-titled moniker of the “mortgage creator” and (along with his team) “lender avengers.”
Sometimes, Fain’s TikTok videos are less complex yet equally timely while prompting a reflective smile from the viewer. One on his “themortgagecreator” accounts depicts a nuclear family – mom and dad with their two young children – posing outside their home in front a the proverbial white picket fence. Incongruously – and yet implausibly appropriate – two characters from “The Office” sitcom (Michael Scott and Dwight Schrute for the cognoscenti) appear in the foreground in manic celebration. “We did it!” they scream between hugs. “We did it!” The title to that TikTok video: “Realtors and lenders in 2023 after their buyer closes.”
Watch TikTok video here.
Again, it’s about relatability.
Other videos are decidedly more serious in tone. One recent video targets those for whom a home purchase isn’t in the immediate future. Far from taking a somber approach, Fain strikes a hopeful note in dispensing three key bits of advice in working toward homeownership. “Just because homeownership is not in the cards right now doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be in the future,” he concludes.
Watch TikTok video here.
The advice is wise but expressed in accessible terms, which has become something of a Fain signature. “The road to hell is paved with adverbs,” Stephen King once warned. Based on his straightforward yet thoughtful social media missives, it’s clear Fain got the memo.
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