Mortgage Marketing Radio

Only 19% of Gen Z trust loan officers, while 75% trust friends and family for homebuying information. That's a serious problem for mortgage professionals trying to reach the next generation of homebuyers.

So how do you earn their trust, start more conversations, and turn hesitant first-time buyers into mortgage-ready clients?

In this episode of Mortgage Marketing Radio, Geoff Zimpfer sits down with Nora Guerra, Senior Vice President of Community Lending Solutions at Guild Mortgage, to unpack new Gen Z homebuyer research conducted in partnership with YouGov.

The findings reveal a surprising opportunity for loan officers heading into 2027: younger buyers want to own homes, but many lack confidence, misunderstand mortgage requirements, and don't know whom to trust.

In this episode, you'll discover:

✅ Why Gen Z doesn't trust loan officers — and how to change that.

✅ Six distinct homebuyer personas and how to communicate with each one.

✅ Why mortgage calculators, educational content, and longer YouTube videos may be more effective than another quick social media clip.

✅ Why Gen Z uses AI to prepare for conversations with loan officers, not necessarily replace them.

✅ How to position yourself as a trusted mortgage advisor and attract more first-time homebuyer opportunities.

✅ Practical strategies using buyer education, community partnerships, and personalized outreach to build your future purchase pipeline.

The big takeaway: Your next generation of clients may already want to buy a home. They just need someone they trust to show them how..

🎓 FREE 5-Day Mini Course: The Agent Class Method

Stop chasing real estate agents for referrals. Learn how to attract agents by hosting educational events and classes that position YOU as the expert.

Discover what to teach, how to get agents to attend, and how to turn those relationships into referrals — without cold calling or constantly asking agents for business.

👉 https://myagentclasses.com/email-course

📊 Download the Gen Z / YouGov Homebuyer Research Report

Get the research discussed in this episode and discover what the next generation of buyers thinks about homeownership, affordability, mortgage financing, and trust.

👉 https://www.flipsnack.com/guildmortgageco/gen-z-yougov-homebuyer-research-report

CONNECT WITH NORA GUERRA

🔗 LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nora-guerra-517790157/

📸 Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/noraguerra_/

🎓 FREE 5-Day Mini Course: The Agent Class Method
How to get more agent referrals with events and classes — without chasing or cold calling.
👉 https://myagentclasses.com/email-course

Loan officers: new 2026 data shows Realtor referrals drive 49.4% of purchase lender selections. AI drives 1%

Every mortgage conference right now is about AI. So I went looking for what borrowers actually do when they pick a lender. STRATMOR’s June 2026 MortgageCX data: Realtor referrals drove 49.4% of purchase lender selections. AI recommendations drove 1.0%.

Zillow’s October 2026 Consumer Housing Trends Report confirms it independently: an agent referral is the #1 way buyers first found the lender they used.

In this video, I walk through three independent 2026 studies, explain why “AI vs. relationships” is the wrong frame, show you the Agent Prospecting Pyramid, and tell you how Kevin at Churchill Mortgage got 55 agents in a room for his first class — 23 he’d never met.

If you can’t name ten agents who referred you a buyer in the last 90 days, you don’t have a marketing problem. You have a room problem. This video fixes it.

Sources cited:

• STRATMOR Group, “Protect Your Turf: The AI Battle Starts Now” (June 2026)
• Zillow Consumer Housing Trends Report 2026 (October 2026)
• ServiceLink 2026 State of Homebuying Report (April 2026)

Business is still happening.

Homes are still being sold. Buyers are still getting mortgages. And Realtors are still influencing which loan officers get the opportunity to serve those buyers.

So if you’re heading into Q4 wondering where the business is going to come from, the better question may be: Are enough of the right people in your market aware of you?

In this solo episode, Geoff Zimpfer comes to you from the Momentum Builder event in Dallas with a challenge for loan officers preparing for 2027: stop relying on one-to-one chasing and start building a system that expands your reach.

Geoff breaks down why Realtors remain an important and profitable pillar of business, why many originators struggle to create a predictable Realtor acquisition strategy, and how hosting educational agent classes can help you move from being viewed as another vendor to becoming a valued partner.

You’ll hear how loan officers are using classes to get in front of dozens of agents at once, create new referral relationships, and generate meaningful production without relying on cold calling or constantly chasing agents for coffee meetings.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why the amount of business happening in your local market may surprise you
• The question every loan officer should ask: Do you need more Realtors, better Realtors, or both?
• Why traditional Realtor prospecting often keeps you positioned as a vendor
• How to move from solicitor to partner, peer, and trusted resource
• Why educational classes allow you to scale from one-to-one prospecting to one-to-many attraction
• How to become “five-mile famous” in your local real estate community
• Real examples of loan officers who have generated new partners, loans, and millions in additional production through agent classes
• Why what you do in Q4 can have a major impact on where your business lands in Q1

Geoff also shares details about his upcoming free workshop, The First Class Method: How to Host Your First Agent Class and Walk Out With 3+ New Referral Partners.

During the workshop, he’ll walk through the system he has used for years to help loan officers fill a room with agents, confidently teach a valuable topic, and turn attendees into potential referral partners—without chasing or cold calling.

Free Workshop: The First Class Method
Date: Wednesday, October 14
Time: 10:00 AM Pacific / 1:00 PM Eastern
Register: agentclassmethod.com

There will be no replay or recording.

If you want to stop being the best-kept secret in your market, expand your Realtor relationships, and build a more predictable source of referrals heading into 2027, this episode is for you.

Want more Realtor referrals without spending your entire week chasing agents, scheduling coffee meetings, and hoping they send you business?

In this episode of Mortgage Marketing Radio, Geoff Zimpfer sits down with mortgage broker Logan Lindstrum to break down the Realtor referral system helping him scale his mortgage business.

After stepping away from mortgage for roughly two years, Logan returned, became a broker, and has built his production to 136 units and more than $40 million in year-to-date volume—with roughly 90% of his business coming from Realtors.

But Logan isn’t relying on the traditional “find 10 great agents and stay in touch” approach.

He’s building a repeatable Realtor acquisition machine using educational workshops, AI and marketing training, cold outreach, paid Meta ads, retargeting, testimonials, livestreaming, and systematic follow-up.

In this conversation, you’ll discover:

• How Logan uses workshops to attract and convert Realtor referral partners
• Why most loan officers are missing the critical step AFTER meeting an agent
• How he plans to scale to six Realtor workshops per week
• The workshop topics that actually get real estate agents interested
• How video testimonials create proof and fuel his advertising
• Why Logan teaches AI, marketing, sales, and technology instead of mortgage products
• His follow-up process for converting workshop attendees into relationships
• Why he eliminated certain loan products to simplify and scale his mortgage business
• How to create a business development system that fits your strengths
• Why “one-to-many” marketing can create enormous leverage for loan officers

Connect with Logan on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/logan.lindstrum/

Get the Free Email Mini-Course: The Agent Class Method

https://myagentclasses.com/email-course

#MortgageMarketing #LoanOfficer #RealtorReferrals #MortgageBroker #MortgageBusiness

What if the toughest mortgage market in years is actually giving you an opportunity to take market share?

In this episode, I sit down with Don Goettling, founder of Momentum Builder and a mortgage industry veteran with nearly four decades of experience, to talk about why loan officers who are waiting for the market to get easier may be making a costly mistake.

Don and I discuss what separates mortgage professionals who are still growing from those who have pulled back—and why your mindset, environment, systems, relationships and willingness to adapt matter more than ever.

We get into:

• Why waiting for rates or the market to “save you” isn’t a strategy
• How successful loan officers are using this market to gain share
• Why getting around other producers who are winning can expand what you believe is possible
• The role of AI, personal branding and better business systems
• Why Realtor partnerships are changing
• The difference between collecting information and actually implementing it
• Why what you do in Q4 can determine how you begin 2027

We also talk about Momentum Builder 2026, taking place October 6–8 in Dallas, Texas.

I attended last year, and I’ll be back again this year.

If you’re serious about growing your mortgage business, meeting other people who are winning in this market, and heading into 2027 with momentum instead of starting from scratch in January, check it out.

🎟️ Momentum Builder 2026 | October 6–8 | Dallas, TX

Full details and registration:
https://www.momentumbuilderevent.com/

Use code ZIMPFER to save $100.

Want to start teaching agent classes?

Get my free 5-day email course, The Agent Class Method, and learn how to use educational classes to get in front of real estate agents, create meaningful follow-up conversations, and develop more referral opportunities.

Get it free at:
https://myagentclasses.com/email-course

Want more Realtor referrals without spending your week cold calling agents?

In this episode, longtime client Glenda White joins the Agent Referral Xcelerator cohort to break down how she uses educational agent classes to create appointments, build trust with real estate agents, and turn those relationships into mortgage referral opportunities.

Glenda shares the process she uses after teaching a Google Business Profile class for real estate agents, including how she gets agents to book 15-minute audits, asks for reviews, follows up for six weeks, and creates a natural opportunity to ask for the agent’s next buyer.

You’ll hear:

• Why teaching agent classes gives loan officers a better reason to start conversations with Realtors
• How Glenda turns a class into booked one-on-one appointments
• The 15-minute audit process she uses after class
• How she follows up for six weeks without sounding like a cold caller
• How and when she asks agents for the business
• Why some of her best referral relationships started with agents she might not have targeted otherwise

If you’re a loan officer, mortgage broker, branch manager, or mortgage professional looking for a better way to build Realtor relationships, this episode gives you a practical look at how agent classes can become part of your mortgage marketing strategy.

Want to start teaching agent classes?

Get my free 5-day email course, The Agent Class Method, and learn how to use educational classes to get in front of real estate agents, create meaningful follow-up conversations, and develop more referral opportunities.

Get it free at:
https://myagentclasses.com/email-course

You didn't wake up one day and choose a life you don't recognize. You drifted into it, one compromise at a time.

Shawn Mingus spent 20 years teaching this to more than 4,000 people, and his position is blunt: balance is the right word. Work-life is the broken part. Life doesn't have two dimensions. It has eight.

In this conversation, Shawn walks through the exercise from his book Reimagining Balance: score all eight by emotion instead of a vague 1-to-10, plot them as a polygon, and look at the shape. Not a circle. A circle would mean you're playing it safe. The goal is an honest shape you can act on. Then the part most people skip — turning that shape into one or two daily actions in the two dimensions that need you most, and re-running the whole thing every 90 days.

WHAT YOU'LL GET:

- Why "work-life balance" is a false choice — and what replaces it

- The eight dimensions of a life, defined (profession is not your job)

- How to spot drift before it costs you a marriage, your health, or a decade

- Why the goal is aware imbalance, not artificial symmetry

- Scoring by emotion — the piece almost every balance framework misses

- The "glow effect": why fixing one dimension lifts the other seven

- The communication moves that keep your spouse on your side

- How often to re-run it (and what happens when you don't)

GET THE BOOK + WORKBOOK

Go to Reimagining Balance → https://reimaginingbalance.com

CONNECT WITH SHAWN

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawn-mingus-67b2a32/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shawnmingus/

Listen to the episode, then DM Shawn your one big takeaway.

FOR LOAN OFFICERS: Get ten years of what top Loan Officers do that works.

Every episode of Mortgage Marketing Radio is broken down into scripts, playbooks, and exact moves so that you can find the answer in 2 minutes.

GO HERE: https://swipethevault.com

Most loan officers are stuck on the bottom two floors of a pyramid they don't know they're standing on.

Floor one is solicitor. Cold calls, coffee invites, "I'd love to learn about your business." Agents have heard it a thousand times and they know what it is.

Floor two is vendor. You broke through, you're getting deals, and you're still leading with product and price. DSCR. Self-employed programs. Close on time. Everybody says that, which means it's worth nothing.

Between vendor and partner sits what I call the referral gap. This episode is about crossing it.

I recently sat down with Rachel on the Lending Leadership podcast and we went deeper than I planned to. We covered the pyramid, the one-to-many method I used to build my own business, why "five mile famous" beats being the best-kept secret in your market, and the three things you actually control when the market gets weird.

We also talked about the year I've had. Cancer, three months where I barely spoke, and what it teaches you when the thing you make your living with gets taken away for a while.

What you'll take from this one:

• The four stages of the Realtor Prospecting Pyramid, and where you're actually standing right now
• The referral gap — why price, products, and turn times can never move you from vendor to partner
• The one-to-many math: one meeting with 20 agents beats 20 meetings with one agent
• The exact soft close I use at the end of a class, word for word, that gets agents booking calendar time without a pitch
• Class topics agents actually want (their problems, not your products)
• How I turned 10 years and 425 episodes into a free searchable archive in about 12 hours

Resources mentioned:

• Swipe The Vault — 10 years of Mortgage Marketing Radio, searchable by topic, with swipe files and playbooks attached. Free: https://www.swipethevault.com
• Get More Agents — how I work with loan officers on agent classes: https://www.getmoreagents.com
• The Lending Leadership podcast with Rachel — go subscribe, she's doing good work:
https://www.hmamortgage.com/page/lending-leadership-podcast

If this one helps, the best thing you can do is leave a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. 261 people have, and we're sitting at 4.9. It's how new loan officers find the show.

Six months chasing one agent. She finally texts back, and the Loan Officer freezes. No idea what to say.

Five years ago I'd have typed him a long answer from memory of how to reply.

Last week I just said: that's episode 317.

Here's what changed.

425 episodes of Mortgage Marketing Radio. Ten years of practitioners who actually do the work, scripting, database, agent classes, consumer direct. The answer to almost any problem you've got is already in there.

And functionally, all of it was unusable. A podcast feed is chronological. Your problem isn't. It shows up on a Tuesday when you've got 30 seconds to say the right thing.

So I had every episode distilled to its takeaways. Summary, quotes, links, play button. All of it behind one search box.

AI did in a weekend what would've taken me six months.

It's called The Vault. Free. No upsell. My thank-you for ten years.

In this episode, I also get straight with you about why it's happening now, because this show is changing.

Press play. Then go unlock the vault here: https://swipethevault.com/

I'm back behind the mic with a rapid-fire episode — two swipeable ideas you can put to work this week, plus the one thing that decides whether anyone shows up to your next class.

Idea #1 — Turn MLS data into content realtors ask for.
Jerad Larkin pulled 12,029 Denver home sales and found roughly 63% closed with a seller concession, around $10,000 on average. He broke it down by property type and price range, white-labeled it into a carousel, and handed it to agents to post as their own. One Facebook post pulled 21 comments asking for the copy. I show you how to get the same data for your market from your title rep or an agent — and how to use it to start real conversations instead of chasing coffee meetings.

Idea #2 — The email that turns a closing into a class.
My buddy Anthony in Florida sends one email after every closing that edifies the agent, CCs their broker, and opens a direct line to the broker's office. I break down who to CC, what to say, and how it leads to hosting a class for the brokerage — with a recruiting angle brokers say yes to.

Bonus — The #1 secret to filling your class.
It isn't the food. It isn't the CE credits. It's the title. I run the quick test I've given hundreds of times and show you how to name a class agents actually sign up for.

Timestamps
00:00 – Back at the mic: Cabo, remission, and a health update
04:45 – Idea #1: Turn MLS data into a content play realtors ask for
06:30 – The Denver numbers: ~63% concessions, ~$10K, 12,029 home sales
12:00 – Be the partner, not the vendor: the offer that starts conversations
13:00 – Idea #2: The one email after a closing that books you a class
18:00 – The recruiting angle brokers say yes to
21:00 – The #1 secret to filling your next class (it's the title)
24:00 – A changeup is coming to the show

Resources & links mentioned

• Jerad Larkin's seller-concession carousel: https://tinyurl.com/bdt48jvz
• Jerad Larkin on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@milehightitleguy
• Get on the early-bird list for the August accelerator — DM me on Instagram or LinkedIn

Connect with Geoff
Instagram & LinkedIn: @GeoffZimpfer

Gen Z homebuyers are watching your videos, checking their credit, and still not picking up the phone. Here's exactly why, and the fix that gets them to call.

Guild Mortgage partnered with YouGov on a national Gen Z Homebuyer Study: 1,400+ buyers, open-ended answers, their real words. In this episode, guest host Katie Shive sits down with Drew Gillette, VP of Marketing at Guild, to break down why young buyers go quiet and the content that finally earns the call.

The number that explains it all: Gen Z rates their confidence to ever buy a home a 3.16 out of 10. They're not gone. They're embarrassed because they don't know enough, so they lurk instead of reaching out. Close that confidence gap, and you close the lead.

What you'll learn:

• Why 1 in 2 Gen Z buyers want to meet in person (the "TikTok mortgage" myth, busted)
• The income illusion: why higher earners feel LESS confident they can buy
• The one word buyers kept using, and why it keeps them off your calendar
• The realtor vs. loan officer trust gap, and the simple fix
• Why 75% trust friends and family over any loan officer (and how to use it)
• How to actually use YouTube, Reddit, and Facebook groups to get found
• The "reverse play" that leads to your referral partners

📊 Download the GenZ Survey:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OlDHDsn1PsEfxKuusN6IVRCf120lki31/view?usp=sharing

🔗 Connect with Drew Gillett:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/drewgillett/

🔗 Connect with Katie Shive:

https://www.instagram.com/heykatieshive/

You’ve been sold a lie: that if you just post enough content, the business will come.

It won’t. And in this guest-host takeover of Mortgage Marketing Radio, Michelle Mikel and Jennifer Butcher prove it with real numbers.

Jen is a 25-year mortgage veteran and host of the She Talks Money podcast. She was doing what all the gurus tell you to do — five videos a week, a polished feed, all of it. And she was still stuck on the question that haunts every originator: “When am I actually going to make money from this?”

So guest host Michelle Mikel put her through a 30-day challenge built on one rule that sounds too simple to work: one message a day, to one person you don’t know.

Inside this episode, you’ll hear:

• Why the $5,000/month social media manager is rarely
the answer (and what Jen pays instead)

• The difference between content that gets 20,000 views and content that gets paid

• The exact 4-part message framework that took Jen’s “yes” rate from ~30% to nearly 50%

• The “ick” prospecting lines you’re probably still using, and what to say instead

• How 30 messages turned into 5 podcasts, 6 agent meetings, and a calendar booked into July

If you’re tired of pouring time and money into content that doesn’t pay you back, this is the episode.

Hit play. Then send one message today.

———

Connect with Jennifer Butcher on Instagram: @JenniferButcherOfficial

Listen to Jennifer’s podcast:

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/she-talks-money/id1805894710

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2tVr8kAQv8L3xbhdOoWpvg?si=c915dc1f09e94139

Connect with Michelle Mikel on Instagram: @BermanMediaSocial

I studied two new research reports covering 260,000+ LinkedIn posts — and in this quick-hit episode, I break down exactly what's working on LinkedIn in 2026, specifically for loan officers and mortgage pros who want to get seen, build a personal brand, and attract referral partners.

Just the data, and what to actually do with it.

You'll learn:

✅ Whether links really hurt your reach (the answer surprised me)

✅ The format with an 11X interaction boost most LOs never use

✅ Why horizontal video beats vertical by 36% on LinkedIn

✅ The post length that performs 31% better in 2026

✅ The hashtag habit that drops performance 70%

✅ The 741% rule the top 1% of creators live by

✅ The lead magnet quietly crushing it right now (it's not a PDF)

🔗 RESOURCES & LINKS

• Build your personal brand voice with Katie Shive → https://www.KatieShive.com

• Want in on the next agent class cohort? It opens in September and fills fast. CLICK HERE to RSVP: https://tinyurl.com/arxcohort

You feel it, don't you? That constant pressure to post more, create more, be more online — just to keep up. Meanwhile, your pipeline isn't moving the way it should.

Here's what nobody's telling you: the top-producing loan officers I work with aren't stressing about their next post going viral. They're doing something different. Something that's been working since before social media existed. And it's making a massive comeback.

In this episode, I'm going off-script to challenge the "post more" narrative that the gurus keep pushing. I'll share why IRL — in real life — local influence is outperforming the algorithm for the loan officers I coach. And I'll give you real stories from real LOs who've added $20M, $30M, even doubled their production — not by becoming influencers, but by becoming the go-to lender in their local market.

You'll hear:

→ Why the "content creator" pressure is burning you out (and what to do instead)

→ The strategy that's landing LOs in front of 20-30 agents at a time

→ How one LO turned a single workshop into a spot on a national sales training call with 400+ agents

→ Why direct mail is working (yes, even with millennials)

→ Jeff Bezos's question that should change how you think about your business

→ Details on the Agent Referral Accelerator cohort launching May 21st

If you're tired of feeding the algorithm and ready to build real relationships that generate real referrals — this one's for you.

🔗 Learn more: https:www.getmoreagents.com

📩 DM me on Instagram or LinkedIn with questions

Six weeks ago, I went silent. No episodes. No posts. No noise.

I was fighting cancer.

Squamous cell carcinoma of the tonsil and tongue. Two rounds of chemo. Thirty rounds of radiation. And a whole lot of time to think.

Today, I'm back. And I'm not just picking up where I left off — I'm coming back with new clarity, new energy, and some powerful insights I can't wait to share with you.

In this episode:

• What the last 6 weeks looked like (the real version, not the polished one)
• A huge thank-you to the guest hosts who kept this show alive while I was down
• What I've been studying about AI, marketing, and visibility is about to change the game for mortgage professionals
• HubSpot's new AEO tool and why "Answer Engine Optimization" should be on every LO's radar right now
• A tease of a pivotal change coming soon to Mortgage Marketing Radio and MMI

This is a personal one. It's also one of the most important episodes I've ever recorded. If you've ever been knocked down and had to figure out how to get back up — this one's for you.

Episode Resources:

Hubspot AEO Tool: https://www.hubspot.com/products/aeo

Connect with Geoff:

• Instagram: @GeoffZimpfer
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/geoffzimpfer
• YouTube: Subscribe to Mortgage Marketing Radio

Mike Faraci (founder of Red Button Media) sat down with James Duncan (former mortgage marketing exec, now advising at Calum Advisors) to tackle the question every loan officer is quietly asking right now:

"With so many new AI tools dropping every week... what the heck am I actually supposed to be doing?"

Here's what you'll walk away with:

→ The one question to ask yourself before adopting ANY new tool, platform, or AI "solution" (miss this and you'll burn months chasing shiny objects)

→ Why "prompt engineering" is a skill — not a position — and the exact move James uses to get AI to prompt ITSELF on your behalf

→ The "story vs. point of view" distinction that separates forgettable loan officers from the ones clients actively seek out

→ Mike's 24-hour video challenge that got one broker TWO extra referrals in a single week (spoiler: it takes less time than typing the text)

→ The "Domino's Pizza Tracker" trick one mortgage company stole to boost loan process engagement

→ Why AI avatars are going to be the downfall of loan officers who lean too hard into them — and what to do instead

→ The truth about niching down that most LOs are getting wrong

Whether you're a producing LO, a marketing director, or a CEO trying to figure out how to stay human in an AI-saturated market — this one's for you.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Red Button Media → hittheredbutton.com
• Connect with Mike: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikefaraci/
• Connect with James: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesduncan-caelum/

Most loan officers are solving the wrong problem.

They think next-gen buyers need lower rates. Or bigger down payment assistance programs. Or easier qualifying standards.

The data disagrees.

Kristin Messerli, Co-Founder of First Home IQ, has spent six years surveying 9,000-plus respondents to study exactly what is holding millennials and Gen Z back from buying their first home. And what she found is that the biggest barriers have nothing to do with money.

They have everything to do with trust, overwhelm, and misinformation.

In this episode of Mortgage Marketing Radio, guest host Katie Shive and Kristin break down the 2026 NextGen Homebuyer Report -- what the data reveals, what it means for your business, and what you can do about it right now.

Links and Resources:

• NextGen Homebuyer Report 2026: https://nextgenhomebuyer.com/reports/2026
• First Home IQ: https://firsthomeiq.com/
• First Home IQ Monday Workshop (Free): https://firsthomeiq.com/workshop/
• Geoff Zimpfer Lunch and Learn Resources: https://join.goagentrx.com/webinar
• Connect With Katie Shive: https://katieshive.com/

He's closed over $4 billion in mortgage production. He's not yet 40. And there's a good chance you've never heard of him.

That changes today.

In this power-packed episode, NFM Lending Managing Director Greg Sher steps in to guest host and sits down with one of the most quietly elite loan originators in the country, Oleg Tkach. Born in Ukraine, started in mortgage at 18, and built a $4 billion career without a major social media presence, without cold calling, and without ever chasing business the "old school" way.

This is the kind of interview you stop what you're doing to listen to. Twice.

Here's what Oleg breaks down in this episode:

→ The "Agent Programming" strategy — why most LOs are accidentally training their agents NOT to send them business (and how to flip the script)

→ The #1 conversion killer in your business right now (hint: it has nothing to do with your rate or your product)

→ Why trying to be an agent's PRIMARY lender may be the biggest mistake you're making — and what to go for instead

→ The 3-level agent relationship framework: Business Level, Backup Level, and Program Level

→ Why "the friend zone" is killing your referral pipeline and how to escape it

→ Oleg's Zoom + PowerPoint presentation strategy that gets agent meetings from anywhere — no drive-bys, no donut runs

→ How one of his coaching students went from $93 million to on pace for $240 million in one year

→ The 3-part formula behind "your best year ever" — simple enough to execute, powerful enough to break COVID-era refi numbers with purchases

→ Impact Elite Coaching's "The LAB" event — April 22–23 in Newport Beach at the Pendry Hotel

Learn More About The Lab Event: https://www.impactelitecoaching.com/the-lab

Thanks to Greg Sher for guest-hosting the podcast again. Let Greg know if you liked this episode.

Connect with Greg on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-sher/

Ready to scale your agent referrals without chasing or cold-calling? New cohort opening in April.

Get on the waitlist here: https://go.myagentclasses.com/home

A borrower you've closed loans for before just photographed your Loan Estimate and dropped it into ChatGPT.

The AI told them you're overcharging.

You're not. But they believed it anyway — and the deal went somewhere else.

This is not a hypothetical. It happened to one of Trevor York's clients last week. And according to a stat dropped in this conversation, 77% of consumers now trust AI as much as a human expert. That number was lower a year ago. It will be higher next year.

So here's the real question: when your client runs your deal through a chatbot tonight — and some of them will — is the trust you've built strong enough to survive it?

In this episode of Mortgage Marketing Radio, I sit down with Trevor York — loan officer, founder of LinkSpot, and one of the most forward-thinking minds in the mortgage industry — to break down exactly what is happening to loan officers who haven't figured this out yet. And more importantly, what the ones who have figured it out are doing differently.

This is not a feel-good conversation. It is a wake-up call.

CONNECT WITH TREVOR YORK:

LinkSpot: https://www.linkspot.com

Instagram: @trevoryork

Connect With Katie Shive:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katieshive/

Website: https://katieshive.com/

What if the loan officers who are struggling most to grow their business are asking the wrong question — and one loan officer from Fargo, North Dakota figured out the right one?

In this episode, guest host Katie Shive sits down with Kayla Kallander — a top-producing loan officer, LinkedIn powerhouse, and first-time home buyer advocate who's built a referral machine in one of the most overlooked markets in the country.

If you think first-time home buyers are too much work for too little payoff, this episode is going to flip that script entirely.

Here's what we get into:

"Prescription Without Diagnosis Is Malpractice" — Why Kayla refuses to quote a rate before she knows the full picture, and how this one mindset shift positions her as a trusted advisor instead of a commodity.

The Realtor "Three Card" Problem — What Kayla says to realtors who still give out multiple lender cards, and the exact script she uses to get exclusive referrals.

Social Media Without a Marketing Team — She's active on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok — with just a VA and a Canva account. She breaks down exactly how she does it and why stories are where the real magic happens.

Why LinkedIn is the Most Underrated Platform for Loan Officers — How one LinkedIn post led to a group of financial advisors sending her 30% of her annual business — from a state she'd never even worked in.

The Real Cost of Rate Shopping — The client who called comparing rates from a Minnesota credit union and what Kayla said that turned it around on the spot.

The Magic of First-Time Buyers — Why the clients most loan officers avoid are the ones building Kayla's most loyal referral base.

The Viral Carousel Post — How a contrarian Saturday morning post about interest rates triggered more DMs, new followers, and a cross-state referral relationship than anything she'd posted before.

Plus — how she's using AI (specifically Claude) with a custom brand book to write content that actually sounds like her, not a robot.

Whether you're a veteran loan officer looking to reignite your pipeline or a newer LO trying to figure out where to start, this conversation is loaded with real, repeatable strategies that are working right now.

Listen. Take notes. Then go post something.

Show Notes / Resources Mentioned:

• Connect with Kayla on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kayla-kallander/
• Connect with Kayla on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaylakallandermortgage/
• First Home IQ: https://www.firsthomeiq.com/
• LenderCrate: https://lendercrate.com/
• Coffee and Contracts: https://coffeecontracts.com/
• Claude AI: https://claude.ai/

Connect with Katie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katieshive/