For this week‘s Lending Leaders, Jim Paolino talks with Jordan Nutter, a loan originator with NFM Lending and a TikTok influencer with over 190K followers. They talk all things TikTok and being a mortgage lender with a huge social media following.

Starting out during the COVID-19 pandemic

Jordan was living in California when, in July of 2019, a friend in Georgia was looking to recruit a new team member for mortgage lending. Jordan knew nothing about mortgages, but knew she wanted to help people. So, she uprooted her life, moved across the country in November of that year.

Little did she knew a global pandemic was right around the corner. During her first year of business, she had to do everything virtually. The biggest challenge was getting people to trust her over the phone.

Homebuyer education and helping others

Many buyers have been burned by lenders who won’t give them the time of day for one or another reason. Jordan believes that people’s financial histories or credit scores aren’t just a number—they’re a story. Not everyone has had an easy life. Some people don’t know about finances or didn’t learn in school or from their parents. You can’t size up people’s lives up at-a-glance. As a lender, you have a responsibility to treat this as a human industry, not just a numbers industry. Even though it’s a commission-based industry, this is more than just a paycheck.

Breaking into TikTok

At first, Jordan wasn’t excited to start out on TikTok, although she had a personal account to learn about things that interested her. She liked that she could, instead of reading something, hear someone talk to her directly. Her first mortgage-related content was straight-to-the-point video content on YouTube. Her old company partnered with marketing company to create scripted educational content. To Jordan, this felt unnatural and forced.

Her coach suggested TikTok. Jordan shot her down. But her coach encouraged her to make it her own.

Not long into her TikTok career, Jordan posted herself reenacting a phone call she had with a borrower and his wife. She woke up one morning soon after, checked her account, and noticed she had 30,000 followers. So, she began making more skits. Viewers have engage more with this content, Jordan believes, because it comes from real experience and has value that isn’t scripted by a marketing company.

Authenticity

TikTok was approachable and offered room to fail and experiment. Success on TikTok looks like being unapologetic. Early on, Jordan did get flack for, as some said, “making fun of hardworking people.” These criticisms were hard to hear, especially because Jordan doesn’t want to make fun of people. But she also wanted to be authentic and say what’s really happening. You can’t please everyone, and not everyone will understand the tone of your content. Hopefully, most will see that Jordan’s content, even when it’s offering a laugh at someone else’s expense, comes from a spirit of goodwill.

What’s your LodeStar?

Jordan is all about being there for the underdog and having knowledge that can help people who are confused and have been sidelined in a complex industry. She wants to be the one person who doesn’t hang up, who talks to you, and who offers a solution.

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