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/

What does it actually look like when a top-producing loan officer stops dabbling with AI and fully embeds it into every layer of his mortgage business?

In this episode of Mortgage Marketing Radio, guest host Katie Shive sits down with Abdel Khawatmi — Area Manager and founder of Got Mortgages with PRMG — to break down the exact system behind 121 units, $40M in personal production, and 210% net revenue growth year over year.

This is not a conversation about generating social media captions with ChatGPT. This is a ground-level look at how a working originator rebuilt his operations, client experience, and team structure around AI — and what that means for every loan officer trying to compete right now.

What you'll learn:

• Why Abdel cut his offshore team from 7 to 3 — and what AI does instead

• How he uses ChatGPT to calculate Schedule C & E income, build SOPs, and draft compliant letters of explanation

• Why he’s on the phone with clients MORE since implementing AI — not less

• The hyperlocal event strategy that his referral partners can't stop talking about

• His ROI framework: Relevance, Omnipresence & Intimacy

• The 4-step client experience model that keeps his pipeline full without him being the first touch

• The one thing he tells every loan officer who asks, "where do I start?"

If you are a loan officer grinding in a tough market and wondering how to build a smarter, leaner, more profitable business — this is the episode you have been waiting for.

Connect with Abdel on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/abdel-khawatmi-79a511144/

Connect with Abdel on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/got_mortgages/

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

What if 10 loans a month — not 30 — was actually the goal?

Sam Abazari has coached over 120 loan officers. His LOs average doubling their business every three months. His top producer closes 30 loans a month. And his branch does $250 million a year.

But his argument? The sweet spot is 10 loans a month, one assistant, 25-35 hours a week, and 200-300 bps margin.

That's the formula for financial freedom, time freedom, and mental bandwidth — all three at once.

In this episode of Mortgage Marketing Radio, Sam fills in for Geoff Zimpfer (who is battling cancer and asked his friends to keep the show going) and delivers a complete, step-by-step operating system for loan officers who want to build a business that works — without working themselves into the ground.

Connect With Sam On LinkedIn:

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

Join Sam’s Skool Community:
https://www.skool.com/level-up-lo/about?ref=699a37257d224cf5b321e24964b6be64

What does it take to close 230 purchase units in your first year as a loan originator?

For Andy Beigel, it started with one obsession: practice.

While every other LO chased refi money in 2020, Andy was cold-calling realtors on Zoom — building a purchase pipeline from scratch. By year-end, he had 230 units. By 2025, he had $93M in personal production and a $250M branch he built from zero in Columbus, Ohio.

In this episode, Andy breaks down:

→ His word-for-word rate objection rebuttal

→ The first 30 seconds of every intake call (scripted — every time)

→ The 2-step realtor conversion process behind his book of business

→ The "positive feedback loop" secret that lets you delegate without losing agents

→ What he looks for in recruits (hint: not experience)

→ How a 22-year-old he hired now closes 125+ units a year. His philosophy: do 100 small things 1% better than everyone else, and you're 100% superior at game time.

Special episode: Guest host Greg Sher of NFM Lending pinch-hits for Geoff Zimpfer, who is battling cancer.

Connect with Andy:

[email protected]

@andybeigel on Instagram

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

In this episode of Mortgage Marketing Radio, we talk with top-producing mortgage originator and elite coach Amir Syed to reveal the exact blueprint mortgage loan officers need to follow in 2026 to thrive—not just survive.

Whether you're a mortgage loan originator, broker, or LO looking to increase production in a competitive market, Amir breaks down the 3 critical pillars every LO must master right now:

1. Marketing and Personal Branding – How to become “Five-Mile Famous” and generate referrals without begging agents.

2. Sales and Persuasion – Why “the phone isn't a cactus” and how top LOs are diversifying beyond Realtors.

3. Operations and Scaling – The exact hiring process to find your “superstar LOA” and break through your current ceiling.

🔑 Plus:

– The 5 types of intelligence every elite LO is building in 2026
– Why your pre-COVID skills are killing your post-COVID results
– A foolproof hiring framework to scale your mortgage business (including the 3 questions every candidate must answer)

🎯 If you're serious about growing your mortgage business, this is a must-listen playbook for building momentum in Q1 and beyond.

Connect With Amir Syed

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

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

GO! Coaching: https://www.gocoaching.io/