A Turning Point For The Mortgage Industry: Inside The Industry Effort To Build Trust With The Next Generation

In 2020, I began tracking a steady decline in consumer trust in the mortgage industry. Five years later, that decline has reached a clear low point. Only 20 percent of Millennials and Gen Z say they trust mortgage professionals to help them make informed decisions. The knowledge gap remains significant, but in an age when information is everywhere, knowledge is no longer the only barrier. The deeper challenge is a lack of trust, and trust cannot be automated or outsourced. It has to be built in community.

FirstHome IQ’s 2025 Impact Report reflects the collective work of an industry that is stepping forward to address this. It highlights how the best mortgage professionals are leading with education, bringing clarity to their communities, and strengthening relationships through trust. It also outlines where we are headed next and how we can work together to create a more confident generation of homebuyers.

A Year of meaningful progress

The Impact Report captures this shift and the collective progress behind it. Over the past year, FirstHome IQ Ambassadors delivered hundreds of presentations and educated thousands of young students and buyers. And this is only the beginning.

Where we’re headed in 2026

Looking ahead, we see a clear path for scaling impact through a coordinated industry effort. Our focus in 2026 includes:

• Equipping more loan officers with simple and reliable tools and coaching
• Strengthening partnerships that extend financial literacy into more communities
• Expanding opportunities for professionals to engage in advocacy and research

Building trust with leadership. This year, we are announcing the FirstHome IQ Faculty, a growing group of mortgage leaders who bring specialized expertise in leading with education and empathy. Through monthly masterminds, interviews, and Ambassador strategy calls, industry leaders such as JJ Mazzo, Jeremy Forcier, Shayla Gifford, Nicole Rueth, and others will help guide the industry toward building trust through education.

Scaling through lender partnerships. We have built a scalable model for partnerships with lenders that provides loan officers with access to a complete homebuyer presentation library, quarterly updated research presentations for Realtors, and coaching from the FirstHome IQ Faculty. This approach allows us to expand our impact to more loan officers while continuing to build a strong base of Ambassadors who are deeply connected to the mission and active in their communities.

Education and advocacy must move together. We also announce a partnership with MBA’s MAA to encourage more loan officers to participate in advocacy efforts. True impact must take place on both local and national levels, addressing outreach and policy to improve the next generation’s ability to achieve sustainable homeownership.

Loan officers play a central role in this work. They sit at the intersection of consumer experience and the mortgage industry, and their voice is essential. That is why we are inviting fifty loan officers to join us at MBA’s National Advocacy Conference next year.

These efforts and others are designed to help the industry become a trusted guide for the next generation of homebuyers.

A choice for the future

This moment gives us a choice. We can continue operating in a system that leaves consumers unsure of where to turn, or we can build one centered on clarity, education, and trust. The industry has already shown what is possible when we choose the second path. Now the work is to scale it.

To view the impact report and learn more about ways you can get involved, visit firsthomeiq.com/impact

Kristin Messerli leads FirstHome IQ, which develops online education, school curriculum, and tools to help consumers make better decisions about student loans, credit, and buying a home.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of HousingWire’s editorial department and its owners. To contact the editor responsible for this piece: zeb@hwmedia.com.