In 2020, I began to track a steady decline in consumer confidence in the mortgage industry. Five years later, that decline has reached a clear low point. Only 20 percent of millennials and Generation Z say they trust mortgage professionals to help them make informed decisions. The knowledge gap remains significant, but in an age where 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 must be built in community.
FirstHome IQ’s 2025 Impact Report reflects the collective work of an industry stepping forward to address this issue. It highlights how the best mortgage professionals are leading the way in education, bringing clarity to their communities, and strengthening relationships through trust. It also outlines where we’re going and how we can work together to create a generation of more confident 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 have given hundreds of presentations and trained thousands of young students and buyers. And this is just the beginning.
Where we are going in 2026
Looking ahead, we see a clear path to increasing impact through a coordinated industry effort. Our focus in 2026 includes:
- Equip more loan officers with simple and reliable tools and coaching
- Strengthening partnerships that expand financial literacy to more communities
- Increasing opportunities for professionals to participate 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 strategy calls with ambassadors, industry leaders like JJ Mazzo, Jeremy Forcier, Shayla Gifford, Nicole Rueth and others will help the industry build trust through education.
Scale through partnerships with lenders. We’ve built a scalable model for lender partnerships that gives loan officers access to a complete library of homebuyer presentations, quarterly updated agent research presentations, and coaching from FirstHome IQ faculty. This approach allows us to expand our impact to more loan officers as we continue to build a strong base of ambassadors who are deeply connected to the mission and active in their communities.
Education and advocacy must go together. We are also announcing a partnership with MBA’s MAA to encourage more loan officers to participate in advocacy efforts. Real impact must happen at both local and national levels, focusing on outreach and policies to improve the next generation’s ability to achieve sustainable homeownership.
Loan officers play a central role in this work. They are at the intersection of consumer experience and the mortgage industry, and their voices are essential. That’s why we’re inviting fifty loan officers to participate in next year’s MBA’s National Advocacy Conference.
These and other efforts are intended 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 to operate in a system where consumers are unsure of where to turn, or we can build a system focused on clarity, education and trust. The industry has already shown what is possible if we choose the second path. Now the work is to scale it up.
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 home buying.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of HousingWire’s editorial staff and its owners. To contact the editor responsible for this piece: [email protected].
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