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April 22, 2025 14 mins

In this first episode of Your Favorite Mortgage Guy Podcast, host Steve Rockefeller sits down with media expert Sean Fitzgibbons from Thrive Media to talk all things marketing in the world of real estate and homeownership. They dive into why video and social media are no longer optional, which platforms are worth focusing on (hint: Instagram), and how to create content that grabs attention in under a second. Sean shares practical tips on batching content, staying compliant, and building an educational strategy that keeps your name top of mind with potential clients. Whether you’re a realtor, lender, or home pro looking to level up your marketing game, this episode is packed with value and real-world advice.

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Episode Transcript

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(00:00):
welcome to your favorite mortgage guy

(00:02):
podcast The show that brings you timely
insights on essential tips and
everything you need to know about
mortgages It's time to get informed get
inspired and get moving with your host
Steve Rockefeller Because here your
favorite mortgage guy has your
back Welcome to another edition of Your
Favorite Mortgage Guys podcast I'm Steve
Rockefeller here You know what we're

(00:24):
going to try to demystify every aspect
of home ownership Whether that's how to
get a mortgage how to have a realtor
what's an appraisal what about a home
inspector oh wait I need homeowners
insurance Wait a minute My inspection
came back and now I need some repairs
What does all this mean who's paying the
closing cost do I need a down payment

(00:46):
what's the credit report what's my
payment what's the interest rate oh my
gosh we could just go on and on and on
but we're going to demystify that for
you So listen Today my guest Sean
Fitzgibbons Thrive Media and Sean's
going to talk to us today about
marketing Now the aspect of marketing is
in so many different ways because if you

(01:07):
think about what happened back in the
70s and the 80s and in the '9s and now
we hit 2000s look what's happened So
Sean welcome Yeah thanks for having me
on Steve And tell me this in your
opinion what is one of the most
important aspects of marketing so it's
kind of a selfish answer here but video
and social media I think has become a

(01:28):
huge part of so of what you need for
marketing whether it's running a
contractor's business of doing garage
doors or doing home loans Um it's just
become such an important part to reach
people cuz that's where everybody are
They're on their phones Um it used to be
you know newspaper you only had the
options of mailers or radio but now
social media really is the king And so

(01:52):
using my phone as an example so it's all
swipe left swipe right Onetenth of a
second period You just got to catch
their attention right the hook is is the
important thing The hook that's what we
want to talk about is the hook So let's
talk about the hook for just one second
So nowadays you know what out of all of
your clients what do you think the
number one hook is that people are

(02:14):
looking for are they looking for that
instantaneous I need to catch them on
the cell phone or are they looking to
catch them on Facebook or is it is it
all of the aspects of social media what
what in your opinion is there one aspect
of it cuz listen I'm not like a platform
that you think is most important Is that
what you're kind of asking yeah And I'm
not too naive to to believe that there's
no golden nugget One golden nugget It

(02:36):
takes a village Yeah I mean if if you're
picking one to really go after right now
I'd say Instagram has really taken to
the forefront Tik Tok obviously if
you've seen the news you know we don't
know how long it'll be here Um so that's
that's kind of where I direct people is
Instagram is probably what you should
optimize for if you can only handle one
social media And and you can connect it

(02:57):
to your Facebook So it's just a really
easy way to just kind of post to one and
then have two that actually are getting
used Broaden your horizons Yeah So for
example like Tik Tok you know we worry
about that going away but it looks like
it looks like the Tik Tok plat Tik Tok
platform has changed So does that mean
that like Lemonate that's owned by Tik
Tok yep I think it's the same exact

(03:19):
platform Yeah So are you finding that
people are starting to gravitate to some
of these newer platforms Threads
Lemonade um Parlor yeah I always tell
people that um experimenting and trying
these out is is never a bad thing cuz
you don't know what's going to catch
fire and become the new Tik Tok Like you
know 5 years ago Tik Tok wasn't a thing
and now all of a sudden it's probably

(03:40):
the biggest platform that everybody's
consuming So I think it's worth trying
But the thing that I would caution
people of is to go all in on a platform
saying this is the new thing and now I'm
going to be you know the first to market
here So I I don't I wouldn't go that far
Keep keep what you have going Don't like
shift just because you think this is the
new fad because that's a lot of times
what it is It's just a new fad right and

(04:02):
no telling how long the fad is going to
last Exactly Perfect Perfect Okay So let
me ask you thinking
about what today's social media looks
like now And I'm not talking about the
realtors specifically or the lenders but
you've got all things home ownership
You've got the realtor the home
inspector the appraiser the lender um

(04:23):
and all the other aspects the closing
agent When you're talking with them are
they all looking to get that extra leg
up on the marketing aspect or are they
kind of looking at it like "Hey I want
to get the word out but I want to
educate as well." Yeah I mean I think
education is a great way to go Um
because if you're looking at like ways

(04:44):
to grab people's attention that relate
to your business then educating them and
everybody's you know at some point
everybody's probably going to buy a home
So it's always something that I think
will grab people to say well you know
maybe this is a little tidbit that I
need to know when I buy a house Um but
yeah I think educating is a great way to
do it um when you're when you're trying
to grab people's attention So not like
the old days when you would open up the

(05:06):
Saturday paper and and you'd see the
realtor with their poofy hair the
typical old school realtors you know
it's not like that anymore Although
they're still out there But but hey
listen you can teach an old dog new
tricks Yeah So Sean let me ask you a
question So in my industry in the
financial industry in the insurance
industries variety of industries we have

(05:27):
compliance departments right they're
like the internal police right you can't
do anything about it but you just have
to play within the guardrails So what do
you do on the social media side or or
even on the media side how do you make
sure that everybody's compliant yeah So
that's definitely a conversation that I
have to sit down and have with the
clients Um some of them don't even think
about that aspect and then we make

(05:49):
something So what the the biggest piece
of advice I'd give is talk to your
compliance department right away
Whatever that is If it's you know if
you're a realer and you need to check
with your brokerage and see what you're
allowed to say what you're not allowed
to say you're going to waste a bunch of
time and money and content making if you
don't know what those guidelines are
that you have to follow So just coming
up with a plan of what you can and can't
do And then we can always work around

(06:10):
that type of thing Interesting So you
know what it's like in my industry like
we can't talk about specific rates Like
I couldn't tell you right now today's
rate is this because it's based upon the
credit score the property type whether
it's a townhouse or a condo or the down
payment the loan type There's so many
different aspects So we can talk about

(06:31):
generalities like I love telling people
I can find a rate that fits your
family's budget but we have to be
compliant in that area Yep Yeah Keeping
it vague is usually the way to go You
just And you can also put it what I
found is you can put it on other sources
So like you can say this website can
tell you this rather than giving them I
don't want to give them my I don't want
to give my competitors information

(06:52):
That's true That's true Just watch the
news The general rate is this Yeah But
you know speaking of that when we talk
about the news So if you watch whatever
your favorite news channel is uh
CNBC financial news channel CNBC MSNBC
Bloomberg those are the three popular
ones I I focus on um Fox Business and
CNBC they will always show an interest

(07:15):
rate that is generic rate around the
nation So what ends up happening is for
example like I saw this morning the
generic rate around the nation is
6.49 Okay that's a conventional loan So
the problem is like that might not be
the rate here It might be 6.75 here But
in some of the sand states like Central

(07:36):
uh America where you know you the real
estate sales might not be as robust as
they are here we might find that the
rates are a little different So when
you're looking at these rates you you
know you kind of have to be a little
more aware of hey this is kind of a
generic term So for example on interest
rates you know I love telling people I
have never met a client that wants the
highest interest rate or the highest

(07:58):
payment Do you don't want that do you no
No I don't Um I've heard you can like
buy it down though Right Isn't there
like a discount point or something like
that exact Great question Great question
So listen here's the thing So discount
points you know everybody says "Well if
I pay one point does that give me a 1%
lower in rates?" Well let me take a
second to explain A discount point is a
fee So it doesn't it's not a one:one

(08:20):
ratio So like if you pay one discount
point it doesn't necessarily mean you're
going to get go from a rate of 6.5 to
5.5 It might only make a difference of
an eighth of a percent in your interest
rate or a quarter percent Now it's a fee
It's all it is It's a fee to buy down
the interest rate to get you a better
payment But guys here's what I tell

(08:42):
every one of my clients If you're going
to buy the fee and you're in a decline
in interest rate environment you might
as well just take a couple hundred bills
and tear them up into tiny pieces and
set them on fire because it's not going
to be worth it If you decide that you
want to buy the rate down in a way that
it's going to be meaningful over the
term of the loan we would look at the

(09:04):
analysis of okay so if you pay a couple
of points and all of a sudden we go okay
wait a minute now you can save a half a
percent in rate you'll never have to
refinance this You can frontload it Now
I know that may sound confusing That's
why you need to talk to a professional
like myself But Sean that also plays
into the annual percentage rate or APR

(09:25):
Okay I don't know if I know exactly what
that means Can you kind of elaborate on
what that is exactly so an annual
percentage rate the problem with the APR
is that it was legislated in in the late
in the early 1970s back in the day where
you could finance closing costs you
could finance discount points which you
can't do that anymore So what is the APR

(09:48):
it's basically the loan amount plus all
of the closing costs divided into all of
the payments But the problem is you
can't calculate an accurate APR There's
one way you can calculate an accurate
APR after you pay off the loan because
what if you only made 18 payments and
you sold your house yeah that's going to
affect it What if you made a late

(10:09):
payment and you had to pay a late fee
there's just so many things that affect
the APR So now what we're trying to do
is we're trying to get them to change
the legislation as it relates to the
annual percentage rate because think
about this How many times have you been
driving down the street and you're
listening to the radio and you hear the
car commercial come on and the guy comes
in and he says for 10 cents down my wife

(10:32):
won't let me give them away But then at
the end of the commercial you hear
someone talking so fast that you don't
understand the disclosures but you hear
the word annual percentage rate Yeah
that's they say like zero APR Most of
the time they will say zero APR but
there's no there's no way to calculate
an accurate APR until the actual loan is

(10:53):
paid off Gotcha So couple more questions
We're going to wrap this up Guys I got
to tell you you know this is great
listening to Sean talk about media talk
about what's important One of the
aspects that a couple of the realtors
that I work with are asking me is I
don't understand how to do this Mhm I I
know how to turn it on I know how to

(11:14):
play my Tik Tok my Instagram my Facebook
my LinkedIn my whatever What does
someone like yourself do soup to nuts Do
you come in do you meet with them
determine their needs yeah So I like to
start it off with just a consultation of
kind of figuring out what their goals
are because we can make content but if
you don't have a specific goal in mind
of like an audience that you're trying
to reach then we're making content

(11:36):
that's useless if we're if we don't have
that goal in mind So we sit down we talk
about what are you trying to get A lot
of the times I will set up um a a period
where we film and we batch I think
that's the most effective way to really
use um realer's time because obviously
they got a lot going on So we'll sit
down and I've done this with you before
We sit and we'll do an hour Yeah we'll

(11:58):
spend an hour and we'll have all of our
little script points made Um Chad GBT is
great for that Um YouTube you can
usually find all sorts of different
things So we'll sit down and we'll film
it and then I'll give it to the editing
team and then that way you have 10
videos If you want to post one a week
you've now got 10 weeks of content that
you're ready to go with So that's
traditionally what I've done with a lot

(12:19):
of real estate agents that are trying to
do that kind of educational model of
like how can I get some content out
there to keep my name up in people's
ears and then also give them some
education And Sean up here maybe over
here down here over here somewhere We're
going to post your information in there
so they can reach you Guys here's what
I'm going to tell
you

(12:40):
You're not going to win unless you're
marketing yourself It's just that simple
Because you can only sell a home if
you're a realtor to how many family
members that are available to buy a
house right if you're in insurance
there's only so many people you can talk
to about selling insurance to So my
point is reach out to Sean The way he

(13:02):
does it with me is he batches 10 to 12
videos at a time We did that Monday We
taped the videos and we and it's it's
intense I mean you got to be ready But
if you're right here if you're set and
you know what you want to do then it's
easy Now you can reach out to me I can
give you the guidance but Sean's going
to be the expert on this I'm not an
expert in social media So Sean thanks

(13:25):
again Appreciate you being with us today
So listen Your favorite mortgage guy
Steve here You know what we're going to
continue doing this guys I appreciate
you watching We're going to keep it
short We're going to keep it to the
point and we're going to keep it to the
point where you know your next steps
buying a home Bye now Thanks for tuning
in Make sure to follow your favorite
mortgage guy on Facebook LinkedIn and

(13:46):
Instagram Have questions or ready to
take the next step reach out at
steveloans.com or call
757301-9776 We'll catch you next time
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