The housing industry is undergoing a major shift as millennials, Gen Z, and increasingly diverse communities become the dominant force among first-time homebuyers. Long-term success will belong to real estate professionals and mortgage lenders who invest authentically in these markets by prioritizing cultural competence, accessibility, and trust over quick fixes or performative outreach.
To learn more about the importance for lenders in serving diverse markets, and how it can create new competitive advantages, MortgageOrb interviewed Jeremy Davis, president of mortgage for Southern Bancorp.
Q: With millennials, Gen Z, and increasingly diverse communities now dominating the first-time homebuyer market, what’s the biggest strategic mistake you see mortgage leaders making when it comes to capturing this business?
Davis: The biggest mistake is confusing visibility with trust. I see it constantly: Lenders set up a booth or table at a community fair or sponsor a local event, then wonder why the phone does not ring. They treat emerging markets like a campaign instead of recognizing them as the industry’s future.
Meanwhile, the barber two blocks from our office has been cutting hair in that same chair for 12 years. Guess who the community trusts when they are ready to buy their first home?
These borrowers, millennials, Gen Z, first-generation Americans, and other underserved communities, are not hard to reach. They are just tired of being misread. They can smell performative outreach from a mile away. When your “community engagement” disappears the moment a grant cycle ends or quarterly numbers do not look right, communities notice. And they remember.
The fundamental mistake is thinking you can scale trust. You cannot. Trust comes from memories, not marketing budgets.
Q: You argue that authentic investment in diverse markets beats quick fixes. Can you quantify this for executives, what is the actual long-term value difference between a
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