Editor’s note: RISMedia Storytellers is a series allowing people to share exceptional lessons, moments, relationships and events in real estate in their own words. Do you know a real estate professional who would make a great Storyteller? Please let us know at editorial@rismedia.com.
Like most new parents, Jordan Nutter wasn’t actively looking for ways to make her life more complicated. The Georgia-based loan officer had built her business with social media, financial literacy courses and through a general—and deeply sincere—appreciation for how her work helps people. With a new addition to the family, though, she didn’t usually wake up thinking about major changes or undertakings.
A few months ago, however, Nutter was in California, having temporarily relocated for family reasons. When planning the trip back to her home state, she and her husband began talking about how to take advantage of the almost 2,500 mile drive—something that quickly “snowballed” into a much larger project that has both channeled and challenged her passions, mixing family, work and big goals in a journey across the country.
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The plan started with a U-Haul trailer. Then it was a camper, then a motorhome. It also started as a one-month tour of half a dozen states. But today, Nutter is riding with her husband and daughter—who recently celebrated her first birthday on the road—in a 40-foot branded RV, still in the early stages of a six-month continental trek to offer her expertise all over the country.
Jordan Nutter, loan officer affiliated with NFM Lending: It definitely wasn’t one of those bucket list things, I’ll tell you that—maybe in a previous life. But since this has come to fruition, it’s definitely been added to my bucket list.
I’ve been posting on social media just about the basics of financial literacy to help better educate people when it comes to their finances or purchasing a home, and what that process looks like. And I really enjoy doing that, and I get a lot of great feedback and responses to other topics and things like that. I realized that we also have so many people that I haven’t been able to touch, and I really wanted to be able to do that.
And so we said—okay, when we move back to Georgia, we’ll just make an extended trip out of it and see if there’s anybody that we can maybe help along the way. I want to try to help everybody that I possibly can, so it very quickly snowballed from a one-month trip into what is now a six-month, around-the-country tour.
When I started in the industry, I would work with a lot of clients that seemed underserved because they were not the ideal client. When they would come to me and say, ‘Jordan, I’m sorry, I have bad credit’ or ‘I just don’t know where to go, I don’t know what to do, and I know you’re not going to be able to maybe do a loan for me now, but I would really like your help.’
Above: Jordan Nutter (Photo courtesy Tucker Group LLC).
And that hurt me that they felt like they couldn’t talk to somebody that would give them an honest answer and really care about what they want and how to better them as opposed to just trying to make a sale. And so when I started in this business, I primarily worked with the borrowers in the community that had less than ideal credit, whether it was collections or late payments or whatever it was because they just didn’t have the knowledge behind how to better themselves.
I sat down and realized it’s not just this community in Georgia. There’s so many people out there that have no idea how to move forward when it comes to their finances as an adult for whatever reason. And as much as I love to post on social media and help—I love making that content, and I still do it—I know that doesn’t get to reach everybody.
I’m excited because we now get to bring our home directly on the road with us and talk to people, and say ‘Hey, what are you struggling with, and what can we do to help you? What kind of questions do you have that you feel like you’re stuck on and you just can’t get anywhere? Any answers that feel right to you?’
With a sponsorship from nonprofit FirstHomeIQ, the plan for Nutter is to work from the road while also holding events in schools, community centers, churches and other venues focused on general financial literacy and homebuying. But the trip is a personal one—with a toddler onboard, Nutter is approaching the trip as something that encompasses a huge swath of her life. And like many endeavors undertaken by working parents, it is also a huge challenge.
JN: If I’m being super honest—and there may be parents out there that say this—but I truly am blessed with the daughter that I have. She is really, really magical when it comes to sleeping and eating. I feel very, very grateful in that aspect and just overall, she’s just a wonderful baby. But is it challenging? Yes, a hundred percent. For instance, my office used to be what was the kitchen/dining room/playroom, and I realized that can’t really be a thing because she wants to climb on me all day.
I’m literally sitting in my “office,” which is the passenger seat of the RV that I’ve made into a makeshift office, because it is separate from her.
I know that she won’t remember, but it still brings her joy. We made a quick stop at the sand dunes in New Mexico, which was really lovely. I’ve never seen them in person, and the baby had a blast. Outside of obviously helping people, if you’re looking more at a personal angle question, having her experience different things across the U.S. and even us as adults that we probably wouldn’t be able to…it’s nice to be able to have the ability to see areas that you don’t normally get to see in your day-to-day life and experience.
Above: Jordan’s daughter celebrating her first birthday on the road (Photo courtesy Tucker Group LLC).
But even then, we need to think about my Zoom meetings—can we put her down for a nap at that time? Is it disrupting her schedule, or do I have to go somewhere else so that my husband can hang out and play, because she won’t be sleeping? So it’s a bit challenging. I do my best to try to schedule around when she’s napping or when my husband can take her out, but we’re still learning. She’s been doing really great so far.
The choice to take on a unique challenge—and pursue unique opportunities—is a complicated calculation for anyone in Nutter’s position. She isn’t pushing for others in the real estate space, who might have both big dreams and big responsibilities, to automatically commit to something of this magnitude. And despite the snappy title she has taken (“Mobile Mortgage Mom”), Nutter’s own goals and experience are bigger and more complicated than a slogan.
JN: I think it depends on what you’re trying to do, because to be honest, it’s not something that anyone else has done, as far as I have seen. So it’s brand new. We’re going to take on this really big project that covers almost the entire country. Nobody’s ever done it before, so we are kind of trying to figure out as we go what works and what doesn’t work and who’s willing to let us come into the community and help them. And so I think it’s definitely a slightly daunting task to take on a larger project than you originally anticipated.
So just being able to sit with yourself and realizing if you truly have the capacity to go through those hardships or potential hardships that you’ll face with taking on a much larger project than you originally anticipated. I do think that sometimes it is worth doing something big, and other times, slow and steady wins the race as well. Figure out what project you are truly taking on, and the capacity that you can hold yourself to if hardship does come along the way.
I would love at the end of this to build more awareness because truly, financial literacy is a crisis in the U.S. Whether you’re looking at purchasing a home or how to properly manage debt or how to invest overall, there’s not enough knowledge. So really, my goal at the end of this is to bring more awareness that we do need to start implementing more curriculum into our school systems, whether it’s on a college level, it’s on a high school level, simple basic knowledge of finances. FirstHomeIQ primarily targets the gen Z community, and that’s where I hope to bring awareness.
Nutter’s journey isn’t about the short game. With her family, business and passion, her eyes remain on the horizon, even as she juggles all the day-to-day work of parenting and running a business from the road. And maybe most importantly, it all stems from something authentic and personal—which Nutter believes the people she interacts with can see.
JN: I would love to build relationships and have friends all across the U.S. and maybe come out and speak to a school later on, and see how they’re doing, and maybe they did bring on some sort of curriculum into the school system and I’m able to follow up and see how it’s going. I would love that and just being able to see that more people are being supported and thriving in America because we have this American Dream of owning a home.
For the baby, internally, it starts to be ingrained in her. If she does travel and sees new places and new people and tries new foods, if that’s part of how she grows up, then eventually as she gets older, that will just be part of her life. So I’m hoping that sticks with her, that she continues to enjoy being outside and seeing new people and trying new food and things like that.
Above: Jordan Nutter and her daughter in Austin, Texas (Photo courtesy Tucker Group LLC).
Also, I do the best job I can to try and build relationships online and build a community. But I do think that at the end of the day, being in person and really getting a feel for somebody and building that connection goes so much further, and you build that trust a lot quicker. So I really enjoy that. It really does mean a lot, and it’s just nice to be able to—it’s one of those things you fully get to see the work that you’re putting in, I think, a little bit more. It feels like you’re actually doing more, and it feels better in my opinion.
I think when you put yourself out there and really try to help out in a community, it shows people that hey, this person isn’t just trying to get business or trying to sell me something or anything like that. They do truly care. So I think it’s worth finding what you’re passionate about.
You can follow Jordan Nutter’s trip around the country on TikTok, Instagram and X @anutterhomeloan.
