HousingWireHousingWire
As borrower expectations for personalized, timely communication rise, loan officers are turning to AI-powered tools to stay competitive. Intelligent automation is no longer a future vision but a present necessity that helps lenders scale personalization, deepen client relationships, and uncover new opportunities. Ryan Young, founder and CEO of Fello.ai, recently shared how AI is transforming mortgage professionals’ ability to connect with clients. With deep real estate expertise and a proven record of innovation, Ryan has grown Fello into a platform used by 20,000+ real estate agents, including 500+ WSJ Real Trends teams. Under his leadership, Fello reshapes engagement by turning enriched data into action, enabling professionals to do more with the relationships they already have. He emphasizes that embracing automation today is key to thriving in an industry that is evolving faster than ever.
“When it comes to AI, it’s not AI vs. humans — it’s AI plus humans. “
HousingWire: The mortgage industry has long been built around transactions, but today’s borrowers expect more ongoing value. What does it take to shift from a transactional mindset to a relationship-driven one — and how does data play a role in making that personalization real?
Ryan Young: There’s a strong synergy and a growing emphasis on a customer’s lifetime value. The key to optimizing that value is through relationships. If approached with a transactional, one-and-done mindset, it is tough to preserve the margins necessary to scale a business and withstand the slower, tougher period in the industry.
Loan officers realize margins are too tight to treat prospects as one-time deals. Building relationships, facilitating transactions, and staying connected can create multiple opportunities. Macroeconomic conditions have only reinforced this shift, prompting more LOs to ask: “What do I need to do to become their lender for life?”
HW: With so many lenders struggling to stay top of mind between transactions, what role do you see Fello playing in helping them build stronger, longer-lasting relationships with their clients?
RY: One of the reasons we fall out of mind is because we try a one-size-fits-all approach to marketing, by sending broad, generic messages that don’t reflect the audience’s diverse needs. We have changed that by enriching the loan officer’s database with detailed behavioral and contextual data, allowing for precise segmentation and highly relevant messaging. This enables lenders to engage clients with the right message at the right time, fostering deeper, longer-lasting relationships. In a world where consumers expect personalized experiences, like they get from Amazon or Netflix, relevance isn’t a luxury; it’s now a necessity.
HW: Beyond staying in touch with past clients, how is Fello helping lenders build a stronger business that consistently generates new transactions and unlocks more value from their existing database?
RY: The real opportunity isn’t just staying in touch — it’s knowing when and how to engage. By leveraging behavioral and property data, lenders can spot signals that a homeowner may be ready to act, like tapping equity for renovations. Rather than opening with a product pitch, the focus should be on delivering value first: market insights, ROI-focused upgrade ideas, or equity tracking tools tailored to their journey stage.
It comes down to timing and relevance. With the right data, lenders can deliver personalized, useful content, build trust, and introduce offers organically, right when interest and intent align. That’s where we’ve seen the strongest engagement and long-term results.
HW: Beyond staying in touch with past clients, how is Fello helping lenders build stronger businesses that generate new transactions and unlock more value from their existing database?
RY: Fello has helped nurture over 40 million contacts — and what we’ve uncovered is eye-opening: more than 80% of the contacts were missing a verified property address or had outdated information. This data gap is one of the biggest roadblocks for lenders in converting leads and growing their pipelines. Without accurate address data, targeting the right homeowners, personalizing their outreach, or prioritizing high-intent leads effectively is nearly impossible.
Fello solves this by applying intelligence to enrich and clean databases by verifying addresses, confirming homeownership, and removing outdated property info. This data hygiene has proven transformational for lenders trying to grow their pipelines more effectively.
But beyond just cleaning data, Fello’s mission is to empower lenders to truly own their business. That means giving them the tools, such as AI-powered client segmentation and campaign management, insights like market trends and client behavior analysis, and autonomy to make data-driven decisions. By decentralizing access to this kind of technology, Fello helps lenders generate more transactions, unlock more value from their database, and build a more resilient, self-sustaining business.
HW: AI is reshaping how many industries operate — how is it starting to influence the mortgage and real estate space in particular?
RY: AI is already touching every part of our product, and the backbone of our entire roadmap.
We’re already seeing real efficiency gains in the mortgage and real estate space, especially through our Fello product. This product liberates loan officers and agents from administrative duties, allowing them to reallocate their focus entirely to high-impact, client-facing activities— building relationships and providing strategic advice.
This shift is creating a critical divide in the industry. Those who proactively embrace AI will achieve greater scalability and accelerated growth, able to accomplish significantly more with fewer resources. Those who hesitate may find themselves at a competitive disadvantage, unable to match the speed and efficiency of AI-powered operations.
HW: Do you think the biggest barrier to AI adoption right now is how precisely users have to communicate with it? If so, is it even worth learning that skill if natural, human-like interfaces will be available in just a few years?
RY: That’s something that I’ve battled with internally. As a tech CEO who’s not very technical, I’ve found AI tools intimidating, wondering if I’m asking the right questions or why I’m not getting the results I want. But I’ve learned that patience and persistence are key. Like any new skill, there’s a learning curve, and the payoff is worth it.
I think it’s essential to start learning how to use AI now. Those who take the time today will have a significant advantage as these tools improve. And they’re improving fast—not years from now, but within the next quarter or two. Soon, our interactions with these platforms will be purely conversational, allowing us to ask for complex outputs like a complete customer segment or an entire campaign workflow without needing any technical background.
That’s why getting comfortable with AI now is so valuable. Even a basic understanding can be incredibly powerful, and a simple curiosity and willingness to explore will take you a long way.
HW: Looking ahead, what does a modern, always-on mortgage business look like — and what should lenders be thinking about today to get there?
RY: Adopting technology that unlocks efficiency, productivity, and profit year-round.
I recently spoke with a loan officer who said he was too busy to take on more business. But when I asked about his pipeline in the off-season, he admitted he struggles to pay the bills. That’s the reality of seasonality in real estate. But it doesn’t have to be. When your business is powered by automation and a well-nurtured database, you can generate leads year-round, smoothing out the feast-or-famine cycles and building predictable momentum.
That’s our goal: not just to amplify your busy seasons but to make your slower periods more productive. When your systems work for you, your database starts working, too, creating opportunities even in a cool market.
When it comes to AI, it’s not AI vs. humans — it’s AI plus humans. For anyone nervous about the future, here’s the truth: the people and businesses that embrace AI will unlock capabilities they’ve never had before by freeing up time for what matters most: building relationships and delivering excellent service. That’s how we future-proof this business.
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