80%+ Open Rate, a Team That Scaled from 10 to 100+, and Clients Who Actually Pick Up the Phone

Meet Jon Tobias: A Builder Who Bets on What Works

Jon Tobias is the President of Branch Production at Fairway West, where he oversees sales for the entire west coast and serves on the executive team. He joined Fairway just over 11 years ago with a production team of 10, bringing his top producers from a previous company with one goal: grow.

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They grew fast. That original team of 10 became a large branch, then recruited additional branches across the region. The core group has been together for 12 to 15 years, which makes the operation run smoothly.

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Today, Jon’s team uses Homebot to stay in front of thousands of past and current clients, turning a quiet database into an active source of conversations and repeat business.

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The Problem Every Loan Officer Faces

Here’s the reality Jon kept running into: in mortgage, you work hard to earn a client’s trust, you close the deal, and then the relationship goes quiet. Staying connected between transactions is one of the biggest challenges in the business. And the typical outreach tools weren’t cutting it.

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➤  How do you stay top of mind when clients aren’t actively buying or refinancing?

➤  How do you turn a past client database into actual conversations?

➤  How do you compete with every other lender flooding the same inboxes?

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Jon’s team tried the usual channels. Email campaigns, customer contact tools, drip sequences. The problem was always the same: nobody was opening them.

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“A lot of tools we use, especially when it comes to email and customer contact, people don’t open. Your open rate might be really low. You think it’s valuable, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t really move the needle.” — Jon Tobias

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Jon didn’t need more marketing software. He needed to send something clients actually wanted to receive.

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Finding a Better Way to Stay Connected

Jon discovered that the shift wasn’t about sending more outreach. It was about sending something worth opening. With Homebot, every client in his database receives a personalized monthly report tailored to their specific home. Not a generic market update. A financial snapshot they actually care about.

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The report answers the questions homeowners are already asking themselves: What’s my home worth? Is now a good time to refinance? What would it look like to tap into my equity? And Jon’s team can see exactly who opens the report, how often, and when they’re actively engaged.

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“Who doesn’t want to get a financial statement on their home every month? It’s fun, right? It’s like looking at your investment account. You want to see it provides a good talking point, provides value to your clients, and they really like it.”— Jon Tobias

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How Homebot Helps Jon Win Every Day

Over the past 11 years, Jon has watched Homebot evolve from a client engagement tool into a platform that touches every part of how his team operates. Here’s what makes the biggest difference for his business today:

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1. Engagement That’s “Unheard Of” in Email

The true test of any outreach tool is whether clients actually open it. Jon’s Homebot reports consistently hit an 80%+ open rate, a number that’s virtually unheard of in email marketing for the mortgage industry. That’s not a launch spike. That’s sustained engagement across thousands of contacts.

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“The read rate was like over 80% that people were opening. That’s unheard of when it comes to email. It gave a lot of engagement with our clients and kept me in front of them.” — Jon Tobias

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2. Built-In Reasons to Pick Up the Phone

Open rates are great, but Jon’s team takes it further. Because they can track who’s opening reports and how often, every Homebot digest creates a natural reason to call. It’s not a cold outreach. It’s a warm conversation starter based on something the client already engaged with.

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That changes the dynamic entirely. Instead of chasing down old contacts, Jon’s team reaches out with context and relevance.

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3. A Seamless Tech Stack That Actually Talks to Itself

One of the friction points Jon dealt with before Homebot was trying to stitch together disconnected tools. CRM here, email platform there, analytics somewhere else. None of them communicated with each other.

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Homebot solved that. Its integrated platform means every piece of the tech stack talks to every other piece. That reduces manpower, cuts operational costs, and lets the team focus on what matters: building relationships.

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“Homebot reduces manpower, reduces costs. All of their tech pieces, they all talk to each other. It makes it seamless. You’re not trying to plug this into this and this and this, and they’re not talking to each other.”— Jon Tobias

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4. A Recruiting Edge in a Competitive Market

Technology is increasingly a deciding factor when loan officers choose where to hang their license. Jon has found that having a strong tech stack, with Homebot at the center, gives his team a recruiting advantage. Loan officers want to work somewhere that helps them grow their business more efficiently.

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11 Years Later: What the Results Look Like

After more than a decade with Homebot, Jon can point to results that go beyond any single metric. Yes, his team consistently sees 80%+ open rates. Yes, they’ve scaled from 10 people to a multi-branch operation across the west coast. But the deeper result is what consistent client engagement has done for the quality of those relationships.

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Clients stay connected. They open their reports every month. And when it’s time to buy, sell, or refinance, Jon’s team is already in the conversation. That’s the compounding effect of showing up with value, month after month, year after year.

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For anyone considering Homebot today, Jon’s perspective is simple: this is the one tool that actually moved the needle when nothing else did.

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“The most valuable piece of tech that we’ve ever invested in. It was the highest read rate and the highest value. That was the best piece of value I’ve ever had in technology, to be honest with you.”— Jon Tobias

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Your Loan Officers Deserve a Tool That Works as Hard as They Do

If your loan officers are drowning in tools, second-guessing their stack, and losing touch with past clients between transactions, you’re not alone. The mortgage market is noisy, and staying consistently in front of homeowners is harder than it should be.

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Homebot gives your team one tool that does the work every month. A personalized digest that homeowners actually open. Analytics that surface who’s ready to move. And a platform that makes every loan officer look like the most informed person in the room.

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Ready to see it in action? Book a Homebot demo today →