Matched to the file, not sold off a shelf

Conventional purchase loans

Agency financing for primary homes, second homes, and investment property across California: fixed and adjustable, conforming and high-balance for the state’s more expensive counties.

• Primary, second home, and 1–4 unit investment purchases
• Conforming and high-balance loan amounts
• Fixed-rate and ARM structures, matched to how long you’ll actually hold the property

As a broker I price the same file across multiple wholesale lenders before you commit to any of them.

Refinance: rate/term and cash-out

Two different tools. A rate/term refinance changes the cost or length of the loan; a cash-out converts equity into money you can use. Either one only makes sense when the math works, and I’ll show you the math before anything else.

• Rate/term: lower the rate, shorten the term, or drop mortgage insurance
• Cash-out: improvements, consolidation, investment, family needs
• Primary and investment property

If the break-even doesn’t pencil, I’ll tell you to keep the loan you have. That answer is free.

Reverse mortgages: HECM & jumbo Specialty

This is the center of my practice. The FHA-insured HECM serves homes up to its federal lending limit; jumbo reverse programs serve California homes up to $4 million, with eligibility starting at age 55. No monthly mortgage payment is required while you live in the home; you remain responsible for property taxes, insurance, and upkeep.

• Eliminate an existing mortgage payment, or establish a growing standby line of credit
• HECM for Purchase: right-size into the next home without a new monthly payment
• Jumbo programs built for California’s home values

Enough to say here; the full plain-English explanation lives on its own page.

Two structures worth naming. HECM for Purchase buys the next home with roughly 40–65% down depending on age, no required monthly principal and interest payment, and an interested party may contribute up to 6% of the sales price toward costs. A second-lien reverse leaves an existing low-rate first mortgage completely untouched and draws on the equity above it, from age 55, with no payment on the new lien. The existing mortgage payment continues.

Hard money & private lending

Sometimes the property and the equity are solid but the timeline, the condition, or the documentation won’t survive a conventional underwrite. Private capital prices on the asset and closes on a calendar a bank can’t match.

• Fast-close purchases and bridge situations
• Equity-driven qualifying when income documentation is the obstacle
• Short-term by design, always paired with a clear exit plan

Hard money costs more than conventional financing. It’s the right tool for specific jobs, and I’ll be direct about whether yours is one of them.

Alt-A & Non-QM programs

Self-employed with a tax return that understates real cash flow. Assets instead of income. Rental property that should qualify on its own rent. The Non-QM market exists for exactly these files, and it has matured into a real, competitive lending space.

• Bank-statement income qualification for the self-employed
• Asset-based and asset-depletion qualifying
• DSCR loans for investors, where the property’s rent does the qualifying

These programs price above agency loans. The question is whether the flexibility is worth the spread for your file. That’s a ten-minute conversation.

A scenario that doesn’t fit the labels above?

Trusts, probate, recent credit events, unusual property types: after thirty years, “unusual” is most of what lands on my desk. Call me before you assume the answer is no.