Send Case your hardest files.
Self-employed buyer with K-1s and depreciation. Complex income that another lender priced out. Tight clear-to-close timeline. Credit on the borderline of the next pricing tier. I read these files early, run the math straight, and tell you and your client what is real.
Equal Housing OpportunityWhy realtors send me the hard files
You do not want to find out the file is dead three days before close. You want a broker who reads the file early, talks to your client like a person, and tells you the truth on the timeline. Here is what that means in practice.
I read the file before pre-approval
Income docs, credit, asset trail, and any prior denial letter. I tell you what is workable, what needs documentation, and what kills the file before your client falls in love with a house.
Conventional, FHA, VA, USDA, jumbo, bank statement, DSCR, non-QM
I shop across a wholesale lender network and present the options with trade-offs explained. Not one product. Not one lender. The right loan for the borrower in front of us.
One broker. One phone number. Mine.
No LO assistant. No processor handling questions I should be handling. You call me, your client calls me, you both get a response the same day. Most of the time the same hour.
Tight clear-to-close on real files, not promises
When the income is documented clean and the credit reads through, I work fast. When something on the file needs more time, I tell you upfront. No surprise extensions at the closing table.
From a real estate professional
"He put together this 'how payments change' and 'what to expect' sheet for me. It was way easier to track than trying to read through a bunch of emails and loan estimates and everything else."
Ashton sends me files with buyers who need a clear read on how loan estimates compare. I build the side-by-side, walk her and the client through it once, and she stops fielding line-item questions she should not have to answer.
That is the working pattern. I do the math, you keep doing what got you the client in the first place.
Co-marketing kit
Tools I am building for partner agents. These ship as I write them. None of these involve any value exchange for referrals. They are educational pieces I send to your buyers when you ask.
First-time buyer payment breakdown
Plain English walk-through of principal, interest, taxes, insurance, and PMI. What changes when rates move. What changes when the down payment moves.
Coming soonSelf-employed qualifying-income guide
How tax returns, K-1s, depreciation, and bank-statement programs actually qualify income. So your self-employed buyer stops getting told they cannot buy.
Coming soonTexas 50(a)(6) cash-out checklist
For agents working with sellers who want to pull equity before listing. The 80% LTV cap, the 12-day waiting period, and what disqualifies a Texas cash-out.
Coming soonLoan program decision tree
When to send a borrower to FHA versus conventional. Why a 700 credit score buyer with low down payment might be cheaper on FHA than conventional. Quick reference.
Coming soonTexas market data dashboard
Monthly Austin metro data I pull anyway. Median sold, months of inventory, percent of listings cut, sold-to-list ratio. Source-cited, no spin.
Coming soonWhat I will not do
No referral fees. No marketing service agreements. No value exchange of any kind for the referral of mortgage business.
The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, Section 8 (12 U.S.C. §2607), makes it illegal to give or accept any fee, kickback, or thing of value in exchange for the referral of business incident to a real estate settlement service. The statute is not advisory. It carries criminal penalties of up to $10,000 per violation and one year in prison, plus civil liability of three times the value of the settlement service charge.
What that means in practice for our working relationship:
- I do not pay referral fees, finder's fees, or any other compensation tied to the referral of a borrower.
- I do not enter into marketing service agreements that pay above the fair market value of the marketing service actually rendered.
- I do not split desk costs, lead-gen costs, or other office expenses in a structure that effectively pays for referrals.
- I do not provide gifts, dinners, event tickets, or promotional items above the de minimis threshold contemplated by HUD Statement of Policy 1999-1.
- I do not enter into joint ventures or affiliated-business arrangements structured to disguise referral compensation.
What I do exchange: communication, clean files, fast pre-approvals, and accurate disclosures. You send me your hard files. I close them or tell you up front why the file does not work. Nothing changes hands except information.
Cited authority: 12 U.S.C. §2607(a) and (b); 12 CFR §1024.14; HUD Statement of Policy 1999-1 (64 FR 10080, March 1, 1999); CFPB Compliance Bulletin 2015-05 (RESPA Compliance and Marketing Services Agreements, October 8, 2015).
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Questions agents ask
Do you pay referral fees or run marketing service agreements?
No. RESPA Section 8 makes paying or accepting anything of value for the referral of mortgage business illegal in our industry. I do not pay referral fees, I do not run MSAs, and I do not co-market in any structure that exchanges dollars for referrals. What you get is a broker who picks up the phone for your clients and does not make you look bad at the closing table.
What files should I send you?
The ones another lender told no, the ones with a tight clear-to-close timeline, the self-employed buyer with K-1s and a CPA who knows what depreciation does to qualifying income, the buyer with a credit score on the threshold of the next pricing bucket. I run conventional, FHA, VA, USDA, jumbo, bank statement, DSCR, and non-QM. If it can be qualified, I want to see it.
How fast can you pre-approve a buyer?
Most files I can pre-approve in 24 to 48 hours from clean income and credit documentation. I do full pre-approvals with verified income, assets, and a credit pull. Not pre-quals. Pre-approvals sellers take seriously.
Who actually communicates with my client?
I do. There is no LO assistant who picks up when I am busy. No processor who answers loan questions. One broker, one phone number, one inbox. You get my cell. Your client gets my cell. We work the file together.
What if my buyer is borderline on credit or DTI?
Send them. I read the credit early. If a 12 point bump lands them in a better pricing tier, I tell you and your client exactly what to pay down. I do not pretend the file works when it does not, and I do not refuse to look at a file because it is hard.
Got a file that needs another set of eyes?
Send it over. I read it the same day, tell you whether it is workable, and give you a timeline you can actually quote to the seller.