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Chicago-based mortgage lender Rate says it’s reaping the benefits of a platform that takes borrowers from application to close in Spanish, having accepted more than 10,000 applications en Español since launching its Language Access Program in 2022.
Rate — the “doing business as” name of Guaranteed Rate Inc. since the company rebranded in July — has also tripled the number of Latino loan officers it employs, to 245, the company said Thursday.
Rate sponsors 2,074 mortgage loan originators working out of 476 branch offices and its joint venture with Anywhere Real Estate, Guaranteed Rate Affinity, has 456 loan originators and 252 branches, according to records maintained by the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System (NMLS).
Victor Ciardelli
“Our deep commitment to the Latino community is core to our culture,” Rate CEO Victor Ciardelli said in a statement. “We didn’t just build a technology-forward Spanish-language digital platform; we built a platform of trust for the Spanish-speaking people using it.”
Rate was ranked as one of the biggest employers of top-producing Latino mortgage originators in June by the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP).
The 250 top-producing Latino mortgage originators tracked by NAHREP originated $11.2 billion in mortgages last year. Among that group, 52 worked for DHI Mortgage, 19 for Rate, and 14 for CrossCountry Mortgage.
Top 10 Latino mortgage originators by transactions:
- Norma Guerrero Cowes, DHI Mortgage, Austin, Texas (362 transactions totaling $121.9 million)
- Armando SanMiguel, Ameris Bank, Franklin, Tennessee (360 transactions totaling $130.7 million)
- Megan Cloud, V.I.P. Independent Mortgage, Inc., San Antonio, Texas (338 transactions totaling $106.6 million)
- Patricia Martinez, DHI Mortgage, San Antonio, Texas, (318 transactions totaling $95.1 million)
- Lorena Estorga, DHI Mortgage, San Antonio, Texas (310 transactions totaling $96.2 million)
- Alex Garcia, DHI Mortgage, San Antonio, Texas (289 transactions totaling $91.5 million)
- Pedro Garcia Jr., DHI Mortgage, Richmond, Texas (288 transactions totaling $87.7 million)
- Miguel Mouriz, New American Funding, Orlando, Florida (285 transactions totaling $101.1 million)
- Mario Cerrato, loanDepot, Pembroke Pines, Florida (281 transactions totaling $56.1 million)
- Victoria Guedez, DHI Mortgage, Richmond, Texas (276 transactions totaling $75.7 million)
The Top 250 Latino mortgage originators will be honored this week at NAHREP’s L’ATTITUDE 2024 Conference in San Diego.
CrossCountry Mortgage (CCM), which claims to be the nation’s largest retail mortgage lender, sponsors 4,184 mortgage loan originators working out of 710 branch locations, according to NMLS records. This year, CCM expanded its support for Latino homebuyers through new tools and community partnerships, including the ability to toggle back and forth between English and Spanish on the company’s website.
A NAHREP partner, CCM launched a Spanish loan application process last year, along with educational tools and translation services. The company is also supporting efforts to establish a NAHREP chapter in Cleveland, Ohio, where CCM is headquartered.
Eric Wilson
“Our goal is to be a trusted resource in the Hispanic community by providing solutions and resources that generate borrower confidence,” CCM Chief Marketing Officer Eric Wilson said in a statement. “We have hundreds of loan officers with deep roots in the community. It’s our hope that by providing tools such as our Spanish loan application and translated website for Spanish-speaking borrowers we can continue to create a path for all borrowers to achieve homeownership.”
DHI Mortgage — homebuilder D.R. Horton Inc.’s mortgage affiliate — is also a NAHREP partner and offers a mortgage landing page for Spanish-speaking customers.
Based in Austin, Texas, DHI Mortgage sponsors 775 mortgage loan originators working out of 261 branch locations, according to NMLS records.
In its most recent annual report to investors, D.R. Horton said DHI Mortgage originated or brokered 63,135 mortgages in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2023, up 8 percent from the year before. More than three out of four homes sold by D.R. Horton (76 percent) during fiscal year 2023 were financed by DHI Mortgage, up from 69 percent the year before.
“This increase reflects DHI Mortgage’s ongoing efforts to align their business with our homebuilding operations by offering competitive products and pricing,” D.R. Horton reported.
During the 9 months ending June 30, 2024, DHI Mortgage improved its capture rate, financing 79 percent of all D.R. Horton home sales, the company said in its most recent quarterly earnings report.
Most of D.R. Horton’s homebuilding divisions also work with other mortgage lenders, the company said.
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