The latest ranking of Latino mortgage originators is out, and PrimeLending is the employer of the No. 1 producer. The overall group nudged up annual lending.
Production for the country’s 250 top-producing Latino loan originators amounted to 33,345 loans with an aggregate principal balance of $8.19 billion in 2016.
That was stronger than during
the preceding year, when the top-250 Latino originators generated 32,783 in single-family loan closings for $8.107 billion.
Last year’s details were presented in the 2017
Top 250 Latino Mortgage Originator Report from the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals.
NAHREP President Leo Pareja noted in the announcement that Hispanics accounted for nearly 75 percent of growth in U.S. homeownership last year, and that was largely due to the top-producing originators recognized in the report.
In the No. 1 position was Alex Varela. The PrimeLending employee closed 484 transactions from his base in Bedford, Texas.
Varela found the autonomy provided by PrimeLending for an originator to build his own business within the company was a perfect fit.
Varela, who has been with PrimeLending since 2008, ascended from fifth position in NAHREP’s report for 2015 originations.
In the second spot for 2016 originations was New American Funding employee Tom Ramirez, who closed 474 loans from his Downey, California, location. He climbed from 10th position the previous year.
Ramirez joined New American last year, according to his LinkedIn profile. His resume includes time at a loanDepot LLC unit, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and Washington Mutual Bank, where he started in 1986.
In Pomona, California,
Manuel Corral landed in third position, slipping from the second spot the prior year. Through Golden Empire Mortgage Inc., where he has worked since 1996, Corral generated 473 closings during 2016.
Up next was
Carlos Larrazabal, who works for Washington First Mortgage in Fairfax, Virginia. He funded 454 loans last year. But Larrazabal descended from the top spot in 2015.
Larrazabal’s LinkedIn profile indicates he has been in the mortgage business since at least 2001, including three years at MetLife Home Loans.
No. 5 was Guild Mortgage Co.’s Jorge Montoya, who originated 322 transactions from Reno, Nevada. He moved up from the ninth position in the previous report.
