Jeff Hughes

I've lived in the Santa Clarita Valley my whole life. Before startingHughes Mortgage, I spent 17 years working inside mortgage companies in processing, closing, secondary markets, and eventually running the technology behind all of it.

That's a different road than most loan officers take. Most start in sales and pick up the back end as they go. I learned the back end first, so when I look at your situation, I'm already thinking about what the underwriter is going to ask for.

Where loans actually go wrong

In my experience it's rarely anything dramatic. A lender asks a question and nobody answers it for four days. The appraisal gets ordered a week late. Someone promises a borrower something before checking the guidelines, and it falls apart in underwriting.

Those are the problems I spent years cleaning up, and they're the ones I watch for on every file.

Why I went independent

As a broker, I pick the lender, I put the file together, and I'm responsible for how it goes. At a bank you get one lender's products and one lender's process. Here, if your situation fits better somewhere else, I can send it there.

What it's like to work with me

It's just me. The person you talk to on the first call is the same person submitting your file, chasing the appraisal, and answering the underwriter. You'll hear from me with updates without having to ask.

I'll also tell you straight where you stand. If you're not ready yet, I'd rather say so and help you get there than push a loan that doesn't work.