Biggest climbers in California in 2023, ranked by total volume. Powered by ChatMMI — the only fully conversational AI experience for mortgage and real estate data.
As of October 11, 2026, the top 3 include Wesley Denison (Vellum Mortgage, Inc., NMLS #1930896), Krista Watson (Masters Team Mortgage, NMLS #1402351), and Shane Stokes (Secure Choice Lending, NMLS #1606121).
Updated · Recorded mortgage transactions typically appear in this dataset approximately 22 days after the recording date.
| Rank | Loan officer | LO NMLS | Current Lender / Broker | Lender NMLS | Location | Rank Change | 2023 Volume | 2023 Loans |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Wesley Denison | 1930896 | Vellum Mortgage, Inc. | 1657323 | Walnut Creek, CA | ▲ 9110 (#9506 → #396) | $51.8M | 82 |
| #2 | Krista Watson | 1402351 | Masters Team Mortgage | 265226 | Folsom, CA | ▲ 8908 (#9222 → #314) | $57.7M | 99 |
| #3 | Shane Stokes | 1606121 | Secure Choice Lending | 1689518 | Riverside, CA | ▲ 8609 (#9909 → #1300) | $27.3M | 46 |
| #4 | Yang Cui | 1776396 | AITON CAPITAL INC | 2471360 | City of Industry, CA | ▲ 8390 (#9876 → #1486) | $25.0M | 44 |
| #5 | Barbara Holder | 1984282 | Envoy Mortgage Ltd | 6666 | Houston, TX | ▲ 8376 (#9940 → #1564) | $24.2M | 39 |
| #6 | Yunjing Zhou | 1782007 | EAST WEST BANK | 469761 | Fremont, CA | ▲ 8170 (#9645 → #1475) | $25.2M | 39 |
| #7 | Joel Maloney | 275663 | Lendwise Mortgage, Inc. | 2702455 | Woodland Hills, CA | ▲ 8156 (#9809 → #1653) | $23.5M | 13 |
| #8 | Jose Valenzuela | 455321 | Lifetime Home Loans, LLC | 1861406 | Midvale, UT | ▲ 7919 (#9789 → #1870) | $21.5M | 40 |
| #9 | Chao Wang | 1749975 | EAST WEST BANK | 469761 | — | ▲ 7856 (#9083 → #1227) | $28.3M | 21 |
| #10 | Jeff Olson | 335783 | Ziplend Inc | 2422533 | Laguna Beach, CA | ▲ 7743 (#9927 → #2184) | $19.3M | 36 |
| #11 | Steven Tavera | 220932 | Clear Mortgage Capital, Inc. | 1935005 | Irvine, CA | ▲ 7702 (#9175 → #1473) | $25.2M | 43 |
| #12 | Robert Little | 384813 | St. Fin Corp. | 1429 | Laguna Hills, CA | ▲ 7634 (#9021 → #1387) | $26.2M | 55 |
| #13 | Joshua Boswell | 84475 | U.S. Bank National Association | 402761 | Beverly Hills, CA | ▲ 7613 (#7948 → #335) | $55.8M | 32 |
| #14 | Jose Fernandez | 457670 | VIALOS PARTNERS, INC. | 2286835 | Santa Clarita, CA | ▲ 7500 (#8838 → #1338) | $26.8M | 51 |
| #15 | Justin No | 2020141 | Better Mortgage Corporation | 330511 | Irvine, CA | ▲ 7432 (#9293 → #1861) | $21.6M | 35 |
| #16 | xing zhou | 1778356 | General Mortgage Capital Corporation | 254895 | Burlingame, CA | ▲ 7412 (#8688 → #1276) | $27.6M | 58 |
| #17 | Elle Nguyen | 519534 | Wells Fargo Bank, National Association | 399801 | San Leandro, CA | ▲ 7343 (#9010 → #1667) | $23.4M | 20 |
| #18 | Michael Dunham | 1557443 | Guaranteed Rate, Inc. | 2611 | Chicago, IL | ▲ 7314 (#7981 → #667) | $40.6M | 17 |
| #19 | Scott Bird | 488358 | Lennar Mortgage, LLC | 1058 | — | ▲ 7305 (#8375 → #1070) | $30.8M | 39 |
| #20 | Oscar Ramos | 346936 | WE mortgage | 39160 | Downey, CA | ▲ 7241 (#7642 → #401) | $51.5M | 102 |
| #21 | Karleen Stemler | 2278389 | Lennar Mortgage, LLC | 1058 | Fresno, CA | ▲ 7218 (#8390 → #1172) | $29.1M | 75 |
| #22 | Mark Bicknell | 2061565 | Finance of America Reverse LLC | 2285 | Irvine, CA | ▲ 7187 (#8882 → #1695) | $23.1M | 19 |
| #23 | Fleurdelis Tecson | 582911 | U.S. Bank National Association | 402761 | — | ▲ 7146 (#7955 → #809) | $35.6M | 48 |
| #24 | MICHAEL HOUGHTON | 79855 | RE Mortgage Advisors, LLC | 2368909 | Los Gatos, CA | ▲ 7111 (#8886 → #1775) | $22.4M | 17 |
| #25 | Antonio Braganza | 900511 | Apex Home Loans LLC | 2140181 | Glendale, CA | ▲ 7089 (#8245 → #1156) | $29.4M | 46 |
| #26 | Michael Guerra | 2332716 | Star One Credit Union | 456439 | Sunnyvale, CA | ▲ 7084 (#7158 → #74) | $106.2M | 306 |
| #27 | Anna Davila | 250943 | Citibank, NA | 412915 | O Fallon, MO | ▲ 7076 (#8606 → #1530) | $24.5M | 47 |
| #28 | Roy Hartwell | 2135578 | Acrisure Mortgage, LLC | 152859 | Victorville, CA | ▲ 7069 (#7956 → #887) | $34.0M | 78 |
| #29 | Nicole Schaefer | 868970 | RCU Services Group | 2789679 | Santa Rosa, CA | ▲ 7051 (#7321 → #270) | $61.4M | 70 |
| #30 | Ofir Yeyni | 2128416 | OPTION ONE LENDING, INC. | 1101290 | Sherman Oaks, CA | ▲ 7039 (#7373 → #334) | $56.1M | 73 |
| #31 | salatiel montoya | 938225 | Montoya & Associates Inc. | 1331762 | Tustin, CA | ▲ 7038 (#9691 → #2653) | $16.8M | 34 |
| #32 | Walter Kosich | 248655 | Barrington Bank & Trust Company N.A. | 449042 | Newport Beach, CA | ▲ 6985 (#8675 → #1690) | $23.2M | 25 |
| #33 | Kimberly McCain | 667195 | Xpert Home Lending Inc. | 2179191 | Roseville, CA | ▲ 6984 (#9776 → #2792) | $16.2M | 39 |
| #34 | Robert Mino | 1704715 | E Mortgage Capital, Inc. | 1416824 | Santa Ana, CA | ▲ 6965 (#9361 → #2396) | $18.1M | 18 |
| #35 | Ting He | 1700854 | Wells Fargo Bank, National Association | 399801 | San Mateo, CA | ▲ 6948 (#8410 → #1462) | $25.3M | 20 |
| #36 | Melanie Pong | 485535 | KBHS Home Loans, LLC | 1542802 | Corona, CA | ▲ 6862 (#9626 → #2764) | $16.4M | 29 |
| #37 | Dayana Cervantes | 1642495 | Nu Level Realty, Inc. | 332463 | Burlingame, CA | ▲ 6852 (#9896 → #3044) | $15.0M | 30 |
| #38 | Luan Nguyen | 1704246 | NEXA Mortgage, LLC | 1660690 | San Diego, CA | ▲ 6834 (#8853 → #2019) | $20.3M | 36 |
| #39 | HILDA PAYES | 296938 | Golden Empire Mortgage, Inc. | 2427 | Bakersfield, CA | ▲ 6832 (#9872 → #3040) | $15.0M | 63 |
| #40 | William Auyang | 488688 | KBHS Home Loans, LLC | 1542802 | Corona, CA | ▲ 6831 (#9477 → #2646) | $16.9M | 35 |
| #41 | Christine Shin | 280502 | Northwestern Capital, Inc. | 2132921 | Fullerton, CA | ▲ 6815 (#9325 → #2510) | $17.4M | 27 |
| #42 | SAMIT PABUWAL | 273807 | AAA CAPITAL INVESTMENT, INC. | 295075 | Valencia, CA | ▲ 6795 (#9464 → #2669) | $16.7M | 23 |
| #43 | Ryan Axe | 1784924 | INDEPENDENCE HOME LOANS LLC | 2524174 | Scottsdale, AZ | ▲ 6781 (#9366 → #2585) | $17.1M | 100 |
| #44 | Daniel Waddell | 1965113 | CrossCountry Mortgage, LLC | 3029 | Palos Verdes Estates, CA | ▲ 6773 (#8811 → #2038) | $20.2M | 25 |
| #45 | Yuqian Ta | 903630 | New American Funding, LLC | 6606 | Santa Ana, CA | ▲ 6762 (#9832 → #3070) | $14.9M | 13 |
| #46 | Chad Levinger | 1110600 | Guaranteed Rate, Inc. | 2611 | Newport Beach, CA | ▲ 6744 (#8464 → #1720) | $22.9M | 46 |
| #47 | David Pressly | 410130 | HSBC Bank USA National Association | 399799 | Irvine, CA | ▲ 6689 (#7213 → #524) | $45.4M | 24 |
| #48 | Farnoush Vahedi | 1555861 | Answer Home Lending, Inc. | 2343805 | Granite Bay, CA | ▲ 6658 (#9803 → #3145) | $14.7M | 34 |
| #49 | raquel saleh | 335355 | Premier Realty Group Inc. | 1756474 | Indio, CA | ▲ 6618 (#9100 → #2482) | $17.6M | 33 |
| #50 | Carlos Molina | 230545 | Intercap Lending Inc. | 190465 | Cottonwood Heights, UT | ▲ 6610 (#8989 → #2379) | $18.2M | 34 |
These rankings are powered by MMI's nationwide residential mortgage public record dataset. MMI collects mortgage transaction data from recording jurisdictions across the United States, with an average data latency of approximately 22 days from the recording date.
Transactions are matched to NMLS identifiers for loan officers, lenders, and brokers where applicable. MMI then deduplicates, normalizes, and validates this data to create an authoritative mortgage production dataset that powers MMI's analytics, recruiting, marketing, and intelligence products.
Rankings reflect recorded mortgage transactions available to MMI at the time of the last data refresh. Recent activity may continue to update as additional transactions are recorded and processed.
TopMortgageOriginators.com. Biggest Climbers by Volume — California (2023). Powered by MMI public record mortgage production data, accessed October 11, 2026. https://topmortgageoriginators.com/lo-leaderboard/california/top-climbers-by-volume/2023
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