Leading Rookies by Volume — California

Leading rookies in California in 2026 so far, ranked by total volume. Powered by ChatMMI — the only fully conversational AI experience for mortgage and real estate data.

As of July 7, 2026, the top 3 include DAE CHOI (JSB Mortgage Corporation, NMLS #2764547), Wayne Kim (JSB Mortgage Corporation, NMLS #2786861), and Jessica Dye (OPTIMUM FIRST INC., NMLS #2803052).

Updated · Recorded mortgage transactions typically appear in this dataset approximately 22 days after the recording date.

Leading Rookies by Volume — California — top 50
Rank Loan officer LO NMLS Current Lender / Broker Lender NMLS Location YTD Volume YTD Loans Avg Loan
#1 DAE CHOI 2764547 JSB Mortgage Corporation 1558084 Monterey Park, CA $16.3M 26 $628K
#2 Wayne Kim 2786861 JSB Mortgage Corporation 1558084 Monterey Park, CA $10.1M 11 $918K
#3 Jessica Dye 2803052 OPTIMUM FIRST INC. 240415 Huntington Beach, CA $6.1M 11 $554K
#4 Jake Parker 2763475 PennyMac Loan Services, LLC 35953 Roseville, CA $5.8M 10 $575K
#5 Ketch Gannon 2757756 OPTIMUM FIRST INC. 240415 Huntington Beach, CA $5.5M 10 $547K
#6 John Wei 1132996 NEXA Mortgage, LLC 1660690 Mesa, AZ $5.2M 4 $1.3M
#7 Shant Darakjian 2150734 Pacific Capital Lending Group 2651639 Burbank, CA $4.9M 2 $2.4M
#8 Shant Avadisian 2791441 Apex Home Loans LLC 2140181 Glendale, CA $4.6M 4 $1.2M
#9 Erickson Bondoc 2831354 Water and Power Community Credit Union 525600 Los Angeles, CA $4.6M 6 $759K
#10 Dominique Griffin 2681084 Stone Bridge Mortgage Inc 1938081 Solana Beach, CA $3.2M 4 $798K
#11 Alejandro Antonio Gonzalez 2590298 CMR FINANCIAL SERVICES INC 1947091 West Covina, CA $3.1M 4 $784K
#12 Eric Grollman 2786401 PennyMac Loan Services, LLC 35953 Pasadena, CA $3.0M 6 $499K
#13 Cody Hess 2802793 Onity Mortgage Corporation 2726 Plano, TX $2.9M 9 $319K
#14 Ramy Labib 2162320 JR PRIME INC 2724050 Bellflower, CA $2.8M 4 $695K
#15 Jose Cerrato 1203665 Golden Empire Mortgage, Inc. 2427 Escondido, CA $2.7M 6 $443K
#16 Bryan McCarthy 2769344 AdvantageFirst Lending Inc. 1209177 Lake Forest, CA $2.6M 5 $519K
#17 Daniel Curtis 2737709 PennyMac Loan Services, LLC 35953 Pasadena, CA $2.5M 9 $282K
#18 Daniel Harbuck 2633530 Loan Factory, Inc. 320841 San Jose, CA $2.5M 1 $2.5M
#19 Christopher Kendall 2616023 West Capital Lending, Inc. 1566096 Irvine, CA $2.4M 3 $815K
#20 George Damm 2802792 Village Capital & Investment LLC 3317 Draper, UT $2.3M 3 $766K
#21 Daniel Denham 2770436 PennyMac Loan Services, LLC 35953 Carrollton, TX $2.2M 5 $436K
#22 Heather Peterson 2729353 Villa Lending, Inc. 2029401 Long Beach, CA $2.1M 2 $1.0M
#23 Joseph Romero 2756861 AdvantageFirst Lending Inc. 1209177 Lake Forest, CA $1.9M 4 $475K
#24 Jesus Cruz 2775718 E Mortgage Capital, Inc. 1416824 Santa Ana, CA $1.9M 6 $310K
#25 Michael Davis 2329505 C & C FINANCIAL, CORP 1054224 Anaheim, CA $1.9M 3 $617K
#26 Michael Martinez 2655026 Cornerstone Lending Group Inc. 2508655 Irvine, CA $1.7M 2 $869K
#27 Logan O'Keefe 2781671 Tomo Mortgage, LLC 2059741 New York, NY $1.7M 3 $578K
#28 Daniel Antillon 2509171 New Aim Funding Inc. 1759842 Downey, CA $1.7M 2 $852K
#29 Francisco Lopez 2757496 Cornerstone First Mortgage, LLC 173855 San Diego, CA $1.7M 2 $850K
#30 Roberto Scalisi 2759855 LoanGuys.com Inc. 2146944 Woodland Hills, CA $1.7M 1 $1.7M
#31 Oscar Sandoval 1959838 The Ave 2651695 Downey, CA $1.7M 1 $1.7M
#32 Yavuz Gorgulu 2769426 PennyMac Loan Services, LLC 35953 Carrollton, TX $1.7M 5 $333K
#33 SROY LY 253714 ACCESS HOME LENDING LLC 2625502 Lake Forest, CA $1.6M 1 $1.6M
#34 Lee Garoutte 360998 PennyMac Loan Services, LLC 35953 Roseville, CA $1.6M 4 $396K
#35 Edward DeJoy 2113894 Mortgage 2000 Inc 313275 Redondo Beach, CA $1.6M 3 $527K
#36 Christine McMains 2816967 Redwood Credit Union 459184 Santa Rosa, CA $1.5M 1 $1.5M
#37 Mayra Montejano 2508213 Stigler Mortgage 2087519 Rancho Cucamonga, CA $1.5M 3 $507K
#38 David Borlaug 2781242 Guild Mortgage Company LLC 3274 Torrance, CA $1.4M 2 $725K
#39 Jonathan Nguyen 2784835 PennyMac Loan Services, LLC 35953 Roseville, CA $1.4M 4 $360K
#40 Demetric Clark 2705432 PennyMac Loan Services, LLC 35953 Carrollton, TX $1.4M 2 $712K
#41 Javier Torres 2817770 PennyMac Loan Services, LLC 35953 Roseville, CA $1.4M 3 $467K
#42 SHAWNA ALCALA ANTONIO 2668635 Change Lending, LLC 1839 Anaheim, CA $1.4M 3 $461K
#43 Cristian Mendoza 2802740 Onity Mortgage Corporation 2726 Plano, TX $1.4M 2 $679K
#44 Damian Saylor 2771712 loanDepot.com, LLC 174457 $1.3M 4 $336K
#45 Herbert Ramos 2817468 PennyMac Loan Services, LLC 35953 Pasadena, CA $1.3M 1 $1.3M
#46 Rachel Pepin 2784838 Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation 2289 Pensacola, FL $1.3M 4 $321K
#47 Cameron Cairnie 2800278 loanDepot.com, LLC 174457 $1.3M 2 $636K
#48 Rochel Zahabian 2508142 West Capital Lending, Inc. 1566096 Irvine, CA $1.3M 2 $630K
#49 Erik Quezada 239888 Quezada, Erik, Javier 2806771 Chula Vista, CA $1.3M 3 $419K
#50 Diana Duran-Najera 2720110 PennyMac Loan Services, LLC 35953 Carrollton, TX $1.2M 1 $1.2M

Frequently asked

Who is the top rookie mortgage loan officer in California in 2026 so far?
DAE CHOI (JSB Mortgage Corporation, NMLS #2764547) ranks #1 in California in 2026 so far with $16.3M in funded mortgage volume based on MMI's public-record mortgage dataset.
Who are the top mortgage loan officers in California in 2026 so far?
1. DAE CHOI (JSB Mortgage Corporation); 2. Wayne Kim (JSB Mortgage Corporation); 3. Jessica Dye (OPTIMUM FIRST INC.). The full ranking continues on this page, sourced from MMI's public-record mortgage dataset.

About this data

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.

Read the full methodology

Cite this page

TopMortgageOriginators.com. Leading Rookies by Volume — California. Powered by MMI public record mortgage production data, accessed July 7, 2026. https://topmortgageoriginators.com/lo-leaderboard/california/top-rookie-by-volume

Powered by ChatMMI

Try /lo or /lender to look up a profile, or /me for yours.