Leading rookies in Connecticut in 2026, ranked by total volume. Powered by ChatMMI — the only fully conversational AI experience for mortgage and real estate data.
As of May 28, 2026, the top 3 include Derick Benitez (PennyMac Loan Services, LLC, NMLS #2734285), Michael Barreiro (PennyMac Loan Services, LLC, NMLS #2783221), and Mitchell Thaw (WJC Capital LLC, NMLS #1946527).
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 | 2026 Volume | 2026 Loans | Avg Loan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Derick Benitez | 2734285 | PennyMac Loan Services, LLC | 35953 | Carrollton, TX | $700K | 3 | $233K |
| #2 | Michael Barreiro | 2783221 | PennyMac Loan Services, LLC | 35953 | Tampa, FL | $606K | 3 | $202K |
| #3 | Mitchell Thaw | 1946527 | WJC Capital LLC | 2579571 | Fairfield, CT | $519K | 1 | $519K |
| #4 | Sean Clark | 2833687 | Wells Fargo Bank, National Association | 399801 | Santa Maria, CA | $500K | 1 | $500K |
| #5 | Brandon Lobisi | 2806420 | The Federal Savings Bank | 411500 | Chicago, IL | $490K | 1 | $490K |
| #6 | Matthew Martinez | 2780230 | PennyMac Loan Services, LLC | 35953 | Carrollton, TX | $403K | 1 | $403K |
| #7 | Karen Karaja | 2799456 | Pinnacle Mortgage Corporation | 1323739 | Dayville, CT | $321K | 1 | $321K |
| #8 | Paul Holguin | 2766095 | PennyMac Loan Services, LLC | 35953 | Tampa, FL | $301K | 1 | $301K |
| #9 | Clayton Albright | 2790458 | Freedom Mortgage Corporation | 2767 | — | $284K | 1 | $284K |
| #10 | Evvyn Leonard | 2684278 | PennyMac Loan Services, LLC | 35953 | Franklin, TN | $270K | 1 | $270K |
| #11 | Patrick Stone | 2800929 | PennyMac Loan Services, LLC | 35953 | Franklin, TN | $250K | 1 | $250K |
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. Leading Rookies by Volume — Connecticut (2026). Powered by MMI public record mortgage production data, accessed May 28, 2026. https://topmortgageoriginators.com/lo-leaderboard/connecticut/top-rookie-by-volume/2026
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