Biggest Climbers by Volume — Florida (2024)

Biggest climbers in Florida in 2024, 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 Michael Benton (Gold Star Mortgage Financial Group, Corporation, NMLS #1606849), Zachary Thomas (Pulte Mortgage LLC, NMLS #2143196), and Benjamin Blair (CrossCountry Mortgage, LLC, NMLS #2015371).

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

Biggest Climbers by Volume — Florida (2024) — top 50
Rank Loan officer LO NMLS Current Lender / Broker Lender NMLS Location Rank Change 2024 Volume 2024 Loans
#1 Michael Benton 1606849 Gold Star Mortgage Financial Group, Corporation 3446 Ann Arbor, MI ▲ 9198 (#9851 → #653) $30.0M 68
#2 Zachary Thomas 2143196 Pulte Mortgage LLC 1791 Denver, CO ▲ 9160 (#9503 → #343) $41.3M 103
#3 Benjamin Blair 2015371 CrossCountry Mortgage, LLC 3029 Boca Raton, FL ▲ 8996 (#9856 → #860) $25.4M 61
#4 John Packowski 487270 Citizens Bank, National Association 433960 Boston, MA ▲ 8904 (#9369 → #465) $36.0M 2
#5 Alejandro Fernandez 2081654 The Prime Mortgage Group LLC 2480429 Houston, TX ▲ 8679 (#8703 → #24) $100.0M 301
#6 Paul Johnson 406664 Wells Fargo Bank, National Association 399801 Tampa, FL ▲ 8535 (#9641 → #1106) $21.2M 55
#7 Jamil Ortiz 1266394 HomeAmerican Mortgage Corporation 130676 Orlando, FL ▲ 8423 (#8919 → #496) $34.8M 97
#8 Jonathan Hubbard 2026572 Lennar Mortgage, LLC 1058 Pensacola, FL ▲ 8384 (#8521 → #137) $57.0M 169
#9 Nathan OGorman 491967 Power Financial Credit Union 410494 Pembroke Pines, FL ▲ 8342 (#9286 → #944) $23.7M 62
#10 Damon Holzhauer 2358132 SouthState Bank, N.A. 403455 Tampa, FL ▲ 8313 (#9478 → #1165) $20.5M 121
#11 Jay Perez 877683 Mortgage Helpers, LLC 2416531 Miami, FL ▲ 8161 (#9830 → #1669) $16.1M 30
#12 Camille Baldwin 2026707 NFM Lending, LLC 2893 Tempe, AZ ▲ 8022 (#9767 → #1745) $15.6M 34
#13 Kenneth Benitez Aulet 1604280 KBA Group LLC 2349538 Bradenton, FL ▲ 7814 (#9186 → #1372) $18.4M 57
#14 Pooja Naidu 2069618 Morgan Stanley Private Bank, National Association 663185 Coppell, TX ▲ 7728 (#8004 → #276) $45.9M 52
#15 Michael Hendrickson 368372 U.S. Bank National Association 402761 Jacksonville, FL ▲ 7598 (#9659 → #2061) $13.6M 25
#16 Carol Beason 1256131 CCB Community Bank 403431 Niceville, FL ▲ 7570 (#8482 → #912) $24.4M 10
#17 Jordan Kimmey 1646847 Citizens Bank, National Association 433960 West Palm Beach, FL ▲ 7541 (#8997 → #1456) $17.7M 4
#18 Adam Kofsky 957687 Alkan Mortgage Corporation 210950 Lake Mary, FL ▲ 7469 (#8182 → #713) $28.4M 55
#19 Joshua Whitehead 472333 First Bank 423166 Clewiston, FL ▲ 7452 (#8789 → #1337) $18.7M 17
#20 Kurt McClearen 1338163 Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation 2289 Inlet Beach, FL ▲ 7176 (#9833 → #2657) $11.1M 19
#21 Alexander DiGioia 1368653 Premier Lending Corp 1156346 Pompano Beach, FL ▲ 6995 (#8771 → #1776) $15.4M 27
#22 Jiadi Hu 2404204 JTL Asset Management, LLC 1691333 Orlando, FL ▲ 6979 (#7584 → #605) $31.2M 81
#23 Daren Schwartz 2012960 First Horizon Bank 472329 Coral Gables, FL ▲ 6952 (#7428 → #476) $35.7M 44
#24 GABRIELA BERMUDEZ 2168491 CONCIERGE LENDING LLC 2154189 Mission Viejo, CA ▲ 6944 (#8742 → #1798) $15.3M 37
#25 Cornell Pinson 882284 Zillow Home Loans, LLC 10287 Irvine, CA ▲ 6908 (#7910 → #1002) $22.9M 88
#26 Correna Watson 906374 Fifth Third Bank, National Association 403245 Tampa, FL ▲ 6876 (#7579 → #703) $28.7M 77
#27 Trista Page 1471190 Lennar Mortgage, LLC 1058 Tampa, FL ▲ 6849 (#9390 → #2541) $11.5M 35
#28 Mitchell Payne 469169 New American Funding, LLC 6606 West Palm Beach, FL ▲ 6804 (#7915 → #1111) $21.1M 23
#29 Michael Nshiwat 1031062 Woodward National Lending LLC 2260661 ▲ 6779 (#8662 → #1883) $14.7M 56
#30 Tiffany Robaina 1660490 Finance of America Reverse LLC 2285 Tulsa, OK ▲ 6728 (#9903 → #3175) $9.6M 11
#31 Yuli Ariza 1288877 THE MORTGAGE BOARD, INC. 2497401 Port Richey, FL ▲ 6701 (#9887 → #3186) $9.6M 38
#32 Peter Kelly 458992 Member First Mortgage, LLC 149532 Plano, TX ▲ 6681 (#9618 → #2937) $10.3M 20
#33 Aaron Page 222159 Texas Mortgage Associates, Inc 293535 Dallas, TX ▲ 6662 (#7186 → #524) $33.8M 84
#34 Scott Carr 31396 Lakeview Loan Servicing, LLC 391521 Horsham, PA ▲ 6569 (#8687 → #2118) $13.3M 32
#35 Peter Bitzas 5696 Go Rascal Inc. 2072896 Clearwater, FL ▲ 6569 (#9112 → #2543) $11.5M 28
#36 Mina Akladious 1276202 Paramount Residential Mortgage Group, Inc. 75243 Sea Girt, NJ ▲ 6568 (#9486 → #2918) $10.3M 13
#37 Jakob Knott 2131178 Rocket Mortgage, LLC 3030 Detroit, MI ▲ 6551 (#9590 → #3039) $10.0M 36
#38 Shehryar Kaiser 1984967 Shield Home Loans Inc. 2396589 Irvine, CA ▲ 6542 (#9469 → #2927) $10.3M 35
#39 Shane Staples 1296290 NFM Lending, LLC 2893 Tempe, AZ ▲ 6433 (#9338 → #2905) $10.4M 19
#40 Carlos Martinez 184510 CrossCountry Mortgage, LLC 3029 Orlando, FL ▲ 6401 (#7958 → #1557) $16.9M 46
#41 BRANDON PHEARSE 1876474 Morgan Stanley Private Bank, National Association 663185 Coppell, TX ▲ 6393 (#9965 → #3572) $8.7M 10
#42 Linda Ifri 1200058 City National Bank 536994 Los Angeles, CA ▲ 6373 (#8194 → #1821) $15.1M 3
#43 Dan Peinovich 325132 Bell Bank 419538 Lilydale, MN ▲ 6341 (#9650 → #3309) $9.3M 19
#44 Noel Chapman 8953 HomeBridge Financial Services, Inc. 6521 Iselin, NJ ▲ 6334 (#6924 → #590) $31.6M 81
#45 Romik Yeghnazary 372980 Lending Arena LLC 1603937 Las Vegas, NV ▲ 6332 (#8369 → #2037) $13.8M 22
#46 Amanda Foster 1423831 ZARRO MORTGAGE GROUP, LLC 2185421 Stuart, FL ▲ 6318 (#8920 → #2602) $11.3M 28
#47 Gerald Allen 1526477 Simple Mortgage Solutions, LLC 1983670 Knoxville, TN ▲ 6314 (#8913 → #2599) $11.3M 16
#48 Pamela McSweeney 613133 The Northern Trust Company 447407 Chicago, IL ▲ 6295 (#8764 → #2469) $11.8M 2
#49 Matthew Costello 1500109 Union Home Mortgage Corp. 2229 Strongsville, OH ▲ 6295 (#9056 → #2761) $10.8M 30
#50 Derek McGowan 1478470 NEXA Mortgage, LLC 1660690 Kansas City, MO ▲ 6293 (#9918 → #3625) $8.6M 24

Frequently asked

Who is the top mortgage loan officer climber in Florida in 2024?
Michael Benton (Gold Star Mortgage Financial Group, Corporation, NMLS #1606849) ranks #1 in Florida in 2024 with $30.0M in funded mortgage volume based on MMI's public-record mortgage dataset.
Who are the top mortgage loan officers in Florida in 2024?
1. Michael Benton (Gold Star Mortgage Financial Group, Corporation); 2. Zachary Thomas (Pulte Mortgage LLC); 3. Benjamin Blair (CrossCountry Mortgage, LLC). 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. Biggest Climbers by Volume — Florida (2024). Powered by MMI public record mortgage production data, accessed May 28, 2026. https://topmortgageoriginators.com/lo-leaderboard/florida/top-climbers-by-volume/2024

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