Brad Haines, mortgage loan originator

Who I work with

First-time buyers, and buyers rebuilding credit — including the ones other lenders turn away. That is not a marketing line, it is where the work actually is. Most of the people I talk to have already been told no somewhere, usually without much explanation, and have concluded the answer is permanent. It often isn't.

The most common thing I find is someone who has been sitting out for a year or more past the date they became eligible, because nobody ever ran the numbers with them.

What I actually do differently

• Free credit coaching, before any application. A real mortgage credit pull, an honest read on which credit problem you have, and a written plan with a date on it. No cost, no obligation, no application required to start.
• Manual underwriting when the file needs it. Active Chapter 13, thin files, sub-580 scores, self-employed income that tax returns don't reflect. A lender that only does automated underwriting declines these by default. Many do.
• Free USDA address checks. Text me any address in the corridor and I'll tell you the same day whether it sits inside the eligible map. It takes a minute and costs nothing.
• An honest no. If the answer is “not yet,” you get that quickly and with a date, rather than a file that dies quietly three weeks in.

Where I work

I'm licensed across Washington State. My office is in Renton and I work from home in Mukilteo, which is why most of my listing work runs the corridor between them and beyond — from Sedro-Woolley in Skagit County, down through Arlington, Granite Falls, Lake Stevens, Snohomish, Monroe, Sultan and Gold Bar, into Duvall, Carnation, North Bend and Enumclaw in King County.

That corridor is not an arbitrary territory. It is close to the boundary of the USDA-eligible map — the band of towns east of the metro where $0-down financing is available and most buyers have no idea it exists. The full corridor is here.

Programs I originate

USDA ($0 down on eligible addresses), FHA, VA, conventional, HomeReady, Home Possible, refinance, and bank-statement options for self-employed buyers. Which one fits depends on your credit, your income and where you're buying — that's what the first conversation is for.

Where the guidance on this site comes from

The program rules quoted throughout this site are drawn from the source documents rather than from other websites: HUD Handbook 4000.1 for FHA, the Fannie Mae Selling Guide for conventional, USDA Handbook HB-1-3555, and the VA Lender's Handbook. Where sources conflict — which happens more than you'd think on county income limits — I say so rather than pick the friendlier number. Figures that are agency-set and subject to change are labeled as such.

I also publish plain-English answers on YouTube, mostly to the questions people are embarrassed to ask a lender.

Licensing and verification

Brad Haines, NMLS #154083, sponsored by Cascade Premier Mortgage, LLC, NMLS #46283, licensed in Washington State. Verify at NMLS Consumer Access or with the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions.