{"id":48159,"date":"2026-04-01T00:22:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T21:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/housingwire-mortgage-rankings-the-playbook-for-the-top-producing-los-of-2025\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T00:22:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T21:22:18","slug":"housingwire-mortgage-rankings-the-playbook-for-the-top-producing-los-of-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/en\/housingwire-mortgage-rankings-the-playbook-for-the-top-producing-los-of-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"HousingWire Mortgage Rankings: The playbook for the top-producing LOs of 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jarret Coleman is not on social media posting about interest rate moves or explaining mortgage concepts to the public \u2014 a model successfully adopted by some of his peers. Instead, the Greenwich, Connecticut-based loan officer for US Bank<\/a><\/strong> takes a more traditional approach to his business.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started in 2006 as an assistant to a loan officer, and they basically taught me the value of having real estate agents as referral partners,\u201d Coleman said in an interview with HousingWire<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs time moved on, that list of agents grew as I continued to expand my outreach and as things moved toward the electronic nature that we\u2019re in today. I communicate with over 1,000 different agents now within my sphere of influence, and certainly I don\u2019t win every deal, but I get enough referrals<\/a> to grow and maintain my business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coleman joined the industry \u201cwhen everyone was leaving,\u201d he said. Having just graduated from college, he didn\u2019t have major bills \u2014 a relevant advantage in a commission-based<\/a> industry. Despite the challenging environment, he adopted a simple mentality: \u201cIf it\u2019s not broken, why change it?\u201d<\/p>\n

The approach has worked well. An introvert who originally went to school to become a meteorologist, Coleman ended up in the mortgage industry, eventually speaking in front of thousands of people to occupy a top position.<\/p>\n

In 2025, he was the U.S. mortgage professional who generated the highest total dollar volume of loans at $644.5 million across 606 units, according to the inaugural edition of the HousingWire Mortgage Rankings<\/a>. The position reflects the full scope of an originator\u2019s production across all loan types and programs, based on mortgage data sourced through InGenius<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Last year was a difficult one, even for the top mortgage originators, as 2025 was characterized by still-high mortgage rates<\/a> (which went from roughly 7% at the start of the year to 6.2% in December). Meanwhile, persistent housing shortages<\/a> continued to affect markets across the country.<\/p>\n

For the industry\u2019s top-producing LOs, success ultimately hinged on relying on trusted partners, educating borrowers and investing in the quality of their service.<\/p>\n

How to differentiate yourself<\/h2>\n

Shant Banosian ranked No. 2 on HousingWire\u2019s top volume list<\/a>, originating $638.5 million across 901 units. Based in Waltham, Massachusetts, he divides his time between origination and his role as president<\/a> of Chicago-based lender Rate<\/a><\/strong>. Banosian said that his broader team generated an even higher volume last year, reaching the $1 billion mark.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been fortunate and blessed to be surrounded by incredible team members who especially have stepped up a lot more over the course of last year, because I took on the added responsibility of being president of Rate,\u201d Banosian said in an interview with HousingWire Editor in Chief Sarah Wheeler. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf one of my team members runs as a point person for the application of the client, we just recognize them as the loan officer on the transaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

To reach the top ranking of originators, Banosian said the secret is simple: \u201cservice\u201d and finding ways to stand out from the hundreds or thousands of competing LOs in a given market.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody has rates, has access to great products, but how do you differentiate yourself? We look at the obstacles and challenges that our clients and our partners are facing, specifically our real estate agent<\/a> partners and obviously our end-user consumers,\u201d Banosian said.<\/p>\n

\u200b\u200bBanosian also invests heavily in educating partners and borrowers, which he said attracts the right kind of clients.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I provide enough information, it motivates people into action,\u201d he added. \u201cOur goal is to do business in every kind of market and really show up for people as they need us.\u201d<\/p>\n

While there\u2019s a place for technology<\/a> \u2014 such as automated alerts to notify originators of refinance opportunities \u2014 Banosian noted that LOs \u201ccan\u2019t automate relationships.\u201d The best originators, in his opinion, consistently focus on the fundamentals: picking up the phone, writing effective emails, building a strong social media<\/a> presence and tracking clients\u2019 life events.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe average consumer, once they enter their homeownership journey, will take out 11 or 12 mortgages throughout the course of their lifetime,\u201d Banosian said. \u201cMost loan officers are lucky if they capture one or two of those. My mission is to capture 10, 11 or 12 of those.\u201d<\/p>\n

In terms of refinances<\/a>, Banosian reached $154.8 million in volume last year, compared to $481.9 million in purchase volume, according to the HousingWire Mortgage Rankings.<\/p>\n

Coleman\u2019s approach<\/h2>\n

Coleman, meanwhile, maintained a high share of his business from refinances last year \u2014 producing $334 million in refi volume compared to $302 million in purchase volume. The reason? A high volume of purchase loans made in 2022 and 2023 when rates were rising very quickly, which provided the chance to renegotiate with small changes in rates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always found that the key to longevity in this business is to maintain the purchase activity, because refis don\u2019t last forever,\u201d Coleman said.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a catch: Coleman focuses on high net worth clients, and the larger the loan amount, the less interest savings are needed to have a meaningful impact on a monthly payment. He is an expert in jumbo loans<\/a>, which sit above the conforming limit of $832,750<\/a> for 2026.<\/p>\n

Coleman originates many loans within the New York City<\/a> metro and surrounding areas. Fairfield County, where he is located, was a sleeping county for a decade, from 2010 to 2020, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, all of a sudden, everything flip-flopped with COVID. No one wanted to be in the city; everyone came roaring back. And we\u2019re still dealing with that now. Demand far outweighs supply,\u201d Coleman said. According to him, $2 million to $4 million homes consistently sell above list price, and he often has to write 10 preapprovals for clients before they actually get an accepted offer.<\/p>\n

His clientele largely consists of business professionals buying their first or second home who are on an upward income<\/a> trajectory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are usually savvy enough so that they\u2019re not necessarily needing the same hand-holding that a brand new first-time homebuyer<\/a> would need,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have to invest nearly as much time to make sure that we\u2019re a right fit for them. If I was dealing solely with first-time homebuyers, it takes much more time and wouldn\u2019t necessarily allow me to operate the same numbers that we were able to do last year, as a rule of thumb.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far, Coleman sees 2026 starting off very strong, but it\u2019s the supply issue that he remains concerned about in his market.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have a lot of people that want to sell and want to move<\/a>, but there\u2019s nowhere to move. So they don\u2019t want to list their house until they find the house that they want to move to, and therefore they\u2019re not listing their house. It\u2019s like this revolving circle. I have wrapped my brain around a strategy that might fix this, and I can\u2019t come up with anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually, he noted, people will have to make the decision to list and move if their current home is no longer best for their family.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can do as many preapprovals as we can and put them on a drip campaign where we\u2019ll try to communicate and just keep them apprised of what\u2019s going on in real time, and hope that the right house comes and they\u2019re ready to act. But yeah, that\u2019s the best we can do. Time will tell.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jarret Coleman is not on social media posting about interest rate moves or explaining mortgage concepts to the public \u2014 a model successfully adopted by some of his peers. Instead, the Greenwich, Connecticut-based loan officer for US Bank takes a more traditional approach to his business. \u201cI started in 2006 as an assistant to a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48159"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48159\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}