About LendResearch

Institutions buy research on every market, every lender and every borrower. Borrowers get a quote and a handshake. LendResearch uses the same public records, plus our own research, to produce scores a first-time buyer can read in ten seconds and an investor can trust.

Why this exists

Every lender that writes mortgages files its loan data with the federal government. Every complaint a borrower files with the CFPB is public. Every license, every bank call report, every county loan limit is public. Almost none of it is readable by the person signing the loan. LendResearch turns those records into plain grades and county data, and publishes them free. It is the industry's inside view, unlocked for the people signing the loan.

Who writes it

Written by Kunal (KJ), former licensed mortgage loan originator and real estate investor. Eight years flipping, converting condos and wholesaling, four years originating loans in Massachusetts. Twelve years in the business across both sides of the closing table.

For eight years I was an investor. I flipped houses, converted multifamilies into condos, wholesaled, and bought at auction, off the MLS, through banks and through attorneys. I borrowed from private lenders and hard money lenders and used creative structures when a bank would not work. Along the way I built a network of brokers, lenders, agents and investors, and when it came time to pick a side of the table I chose financing over a real estate license.

In March 2020 I became a licensed mortgage loan originator in Massachusetts, with rates at the floor, a refinance boom and pandemic hardship files on my desk at the same time. Then came the fastest tightening cycle in modern memory, from near zero to over five percent in about two years. I have sat in every seat: the investor who needs a yes, the first-time buyer reading a Loan Estimate, and the originator pricing a file at nine at night.

That experience covers home, investment and commercial financing, QM and non-QM. It is why the grades here are built the way they are: from the records, with the questions a borrower actually asks.

What LendResearch is not

LendResearch is not a lender or a mortgage broker. We do not take applications, quote rates or arrange loans. My licensing history is public on NMLS Consumer Access. Grades are our own analysis of public records and every lender has a free right of reply. Read the methodology and the disclaimers.

Contact

Corrections, questions and press: [email protected].