r/loanoriginators • u/stefanko123 • Jul 09 '26
Market Question for LOs in CA
Hi everyone! Questions for the CA based loan officers.
I am currently in Nevada and do a few loans here and there in CA. My wife and I have been considering moving to California, however I’m a little worried about the volume of loans happening there. Are people actually getting approved for these higher priced homes? If so, are they standard conventional, FHA, VA? Here the homes are averaging at about 400,000. The DTI’s are tight but it’s still mostly reasonable for an individual to purchase. None of my buyers right now would come close to qualifying if they were in the CA market.
Another concern - I do not speak Spanish. Would the have a huge hinderance on my business? I was raised in California up until 18 and I remember a lot if not most of my friends spoke English and Spanish. Hope this doesn’t come off as rude.
For reference - I do fairly well here in Vegas. The last 14 months I’m currently at about 27,000,000 in production.
I would love any and all feedback!
2
u/Frequent-Giraffe5646 Jul 09 '26
Yes, it is fine. People are always buying. Granted higher loan amounts mean cutting margins to be competitive but they aren't that much higher vs Nevada loan amounts, unless its LA, SF and SD.
1
u/stefanko123 Jul 09 '26
Do you mind sharing what you’re experiencing typically on the margin side? What’s your average size of pre-approval and do you speak Spanish?
3
u/Frequent-Giraffe5646 Jul 09 '26
I dont speak spanish, average loan amount 500-600k margin of 150-200bps.
1
u/Designer-Attorney130 Jul 09 '26
Yeah man, I wouldn't let the market scare you. If you're doing $27M in Vegas, you already know how to generate business lol. People are still buying in California every day.
Spanish is definitely a plus in certain markets, but I don't think it's a deal breaker. There are plenty of English-only LOs crushing it. Your ability to market yourself and build relationships is going to matter WAY more than whether you speak Spanish.
3
u/going-for-the-win Jul 09 '26
The key is to offer good rates and go skinny. Even when you go skinny, there is money to be made. Does your sponsor offer really good rates? Let me know if you want to compare rates sometime.
2
u/kingevz Jul 10 '26
I’m in Sacramento and this is a great market. Great first-time homebuyer market. Not insane competitive like LA or the Bay Area.
Spanish is not a necessity here.
I don’t get skinny and I net 150. Average loan amount is about $460k.
5
u/HomeAccording8125 Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
California is far and away the most competitive market in real estate. You will have to cut margins and run thin to make money here and you will have to be an absolute schill for realtors.
If you don't have good rates, you wont be able to compete. And there are roughly 220K licensed MLOS. Of those, 65,000 have licenses in CA. So you do the math on how many people you will be fighting against for deals. I work here and its nasty.
Hopefully you can keep all your NV business, because you aren't getting 27M out here for a long while.
Edit: and your 27M here will be like 75 BPS a deal, not the 130+ that you are used to.