The 7 Best Mortgage Lenders & Brokers in Los Angeles (2026)

A bank or direct lender makes the loan itself and generally offers only its own products. A mortgage broker is an intermediary that submits your application to one or more wholesale lenders and helps you compare options. A broker can be useful if your income or property is not straightforward, but a direct lender may be simpler for a standard loan. Whichever you choose, compare written Loan Estimates from at least two or three sources.

A jumbo loan is a mortgage larger than the conforming loan limit set each year by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). Conforming loans can be bought by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and jumbo loans cannot, so lenders set their own underwriting rules, which often mean larger down payments and stricter documentation. For 2026, FHFA set the baseline one-unit limit at $832,750 for most of the country, with higher limits in high-cost areas up to $1,249,125. Check the county list on FHFA's conforming loan limit page to see the limit for the county your home is in.

Search the company and the individual loan officer on NMLS Consumer Access at nmlsconsumeraccess.org, which shows license status in each state and any regulatory actions. For a California real estate broker license, you can also use the California Department of Real Estate's license lookup, which searches by name or license number. Every firm in this guide lists its license numbers on its own site, except where noted in the entry, so you can match them.

Often, yes, but the documents lenders accept differ. Some lenders use tax returns, others use bank statements or a profit-and-loss statement, and loan terms under those programs can differ from standard loans. Ask a broker which documentation programs they use, what down payment and reserves each requires, and how the terms compare with a conventional loan if you could qualify for one.

Brokers are typically paid either by the lender, by the borrower, or in some cases a mix, and the arrangement must be disclosed. Ask upfront how the broker is paid and what fees you would owe, then check the Loan Estimate, the standard form every lender must give you after you apply, to see the costs in writing.